InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love's Smirking Revenge ❯ Infidel ( Chapter 27 )

Love's Smirking Revenge

- Chapter 28 -

Infidel

 

Club VOSS was everything she'd expected a host club to be. Kagome appraised the purple textured walls, black accents and various backlit water features with little enthusiasm. The decor was no better, consisting entirely of circular boothed-in tables and lounge areas overflowing with leather and pillows.

Her hand slid off the slightly sticky bar and she discretely wiped it against her skirt.

You can't be serious...

But she was, and she had an enthusiastic voicemail from her Boss to prove it.

“Undercover? Great! Good to see you back on the beat Higurashi. Don't you dare disappoint me! It's your ass on the line if you screw this up!”

Asahi Shimbun's Editor had a certain knack for instilling his reporters with crippling self-doubt. Charming man.

This was her first undercover reporting stint in over a year and she'd be lying if she said she was anything but nervous.

She'd pitched it her Editor as an exclusive on the underage sex trade in host clubs, conveniently neglecting to mention that VOSS had any connection to the arson case. A smart reporter never gave away their scoop until the story was sitting on the Editor's desk for review. It'd only taken one stolen scoop for her to figure that out. She'd never make that mistake again, especially now. After a month out of work she had to explore every advantage that could get her back into the Boss's good books.

This hair brained scheme of hers went far beyond simple professional curiosity. She needed to prove to herself that she'd survived and the past month and he hadn't broken her. It was hard to remember sometimes, the person she'd been before December. She needed to find herself again and this was the only way she knew how to do that.

Going undercover, having to be quick on her feet and smooth enough to work information out of people that they weren't willing to share, made her feel alive. If she could do this then there was a chance she could be the old Kagome again and she needed to hold on to that. She'd do whatever it took to get this story, even if it meant posing as a hostess and working in one of the seediest establishments she'd ever stepped foot in.

The club's day manager emerged out of a back room and motioned for her to follow him. He'd introduced himself to her as Watanabe something-or-other but the only name she could remember was “Kappa”. The poor bastard bared an uncanny resemblance to the popular character and she'd taken no small amount of pleasure in baptising him with his new nickname.

“Kappa” led her behind a velvet curtain and down a short, whitewashed hallway. It seemed like this was where all the offices were - security, monies and management. She read the brass signs hanging on the doors they passed, taking note of what each room was for future reference.

“The Boss'll see you now.”

“Kappa” gestured to a non-descript door at the end of the hall.

Putting on her best girlish smile she bowed low and thanked him profusely until he disappeared into one of the doors they'd passed along the way.

Show time, she thought, re-adjusting her breasts before giving the door a discrete knock.

“Come in,” ordered the voice from the other side.

She let herself in with a slew of “sumimasens” and deep bows. The feminist inside of her recoiled in horror but business was business. She wasn't going to get what she wanted being herself. She had to be exactly what he wanted - coy, docile and flirtatious.

Enter “Hitomi”.

“Ah, Hitomi-san. Please, have a seat,” he greeted her, gesturing to the lone chair in front of his desk. “I'm Nobu Furukawa, the owner of VOSS.”

Nobu Furukawa was as seedy looking as the club he owned. He was a thin slip of a man with sallow cheeks and over gelled hair. His gaudy pinstripe suit didn't impress and neither did his crooked smile.

She sat down and crossed her legs, making certain to show as much thigh as possible. He took his time appraising her with his small, dark eyes. They lingered on her thighs and even longer on her chest.

Today she was flaunting her best “classy cleavage”, a look she'd perfected during years spent working in a man's world. It was just enough of a show to tempt and taunt without labelling her a slut. It worked wonders at getting her what she wanted.

Noting the slight leer that slid across the man's lips, she felt satisfied she hadn't lost her touch.

“So, I heard you're looking for a job?” He lowered his eyes briefly to her resume and gave it a passing glance.

“We might have something for you, but I've got a few things I need to know first.”

“Sure, anything,” she purred with an easy smile.

Momentarily setting her application aside, he laced his fingers behind his head and sat back in his chair. It swivelled slowly back and forth as he took his time studying her.

“You legal?”

She nodded, inwardly ecstatic that at 25 she could still pass for a 20 year-old. He pursed his lips and swivelled back and forth a few more times.

“You ever work for any of my competitors? We've got strict policies against that sort of thing. I don't need any of your ex-bosses breathing down my neck.”

