Chapter One:
Mystery Woman
The soft cling of the metal doors closing wasn't heard as they entered the first floor. Aiko seemed to know what was going on. He wasn't sure if she knew that Sango was a member of the A.K. or not, though.
"Well, then." She muttered. He opened the glass door for her as she walked by with a respected nod of thanks. "Isn't that the question."
"You like to mess with people's heads?" Inuyasha growled, coming to walk next to her down the street.
"Not really." She confessed, her hand falling into her front pant's pockets. "The people I deal with everyday already know how I think. So, having someone knew to confuse is rather fun." Her voice chuckled out softly.
"Sure." He sighed, shoving his hand into his coat pockets.
Eyeing him, they turned down another street. The distant fire seemed to have been put out, and the civilians were now calm. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"What the hell of a kind of question is that?" He yelled out to her.
Shaking her head, they turned down onto another street. "Just answer it, will you?"
Glaring at her, he shook his head slightly. "No, I don't."
She stopped. "That's good to hear."
Knocking against a door in the back alley of a group of small business buildings, a small sliding door slide open to show a pair of emerald eyes. The door slid closed seconds later. It made no sound, opening to allow Sango and him inside.
"Inuyasha, this is Shippo." Sango informed, not bothering to stop her movements to the back double doors behind the security desk.
"Pleasure." The young man nodded, shaking Inuyasha's hand. "So you're the guy they chose."
"Guess so." He nodded, eyeing the black-tinted glass doors they walked through.
"Shippo, how is Kagome feeling?" Sango questioned, heading towards an elevator.
Elevator? What the hell? The building they walked into was a single story. Where the hell did the elevator lead to?
"Keade is pondering on whether to releaser her tonight or to handle her temper for the required three days." The kid answered simply, grinning.
Inuyasha just realized the green eyed boy next to him was a demon. Shocked it took him this long to figure it out, he continued to eye his surroundings. They walked into the elevator. Now it was clear. They weren't going up. They were heading down.
"Well." Sango muttered, pushing a button for the fifth floor. "What do you think she is going to do?"
"Keade or Kagome?" The boy questioned.
"Keade." She said simply, eyeing Inuyasha and his hidden expressions.
"I think she's going to try to keep her in bed." Shippo answered, shaking his head afterwards. "But Kagome's not going to listen."
"She never does." Sango sighed.
The metal doors opened up, revealing a heavily clustered medical office level. The place was huge as they stepped off. A secretary desk laid to the side, covered with files. Doctors and nurses were rushing around. There looked to be no patients, but the way the people were acting, it appeared different.
"Shippo?" She questioned, clearly not understanding the unusual confusion on the floor.
"It's the bombing, ma'am." The boy answered, following as she headed down the crowed hall. "There was another at the beach. Kouga was there."
"Kouga?" She turned to see him fully. "What was he doing there?"
"I don't know, ma'am." He spoke, shrugging his shoulder.
"Okay, then." She brushed it off. Heading further down the hall, a louder commotion was erupting in a room in front of them.
"Damn it." A woman yelled from inside, followed by something being slammed against a wall.
"Kagome's up and moving I hear." Sango muttered, turning a smile on Inuyasha. "Ready to meet your new girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend?" Inuyasha questioned, taken back slightly.
She continued to smile, opening the door. The room was neater than the halls, that is if you ignore the medical cart crumbled against the far wall. Looking around, he noticed a man sitting calmly on a couch against the side wall and a young looking woman tapping her foot in pure irritation.
"She's pissed, Sango." The man on the couch muttered with a hidden smile.
"I'm growing tiered of this, ma'am." The nursed huffed, crossing her arms at her chest. "She's the most un-corruptive patient I have ever dealt with."
Looking over at the knocked over cart, Sango's eyes spotted what the issue was. "You should know better by now." She muttered, softly moving her way to the medical items. "She doesn't like needles."
The nurse's eyes widened with understanding. "Yes, ma'am, I know." She said forcing her tone to stay irritated as her arms dropped. Sango picked up the needle, trying to make as little noise as possible. "I only wished she would be more helpful." The nurse continued, watching as Sango removed the air from it.
"Well." She motioned to the bed slowly. Inuyasha just noticed the balled up form in the center. Someone was under the covers. "Maybe over time she will."
A yelp erupted, when Sango jammed the needle through the white sheets. "Damn it!" A woman yelled, her hand grasping Sango's. "What the hell. . ." She muttered taking the needle out of her leg.
