InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Movie House Hanyou ❯ Stranger ( Chapter 27 )

Inuyasha let his gaze lazily slide over Kagome’s still, content form, nestled beneath the covers. She was half sprawled on top of him, and he swore he wouldn’t have it any other way. Glancing out the window at the dark sky for a moment, he asked himself what he’d done to deserve having everything seemingly work out so seamlessly.

He had Kagome. He’d been with her, twice, and things hadn’t deteriorated into the cheap motions he’d feared after all. Things with her would be different. He was certain of it now.

Upon arrival at his place, he’d immediately gotten her out of that blasted seiraa fuku, and not simply because he desired to see her in the buff. It needed to be cleaned, after all. Kagome had slipped into some of his clothes she’d picked out, much too modest even after earlier to parade around the house naked.

Then was when she’d voiced, quite loudly, how much she wished she had worn a bra after all and that he hadn’t destroyed her panties. He knew it had been directed specifically at him, but really. The panty slicing had been spur of the moment, and Kagome had chosen not to wear anything but those panties beneath her old school uniform. He, on the other hand, was pretty much blameless.

He’d started a light load of laundry, just for her, before taking her into the poster room, in another part of the basement. He’d left her in there for a few minutes, excusing himself with a large pelican case. When he’d re-entered, a black Bolex Rex in his hands and a smirk plastered on his face, she’d turned surprised eyes toward him.

“I shall now immortalize you on film, my pretty.”

“You can operate those things?”

It was then that Inuyasha had remembered he’d failed in mentioning, previously, that he owned more than just movie posters and hundred year old film footage.

“You think I never learned how or something? Keh.”

“Well…”

He’d adjusted the lens of his antique motion picture camera, or tried to, then switched lenses to something a little wider. “I’ve had this thing for so long, I could operate it better than a projector.”

She’d frowned. “Speaking of projectors--”

“No, I’ve never worked the projectors at Pierce,” he’d interrupted, annoyance sneakily seeping into his tone as he brought the 16mm camera’s eyepiece away from his face.

“I can’t do that with claws like these, Kagome,” he’d muttered, ignoring her concerned look, opening the lens aperture to the necessary f-stop. Experience told him, what with the high speed color film loaded in the camera, plus the Bolex’s light loss factor due to its inner prism nature, just what f-stop was needed for use in the poster room with all the lights on.

“Say cheese.” Then he’d paused, the wound camera’s view-piece up against his eye again. “Actually, say whatever the fuck you want. This thing’s silent.”

“Er…”

“Come on, don’t be camera shy. No one’ll see this except us.”

Just the right amount of coaxing had turned Kagome into a fairly agreeable one-time actress. The entire spool of one hundred feet of film in his camera was now filled with four thousand frames of Kagome as a silent star. The impromptu set design of his Chinatown and Alien posters and the Moulin Rouge windmill had served to ground her in no particular, pre-existing place.

And of course, Inuyasha recalled with a pleased smile stretching across his face, after that, there was the sex. He shut his eyes and withheld a chuckle in remembrance. Goodness, the sex.

In the span of a few hours, from leading a blindfolded Kagome into his ‘other’ bedroom to carrying an exhausted, limp, and very naked Kagome into his normal bedroom and pulling her into bed with him just half an hour earlier, he’d mapped out the contours of her body more than enough times to satisfy his hungry fingers. He’d memorized everything, from her ticklish spots to her sensitive spots to her touch-me-and-die spots, and tucked it away for safekeeping and future retrieval.

And those few hours of fun, minus Miroku’s idiotically timed phone call, probably ranked as one of the most exhilarating experiences of his life. He couldn’t fathom anything else topping that. Not even his first time working a camera back as a fledgling Prokino member. All her screams and moans and other inarticulate sounds of pleasure, firmly intertwined with those voiced by himself, were etched into memory for eternity.

