Author's Notes: Some FAQ at the end of the chapter….

Zero-G

Chapter Three

The Escape Attempt

Inuyasha kicked the front door shut with his foot and moved forward to dump the brown bag of groceries on the kitchen table. He looked around with a sigh and realised, not for the first time, that he could probably do with better accommodations. This flat had only three rooms: the bathroom and kitchen downstairs and the bedroom upstairs. Not exactly a glamorous location either, being in the middle of the district council estate where all the teenage mothers and drug dealers liked to live. If Inuyasha didn't drag his bike into the foyer every night, he'd have to buy a new set of tyres the next morning for each pair that got stolen. But thanks to the money that Kikyo had given him, he could afford a very nice little apartment by the riverside…

Although, the last thing he needed to do was draw attention to himself, especially when his life depended on being invisible. (This, however, did not stretch to the flashy motorbike. You only had to be invisible whilst on a job.) Plus, this would mean moving the girl from here to a new apartment… and that could be tricky.

First of all, he needed her to understand what kind of trouble she was in and just who exactly she couldn't trust. But that was easier said than done. Young girls didn't automatically trust the men who kidnapped them.

Inuyasha was just setting his keys down next to the groceries when the door swung open behind him. Instantly, Inuyasha was on high alert and he spun around, ready to face his attacker. His fists dropped somewhat, when instead of an attacker he found…

"Kikyo?"

But Kikyo did not look like a happy beauty analyst.

"What did you do?!" she seethed in a low and dangerous voice as she advanced towards him.

More like what didn't I do… Inuyasha backed hastily around the kitchen table to put some kind of obstacle between him and the angry young woman. It was just as he'd dreaded… she'd found out and now she was out for blood. Whether it was his or Kagome's, he wasn't sure yet. "Is something the matter, Kikyo-kun?" He tried his best to aim for polite innocence, but he knew that his manners were usually the first clue that he was lying about something.

Or just being patronising.

"You are despicable - you know that?!" she ranted as she tried to move round the table to approach him.

Inuyasha skirted the opposite way to maintain the distance. "Yes, I'm well aware of that fact. Want to tell me something I don't know?"

"You're impossible!" She stopped and slammed her hands down on the table, making his grocery bag topple over. "How could you do this to her?"

Inuyasha picked up an apple that had rolled his way. "What do you mean?" He polished the fruit on his shirt and took a bite.

"You shredded her face! You removed all her clothes! It wouldn't surprise me at this point if it came to light that you raped her!" Kikyo hissed.

Inuyasha paused. "Oh…" he said slowly, staring off into the distance. But then after a moment, he took another carefree bite of his apple. "You mean that."

Kikyo ground her teeth. "Yes, I mean that."

Inuyasha gave a short, derisive laugh. "Don't tell me you grew a heart. And don't come whining to me that I raped her when you yourself didn't care whether she lived or died."

"Inuyasha - if they find any of your DNA on her body, they'll be sure to link me to this mess-"

"Oh, so that's what you're pissed about!" he interrupted, much more relieved to find Kikyo's character was still as irrepressible as ever. "You're worried about the police catching me in case I blab about our deal."

Kikyo's fists clenched and unclenched sporadically against the table. She watched him with a wary kind of fury, ready to unleash it at any given moment if he said the wrong thing. Inuyasha smirked and set the apple down between them. "In that case, you don't have to worry, my dear Kikyo. I'd never sell you out. Not to anybody. You know you're too special to me."

Some of the anger left her eyes, but the suspicion remained. "How can I be sure? You're not exactly trustworthy."

"I could say the same for you." He stalked around the table towards her, but she held her ground. "But that's not the issue. You know very well that I wouldn't even dream of letting the police catch me. And you also know that our little secrets… remain little secrets…"

He was very close to her now - close enough to catch a full taste of her perfume, to see the mascara layering her eyelashes, and the way her painted lower lip stuck out in a slight pout as if something terribly unfair was happening to her.

"You never told Naraku, did you?" she said, and her pout seemed audible as well.

Inuyasha's smile was sinister as he encircled her wrists with his fingers. "Not a word. And neither did you."

"No." she agreed, watching his mouth in a rather pointed way.

"See? We're both very good at keeping our secrets." he mused, leaning forward until his lips brushed against hers, lightly, but teasingly.

"You're a sick man." she told him with conviction, but didn't bother to pull herself away.

"That's what you love about me." he reminded, releasing her wrists to slide his hands up her shoulders and along her neck.

