Wow, I was definitely not expecting such an awesome response to my first chapter. I don't usually get that big of a response so it was shocking and heart-warming. I hope you all will continue to enjoy this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, Inuyasha, or any of its characters.

Progression
[2] Catalyst

"Well," Inuyasha muttered gruffly. "It doesn't seem like the work of a human but I honestly can't think of a single demon with this kind of ability. How is he killing his victims, anyway?" He spread out the pile of victim profiles out on the desk in front of him, ignoring his brother's glare. "Besides, no demons in their right mind would go around killing criminals for a hobby."

"Obviously," Sesshomaru intoned flatly. He flicked the edge of one of the papers away from the document he was reading.

"But," Inuyasha continued, "unless there's some sort of drug—even that's unlikely—I really don't see how a human can pull something like this off. It's like a demon with a human mind doing the killing. Or maybe human with super powers?"

Sesshomaru paused at his brother's words.

"And why heart attacks anyway?" he snorted. "What a pathetic way to kill someone."

"I saw a contracted human earlier today," Sesshomaru interrupted, remembering.

Inuyasha froze. "Do we have to get involved?" he finally asked after a moment. The last time they had encountered a contracted human, they spent three years chasing the asshole down, two more just trying to kill his damn ass, and another five attempting to cover their tracks so humans wouldn't know of the existence of demons. Thankfully, it had happened a couple hundred years ago and human communication back then consisted of sending letters back and forth so news and gossip or slow to spread. With the technology these days, there was no way the can afford another human-demon contracted duo.

Sesshomaru didn't answer Inuyasha's question for a few moments, instead he stared unseeingly at the paper littering his desk. "I am unsure," he admitted. "In addition, it wasn't a demon the human was contracted with."

"Eh?"

"The human seems to frequent the coffee shop I visit. I will give you a detailed description of his appearance. Find him and keep an eye on him. If he does anything out of the ordinary, if he creature does anything out of the ordinary, kill them both." His gaze darkens and he glares. "We do not need a repeat of what happened last time."

Inuyasha winced at the reminder. Last time referred to the time when they had come across a demon masquerading around as a human. As suspicious as her actions had been, Inuyasha could not bring himself to kill her, especially not with her tear-filled, large blue eyes staring back up at him. His mistake had cost them a year of chasing an innocent-looking girl, thirsting for world domination.

"Great," the half-demon grumbled as he slid down, slumping in his seat. There was no need to ask Sesshomaru if he knew what the contracted creature was; if he had, he would have mentioned it. However, that mean, Inuyasha had to be the one doing the dirty work. With another sigh, eh reached out and shoved the papers back into a messy pile. "That means we have to get involved. Let's hope the human idiot contracted a non-demon just for good looks or some shit."

Remembering what the creature had looked like, Sesshomaru highly doubted it but decided to allow Inuyasha to have his hopes.

"Contracted humans, Kira," Inuyasha continued to mutter. "What else can go wrong?"

"Also, keep an eye on L."

Inuyasha immediately scowled. "Who the fuck is L?"

"The human detective," reminded Sesshomaru. "If you keep yourself updated with current events, you would know that he took on the Kira case. If Kira is not human, I have no doubt L will figure it out sooner or later." He pulled out the detective's profile and glared at it. "And we cannot afford that." Already, L had unknowingly solved four previously unsolved cases that had demons behind them. Sesshomaru knew that it was only out of pure luck and his quick thinking that L had yet to figure out the existence of demons.

To be completely honest, Sesshomaru wasn't even sure if the one who called himself L was actually human himself. He was basing the entire thing off what he knew of a typical demon's personality and his instincts. The file he was holding was painfully thin; without a photograph or even a real name, there wasn't much about the seclusive human that Sesshomaru knew. Most of what he did know were only suppositions anyway.

Thankfully, the mere mention of Sesshomaru's name still manages to strike fear among his own kind; only the stupid still dream of something as pathetic as world domination. If Kira was human, Sesshomaru could leave the case for L to figure out; he had no intention of getting involved in some psychotic human with a god complex. However, if Kira wasn't human, Sesshomaru had a feeling that the human detective and him would be crossing more times than he would like.

