InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Love of a Hanyou ❯ The Love of a Hanyou- Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

I do not own Inuyasha in any way shape or form. However the story is an original plot with the occasional original character. Please enjoy and review.

The Love of a Hanyou

Chapter 10

***

Inuyasha climbed out of the back seat of the black car, slamming the door behind him as he looked up at the large white building before him. He had never before seen such a tall structure up close before, especially not one made out of this type of building material that was so accessible to every pedestrian. The only buildings in his time that were of this magnitude happened to only belong to rich lords who had presided over their keeps for centuries, like his brother.

On the ride from the Higurashi shrine to the police station, he had seen many other buildings that were just as tall, some even bigger, in different colors, all of which seemed to allow the free comings and going of any average citizen. He assumed that in Kagome's time there was little to no distinction between the classes. This was a place where a prominent land owner could walk side by side with the poorest of all denizens and not have someone think twice about it.

He snorted disdainfully and then chuckled in amusement to himself. Wouldn't Sesshomaru just love that, no grovelling servants and to be pronounced an equal of a human. He would pay any amount of money to see that sour look come over the prick's face.

“Hey kid, you coming or are you just going to stand there sky gazing?” Nonomiya shouted back at him. He stood with one foot on the step, squinting down at him, his hand held up to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun. Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders negligently before bounding up the stairs and passing Nonomiya. Yamamoto waited for them just inside, his back turned towards them behind the double glass doors. He paused a moment, waiting for Nonomiya to catch up and surpass him with an agitated harrumph before moving forward.

Inuyasha grinned at his huffing bulk, hitched his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and followed at a sedate pace, pausing occasionally to glance at something that caught his eye. Stepping through another set of double doors, these ones wooden this time, he was almost immediately overwhelmed by the incredible hustle and bustle going on around him.

His ears clamped down to his skull under his cap at the loud din of noise. Shrieks of outrage and loud wails punctured the air around him, people bustling from one side of the room to another. It was nothing but chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos. He hated it.

There were desks set up in somewhat neat rows across the room, each one piled up and loaded to capacity with its own assortments and stacks of paper and such. At just about every desk sat men and women dressed in dark blue uniforms. Some sat alone writing or looking at computers, others either doing both or talking to some pretty unsavory looking characters that looked to have crawled out from some of Japan's disreputable hovels.

In the midst of all this awe- inspiring confusion he failed to pay attention to where he was going and so walked right into someone who immediately fell back when they collided. Of course, he him self was unmoved but it was still rather annoying to have felt his body come into contact with someone else. He hated being touched, had never liked it, sometimes gave him a rash even. He looked down to see a large, scruffy man with a split lip and a malodorous scent that seemed to cling tightly to his skin like some sick dockside whore, scramble up hastily to his feet. He especially hated it when the offender looked so ugly.

“Hey punk! Watch where you going!” the man fairly spat in his face, as he struggled to keep his balance which proved to be a task since he appeared to have had both of his hands tied behind his back, not to mention, judging by the heavily slurred words, incredibly inebriated.

Inuyasha looked him up and down slowly before bearing his teeth in a wolfish grin and shoving past the man causing him to teeter precariously before finally losing the battle and falling flat on his ass. He didn't bother to turn around as he walked away from the man who continued to bluster and curse at his back.

He sidled up to Yamamoto and Nonomiya who had both stopped to watch the whole debacle. Nonomiya shook his head in amusement before turning to the side.

“Hey Sagawa! Where's the chief?” Nonomiya directed his question to a rather harried looking young man in the blue uniform, who sat riffling through a huge pile of papers on his desk. The young man's looked baffled for a moment before his expression cleared.

“He's watching the interrogation going on in room three.” Nodding his head in thanks, Nonomiya shuffled his way across the room to another set of double doors. Inuyasha followed closely behind him with Yamamoto following a few steps behind, shaking his head disparagingly. How many god damn doors did a building need?

“You're looking to get your head chewed off Nonomiya. You know how the chief gets when you barge in on an interrogation,” Yamamoto drawled out slowly, his hands buried deeply into his trouser pockets.