"Filthy…" she breathed as his lips tapped hers again. "What you did to my cousin…"

"I was thinking of you the entire time." he whispered against her lips.

This was usually the point where she'd push him away and give him the lecture about 'being too good' for him. Something about moving on, involving circles, oblongs, and other shapes that he never really understood, but today Kikyo surprised him.

Her hands seized the back of his head and tugged him down to press their lips together, ending the torment between them. Now he could taste the lipstick on her mouth and even smell the 'scentless' foundation smothering her skin. Admittedly, Kikyo was a very attractive young woman, but she was far more beautiful out of make-up. He sometimes wondered if the face paint was some kind of defence… some way of shielding herself and her insecurity from the rest of the world.

But then Inuyasha remembered that Kikyo had not a single soft bone in her body, and within her chest beat a heart of stone. She wasn't insecure or lacking in confidence… she was just vain and greedy.

He hated her with a loathing that rose from the bile of his stomach, but when she kissed him like this, it was easy to forget the damage they could cause together. The pain and hurt that they inevitably caused each other.

Her nails scored across his jaw, making raised welts in their wake. She was always rather careless when she was with him… never with anyone else, and he knew this for a fact. The pain and inflictions were only reserved for him, because each bruise, welt and scratch had a point-

He didn't deserve any better.

Suddenly Kikyo's lips were gone, replaced by one long finger. He opened his eyes and saw her stepping out of his arms with a coy, yet vaguely frazzled look. "I don't think so… we both know what happens when we enter this vicious circle." Her voice was low and throaty as she backed away further, dropping her finger. "It's a self-destructive loop that we can both do without. Besides…" She flicked a stray lock of hair back over her shoulder. "I'm earning millions every week with Regenis. I can do far better than I've done in the past." She flicked an unsubtle glance over him before moving across to the door. Inuyasha watched her blankly, though he knew that his lack of quips or sniping retorts gave her the impression that she had won this little battle in their ongoing war.

Actually, he'd just realised that there was a concussed fifteen year old girl tied up on his bed at that very moment while he was getting busy with the cousin who'd tried to have her killed off. He'd always thought that maybe he had some class as a killer… but really, he was just the average seedy bum.

Then again, Kikyo's visits always seemed to leave a black mark on his self-esteem.

Said beauty analyst was primping and tugging her clothes straight as if recovering from a rendezvous with a lover, when in actual fact it had been more like a skirmish between close enemies. "I'll see you around… Inuyasha." His name rolled off her tongue like it was the most delicious word she knew…

Just another taunt.

The door closed after her and Inuyasha stared at it a moment before picking up the half eaten apple and hurling it at the wooden panel. "Fucked up bitch!" he snarled as the fruit hit the door with a thump and a splattering of apple flesh and juice.

Kikyo's tinkling laughter haunted him as it faded away down the hall.

For a moment, Inuyasha didn't know what to do with himself. Torn between the urge to run after her and scream at her more - or kiss her more - and the need to tear something up and smash it to pieces, Inuyasha just stood, feeling his palms begin to itch.

Kikyo had been here for over five minutes - far too risky to try again in the near future. Who was to say that the next time she walked in, she would realise Kagome was there as well? If anyone ever discovered that he hadn't completed his job, his life would be over. He wasn't the only paid-to-kill man in the business, and he might not even be the best. The moment the Coalescence ever doubted his absolute loyalty, they would string him up by his intestines as an example to any other cell agents who thought of double-crossing their boss.

Not for the first time, Inuyasha wondered if he'd done the right thing. He plodded up the stairs, dragging his bag of groceries and a kitchen knife. Was saving this one girl's life going to be worth it in the end? Was she just going to be killed later rather than sooner? And was he going to die alongside her as a result?

He sat down on his chair beside her bed, not caring to keep the noise to a minimum as her concussion seemed to have made her a heavy sleeper. She hadn't even roused during his loud conversation with Kikyo… which was probably a good thing. She slept like an angel… with her mouth agape and a damp patch of drool on the mattress beneath her head, so perhaps she was more like a drunken angel recovering from a late night bender.

It would be so easy… Inuyasha thought as he drew the kitchen knife towards her throat, to just end this madness here and now…

It would only take one slice and she'd be dead without ever waking up to feel the pain. He could take her down to Coalescence headquarters and use one of the unguarded vats of acid to do away with her body. Even if he met other agents and employees on the way, they wouldn't ask questions… especially if he wrapped her up in a sheet to make sure no one saw her face. Everyone did a little 'extra curriculum' murder every now and then. Sometimes it was unavoidable. People who found out too much… cops that got in the way… they all disappeared quietly.

