InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Ichi no Tama ❯ The Unwinding ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: Hi there! I'm katyexmachina. This is my first fic on mm.org, but I've written them before. This is just the first I've really, really liked. It's my baby. ^_^ Anyway, I hope you like it too - tell me what you think, ne?

Disclaimer: Um. I have eighty-seven cents in my wallet…but no Inuyasha. He belongs to Takahashi-san.

 

Inuyasha Himezu was fucked.

 

Not just fucked, he was royally fucked. He was dead. Dead, dead, deaddy-dead-dead.

 

“Inuyasha…”

 

The hanyou nearly cringed, but instead stood a little straighter and looked up at the stoic lawyer.

 

“It can be fixed.”

 

Inuyasha could not remember loving Sesshoumaru more. He nearly hugged his half-brother…nearly.

 

“Excellent! I owe you one.”

 

The older youkai sighed quietly, but his icy demeanor didn't slip as he looked across his desk. “Perhaps all this could be avoided next time by simply not killing the suspect before the trial?” Sesshoumaru asked flatly.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Inuyasha replied impatiently. “Just do your lawyer shit and clear me, ok?”

 

“Of course, it does mean dozens of house of my time, and mountains of paperwork…” Sesshoumaru began, but Inuyasha was long gone.

 

“Ingrate,” the youkai murmured as he returned to his work.

 

Meanwhile, Inuyasha bounded out of his brother's office with a grin plastered on his face. His latest screw-up had been weighing down on him for some time now, and he had honestly been worried that he wouldn't be able to get out of it this time. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but he really didn't want to lose his job. He had done something noticeable by the public eye, which was a big no-no in the Youkai Task Force. The Japanese government worked hard to keep the YTF under wraps, and agents that fucked up as often as Inuyasha were not often kept on for very long.

 

Of course, Inuyasha was a little different from your average screw-up. Certainly, he got himself into trouble often, but he always got out of it on his own (sort of), and his work was otherwise great: no suspect had ever gotten away from Inuyasha in his 4-year history on the force.

 

So the higher-ups kept him around despite his fuck-ups, a fact of which Inuyasha was endlessly proud. This job meant everything to him, and he knew he was good at it.

 

Inuyasha looked at his watch as he stepped out onto the Tokyo street. It was half-past twelve; still plenty of time to get back to the office before his lunch break ended. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and set off down the sidewalk. He figured maybe he could stop for coffee before he went back to headquarters; he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he'd meant to the previous night (much thanks to the mistake he'd made regarding his target) and his boss had hinted at a big project that would be offered to Inuyasha upon his return. The hanyou scowled. He hoped it wouldn't take too much effort; he'd been overloaded recently as it was. The youkai of Tokyo were getting restless, and he'd had so many jobs lined up for so long…

 

Pushing open the door to Tajio Café, Inuyasha sighed at the line. Tajio was, of course, one of the most popular coffee shops in the bustling business district; it was no wonder it would be so full during lunch hours. Still, Inuyasha thought as he stepped in to wait, it's really fucking good coffee.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kagome Higurashi tapped her foot impatiently as she stared down the clock, not even bothering to appear like she was working. It was only a few more seconds until she could go for lunch, and oh, she was starved! Her stomach growled loudly, and Kagome winced.

 

Twelve more seconds, she told herself, counting down.

 

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…

 

It was getting too much to bear now…

 

Three, two, one..!

 

Snatching up her purse, Kagome charged out of her office and down the stairs, not bothering to wait for something as superfluous as an elevator. There was an excellent little café in the lobby of her building, and that was all she could think of.

 

As she burst onto the main floor, the smell of pastries, breads, and coffee filled her nose, allowing her to relax some. She drifted across the hall, following the tantalizing scents and mellow music seeping out of the coffee shop. The line was long, but Kagome didn't care a bit. Anything for a sandwich and some tea, she thought as she slipped into the back of the queue.

 

“Hey!” came a voice from behind her. Kagome jumped a little and swirled. She inhaled sharply when she saw who was speaking to her.

 

“You cut me!” the silver-haired man continued, snapping Kagome out of her daze.

 

“Oh, sorry!” she replied sincerely as she stepped out of the man's way. “I didn't see you.”

 

“Like hell, bitch! Think you can just barge in here and jump in front of me? No way! I've been waiting forever!”

