InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Love of a Hanyou ❯ The Love of a Hanyou- Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

 

***

 

 

Inuyasha stomped his way down the stairs, his mind wondering back to the woman he had just left in the room. She had done it again, made him lose his temper. And so, naturally after losing his cool, his first thought had been to take advantage and ravish her like a wild animal. I'm an idiot, he thought heatedly. He had blundered badly and he had no one to blame but himself. Her searing response to his kiss had pushed him to the edge of his self- control, overwhelming all rational thought.

 

 

She had a most beguiling way of getting under his skin and burrowing in deep when he didn't want her there. He sighed heavily, he was sure that once they were mated, there would be very little reason for him to be this frustrated. There would be very little reason, for that matter, for her to be upset every time he did something that she took exception to. He was intent on ensuring that they would be so sexually sated that they wouldn't have the energy to do anything but sag against each other in blissful satisfaction. A crooked grin spread across his face as the mental images flashed through his mind. Oh yeah.

 

 

His grin slowly slipped away as he stepped down onto the landing and he heard voices coming from the living room. Higurashi-sama and two others were in there and he briefly wandered where the old man was but quickly tossed the thought aside. Who cares? He's probably slapping those worthless sutras on some poor unsuspecting person.

 

 

Curiosity getting the best of him, he made a beeline and headed into that direction. He snatched up the crocheted cap from the hat rack in the hallway as he passed by, not wanting to expose his ears to strangers. Looking down at it he smiled wryly before he fitted it over his head.

 

 

Kagome had made him the little yellow hat for Christmas last year. At first when he had saw it, he hadn't wanted to wear it but she had pouted so pathetically and cried so much that he would've been so cute in it. Of course, he being the fool that he was whenever it came to her, in wanting to please her he had worn it. He had made sure to warn her that he would only do so whenever he came to her time.

 

 

The least that he could say about it though was that it was more comfortable than the hard billed caps that he had been forced to wear before. They had pinched and bunched his ears together painfully. This cap though, was big enough that his thick hair was able to fit under it and had little pockets at the top that provided plenty of space for his ears to move around.

 

 

What he had objected to the most at first about the hat were the two giant tassels that hung from the sides and framed his face. He thought that they made him look stupid and his ire had not been improved when the monk and kitsune had continually snickered behind their palms whenever he had darned it. However because Kagome had made it, because she would always smile that happy little smile whenever he wore it he continued to do so. In her time of course.

 

 

When he walked into the room, Higurashi-sama looked up at him with an expression of relief. Her slim arms folded before her. She was a petite woman, still beautiful, with a healthy head of short, glossy black hair. He usually thought to himself that Kagome when she got to be this age would look just as timeless as her mother. How could she not turn out to be beautiful in her old age? The thought of her young, lush body changing over time made him stop cold in his tracks with a look of horror on his face.

 

 

He shook his head slightly before shrugging his shoulders. He didn't want to think of himself as being so shallow as to not still love her when she got older. It doesn't matter; she'll still be Kagome.

 

 

“Oh Inuyasha, there you are dear. Come in, come in. You remember the detectives from the hospital right? Nonomiya Hideki- san and Yamamoto Atsushi-san?” she rose from the settee as she spoke, gesturing to the two men who had also risen. He entered the room, walking towards Higurashi-sama's out stretched hands. He nodded automatically to the men as he passed them, before sitting beside Higurashi-sama.

 

 

The older man watched him through heavy lidded eyes, taking in every movement that he made, while the younger one made a grab for the notepad that sat beside a large black folder on the coffee table before him.

 

 

“Yes Takahashi-san, we wanted to talk to you earlier about your statement but Higurashi-sama,” Nonomiya tipped his head slightly in the woman's direction. “She said that you had left to take care of some business. Mind telling us where you went?”

