InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Zero-G ❯ A Revelation ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's Notes: I know, I lied about the title of this chapter. Sorry!

Zero-G

Chapter Five

A Revelation

"I'm going to miss my funeral."

Inuyasha looked up from his task of screwing the table leg back onto the table and graced the captive schoolgirl with a frown. "It's not your funeral, you know. It's the funeral of some other chit who got bumped the same night as you."

Kagome sat on the sofa, watching him as he went back to work. "I wonder who she was…?"

"Does it matter?" He shrugged blithely, trying to fit the screws back in place.

"Yes," Kagome replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world - which it was. "She probably has parents who are wondering where she's gone. I mean, how would you like it if your daughter went missing and had actually been killed and was being given a stranger's funeral?"

"I don't have kids. At least, none that I know of. And they'd better be male because girls are just pains in the ass. And the child support costs less." He continued tinkering with the table screws. "You've really fucked this up, you know?"

"I was too busy trying to get out of this place to take care," she told him evenly. "Listen, I'm not about to make a run for it - not with how speedy you are whenever I turn my back on you - so you might as well take these cuffs off."

"I might as well," he agreed, but made no move to help her out.

Kagome blew out a sigh and dropped her hands against her knees with a 'clink'. "I wonder what my family is doing right now…"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and ignored her, trying instead to concentrate on his fiddly job. He may have been able to take out a UN ambassador at two hundred feet, and he may have been able to single-handedly take down a whole unit of the military's 'finest' in the space of thirty seconds without even a scratch to show for it… but for the life of him, he could not perform DIY.

"Want me to give it a try?" Kagome offered from the sofa.

"No," he snapped back.

"But you're struggling. Your fingers are too fat."

"And yours are anorexic," he retorted.

"All the better for delicate tasks." She stood up and made her way across the room to kneel beside him. "Give it here," She snatched a screw out of his hand, "now I'll hold it and you screw it."

Her slender fingers were just trim enough to hold the screw in place, and with a snort of contempt, Inuyasha took the screwdriver and began spinning the piece of metal back into the table.

"There, see?" Kagome sat back and let him turn the table back the right way. "Don't be afraid to admit you need help."

"Likewise." He tossed the screwdriver into the corner of the room with the rest of the junk there and dusted his hands. "When are you going to accept that your cousin is a lying, cheating scumbag?"

"When she tells me that she's a lying, cheating scumbag." And even then, she'd have her doubts.

Inuyasha sighed and scratched his head. He knew of one sure way to cast a very dark shadow of doubt in this girl's mind, but it meant leaving her and heading for Coalescence headquarters. Now that she'd proven herself to be a regular Houdini, perhaps leaving her alone wasn't such a good idea…

But the pros outweighed the cons.

"I'm going to go out for a while - but not for long, so you can wipe that happy smile off your face," he addressed her, before snatching his jacket off the hook on the front door. "And just so you know, I'm going to lock this door."

Like that will stop me, Kagome thought smugly. One good kick and it would probably cave in.

"This is a bad neighbourhood - these doors are built to withstand all kinds of knocks and battering." He rapped a fist on the door and the wood gave a quiet 'tap tap'. That was the sound of a thick, sturdy door… not the flimsy panel of wood that she'd originally assumed.

Kagome gulped back her shattered hope.

"The same goes for the windows," he told her. "We're two stories up, the windows are nailed shut and if, by some chance, you manage to get them open, a nice big drop onto the main road awaits you."

"Alright, I get the picture," Kagome grumbled at him, slumping back onto the sofa to mope.

"Good." He opened the door and stepped out. "I'll see you in an hour or two."

The door closed behind him and a loud 'click' informed Kagome that it had been locked securely. She gave a moan of despair and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the telltale rev of his motorbike.

When it had faded into the distance, she got up and began clawing at the door handle for all she was worth. Next came the shoulder bash, where she threw her weight against the door as hard as she could in the hopes that it would pop open. All this did was give her a bruised joint, so then she lay down on the floor and kicked it with her feet.

It was still no use, so the next stage was to scream herself hoarse in an attempt to alert the neighbours to her plight. Either they weren't home, or they were all like Mrs Saito - deaf and oblivious. Probably the latter, if it was true that birds of a feather roosted in the same tree.

But Kagome wasn't done.