 

Kagome gaped. She couldn't believe this guy! She had apologized, hadn't she? And she'd been very polite! Kagome's face contorted from her customary congenial smile into an angry scowl.

 

“Now listen here!” she fumed, jabbing a finger into the man's chest accusatorily. “I gave you your spot, right? And I say I was sorry. So what else do you need, bowing and scraping? A red carpet? Sorry, fresh out of those!” Kagome rolled her eyes. “Why don't you just take your spot back and I'll get in line behind you?”

 

“Keh,” the man scoffed dismissively, sidestepping around her to take his original place.

 

“Some people,” Kagome muttered darkly as she slipped in behind the rude man. She glared at his back, hoping to make him as uncomfortable as possible. But the glare quickly became a curious gaze as she looked him up and down. He was tall, at least half a foot above her own 5'6” frame, and very well built. His body was slim, to be certain, but she could see the lines of his muscles through the grey long-sleeved tee he wore. And his hair! What a beautiful color! The dim lighting of the café glinted off it and formed a halo around his head. And then…what was that twitching in his tresses? Kagome couldn't quite make out what it was because of the angle she was looking from, but she could see the movement.

 

Frowning, she stood on her tiptoes to try to catch a glimpse.

 

Are they…ears?

 

Sure enough, one of the triangle-shaped appendages swiveled 180 degrees to face her. Kagome squeaked and dropped back down off her toes. She knew what ears like that meant…she had enough experience with such things from her work in the police department.

 

“Youkai,” she breathed.

 

The man whirled around, lip curled. “Hanyou,” he hissed, correcting her. “I'm a half-breed.”

 

Kagome swallowed audibly. “I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare,” she murmured, looking down at her feet.

 

“Keh! What are you, scared now?” he sneered.

 

Kagome straightened to meet the man - no, demon's golden eyes. “No,” she replied defiantly. “I was only curious…”

 

“Curious as to what?” the hanyou asked threateningly.

 

“Are you a cat demon?” she asked fearlessly.

 

“Cat!” the man shouted, offended. “Fuck no. I'm an inuyoukai!”

 

“Oh. Your ears aren't very dog-like, are they?” Kagome commented, giving them a cursory glance.

 

“The fuck they aren't! They're very dog-like! Cat my ass…nothing feline about me, stupid bitch…”

 

Kagome smiled coldly. “Your turn to order,” she pointed out icily.

 

The hanyou glared at her, but stalked off to speak to the barista and get his drink.

 

What an ass, Kagome thought contemptuously. Thank God I'll never run into him again.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

“Higurashi!”

 

Kagome groaned. She knew what that shout meant…she was about to get pounded for something or another.

 

“Yes, Matsuyama-san?” she inquired, smiling sweetly as she leaned her head out of her cubicle.

 

“In my office, now!” the red-faced man commanded.

 

“Yes, sir,” Kagome replied with a sigh.

 

“And bring the Ichi no Tama file!”

 

Kagome made a face at her superior's back as she gathered the requested information, but followed him obediently.

 

“Shut the door.”

 

Kagome obeyed, closing it quietly behind her.

 

“Now, tell me, Higurashi,” Matsuyama began, steepling his pudgy fingers, “exactly how many people are on this case with you?”

 

“Five officers, sir, plus Miroku,” she answered promptly, naming her close friend and the floor's intelligence agent.

 

Matsuyama sighed and massaged his temples. “Kagome…”

 

Kagome winced. If he was using her first name, something was seriously wrong.

 

“I need to take away three officers at least,” the older man informed her apologetically.

 

“But sir! Nothing could be more important than this case!” she burst out, shocked.

 

“Kagome, I know. I can't…” Matsuyama shook his head slightly and sat up straighter. “I can't have six of my officers on one case and one case alone, I just can't. We're losing money fast. Ichi no Tama…they're everywhere, and I know there are members up with the bigwigs. They're turning down funding bills right and left, and I think it's because of this case. They know what we're up to, Kagome, and we just can't risk the whole organization on one little case.”

 

“Matsuyama-san…”

 

“No, Kagome. I have to.” Matsuyama paused for a moment. “I can leave you Narita and Matsuo, I know they're your best, and Kinjo can stay on part-time, but that's all I can do.”

 

Kagome nodded, pursing her lips. “What about Miroku?”