 

 

Inuyasha stiffened a moment before forcing himself to relax. He didn't care much for the tone that the old man had used. Almost as though he suspected him of some wrong doing. His dark brows drew down into a frown and narrowed his eyes. “As a matter of fact, I do. It has nothing to do with you, so you can take that and shove it up…”

 

 

“Inuyasha! Please dear. No need to be rude. Tea anyone?” Higurashi-sama got up and moved over to the tea tray that sat on the counter top by the window that he hadn't noticed, all the while smiling blissfully.

 

 

“As a matter of fact, I think that I will take one ma'am. Thank you.” Yamamoto said as he set his notepad aside and accepted the tea cup that she passed off to him. Inuyasha watched in agitated silence as Nonomiya also accepted a cup but shook his head when she went to make him one. He wanted so badly to kick these guys out of there but it was obvious that Higurashi- sama was intent on making them feel welcome as was evidenced by the beseeching look that she threw in his direction when she sat back down. Sighing in exasperation he settled himself to endure their presence.

 

 

“Forgive my partner Takahashi-san, but we just found it a bit strange that you would take off in the midst of an investigation into your friend's attack is all.” Inuyasha stared at Yamamoto before nodding briskly and folding his arms across his chest, his face twisted into a pout, more because of Higurashi's rebuke than anything else.

 

 

“Anyway, the reason why we came here today was because we believe that we may have some insight as to who attacked your daughter. As we mentioned before, we believe these guys might be members of the Yamaguchi-gumi. There have been a few attacks on women in the city that are similar. We have some photos of the members that have been processed through our system before on previous crimes. We only need Kagome- san to give us a possible identification.”

 

 

“Does she have to go to the station?” Higurashi- sama asked anxiously, her eyes screwed up with apprehension of having to force her daughter to leave the house when she obviously didn't want to.

 

 

“No she won't, she can take a look right now. We have them with us.” Yamamoto smiled gently in understanding as he pointed at the black folder on the coffee table. He watched as her eyes lit up with relief. He also watched with some interest as she turned towards the young man next to her with a silent question in her eyes. His gaze became even more avid as he saw the young man nod his head imperceptibly, his expression grave.

 

 

He lifted a hand to massage the bottom of his chin in consideration, Interesting. It's almost as though she were asking his permission. Wander if Nonomiya caught the exchange. He turned is head towards his partner, only to find the man brushing at the sleeve of his coat. Yamamoto shook his head in exasperation. The man is brilliant when it comes to getting his man but otherwise he's completely clueless.

 

 

“Alright, I'll check with Kagome to see if she would like to join us. Excuse me gentlemen.” They all watched as she quit the room before turning back to stare at each other. Nonomiya shrugged his hefty shoulders before turning keen and determined eyes towards the white haired young man.

 

 

“Now. About your whereabouts the last few days…”

 

 

***

 

 

 

She hastily wiped at her face when she heard the soft knock on her door. She ran over to the mirror to check that the fact that she had been crying wasn't obvious. When she caught sight of herself, she gave up all pretense of trying to make herself look presentable. It didn't matter, not when her face was already swollen and discolored from her bruises. Who would know that she had been crying when I look like this?

 

 

She slumped back onto her bed before calling out weakly. She sat up slightly when she heard her name and looked at her mother who approached her warily.

 

 

“Kagome? Are you alight?” she asked quietly. When Higurashi-sama saw her face, she shuffled over to gather her up into her arms. “Oh my poor baby.” She pushed Kagome's head against her chest and slowly rocked her back and forth the way she had done when she was a little girl. My poor little girl.

 

 

Kagome clutched at her but she refused to cry anymore. She was tired of doing so, of hiding away from everyone, of feeling sorry for herself. How could she make Inuyasha love her when she behaved so pathetically? She had to become stronger. After being in his arms, of having a taste of being desired by him, she couldn't allow herself to let that go. She wanted more of that, more of him and she would only get it if she stopped crying and started fighting.

 

 

She no longer believed that he stilled loved Kikyo the way she thought he had. There was no way that he could've kissed her the way he did if he had and she refused to believe that he would use her in an attempt to substitute Kikyo. She knew him, knew that he was incapable of setting out to deliberately mislead or hurt her. Hope spiraled up through her chest. He had loved Kikyo, but perhaps there was enough room in his heart for her. She wanted him and she's was tired of pretending to be alright with just being his friend. She was brought out of her inner thoughts by her mother's gentle, soothing voice.