She shook her head, “This'll be my first job at a club. I worked at Starbucks last year but it doesn't pay the bills. You know how it is.”

She punctuated that last comment with a girlish giggle and a light shrug. He smirked, apparently amused by her use of the present tense. What did it matter? This song and dance interview they were having was nothing more than a formality and they both knew it. She'd had the job the moment she walked through his office door.

Pulling his chair in close, he folded his hands atop the desk and leaned forward. He looked serious now, all amusement gone from the lines around his eyes and mouth. She waited expectantly and did her best to look cute.

“Can you flirt?”

Wearing a coy smile she leaned forward, gifting him with a prime cleavage shot, and whispered,

“With the best of `em.”

His eyes lingered on her chest just long enough to make her uncomfortable but so far it was mission accomplished. Discretely clearing his throat, he busied himself rifling through one of the drawers next to his desk and eventually handed her a work contract.

“For the first little while you'll be behind the bar. One of the more experienced girls will train you proper on serving the clients in a couple weeks.”

She nodded and handed him back the signed contract.

“Tonight you can start by doing a bit of an orientation session with Rin.”

Jackpot.

Kagome couldn't hide her smile. She'd be working with the exact person she'd come to this godforsaken place to find? Fate had finally decided to become her sweet mistress.

“That sounds great! I can't wait to get started,” she gushed with a girlish clap of excitement for effect.

Furukawa-san laughed and got up from behind his desk. She followed suit and watched him slowly make his way to her side. With a damp hand against her hip and an arm wrapped round her waist he guided her to the door.

“Hitomi-san, I hope you won't mind if I ask one small favour?”

“Of course, anything,” she beamed up at him while her insides recoiled at his touch.

She could handle just about anything he was going to throw at her - a kiss, a quick fondle, maybe some touchy feely, but she was starting to have some reservations about exactly how far she wanted to go for this job.

Thankfully, to some small extent, she'd misjudged the sort of lecher that he was.

“Could you do your best to help Rin pick a stage name? It's bad enough she's plain in the face but with a boring name she doesn't have a hope or a prayer of attracting any regulars.”

Her instant reaction of “asshole” was followed by the even stranger question of why he'd bothered hiring the girl in the first place if he thought she was plain and boring. The kid must have one hell of a personality.

Putting on a smile she nodded cheerily, “Of course Furukawa-san! Anything for you.”

“Good girl,” she replied with an appraising nod and sent her on her way with a firm pat on the ass.

Well, it could've been worse, she noted with a wry smile and made her way down the hall to the bar.

----

Detective Takahashi was pleased to find himself once more trapped within the walls of Interrogation Room 3.

Across from him sat Yoshi Ishii, a long time member of Inagawa-kai. He'd spent the last ten years in and out of prison and was the proud owner of a sizeable rap sheet filled with robberies, assaults and arson charges. He also bared a striking resemblance to the sketch sitting between them on the table.

Yoshi Ishii looked exactly how low level yakuza scum usually did, sallow, tattooed and missing a few teeth. Given the circumstances and the charges, he didn't appear the least bit concerned to be sitting where he was.

Wearing a smug smile, he kept his hands neatly folded on the table in front of him. His expression said `you've got nothing on me' and it made Takahashi smile.

“Didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon, Ishii.”

The man shrugged easily, looking mildly amused about something.

“Well, let's cut the shit shall we? Why'd you do it?”

Ishii's smile grew wide, revealing a missing incisor on his right side.

“Don' know what yer talkin' about, Detective.”

“I've got an eyewitness and your prints are on what's left of the Molotov cocktail you used to light the place up so let's try that one again.”

In actuality, they hadn't been able to lift anything more than charred ash from what was left of the bottle they found in the dumpster. Lucky for him, there were no laws against lying in the Interrogation Room. It was his favourite loophole in the law for situations exactly like this one.

Ishii cast a long look at the sketch and slowly nodded, “Ah. That.”

He considered his hands for a long moment, slowly unfolding them to reveal long-healed stubs where the ring and little fingers of his right hand had once been. Visible proof that this wasn't the first time Yoshi Ishii had found himself in hot water. It went a long way to explaining his indifference to it all.

“So what are you offering?”

He asked the question as though they were bartering over furniture at a garage sale instead of jail time.

“Answer a few of my questions and I'll make sure the PPO* cuts you a deal.”