No one would be any the wiser, and the secret of Kagome's extra lease of life would be a secret that died with him.

Then she stirred quietly as she began to wake up, and Inuyasha whipped the knife away from her neck to resume peeling an apple.

When Kagome opened her drowsy eyes, this was how she saw him. For a moment she was horrified, trying to remember who he was, and where they were… but then the memory returned in a flood and she realised that she was still this nutcase's prisoner.

Impressively, Kagome remained calm and simply watched him peel the apple. He occasionally popped an extra bit of apple peel into his mouth and chewed slowly as he divided up the apple into equal sections. When he was finished, his steady gaze met hers. "Want some apple?" he offered.

"No." Kagome told him.

He just shrugged. With a heavy sigh, he propped his booted feet up onto the bed rail in slow deliberation, one after the other, right above Kagome's head. She glanced nervously at his feet as he leant back in his chair with a creaky groan of old wood. That was it. He didn't pursue the subject of apples and simply stared off into space like he was on an entirely different planet.

"What I want," Kagome said after a while, "is to go home."

He picked at something between his teeth with the nail of his little finger. "No can do."

The room fell quiet again as Kagome mulled over his rejection and Inuyasha inspected his nails from a distance. Once again, Kagome had to chase the conversation back on track. "Why can't you do it? Why can't you just let me go? I promise I won't tell anyone that you kidnapped me - not even my family-"

"One: I haven't kidnapped you. I've saved your life. And two: you would tell everyone and everything that sits still long enough to listen, you little fibber." he murmured in a bored manner.

Kagome wondered how it was possible to reason with a madman. "Ok… thank you for saving me the way you did. It was very kind of you and you did a wonderful job. But I can look after myself now, so if you'd just open these cuffs and let me go, I'll…"

"I'm not an idiot, and I'm not crazy." He rolled his head to the side as if working out a kink in his neck. "You're staying here and that's final."

"But I don't want to stay here." Kagome argued.

"And I don't care." He began cracking his knuckles irritatingly.

"You don't understand - there's been some kind of huge misunderstanding!" Kagome jerked her head towards the television set that was reeling through another string of fifteen-minute commercials. "My family thinks I'm dead!"

"I know." And he didn't seem to care either.

"I need to go back there and sort things out!" Kagome snapped. "They're heartbroken - Kikyo was bawling her eyes out on national television!"

Our Kikyo… she's a good actor, isn't she? Inuyasha feigned disinterest and made a mental note to keep the TV set switched off in future. The less she knew about what was going on, the better. So he changed the subject. "Need the bathroom?"

"No." Kagome answered automatically, even though she had been busting for the toilet since he'd left.

Inuyasha seemed to sense this. "Got a nice bathroom downstairs." He watched her with amused eyes. "Rain cloud print wallpaper."

Kagome said nothing.

"Every time you go in there, it's almost like a downpour is about to start on the walls." He rocked back in his chair. "Splish, splash, splish, splash… all that running water, you know?"

"…stop it…"

"Hot and cold running taps as well." he continued. "But you know what they say… what with limited water supplies, you can't use too much. Can't have all that clean water running down the drains and straight into the big blue sea… that wet blue sea…" He smirked at her. "What a wasssssssssste-"

"Please, don't." Kagome clenched her knees together.

"Don't, what?" he shrugged innocently. "I'm just talking about the environment and how we all have to do our part to keep our world stable." His chair fell back in place suddenly with his feet on the floor. He leant forward conspiratorially. "Did you know that there's about 1.41 billion cubic kilometres of water on the surface of this planet?"

"Not really, no-"

"And despite that, the water that you're drinking has probably already been drunk by someone else at one time or another. You can blame the water legislationssssssss…"

Kagome slammed her hands against the mattress, making the cuffs bang noisily against the rail. "Would you stop that?!" she shouted, despite the fact that it hurt her head more than it hurt him.

"Stop what?" Again with the innocence.

"Y-You're trying to make me pee myself!" She squirmed with embarrassment.

"Not on my bed, you won't." He stood up and took something out of his pocket. "We're off to the bathroom."

"You make it sound like a fun day out." Kagome said dryly.

The item in his pocket turned out to be the key to the handcuffs. One quick 'click' and she was free to move her hands as she wished. "Ooh… that's so much better." Kagome stretched her cramped up arms and tugged at the cuff still attached to her left wrist. "What about this one?"

