Title: Mugen Spiral: Section D
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own Mugen Spiral or Inuyasha.

Chapter 1

Every couple hundred of years, there is a trial amongst all demons to determine their next king. In this trial, the demon must go to the surface world and devour the human with the strongest powers, thus adding that power to his own. Demons take the power they absorb from humans and turn it into their own energy. Of all the demons, the one who possesses the most power and energy will be crowned the next King of the demons.

One of those sought-after humans is the keeper of the Spirit Wheel Key.

Yayoi yawned as the sound of pounding invaded her senses and pulled her out of her sleep. As she sat up, she felt a tiny weight move into her vacated spot. She already knew who was there and it embarrassed her to no end, but she still turned to see.

"Ura, what did I tell you about sleeping in my bed?" Yayoi demanded of the sleeping cat. The black cat opened one lazy eye to peer at her before lifting one paw to lick it, then rolling over as if to tell Yayoi exactly what he thought of her orders. Annoyed at being ignored, Yayoi grabbed up the cat and dropped him on the floor beside her bed.

"Fugyaaaa!" the cat cried in consternation. He righted himself and turned to glare at her. She didn't feel he had the right to glare at her; he was a demon sealed into the form of a cat… a male demon, sealed as a cat.

So—she had every right to throw him on the floor. Besides that, he was always making it quite clear to her that he was going to 'devour her'. Quite honestly, she was getting tired of the constant string of demons coming after her.

She glanced at her bracelet; it was nothing more than a thin, silver bangle engraved with specific markings around the entire thing. It was the root of her problems… the basic bane to her existence, and yet at the same time she doubted she would ever get rid of it no matter how hard it made her already difficult life.

"I already made you a bed," Yayoi said.

Yayoi wasn't surprised when the cat opened his mouth and began to talk. "You know I can't sleep there!"

"Hakuyo left days ago," Yayoi pointed out. "You don't have to sleep in my bed." The pounding continued so Yayoi got out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe. Ura jumped back up on the bed to reclaim his lost spot, but Yayoi grabbed him. "Oh, no, you don't," she told him.

"Let me go!" the cat said, wiggling in a futile attempt to get away. "This isn't fair. You're bigger than I am!"

"That is sort of the point, so you don't go trying to steal my powers." Yayoi said dryly.

Ura cried, "You offered them to me two months ago! I don't get what the big idea is now, taking back the offer!"

Yayoi muttered, "And that's why you're a cat again." She skirted around the mention of the offer. He was constantly asking her why she offered them to him, but the truth was she wasn't entirely sure. At the time, he'd been possessed by a suicidal ghost. Of course she didn't want him to die, but… really, offering her powers to him was as ridiculous an idea as it sounded.

She had plenty of options of flushing out the spirit from Ura's body. It was just that when she saw him and realized he was being possessed, her mind went blank. All she could think about was, "He'll die…"

Such moments of weakness weren't like Yayoi. Her mother had taught her to be strong. A woman never cried, she just did what she had to do. Yayoi slipped on her slippers and left her bedroom. She closed her door firmly before she dropped the demon-turned-cat.

It only took a minute to get to the front door. Holding her bathrobe closed, Yayoi opened the door to see a very stern woman standing at the door with two police officers. "Good morning, Suzuka-san." The woman greeted her in a no-nonsense voice.

"Um, hello…" Yayoi said, wondering why the woman was there with the police. "Is something wrong?"

"Do you mind if I come in, Suzuka-san?" the woman asked. Yayoi stepped aside and the woman brusquely moved inside. The officers followed her. Yayoi closed the door before glancing at the woman. The stranger's eyes were drinking everything in at once. Those eyes fell on Ura as he watched the woman from down the hall suspiciously.

"May I help you with something?" Yayoi asked.

"My apologies, Suzuka-san. I am Maia Kushinagi… your new social worker."

Yayoi couldn't keep in the surprise she felt; it became visible on her face. Ura moved toward Yayoi, standing between the social worker and the young woman. Maia's eyes fell on the cat only momentarily before she looked back at Yayoi.

"What do you mean 'new social worker'?" Yayoi asked, smoothing her facial expression out into one of calmness. "My aunt is—"

Maia interrupted her with a somewhat cold statement, "Dead, Suzuka-san. This is why I am here today. You are to pack a suitcase of only the necessary items and come with me to the Agency. There, we will locate a foster home for you."

