InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Turn Around Again ❯ Chapter 4

"Turn Around Again" by Jezunya

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Inuyasha *runs away crying*

I'm home sick right now, so let's see if I can get this thing done…

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When Kagome woke the next morning, she felt refreshed, but more importantly, safe. She'd found an oak chair in the corner of the room, beside a small side table with a reading lamp on it. It didn't look all that comfortable, but it was sturdily built and fit perfectly under the doorknob leading back out to the living room - where Inuyasha and his friend were. Once the door was effectively barred and her more paranoid side appeased, she had let herself relax enough to kick off her shoes and socks and crawl into the large bed, which seemed to be the only piece of comfortable furniture in the entire apartment.

She hadn't given much thought to her situation before dropping off to sleep, but now, as she lay with grey morning light peeking through the blinds, she found her mind turning over the events of the previous afternoon. One minute she was a normal girl studying for her exams, and the next she was running for her life with some weird-looking guy who'd been following her around since at least that morning.

She frowned at the ceiling and folded her arms above her head. What did she know of Inuyasha? Nothing, really, beyond that he'd apparently been stalking her and that he now said he was protecting her. Could she trust him? Her thoughts from last night ran through her head again; he hadn't tried anything and he had saved her life - maybe he had been following her because he knew someone was trying to kill her and he was waiting to be able to prevent it! She half-smiled. In that light, she felt a lot better about trusting him. She rolled over onto her stomach to rest her chin on her still-folded arms.

That's when she saw the picture.

Actually, all she saw was the back of the frame, but it caught her eye nonetheless, as it was the only picture she'd seen anywhere in Inuyasha's apartment. Rising up onto her elbows, she gingerly reached over and picked it up.

***

Kagura shivered under the cold glare.

"You failed?" he finally drawled. At her silence, he sat up straighter, resting his hands lightly on the glass top of his desk, and drew a long breath. "Perhaps I had too much confidence in you, hn?" He rose from his chair and began pacing behind the desk. Naraku pursed his lips, before snapping his gaze back to Kagura. "You do realize that the possibility of this being a clean case has now been wiped out, thanks to your mistake," he said. It wasn't a question.

Kagura frowned. "He interfered. There was nothing I could do."

Naraku's dark eyes narrowed at her, his arms folded behind his back in a seemingly business-like fashion. "The police are going to be all over the café mess. They'll be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary." He reseated himself behind his desk, glaring up at her as she continued to stand before him. "I want that girl. Go."

Kagura hurried for the door behind her, thinking about what he'd said. The police would indeed be investigating the attack at the café, and some of their more experienced officers would no doubt recognize it for what it was. And that meant Kouga.

Naraku waited 'til she was gone before turning to the figure standing in the shadows in the corner of the room. "Well?"

She glared back defiantly, her grey eye flashing. "I want to kill him."

Naraku chuckled darkly, lacing his fingers together. "Patience, little one. You'll get your chance."

"Kagura will try to kill him."

Naraku snorted. "Kagura has survival instincts, unlike some people. She's no match for Inuyasha, and she knows it. Don't worry… You'll get your chance." He smiled silkily as she glared at him, then turned and left through the hidden door behind her.

***

Kouga growled under his breath as he stalked through the crime scene. This was no simple case of teenage vandals. The outside patio of the café had been completely blown apart. Blown up, he corrected himself. He crouched on the cement, running his gloved fingers over the holes there. Bullet holes. From a pretty heavy-duty rifle. There had only been one shot fired, but it had been enough to destroy an entire table as well as the floor beneath. Shaking his head, Kouga rose and began making his way back inside.

There were several officers replaying the tapes from the security cams stationed along the property's perimeter. He came up behind the little cluster, frowning at the TV screen in thought. Someone hit the slow-motion button. "See? The shot came from in the bushes," Kouga's partner said, tracing the almost visible path of the bullet with a slim finger.

"Sango, rewind that again," he said, his brows lowering further. The pony-tailed officer glanced up at him and obliged. He watched once again as a man, halfway off screen, suddenly leapt up and seemed to punch the bushes, only an instant before the shot was fired. Then he went dashing away off screen, into the area a different camera was watching. "Again, and slow it down," he leaned forward, trying to get a clear view of the man by the bushes. He jammed down the pause button on the VCR when the man was swinging his arm around toward the bushes. Kouga couldn't believe his eyes.

"Ne, Kouga, isn't that..?" Sango started, but trailed off when she saw her partner's rather livid face.