Everything. The taste of Kagome’s skin. The feel of her moving against him. Her writhings matching his. Her body responding to any and all of his ministrations.

Inuyasha felt like he’d lost his virginity all over again, been with a woman for the first time in his life. It had been beyond physical this time.

And he felt something else, something he’d never felt before. Something he couldn’t quite describe. The closest he could come up with was- was a feeling of being warmed and chilled to the core, simultaneously. It was a strange contentment that really did defy categorization.

And for the last half hour, it was all he could do to keep from trembling, when all that was transpiring was Kagome napping soundly atop him, the entire room silent but for their breathing. Just the warmth of her breath upon his bare chest was enough to stand the hairs on the back of his neck on end.

It was more than her physical presence doing this to him, though. Part of it was, simply put, dumbstruck awe. In four hundred years, no one had ever had such an effect on him before. The night of Kouga’s party had been the most restful he’d had in years, all because she’d been there. Right now, what he felt, confounding as it was, was that that night was nothing next to this. That moment which he’d treasured in his memory for so many months and nights alone now felt utterly worthless.

And why? Just because she was here, sleeping on his chest, raising his every sense with her breath tickling and warming his skin.

Inuyasha ran his fingers through her hair and brushed a few strands away from her face. Her head had been resting peacefully upon the broadness just below his shoulder, but his movement must have disturbed her. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, then shut as she groggily uttered words he wouldn’t have caught if he had been in human form. They were little more than breaths.

“I feel sore all over.”

He barely refrained from snorting in amusement, lolling his head back against the pillow and shutting his eyes. “Of course you are. You’re always sore the first couple days afterward.”

Kagome gave him a sleepy, dissatisfied sounding grumble and mustered enough strength in her left arm to smack him on his right shoulder before letting it fall limply in place from the exertion. “I’m pooped.”

Inuyasha mindlessly slid one hand down to her waist, pulling her just a little bit more snugly against him. Typically, this would be a night he’d stay awake. He didn’t need the sleep. But for Kagome, just to be near her, he would stay. He didn’t want to be anywhere but right where he was. In bed, with her.

More soft, sleepy words from Kagome. “Was I any good?”

“You only had half a clue what you were doing, but I didn’t care.”

She grunted softly and attempted to smack him again, failing when she could barely even lift her hand, she was so tired. “Meanie.”

“What?”

“You didn’t like it, then?” she whimpered.

“You crazy, bitch?” he scoffed. “You blew my mind!”

“But you said--”

“How good you are isn’t what matters. It matters that it was you I was with. That’s why I don’t give a fuck. That’s why I enjoyed it.” He began smoothing all of her hair over one single shoulder, letting the dull side of his claws rub lightly against her skin. She shivered in response.

“Not because you’re exceptionally good at it. Because you were the one I was with.” Then he lowered his voice to a suggestive whisper. “And you got plenty of opportunities to improve.”

The feeling of breath upon his chest halted abruptly, and his head tilted up so he could look at her. Kagome was staring upward at him, a light blush staining her cheeks even under the current circumstances.

“How about right now?”

“I’m exhausted.” Then her eyes fluttered shut, and she strained to reposition herself more comfortably, her legs entangling with his beneath the sheets.

“Good.”

Ten minutes down the line, she was sound asleep. Inuyasha glanced up at the clock on his wall. It was close to midnight. He reached his free hand under his pillow and pulled out his cell phone.

Mrs. Higurashi picked up on the second ring. He got right to the point.

“Wait, you remembered to call, but Kagome forgot?”

“She’s sleeping like the dead right now.”

“It’s still her responsibility,” Mrs. Higurashi chided. “No, this won’t do at all.”

Inuyasha groaned in dread. “Well, it’s kind of my fault--”

“No, she should know better. She should have been the one to call. Do me a favor. Don’t tell her you called me.”

“But--”

“No buts, young man.”

Inuyasha snorted, taking intense amusement. Him? Young?