Picking up a pot of coffee granules, she positioned herself nicely and lobbed it at the window.

The glass pane shattered on impact, and the pot went sailing out of view. Kagome quickly scrambled after it and leaned out of the hole she'd just made. At this point, she discovered Inuyasha had been right. There was no feasible way that she would be able to get out of that window and down onto the pavement safely - even without her cuffs on. But that didn't mean that there weren't pedestrians there to hear her.

"Help!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, mainly aiming for the young woman who was walking on the opposite side of the road. "You've got to help me! I've been kidnapped and I'm being held against my will! Call the police!"

But all the woman did was glance once in her direction, expressionless to a fault, and continued walking until she was out of sight.

Here was where Kagome hit her main problem. It wasn't that people didn't care… they just didn't believe her.

After a few more failed attempts at trying to gain the sympathy of the scant few pedestrians that happened to be passing by, Kagome gave up and sat down at the table. As far as she could see, she'd run out of options. No one seemed to hear her shouts, and all her exits were barred. She was well and truly trapped.

Kagome glanced at the window with a wince.

Inuyasha was so going to kill her when he got back.

"Don't worry, my pretties. It won't be long before you feed, and then you can be at your optimum strength to spawn a new generation that will conquer all!"

Jaken popped his head round Naraku's office door, wheezing as per usual, and disturbing his boss' reverie. "Mr Naraku, sir, Inuyasha is here."

"Do I need to remind you to knock before entering, toadman?"

"That's Jaken, sir…"

"And that's the door." Naraku went back to brooding over his sea-monkeys. "Try again."

Respectfully, Jaken pulled the door shut again and tapped his moist knuckles on the wood. "Come in," came the voice on the other side, and Jaken cleared his throat as he opened the door for a second time. "Mr Naraku, sir, Inuyasha is here."

"Excellent." Naraku pushed the plastic tank of sea-monkeys to one side and faced Jaken. "Bring him in."

Jaken disappeared hastily and reappeared a few minutes later with a much taller hanyou in tow. Inuyasha all but stepped on the small toadman as he pushed his way into the office and dropped himself in the guest chair across from his boss. "Well?" he demanded with a rush of breath as he slapped his hands against his knees. "What do you think?"

Naraku scratched an eyebrow as Jaken limped out of the room. "You only killed three people."

"Yeah - but loads got injured," reasoned the younger hanyou, giving a shrug. "How are your sea monkeys, by the way?"

"Flourishing."

"That's great." Inuyasha tried to avoid his boss' steely gaze.

"Mm," Naraku hummed. "I think perhaps you could have timed yourself better. Saturday mornings are the busiest of the week. Quite odd that only three people died. The impact wasn't quite as disastrous as I'd hoped, and we only made front page news on three tabloids."

"And who exactly kicked it?" Inuyasha inquired nonchalantly.

"One middle-aged man, one twenty-two year old woman and one mother of four."

"What about the baby?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure there was a baby."

"Yes, I heard there was a baby as well," Naraku looked down at his desk and drew a finger across an old scuff mark, "but it seems to have survived."

Inuyasha shrugged and gave the window an apathetic glance. "Can't win 'em all, I suppose."

"Indeed. A dead child would have generated a lot more uproar," sighed the older man before spinning around in his chair to stare out the tinted windows. "Tell Emi at front desk that you need paying. She'll give you the cash."

"Then I'm gone." Inuyasha pushed himself out of the chair and headed for the door.

"Oh, and Inuyasha…" Naraku suddenly spoke up, "Be careful, Inuyasha. The police have been especially crafty at picking off our agents recently. We've lost three men this past week."

Inuyasha snorted. "As if I'm stupid enough to let them catch me."

"It's not a matter of stupidity," Naraku cut him off abruptly. "The police have captured one of our operatives and is squeezing names and addresses out of him. As soon as I find out who they have… I'm going to send you to kill the squealer."

"You don't know who it is?" Inuyasha paused and turned back towards his boss. "Well, who's missing?"

"Nineteen people. Eighteen of which are dead and lost. One of which is a traitor." Naraku gave a mild smile. "But it's only a matter of time before we find out who is who."

"Yeah, well I hope it isn't anyone who knows me." Inuyasha dug a hand into his pocket as he opened the door. "I don't want to move house again."