"Forget it." He caught her free wrists and dragged her upright.

Unprepared for such a manoeuvre, Kagome wobbled as her legs began to buckle. "Steady." Inuyasha hissed as he gripped her under the arms to keep her upright. Kagome was grateful for the quick rescue, but she hastily pushed him away to stand alone. "I'm fine." she told him curtly.

"Right." He rolled his eyes and led her down the stairs into the main room of the small flat. Kagome wrinkled her nose slightly at the insane messiness of the place, but was too polite to say anything as he ushered her towards the bathroom. "In here." he told her, before shoving her inside and shutting the door.

"Wow, and here I was thinking you were going to hold my hand throughout." her muffled voice responded through the door.

"I'm sure you can manage." he called back evenly as he busied himself by picking up the groceries that Kikyo had knocked over previously. Unloading them into the fridge was tricky, as it was already crammed to the brim with all sorts of unhealthy snacks… most of which were past their use-by date.

Kagome's voice drifted through the bathroom door again. "You know, these aren't rain clouds. They're carrots."

Inuyasha feigned a stupefied look, even though she wasn't there to appreciate the sarcasm. "You don't say!"

The bathroom fell quiet again and Inuyasha tentatively sniffed an unlabeled tin of… white fluffy stuff? Whatever it had been, it probably wasn't edible now. He tossed it carelessly in the direction of the bin.

That was when he heard a suspicious rattling from inside the bathroom. He smirked as he pushed a six-pack of beer onto the top shelf of the fridge. "Trying to get out of the window, are we?" he hazarded a guess.

The rattling stopped with guilty suddenness. "…no." came the slow reply.

"That window's been nailed shut for three years. Not even Harry Houdini is getting out of that one." he informed her as he shut the fridge and picked his way across the room to the bathroom door. "Are you finished…?"

"…yes…"

"Then stop hiding."

Slowly, and almost timidly, the door creaked open and the dishevelled schoolgirl emerged. Her face may have been pasty, her hair may have been mattered, and her body may have been stiff and awkward, but her eyes burned with anger and determination as she looked up at him.

For a brief instant, he knew that of all the people he could have chosen to survive… this girl had been the right one. She wouldn't waste his gift to her.

"What?" she griped.

He grunted. "Nothing."

"Then give me a pat on the head and a biscuit, and I'll be going." She pivoted towards the front door, but no sooner had she taken one step than Inuyasha had reached out to pull her backwards.

"Set a foot outside that door and you're a dead little girl." he told her bluntly, hard fingers digging into the tender muscles of her forearm.

Kagome turned to cast a dubious look over him. "Are you threatening me?"

"Of course not." He released his painful grip on her. "I'm trying to protect you."

"From what?" she demanded.

"To tell you would cause more harm than good." he said simply.

"I don't believe that." She narrowed her eyes. "You're lying to me, or you're just not telling me the whole truth."

"A little from column A, a little from column B." Inuyasha replied easily as he moved to sit down at the kitchen table. "Come sit with me, Kagome."

The schoolgirl folded her arms stiffly. "You sound like some kind of paedophile."

"Would you stop saying that? I'm not coming on to you, I'm just asking you to sit down. You look dead on your-"

"Stop saying you're a paedophile?" Kagome suddenly repeated. "But that was the first time I've said it!"

"Nah… you said the same thing a few days ago." He tapped his head and looked at her pointedly. "I guess the bump on the noggin must have knocked a few extra screws loose."

"So… when I met you I told you that you were a paedophile?" Kagome frowned suspiciously as she began adding up the facts. "Then I probably met you before I got smacked around the head."

Inuyasha wanted to smack her round the head all over again. "What makes you say that?" he asked tightly.

"Well, I'm assuming I passed out after the bump, so unless I accused you of paedophilia while I was unconscious, I met you before the bump." Kagome finished triumphantly.

Inuyasha looked vaguely disinterested in her whole Sherlock Holmes style deduction. "So?" he shrugged in a bored way.

"So… do you know who did this to me?" She pointed to her head.

If he didn't tell her, then she'd only be stubborn and pester him endlessly. Inuyasha sighed as he realised this and gestured to the chair opposite him. "Sit down, Kagome."

Slowly, she did as he'd told and waited for him to continue.

