InuYasha Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mors Mortis Miko ❯ Alive ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

This was going to be a One Piece section, and full of sexual innuendos, but instead you get this. With less sexual innuendos, so it’s going to be boring. This chapter, she is with the Leandros brothers, by Rob Thurman. I fell in love with this book series at the start, Nightlife, and will forever be a fan of the incredibly talented Thurman. I suggest you read these books, not for following this chapter, but for having a wonderful book on your shelf.
“You want us to find all these people?”

The pictures the client had placed on the table all showed a variety of people. Fat, old, short, young, tall and fit, men, women, children, all caught in the act of doing mundane things. Cal Leandros sighed, he really didn’t feel like finding all those people, and he sure didn’t like their new client.

Their new client was a young Asian man with black hair pulled into a short ponytail, and Cal was pretty sure the guy wasn’t human. Because of this uncertainly, he was suspicious of what the man wanted with the people in the photos, but he was paying, they were in need of money, and the guy hadn’t come off as a baddie. Besides, they really needed the money. And he couldn’t forget about the money.

“No, they’re all the same person.” Miroku answered the surly young man as he tapped the pictures. “See, they all have the same eyes.”

“Shifter?” Niko asked, studying the pictures with a calculating eye.

“Kitsune.”

“Fox demon.” Niko clarified before his brother had time to ask.

“His name’s Shippo, and he usually kills his victims and assumes their position in their family. His childish mind, demon powers, and kitsune nature causes the families to destroy themselves in attempts to rid themselves of him. Assuming the identity of all those in his household, Shippo tormented a family so, that the husband killed everyone in the house, not knowing which was Shippo at the time, and finally ending his own life whilst Shippo taunted him.”

“Sick.” Cal commented blandly. “What’s his problem?”

“He thinks its funny.” Miroku answered stoically.

“And you want us to find and kill him?”

“I don’t care what you do with him, I need you to retrieve the girl he holds in his possession. Her.” Face softening, Miroku pointed at a figure, often in the background and most often not pictured at all.

Kagome. She looked tired. Hell, he knew she was tired. Shippo kept her at bay and depressed by impersonating those closest to her. He could feel her, and she resonated sadness and guilt. She had tried to escape, a few times, he had been calling to her to do so. Her mind was strong, stronger now with Sango’s death, but her resolve was weak. She couldn’t truly bring herself to leave him again. Not her little Shippo.

In every picture that she appeared, Kagome would be looking directly at the camera, with dark glasses over her eyes, and no smile, not even one of insanity.

“What’s wrong with her?” Niko asked, noticing that the woman didn’t seem to be all there.

“She’s…a bit, fragile of mind.” Miroku answered carefully.

“Is she dangerous?”

“In her own way, yes.” Miroku’s mouth quirked at this and he looked away from the brothers. “But as long as she sees me there, she shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Do you have any leads?”

“Yes. In fact, I know exactly where he’s holding her at this very moment.”

~____~

It was dark when they finally decided to enter the warehouse. They had been monitoring it for hours, no movement inside nor out. They assumed that the kitsune was off tormenting a family and had left the girl inside. Or so their client believed.

“Well go ahead, Goodfellow, pick the lock.” Cal urged their sometime partner and friend, as he and his brother scoped the area.

“Is this what I’ve become reduced to,” Robin complained as he went to work on the door, “locksmith for the dirty pair?”

“Quit your whining, you know you love the attention, you whore.”

“As much as I love the attention of a foul mouthed child, I’d prefer the compliments and praise I deserve, how about it monk?”

Miroku, who had been busy trying to look into the darkened windows, turned around in surprise. He gave them a little smile and looked at his hands.

“Monk? Not anymore, wasn’t much of one anyway.” Shaking his head, Miroku turned back away to look into the now opened door as his smile dropped. “She’s definitely here.”

“How can you tell?” Niko asked as he took the initiative and entered first, while Cal brought up the rear. Although he asked Miroku the question, Niko kept his eyes trained on his surroundings and his hand clutching the hilt of his sword.