“Now go to sleep. I want her home by eleven in the morning.”

“Yes, mother,” he practically snickered out, rolling his eyes up toward the ceiling. Then, as he hung up, he silently thanked her for her almost automatic approval.

Slipping his cell phone back under his pillow, he took in the sight of Kagome again. She was still wearing the leather, fur-lined wrist restraints from earlier. Out of laziness he had simply unclipped them from the straps which had bound her wrists to the edge of his bed frame, not bothering to unbuckle the cuffs themselves. One cuffed wrist lay upon his chest, her fingers curled up in a loose fist.

After careful thought, he decided to risk it, praying she wouldn’t wake up.

Slowly, Inuyasha unbuckled the cuff, then gently set her bare wrist back in place before pausing to listen. Her even breathing told him she was undisturbed. Sighing in relief, he bound the leather restraint around his right wrist, buckled it, then cupped her hand with his own.

One last glance at the snoozing girl in his bed made him smile, shutting his eyes as he allowed sleep to overtake him. Even though it wasn’t one of those nights.

---

“Do you need me to accompany you inside?”

Ignoring the smug look on his face, Kagome leaned over and smacked him on the arm. “I’m 17. I can face my own mother, thank you very much.”

He clucked his tongue. “That’s what they all say.”

“Well, maybe,” she countered, “if you hadn’t fallen asleep on me and remembered to drive me home--”

“Oh,” he interrupted, feigning being wounded, “so it’s my fault you fell asleep on top of me, and my fault I didn’t have the heart to wake you up just to drive you home, so you could sleep in your own bed?”

She nodded her head firmly. “Yes.” Frowning, she continued, “You did at least call my mom before we left the house, right?”

“Of course I did.” Innocence beamed across his face. “While you were changing into my clothes.”

Their back and forth banter continued, until Inuyasha pulled up in front of her home. At that point, Kagome wasn’t certain he’d even let her walk the few steps home. And she was right. He practically pounced on her just as she’d been about to step out of his car, yanked her back into her seat, and all but fingered her right there in broad daylight.

Not that she minded the spine curling kisses too much, or his hand up her shirt and becoming ultimately friendly with one of her breasts, and his finger lightly stroking her between the legs, for that matter. All, of course, while seated in his lap with her back to him, and craning her head to the side just so their lips could touch in the most electrifying ways.

No, no. She didn’t mind at all.

Pulling away at last, he gave her a satisfied grin and pushed her out of the car to leave her breathless and waving stupidly at him as he drove off. And now Kagome the zombie was standing on the sidewalk with nothing but her uniform tucked under her arm- how she would explain that to her mother, she didn’t know.

Kagome was expecting a bunch of things from her mother upon opening the door. A reaming was not one of them. However, a reaming was what she got.

Kagome swore her mother had never looked so furious. One would have thought Mrs. Higurashi just discovered that her daughter had quit her job at the movie theater to tend bars for the underground mafia. Or something equally ridiculous.

Suffice it to say that Kagome was far from prepared for dealing with her mother this morning.

She was also not expecting the first thing her mother to say to be, “I hope you had the presence of mind to use protection last night!”

The color drained from her face as Kagome eeped, nearly dropping her folded up uniform on the front step.

“And don’t tell me you didn’t!” her mother chided, wagging a finger as her eyes bore into Kagome’s.

“We did! I mean, wait, ah,” Kagome babbled, “I don’t want to talk about this!” She instantly began praying that something, anything, would happen to prevent the current topic of discussion from continuing. Like, perhaps, aliens landing and saying they’ll take over the earth in two days.

“Oh, but you’re going to,” her mother warned, grabbing for her arm and gently pulling her inside. “Sit. Now.” She pressed Kagome toward the kitchen table, one hand on her back now. “I also want to know why your clothes are dirty.”

“They are not dirty!” Kagome half snapped as she turned around just before reaching the chair she had been directed toward. “Inuyasha washed them for me!”