"Thank you, ma'am." The nurse smiled, finally satisfied that her patient got the medicine in her. The door closed behind her softly as she left.
"Shit." The woman under the blanket breathed out. Her head fell upon the pillow under her with her hands on her face. "I can feel it."
"I still find it amusing that needles are the only things that get to you." The man grinned, coming to sit on the side of the bed.
Sango's eyes drifted from Kagome back to Inuyasha. Shippo had let with the nurse, heading back to his post on the main level above ground. The demon was expressionless, staring and studying them. "Come." She gestured for him to approach. "Kagome, sit up."
Doing as they were told, Inuyasha approached the bedside. His eyes widened when the woman on the bed revealed her face as she sat up. It was the girl from the fire, the one he had chased to the roof. She had disappeared on a motorcycle within the alley.
"Its you." She said simply, cocking her head in a slight fashion.
For the first time, Miroku took a good look at the demon before them. "Oh, yeah. I remember seeing you on the roof. Thought your hair was gold, though."
Inuyasha's eyes drifted over the bandages on her. It covered her chest and stomach. Their was another bandage on her left arm, but it didn't seem to cover a serious wound. "How are you feeling?" He asked, unable to think of anything else.
Kagome smiled, glancing down at the bandages briefly. "Doctors say I was lucky to live. I think their over exaggerating, though." Swiftly grasping the hand that was massaging her leg, she shoved it back onto Miroku's lap. "That hurt." She muttered to the man beside her as he forced a smile of guilt.
"So you're the guy they chose to protect, Kagome, huh?" Miroku muttered, looking him over. "Guess you'll do."
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Inuyasha snapped out.
Kagome glared at the man near her. "Don't take it personally." She spoke, shifting her eyes to him. "He's rather—um—"
"Protective." Sango spoke up when Kagome couldn't find the word. "Partners. You know how it is?"
"No. Not really." Inuyasha confessed.
Kagome's breathing came in quicker. Noticing it before the others, he shoved Miroku off the bed. The man glared at him ready to yell until he noticed her shaking. Inuyasha rested her head upon the pillow. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling above her.
She wanted to curse. She wanted to yell. She hated needles. There was nothing good about them. The medicine within her was flowing through her blood. She could feel it. It was like a snake inside her veins. Her hand was clasping to something. She didn't know what or cared.
Inuyasha watched as her eyes fluttered open and closed. Her breathing was heavy. The scent of the medicine in her blood was clear through her covered wounds. Demons could smell anything if they wanted to badly enough. He could smell it inside of her. His eyes drifted down to her hand in his. She was in a daze, unaware of what was going on around her.
"Miroku, get Keade." Sango ordered as the man took off down the hall.
"Kagome." Inuyasha tried to gather her attention, whispering close to her ear. "Kagome, you have to look at me. Don't close your eyes. Kagome." He smiled when her brown hazed gaze shifted to him. "Hey, how you doing?" He asked, trying to get her to speak. The last thing he wanted was for his job to go down in flames if she died.
She didn't answer. Her eyelids slid closed, opening a second later. Her breathing was growing calmer. Her hand began to loosen in his. The medicine within her was finally leaving her blood, heading into the tissue of her ribs.
"Kagome, child." An old woman gasped, rushing over to her on the opposite side of the bed from Inuyasha. She quickly checked her pulse then her eye dilation. Sighing with ease, she fumbled her fingers over the bandages. "Her broken ribs are healing. She may not like it, but it gets her up on her feet faster."
"What was in that stuff?" Inuyasha asked, not moving his hand away from Kagome's.
"A drug." Miroku muttered simply.
"Sort of." Sango commented when she noticed Inuyasha's slight shock.
"It's a healing potion injected into the blood system." Keade began to inform. "It gathers the DNA of the patient, then starts to repair the damages, such as broken bones and scarred tissue."
"I've never hear of it." Inuyasha muttered. "Do the hospitals use it?"
"Oh my, no." Keade laughed out softly.
"Kagome is the only one who it has ever been tested upon." Sango informed. "There is another, but she's somewhere in Europe."
Inuyasha's eyes drifted down to Kagome. Her hand was still in his as she sat up. A moan past her as her hand came to her head. "I hate that."
"If it works, love." Miroku muttered, grinning.
"How are you feeling?" Inuyasha questioned, kneeling down beside her bed.
Finally noticing her hand was in his, she removed it calmly back to her lap. "Fine." She informed.
"Good then." Sango piped up. "You shall be dressed and in my office in forty minutes. Inuyasha." She ordered, leaving the room with him close behind.