"I'll contact you if I think of another job." Naraku called after him.

"Yeah, whatever." Inuyasha shut the door and rapidly descended through the building to the front desk.

Emi was there, filing away nimbly when he arrived. "What is it?" she asked distractedly.

"I want my money."

The kitsune sighed as she pushed her glasses up her nose to regard him. "How much?"

"Seventy thousand," he responded as he poked at a small stack of business cards on the desk.

"Alright, just hold on." The harried receptionist stood and moved towards a door behind her. "You better not be lying about the amount again…"

She disappeared from sight, no doubt to collect the money and return with a brimming envelope. Inuyasha glanced around, wondering how exactly to go about his current mission. He needed to find incriminating evidence against Kikyo… something that would convince her stupid cousin that she was evil.

And that came in the form of the registry book…

After another quick glance around to make sure he was alone, Inuyasha reached over the desk and snatched up the large black book that lay open beside the computer. He hastily began snapping through the overused pages, trying to locate a certain name under a certain date.

He stopped short when he found it.

"Kikyo Higurashi… appointment with Mr Naraku at eleven fifteen on Wednesday," he read aloud, smirking to himself as he tapped a claw against the name. "Perfect."

He neatly plucked the entire page from its bindings and set the book back down on the desk in exactly the same position as before. He was tucking the incriminating piece of paper into his jacket pocket just as Emi arrived back through the door.

If she noticed him fiddling with his pocket, she didn't seem to suspect him of anything. She simply handed over the chunky envelope and sat down at her desk again. "There. Don't spend it all at once."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He tucked the envelope out of sight and let the busy receptionist get back to work.

He had everything he needed: money, proof and an indefinite break from work. Inuyasha allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he left the building and entered the multi-storey car park. Now he could concentrate on dealing with the stupid Higurashi girl…

His bike was waiting in exactly the same place he'd left it. But still, he took no chances and checked to make sure the tyres were still inflated and the seat was correctly screwed on. Kouga was always on the lookout to make Inuyasha's life and health a difficulty - and Inuyasha could trust the wolf to have come along and tampered with the bike in some way to get 'revenge'. Inuyasha had only made the mistake of not checking once, and he had the scar to prove it. The signpost on Route 37 also had a dent of commemoration.

Seems ok, Inuyasha thought as he straightened and removed his helmet from where it was strapped inside one of the panniers. He was about to lower the headgear over his ears when he heard the steady clicking of heels on concrete.

A mixture of amusement, dread and excitement passed through his heart, but he never once allowed it to show on his face. He went with the humour of the moment and turned casually to greet the woman approaching him. "Ahh," he said, as if pleasantly surprised. "Look what the cat dragged in."

Kikyo folded her arms, pretending to be offended. "'Pot', 'kettle' and 'black' come to mind." She came to a stop beside his bike and rested her hand against the handlebars admiringly.

"What's with all the black?" he asked her, noting the conservative black dress coupled with a wide brimmed black hat and a matching bag.

"I'm in mourning. My cousin died, don't you know?" She shifted her stance to draw his attention to her feet. "What do you think of the boots? Guchini. Expensive as hell, but that's nothing compared to the deals I'm being offered right now for G-Force. It's not even on the market yet, and I'm already raking in the money."

"I'm so happy for you." He eyed the boots dryly. "What did you want anyway?"

She scoffed and flicked her lashes at him as she turned her attention to the bike again. "It's always about you, isn't it? I'm actually here to see Naraku."

"Secret lover's meeting?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Jealous?" She smirked.

"Slightly nauseous actually…"

"Then you'll be happy to know it's just business. I need a few goons to do a bit of spying for me." She tapped a nail against the motorbike's frame. "Interesting ride."

"Like it?" He grinned. "The girls in your family must be drawn to diesel engines."

Kikyo straightened sharply, whipping her hand away as if she'd been scalded. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, her eyebrows taking a sudden downturn.

"Guess who wanted a ride right before I whacked her." He gave a self-deprecating bow. "And I, being the gentleman I am, was only too happy to oblige."

Kikyo shook her head, but she didn't seem that angry. "You really are a paedophile, aren't you?"

I wish everyone would stop saying that, he thought as he blew a mental sigh, but schooled his expression terrifically. "When's her funeral?"