“Then why are you wearing his clothes?” Her mother’s voice was stern and her stare unrelenting.

It was all Kagome could do not to smack her forehead in a ‘D’oh!’ moment.

“And is that your school uniform from Kanto…?”

“Um…”

“You wore that to his place?”

In her mind, Kagome quickly began searching out places with holes in the ground large enough to stick her head in. None were in sight. Note to self: kill Inuyasha.

She gave her mother a sheepish grin before diverting her gaze elsewhere, stumbling backward blindly until she came upon the chair designated for her. Then she seated herself, dropped her uniform on the floor, and covered her head with a groan.

Mortified times twenty did not begin to describe how she felt. Unfortunately, mortification wasn’t enough to drown out her mother’s questions.

“I suppose it happened at his place, right?”

Kagome shot straight up and stared at her mother, who was currently sitting across from her at the kitchen table. “O-o-o-of course! I mean…” she stammered. And it was halfway true, she reminded herself. The second time was at his place. But her mother did not need to know that.

Her mother also did not need to know that Inuyasha had a fetish for girls in schoolgirl uniforms. Though, she had likely already guessed that by now. And Kagome was certainly not going to make it any more obvious.

“Well, I think this settles it,” her mother said with resignation. “I’m going to set you up with a gynecologist’s appointment.”

Kagome barely shook off her shock at her mother’s bluntness to ask, “What for?”

“The pill.”

“Um, no, no, I think I’m just fine with con… con, con, con--” Kagome covered her face with her hands. “Um, condom- con- um…”

The only thing Kagome was currently glad about at the moment was that her mother no longer actually looked mad. And she shouldn’t be, right? Inuyasha had called her earlier that morning and apologized, hadn’t he?

“I don’t care. You can use those with the pill.”

“I can’t go to the doctor for birth control!” Kagome almost whimpered into her palms.

“You’re not getting out of this,” her mother countered.

And instead of responding, Kagome simply peeked between two sets of fingers to stare pleadingly, yet ineffectively, at her mother, who was sending her a look that meant she expected no further arguments. All the times Kagome had blessed having an open minded mother, this just wasn’t one of those times.

She relented, though she made certain to voice her displeasure and embarrassment even more so. A thing to be proud of, though, was how she managed to compose herself enough to keep from covering her face, and its subsequent blush, with her hands.

“And Kagome…”

Kagome’s gaze, which had meandered elsewhere for the moment, flicked back to meet her mother’s eyes. “Yes, Mom?”

“Well…” Mrs. Higurashi attempted to compose herself, giving off a vague air of discomfort. “I already told you I approve of Inuyasha, but I think it would be wise that you refrain your… ‘moments’ together to his house.”

For one wild and horrendous moment, Kagome felt all her blood rush all the way down to her feet and up to her head at once. Had Inuyasha told her mother about the bridge when he’d phoned? Was he crazy? Was he out of-

“At least, if you have to be intimate in public,” her mother continued on in the same chiding tone, “don’t do it in front of our door… the neighbors should know none of your business, don’t you think?”

And then she eyed Kagome warily, who flooded with relief- but only for a mere instant, as what her mother said caught up with her and she realized, looking for holes to evaporate into again, that Mom had very much seen Inuyasha’s little fondle moment as Kagome had had left his car.

Note to self, she mentally screamed, burying her head in her arms yet again, TORTURE Inuyasha first, and THEN kill him! On the outside, she merely gave an exasperated sigh.

“So, from now on, young lady, if you intend to spend the night at his place, you must call. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Mom,” she mumbled against the tabletop.

“Even if he calls for you at quarter to midnight, I don’t care.”

“Yes, Mo- wait, what?” Kagome rocketed back up to see her mother grinning at her knowingly. “Inuyasha called last night?”

“Yes, but I made him promise not to tell you.”