Yayoi felt as cold as the woman's tone as she heard the woman's harsh words. "I don't believe you," she said.

Ura bristled slightly as the woman snapped, "You would do well to start believing me, Suzuka-san, because you will be identifying the body."

xXx

"Kagome, dear, please wake your brother on your way down?"

Kagome sighed and turned herself around, heading back upstairs to do as she was asked. As she stepped into her brother's mess of a room, her eyes darted around for the lump that would prove to be the young boy. She could barely tell where his bed was anymore and was almost afraid she'd fall into a stack of clothes and be suffocated.

"Souta?" she called, hesitant to go further into the room.

The boy crawled out of a pile in the corner of the room and peered blearily at her. "Ya, K'g'me?" he asked her sleepily.

"Time for school." Kagome told her brother and he put his head back under the lump she supposed was his blanket (although it looked like a pile of laundry). "Souta, don't make me get Shippou! Now get up before mama has to come up."

Souta pulled himself out of the mess that was his room and trudged down the hall toward the upstairs bathroom. When he found out it was currently in use, he groaned and banged on the door. "Yo, get outta there!"

Kagome heard the occupant of the bathroom, Shippou, yell back, "Shu'dap!"

With another sigh, she followed Souta to the bathroom and rapped on the door gently. "Sweetie, please hurry up in there. Souta needs to use the bathroom too."

"'Kay, mama," Shippou chirped in a far nicer tone than he'd used on Souta.

Kagome leaned forward and kissed her younger brother's forehead. "If you hurry, I'll take you to school on my way to work, Souta."

The youth rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. "Thanks, Kagome," he said in a bit of a rough tone. Shippou threw open the bathroom door and dashed out, showing Kagome his new clothes with a prideful expression on.

"Mama, look," he said, puffing up his chest with importance.

She was glad he was so excited for his big day; he would be starting his first day of school in the public system. Kagome then told her brother, "Twenty minutes, Souta. I have an early client."

"Fine," Souta said through the door and she heard the shower start up.

Kagome headed down the stairs and her mother smiled at her as she entered the kitchen. "Good morning, dear." Ai said in greeting. "And thank you for keeping an eye on Souta with such short notice."

"It's not a problem, mama. You'll have your hands full with Grandpa as it is. You have fun at the convention."

"Oh, I wish," her mother laughed.

Shippou practically bounced into the room. "Grandmama, what do you think of my new clothes?"

The older woman peered critically at the outfit before tweaking the collar and adjusting his pant waist. "Very nice, Shippou," the woman nodded. "Now go get your shoes on, dear. You don't want to make Kagome late, do you?"

"Nope!"

Kagome was surprised when Shippou threw his arms around her waist to hug her, but she immediately returned it. "What is this fooling around, Shippou?" Kagome asked, laughing a bit.

"I just wanted to hug you!" Shippou said, giggling his excitement before rushing off to find his shoes.

Her mother turned back to her previous cleaning job. "So how is work going for you, dear?" she asked.

"Well enough," Kagome admitted, moving toward the counter to lean next to the sink where her mother was working. "The pay is still awful and my co-workers are still all a bunch of jerks, so nothing has changed for me really."

"I wish you would find somewhere else to work," Ai said, scrubbing the pan a little harder than she really had to. "I hear bad things all the time about that company."

"Yeah, well I'm keeping my eye on Kushinagi."

"Darling, it's not right! Why do you have to be right in the middle of it?" Ai demanded in frustration. "You've always been drawn into trouble, even when you were a little girl. I worry about you, and if this woman really is as dangerous as you think she is—"

"Mama, that's why I took the job, because things keep happening around this woman. Someone has to stop it and I'm the only one who can. It's not an option, it's an obligation." Kagome hugged her mother. "I'll be fine—alright?"

"Alright, alright…" her mother changed the subject, realizing Kagome's sensitivity on the last one. Kagome didn't like her mother to worry, but at the same time she knew it was inevitable. Her mother worried—that was her duty. "How are the others getting along? I heard Sesshoumaru-san was on the news again…"

"Mhm," Kagome nodded. "He's really doing well, and I know I shouldn't be surprised by it but he caught on to modern life very quickly." She leaned against the cupboard, listening for Souta to come down.

"What was his new book about?"

"This one was a biography on his mother's life. He's promised me a copy of it, but I doubt he'll remember. I had to buy his last book."