 

 

“I know that you didn't want to before but I thought that since Inuyasha is here now that you might be okay with talking to the detectives.” Kagome looked into her mother's eyes. Her loving, patient mother. She had not pushed her, in all the time that she had been at home, to do anything that she hadn't wanted to do. She was grateful to her for that and she realized that she had been selfish in pushing her family that loved her the most, away. They had needed to comfort her almost as much as she had needed to be comforted by them, but she had punished herself instead. Punished them because she had felt sorry for herself.

 

 

She pushed away from her mother and gave her a watery smile. Moping about wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't erase the memory of the attack, wouldn't catch the bad guys, it certainly wouldn't do anything that would make her feel better. If she wanted Inuyasha's love, she would have to earn it. It was up to her to push herself forward, to go and get help. And so Kagome straightened her shoulders and took the first step towards her happiness.

 

 

“Alright. Let me just change first.”

 

 

***

 

 

When she walked into the room following behind her mother, she was surprised to see Inuyasha angrily pacing around the room, completely ignoring the two men who sat on the sofa.

 

 

Not knowing what to make of the situation, she moved to stand in front of the sofa beside her mother across from the men. She nodded her head absentmindedly as she was introduced but her eyes continued to stare at the hanyou who had stopped pacing but was now staring intensely back at her.

 

 

For a long moment, everything faded away and it was like only the two of them were in the room together. The air between them became charged with tension and probably would have increased if she hadn't felt the tug on her sleeve. She looked away from him and sat on the settee next to her mother, blushing the whole while as it occurred to her that she had spent some time doing nothing but staring.

 

 

She watched from under her lashes as Inuyasha blinked slowly but continued to watch her with a strange look in his eyes. The heat of his stare alone made her blush harder as she squirmed restlessly. She was jerked out of her musings as the detectives addressed her.

 

 

“It's a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Higurashi. We understand that you didn't want to give your statement before but we wonder if you would mind doing so now.” The young Yamamoto asked gently as he pulled his pad and began to scribble in it. She nodded her head and cleared her throat.

 

 

“Yes, but I don't know how much I can tell you as I don't remember much. If it weren't for the nightmares, I probably wouldn't even be able to tell you anything.” She replied, twisting her hands nervously as she glanced up at Inuyasha repetitively for reassurance. She relaxed just a little when he moved towards her to sit on the arm of the settee. She felt much better now that he was close by. She shuffled closer to him and reached out to grasp his clawed hand. She felt his start of surprise before he tenderly squeezed her hand in return.

 

 

“That's alright, whatever you can tell us would be of some help,” Nonomiya responded as he gave a pointed look at their joined us before looking up at Inuyasha who in turn growled deep in his throat.

 

 

She began and told them everything that she remembered from her nightmares. When she was done, she was drained both emotionally and physically. Reliving those memories and that was what she now believed them to be; was a horrifying experience and she prayed that she would never have to retell that gruesome tale ever again. She leaned against Inuyasha's thigh, and sighed blissfully when he raked his claws lightly along her scalp. It was so rare when he would stop and be so gentle with her and she was nearly brought to tears every time he would stop and put distance between them.

 

 

If she had her way, there was no way that he would ever hide from her again. These little moments of tenderness would last much longer. She was completely unaware of the approving glance form her mother, or even the interested gazes of the two detectives. She perked up but didn't move from her spot against Inuyasha when she heard his low growl. He never likes being stared at, she giggled.

 

 

“Miss Higurashi, if you wouldn't mind taking a look through these photos, perhaps you might be able to identify someone as one of your attackers. She watched warily as Yamamoto pushed the black folder towards her. She glanced uncertainly around her, before reaching forward and pulling it towards her. She sat there a long time, flipping through the pages, her hands trembling. Her stomach was twisted in knots for fear of actually seeing the faces of her attackers. Or worse yet, of not seeing them.