“She’s my special girl.” Miroku answered as they all spread throughout the vast room.

“Well sorry to tell you this buddy, but your special girl, isn’t here.” Cal commented. “There’s nothing here but dirt and dead bugs. There aren’t even any doors leading anywhere.”

“She’s got to be here.”

“Not unless she’s invisible.” Robin said, as he looked into the derelict office. “Wait, how small is she?”

“Yeah, maybe we stepped on her.” Cal joked but was silenced by a look from Miroku. “What?”

“Quiet.” Niko whispered.

“I’m sure your brother was only joking.”

“No, do you hear that?”

The men grew silent, and the quiet of the warehouse swallowed them. Then they heard a faint jingle.

“What is that, a bell?” Cal asked as he pulled out a flashlight.

They heard it again.

“Up there.” Robin said just as Cal looked up with the light.

“Lady Kagome?” Miroku called out, and as the last syllable left his mouth, a shadow moved in the rafters, and with it’s movement the jingling intensified.

“Shippo…please…” a soft voice moaned from above as the shadow moved yet again.

“Kagome, no it’s me. It’s really me.” He yelled frantically over her moaning, as she pleaded with Shippo to stop. “It’s Miroku, can’t you smell me.”

The moaning stopped and all grew silent again.

“Miroku?” the soft voice called out timidly.

It ached his heart to hear her spirit so broken. A spirit so bright, so energetic, too crazy to be stomped. Broken by a child. A child she would certainly call her own.

“Yes, it’s me. Stay there, we’ll get you down. Quick, find a ladder.” The last was yelled to the others, but before they could move or frown at the tone of voice, the jingling grew louder than ever, and as they watched, an angel fell down to earth.

The jingling turned out to be chains and the angel never touched the ground. Suspended by the chains, Kagome hovered in the air above them, with a chain locked around her neck, waist and limbs.

“She’s a living marionette.” Robin commented as he circled around her in wonder. “Macabre, yet beautiful.”

“Kagome.” Miroku breathed, unaware of anyone but his lost friend. “Are you alright?”

Kagome’s head swiveled to face him. Leaning down, her legs rose into the air, showing that all the chains were interlocked. Not until she and Miroku were face to face did everyone notice the dried blood along her face and the shackle around her head, covering her eyes.

“Miroku.” she gasped, clasping him around the neck with her chained arms. “Take me away. I can’t stand it anymore. Make it stop, please.”

“Of course, Kagome, anything. But, what’s wrong with your eyes? What did he do to you?”

Kagome let him go and rose a few inches as she straightened up. “My eyes?” she asked, her voice sounding tired. “He doesn’t like them. He tried, tried to get rid of them. He says they’re wrong; not my eyes. Not that I blame him, tried to rid me of them, but he never could. So he hides them.” Her face contorted as she began to cry. “I’m tired.”

“It’s going to be okay. I’m here now. Just have to get you out of these chains.” With worried eyes, Miroku turned his eyes to Robin. “Great Locksmith of Old, get her down. Please?”

“Sure thing.” he told him as Kagome leant down so he could access her. “but I don’t do this for free. I’ll expect some kind of payment later.”

“Yes, yes, whatever you want.” Miroku said, distracted by his attempts to comfort Kagome.

“Stop your whoring for now, Goodfellow, we have a job to do.”

Kagome, who had been silently sobbing on Miroku’s shoulder, sniffed and grew silent.

“Miroku…” she called, her voice steady and firm for the first time as her head turned to face Cal. “…who’s your friend?”

All activity paused at the tone of her voice, and as they looked from her to Cal, Niko tightened his hold on his sword and looked meaningfully at Miroku.

“Never mind that now, Kagome. We have to get you out of here, before Shippo returns.”

“Oh,” she said as her body drooped. “It’s too late for that anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Niko asked, drawing his sword and taking an defensive stance.

“Shippo’s done playing for now.”

The door slammed open, making them all turn in surprise, weapons up and ready. There was no one there, no one except the wind. Kagome giggled weakly.