"Yeah," he finally ground out. "That's Inuyasha."

***

"..But do you really think he's involved in this? He could have just been there by coincidence."

Kouga snorted, continuing down the hallway to his office. "Coincidence, my ass. That bastard's probably behind half the crime in Tokyo!"

"Well, that's a bit of an overstatement," Sango replied flatly, leaning in the doorway as Kouga flopped down behind his desk and immediately reached for the phone. She frowned. "What are you doing?" she asked as he dialed.

He just shook his head as the other end was picked up. "Yo, Myouga… Kouga. You seen dog-turd recently? Inuyasha, yeah. No?" He paused. "Really? And how much did he pay you?" Another pause, and Kouga's eyebrows rose a little. "Reeeally?" he said again. Then, "Dang, that shit-head must really be serious about this one. Yes, I'm talking about Inuyasha… Nice to see you're still babysitting him. Ja," he hung up the phone, rolling his eyes.

"Myouga?" Sango guessed.

He nodded, standing again. "He said dog-turd hasn't been to his place in a while, though he seemed pretty defensive when I asked how much he'd been paid to say that. Then he spilled."

Sango grinned. That was just like Myouga-jiisan. "So..?"

"I'm gonna pay dog-face a little visit. Apparently he had a teenaged human girl with him when he went through."

Sango raised an eyebrow. "Wait. There was a missing person reported from the café - a teenage girl. You think it's the same person?"

"Probably," Kouga agreed. He stuffed his car keys into his coat pocket and grinned ferally at her. "Which means we might finally have the proof we need to put the jackass away."

Sango nodded and started to turn away. "Be careful, then. Wouldn't want it to turn into a hostage situation."

Kouga was about to agree and go down to the car garage when he paused and looked back at her. "You don't want to come with me?" he asked, frowning. Sango was the kind of girl who hated being left behind at the precinct; it was a tough job, being one of only a few female detectives, but she was determined and definitely up to the challenge.

"Nah. You're the one who knows the guy, and this whole 'assassin' business is really your field." She grinned at the dead-pan look he gave at the comment about knowing Inuyasha, and hooked a thumb back up the hallway, "I think I'll go back and check on the evidence. See if we can identify the gun that was used." With that, she turned and started away.

Kouga just shrugged and strode down to the elevator and out to his car.

***

Inuyasha cocked an ear around as he heard the door to his bedroom finally open. He'd been up for hours already and the girl was just now coming out. He grumbled about weak humans needing all their stupid sleep as he watched his ramen spin round and round in the microwave. Miroku had gone home sometime early that morning, saying he was gonna sleep 'til noon, after puzzling for hours over how and why Naraku was involved with Kagome.

Keh. Stupid humans.

He heard the girl making her way across the living room to the kitchen and remembered at the last moment to put his hat back on. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye when she came into view, taking in her sleep-rumpled clothes and bare feet. He froze when he realized what she was studying in her hands.

It was the picture from his nightstand. He'd completely forgotten it was even in there when he'd sent her to bed. Cursing under his breath, he swung around in his chair so he completely faced her and began to get up.

Finally, Kagome looked up at him. "Who… who is this?" she asked softly, her eyes unreadable.

He froze where he stood, held in place by her gaze. "Her name was Kikyou," he said simply, relaxing a little when she looked back at the photo, taking her eyes off him.

"Oh… She looks.. like me…" Kagome touched a finger to the glass over the photo, bemusedly tracing the lines of a face she saw every morning in the mirror.

Inuyasha reached out and took the picture from her, not fiercely, but firmly nonetheless.

"She doesn't look very happy," Kagome commented not unkindly, hungry for some conversation after the long nearly-silent afternoon yesterday. Inuyasha turned away, holding the picture carefully, and didn't reply for a long while.

"She died," he said finally, as if to end the discussion.

"Oh.. I'm sorry." Kagome looked down at her feet, feeling a little ashamed at bringing up a painful subject like that.

"Whatever…" Inuyasha ground out tensely, dropping the picture face-down on the counter. The microwave beeped then, and Inuyasha strode over to retrieve his breakfast, glad for the distraction. Kagome sat at the table, across from where he'd been, and watched him stir the spices into his steaming cup of noodles. He came and sat again, giving her a look when he saw her sitting across from him, but just shook his head and picked up his chopsticks to dig into his ramen.

Kagome's stomach chose that moment to growl rather loudly. She blushed and tried to cough to cover it up, but Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her. "Keh! Fine! Take it!" he said angrily, shoving the cup and chopsticks at her and getting up to make himself a new one.