“Bah! The chief won't mind, besides he's only watching not conducting. That my friend makes a difference. He said himself that he wanted to interview our friend here as soon as possible. I'm just following orders. He can't get mad because of that.”

Yamamoto scoffed at the rejoinder but didn't say anything further. Nonomiya led them down a brightly lit corridor that was so narrow that two men could barely walk shoulder to shoulder comfortably. They continued to walk a certain distance before they veered off to the right, turning the knob of an adjacent door and boldly stepping through it without even bothering to knock.

The room was dark, the only light in there coming from the large window that overlooked a brightly lit room. There were three men in the other room; one sat at the lone desk, large rivulets of sweat running down his cheeks; which was probably due to the overly bright light burning above his head. Two other men in short sleeves rolled up the elbows alternately circled around the room like vultures waiting for their prey to give up the ghost so that they could swoop in and begin their feast.

They asked the man questions in rapid succession leaving him to swivel his head frantically at a speed that Inuyasha thought would be sure to give him whiplash, trying to keep his eyes on them both. Their voices escalated to a loud pitch, coaxing and then demanding, one even going so far as to slamming a hand against the desk which reflexively caused the man to jump in surprise and emit a loud squeak.

Inuyasha switched his gaze away from the verbal massacre going on in there and focused his attention instead on the lone man who stood silently in the room they had just walked into. The man hadn't acknowledged their presence, his whole concentration trained intently on the proceedings in the other room.

He couldn't see much of the man's face except for his profile. He was dressed austerely in gray slacks, suspenders and a white dress shirt. His hair was black, streaked heavily with gray, raked back off of his high forehead. His black brows were drawn down into a tight crease of concentration, his jaw clenching then unclenching.

Nonomiya stepped forward to stand next to the man and cleared his throat loudly when all had gone quiet in the other room. Inuyasha turned to see that the two men who had been aggressively badgering the man had left the room. The man who sat in his seat appearing to be on the very edge of a nervous breakdown, finally buckled down and dropped his head on the table before him. Inuyasha could see the tension drain out from his hunched shoulders before they relaxed.

He almost felt sorry for the poor bastard. Almost. No longer interested, his attention returned to the whispered conversation between Nonomiya and the unknown man. He had missed a large portion of what was being said having had been caught up in his perusal of the other room, so now he strained forward to catch what he could. Without being obvious. Damned hat muffled his hearing.

He caught his name being mentioned before he was met with dark eyes that glittered with sharp intelligence, set in a deeply wrinkled face.

 

When he man completely turned his gaze towards him, Inuyasha felt his body stiffen, there was something about that gaze that set his senses to jittering. He couldn't quite pinpoint exactly why but he decided that he would keep a close eye on the old man. He seemed to be even wilier than Nonomiya was. He hated wily old men.

The man broke away from Nonomiya and made his way over to where he stood with Yamamoto, stopping when there were only a few feet in front of them. “Hello there young man, the name is Chief Miyosawa Pat. A pleasure to finally meet you,” he said whilst extending his hand towards him. When Inuyasha didn't make a move to take his hand, Miyosawa grunted and folded his hands across his chest.

“Aah so this is the infamous Inuyasha that I've heard so much about.” the man said, darting an unenthusiastic eye towards the other occupants in the room before looking back at Inuyasha. The dark eyes that hid under equally dark brows stared hard at him as though searching for some weak point, which if he said so him self, were none.

“So tell me boy, what makes you think that you are prepared to jump into a situation that normally takes years for one much older than you to even train for?”

Inuyasha was startled by the question. He had never imagined that he would ever have to explain himself to a human about his strength, his superiority. But then he reminded himself that he was in Kagome's time, where hardly any demons were ever even heard of except in children's fairytales.

“Well quite frankly, I'm way better than any of the other guys out there in strength and speed, there's no doubt about it. I can get the ob done much faster than any of you old geezers could,” Inuyasha stated confidently.