Kagome heard the tell-tale creak of the stairs right before Souta entered the kitchen looking awake but with an expression of boredom on his face. "Good morning, mama," Souta greeted the woman as he grabbed his backpack from the corner of the kitchen.

"Morning, dear," Ai said. "Don't forget you're staying with Kagome this week."

"Cool," the boy said though he didn't sound very excited. "Are my clothes still at your place?" he asked Kagome and she nodded.

Kagome kissed her mother's cheek and said, "Well, I'd best be going. Have a nice time with Grandpa at the convention." Her mother made a face at her and Kagome chuckled. "Or try, at least."

"See you in a week then," her mother said.

It didn't take very long to usher Souta and Shippou out to the car. On the way, Kagome found herself glancing back at the excited red-head in the back seat more often than usual. Looking at him at that moment, realizing he was off to start his first day in public school, brought up memories of the first time she'd met the boy.

Her grandfather owned a decent sized shrine which Kagome had grown up on. In the summer, Kagome often found herself stuck cleaning up in the attic. Her mother had asked her to pull a box off a shelf while she went downstairs to grab the dustpan, so she climbed the ladder and got the box. She'd fallen off the top of the ladder and unfortunately been impaled through the gut by the spike of an old deer antler that had been in the box and landed on the floor before her.

Her blood had gotten all over the contents of the box and before she knew what was going on, people started to pop up all over the attic. As Kagome lay on the floor of the attic with an antler sticking out of her gut, all those people had just stared down at her, talking to each other.

They kept saying things about how she had strong power within her, but for the most part they completely ignored the fact that she was lying there bleeding to death, and very much in pain. Nine people popped into existence that day.

Kagome had never really believed in magic or spiritual powers or anything of that sort. Her family was filled with spiritualists through her history so she was raised on it, but for the first fifteen years of her life she denied the existence of demons or ghosts or magic.

Her fifteenth birthday came attached with a major shock (demons truly were real) and impending doom (she was impaled on an antler). She hadn't even managed to scream, although being impaled was quite painful.

She could recall wondering why none of them were bothering to help her, but then her mother had come back up into the attic and saw her lying in a pool of blood. It was soon made very clear why the strange people didn't move to help her as her mother walked right through one of them and never even realized they were there.

Things had certainly changed since that day; one of the major things was learning how to give spirits physical bodies. It was taxing for her to do; a heavy, constant drain on her if she did it. Still, a glance at Shippou—so happy in the back seat—told her it didn't matter if she was tired. She wouldn't change the way things were for all the gold in the world.

"Kagome, did you hear me?" Souta asked, and Kagome blinked at her brother. She realized she had been driving on autopilot, which wasn't exactly safe.

"I'm sorry, Souta, what were you saying?" Kagome asked.

"I asked what your plans were for today." Souta replied.

Kagome shrugged. "I have a meeting with the higher-ups at the Agency this morning to receive my list of clients. After that, I'll spend most of my time watching Kushinagi."

"When you say 'clients', what do you mean?"

It wasn't unusual for Souta to take an interest in Kagome's work. He often came to stay at her house and was always going out of his way to help her if at all possible. He had been that way since he was a little boy, always looking up to his big sister.

The problem was that the more interested in her work he became, the less interested he was in his own future. Kagome glanced sidelong at the boy. He was wearing the standard navy colored uniform of his school, but he hadn't dressed with care. Everything about him lately screamed troublemaker. His raven hair was unkempt and his eyes rarely held anything but boredom in them these days.

Even still, Kagome was glad he had an interest in something. It was the only reason she responded. "I interview the families that get put onto the Agency's adoption list."

"What do you mean?" Even despite the fact that Souta really was interested, he didn't appear so. He appeared stand-offish and unapproachable. He had been hanging around Sesshoumaru way too much, to the point where he was taking on similar qualities. Even worse still was the way Souta was beginning to act like Kouga and Inuyasha while simultaneously acting like Sesshoumaru. It was a bad combination; Sesshoumaru's unapproachable exterior, Kouga's inflated ego, and Inuyasha's love for brawling.

"When a child is orphaned to the point where they have no remaining family to take care of them, the Agency steps in and takes care of making sure the child has a family. In a sense, it's almost like an orphanage—except the child doesn't stay there for more than a few days at most." Kagome replied.

"Is it hard to keep watching the suspect while keeping up your undercover identity?"

Kagome shrugged. "Maybe the first time I ever did it, but not anymore. I guess I just got used to it." She pulled up to Souta's school and the boy unbuckled.

