Disclaimer: I don't own jack!

Summary: Every day he walked the razor thin line between morality and depravity. Amid his sense of justice and unrealistic ideals stood a girl—an unwilling witness to the space between reality and madness.

Pairing: Okita/Kagome

Suggested Listening: Honeythief by Halou

The Space Between

Chapter One: Murder of the Century

"Eleven months ago Omoikiri Inuyasha was found dead in the Omoikiri Enterprise's newly constructed building." A feminine voice rattled off from the bright flicker of the television screen. A man sat in his recliner and stretched his legs comfortably across the leg rest. "He was seventeen years old and head of his school's Kendo Club." Ah, the useless details came first. Something to draw in the viewers and illicit sympathy from the poor saps. He reached into the front pocket of his jacket. His fingers brushed against the familiar carton of his preferred brand of cigarettes. It'd been a habit he picked up back in his early days of patrolling the streets. It had a calming effect on his nerves so he never really tried to kick the habit. The man brought the cigarette to his mouth and swiftly used a spare lighter lying on his armrest to light up. A thin, curling line of smoke billowed into the living room.

It was always cold as shit in this house. The heater was busted and barely worked at the best of times. So coffee and smokes ended up being his preferred method of keeping warm. Of course he could always pay a technician to repair the damn thing but with the mortgage as high as it was, he'd rather just freeze. The man stretched his legs comfortably as he took a long inhale and allowed his body to relax. With a low exhale, another pillar of smoke billowed into the living room in curling waves.

"He was found strangled and severely beaten to death. An anonymous source reported the murder however no new details have emerged from the case since." The reported shuffled her papers as she lifted her head to stare directly into the camera. "If anyone has any information, please call our hotline directly at…" He tuned out at that point. It was just a flimsy excuse to keep the murder current in the media outlets. The one year anniversary was coming up so the Omoikiri family, more specifically Omoikiri Touga, put the pressure on the news stations to maintain interest in Inuyasha's untimely death. He took another long drag from his cigarette. Good luck with that. Even though it'd been labeled as the "murder of the century" by eager reporters due to the high profile of the Omoikiri name, interest would slowly dwindle away and die off before any real work could be done. Well, it wasn't like he cared all that much about public perception anyways. His job only consisted of solving the crimes everyone else was content to forget about. He was certain Inuyasha would be no different.

"What a shame to lose such a talented young man…" They droned on from the television. Suddenly more of the news anchors pitched into the topic, feigning sympathy to garner higher ratings. What a crock of shit. His hand shifted to change the station but found himself drawn in at the last tidbit of their conversation. "A vigil will be held next month at midnight for Inuyasha. His family will be in attendance." They swiftly moved to the next subject.

"I'm sure that more information will come out soon. Now, onto traffic…" He snorted once more. What she didn't say was that there wasn't any more leads. No finger prints, no blood, not even the tiniest bit of fabric or hair from the perpetrator. It was almost as if Inuyasha had caused his own murder. Although that whimsical theory wouldn't explain the severe beating he'd taken and bruising around his neck. The marks that were left were indicative of another person. Not only that but judging by the size of the bruising and extensive damage done to his body from the scuffle, it was surmised that his attacker had been a male. A female wouldn't have been able to leave such large marks around his neck. Nor would she have been able to beat him that bloody without a weapon. The entire murder had been committed bare handed.

So with an unarmed suspect, no evidence and not even a trace of what the perpetrator used to cover his tracks, they were stuck in a serious bind. Of course there were two options left that they could presume. The first, he was murdered by a ghost. The man nearly allowed a snort to pass his lips at that thought. He wasn't exactly the type of person to be caught up in the fantastical or superstitious, so the idea of some disembodied entity killing a living being was simply ludicrous to him. Which left the final and most likely option, he'd been killed by someone who knew how to clean up after themselves. His brows furrowed at that. Now that was something he could believe in. The question was how could he have kept his prints off of the body while strangling his victim? There wasn't even a trace of latex or any fibers from cloth-type gloves. His mood darkened even more. He hated this sense of helplessness. It was his damn job to figure this shit out and suddenly everything had ground to a halt. No witnesses. No murder weapon. Not even the inkling of an enemy in the kid's life.

He supposed that it could've been an attempted kidnapping gone wrong. However there was little evidence to support that either. Inuyasha had gone to that construction site with the intent to meet someone. Someone he knew and trusted. Someone he thought that he could talk to without interruption or putting himself at risk. While most ransoms were committed by those close to the victims, it still seemed odd to him that of all the kids in that family, Inuyasha was their chosen target. He was strong and more than capable of defending himself. If a person really wanted to get at Touga then they'd be more likely to go after Higurashi Kagome or her younger brother, Higurashi Souta. Both were related through marriage but they were weaker and easier targets to grab. The idea of a ransom being the motive for the attack dwindled further and further into the nothingness of impossibility the more he thought about it.