 

“Oh, is that so? And what brought you to that conclusion hmm except for you youth?”

“Have you looked around in that other room lately?” Inuyasha retorted with a snort as he thought back to the overweight men dressed in blue, waddling across the room from one side to another. It was disgusting to really think about it actually, slabs of skin sagging over belt buckles, over large stomachs jostling under tight fitting shirts. Not everyone was like that, Inuyasha would give them credit for that but there was certainly enough of them to make one wonder if any crimes were actually being solved.

Instead of wringing out an embarrassing sound of remorse from the short old man, he instead received a robust bark of amused laughter that seemed to echo all through out the room. He was confused and if there was anything that he hated most was being confused, especially when it was a result of other people laughing at him, like now. Growling lowly in the back of his throat, he balled his fists tightly, trying desperately to reign in his temper. It wouldn't do to sock the bastard clean through to the other room.

“Whoa, whoa there Pat. Watch it their now, our little friend here is getting kind of agitated. I don't care much what you do to him just as long as I'm not in the room when the explosion comes,” Nonomiya chuckled out, with his arms raised high in a warding gesture.

“Okay kid if you want to show me how keen you are, come on over here,” the chief tipped his head in the direction of the lit window. Without hesitation, Inuyasha made his way to stand beside the overset man and they both stared at the man on the other side of it.

Inuyasha studied the man, noted that the harassed look that he had on his face when he had been interrogated earlier was gone. His thin shoulders still retained a bit of his nervous tension but other than that he seemed to be marginally more relaxed.

“Tell me, what do you see?” Pat Miyosawa asked him. Inuyasha looked at him for a moment before turning back to look more closely at the man.

He couldn't smell the man's scent, not with the large, thick glass between them but he could see him well enough. His hanyou sight able to tell him way more about the subject, being able to operate well beyond the scope of a normal human being's. He used those senses now, knowing without being told that what made him unique in the human realm would help him to achieve what it normally wouldn't in his own.

“I see a dirty, disheveled man. His hair is oily, matted, meaning that he probably hasn't washed it in a good long while. His coat has holes in the elbows; the material thin, grimy, it's probably because he wears it all the time, maybe even the only one he might own.

His skin's pasty, sallow with lots of splotches, his eyes over- bright and feverish. He's sick most like, suffering from something. Probably something that could be deadly.” As he spoke, he thought about the many times that he had passed by opiate houses in the towns that he sometimes passed through in sengoku.

He thought about the awkward behavior that those users exhibited when they were under the influence or even when they were trying to their level best to get under said influence. The behavior was wild, unhinged, almost as though the person themselves were possessed by a youkai or some other malevolent spirit.

The skin pallor was just as sickly and gaunt as this man's. The bones of their faces protruding sharply under the taut leathery texture of their skin.

He narrowed his golden gaze before turning them toward Chief Miyosawa with a look of triumph on his face, knowing that he would pass this test. “He's a drug user!” Inuyasha didn't get the exact reaction that he was looking for from the man; instead all he received was a slow nod.

He watched as Miyosawa continued to watch through the window pane and so he too did so. He noticed when the two men from earlier, obviously detectives, walk into the room and resumed from where they had left off from. Miyosawa shifted to his left, raised his finger and leaned against a small red button stationed beside the window.

 

Inuyasha felt his ears twitch under his yellow cap from the sudden burst of sound, the deep calm voices of the men in the other room, drifted into the room, sounding almost as though they were all in the same room together. The drug user's name was Maoki and he was obviously in deep shit from the softly spoken accusations that were being tossed his way.

Maoki was a small town hick who had moved from his village into the city, hoping to make it big and make a name for him self. Instead of hooking up with his dream job, he hooked up with cocaine and lots of it. He had sold everything he had and lost all contact with his family, all in an effort to get his hands on as much cocaine as possible, snorting it, and smoking it, injecting it even to feed his addiction.