 

 

She was nearing the end of the folder, when she suddenly went very still, her breath caught in her throat. The cry of alarm that had risen up in her throat suspended there and then her body became wracked with shudders. She pulled back and pointed a shaky finger at a photo of a young man. A thin man, with burning red hair and hard, terrifying eyes. Eyes that haunted her in the middle of the night. It was like he was looking right at her from the depths of the photo, taunting her. She could recall the harsh sound of his voice with a clarity that had her looking around frantically just to make sure that he wasn't there.

 

 

She got up from the settee quickly and made a quick dash out of the room with her mother close behind.

 

 

Inuyasha clenched his fist tightly against his thigh, wanting so badly to follow behind her, but he sat still and quietly, silently thanking Higurashi-sama when she made to follow after her. He shifted his weight and stared down at the photo of the man that Kagome had pointed at. Slimy bastard, I'm going to kill you!

 

 

He glanced up sharply when he heard a throat being cleared. A plan began to form in his mind, a plan that would kill two birds with one stone.

 

 

“I can help you find them”, Inuyasha said finally. Both of the detectives' eyes immediately become riveted on him. Yamamoto-san was the first to break the long silence that had ensued after his statement.

 

 

“How can you do that? You said so yourself, that you arrived at the scene after they left her. Unless there is something that you want to add that you hadn't told us before, what more can you add to help this investigation?” Yamamoto flipped through the pages of his notepad, scanning the contents briefly before turning a slightly suspicious gaze on him.

 

 

“And besides that, all we have is Kagome- san's identification of one of the culprits and she's not even sure.” He continued when there was no response. He looked up to eye the young man curiously.

 

 

“Don't worry about that, if Kagome saw this guy, then she saw him. The fact that he even seems remotely familiar warrants you guys checking it out. Look, maybe if I can infiltrate their circle somehow, I can figure out how to earn their trust enough that they might give me some clue as to where to find him. They might even confess to the attack on Kagome or maybe to something else that could be useful to you guys.” Inuyasha stared at them, silently imploring them to give his idea some thought.

 

 

“You're talking about going undercover? Forget it kid! We've tried that route before and with no results. They always manage to somehow sniff out our guys.” Nonomiya responded, shaking his head before leaning back in the sofa, exasperated with the turn of the conversation.

 

 

“I don't know Nonomiya, maybe there's something to the Takahashi's idea. Remember all the other operations were cops. These guys are probably so attuned to crime life that they can spot a cop right off the bat. I mean, look at it this way, Takahashi's young enough and pardon me,” a quick glance towards Inuyasha, “rough enough to be taken in for a common street thug.

 

 

Nonomiya turned and looked at Inuyasha with new eyes, taking in the ruggedly handsome features that still held small traces of boyishness. The kid's mannerisms, the way he talked was coarse and did indeed possess a hint of something that wasn't exactly tamed. However looking back, he realized that his manner with the girl and her mother could be termed as gentle, there was something that suggested that perhaps when certain circumstances warranted, he could be just as ruthless as any crime lord out there.

 

 

Maybe with this kid's helps, he just might be able to get the break in the case that he needed. He could possibly even be one step closer to finding a way into the syndicate ring and Kazuo Taoka.

 

 

“Alright Inuyasha, I'll check into and see if we can come up with something.” He turned his attention to partner, then got up, buttoning up his coat. “You'll thank Higurashi-san for her possibility and apologize for upsetting young Higurashi-san.” They all moved into the hallway, grabbing up his hat as he went along. He tipped his hat to the young man and made his way through the front entrance.

 

 

***

 

 

“Sir, your… guests are here,” droned the low tenor of the doorman. He bowed his head to his employer who sat across the dark room in the shadows. He could barely make out the dark silhouette that sat reclined in the chair behind the desk. If not for the bright flow of the cigar that bobbed leisurely from his mouth, he would not have been aware of his presence at all.

 

 

He watched as the fiery glow of the cigar end waved in a gesture of dismissal before he heard the softly spoken words.