"You know, I'm just curious but how come you can talk about this stuff? I thought undercover operations were supposed to be, well, under cover. Secret. But… you never mind talking about it around me or mama." Souta's confusion didn't display on his face but she heard it in his voice.

Kagome couldn't help but chuckle as she reasoned, "Honestly, Souta… even if you did tell people what I did for a living, do you think they'd believe you? Or do you think they'd just believe your sister is on crack, and you're crazy to believe her? The fact is, the division I work for doesn't exist; I don't exist as long as I work for Section D."

"Whatever." He went to leave the car, disappointed with her answer.

Kagome grasped his arm. "Are you wearing it, Souta?" she asked.

He pulled the pendant she had given him from under his shirt. It was nothing more than a small, round stone on first appearance, but it was infused with protective magic that would make Souta invisible to any demon unless the demon was bonded to Kagome.

"Good," Kagome said. "Make sure you keep it on--"

"I know, I know," Souta sighed. "Don't even take it off for gym. I got it… not that I planned on going."

"Souta!" Kagome admonished, but the door to the car was just slapped shut and Souta took off.

"Want me to go after him, mama?" Shippou asked innocently. "I can easily bring him back, no problem!"

Kagome shook her head, glancing at the red-haired boy in the rear-view mirror. "No, that's alright sweetie." She told him. "I'll try talking to him tonight. Let's get you to school."

A short while later Kagome was pulling up to Shippou's new school. She got out of the vehicle and helped the boy out, straightening his black uniform. "Alright, now remember; no fighting. Play nice with the other children. You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?"

His green eyes flashed with mischief, but he shook his head vividly. She wasn't entirely sure which to believe, so she quickly warned him, "If I have to find out someone got hurt because you were pulling your tricks on them, I'll have to release your physical form… you don't want me to do that, do you?"

Shippou pouted. "Oh fine, but that's not very fun you know, mama. Weak humans are supposed to be played with."

"You've been playing with Hiten too much," Kagome grumbled. She then said, "Just don't cause trouble. Be a good boy and listen to your teachers. They'll teach you lots of new things."

"Okay!" Shippou agreed. He hugged her and then Kagome watched him as he ran toward the school. She couldn't help but wait for a moment, hoping he would come back out again…

Another woman saw her and chuckled. "They grow up so fast, don't they?" the woman inquired.

Kagome glanced at the woman briefly before pulling her sunglasses from the top of her head to cover her eyes. "Or maybe they don't grow at all," Kagome countered. The woman looked confused but Kagome didn't wait around for the question. She got back in her car and drove off into traffic, leaving the woman behind.

No—sometimes children weren't able to grow at all, Kagome couldn't help but think. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter than she needed to. She made it to 'work' in almost record time, but she was still currently late for her meeting.

Hastily she stepped out of the car and smoothed out her work jacket and the suit's skirt. She pulled out her purse and briefcase from the back seat of the car and kicked the door shut with her heel none too gently. Locking up the car she rushed quickly toward the elevator in the underground car park.

A man stepped out of the shadows of one of the pillars and blocked her way to the elevator. Kagome paused in her steps as she recognized the man immediately. Dressed in a standard issue security guard's uniform, he had a blue polo, black slacks, and a ball cap on. His thick head of black hair was tied at the nape of his neck.

"I'm late," Kagome told him.

"I know, but you'll wanna know this," he informed her, tilting his head so the shadows didn't hide his eyes. Violet colored eyes—an unusual color—stared at her. Thankfully he didn't keep her in suspense for long. "Kushinagi just went off to pick up another one."

"Any idea of where she was going?"

"No but she's expected back soon. I was going to follow her, but she managed to slip away."

Kagome went to walk around the man. As she passed by him, she rested a hand on his arm. "Thank you, Inuyasha." She told him. He scoffed at her before walking off. She wasn't surprised he didn't respond to her. Inuyasha had never been good at receiving compliments. She didn't suppose she would be if she grew up like he did either, but she couldn't allow herself the time to think about it.

She continued on her way to the elevator.

xXx

When her parents had died, Yayoi's aunt Naomi Suzuka had taken custody of her. For the first month or so after her parent's death, Naomi had stayed with Yayoi to give her time to come to terms with what had happened.