Ishii considered the offer a moment before slowly nodding his head.

“Let's just say it was a favour for an old friend.”

“A hit for hire? The owners don't have any yakuza connections. I've been through their file.”

“Never said it was a hit for hire and never said it had anythin' to do with the owners, neither,” he pointed out before reclining back in his chair.

Takahashi paused long enough to take this in. That only left the waitress, but he couldn't figure how she was connected?

“Did the girl owe your friend money?”

Ishii shrugged and scratched at the day-old stubble growing along his cheekbone.

“Dunno, but she had a damn fine ass. If you see her around, tell her I say `hello' would ya? I think we might've got off to a bad start.”

Well, that answered at least one of his questions.

“Why didn't you kill her when you were done? Would've kept you out of here,” he said, gesturing to the bare cement walls of the interrogation room.

Ishii shrugged, “Wasn't in the job description.”

“S'pose you wanna tell me who this friend of yours is?” Takahashi ventured, half-joking.

“S'pose my generosity's run out,” he answered with a firm look.

Well it wasn't everything he wanted, but more than he'd expected. He'd take it for now and see what he could make of it. Leaving Ishii in the hands of central booking, Inuyasha made the slow walk back to his desk.

This case was a lot more involved that it'd seemed at first glance. The yakuza, especially groups like Inagawa-kai, didn't randomly burn down buildings without provocation. There was a vendetta in there somewhere, he just needed to root it out. Next stop was to talk to that waitress again to see if he couldn't get any more out of her.

His desk phone came ringing to life as he approached. He considered not answering it. The sooner he got where he was going the sooner he could grab a bite and be on his way home. But the lingering notion that it could be someone calling with a tip that would help him break a case nagged at the back of his mind, same as always, and he found himself snatching the receiver up off his desk at the last second.

“Takahashi.”

“Oh good I caught you! It's Jeff from Forensics.”

There was a touch of panic in the kid's tone, enough to grab his attention.

“Yeah, what've you got for me?”

“I need you to come down here.”

“Now?” He glanced at his watch and frowned when his stomach growled demanding dinner.

“Yes. Please hurry.”

“This had better be worth it,” he warned.

“I promise you it is.”

With a heavy sigh he dropped the phone onto its cradle and grabbed his keys up off the desk. Jeff had a tendency to be a little over-enthusiastic when it came to evidence. Everything was urgent. Everything was a breaking news front page story. His hopes for this weren't high despite Jeff's reassurances.

“This had better be the fucking breakthrough of the year,” he muttered, making his way out the door. There'd be a whole lot of grief in store for a certain American-born lab tech if it wasn't.

----

Inuyasha had always disliked visiting the Forensics Lab. Something about the atmosphere bothered him. Maybe it was the sterility, or the fact that the harsh disinfectants used to clean every surface burned the inside of his nose. Whatever it was, it encouraged him to avoid Forensics whenever possible.

On those rare times when he did happen to make his way there, Jeff was a welcome distraction. They'd imported him from America, quirks and all, and so far he was doing an alright job. The kid was thorough and fast - two attributes that even he could appreciate - and he didn't walk around with a giant stick up his ass, which was more than he could say for any of the others.

Today was different though. Today he looked dishevelled and ready to shit himself as he paced back and forth in front of the lab bench.

“So what've you got for me?” he demanded, tossing his coat carelessly across the nearest gleaming workbench.

“Good, you're here!”

Foregoing any of his normal greetings, Jeff jumped onto a nearby computer and began clicking through various login screens. Inuyasha hovered beside him, his curiosity piqued.

The droplets of sweat dotting the kid's brow glistened in the overhead fluorescent lights and his hands were unsteady on the keyboard. Whatever these results were, they had him spooked good.

After a third screwed up attempt at typing in the system password, he interrupted him with a firm hand on his shoulder. The way the kid practically jumped out of his chair made him `tsk' in annoyance.

“Oi. Take a breath and calm the fuck down.”

It took a minute and more than a breath or two, but Jeff eventually calmed down enough that his hands stopped shaking. With a nod he let out one last big breath and straightened his shoulders.

“Alright, now start from the top,” Inuyasha ordered, keeping his tone calm.

“I got a new shipment of evidence this week from one of the other divisions, 12th I think.”

Inuyasha nodded, motioning for him to go on. He turned his attention back to the computer and continued typing and clicking away, bringing up his various tests and reports.