“What the hell is she laughing at?” Cal growled as the smell of evil and forest hit his nose, yet he could see nothing.

“What are you doing?” The voice belonged to none of them and was too close for comfort.

Whirling around Cal pointed his SIG at a dirty little boy with wild red hair. He looked no older than eight and had pale skin and dark rings under his eyes. He would have thought the kid human if he hadn’t seen the fox feet, ears, and the rattiest, limpest, dirtiest tail imaginable.

Cal found himself curling his lip as the boys scent hit him full on. The kid was not only an evil forest smelling imp, but he smelled too much like family.

“What are you doing here?” the kid growled, sounding like a mad puppy. “Miroku? What do you want?”

“They’ve come to get me.” Kagome answered sadly.

“Kagome, quiet.” Miroku called to her feverishly.

Shippo ignored him as he turned a forlorn and decrepit look up at Kagome. “Why do you want to leave? Don‘t you love me anymore?” he asked, sounding to all present like a dejected child.

Kagome’s face scrunched up in pain. “I never stopped.” she cried.

“Do you want to leave me again?” he asked her.

Kagome only cried harder.

“See.” Shippo said with smug satisfaction as he turned back towards the others. “She doesn’t want to go with you. So get the damn, fucking, shit out of here!”

“What the hell?” Cal asked, his gun faltering at the use of language.

“He’s a child,” Miroku sighed. “He doesn’t know how to…” but what Miroku was about to say was cut off as a heavy piece of machinery suddenly hurled him out of sight.

The attack was then followed by a child’s delighted laughter, Kagome’s moaning of distress, and a warehouse full of orange, blurs of puff balls. This wasn’t so bad, yeah, there were a lot of moving target and Cal had to make sure he wasn’t going to shoot his brother of Robin along with the demon, but it was easy enough for the others to slice and dice the devil child whenever one would swoop by. Yet, the laughter continued, whenever they would kill one of the clones it was replaced by a demolished leaf, and more and more would come to takes its place.

“Surprise!” One of the Shippo’s yelled appearing over Cal’s head. Before he could do more than look Shippo had latched onto his shoulder with his razor teeth.

“Cal?” he heard Niko call out, wondering if he needed assistance.

“It’s doesn’t hurt too…” But before it could get bad, Shippo began to shred him. Razor sharp teeth slicing through his shoulder meat like butter. Nom, num! Bite, slice, chomp, and shred.

“Get off, you parasite!” Cal yelled, trying to lift his arm to shoot the demon from his body, but the pain and constant gnawing made it hard to lift it.

“You taste funny.” Shippo gurgled through a mouth full of Cal blood. “I don’t know if I like it.”

“Sorry to hear that.” he groaned, and as Shippo made to bite him in the neck, he stabbed the small monster in the head.

“Oww!” the others Shippo’s screamed as the one he stabbed exploded into a leaf. “Kagome he hit me!”

“What?” turning to look up, Cal saw the chained woman tense up.

“Leave him alone.” she whispered feverishly.

“She’s out of her damn mind.” he yelled to his companions as he began to shoot down small fox children. “This is a really fucked up case of Stockholm syndrome.”

But the more of the demons they killed the more appeared and the louder they would cry out to the woman.

It was creepy and off putting to have to kill crying children, but said children were fighting, biting, and mocking back. Cal kept finding himself looking up at the woman, grimacing and pulling on her chains the more the demon cried. He couldn’t help it, she was tickling his senses and he didn’t even know it. He kept looking at her, even when Niko slapped him in the back of the head to pay attention. Still, something kept drawing his attention, and then he saw it. Her muscles, straining against her chains, briefly flared with power and she broke free of on the links.

“Whoa.” he muttered briefly before a fluff of orange was in his face.

“Lady Kagome!” Miroku yelled as he was finally free of the machinery. “Don’t you do it! You know they can’t hurt him!”

As Miroku rejoined the fight, the Shippo clones exploded and leaves rained down on them until only one remained, and he didn’t look pleased.

