InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Plain Sight ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

In Plain Sight

 

Prologue

 

The shrill ringing of the telephone pierced through the Higurashi household at eight in the morning. “I got it!” Shortly followed the beginning of the piercing sound as a young woman of eighteen years bounced down the stairs, biting her lip. Picking up the phone hesitantly, she greeted; “Higurashi residence. May I ask who is speaking?” A moment's pause followed this greeting.

 

A few moments later, she had her hand clamped over her chest in fear as she listened to the voice on the other end. “But I don't have the money!” She hissed into the receiver, her eyes shifting up and down the corridor nervously. She gave a nervous smile to her cousin as she walked past. “Look, I know I promised by the end of the month, but I...” she was cut off again. “No! Please! I-!”

 

The dial tone sounded on the other end of the line.

 

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Two manila folders were deposited on the desk of Detective Takahashi Inuyasha. Lifting an eyebrow at his co-worker, he allowed his bored look to be read quite accurately as his dark ponytail bunched at the nape of his neck, as the angle he was required to tilt his head to look at said co-worker was quite steep. “What's this?” He asked.

 

Hirose Miroku rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The Captain wants this file looked into.” He snorted. “Some woman who inherited the debt her father racked up with Onigumo Naraku.” He paused as Inuyasha opened the folder on top, peering at the photograph. A pretty young woman in her late teens or early twenties peered back up at him from the top of the file. Her profile said she had been eighteen at the time of death. “She was involved in a car accident with her younger sibling and grandfather. All three of them were killed. Her cousin went missing on the same day. We think she was dealt with in a similar manner and disposed of elsewhere. No one has ever found her body.”

 

Flipping through the file, Inuyasha read the autopsy and accident reports and looked at the photos of the scene, before snorting and tossing it back onto his desk. “It all looks fine to me. What's she wanting it looked at for?” His eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair as he asked Miroku the seemingly obvious question. Even if it had been deemed homicide, the case would have been long cold by that time, anyway.

 

Miroku sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk, looking around nervously before leaning over. “The Captain's informant told her that Onigumo has found evidence that the cousin is alive and living under a false name.” Miroku whispered cautiously; Onigumo Naraku was known to have spies everywhere - even Police Stations. “She'll be the next target if he manages to find her. The Captain wants us to find her first and bring her into protective custody.”

 

Inuyasha flipped through the second file, finding the photograph of the missing woman. “They could be one and the same.” He whistled under his breath. “Damn, if there ain't a resemblance between them.” He said a little louder so that Miroku could hear him.

 

Miroku nodded. “Yeah, I noticed it too. Such extraordinary beauty would not be easily mistaken.” He lectured sagely. “I doubt that Onigumo's eye-witness evidence is false. She is out there somewhere, alive and well. Well… as well as she can be expected to be for being on the run from a blood-thirsty and money-grubbing criminal.”

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “They look pretty ordinary to me.” At Miroku's appalled glance, Inuyasha shrugged. “I'm just sayin'…” he paused. “Well, if she really is out there, then we'd better try and find her. Where're the reports sayin' she's hiding?”

 

“Kyoto.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes almost bugged out of his head. “You're joking, right?” He almost choked. “She wants us to go to Kyoto?! For how long?!”

 

“As long as it takes.” A new voice sounded behind him. Inuyasha whipped around to stare at his commanding officer, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Inuyasha, you and Miroku are my best detectives; I can't trust anyone else to find her.” She sat down next to Miroku. “Once Onigumo finds her, its all over. Her entire family will be wiped out, and Japan will lose one of its longest-running bloodlines. Forgetting all that, she's an innocent woman.” She ruffled through the folders and pulled out the two photos. “She's already paid the price of her father's actions.” She tapped the picture of the one who had died in the crash. “Do you want her to face the same consequences in her Uncle's name?” She tapped the other.

 

Inuyasha sighed. “But Sango…”

 

“She's right, Inuyasha.” Miroku reprimanded him. “Besides, just imagine the possibilities! I've heard that Kyoto boasts some of the most beautiful geisha in the country! I-”

 

“No womanising!” Sango rapped Miroku over the head with her knuckles. “You can't afford to be distracted. You go there, find her, and bring her back.” Miroku sighed. “Now, I want you two to go down to the lab before you get ready to leave. I've had some of the materials from the crash sent down there from the archives to be re-examined. It should all be done by now.”