"You probably don't realise it, but you've managed to associate yourself with a rather… ruthless person. Don't interrupt." He held up a finger when she opened her mouth to break into his monologue. "You did something to upset this person and they went to a contractor to have you dealt with."

Kagome looked dispassionately at him. She didn't believe a word. "Oh, and you know this… how?"

"That's not important." He brushed the question aside. "The relevant point is that the minute you return to your family this person will realise that you're alive and will no doubt attempt to kill you again… to keep you quiet if not just out of anger."

Kagome scoffed. "You're mistaken. I don't know people as ruthless as that - and I sure as anything go out of my way to avoid offending people. What could they possibly have against me? I'm fifteen, for god's sake!"

"What if I told you that it was one of your family who tried to have you killed…?" Inuyasha leant forward, resting his cheek in his palm.

Kagome pulled a face. "I love my family, and my family loves me… I seriously doubt that they would want to kill me."

"Kikyo did."

Kagome raised an eyebrow and appraised her 'rescuer'. This had to be just another dish of lies and tales that he was trying to feed her. The fact that he knew Kikyo's name did not impress her. Kikyo was the head of a leading brand of cosmetics, particularly famous and celebrated for her accomplishing so much by the age of twenty-five. A lot of people knew who she was, and people often mistook Kagome for her cousin when passing her on the street (though the uniform was usually a dead give-away that she was, in fact, just an ordinary schoolgirl).

This hanyou could have gotten his facts anywhere. "Right." Kagome said slowly. "And who exactly did Kikyo contract into killing me?"

From the look on his face, she could see that he knew she was immune to his fibs. But he still said "The Coalescence."

"The Coalescence. Wonderful." Kagome looked up at the ceiling. "The Coalescence came after little old me. Even though they tend to blow up buses and kill politicians more than schoolgirls. They're terrorists, not mercenaries."

"They still need to get their money somewhere. Hired guns can earn a lot." he told her.

"I don't care - it's total bullshit." It wasn't often that she swore, but if there was a time for extreme language, it was now. "I wake up in this pigsty of a flat with a creepy half-human, half-whatever watching over me, and you expect me to swallow this garbage about my cousin and a group of terrorists? Dream on."

"You don't think Kikyo is capable of murder?" he asked, humoured.

"Kikyo is my cousin! I love her, and she loves me. There's never been any bad blood between us, and she'd certainly never try and have me killed!" Kagome lectured him.

"Then you obviously don't know Kikyo that well." Inuyasha smirked to himself as he traced a ring of coffee stain on the table before him.

"And I suppose you do? You - a total stranger!" Kagome waved a hand at him. "You know what I think? I think you're some crazy whack-job who's feeling lonely so you kidnapped me to keep you company whilst trying to make me believe that staying here is in my best interests. I don't know what you did that made my family believe that I was dead, but you can't hide me here forever."

"Well, normally I wouldn't really care. It's your life and if you walked out that door now and got yourself killed within a few hours of contacting your family, that would be your choice and your problem." He sighed and scratched his head. "But my problem is that I would wind up dead as well."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Kagome humoured him.

"Because I've harboured you. The Coalescence won't take kindly to that."

"You're a demon. Of course they'd take kindly to you." she snapped.

He smiled slightly. "That's not how the world works. I'm also human, remember?"

Kagome smiled the way someone smiled when they were told something so absurd and ridiculous that the only option was to laugh and turn their head away. "This is ridiculous. You can't convince me that my cousin tried to have me killed. Where's the proof?"

"The proof will come soon." he told her evenly. "She killed you for your miracle cream formula… how long do you think it will be before she markets the product?"

This had Kagome's attention like nothing else. No one knew about Zero-G. No one except herself, her family, and her friends. How on earth did he know? "Zero-G…?"

"Oh, is that what you call it?" Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm surprised you didn't see this coming. Your cousin is head of a multi-million cosmetic enterprise, eager to get their hands on 'the next big thing' and there's little you inventing it."

"I-I didn't invent it, I was just tweaking it…" Kagome stammered, unsettled by this turn of events.

"Kikyo killed you for your formula, Kagome." he told her seriously.

"She asked for the research." Kagome realised. "But I turned her down… and that was all. She wasn't upset - she just told me that it was my decision to make."

"So she took the formula by force." he concluded. "A little redundant, but the motivation for murder always is."

Kagome stared at him a moment before shaking her head angrily. "No! Kikyo wouldn't do something like that! I saw her on TV - she was honestly heartbroken that I was dead! You can't tell me that she was acting because I've known Kikyo all my life and she's a terrible actor!"