The traffic in the halls were now calm. The patients that had been unseen when he entered were now moving about as if they were never hurt. "Ma'am." Inuyasha spoke as they entered the elevator. "She was in the fire."
Sango's eyes drifted to him. Pushing the button for the twelfth floor, her back straightened against the wall. "So you're the boy I was told about." Not understanding, Inuyasha remained quiet. "Miroku mentioned someone on the roof when he went to get Kagome earlier."
"She's human, right?" He asked.
A chuckle came from her. "Yes, Inuyasha, she is human. Your next question is going to be how did she survivor the explosion." He nodded. "Kagome is—" She breathed softly as the metal doors opened to reveal a professional office level. "Lets just say she's very lucky."
He didn't really understand the answer but continued to follow her any ways. Nobody looked to them as they headed for an enclosed office surrounded with black-tinted white glass. Sango's outfit even stood out of place here among all the other business suits.
"Sit." She ordered calmly, heading behind her desk. "You will be here for three weeks, possibly five if everything doesn't go properly."
"Properly?" He echoed.
"Yes, properly." A sigh passed her when she sat down into the large leather chair. "The assassins I mentioned to you earlier are hunting down my best team. They already took out one member last week, then tried to take out another moments ago."
"Kagome." He stated knowingly.
"Kagome." Reaching for a file on her desk, she tossed in over to his lap. "There is all the information you are required to know of her."
Flipping through the first few pages, he eyed the information briefly. "I don't get what you think I can do to help."
"You're show, Inuyasha, just that." She stated, kicking her legs up onto the side of the desk in front of her. "Civilians don't know her identity in being apart of my team. These assassins I speak of do. I need someone by her side to keep them from attacking her in public. No one is stupid enough to target her with a D.P.S. cop by her side."
"And when we're not out in public?" He questioned, flipping the folder closed.
"I'll have Miroku with me." A new voice spoke.
Turning around, he spotted Kagome closing the door behind her. She look like she was never wounded at all. Posture straight and confident, her hair was loose upon her shoulders with the same outfit Sango was wearing, but it looked better on her in Inuyasha's opinion.
"Kagome, sit." Sango ordered as the girl took the seat next to his.
"Ma'am, you do know this is not necessary." She tried to negotiate on deaf ears.
Sighing, Sango's eyes shifted from her to Inuyasha. "You two with be boyfriend and girlfriend, living together in an apartment loft up town." Darting her eyes to Kagome, she smiled. "I hope you two will play nice. Wouldn't want someone getting hurt."
Jaw clenching, Kagome forced a smile. "Yes, ma'am."
"You are dismissed." She spoke, coming straight within her chair and heading to do some file work. "I'll have one of the drivers bring a car up."
"Ma'am?" Inuyasha began to question.
"We already have it all set up. New vehicles, clothes, everything." Sango informed, not looking up. "I'll see you two in the morning."
Kagome didn't say anything as she swung the door open, Inuyasha hesitated for a moment before following. What the hell is he doing? Sure Kagome was hot, but she seemed to have a temper like a volcano. Damn, this is going to be a couple long weeks.
The soft sound of the elevator doors opening drew his attention as she held it open for him. Her eyes were narrowed, dangerous. She clearly didn't want this either. Hitting the button for the main level, her back rested against the wall. For the first time, he noticed the scar upon her chest. It was light, hardly able to see unless you were looking or had demonic eye sight. A shade darker then her skin, it ran from her collar bone somewhere under her shirt, probably stopping at her breast.
"Its rude to stare." She muttered, her eyes closed from seeing him.
Startled slightly, his face flushed a soft pink. "Sorry." He muttered as the elevator doors opened.
Shippo was spotted behind the security desk. A smile lit him when he spotted her. "Kagome, glad to see your feeling good. I got scared when Miroku brought you in."
A smile lit her lips as she approached the desk. "Keade's fantastic, isn't she? The wound didn't even leave a scar."
"That's good to hear. Wouldn't want you to be slowed down." The red headed boy continued to smile. "There's a car out back for you two. Hear you'll be living together for a couple weeks."
Kagome's back straightened. "Yeah." She muttered, turning to head for the doors.
"Hey." The kid called softly to Inuyasha. Coming closer, his eyes drifted away from Kagome. "Don't take her attitude personally. She's just defensive. The last guy that was assigned to her—"
"Shippo." Kagome tight voice yelled when she spotted the two talking. It was obvious the boy was mentioning something he wasn't allowed to. "Lets go." She muttered to Inuyasha as he followed after her.