Now his love for it and gotten him knee deep in trouble because he had made a deal with the devil. In exchange for one pound of cocaine from his dealer, he had agreed to stand watch whilst a gaggle of goons robbed a convenience store and make sure that nothing untoward happened.

Only something did happen, something had gone horribly wrong resulting in the death of the store manager and two other employees. The actual perpetrators having done the crime had gotten away through the service entrance behind the store, but poor Maoki hadn't been so lucky.

When he had heard the first gunshot, Maoki had been out of there like a bat out of hell and probably would've been able to sink into the underground of the city too. Unfortunately for Maoki though, he had been stationed out in front of the store in full view of all the local market goers who had been able to give out his description and a few others who even knew his usual hangout spots.

Those few had been quick to hand out that particular information to the police in hopes of not being busted for being caught with cocaine on their own persons.

Yeah Maoki was one poor son of a bitch who had gotten himself into some serious bit of trouble with no way or hopes of getting out of it.

“Now my friend, why don't you do us all a favor here and tell us where we can find you cronies huh?” said the detective who leaned negligently in the farthest corner of the room, inspecting his tie and brushing off imaginary flecks of dirt on it.

His manner was lazy, all muscles and sinews relaxed and not in the least frightening. His dark eyes however, revealed a whole other story. They were hard and glinted ruthlessly with something dangerous. Inuyasha admired him his gaze, in his lifetime he had not come across many humans who could glare in such a menacing manner without them being insane or power hungry in the midst of war.

“I…I…I don't know who you're t…ta…talking about. I had nothing to do with those murders last week I tell you. I was just standing outside the shop minding my own business you know? Just waiting outside there bumming around for a buck or two!” Maoki stammered out, his bony, dirt encrusted hands shaking and twisting nervously before him. Maoki knew what was good for him.

Yeah he knew exactly what was good for him and it sure as hell had nothing to with any cop that was for sure. He might have been stupid enough to muck up his dreams, stupid enough in get caught up in some even stupider things but he was smart enough to know what was good for him.

He knew that if he tattled now it would mean his life, he wouldn't be safe anywhere, whether it was on the street or even in prison. They would find him, they would always find him. They had people everywhere. No, he was better off if he just kept silent.

“Now look here Maoki, we know what happened there and we know you were in on it. Even if you were just hanging around outside the store, we know that you were there long enough to get a really good look at our guys.”

“No! No, I didn't see anything. I had nothing to do with it. I didn't see anyone I tell you.” Maoki was highly agitated now, banging his hands against the table to emphasize his so called innocence. Why wouldn't they all just leave him be. He wasn't doing anything to anybody!

The two detectives sighed in frustration, they had been at it for days trying just about all their strategies to get Maoki to give up the information that they wanted but he had responded to none of it. Maoki wasn't afraid of prison, wasn't afraid of physical violence, nothing.

On the other side of the panel, Inuyasha stood ramrod straight, watching the fidgety man shout and beg to be left alone. He knew something, he was sure of it but he was afraid to let go of that information. He was afraid of someone; he could see it in the tightly pinched lips, the strained, red-rimmed eyes.

He turned his head towards the chief and didn't remove his gaze until Miyosawa turned towards him. They stared at each other for an intense moment before Miyosawa spoke through the microphone next to him.

“Ok boys, that's enough. Time to send in some fresh ammunition.” The two detectives in the lit room looked confused for a moment before shrugging their shoulders and quitting the room.

“Ok kid, show me what you got. Yamamoto let him in.” Inuyasha turned and followed the younger man out of the room. Nonomiya moved closer to Miyazawa looking confident and smug. “You better be right about this kid Nonomiya or less it's gonna be both of our pensions on the line.”

Nonomiya did nothing but continue to smile.

***

 

Yamamoto let Inuyasha to door of the bright room with nothing more than a pat on his shoulder and a flippant “we'll be watching” before leaving. Inuyasha stepped into the room, closing the door as silently behind him as he had opened it.

He noted how small the room was and also how bare it was. He looked at the opposite wall, over Maoki's shoulder at the window, expecting to see Nonomiya and the chief standing there but was shocked instead to find his own reflection staring back at him. Interesting, he thought.