 

 

“Very good Mr. Aoi, send them in if you will. Oh and see to it that I am not disturbed,”

 

 

“Yes sir,” bowing at the waist once again, he back his way from the room and set about the busy of sending the poor fools who had angered his employer.

 

 

Back in the room, letting out a large gust of air as he breather heavy wisps o scented smoke, Tenmo Shouba leaned back further into his plush chair. His gimlet eyes narrowed into thin slits directed at the door. His thick bejeweled fingers drummed an impatient staccato on the desk before him, his body taut with barely suppressed anger, his mood was as dark as the room that he had enshrouded himself in, dimly lit by the lamp that sat on the corner table across the room.

 

 

“Idiots?” he muttered to himself. How could things have come to this? After spending years building his empire, of sucking up to his betters and fighting his way to the top in order to survive, everything was being put on the line

 

 

He remembered the years of hard work, of making it to the top of the food chain sometimes with nothing more than his wits. For a skinny, little street thug with nothing from the wrong side of town, becoming the head honcho of his own enterprising business was the very antithesis of his existence. He was glad to be one of the eighteen lieutenants of the Yamaguchi- gumi, one of the top yakuza gangs in Japanese underworld.

 

 

He was a respected man of business whose very name was enough to strike fear and instill awe in the underbelly of the crime world. He had come too far, worked too hard to get what he had in order to have everything blown up in his face, all because some knuckleheads were too incompetent to take care of their loose ends.

 

 

The reminder of what had him in such a funk griped in a vice all over again.

 

 

He was drawn from his musings by the loud creaking of the door. Tenmo watched impassively as a tall, overly muscled buffoon stumbled his way across the threshold, followed by an equally tall, slender fellow. This one moved at a sedate pace, making contact with him as he slowly clicked the door closed.

 

 

Tenmo was somewhat shocked to find that this man with the cold, calculating gleam could have made such a disastrous error. No matter, he thought. These two were responsible for his current troubles and he did not suffer fools lightly. No, the other lieutenants of the Yamaguchi- gumi would see this mistake as a reflection of him and they would be quick to send him out of the yakuza. He had no plans of being sent out.

 

 

 

The corner of his mouth tipped up into sardonic grin. He knew very well what the yakuza's idea of sending one of their one out of the syndicate and it most definitely did not involve a bon voyage ceremony, unless one counted the funeral.

 

 

“You wanted to see us sir?” tall and deceptively slim, Tenmo took immediate dislike of the young, smarmy Mitsubuya Enishi. The man was too slick, too quiet and that all knowing glint in his eyes that suggested that he knew all his secrets were enough for Tenmo to almost send him out of the syndicate. However, he thought in irritation, it was those very same traits that had brought Mitsubuya knocking at his door.

 

 

Looking at him now, there was nothing to really recommend him, however, what the man lacked physically he more than made up for in ruthlessness. It was because of that trait that he had not expected this type of error to have been made by him. His ruthlessness made him more devious than all the other men in his company and it set him a part from them.

 

 

It was his eyes Tenmo decided. That dull, flat look that swirled sometimes with something indescribable; something dark and so palpable that it was all that anyone could do but to look away.

 

 

Tenmo looked pointedly at Mitsubuya, not even sparing a glance at the other insignificant in the room. Shinbata Mokuba was nothing more than a crony that did the dirty work because he wasn't all that bright upstairs. No all blame sat squarely on Mitsubuya's shoulders.

 

 

“Do you want to tell me…,” he began menacingly, leaning forward onto his elbows, he slapped down the crumpled papers of the Tokyo daily. “What this is all about?”

 

 

On the front page, emblazoned across the top in bold capitals read:

 

 

“Teenager attacked still Alive: Police suspect Syndicate crime ring.”

 

 

Tenmo watched impassively, waiting for Mitsubuya's reaction as he read it through. He gave the man points for not showing any weaknesses before him. There were many men made of lesser stuff who would have begun blubbering out apologies and making promises to rectify the problem.