"Um.. Thanks," Kagome said, timidly picking up his abandoned chopsticks. Inuyasha just grumbled and put another cup in the microwave, his back to her. Silence stretched between them again as Kagome ate her noodles, watching Inuyasha's back and glancing around the kitchen curiously. Her eyes landed the picture frame several times, before switching back and forth between it and Inuyasha.

It was so quiet… the only sound in the whole place was the soft hum of the microwave. She glanced once more at the picture, reluctant to bring up the subject again, but yearning for some conversation. "Why did you do that?" she finally asked. She saw Inuyasha tense at the sound of her voice.

"Do what?" he growled, turning his head slightly in her direction but not really looking at her.

"That," she said, deliberately not going into detail so he would turn around instead of making her talk to his back. He didn't turn, but he did at least look at her over his shoulder. It was more of a glare than anything else, really.. Kagome huffed in annoyance.

"What?" he asked again, more forcefully, his gold eyes flashing in irritation.

She gestured toward the photo on the counter with her chopsticks. "Put it face-down like that. It was like that in your bedroom, too…" She trailed off as she saw his hand fist tightly around his new pair of chopsticks, before he finally turned to face her fully, a strange, loud noise, almost like a dog's growl, echoing around him. Maybe the quiet had been better after all…

"Why don't you just mind your own fucking business, eh? She's dead! I don't want to have to see her face every time I turn around!"

Kagome glared up at him. "What about me? Why did you bother saving me if you hate seeing my face so much?!"

"That's different! You're not her!" he yelled, slamming a fist down on the counter, hard enough to crack it slightly.

Kagome was immediately contrite, seeing how much the subject seemed to upset him. "I know… I'm sorry. I guess I just thought.. I mean, it's obvious you cared about her a lot, so I thought you'd want to remember her." She looked down at her ramen, feeling ashamed and guilty all over again.

"Keh. You thought wrong." Inuyasha growled, turning away again. Halfway back to the microwave, though, he froze, as if listening intently. His gaze snapped up to the kitchen doorway beyond Kagome and he seemed to almost sniff the air. His eyes widened and he swore vehemently, running for the front door.

"What the-" Kagome got up to follow him, peeking around the corner of the kitchen doorway. Inuyasha cracked open the front door, glaring out at whoever was on the other side. Quiet, angry voices drifted back to her, and whoever was out there suddenly shoved the door, hard. Inuyasha was pushed back a step, and in the time it took him to brace himself and start to slam the door closed, the man had slipped in.

Kagome took a step back into the kitchen as the pony-tailed man hit Inuyasha up side the head, sending him crashing face-first into the heavy oak door. "Damn it, Ookami!" Inuyasha snarled, whirling back around. "Get out!"

"Why should I?" Kouga sneered, dancing across the room out of reach of Inuyasha's swinging fists. "You got something to hide?" He stopped as his eyes landed on Kagome, still standing in the kitchen doorway. He took in her appearance, remembering what he'd been told about the 'missing person' from the café - teenager, black hair to mid-back, green school uniform. "Apparently you do," Kouga breathed, not taking his eyes off Kagome. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha questioningly as the other man continued.

"You know," he said conversationally, "there was a report of a girl being kidnapped from a café downtown yesterday." He grinned mirthlessly at Inuyasha, before letting his eyes trace over Kagome again. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, now would you?"

Inuyasha looked like he was about ready to rip the guy apart, so Kagome decided it was about time to intervene. "Kidnapped?" she said, drawing both men's attention to her. She smiled slightly at Kouga, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Oh, no, Inuyasha's an old family friend. I'm just staying with him for a few days. He didn't kidnap me."

Kouga narrowed his eyes at her, glancing side-long at Inuyasha to gauge his reaction to this statement. Shaking his head, he walked up and took Kagome by the elbow, earning him an angry growl from Inuyasha. He led her into the kitchen, giving the white-haired man the finger as they passed out of sight. Once away from Inuyasha, Kouga turned to Kagome, still holding her arm as if to reassure. "Listen to me, you can't protect him," he said quietly but urgently.

"What?" Kagome frowned. He made Inuyasha sound like some big-time criminal… Which he could very well be, she reminded herself, although this guy was making her way more uncomfortable than Inuyasha ever did, even in the short time she'd known him.

"What's your name?" the man asked bluntly, apparently not about to answer her questions.

"Kagome."