"I'll have our own people look for the contracted human and that L guy or whatever," Inuyasha said. "In the meantime, I'm going to go through these files again." He gets up and goes to leave, ready to bury himself in paperwork again. It was times like this, Inuyasha found himself wishing that he could go back five hundred years when smiles and laughter was an everyday occurrence. He wished he could go back and just take his time to appreciate what he had back then.

"Inuyasha..."

He groaned again, hand pausing at the door handle. "What?" he asked moodily, reading through profiles of dead criminals was not a happy thought. Maybe his brother would show some sort of brotherly love and send him on some assassination mission. He brightened up at the thought.

"I caught a hold of her scent."

Inuyasha immediately froze. He could barely recall her face now but he still remembers a bright smile, blues eyes, and her scene. Oh, her scent. His heart pounded hard against his chest and he licked his suddenly dry lips. "By her, you mean..." His ears twitched madly in anticipation.

Sesshomaru nodded once.

Kagome.

"—that makes twelve criminals in just the past day. Because of Kira, we continue to see a sharp decline of criminal activity, no only in Japan but around the world. Is Kira—"

Kagome groaned. "Next," she grumbled as she changed the channel.

"—with Kira—"

"No." She tried again, this time pressing the button on her remote with more force than necessary. It wasn't that she didn't find Kira interesting, but it was one thing to make him featured news and another to make him the entirety of all news. I swear, she thought, if I die because of a typhoon you guys were too obsessed with Kira to report, I will personally bring all hell down on you.

"Like L says, Kira is no god! Kira is a human and no humans have the right to—"

"Again," she interrupted. "No."

"—in other news—"

"If this is about Kira..."

"—Akiyama Saitou was spotted in Japan late last night. For those who do not know, Akiyama-san is the leader of Ashikoba. Although they usually keep to themselves and we do not know the exact nature of what the do, they are a private group of—what we suspect to be—detectives that help solve cases. Like L, Akiyama-san only takes cases that he is interested in. Sine he has been spotted in Japan, does that mean he is also interested in the Kira case? Is he planning on teaming up with L to catch—"

Oh hell, Kagome thought, getting ready to change the channel again. In that exact moment, however, the news channel decided to show a picture of Akiyama Saitou and Kagome found herself staring at the television screen, eyes wide and unable to look away. With short black hair and light brown eyes, Akiyama Saitou could have easily passed as an average, rich, good-looking business man. But... but... the angle of which the photograph was taken, the outline of the man's cheekbones, the set of his jaw, the intensity of his eyes—

"Sesshomaru."

Then, realizing what she had just said—more specifically, whose name she had just uttered—Kagome pressed her lips into a thin line and forced herself to shut the television off. This is it! she thought fiercely to herself. You can't keep doing this to yourself, Kagome! Just because you saw one thing that reminded you of the past doesn't mean you can go around trying to recreate it again. She had made a promise to herself and she intended to keep it, damn it! Unfortunately for Kagome, her mental strength was no nearly as strong as she hoped it would be and she found herself glancing at the blank television screen. But he really does look like Sesshomaru.

Besides, it wasn't just Yagami's weird guardian angel thing and the Sesshomaru look-a-like that reminded her of the past. Kagome wouldn't be surprised if the person behind Kira was some sort of demon. But, Kagome mused, if Kira really is a demon then that must mean that they're still alive today. However, despite growing up in a shrine, she had never believed—much less, encountered—demons before her fifteenth birthday. That must mean that either demons had hid and interwoven themselves into the still-growing human population or—

She froze; she was doing it again. Kagome grabbed a cushion sitting next to her off of the couch, stuffed it into her face, and proceeded to scream into it. "Stupid, stupid, stupid—"

"Kagome?"

Her head immediately snapped up at the unexpected voice. "Oh, mama," she said breathlessly, biting her lower lip. "Uh... you're home! Welcome back."

"Is everything all right?"

She scowled at the reminder. "I just had a very off day." Now, that was an understatement. First she met a strange human-creature duo and then the human decided to no leave her alone just because she had stared at him a second too long. Then there was that weird kid who looked like he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell at passing Touou's bar exam but he also hadn't seem especially worried since he spent half the time staring at something or someone sitting in the front rows and the remaining half gnawing off the tip of her pencil. And then, to make matters worst, she saw a Sesshomaru look-a-like and proceeded to go through some serious memory-lane field trip. Although, to be completely honest with herself, at the rate her day had been going, Kagome wouldn't be surprised if she had hallucinated the Sesshomaru look-a-like.