“Don’t you talk to her, pervert.” Shippo growled, his voice low and dangerous as his eyes bled black and his veins rippled. “Stay away!” From the boy’s throat, came a gurgling roar, and before they knew it, there was a dome of fire above their heads. When they saw that the fire wasn’t getting any closer, it took a while to see why. The woman had maneuvered her chains until she hovered over them, and with her arms outstretched, she kept the fire at bay. He wasn’t sure how, but she held the fire back from them.

“Can you smell blood?” she asked them all.

“Yes.” both Cal and Robin answered her.

“Good.” and before they could stop her, she had bitten into her hand, drawing blood. “I’ll stall him.”

They heard Shippo call her, and as her chains drew taut, Kagome was yanked from sight as the fire, in a blinding flash, spread throughout the room.

As their eyes adjusted, Shippo and Kagome burst through the window and into the night.

“Not this time!” Miroku growled as he ran towards the window and through it in one single leap.

“Okay, now I know he isn’t human.” Cal commented, but just as the words left his mouth, Niko had bounded up and practically scaled the wall before vaulting out the window.

“He doesn’t count.” he said, but as he and Robin took a step towards the window, they both stopped, glanced at each other, then turned for the door.

He would not lose her again. Not when he was so close. Not when he had her in his sights. With them only a few yards ahead of him, Miroku ran faster than he knew he could, jumping higher than he ever thought he could, practically flying across the pavement. Kagome said nothing as she hung in the grasp of a giant pink balloon, listening as Miroku called for her, keeping her in the here and now, and just letting her know he was there. She would have smiled if Shippo hadn’t been, simultaneously, telling her he loved and needed her. She was torn. She cried.

A familiar sting of a bullet crossed her faced, followed by yelling. She inhaled and caught the scent of that boy again; Miroku’s friend. She wanted to be his friend too. As the smile found its way onto her face again, she felt the chain she had broken, dragging and bumping into things. She had said she would stall.

“Swinging the chain, swinging the chain.” Kagome sang as she gripped the chain and began twirling and slinging it around. Fishing around for any kind of leverage, Kagome was satisfied when she caught a snag and her and Shippo’s flight came to an abrupt stop. Satisfaction only lasted a millisecond, but the pain lasted longer. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, she could hardly tell the difference between hot and cold. The sensation was enough to jolt her into a fit of laughter, but Shippo‘s scream was enough to drown her out..

“There!” Cal yelled unnecessarily as he caught up with the others. “They’re caught on that power line.”

“How did you come to that conclusion? Was it the glowing woman or the smell of cooked flesh?”

“Shut up, Goodfellow!”

While the two argued, and Miroku raced on, Niko had reached into multipurpose trench and whipped out a machete. Twirling it once in his hand, the blonde had launched the deadly blade with an even deadlier accuracy, and off came Shippo’s hand.

With the taking of Shippo’s arm, also came his grip on the chains that held Kagome. And as she fell to earth, and Shippo screamed bloody murder over his hand, the chain fell away from the power line and Kagome went slack with exhaustion. Falling, time seemed to slow down. She looked up at Shippo, at her little Shippo, screaming bloody murder; her tormentor for months, enraged that others would dare oppose him. Though she couldn’t see, she felt that he was looking down at her, and for a second her heart froze at the gloom and loneliness that he projected at her, but then it was gone and the rage was back.

“Oh.” she moaned aloud just before she fell into the arms of an angel in training.

“I’ve got you.” he breathed into her ear, and he said it with such fervor and meaning that she curled up into the crook of his neck and began to cry.

“You can’t have her!” Shippo yelled, sounding like the child he was. “I hate you, you stupid bastard head!”

Shooting Shippo a look, Miroku sent a flare of holy energy out, and with a growl, Shippo took off into the night, cradling his hurt hand as he went.

“Is she alright?” Niko asked as they all gathered around the crying girl.

“She’ll be fine now.” Miroku answered shortly as he gathered up the hot chains and pivoted and began to walk away. “Come with me. I have the rest of your money in our room.”