"Kagome, I'm Detective Ookami. Now, I understand that Inuyasha's threatened you and you think you're doing the right thing by saying what he wants, but you're only making the situation more difficult. You can tell me the truth. Has he done anything to you?"

Kagome blinked up at him for a moment, her eyes wide. This guy was a police officer, and he was acting like Inuyasha was holding her hostage. She was about to spill the beans, when he decided to step back and look her over again - once again taking in her disheveled clothes and hair.

"I mean, I can see why he would want to.. You're a beautiful girl, Kagome-chan," he grinned.

Kagome quickly stepped away from him. Being hit on by a police detective who was who-knows-how-many-years older than her was not exactly her idea of security. "Ah, no, I'm fine. Like I said, I'm just staying with Inuyasha for a few days. He's my cousin," she added, remembering the fib she'd told that Hojo guy the day before.

Kouga frowned at her. "We'll see.. I assume your family knows you're here, then. I'll be checking in with them just to be sure."

"Uh, right."

"Oh, and Kagome," he dug into the pocket of his tan trench coat, pulling out a business card. "This is the number straight to my office. Call if you need anything… or if you change your mind," he said grimly, handing her the little card. Kagome just nodded and waited for him to leave.

The detective strode out of the kitchen and out of her line of sight, a loud thud and an angry curse just before the door banged shut marking his passage past Inuyasha. Kagome relaxed and sank into a chair after he had gone, Inuyasha coming into the kitchen a few moments later. He scowled when he saw her fingering Kouga's business card.

"You're keeping that?" he asked irritably, glaring pointedly at the card.

"Yeah.." Kagome didn't look up at him. "You know, 'just in case.'" Just in case he was right, just in case I really can't trust you…

Another uncomfortable silence settle over them as Kagome poked at her now-cold ramen and Inuyasha fished his out of the microwave. She just couldn't forget what Ookami-san had said.. He'd really made her think that Inuyasha was dangerous. Okay, so she knew he was dangerous - the man carried a gun, for crying out loud! But he'd made it sound like Inuyasha might actually do her harm, that he wasn't protecting her. Running over the conversation again in her head, Kagome suddenly thought of something.

"Hey," she said, getting Inuyasha's attention as she rose from her chair. "Can I use your phone?" she asked, already making her way into the living room where the telephone sat beside his couch.

"What for?" Inuyasha countered, following her with narrowed eyes.

"Detective Ookami said he was going to call my family, so unless you want him back here arresting you for kidnapping me, I need to call them first and let them know what's going on," she said, picking up the receiver and dialing her home number.

Inuyasha looked at her like she had suddenly sprouted a second head. "What, you're just gonna say, 'Hi mom, I'm fine, there's just a bunch of people out to kill me right now'?!" he growled.

Kagome rolled her eyes at him, sitting on the leather sofa. "No. …Well, maybe not just like that, but we do need to make sure mom knows to go along with our story." Inuyasha snorted and wandered over to the window, fiddling with the blinds as the phone on the other end of the line rang and rang.

Finally, after several minutes of nothing but the sound of the phone ringing, Kagome hung up with a discouraged sigh. "Guess they're out…" she said quietly.

"Yeah, or they're on the other line talking to Kouga right now," Inuyasha replied sarcastically, still facing away form her.

"Kouga?"

"Ookami."

"Oh." She frowned and shook her head. "No, I would have gotten a busy signal…" She trailed off, looking down at her hands in her lap. After a few silent moments, she asked softly, "So what do we do now?"

Inuyasha slowly turned to look at her. She was wringing her hands lightly, her face down, her shoulders hunched. Her fear was rising again. He could almost smell it. Kouga had warned her away, made her scared of him all over again. Not that he cared, he quickly told himself. If anything, it was better for them both this way.

In fact, it's not even an issue. I don't need to think about it! Mentally shaking his head, he faced her completely, leaning back against the window sill.

"We hit them before they hit us," he answered her grimly.

Kagome looked up at him then, her face unsure, yet trusting, her eyes hesitant, yet determined. And it suddenly occurred to him why he had been so taken aback when he'd first seen her determination - she wasn't anything like Kikyou, despite their outward likeness.

She was just like him.

** ** ** ** **

Not much action, but lots of thoughts in this chapter.. Don't worry, Sango and Miroku will be making much larger appearances later on. This was just kinda introducing Kouga and Sango's characters. Yes, they're both police, and they're partners. Ooh, and who is the 'little one' working with Naraku to kill Inuyasha? Any guesses? ^_^

Review Please!!