 

 

That was the problem with Mitsubuya; the man didn't exhibit the normal characteristics of the underdog. No this one could not be content taking orders from anyone that he deemed unnecessary. He was sure that if Mitsubuya not done so, that he would later in the future plot his downfall.

 

 

“Gentlemen, you will understand that incompetency has no place here in my world, making that kind of mistake can often mean your life. So maybe now one of you can tell me why it is that I have cops sniffing around my warehouses and questioning my people?” Tenmo's eyes never once shifted from Mitsubuya's, not even when the great hulking mass of stupidity shuffled anxiously and tried stammer out a reply.

 

 

Waving a hand imperiously for silence, Tenmo shifted comfortably in his chair before taking a puff of his cigar. He breathed out the thick, curling wisp of smoke. He watched them narrowly through the haze, his annoyance morphing into amusement and a bit of admiration.

 

 

“The girl that you left behind… Can she identify you?”

 

 

Shrugging negligently, Mitsubuya gave a non distinct sound. Tenmo gave a snort of disgust before slamming his hand again the article.

 

 

“In that case, I suggest that you find her and take care of her. I want nothing tracing back to me.”

 

 

***

 

 

Mitsubuya Enishi stalked menacingly down the hall, the muscles in his shoulders straining arduously under the tight leash of control that he enforced on his body and emotions from a young age. A self control so consuming that it had spilled over into all aspects of his life that made him meticulous in all his doings.

It irked him to no end to leave behind any type of mess and it irked him all the more to have someone else point out his mistakes. He liked being in control of things, liked even more to watch the end results of the wheels that he had set in motion. However when things failed to go according to plan, his restraint became something of a farce.

 

 

He was his own master and to think that Tenmo Shouba imagined that he could condescend to him that way was unimaginable. If it wasn't for that little bitch things would not have gone to sour for him.

 

 

He tightened his fists in white balls of fury; however his face remained just as impassive as it had in Tenmo's office. He reached up and adjusted the rim of his lens on his nose and then swept the heavy strands of his overlong hair behind his ear.

 

 

“What do we do now boss?” Shinbata asked, his tone of voice sounding eerily like that of an over eager child. He had always thought that Shinbata was a little on the dotty side, so eager to please, so easy to manipulate. It was just how he liked his henchman.

 

 

Shinbata Mokuba was an idiot, plain and simple, therefore he was quick to do and extremely slow to question. If not for his overwhelming brawn, the man would've been pathetically useless.

 

 

Mitsubuya smirked slyly as he turned his head towards his partner. “What do you think? We're going to take care of a few loose ends.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

Seven days had passes since the police detectives had left the Higurashi shrine, promising to contact him as soon as possible with their chief's decision. Seven days of boredom, of nothing to do. Seven days too long and the wait was making him antsy. Kagome had closed herself off from everyone after the first day, locking herself in her room and refusing to talk to him.

 

 

He had done many things to try to get her to open to him, from softly pleading with her through the door, to pounding heavily on it repeatedly and threatening to break it down. She had not responded to any of it.

 

 

If he had not been able to hear her shuffling around on the other side of the door, or even been able to smell her, he would have thought that she had somehow managed to climb out the window and somehow shimmy her way down the side of the house.

 

 

After the second day had passed, Higurashi- sama, who had encouraged him to call her Itsuko-san had managed to persuade him to leave her alone and to give her some time. He had done so and now six days later he sat in the highest branch of the goshinboku, staring forlornly like a love sick fool at her bedroom window. He sighed heavily as he shoved a hand roughly through his thick hair. It was all he could do to stop himself from barging in on her and making her talk to him. If she didn't want to talk he could've even settled for just holding her.

 

 

He felt utterly useless. he should have been out there, looking for the culprits who had hurt her. He had a face and he had the scent. He should have been set. However, unfortunately, Kagome's time was not like his. For one thing, there were like a million times more humans roaming around on the streets. All of them looking so similar that in was hard to differentiate but then in other ways they were all so different. It made looking for anyone like searching for a needle in a hay stack.