~______~

By the time they made it to the motel, the ask-no-questions-motel, Kagome had stopped crying and was silent. After making it to the room, they settled in by propping Kagome up on side of the bed as Robin went to work on ridding her of the chains.

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” Miroku asked as he got busy hustling around the room.

“There wasn’t.” she answered him quietly.

“Then here.” he told her as he forced an apple in her hand, which she immediately began to munch on.

“Alright boys, now for your money.” Miroku narrated aloud as he carefully placed a clean pair of clothes and accessories next to his frazzled hair friend.

Going over to a drawer, Miroku rummaged around before presenting the boys with an overstuffed wallet. “Keep the change.”

“You’ve changed quite a bit Mr. Cardenas.” Cal commented as he held up the drivers license within the wallet.

“Well would you look at that.” Miroku murmured as he stared at the Hispanic man on the picture. But before anyone could say or do anything else, Robin let out a start and cursed in Italian as he fell to the floor.

Turning around, they caught the tail end of Kagome as she rushed into the bathroom, looking at Robin they saw him looking upset on the floor with the manacle that had covered her eyes in his hands.

“Those eyes.” he whispered in awe.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Miroku said in a rush as he helped the fallen faun from the floor and ushered him and the others out. “Thank you for your services, if you count any money missing, you know where to find me.” and with that said, Miroku shut the door in their faces.

“What the hell was that about?” Cal asked after a seconds pause.

“Those eyes will haunt my dreams for nights to come.” Robin muttered as he began to walk down the hall.

“Were they really that bad?” Niko asked, as he pocket the money and discarded the wallet.

“Looking into that woman’s eyes was like falling into hell during a perfect storm while hell was under attack by the celestial being above and you had just been stricken with the sound of children laughing in your head. Not to mention the vertigo.”

“All that from one glance?” Cal asked skeptically.

“I need a drink.”

“You always need a drink.”

~_____~

Cal growled menacingly as he cleaned the ogre blood off the bar counter. It knew better, they all knew better. It was one of the unwritten rules of the bar. Right up there with never piss off the bartender. And since he was thoroughly pissed off now, he was just on the edge from losing it.

He licked his lips as a hunger growl emitted from his belly. This only made him growl louder, blood and violence, made for one hungry Cal, and a hungry Cal, meant a dangerous Aulphe. And anything that affected his heritage, made for an even angrier bartender. They knew better; they could smell the difference in him; they knew not to piss him off anymore.

The silence made him look up; he had an audience. Every monster in the room was giving him silent, cautious glances. He growled louder and slammed the rag onto the table, sending up a waft of ogre blood into his nose. He licked his lips again.

“Alright assholes,” he yelled angrily. “Since I have your attention! What the fuck did I tell you about bringing ‘snacks’?”

“Don’t do it.” a few mumbled, or gurgled, and snarled.

“That’s right. Don’t fucking do it. I know you eat humans, but you do it out there where I can’t catch you until later!”

“Did you kill somebody else in my damn bar?”

Turning from his scolding of the bar patrons, Cal briefly looked over his shoulder at his boss, Isshiah.

“I didn’t kill him. But he’s probably going to die.” after saying this, Cal made one final look at his customers, but they had already gotten the message and gone back to their business.

“Where’d you put the body?” The Peri asked, ignoring his sour and menacing demeanor.

“Out in the alley.”

“Go get rid of it.”

“What?” Cal asked, all anger and violence in his face being replaced by dismay.

“Stop being lazy and get rid of that body.”“But, but somebody will eat it.”

“You put it there, you get rid of it.”

“Damnit!” grumbling, Cal tossed his apron to the counter and stormed out the back door.

Grunting in triumph, Isshiah took up Cal’s post behind the bar, glaring in warning at would be troublemakers and dishing out his patrons chosen poison.

~_____~

“There, you happy?” Cal complained as he finally trudged in through the back door. “Now, I smell like ogre.”

Sniffing himself in disgust, Cal gave his hands a half-assed wash and turned to find his boss, stoic and wary, staring into the back of the bar.