"Or so you think…" he trailed off pointedly.

"You're lying." Kagome glowered at him. "You're just trying to keep me here - there is still no proof that what you say is true. You're just making it all up!"

"Kagome, Kagome, Kagome… you're so small-minded." He stood up. "Let me get you a drink. You're probably dehydrated by now."

Kagome watched him get up and move over to the sink to wash out a new glass for her. "Orange juice or water?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Um… orange juice." Kagome glanced hastily towards the front door, trying to judge the distance and figure out the correct way to open the catch. She looked back at Inuyasha, who had opened the fridge by now and was leaning in to find her juice.

It was now or never.

Not bothering to keep quiet, Kagome threw back her chair and charged for the door. The catch popped open easily, and she flung herself through the doorway into blissful freedom.

Two hands caught her shoulders.

"Don't tempt fate, princess." She heard Inuyasha purr next to her ear.

How…? That was way too fast…! Kagome struggled in vain, despite her weakened state. "Let go of me, you oaf! I have to go back there!"

"Keep it down!" he snapped, clamping a hand over her mouth.

One of the doors across the hall opened, and an old woman leaned out with her cat. "What's going on?" she asked nosily, surveying them with her shrewish eyes.

"Nothing, Mrs Saito…" Inuyasha called cheerfully to his neighbour. "You know what girls are like when they hear there's a sale going on down town."

Kagome screamed her muffled protests and obscenities against his hand. If she could just let that woman know that she had been kidnapped then-

"Bah!" The old woman flung her hand at her. "You children and your compulsive spending habits. Do yourself a favour and stop licking the feet of the government."

"You couldn't be more right, Mrs Saito." Inuyasha waved with his spare hand as the woman disappeared back into her flat. "She's my favourite neighbour." he whispered to Kagome as he dragged her back inside.

"I can see why." Kagome hissed as she wrenched herself free once they were inside. "Dammit!"

"You're quite a troublemaker, aren't you?" he mused as he moved to fetch the orange juice that he'd poured for her. He set it down on the table. "Drink it. You'll feel better."

"Probably poisoned." Kagome said bitterly as she slumped into her chair and began sipping the juice. It did revive her a little, but she still felt depressed and hopeless.

Inuyasha waited until he seemed satisfied with the amount of juice she'd drunk. "Good." he said finally and plucked his jacket off the back of a kitchen chair. "I have to go to work now, so you be a good little girl and keep my flat intact while I'm gone."

"You call this 'intact'?" Kagome glanced around the room. But it was a pretence. The second he was gone, she would be out that door faster than a rabbit with his tail on fire.

"And just as an extra precaution…" Inuyasha strode up to her, caught her wrist, and snapped the end of the handcuff around the table leg. Kagome gaped in horror and jangled her hand… but from the way he'd locked the cuff around the  top part of the leg - between the table top and an off-shooting metal bar that braced together with another leg - there was no way Kagome was getting out of that one. If she ran away, she'd have to drag the table with her… and not only was it heavy, but it probably wouldn't go through the door.

"Great. Fantastic." Kagome breathed, her mood plummeting a few extra notches.

"Help yourself to the contents of the fridge." he told her as he headed for the door. "But beware of the fuzzy things… they're probably not edible. Especially if they plead for mercy."

Kagome was too cross to answer and sat like a stiff plank of angry wood. She stayed like that even when the sounds of Inuyasha's noisy motorbike faded into the distance. How could she have let herself fall into this situation? How could she be so damn careless?

But even so, she wasn't even sure that she was responsible. She didn't even remember how this had all began, but if she did, she was certain that a small amount of stupidity on her behalf was to blame.

She clattered the handcuffs again, but to no avail. The bar was welded and the tabletop was screwed. The only way she would be able to break free was…

If I had a screwdriver or a hacksaw. Kagome leant down to survey the workmanship of the joints. Ahh… negative screws. They would need a big screwdriver as well… something which was going to be hard to find in this armpit of trash pile.

Kagome's wandering eyes lingered on the kitchen counter, idly surveying the items on the surface. A loaf of bread, a few dirty plates and a chopping board were among the most prominent items, along with a few pieces of cutlery.

Then there was the butter knife.

Kagome blinked at the object, taking in the narrow blade and the blunt end… surely… surely that would work?

In sudden haste, Kagome scrambled out of her seat and dragged the heavy table towards the kitchen counter. As soon as she was within reach, she grabbed the knife and ducked under the table to begin attacking the screws with it.