 

 

What was worse was the smell. Tracking a person by smell alone was virtually impossible. These people had a tendency of masking their true scents with deceptively heavily, cloying ones. These ones almost always sent him into a sneezing fits that left his nose stuffy and ineffective. He was glad that Kagome stuck to using only scented soap bars, odorless deodorants and nothing else. If that wasn't annoying on its won, then there was the heavy smell of strange gases and metals that seemed to be a permanent fixture in the atmosphere.

 

 

In short his sense of smell was more like it was in his human form, which annoyed him to no end. How Kagome could stand it he did not know, especially after inhaling the much cleaner, fresher air in Sengoku.

 

 

On the third day, after he had realized that setting out on his own would be ineffectual, he had made a trip back to is time so as to update the rest of his pack on Kagome's condition and had returned just as promptly. He remembered the promised that Sango had managed to wrest out of him before he had left. Just as he had exited the hut, she had pulled roughly on his sleeve, dragging him a certain distance and then proceeding to let him no that in no uncertain terms that she would hold him accountable, should he fail to exact revenge for Kagome. Then she had continued in painstaking detail to describe each and every single thing that she would do to him.

 

 

He shuddered in remembrance of the chill that had run up his spine. Sango could be damned scary when she wanted to be, he thought to himself. Shifting his weight restless against the tree bark, he almost missed the heavy tread of two sets of booted feet heading in his direction. He straightened up from his perch, so that he could peer down in the faces of the detectives, his dark brow raised in query.

 

 

“Good day to you Mr. Takahashi,” Nonomiya shouted up to him as he raised his heavy hand against his brow to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun that sat just overhead. “When Higurashi-san said that we would find you at the very top of the tallest tree, I had thought that she was jesting. I see that she wasn't. If you don't mind joining us mere mortals on earth we would be much obliged.”

 

 

Cocking his head to the side, Inuyasha stared down at them uncomprehendingly. Shrugging his shoulders, he made a great show of hopping nimbly from branch to branch before leaping down to the ground ten feet from the two detectives.

 

 

Straightening up to his full height, he stiffened slightly when he thought that he had Nonomiya muttering to his partner, “I thought that dogs couldn't climb trees, let alone jump from one.” He watched as Yamamoto stifled a grin before pasting on a serious face and jarring his partner in the side.

 

 

He growled angrily before stomping his way closer to them. “What do you want?” His ire increased as he watched Nonomiya look him up and down before grunting out his reply.

 

 

“I see that you finally decided to dress like a normal person of the twenty first century. For a moment, I had thought that you might be a relic from the Japanese history.”

 

 

Inuyasha grunted in annoyance before he too cast a baleful look down his own figure. Itsuko- san had somehow managed to persuade him to discard his fire rat robe and into what she had termed “hip to the new generation”, whatever that meant. He could have cared less what he wore but since she had insisted that he dressed “normally”, he had not protested…much.

 

 

She had squealed with glee at his acquiescence, sized him up with her eyes, muttering under he breath the whole time, before hying herself out the door. She had returned several hours later with bags of cloth and then had proceeded to subject him to what he had called “painless torture”.

 

 

He had not liked the constant changing in and out of clothes but after spending two hours modeling for her and an over excited Souta, he had had to admit that the clothes were somewhat comfortable. Not to mention that not as many people stared at him as much.

 

 

Shifting his attention back to the present, he watched the young detective shoot a quelling glance at his partner before stepping forward and gesticulated towards the table and benches that stood close to the goshinboku. Nodding his head briskly in understanding, he made his way over towards it, sitting down silently before fixing a golden glare across it.

 

 

“Well Takahashi, we took you offer of assistance to the police chief and after much consideration, he agreed to consider it o only under the circumstances that you come into the station to be interviewed before hand. Think of it as a job application if you will. Then and only then, if you pass muster will he grant his permission. So what do say? Sound fair enough?” Yamamoto said, looking at him earnestly.

 

 

Watching them warily, Inuyasha nodded his head slowly. He would make sure that he passed inspection so that he could finally get out there and avenge Kagome. He wouldn't fail her again... even if it killed him.