“But--”

“By the way,” her mother interjected, “I was cleaning your room up a bit, and I just wanted to let you know I put all your photos of Inuyasha, which were strewn absolutely everywhere, into one big pile and stuck them in your top desk drawer. Including the ones you’d stuck to the… ceiling above your bed?”

Kagome sent a confounded look toward her mother, not quite understanding what she was hinting at. “Including the ones I stuck to the ceiling above… my… oh gooooooooooood!” Mom did NOT just insinuate what I think she did. But like a smart little girl, Kagome quickly shed her denial and did what she’d done several times already since she’d returned home. Besides, covering up her face really was quite effective at hiding as nasty a blush as her mother’s comments were currently inducing.

At least her mother wasn’t laugh-

Scratch that, Kagome told herself miserably as the lighthearted tones of her mother’s laughter rang out.

---

“Whoever heard of a business seminar held in a movie theater auditorium, eh, Tókason?” a short, stocky man in a business suit joked to his slightly taller, more slender cohort as the two of them exited the stuffy auditorium. “Man, a breath of fresh air indeed!”

The man beside him shot him a strange, solemn look but remained silent as the stocky man inhaled deeply. Several other businessmen and businesswomen began to appear behind them, carting away charts and easels and briefcases.

“Neigebauer,” the one named Tókason uttered in a smooth voice just as they both stepped out of the way.

“Hm?” His fellow shareholder wasn’t one for small talk. Mr. Neigebauer prompted him again when he received nothing more than an odd glare. “What is it?”

“I’ll be in the hotel lobby with the others shortly,” Mr. Tókason said, his tone soft with a curt edge. Before his business partner could object, he held up one hand. “Our rental time slot ends in less than fifteen minutes. You are to aid the fact finding team in reverting that auditorium back to normal condition as quickly as possible. I will not have the firm slapped with a fee. Is that understood?”

Neigebauer quickly nodded, none too pleased with the prospect of returning to that auditorium. But, Tókason was the company owner. Whatever he said, went.

His cohort nodded firmly and turned, walking in the direction of the movie theater concession stand. The employees were already visible hustling and bustling, no doubt to get the place ready for opening to the public. Except for the few red and black uniform sporting floor staff members scattered about behind the stand and elsewhere around the lobby, the businesspeople spilling from #15 were the only people to be seen anywhere.

Before returning, though, Neigebauer watched his fellow business partner approach the stand. Primarily, it was curiosity. A young, light skinned black girl in uniform was standing atop a folding chair, holding up a broomstick by the bristles as she attempted something. Whatever it was, he couldn’t discern from his current distance. But something to do with the incessant beeping coming from the popper in front of her was his best guess.

And Tókason was headed straight for her.

As for Tókason, something about the movie theater had bothered him since he’d first stepped foot into the lobby. Even now, he scanned the vast emptiness around him, taking in deep breaths several times.

The girl swatting at the popper’s top switches and someone on the floor behind her were arguing quite loudly over something when the fast approaching businessman reached the red counter and eyed them expectantly.

“That popper hasn’t worked properly since Friday night, Tanaya,” the young woman commented, ignoring the man across the counter, her tone more than a bit acidic.

“For all I know, Inuyasha broke it!” Tanaya whined back without sparing her coworker a single glance over the shoulder as she thwacked the broomstick handle at a black switch up top. “Stupid thing keeps beeping and shutting down every two minutes! It’ll take forever to keep turning this thing off and on just to make all the batches,” she grumbled. “And the other popper--”

“Did you say Inuyasha?”

Both Tanaya and the young woman on the same level of the chair finally took notice of his presence, jetting around in place.

“We-we’re not open to the public yet, sir,” the younger one said as she stepped down from the chair and propped the broom up against the nearby cabinet. The elder one, a Caucasian whose hair couldn‘t possibly be a natural burgundy, sent her a glare before promptly and politely asking him if he was with the group who’d rented a screen.