Getting over his shock, he stiffened his shoulders; he had business to deal with. The sooner he proved himself, the sooner he would get onto finding his true query. He prowled closer to the unsuspecting human on silent feet, his breathing all but undetectable, his presence unfelt.

A smirk of sadistic pleasure crept across his face, the rush of the hunt flowing freely through his veins. He had become domesticated as of late, allowing Kagome's mother to feed and care for him for the past few days, not even taken up the urge to go for a run through his forest.

It had been awhile since he had truly set out to hunt prey though his forest. He could smell the blood flowing in the man's veins however, the scent of it was heavily laden with the residual smell of drugs and the man also hadn't bathed in at least a month he was sure.

It didn't matter though. He didn't hunt in order to eat. No he hunted simply to put the fear of the gods into his prey. He fully intended to get everything that he possibly could from this little rat. Yes, whatever he was afraid of now, he would fear no more.

He leaned in close behind the man, whose head still lay on the table, putting his mouth close to his ear, not breathing, not wanting to stir him.

“Boo!” he whispered darkly, stepping back and watching with fanatical delight as Maoki jumped up, swinging back and forth, wild eyed, trying to see behind him but he couldn't, not with his hands manacled in front of him to the desk.

Inuyasha relished in the sound of the rapid beating of the man's heart. He allowed his amusement to spill over into a husky chuckle that sent a shiver of fear running down the man's spine. He knew because he smelled it.

He folded his arms across his broad chest and moved around to stand in front of the frightened man, his grin widening just enough to show case his over long canines. He ran his tongue along the razor- sharp edge, cutting it in the process. His grin widened even further at panicked look that came across Maoki's haggard face.

He leaned over the table, splaying his hands wide before him, making sure to bring attention to his sharp claws. It pleased him when Maoki took the hint and let his eyes become riveted by the sight of them.

Inuyasha flexed his claws letting the sharp ends become embedded in the dark steel, leaving deep grooves in their weak. Maoki went absolutely still. The stink of fear wafted up from around him and filled his nostrils. His tightly leashed inner youkai snarled in satisfaction.

“I hear you've been giving a bit of trouble,” Inuyasha said, his voice deep, threatening. He leaned a bit closer, forcing the other man to look at him. “I don't like trouble.” He watched the other man's eyes widen in fear when his eyes flashed red a moment before Maoki began to scream out loud.

“Devil!” Maoki finally managed to stammer out. “What do you want? I didn't do anything I swear!”

“Oh, is that a fact? Don't play games with me you little worm. You smell of lies and that my friend is something that I don't take to well. Especially when it is done to my face,” Inuyasha growled lowly. Maoki whimpered something out. He was in serious trouble he knew that.

“I'm not lying I swear!” Maoki tried once more.

“No lying. I don't like it. The smell of it nearly always makes me want to wretch. No wait, that's just the smell of your unwashed body. I don't have time for games so maybe I should just go ahead and rip your tongue out your head, right now, right here. What do you think of that?”

“Oh god!” Maoki very nearly pissed his pants in his fear as he watched the demon prowl closer towards him, trailing those wicked claws in the deep groves of the table.

“Your God won't help you now. Listen to me. All you have to do is say out loud what it is both you and I know that you did and we can just simple forget that I ever visited you here. What do you say huh? Sound like a deal?”

“No I can't do that. They'll kill me, I know it. That's what they said that they would do!”

“Who are they?” Inuyasha asked quietly, narrowing his eyes when the little weasel instead of answering the question, shook his head frantically from side to side, sobbing pitifully to himself.

“No I don't want to die. I'm afraid.”

Inuyasha moved to stand behind Maoki so quickly that it barely registered. He leaned in close, pressing the very tips of his sharpened claws heavily against the man's skinny, little throat. He brought his mouth close to his ear and snarled menacingly into it. “Let me tell you right now. If there is anyone that you should be afraid of, you had better believe that it would be me!”