It was an awkward, fiddly process, but within a few minutes the screws were beginning to come loose. She bit her lip in pure joy and elation as the first screw toppled out and hit the tatami mat. The second one soon followed, and the moment the third had been removed, she could easily lift the corner of the tabletop away.

Her cuffs slipped out… and she was free at last.

The door wasn't locked, and Kagome wasted no time in trying to find her cardigan and shoes. Inuyasha could return at any moment - she couldn't afford to stay any longer.

Kagome opened the door and ran down the stairs with a sense of surrealism that she often only felt when remarkably good things happened to her. Like the time she'd won the raffle at her school's presentation evening, or the time she'd received the Furby she'd been dying for when she was a child.

It all seemed too good to be true as she stepped out of the dingy building and into the open air of the street. The fresh air hit her face, and she breathed in deeply like she'd been suffocating for days. A dead girl was about to come back to life… and she couldn't wait to let her family know that she was safe. She could imagine the relief on their faces when they saw her, and how they'd hug her and tell her they loved her and be paranoid about her safety for years to come.

No doubt she'd also warn the police that a crackpot hanyou was going around kidnapping teenage girls… and wait till she told Kikyo about his deluded story about Zero-G. She could just picture how her cousin would laugh.

The only problem was that she hadn't a clue where she was… but anywhere was better than this place, so Kagome set off at a quick pace in a random direction. It wasn't easy walking these streets in socked feet, but Kagome hardly cared as she crossed roads and turned down new streets. She was free of her captor and that was all that mattered. Stepping on a few pieces of broken tarmac was nothing compared to the jubilation she felt at that moment.

She headed in the direction of the shops, knowing that shopping districts often had phone boxes dotted around. She'd be able to call her family and let them know she was safe, and they'd pick her up in no time. She'd be back with her family faster than you could say 'Coalescence'.

It was even more reassuring to realise that Kagome was beginning to recognise the area she was walking through.

This was the Riiza district that she often came to with her mother when the Christmas shopping had to be done. There were a lot of good places to get presents, and she knew for a fact that there was a phone box in the main shopping plaza. Kagome picked up the pace, despite her growing fatigue, and headed straight through the familiar walkways and markets to where her destination lay. Her family was so close that she could almost feel them with her.

The plaza came into view, complete with its familiar bandstand and twenty foot wide billboard mounted above it. It was showing an advert about a new style of uniform that had been brought in for weekends while the echoing voice of the narrator told the shoppers in the plaza how sharp and very snazzy looking it was. But Kagome had no time for that. The phone box was right there before her, and Kagome hurried to get to it before that other woman did.

Kagome felt no remorse in snatching victory and dove into the box to grab the handset off the hook. She had no money, so she would have to reverse the charges of the call to her house - not that it was likely her family would mind that much. Not once they discovered she was alive and well and that everything had just been a huge misunderstanding.

Kagome punched the appropriate numbers and bobbed nervously as the ring tone droned through  the ear piece. "Pick up… please, pick up…" Kagome chanted under her breath as she waited for her mother's familiar voice.

Perhaps they were out?

"…new product from the Regenis range of skin care…"

Kagome's ears automatically tuned in to the name of her cousin's company. She glanced distractedly out of the transparent cubicle at the televised commercial on the billboard.

"…within an hour of application will totally eradicate premature signs of ageing…"

Kagome turned her attention back to the phone. "Come on, Mama… please pick up…"

"…along with cellulite, stretch marks and other minor scars…"

The headset slipped away from Kagome's ear by a few inches as she turned her head back to the billboard with a frown.

"…infused with essence of Aloe Vera, this natural formula works with your skin to cover almost any kind of blemish without the harm that other products of this nature can cause…"

"No…" The headset slithered completely out of Kagome's grasp and swung against the plastic cubicle wall with a clatter. Her hands plastered to the same wall, staring at the billboard with open shock.

"…G-Force by Kikyo Higurashi. Soon to be available from all good retailers."

………………

"The mission is simple." Naraku slid the small black box across the desk towards Inuyasha. "Press the green button, drop it in a bin, and walk away. You'll have a hundred and twenty seconds to get out of range of the explosion. But don't hurry, it will look suspicious."

"You're not talking to a newbie here." Inuyasha shoved the bomb back towards his boss. "And the answer is no. You know I hate doing stuff like this."

"Killing civilians?" Naraku guessed with a smile.