He took a close look at her supervisor nametag before answering. “Yes… Zara. Your employee mentioned someone named Inuyasha.”

Zara blinked, uncertainty evident in her expression. “Yes. He works here.”

“I will be requiring his contact info.”

“Um, I’m not at liberty to--”

But Mr. Tókason was already digging into his wallet for a business card. “It is in your best interest to supply me with his contact info, Zara.” Card out, he held it up toward her. “I’m an attorney at law, and an old acquaintance of his.”

---

Inuyasha’s head was up in the clouds for the next few hours after dropping Kagome off at home. His night and his morning with her had been exquisite, and since Kagome hadn’t seethed an angry phone call his way yet, he assumed she’d taken her mother’s talking to well enough.

And he didn’t work till five that evening. The few hours stretching ahead didn’t deter him, though. He looked forward to his shift this evening. Merle had promised him Kagome would be working the floor, so the two would actually see each other during their shift much more than intermittently.

He felt almost like he was stuck on a permanent high. So much, in fact, that the unknown area code showing up on his cell phone’s caller ID as it started ringing didn’t deter him in the slightest as he answered.

Being immortal, Inuyasha was certain he was immune to heart disease. Thus the near heart attack he was struck with upon answering the phone shocked him on more than one level.

“It-it’s you!” His eyes shifted back and forth across the room with paranoia. Stemming from what, he could not ascertain.

“Yes.”

“How’d you get this number? Where are you? How’d you find me?” The stricken hanyou steadied himself against a wall and tried to keep his breathing under control, one hand still on his chest.

“From your coworkers, in a hotel room, and by absolute chance.” The caller was succinct, all right. Succinct as he always had been. And a bastard.

“In the… Le Meridien?”

“Yes.”

“You’re still not one for elaboration,” he panted, “you know?”

Inuyasha swore he could hear the caller’s eyes rolling as he sighed. “You’re still not one for self-composure.”

“Yeah, well I just about had coronary failure. My past sneaking up on me isn’t exactly a daily occurrence.” A long, awkward pause surfaced between the two before he continued. “Why are you calling?”

“It was convenient.”

“And why are you in town?”

“Law firm merger seminar. My attendance was required, as I hold the most sway as the top shareholder and official owner of the business.”

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. Seminar? “Wait, were you at the movie theater for that?”

“…Yes.” By now, irritation had begun to grow in the caller’s voice like mold on stale bread.

Inuyasha could have sworn he heard another ping sound in his head. “Wait, did you say lawyer?”

“Yes,” came the answer, an echo of the one to the question before.

“Uh, my girlfriend thinks--”

“Girlfriend?” He snorted derisively.

“Shut the fuck up,” he muttered halfheartedly. “Anyway, she thinks something’s fishy about those auditorium rentals. I mean, you did rent an auditorium, didn’t you?”

The man on the other line took a deep breath, as if channeling his anger and annoyance elsewhere. “Explain the meaning behind mentioning this to me.”

Inuyasha silently cheered. Hooked. “Um, I think your company’s getting robbed. The upper management at my workplace is really flaky. I wouldn’t hesitate to suspect them of fraudulent funds transfers and shit like that--”

“Enough.”

“--and I wouldn’t put it past the General Manager,” Inuyasha continued unabated, insistent upon getting his word in, “to pocket the rental fees your law firm paid for your seminar.”

The caller sighed, and Inuyasha could tell he’d won. “You will not withhold such pertinent information from me.”

He just couldn’t keep that smug smile from his face now. “Interested?” He could almost visualize fumes radiating off of the one on the other end of the line.

“Just get me the information. No one scams my business.”

---

“Stupid elevators,” Inuyasha muttered, crossing the Le Meridien lobby.

It was about fifteen minutes before he needed to open the theater for the day, and he wanted to deliver the files to his ‘lawyer acquaintance’ as quickly as possible. The directions he’d been given were far too succinct for his liking. Getting lost in a hotel was not something he wished necessary to erase from his memory later on.