Kikyo gave a mild shrug. "Tomorrow afternoon in the local cemetery. Aunt Mai has just about invited everyone along - including all the families of other victims like Kagome. She's under the impression that this was a random attack." She rolled her eyes at her own aunt's ignorance. "It'll be closed casket, of course, seeing as how you messed her body up so badly."

"I got carried away," he raised his hands defensively, "big deal. Let it go already."

"So flippant," Kikyo breezed and moved around the vehicle to drag her hand across his back from one shoulder to the other. "You have no idea what kind of trauma you've caused my family. You don't even care, do you?"

"Not really." He slid an indifferent glance towards her. "But any damage done to your family, Kikyo, is your doing. I'm just your tool. You're the murderer."

Her smile was polite and carefree as she showed him her palms. "I see no blood, do you?" She took his hand quickly and held it to her nose. "You, on the other hand, reek of it."

Inuyasha pulled away from her abruptly.

She laughed lightly. "Oh, don't be like that, Inuyasha. I don't see why you should try and dictate morals to me when you murder, terrorise and steal on a daily basis." She cocked her head. "I've only killed one person - albeit someone I loved - but how many have you killed? God, I bet you've lost count."

"You never lose count," he replied stonily, wondering when she was going to let him leave.

"So speaks the long dead remnants of Inuyasha's heart." She gave an unladylike snort. "Tell me, do you have a conscience, or do you just like to bitch a lot?"

"I never lose count because there's a chart outside Naraku's office." He jerked his chin towards the building entrance behind him. He gave a wry grin and said, "I've made sixty-two kills. A star on the chart for each. That's average."

"You people compete with each other?" Kikyo's brows pinched in disgust. "That's even more twisted than I thought."

Inuyasha shrugged. "And here I though killing your own little cousin was twisted."

The young businesswoman just waved a hand to disregard him. "That was just business. My career comes before my family, and that's that."

"Well, whenever you decide to bump off your dear old mother, you know who to call." Inuyasha made to pull on his helmet, only too happy to get out of there.

Kikyo's hand on his arm stilled him. "What's the rush, Inuyasha? My appointment isn't for ten minutes, and you don't have anywhere important to be…" She dropped her hand as he lowered the helmet. "Care to catch up on old times?"

And yet, after all this time of hating her and dreaming of the number of ways that he could dismember her, humiliate her, and punish her for all their 'old times'… Inuyasha still found it hard to deny her requests.

Oh, Kikyo… you'll be the death of me.

Kagome chewed her lip anxiously as she stuck the blade of the knife back into the gap between the front door and its frame. So far, with a little jostling, she'd managed to figure out a way to slide open the bottom lock. The top one was proving far more difficult, and her frustration mounted with every time her knife slipped unsuccessfully against the metal bar.

"I hate you…" she confided in the door. "If it wasn't for you, I would be home by now."

The familiar roar of a diesel engine interrupted Kagome's conversation, and she paused in her work to listen. It droned closer, and she hoped and prayed that it would simply pass by… but alas, the engine cut off right outside, and Kagome was forced to realised that Inuyasha was back again.

She quickly rushed back to the cutlery drawer and deposited the knife back amongst its friends. Then she raced back to the sofa and draped herself over it nonchalantly, as if she hadn't moved since he'd left. It took a few more adjustments before she finally decided upon the perfect 'innocent' and 'resigned' hostage look.

That was how Inuyasha found her when he arrived through the door… and he would have bought it completely, if it wasn't for the state of his flat.

He literally dropped his helmet in shock and utter horror. "What… have… you… done?!" he gasped.

"Oh…" Kagome looked around sheepishly. "I… uh… did a little cleaning while you were gone." To try and distract you from the broken window.

"A little, huh?" he echoed, staring around the room in amazement. He could actually see the floor! The random junk of boxes, old plates, magazines, and the occasional pile of clothes had been cleaned away completely. "What did you do with it all?"

"Your clothes are upstairs, and the rest of it I put in the closet over there. You also had a vacuum cleaner in there, did you know?"

"I didn't even know I had a closet." Inuyasha stared at the little door suspiciously. It had been hidden behind a large piece of old gate until today. "So you did all this… in two hours?" He'd thought that it would take at least three weeks to even scratch the surface of that old mess. It was a project that he'd planned to do someday… the kind of project that nobody ever got round to doing. He'd thought about hiring someone to do the cleaning for him, but he was sure that the flat would be stamped as a biological hazard and no one would dare enter again.