 

“Yeah, yeah…” Inuyasha grumbled, replacing the pictures in the folders and trudging down the hall with Miroku.

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

“Where are we headed?” She asked her grandfather, trying to keep her panic out of her voice. “You know I don't like surprises!”

 

“Just wait and you'll see!” He laughed. Her younger sibling sat in the front seat, snoozing in the twilight. She and her cousin sat in the back seat, passing the time by playing `Eye Spy'. They knew it was a childish game, but they really didn't care. They were the carefree type, and participated in all kinds of childish games without so much as a second thought.

 

“Fine then!” She attempted to laugh, settling back into her seat. The scenery zipped past as she watched outside the window. Her mind began to wander away from the present.

 

“Hey… you ok?” Her cousin asked carefully, knowing she was walking on eggshells whenever she asked that question.

 

“Huh?” She brought her attention back to the present; she had been worrying about the phone call from that morning again. “ Oh… oh, yeah, I'm fine…”

 

“If you're sure…”

 

“I'm fine. Really.”

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

“I ran all the blood that was found on the remains of the clothing.” Ayame pulled up the DNA comparisons on the computer when Inuyasha and Miroku walked into the forensic lab.

 

“Remains?”

 

Ayame shot a look at Miroku, as if to suggest that he was being stupid. “Yes. Remains.” She shook her head.

 

Inuyasha butted in. He'd read the file on the way down. “The car caught fire before emergency personnel managed to get there.” He explained. “It was slow, so it managed to burn their faces beyond recognition, but it didn't get to their IDs. The two women were identified by their licenses, and the kid had a school ID.”

 

Ayame nodded. “Right.” She pointed to the comparisons. “Now, there was a lot of mixing of blood, so I had to filter out each of their DNA by using the old tissue samples. The old DNA was degraded, but it was enough for me to find something interesting.”

 

“How so?” Miroku peered at the screen as if it held the meaning of life.

 

Ayame grinned. “The woman in the car wasn't who the report says it is.”

 

“What?” Inuyasha burst out; he didn't like how Ayame was being so cryptic. “How the hell can you tell when there's no sample DNA from the victims?”

 

She winked. “I didn't need it.” She pulled up two specific DNA profiles. “The one on the left is the kid.” She pointed it out. “The one on the right is the woman. Notice anything weird?”

 

“They're barely alike…” Miroku whistled.

 

Ayame nodded. “Exactly. Now, they have some common DNA, but not much. I'd guess they had the same grandparents, or something.” She paused again, pointing out the similarities. “The kid and the woman were possibly cousins, but they were most definitely not siblings.”

 

Inuyasha thought for a moment. “You still got the woman's licence?” He asked carefully. Ayame nodded, picking up the small piece of plastic contained in the evidence baggie. “Any chance you could still lift prints from it?”

 

“I can try…”

 

“Do it.” Inuyasha flipped through the accident report. “Check them against this and give us a call when you're done.” He handed her the sheet of the victim's fingerprints. “We'll be heading home to start packing. We'll stop back in before we leave.”

 

“I'll do my best.” Ayame nodded as Inuyasha and Miroku left the room.

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

Her attention snapped back to the present at the lurch of the car, and the sound of crunching metal. The lurching and crunching happened again, accompanied by the curses of her grandfather and cousin as they tried to get a look at whoever was trying to run them off the road. Her stomach started to turn as the call from that morning came to mind again. This was it…

 

“Fuck!” Her cousin cursed, shielding her face with her hands as her window shattered. “Watch out!”

 

She held her own arm up to protect her against the shattered glass. “Is everyone ok?” She called, panicking.

 

“Fine!” Was her answer. Her sibling in the front seat was screaming and crying as their grandfather tried to simultaneously calm all of them down and avoid the maniacal driver.