 

Matsuyama took a second to consider. “Yes, Kobayashi can work on it, but try to lighten up on him, ok? There are other important projects on this floor, it's not just yours.”

 

Kagome smiled weakly. “Thank you, sir,” she said quietly.

 

Matsuyama waved off the gratitude. “Go back to work,” he told her, not unkindly.

 

It was all Kagome could do not to cry as she trudged back to her desk. The Ichi no Tama case was the most important of the decade, for certain, and here she was, losing important members of her team! And they were so close to finding the secret behind the seemingly innocuous cult…this cutback would slow them down enormously, first with all the paperwork required for transferring personnel, and then with the loss of the work the agents had been doing. There should be ten agents on this case, not three! she thought desperately. Ichi no Tama was planning something, she had the evidence in her hands! Transcripts of mysterious phone calls regarding plutonium and uranium, confessions from ex-members of the cult regarding kidnappings, murders, and bribes…and still the government chose to let the dangerous group slip by them under the banner of religious freedom. Ichi no Tama was no religion, and Kagome was sure of it. It was just a poorly disguised demon supremacy group bent on furthering the cause!

 

The dark-haired woman blinked back the angry tears welling in her eyes as she sat down to draft a letter to her teammates to explain.

 

This just isn't fair.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kenji Tanaka walked briskly towards the train station. He was running a little late because of the last-minute meeting Higurashi had called to tell him and Kouga they had been placed on new cases, and he didn't want to miss the train home. He smiled as he thought about his young daughter, Haruka, and patted his coat pocket to check the birthday present he had bought that day was still safely stowed away. She was turning six that day, and he didn't want to be late to her party.

 

As he mounted the steps to the train station, he felt a small pinprick in his neck. Frowning, Kenji stopped walking and reached up to touch it. He felt nothing, however, and was about to start climbing the stairs when a young woman tapped his shoulder.

 

“Um, excuse me,” she said, looking at him nervously, “but I'm a bit short for the train fare…do you have any extra money?”

 

Kenji smiled kindly. “Of course, I'd be glad to help,” he replied as he pulled out his wallet. Suddenly, he felt quite dizzy. He grasped the rail beside him for balance, but the spell was gone as quickly as it came. Shaking his head to clear it, Kenji found some coins to give to the girl. “Now how much do you need?”

 

He looked back up from his wallet, holding out the money, but the girl was gone. Kenji looked around, startled. She was just there a second ago…

 

“That looks like plenty,” the same girl hissed in his ear, and everything went black.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

The phone was ringing.

 

“Five more minutes,” Kagome mumbled, pulling her pillow over her head to block out the sound, but the shrill sound continued. “Fine!” she groaned, opening her eyes and removing her head to look at the time. Her alarm clock boasted the time mockingly: four a.m.

 

“Unnnnnnnh,” Kagome groaned, grabbing her cell from her nightstand. “What?” she snapped as she flipped it open.

 

“Higurashi!” a familiar voice barked from the other end.

 

“Oh no…” she whispered. Clearing her throat, Kagome sat up and flicked on her lamp. “What is it, Matsuyama-san?” she asked groggily.

 

“It's Tanaka,” the disembodied voice replied. “His wife called us a few hours ago to check if he was still at the office. He didn't come home after work like usual.”

 

Kagome's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh shit,” she said. “Oh no. Please tell me you found him.”

 

Matsuyama sighed, the sound coming across the airwaves as static. “No, we didn't. The Night Force faxed me a missing persons report a few minutes ago. They're going to keep looking, but something tells me they won't find him.”

 

“He went home at eight, I know he did! I asked if he wanted to get a coffee or something, since I felt bad about kicking him off the team, and he said no, he had to get home because of his daughter's birthday…” Kagome explained hysterically. “Oh God,” she murmured.

 

“Kagome, listen. The Night Force found his wallet on the ground outside the train station down the road from the office, along with some coins. Nobody saw anything. No money was missing from the wallet. No prints, no sign of a struggle. Jack shit. If you ask me, that sounds a helluva lot like something we've seen before.”

 

“Ichi no Tama,” Kagome finished flatly.

 

“Exactly. This situation is exactly the same as the Yoshida and Suzuki kidnappings. And nobody else knows that we moved Tanaka and Sasaki off the case, so it would make sense they would target Kenji.”

 

Kagome rested her forehead on her free hand. “So what do we do?” she asked desperately.