Maoki jerked wildly, screaming loudly, causing his throat to be nicked by Inuyasha's claws. That however didn't deter the man from thrashing around carelessly. Inuyasha stepped back from him, smiling wickedly.

The man had obviously snapped just a bit, whether it was from the withdrawal from the drugs or simply because fear had taken a hold of him, he wasn't sure. One thing that he did know though was that it was only a matter of time before the man gave up the information that he wanted to know.

“Please, please. Someone help me! Get me out of here. Please! I'll tell you anything you want. Just get me away from this freak! He's a demon I tell you! Oh god, oh god!” Maoki yanked as hard as he could against his bonds, struggling his damnedest to get as far away as possible from the silver haired demon before him. There was no doubt in his mind that this man was anything but. No one could tell him otherwise.

The long white hair unnatural for anyone that young to sport, the cat like golden eyes that had flashed wickedly to a deep blood red and back again had given him away. Those large, canine teeth, that were just sharp enough to tear a man's flesh from his bones, those claws, oh god, those claws, were just testaments to that very fact.

Why had they locked him up with this monster?! He had never done anything to anybody. At least nothing bad, not directly. He shivered once more. Oh God, this demon had come for his immortal soul. He was way past redemption. The good lord wouldn't forgive him for any of the sins that he had committed.

This was his punishment now, to be taken and ravaged by this creature of Satan. To be dragged down to the very pits of hell where he would burn for all of eternity.

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to go hell. He didn't want to be anywhere near this beautiful creature with his evil eyes and his wolf's teeth. He needed to repent, now. He needed to do the right thing so that God would forgive him.

Maoki locked eyes with the beast in front of him. He saw his death there but he also saw his salvation. This being before him was instrument for both Satan and God and would make a quick act of ravaging him and feasting on his flesh if he should make the wrong decision. Maoki breathed a sigh that was filled with both long suffering and relief before looking back up at the beautiful wild creature before him.

“I understand now,” Maoki whispered with a feverish gleam in his eyes. Inuyasha was momentarily taken aback by this abrupt change in behavior.

“What is it that you seem to think that you understand?” Inuyasha hissed out, narrowing his golden gaze, the heat of it gone decidedly cold. The little rat squeaked in alarm before stammering out a reply.

“I know why you've been sent to me. You've come to test me, to test my faith. You know my secret don't you?” he whispered conspiratorially. Inuyasha had no idea what the hell the guy was talking about but he figured that if he kept quiet long enough and simply glare at him then Maoki would continue to tell him what he wanted to know.

Maoki glanced around the room as though searching for someone who might be hiding in the room before tilting forward and whispering in a loud voice, if you could call it that.

“Tamaguchi, Kazuki. He made me do it. Told me that he would let me have a full two weeks supply free if I did him this favor. I didn't think anything of it right then, not `til they put me out front of that store. It was a sweet deal. I mean I don't do nothing but watch the store front and then I get free dope for two weeks. Yeah.” Maoki looked up at the demon to see if he agreed with his shrewd business mind but was met with nothing more than a blank mask.

Looking away he continued to mumble his way through the story starting from the beginning straight to the end, including all the little details that the police had been trying to get out of him for days.

“Is that everything?” Inuyasha finally asked when Maoki had falling silent, sensing that there was something else that he was holding back. His question was met with nothing but silence.

Angry now, he kicked the leg of the steel table causing it to bend and give way. He took a moment to calm himself, knowing that he had to also temper his strength. He didn't need anyone to hold him up by asking him questions about how he was able to do things that a normal human would never have been able to do. “Tell me!” he hissed.

Maoki had jumped up when he had heard the loud groaning of the table bending and he whimpered out loud. There was no way that he could escape this demon unless he told him all.

“After that gig, if all went well, there was another condition that I had to meet so that I could get my reward. There's word on the streets that that girl who was attacked last week, people are looking for her. Dangerous people.”

Inuyasha went cold when he heard that. Kagome? It had to be! Who was looking for her and why?

“Who is looking for her?”