“Right, so one of the evidence bags has this shell casing inside and it looks gold to me and sure enough there's a bullet to match.”

Reaching across the lab bench he retrieved two identical looking baggies and handed them off. Inside were the bullet and a shell casing in question. Inuyasha held them up to the light and eyed the gold tone of the metal suspiciously.

“So I put `em through ballistics and they're a match to your other cases.”

“What?”

Already this was worth the drive. With both eyebrows raised Inuyasha studied the evidence in his hands with cautious optimism. For months he'd been hoping for some kind of lead, anything that could help him find his Perp and all he'd found was a road after road of dead ends. Maybe things were finally turning around?

“I decided to see if I could get any prints off them, ya know, because we couldn't get any off the others...”

Seeing where this was headed, Inuyasha felt his heart begin to race with excitement.

“You get a match?”

“Just a partial but I put it into the system anyway and... well... When I saw the results I didn't know who to call. I thought maybe...”

The suspense was killing him. He hadn't been wound up this tight since December, walking through that stink infested pit down at the docks. If he didn't need the kid to keep talking he would've strangled him for pussyfooting around the only answer he wanted.

“Spit it out already,” he growled.

Wearing an uncomfortable frown, Jeff glanced around the empty lab and then pulled up the last of his screens.

“Here, see for yourself.”

The screen switched from white to black and Jeff's fingerprint match stared them both in the face. For a moment the lab was dead silent, neither of its occupants daring to breathe. They stared at the screen in muted shock, mutually acknowledging the ramifications that this sort of evidence could have.

“Check it again.”

Jeff shook his head and offered him a helpless look. “I did, five times already. I wouldn't have called you down here unless I was absolutely sure.”

“Have you told anyone else about this?”

He kept his voice low to hide the slight tremor he knew would be there otherwise. Jeff shook his head and swallowed audibly.

“No! I swear! I saw the results and called you right away. I didn't know what else to do...”

“Delete them.”

Jeff shoved his chair back and gawked at him dumbstruck, “What?!”

“You heard me. Delete them.”

Inuyasha's tone was razor sharp and he saw the way it made the kid's shoulders shake just a little. Good. It was better for him to be shitting his pants scared than dead.

“But I can't just-”

“You can and you will. Do you have any idea the kind of fire you're messing with here? Unless you wanna be laid out on the coroner's slab by this time next week you'll do what I'm tellin' you. Delete any record of this report you can find and let me handle the rest.”

“But-!”

“Look, you called me. You wanted to know what to do and you were hoping I'd take care of it. Well, this is me fucking taking care of it.”

Convinced he'd made his point, he snatched his jacket up off the bench and kicked open the door to the lab. Safely in the hall he took his time putting his arms through the sleeves and shrugging it over his shoulders. He felt like he'd just had a ticking time bomb dropped in his lap with no instruction manual on how to disarm it.

“Fuck me...”

The curse slipped quietly past his lips as his head hit the wall. Just when he thought things were looking up, they jumped right into the fucking deep end.

----

Chapter Notes:

*PPO - [Supreme] Public Prosecutor's Office (the Japanese equivalent of the District Attorney's office in the American legal system)

- Legal age in Japan is 18 but you have to be 20 to drink. Since Kagome's applying to work at a hostess club, the expectation being that she will be drinking with customers, she'd have to be at least 20 to get the job.

Author's Notes: Whew! I didn't think I'd get this out in time but some very awesome reviews this week really gave my muse that extra push it needed. Now it's off to Taiwan for a little R & R! I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. Things are really going to start heating up plot wise from here on out so I hope you're ready for it :)

On a separate note, I want to extend a very BIG thank you to all of my readers. You inspire me to no end and this story would not still be going if it weren't for your amazing support. Last quarter LSR got a lot of love at the FA (winning 1st place for Best Drama!) and the IYFG (winning 3rd place for Best Serial & Best Drama, and 2nd place for Best Action/Adventure!). I was completely blown away!

Though it's small in comparison, I feel like the very least I could do was offer a special thank you to some of you: LuxKen27, psyco_chick32, landofthekwt, ktshabatie, RosieB, Ai Kisugi, KittyKaiya, Doggie.Boy.Lover, SessInSunglasses, & KinkyHoe. You guys are the best readers a writer could ask for :)

Until next time,

Langus