 

“Shit!” He cursed as they were rammed again. Without warning, his hands slipped from the wheel, and the car was sent into a spiral, veering off the road and toward a small ravine in the forest. All the occupants of the car screamed and held on for dear life, each shielding their eyes against shattering glass.

 

The car ran off a ledge, flipping upside down, and bringing their heads into contact with the roof as it collapsed under them. She felt a sharp pain in her temple as darkness began to swim at the edges of her vision. “Is everyone ok?” She croaked weakly. A gurgling sound answered her, before all struggling in her family ceased. She could not even hear their breathing anymore. Continuing to struggle, she pushed the darkness away and wriggled herself out of the car.

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

Inuyasha and Miroku kept their word and arrived back at the lab on the way to the airport. Accepting the slip of prints from Ayame, Inuyasha put them back in the file where they belonged. “Well?” He asked, impatiently.

 

“I just finished two seconds before you walked in.” Ayame beamed.

 

“And?”

 

“You're a genius, Inuyasha.”

 

“I know.” He grunted sarcastically. “Remind me why.”

 

“They don't match.” Ayame positively glowed, showing them. “They're in no way similar. Boys, we have a case of mistaken identity.” Ayame announced dramatically. “I'm almost positive; the one in the car is the `missing cousin'. The one you're really looking for is the girl who is supposedly dead. Find her, and you'll find out who this actually is in the crash.”

 

Miroku whistled under his breath. “So… all these years…”

 

Ayame nodded. “Its so sad. I'm guessing she swapped the IDs and ran away from the crash site. She let her cousin be her cover and went into hiding. Since she has no other surviving family and went to a different city in a different part of the country, there was no one to identify her.” She paused. “What are you going to do now?”

 

“We're gonna find her, of course.” Miroku announced proudly.

 

“Says you.” Inuyasha grunted. “She's probably covered her tracks well, since she's managed to stay hidden for five years without being detected by Onigumo or the government. I'd say it was purely by chance that Onigumo's goons spotted her on holiday, or something.” He mused out loud. “Besides, we don't even know if she actually lives in Kyoto; and she could very well move every few months to keep her trail hidden. We just don't know.”

 

“Well, that is why we will have to find out.” Miroku rolled his eyes. “We'll get Sango to find more specific details while we're on the plane and start the canvass when we get there.” He said logically. “We can only find out by searching.”

 

“Yeah, yeah…” Inuyasha grumbled. “Alright, we'd better go, Ayame. Let us know if you find anything else.” He nodded over his shoulder as they turned to leave. “We'll keep you posted, yeah?”

 

“Please.” Ayame nodded. “Good luck!”

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

A small, dark figure crept out of the car, crawling on her belly to the other side of the car. A small fire started as she fiddled around with her cousin's body. Cursing in pain, she managed to stand and limp away into the thick trees. Disappearing into the night, limping and cursing in pain at her most likely broken arm, she dimly heard emergency sirens in the distance.

 

A good distance away, she finally gave up and collapsed against a tree, sliding to the ground. With a hiss, she looked down at her arm, seeing where it was broken. Gritting her teeth, she grasped her wrist, and steadied herself to set the bone. With a deep breath, she tightened her grip, and yanked.

 

OoOoOoOoOoO

 

“Shit!”

 

A young woman of twenty three bolted up in bed, her hand automatically clamping onto the area where her arm had been broken five years previously. After a few moments of disorientation, she finally managed to calm herself. Wiping her forehead, which was drenched in sweat, she shivered in the chills that the memories always left her. The nightmare had been recurring almost every night since the incident.

 

“Get a grip, Hiromi.” She scolded herself. “It's in the past. All you have now is the present.”

 

She told herself this every time she had the dreams, and it never did her any good. The memory of seeing her grandfather, younger sibling, and cousin's lifeless bodies hanging upside down as she switched IDs made her sick every time she thought of it. She felt a horrible guilt at the memories, as well as a deep and burning anger at her father. If he had not gotten them in so much trouble, those things never wound have happened!

 

“Get back to sleep…” she all but pleaded with herself as she laid back down, “…please, just go back to sleep.”

 

That night, as with many others before it, her weeping marked the beginning of a fitful slumber.