“Hey, what’s got your feathers ruffled?”

Said feathers twitched as they were mentioned, but as he boss turned to face him, they were out of sight in a blink.

“What’s up?”

“There’s a human girl here.” Isshiah told him a nod of his head towards the back.

“What? Who brought her in? After I just told them about bringing in snacks!” the last was directed towards the clientele as his voice rose in irritation.

Scanning the crowd, he didn’t see sight of her, but he didn’t smell human blood, so he knew they hadn’t eaten her yet. Hell they hadn’t even taken a bite. Someone was either planning to take her out later, or they were planning to make the hybrid from hell by getting her drunk and possibly glamoured. He would have gone out and dug her from whatever monsters grasp she had fallen in to, but since Isshiah hadn’t made a move, then he too would back off. For the moment.

“No one brought her in. She came by herself.”

“What, is she crazy? Something’s wrong with her right? Is she dressed in all black with her hair in her face, pale skin, and a sour disposition?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you just described yourself.”

Giving himself a quick once over, Cal ran a hand through his hair, getting it out of his face. “Yeah, but it works for me.”

Isshiah’s lips quirked as he turned away. “If you believe so. Look, just watch out for her, she’s playing cards with the wolves.”

“I wouldn’t be too worried about her anyway, “ Isshiah muttered, turning to head into the back, just as the wolves let up an uproarious cacophony. “She smells like death.”

“What?” Cal yelled, trying to be heard over the noise, but Isshiah had already gone. “Right.”

Now knowing where to look, Cal could take a guess as to where the human girl had gone. The wolves were having a fit. Throwing back mugs of beer, growling, roaring, and beating the crap out of each other in companionship. Then he saw it, a small hand. Since it wasn’t covered in fur or disfigured, he assumed that it was her. She shot up onto her feet, slapped the cards onto the table and let loose a torrent of guttural growls and barks. Yep, that was her. In fact, she looked hella familiar.

Just as the thought went through his head, one of the wolves began to confront her in anger. He made to go to her aid, but he saw she didn’t need it. The girl held her ground and stared up at the hulking beast as if she was the bigger one. She pushed back, she growled, and she showed her teeth in defiance. She wore glasses and a tailored pin stripe suit, looking like a mob assailant reject. After a silent standoff the werewolf finally showed his neck and backed off, but not before angrily tossing a chair across the room and knocking out a vampire.

Smiling, and practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, the girl slapped the wolf on the back good naturedly and pushed her glasses back onto her nose. Looking up, she spotted him watching her and came over.

“What can I get you?” he asked her as she sat on a stool.

“Hmm.” she wondered, placing her arm on the bar and tapping her lips with a finger and drawing his attention. “Surprise me.”

“Surprise? Alright.” muttering about surprises Cal disappeared behind the bar and reappeared with a cold beer. Popping the top off with his thumb, he handed it to her. “Surprise.”

“Thank you, broody.” Reaching for the beer she got a start as he grabbed her wrist. As he pulled her closer, the corner of her lips curled.

“What are you doing here with these monsters?” he asked lowly, his voice scolding.

“What monsters are we talking about?” bringing her other hand up to rest atop of his.

“The ones that won’t hesitate to eat you. What are you doing here?” he asked again, releasing her hand and freeing his own.

She rolled the beer in her hand and looked silently at him through her glasses. “I came looking for you.”

Watching him, she saw a glint in his eyes and a slight tensing of the body. He was a fighter and was prepared to kill her if the need be. He grinned at her, but there was no humor in it at all. If she had been anyone else, the look would have been frightening. But she was who she was, so she grinned back.

“Me? And what the hell do you want with me?”

“We met last week and I just wanted to have a proper one. Face to face.”

He stared at her a moment in silence .The moment then stretched to a minute and her smiled widened. “Oh.” he finally voiced. “We rescued you from that demon. Yeah, you made Goodfellow throw up.”

“Did I?” Hearing this, her smile slipped.

“Not really, but he wanted to. He looked like he did. What did you do to him?”