Inuyasha cringed as his ears popped, the elevator ascending more quickly than he would have liked. Why did that stupid law firm and all their business associates have to pick rooms above the twentieth floor, anyway?

Reaching the twenty-first floor, he gripped the files more tightly. He’d spent a big deal of money at Kinko’s last night. First, he photocopied everything of even somewhat pertinence in his or Kagome’s notebook. Then, he organized it as much as his laziness allowed. Mr. Tókason insisted on having all possible documentation, and if it meant someone who could make sense of things and knew the law would put it all to good use, the hanyou was more than willing to dish it up for him.

It took him a few moments of searching through the halls, but he found the hotel room in question. A firm knock brought him face to face with a face he had not seen in a long time. Mr. Tókason, however, seemed far disinterested in a reunion and had given him little more than a once-over before extending one hand, a silent signal that Inuyasha had better hand over the files immediately.

The door had slammed shut in his face with a promise to contact him with results before he could muster up a single word to say.

Not even, “Long time no see.”

Inuyasha brushed it all off, though. He hadn’t expected anything less. No skin off his back. And with a turn of his heel, he was back at the elevators as swiftly as he could. He suffered the torture of fluctuating ear pressure again, then took the building’s main elevator up to the second floor, right across from the box office.

Making a beeline for the stairwell leading up to the third floor, Inuyasha almost didn’t notice the empty poster case on the wall next to the box office’s red half-gate. At the last moment, he paused in his steps and examined the empty case, scratching the top of his Akira hat before remembering he was wearing a hat in the first place.

Perhaps the managers were in the midst of changing posters. Just yesterday, that case had held a limited edition poster for the director’s cut of Alien, a film they would receive in less than two weeks’ time.

It was a superb poster. Designs only on one side, printed on more heavy-duty material than most movie posters, and it had a shiny metallic border. Only 5000 had been made, and he’d drooled over it the moment he’d seen Sashka remove it from a UPS poster tube several months earlier. This one was number 1611.

And it put his original Alien poster to shame.

Inuyasha had to have it.

And with the carefree assumption that the manager on duty had decided to move that poster elsewhere, he continued on his way. Toward the steps, halfway up, and finally to the top, just outside the heavy-duty ceiling-to-floor metal gates that prevented anyone from entering.

This time, however, he immediately noticed that every single poster case he could see over the railing was empty. He went for the middle of the gates and rattled them, all the while anxiety growing. They were locked.

The elevator’s third floor access was always locked when the theater was closed. That was why he had taken the stairs. And the managers always unlocked the gates as soon as they arrived on duty in the mornings. If the gates were still locked, and the poster cases were empty…

“Hey, nice to see you’re early this morning,” Kagura said from behind him, somewhere farther down the stairs, keys jangling in her hands.

Inuyasha turned around sharply and stared at her, surprised. “Um, where are the posters?” He was so stunned, he forgot to act accusatory.

“What post--” Kagura stopped short as she reached the top step and glanced around with shock, joining Inuyasha in taking in the sight of more than twenty empty cases. Most still appeared locked, but several hung open. On a far wall, two discolored areas stuck out like sore thumbs, and Inuyasha knew why.

Someone had ripped the cases right off the wall itself.

“Holy fuck.”

“Fuck. This’ll cost a pretty penny to repair,” came Kagura’s grumble.

Regaining his senses and remembering to be suspicious, Inuyasha swallowed and asked, “How long have you been here?”

“I pulled in about five minutes ago,” the First Assistant answered, pulling out her ramp ticket and holding it out so he could inspect it. She was telling the truth, he noted.

Inuyasha was irreparably weirded out. Not only by her congenial tone toward him, but with realization at what had happened sometime between when he’d left for the night and when he’d just arrived now.

Someone had robbed the movie theater of its posters.