In spite of these already cloudy circumstances, there was one aspect of this case that continually bothered him: The caller. The person didn't just call in to report a body; they'd called as the murder was occurring. The time of death had been placed between 21:00 and 22:00. The call had come in right at 21:17. Not only that but they didn't stick around long enough to give their statement to the police. The person had fled the scene and the phone that they'd recovered a couple of blocks away in an abandoned parking lot was merely a burner—no identifiable information had been left on it whatsoever. No contacts. No calls in or out other than the one placed to the station. Even the serial number had been scratched off. They were forced to try to track it down and when they did, they only found Inuyasha to be the purchaser. It was a strange set of circumstances to begin with. So whoever it was that tossed that phone had seen the murder and ran. He took another drag from the cigarette. If only they had a lead…

His own phone began to vibrate noisily on his other armrest. Reaching over he grasped at the device and slid his finger across the screen.

"What'd you find?" There was no need for a formal greeting. The man on the other side of the line would've agreed as well.

"We've identified the caller."

Okita froze. Seriously? Just like that?

"You certain?" He pressed tentatively. The other male gave a noise of agreement.

"Yes. We managed to recover some testimony of a girl fleeing the scene minutes after the call was placed to dispatch. We tracked down nearby surveillance cameras and figured out her identity." There was a brief pause along with the sound of papers being shuffled. "Our caller is Higurashi Kagome. She was spotted running from the Omoikiri construction site that night and was later caught on camera at a gas station two blocks from the murder."

The detective gave a thoughtful hum. Higurashi Kagome? They'd interviewed her of course in the initial round of the investigation. To say that she was 'odd' was an understatement. She was seventeen at the time and hardly looked up from her interlocked hands. She gave single-syllabic answers and only responded when she'd been spoken to. It'd been suspicious but he figured it to have been part of the grieving process for her as well. Perhaps that was the wrong assumption? He ran through the information in his mind once more. Higurashi Kagome was the step-daughter of Omoikiri Touga and step-sister of Omoikiri Inuyasha. While her mother, Higurashi Izumi, had been married to his father for three short years, they'd been in contact with one another since the early days in their youth. To put it mildly, she and Inuyasha had been childhood friends long before their parents decided to tie the knot. He scratched at his chin as this new found information processed in his mind.

"How do we know that she's only the caller? She could very well be an accomplice to the killer." It wasn't unheard of for suspects to call in their own crimes. Usually it was done as a means to throw suspicion off of themselves. Still it was very odd to call in and then run the way she did. It indicated fear. But fear of what? Being caught by the police, or being caught by the killer? Now, where to go from here…

"Unlikely. She was filmed on a surveillance camera with a cell phone similar to the one we recovered. She returned to the same station later without one and made a call on a payphone outside." The other man paused. "She's our caller but I do not believe that she's the one responsible for Inuyasha's death."

He gave a small sight, "So you think she's a witness? Saw the murder first hand, called it in to stop it, then fled when she realized that her step-brother was dead?" The dots did seem to connect, but there were still a few issues. Why toss the phone? Why not give her testimony to the police? She'd kept her distance from this entire investigation. This whole situation screamed of malicious intent.

"Indeed, however it's just conjecture." His partner added.

"You mean a hunch." Okita let loose a mirthless laugh. All those TV dramas and cop shows emphasized the importance of an investigator's hunch—always leading them in the right direction and solving the unsolvable. Well, that was a load of shit to begin with. They weren't anymore or any less intuitive than the average person on the street. What separated them from Joe Blow screaming at his television about who the killer was in his favorite episode was the fact that they had experience in detecting lies. The evidence was the gold standard of getting a conviction, but being able to tell who's lying and who's being honest was an imperative skillset when dealing with killers.

"Well regardless, Higurashi is involved somehow. Lets see what we can get out of her tomorrow." There was another sound of agreement for before the line went dead. Eleven months and finally they had a new lead. Okita's gaze drifted towards the abnormally thin file upon his table. Perhaps it was time to review the evidence with a new perspective. A smirk drew across his lips. It was time to solve the 'murder of the century'. He flipped open the file and pilfered through the facts. Through his window he spied the beginnings of dawn starting to bleed over the horizon. Just a little bit longer. That was all he needed.

A/n: This was a bit of a gritty idea that I'd came up with originally. It was only supposed to be what I like to call a "Monster One-shot" (30K word+ single chapter one shot) but given how intense OPAH is right now and the fact that I want to remain focused on it, I've decided to do smaller "bite-sized" chapters with this story. I've still got a two part series coming up, but I'll post that once I've polished a few things. Anyways, let me know what you think! ;P