"Yep." Kagome said breezily. "This was actually quite a nice place to live. I mean, right until you moved in, obviously."

"Obviously." By now Inuyasha's gaze had landed square on the broken window above the kitchen sink. "What's that about?"

Kagome had suddenly grown very interested in the material of the sofa. She avoided his gaze and fiddled distractedly. Eventually, when she realised that he was still staring at her, she met his gaze. "Uh… what?" she said, as if she hadn't been listening.

"The window. What happened?" he restated.

"Oh… uh… these people on the street below just threw a brick through the window." she made up wildly. "Yeah, just like that. Out of the blue."

"Uh huh." His chin dropped, but his penetrating gaze continued. "And where's the brick?"

"I threw it back." Making up lies wasn't difficult. Making them realistic and convincing was another matter entirely.

"So you weren't just trying to find a way to escape?" A small smile was playing on his face, and Kagome didn't appreciate that he was amused by her bad cover story.

"Of course not!" she snapped. "I've given up on that!"

"Oh, sorry, what was I thinking?" He turned to lock the door again and then moved to drape his jacket over one of the kitchen chairs.

"Don't do that!" Kagome leapt up. "That's what the hook is for!"

Inuyasha followed her pointed finger and spied the silver hook on the back of the door. Slightly perturbed at being ordered around in his own home, Inuyasha hung up his jacket on the hook like a good little hanyou. He pulled a sheet of paper from the pocket. "Here," he said, handing her the scrap. "Read it."

"What am I reading?" Kagome glanced over the piece of paper without really taking in the information. She held it aloft to give him a questioning look.

"Just read it," he told her forcefully, pushing the scrap of paper back towards her before moving away to inspect the cleanliness of his flat.

But in his wake, he left an odd scent…

Kagome sniffed discreetly as it triggered old feelings and stirred memories that she didn't recall. Then it was gone, and Kagome was left flummoxed. "Are you wearing perfume?" she asked.

"Just read the damn note, woman!" He stomped off upstairs and out of sight.

Kagome huffed to herself and glanced at the scrap of paper with annoyance. She recognised it easily as a page torn out of some kind of register. There were names and times and strike-through appointments that had been cancelled.

"What the hell am I supposed to be looking at?" she asked herself grumpily as she scanned the list of names. She turned the page over and skimmed the other side… and stopped short when she came to a familiar name.

Kikyo Higurashi.

Kagome frowned slightly and her lips puckered in thought. Why was Kikyo's name on this registry page? And who was Naraku when he was home? What did this have to do with anything?

"What does this have to do with anything?!" Kagome yelled up the stairs.

Inuyasha's muffled voice shouted back, "What does the date say?!"

"Wednesday the fourteenth!" Kagome did the math. "That was last Wednesday!"

"The day someone tried to kill you!"

Kagome glared at the bottom of the stairs. "Come down here before I get laryngitis!"

A few moments later, he reappeared, this time dressed in a new shirt. Kagome eyed him enviously. It was alright for him… he had at least five clean shirts to wear. Kagome, on the other hand, had been wearing the same uniform for the last couple of days, and she had her suspicions that she was beginning to smell as bad as the old sock she'd found under the sofa.

"Wednesday. Your cousin met with Naraku precisely seven hours before you were killed," her captive told her as he snapped his hair back over his shoulder in a very loose weave.

"So?" Kagome was pretty sure that Kikyo often met with a lot of people every day. She was a very busy woman.

"Naraku is the leader of the Coalescence." Inuyasha flopped down on the sofa beside her, pinching the bridge of his nose the way her father had done after a hard day's work. She noticed that he now smelled very strongly of male deodorant… any lingering perfume had been smothered. "She paid that guy a hell of a lot to have you bumped off the same day."

Kagome glanced back down at the paper with renewed vision. Kikyo's name seemed to stand out in bold compared to the other names, and suddenly it seemed fake. "You're lying. You could have just mocked this up while you were out."

"Why would I bother?" he sighed, eyes closed.

"Because you're trying to convince me to stay here!"