After a while, however, Naomi couldn't stay with Yayoi. As was the case with all the members of the Suzuka family, Naomi was a spiritualist and although she wasn't the keeper of the Spirit Wheel Key, she still had her own bonded spirits. The only difference was that the keeper of the Spirit Wheel Key had the ability to open the Gates to the Realm of the Dead. Naomi traveled the world, using her abilities as a spiritualist to lay uneasy souls to rest.

As Yayoi stepped up to the medical examiner's table her aunt's corpse lay upon, she felt her heart beating a thousand miles an hour. She wondered if her aunt had just stayed at Yayoi's, or even taken Yayoi with her in her travels, would Naomi be alive still?

Yayoi was clutching Ura a bit tight in her arms, but for once he chose to remain silent and as still as possible. Slowly, carefully, Yayoi reached out for the cloth that covered her aunt's corpse. She peeled it back and found to her dismay that it was indeed her aunt.

She could almost feel her heart shattering, but none of that showed on her emotionless features. She glanced back at the morgue attendant and Maia the social worker. "I would like a moment alone," Yayoi said calmly despite the fact that she didn't feel calm. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. As a Suzuka, an early death seemed like it would be her fate.

She heard the door close; she and Ura were alone with the corpse.

Ura looked up at her and snorted as if he wanted to say something, but she was glad he didn't. "Aunt Naomi was my mother's older sister… by all rights, she was supposed to inherit the Key, but she always claimed that was 'too much power for her'."

Ura turned to look at the dead Suzuka. "She doesn't look like the type to turn down power," Ura said.

"After my Grandmother died and Aunt Naomi turned down the Key, my mother and Aunt Naomi never saw each other again until a week before my mother died…" Ura's tail twitched a bit as he seemed to think about that. Yayoi reached out a hand and brushed a stray piece of hair out of her aunt's face—not that it would really matter to the dead.

"What did she come for?" Ura asked curiously.

She came for me… Yayoi thought and then shook herself mentally. "You ask too many questions for a cat," she said dryly.

"Fine, then. Its not like I care anyway," Ura huffed. "But if she was gone all your life, aren't you the least bit curious why she suddenly came back?"

"I know why. You don't know, and that bothers you…" Yayoi cast one last, long look at her aunt and knew she had to leave. She crossed the room to the door. She could sense that the spirits around her were growing more and more restless the further she walked down the barren corridor.

She began to wonder where Maia was, and then she heard the woman's cold voice. "Make sure everything is in order for tomorrow. We'll be able to find the boy once we have his location—something I'm positive we'll have soon."

Yayoi carefully tried to peer into the office of the morgue attendant, her mind swirling with all sorts of bad things. Maia's voice was unfriendly as she spoke, although honestly Yayoi had not heard friendly yet.

"Yes, miss… But how will you find him if Hana lost the source?" the attendant asked Maia.

The smile that crept across Maia's face sent shivers down Yayoi's spine. "I'm an opportunist, Javier."

Yayoi's heart was again pounding and Ura looked up at her. "Sounds ominous," he whispered to her, and she could only nod.

Knowing she had to do something—she couldn't be found hiding behind the wall listening in on their conversation—Yayoi moved away from the wall and (as if she'd just come from the morgue) entered the room. If it weren't for her stern control over her expressions (or as Ura liked to say, she was never fazed by anything), she probably would have wilted under the stares that were leveled on her.

"My aunt should be buried at my family shrine," Yayoi said.

Maia nodded sharply. "I will be sure to assist you in arranging the—"

Yayoi interrupted, leveling her voice as cold as Maia. "Your assistance will be unnecessary in the matter of funeral arrangements. I am quite capable of taking care of that myself." She would have it no other way. She had no need of a stranger handling the funeral.

Maia seemed to recognize the fact that there would be an unpleasant confrontation if she argued about it, so she offered, "Well, I do hope you will ask if you need assistance in any way, Suzuka-san."

Yayoi tried to figure out why the spirits seemed so uneasy around that woman. If she was a demon, wouldn't Ura have said something? Except Ura seemed as suspicious as the spirits… There was definitely something off about Maia, enough so that Yayoi didn't want to leave the morgue with her. She touched the Spirit Wheel Key on her arm, feeling the heightened comfort it brought.

"We should leave for the Agency now," Maia said.

Unable to think of a logical way to get out of going anywhere with Maia, Yayoi could only nod, but Ura noticed how Yayoi was readily clutching the Spirit Wheel Key.

Keep in mind if you kill me for starting a new story, I can't update my old ones...