"I'm sure you did fine on your exam," her mother soothed, wrapping a comforting arm around Kagome's shoulders. "Besides, there's always next time!"

Kagome immediately paled. "Ahh!" she cried out, burying her face right back into the cushion. "What the hell am I doing thinking about other people when I should have been thinking about how bad I did on the exam? I am so stupid!" She looked up and huffed pitifully. "Oh mama, I couldn't even concentrate!"

"Don't say that, you just took it, you haven't even gotten the results back yet."

"I don't need the results," Kagome grumbled darkly. "I can't even remember a single question." She had been too distracted, watching her pencil grow shorter and shorter as student 162 shamelessly gnawed at it like a teething child. Not to mention, there was that creature that flew around the exam room the entire time moaning and groaning about apples.

"Why don't I get started on dinner and you go upstairs and take a nice, long bath?" Her mother asked. "And if you want to talk about it afterwards, I'll listen."

Kagome sighed happily at the thought of a bath; her mother knew her so well. "Actually," she said slowly. "I think I'm going to take a walk first; I need to clear my head."

Her mother nodded in understanding. "Oh," she exclaimed suddenly as a thought came to her. "Do you mind going to the convenience store? I've been meaning to buy Souta's favorite egg tarts but I always end up forgetting."

Kagome almost snorted in amusement; Souta loved his egg tarts almost as much as Inuyasha loved ramen. She winced. "Of course," she said finally. "I need to buy some snacks too." She leaned out and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I'll be back soon." At her mother's nod, Kagome gave one last smile before jumping off the couch to grab her purse.

"Take your time," her mother called out after her as she was leaving.

"I will," Kagome called back. Mama is so understanding, she thought, descending down the shrine steps. The winter breeze felt cold against her skin but Kagome slowed down anyway, if only to numb the feeling of longing within her. She took a longer route to the local convenience store, taking her sweet time to just walk about and not think about anything in particular. Not the creature, not Kira, and most definitely no the Sesshomaru look-a-like.

It's only four, Kagome thought as she wrinkled her nose, glancing at the sky. Even for winter, the sky was much darker than usual. A shudder ran through Kagome's body, making her wish that she had at least grabbed a thicker jacket. Thankfully, she could already see the convenience store just down the street. Maybe she could relax in there for a couple minutes before heading back out into the could. She was familiar with the store workers; they wouldn't mind.

She shuddered again.

Kagome paused. Breathing deeply, Kagome slowly clutches her hand into a fist, bringing it close to her chest. Something wasn't right. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and Kagome couldn't point out exactly what was bothering her but she was positive that something was wrong. Looking around to make sure that there was no one nearby, she uncurled her fingers and extended her arm away from her body. Pink purification powers immediately rose to the surface, dancing on top of the smooth skin of her arm, crackling against the air.

Something is here, Kagome thought, looking around. She felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of her face despite the cool air. Something dark and tainted.

And it was growing stronger too; the air around her began to feel heavier and heavier with each passing second. Kagome's vision swarmed and she stumbled forward onto the crosswalk at the sudden tightening of her chest. She blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear her vision. The last time she had felt something like this was Naraku had thrown her into the middle of his miasma in an attempt to finish her off, hoping that she was too wounded to purify the thick poison.

Gritting her teeth, Kagome squeezed her eyes shut in concentration for a moment before snapping them open. She gathered up all her purification powers together, squeezing them tightly within her before releasing it. It exploded outwards with a loud crack, purifying the dark energy that had occupied the space moments before.

Kagome pressed a hand against her chest, breathing deeply. "What the hell was that?" she managed breathlessly.

The sudden sound of a car honking caught her attention and Kagome's head snapped up in shock. She had stumbled in the middle of the road. It had been years since she had last been in the feudal era, where a moment's hesitation could get one killed. Lacking the instincts and reaction she had back then, Kagome found herself tensing in response. And then the dark energy she had purified only moments ago returned, locking her muscles into place. She couldn't move.

Kagome could only stare at the oncoming car with wide eyes; its headlights blinding her.

Also, I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I try to catch what I can but grammar is most definitely not my strong point. I probably should get a beta-reader but I am writing this story for fun and as a stress-reliever. Having beta-readers will just put pressure on me to have a set update schedule. I hope it doesn't distract anyone from reading and thank you for reading!