"True. But I'm not lying." He jabbed a thumb towards the torn page. "You worked in a salon, right? You must have dealt with the appointment book. Do you honestly believe that it looks fake?"

He had a point. Kagome had already noticed that the ink on the page wasn't consistent, like the writer had been switching pens over a period of time. Some of the ink was faded on certain lines, but on others it was more fresh. It certainly didn't look fake, and the curving feminine handwriting didn't resemble Inuyasha's (from what she'd seen on a few post-it notes lying around the flat).

"Do you understand now?" Inuyasha rubbed a hand over his face. "Your cousin made that appointment and paid Naraku. It's as simple as that. If you leave this place and let your family know that you're alive, Kikyo will be one of the first to know. She'll have you killed within twenty-four hours by another jerk who won't miss this time."

Kagome said nothing.

"Your best bet is to just stay low for now, wait until the whole affair has blown over. Let Kikyo have her cake and enjoy her profits from Zero-G. The happier she is, the less attention she'll be paying to the street. I'll take you out of the city - out of the country if you like - and give you the money to start a new life. I know people who can get you a new passport and serial number. You might like it abroad… I hear there's still a few countries left that let you wear colours on weekends. It'll be great. You'd just have to learn a new language, that's all."

Inuyasha didn't have to look at her to know she was shaking.

"So cheer up… it's not the end of the world. Just the end of your current life." He stood with a yawn. "Want peanuts? I do. I'm starved."

The kitchen was lovely and tidy for a change, and he even had a clean bowl waiting by the sink. He nabbed it and emptied a packet of peanuts into it, despite them having passed their use-by-date several weeks ago. "I hope you don't mind salted," he said as he went back into the lounging half of the room. He punched the power button of the TV before slouching back down next to Kagome.

By now, the schoolgirl had dropped the piece of paper and had the balls of her palms pressed against her eyes. Curiously, she was still trembling. Inuyasha popped a few munchies into his mouth before offering her the bowl. "Want a peanut?"

Quick as a flash, Kagome's hand lashed out and shoved the bowl away, sending a small tidal wave of nuts flying. They landed on the carpet, on the sofa, down the gaps in the cushions and mostly over Inuyasha's lap. He paused a moment to check that there was still a satisfactory amount of nuts in the bowl before continuing to eat, paying no mind to the mess. "Suit yourself," he shrugged, and jabbed at the remote control.

"-further complications arose when not only one wife, but two arrived at the funeral ceremony of Miroku Hoshi. Bitch slapping ensued…"

"Oh yeah, your funeral's tomorrow, isn't it?" Inuyasha nudged the silent girl. "Closed casket. Lots of orchids and roses and that crap. Apparently, a whole load of people are invited. You could probably gate crash the party if you put your mind to it."

Kagome made an odd sort of strangled noise and suddenly pitched against him, nearly upsetting his bowl of snack food for the second time. "Dammit, girl, if you'd wanted some then you should have just asked," he grouched. But she didn't seem to be after his nuts. Instead, she seemed more content to slide further against him till her hot face was pressed against his chest and her small hands were knotting in his shirt.

Ah… she was crying.

Heck… this is awkward, Inuyasha thought as the girl continued to shake quietly against his chest while his arms remained aloft in the air, not quite sure of where they were supposed to be.

He figured it out eventually by sliding one arm over the back rest behind him and resting the bowl of peanuts against the girl's back. He contentedly settled back down to watch the rest of the news program.

Much better, he thought to himself. Now I can reach the nuts.

Next Update: Chapter Six: Chapter title? I ain't got a clue anymore…

Fackyews...

How long is this story going to be?

I haven't the faintest. I'm aiming for around fifteen chapters.

And how old is Inuyasha?

Old enough to ride a bike with no training wheels and too young to qualify for retirement.

Are you serious?

Yes.

When is Inuyasha gonna get with Kagome?

Patience, grasshopper.

WRITE A LEMON!!!! YEAH!!!

Ok. "A lemon". There you go.

No, seriously - write a lemon!

Seriously, no. And if you're reading this story in the hopes that there may eventually be a lemon, you'd better hit the back button and never look back. The most you'll ever get in this story is very very mild lime. VERY mild. It would be so diluted that you'd hardly be able to taste the citrus.

Is something going on between Inu and Kikyo, or is that just some strange dream I had?

Mmm... maybe both?