"And on a Saturday morning? The city is packed with shoppers." Inuyasha twiddled a little finger through his hair. "You know, these ear pins are really beginning to wreck…"

"Inuyasha, that's the whole point of doing it today. The place will be crowded and the damage will be the maximum." Naraku tented his fingers.

Depending on which bin I dump it into… "How much?" Inuyasha asked.

"Ten thousand."

"No deal. My mother wants a genuine gold watch for her birthday." Inuyasha rotated his swivelling chair from side to side as he locked eyes with Naraku. "Ten thousand won't cover it."

"How about fifty thousand?"

"You think my mother deserves cheap shit like that?"

Naraku sighed. "How about I just buy you the watch?"

"I'd rather take the money. No offence, but your taste stinks." Inuyasha gave him a dirty look.

"Seventy thousand. No higher. The lives of civilians aren't worth any more than that."

Inuyasha gazed at the bomb, resting a solitary finger on the hard casing… before suddenly snatching it up and bouncing it in his hand. "Fine. I'll do it. Where do you want the drop-off?"

"The Riiza district plaza… drop it in the bin next the bandstand." Naraku smiled with sinister grace as he folded his arms across his chest. "That's all you have to do."

Next update: Chapter Four: The Porn Star.

………………………… …..

FAQ

How old is Inuyasha?

I haven't a clue. I'll ask him later.

Shouldn't Kagome remember Inuyasha since she met him before she got brained?

No, she met him the same day she got brained, therefore she remembers nothing.

Have you read 1984?

Nope. I've only heard about it through the reviews and that it appears to be a book that is studied in high school. I had to study Beowulf instead…

Why would anyone name themselves after the essence of coal?

They wouldn't, quite simply. The word 'Coalesce' means 'to grow together', and the term 'Coalescence' means 'a group of diverse things which fuse together so as to form one whole'. Reminds me of Naraku.

Lo siento, no me gustan mi hamsteres con mi pan tostado frito. Me gustan mi hamsteres con mi papas.

That's utterly ghastly. How do you sleep at night?

You should write a lemon!

No, I really shouldn't. I'm probably very bad at it. The kiss in this chapter alone was almost too embarrassing to write. I'm not a citrusy writer.

Kikyo's too evil! She'd never do something that ruthless to someone who got in her way!

Kikyo can never be too evil. And she seems to like trying to get rid of Kagome an awful lot in the series… usually whilst saying 'You're in my way'.

You said the killer had blonde hair! Inuyasha isn't a blonde!

I said he had 'platinum blonde' hair, and if you type that into google (and while ignoring all the porno) you'll find that platinum blonde is a very silver/white shade of  hair dye. It's not yellow in any way.

Noooooo! Don't make Inuyasha kill Miroku! He's too adorable to die!!!

Too late!

If Kagome's alive, then who did the police fish out of the canal?

::pictures the police on the quayside with their fishing rods:: Uh… sorry… can't answer that question… the mental images… too… bizarre…

Stop spelling things wrong you stupid british person!

Terribly sorry. I don't deserve your forgiveness.

I'd like to add that there are no spelling mistakes in this chapter. It has been combed by Aithril so any 'mistakes' are just alternate spellings of words that you probably recognise anyway. Don't worry, Aithril pointed them out to me but I kept most of them spelt the british way… purely out of stubbornness, I'm afraid. That and the fact that my spellchecker is set to [English: UK] and so in order to keep that little red tick at the bottom of the page, and know that I've not missed anything, I keep the spellings as they are. This shouldn't cause confusion as the words are still the same and mean the same things, and anyone who complains about it will be attacked by my Vicious Sock Puppet of Grammar ä. I don't have to change the fundamentals of the way I was taught to write for the scant few people who can't deal with the fact that there are English users outside of America who have different grammatical rules. The sooner those scant few people realise this and stop leaving idiotic reviews the sooner I can stop bitching about it. Honestly, this has to be the sixth time that I've dedicated an A/N to those bozos.

To clarify: I'm English. I'm from England. I know how to use English. Please stop assuming I'm a moron and go read the un-translated versions of the Harry Potter books if you really don't understand what I'm writing. The words I use aren't OLD English, they're just plain English. You want Old English? Kyssan min aers! (Congratulations to anyone who understands that.)

But the majority of people understand perfectly and I greatly appreciate this and thank them for putting up with me. But when a couple of people start getting rude about this subject, it really irks me and I can't keep quiet. I don't like having to constantly remind idiots that I'm not making mistakes.