“I…I…I don't know. I swear. I'm telling the truth!” Maoki whimpered out quickly when he saw the dark look cloud the demon's face.

“Then tell me what else you were supposed to do for your reward?”

“I was supposed to find out what I could about her you know. Put it out in the street that there was a reward for finding her.”

“What else?

“No… nothing. After I did that I was done. I don't know anything else”

Inuyasha shoved away from Maoki and stomped his way out of the room, heading back the way he had come. When he threw the other door open he stepped through and slammed the door behind him.

He noted the two detectives who had been questioning Maoki in the room eyeing him speculatively but he didn't care about that right now. He paced from one end of the room to the other, frustration, excitement roiling around inside of him all at one time.

He stopped pacing long enough to glare across the room at the chief and Nonomiya who stood huddled together whispering softly.

“Did you hear what that bastard said?”

“Yeah we did.”

“And what are we going to do about it? I am not gonna let some bastard get his hands on my woman, you got that?” Inuyasha growled out, slamming his fist into the wall. He remembered just at the last second to restrain some of his strength but still managed to put a hole in it. Frustrated at his loss of control, he pulled his hand away and turned his back on the other occupants in the room.

“Your woman? You mean your girlfriend? That girl's mother know that you're stepping out with her daughter? And you do know that you're gonna pay for that bit of damage right?” Nonomiya groused out.

“My woman as in my future wife! I'm going to protect her at all costs, so if I have to deal with you guys to achieve that, you bet your asses that you're not going to sit on something like this. I won't let you.”

“You're wife? You mean… that… whoa there! Don't you think that you're a bit young to be so serious? Does the girl's mother know that you two are carrying on the way you do behind her back?”

“Mind your own business, old man. What Kagome and I do is for us to know. I don't need any interference from you!” Inuyasha shouted, the red bloom on his cheeks spreading down to his throat. Harrumphing in aggravation he turned his head away and crossed his arms across his chest. “Anyway, what are we going to do about this threat?”

“Well it's obvious that we're gonna have to find out the source of this latest threat. We can't do anything further unless we know from where to start. I suggest that we retrace Maoki's steps and speak to all those who may have encountered him in the last two weeks. Someone might remember something, like just who this Tamaguchi guy might be and the reason behind Maoki's second task.” Yamamoto said, adjusting the rim of his glasses before stuffing his hands into his trouser pants.

“Yes good idea Yamamoto. I expect you to update our new recruit here on what we have on the case so far. I'll leave it up to the both of you to find out what you can about Maoki.”

“Well if you say so sir, then I believe it would be best if we conduct our investigation from under cover. It would be much easier for us both to blend in.”

“Hmm, what say you Nonomiya?” Chief Miyosawa asked, his hand beneath his chin, his eyes on Inuyasha, considering.

“Let them do what they want, Chief. If Yamamoto thinks it's a good idea to go under cover then I would agree with him. He's hardly ever wrong.” Nonomiya said with a wry twist to his lips.

“Why thank you sir. It's a pleasure to know that you place such faith in my capabilities,” Yamamoto said with a small bow to his superior that was just a tad bit irreverent as well.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Nonomiya mumbled, waving his hand negligently in the air. “Go on you two get out of here. The chief and I got some grown up stuff we gotta talk about.”

“Come Inuyasha. I'll let you in on the particulars of the case and then get you home. We've can start fresh tomorrow morning.” Nodding his head in acknowledgement, Inuyasha followed closely behind him, mindful to close the door gently behind him.

“Well? What do you think Chief?” Nonomiya asked, rocking back on his heels, shifting his eyes to look back on Maoki in the other room, who was still mumbling softly to him self.

“All I can say is that you sure do know how to pick them. You really think that it's a good idea to let that kid run wild in the city. He's good I can tell that but he is a bit of a loose cannon.”

“No worries, it's all good. I've got a good feeling about this one.”

“Whatever, it's your funeral. Just make sure to keep him on a tight leash huh? The division can't take anymore assault charges, remember that.”

***