 

“We wait, Kagome,” Matsuyama replied quietly. “Either we get a ransom or we don't. But no matter what, we can't let Ichi no Tama know about our suspicions. We can send out a press release saying Kenji was demoted or something, and that we believe he's run away. But if we let anybody know what we really think, he'll be killed, Kagome. You know how these people work.”

 

Kagome made a small noise of agreement.

 

“Go back to sleep, Higurashi,” Matsuyama said gruffly after a moment. “You'll need your rest.”

 

“Yes, sir,” she affirmed flatly, then hung up. However, she knew she wouldn't be able to rest at all now that she knew about Kenji. Resigned, she got out of bed to take a shower. If she could get into work early, she might be able to do something about Kenji.

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Inuyasha rested his chin on his palm as he stared absentmindedly at his superior. He had no idea what Miyake was talking about, and he really didn't care. He'd read the assignment and he understood; all the rest of this was bullshit designed to give the boneheads Inuyasha worked with a chance to ask stupid questions so they didn't fuck up. Again.

 

Inuyasha looked back down at the packet on the table in front of him. He glanced at the objective once more. Ichi no Tama. He knew of the organization well. They had tried many times to assassinate his father, the fuckers. Inuyasha, too, would be on their death list, if they knew he existed. The hanyou snorted quietly. That was half the reason he was part of this little get-together of morons; as far as anybody outside the YTF was concerned, Inuyasha Himezu did not exist. There were no records of his birth, no photographs, nothing. He was a figment of their imagination.

 

There were many reasons for this fact, the most important of which tied into his father's identity yet again: Inutaisho Arakaki was the Minister of Youkai-Human Relations in Japan, and a very public figure. Izayoi Himezu, on the other hand, had been a simple maid in the building Inutaisho worked in. Put the two together and you got Inuyasha, an illegitimate half-breed. So, naturally, his birth had to be kept secret. Such a scandal would have ruined Inutaisho politically.

 

The other main reason was Inuyasha's current job. As a field agent for the highly secretive Youkai Task Force, Inuyasha was required to keep a low profile. The only proof of existence there had been before he joined the elite force, his birth certificate, had been destroyed upon his enlistment. “Now your identity is flexible,” they had told him as he'd watched the paper burn. “You are valuable in your flexibility.”

 

“Keh,” Inuyasha muttered.

 

“I'm sorry, what was that Himezu-kun?” Kikyou Miyake asked sharply. All eyes turned to the hanyou.

 

“Nothing, Miyake-san, I was only agreeing with the point you just made,” he lied, smiling at her.

 

“Hm,” Kikyou intoned skeptically, but returned to her presentation.

 

Inuyasha turned his gaze to the slim woman at the front of the room. Kikyou Miyake was one of the few humans employed by the YTF, but that was not what made her so interesting to Inuyasha. They had known each other since high school, eight years at that point, and for as long as the hanyou could remember, there had been an inexplicable attraction between the two of them. Inuyasha had lost his virginity to her in the tenth grade, but she had already been deflowered, interestingly enough. They had never been a couple, nor had they talked about dating, but a sexual relationship persisted. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes in disgust. They hated each other, but he needed her, and vice versa. It was wrong and twisted and hurtful, but they never could seem to stop.

 

“Himezu!” Kikyou barked. Inuyasha looked up at her lazily. “You are assigned to recover the kidnapped persons from Ichi no Tama. This is not a bust-in, bust-out operation, all right? It requires delicacy. You must infiltrate their organization before you can retrieve them - they are powerful, and anything less will bring the whole of the system down on your little doggie ears.”

 

Inuyasha glared at his superior. “Yeah, whatever,” he snapped. “I understand.”

 

Kikyou nodded, satisfied. “You will be assigned a partner from the Metropolitan Police team that's on the case. That agent will provide you with the intelligence from outside that you will need. In the meantime, you'll have to start by adopting your new identity. I have your papers in my office. You will come there after I am finished with the rest of the agents assigned to this operation for further instructions.”

 

Inuyasha smirked. He knew what that meant - she was angry at him for not paying attention, and now she would retaliate. Somehow, the punishment she was sure to inflict on him was not daunting.

 

He stood and stalked out of the debriefing room, heading for Kikyou's office to wait.

 

This should be good, he thought acidly.

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: First chappy all done! Wheeeee how exciting. Reviews?