“I did nothing.” she told him, fixing her glasses. “I can’t help it.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“My eyes?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I’ll show you later.” she told him with her voice low, trying to draw the attention away from her eyes. “I’d rather talk about you.”

“Is that right?” straightening up, Cal leant on the back counter and crossed his arms.

“Don’t get all defensive. You piqued my attention when you came to rescue me and now I see you’re just as interesting to the eye.” she too sat up straighter and shrugged. “I just thought we could have a little fun.”

“Wait.” with a fevered look, Cal swooped in closer. “Are you flirting with me?”

“I wouldn’t say flirting.” she answered him. Leaning in so close that she could easily lick his nose. “Think of it as seducing.”

“Why do you want to seduce me?”

“Because your scent drives me crazy.” bobbing her head, her nose touched his and he rocked back like she had burned him.

“Whoa!” he murmured, his face flushed. Blowing hard he snatched her untouched beer from her hands and downed half of it in one gulp. Blowing hard once more, he set the beer back down and fell back in close with her. “Alright.” he told her with darkening eyes. “but what are you? Because you got to be more than human.”

“Yeah, I’m human. Just…” here she ran her hand across his cheek and into his hair. “…with a healing touch.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” he said, feeling the soothing effects of her touch.

“I interrupt?” an angry, raspy voice sounded behind her.

Seeing Cal’s eyes widen, Kagome knew that the owner of the voice was someone she couldn’t ignore. Spinning on the stool, Kagome found herself staring at a snowy white beauty dressed in biker leathers. Her eyes seemed more annoyed than angry, but her cleft lip was pulled back to show teeth.

“Delilah.” Cal greeted but with wary caution in his voice.

“Is this your woman, Cal?” Kagome wanted to know as she stood to face down her knew rival.

“Whenever she feels like it. Listen Kagome, you should really….”

“So you remember my name?” with a defiant flirt in her voice Kagome flashed him a smile.

“Alpha bitch.” Delilah growled stepping up in between Kagome and the bar.

Kagome growled back, but the fight Delilah was looking for didn’t reach her face, for she still wore a smile.

Snorting, Delilah turned her back on her, grabbed Cal roughly behind the neck and forced a heated kiss on him. She didn’t stop until she needed air, and practically throwing Cal back to his side of the bar, she turned to face Kagome with a smug mug. “Mine pretty boy.”

Laughing at the display, Kagome showed Delilah her neck and back off. “Of course.”

“I kind of feel like a whore right now.” Cal muttered aloud, obviously displeased by something. “What the hell are you looking at?” the latter was yelled to the watching patrons of the bar.

Getting the bar goers back to their beers, he turned an eye on Delilah. “And what the hell was that all about? I know miss I-have-many-lovers wasn’t jealous, was she?”

“I my own wolf. You my pretty boy.”

“What?”

Seeing a lovers quarrel coming on, Kagome made her exit out of the bar and into the night, where she found Miroku waiting patiently for her.

“Did you get what you needed?” Miroku asked her as they began walking.

“Yeah.” she answered, hooking her arm in his and leaning against him. “I’m not quite as dead as I thought I was.”

Miroku didn’t respond, only hummed in acknowledgment.

“I might not ever love again, but I still can feel things. Be attracted to others.”

“What attracted you to the freelancer?”

“I think I might have problems. Because he smelled like a predator.” She laughed at this and had to stop so Miroku could hold her up. “he smelled like smoldering violence and stubbornness.”

“And that really did it for you huh?”

“More like just made me realize that I could still have an attraction. I’m not dead, Miroku.”

“I could have told you that.”

She laughed softly and shrugged. “Now I don’t know what to expect down the road. What am I going to do? How am I going to end up? What’s going to happen? I just don’t know.”

“Well at least you don’t have to find out alone.”

“Yeah.” she agreed with him, before going quiet.

They continued down the street in a companionable silence. Ignoring walkers, hookers, and monsters brave enough to beckon at them. Even when the doorway opened up before them, they neither hesitated or acknowledged it; they just let it swallow them whole.