Chapter Four

Dirt and Darkness

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Kagome fidgeted in excitement as well as nervousness, darting quick glances at the man driving the car next to her. She clenched her fingers quickly, before darting her hand out suddenly to stab the radio button. Obnoxious country music blared from every speaker at eardrum-bursting volume.

Inuyasha nearly swerved off the road as he lunged to turn the radio off again.

"Oh god, you must be kidding." Kagome moaned and shook her head in disgust. "Country? You listen to country?"

He scowled, ears laid back against his snowy hair and his knuckles tightened on the steering wheel as he cried out defensively, "There is nothing wrong with country!"

Kagome shook her head in disbelief. "I would have pegged you a heavy rocker type."

Inuyasha ground his teeth together and didn't respond. She tapped her fingers nervously against her thigh and traced one idly around one of the many little sheep stickers that decorated the purple flip-pad she always carried with her to jot down notes on. "Sooo…how close are we?"

He narrowed his eyes and glared at the road as though inwardly cursing it for not taking him to his destination rapidly enough. "Not close enough."

She scowled at him and he darted a quick glance at her before muttering, "Chill out, we're almost there." She immediately sat up in excitement when a large mob came into view down the street they are on. Her excitement immediately turned into worry, though, when she saw the dust rising from the rubble that the crowd surrounded.

Inuyasha skidded to a stop behind the crowd, cursing under his breath.

"Damn it. It's worse than I thought."

Kagome looked over at him. "It's ok, you can rebuild, right?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her before as he opened the door. "That's not what I'm concerned about. There are people in there. My people." And with that, he shoved himself from the car, and made his way swiftly into the throng of people before them. Kagome grabbed her notebook and scrambled after him, trying to follow him through the crowd, weaving through the path he had made.

When she finally caught up to him he was conversing quickly with male demon in a hardhat, a vest, and covered in dust.

"Are there any workers still in there, Kan?"

"We were able to remove two more, but that still leaves three men inside." He licked his lips nervously and lowered his voice. "Mr. Silver, we think there might be a child in there as well."

"What? What do you mean a child? There aren't supposed to be any children at the site!" Kagome furrowed her brow in worry and looked anxiously from one man to the other.

"We don't know how she got there, but we could hear someone crying, and it sounds like a little girl. We can't seem to find her though."

Inuyasha growled in frustration. "What about the other three? Where are they?"

His foreman pointed, and Inuyasha took off in that direction, Kagome hot on his heels. As soon as he realized she was following him he stopped and turned so suddenly she ran smack into his solid expanse of chest. 'Oh my…like a brick wall,' she thought vaguely as she bounced backward.

Inuyasha grabbed her arms before she fell down completely and righted her. "What did I tell you, wench? Back with the rest of them. It's not safe here."

Kagome set her jaw stubbornly and glared up at his golden eyes. "Not a chance. I'm going with you."

"Like hell you are! BACK! NOW!"

"I won't get into any danger! I'll listen around the edges of the rubble for the girl, and you can go rescue the other three. Go! Time's wasting!"

She could see the wheels turning in his head and he fought over whether or not to continue the argument or just let her go. He gave up with a frustrated growl. "Fine! Just…stay on the edge of the site. Don't go digging into the debris. You don't know what is and isn't stable. It could collapse in on you." He picked up an abandoned hardhat from the ground and shoved it on her head. "And don't get your skull caved in either."

Kagome watched him race off to help the few other demon workers on the site remove the rubble from around the trapped workers before they suffocated or were crushed to death. It was a sight to see, really. His long silvery hair sparkled amid the dust and debris, and he paid no heed to the damage he was doing to his suit. She smiled a little when she noticed all the dust he had already acquired on his black suit pants and his gray button-up shirt, and her eyebrows rose at the site of his biceps straining against the long gray sleeves. 'Oh my.' She swallowed thickly and tore her eyes away from the sight. 'Get a grip, Higurashi.' She shook her head and turned to see that there were a few other men circling the fallen portion of the building, peering into cracks and listening intently. She ran over to help look for the child.

"Hello? Can you hear me? Is there anyone in there?"

She leaned in beneath fallen beam and listened for a response to echo from the shadows. Hearing none, she moved on a few feet and knelt to the ground, peeking into what appeared to be a pit dug beneath the building. She called again into the darkness of the hole. "Hello? Is someone down there?" She could just make out a distant sniffling noise. "Is someone in there? We're here to help, but we need to figure out where you are so we can come get you! Talk really loudly, ok?"

A loud sniffling noise responded before a small voice called back, "Help me! Please! I'm stuck!"

Kagome scrambled anxiously into the gap in the fallen blocks and squinted into the hole. "Are you in this hole? Are you injured?"

"Yes, I'm down here! There's a rock on my leg! I can't get it off. And I'm cold, please help me!"

Kagome shuffled backward from beneath the gap and looked around the site. All the men were working on moving a large chunk of building, and she could see two of them dragging out another worker. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen, and she could only assume he was in the wreckage somewhere, trying to find his other workers.

She crawled back in next to the hole. "They're helping some of the others get out, but don't worry, they'll come get you shortly! I promise."

"Please don't leave me! I'm scared!"

Kagome smiled softly at the tiny voice. "It's ok. I'm not going to leave you." She bit her lip. 'Keep her talking. That will make the time pass more quickly.'

"What's your name?"

"Suki."

"Oh, Suki, that's a lovely name. My name is Kagome. How old are you Suki?"

"I'm five."

"Five! How nice! Suki, how did you get in here? You probably shouldn't have been playing at the site."

She sniffled and let out a small sob. "I wasn't playing here. I was put here."

Kagome frowned and crawled closer to the edge of the hole. "Put here? By who?"

"I don't know. I was playing at the park, and then someone grabbed me, and put something over my mouth. And then…and then I woke up here." She sobbed. "I'm scared. I want my mommy."

Kagome made soft shushing noises and longed to reach out and hold the little girl. "It's ok…it's ok, we'll get you out of here and to your mommy soon, I promise." She bit her lip and crawled more closely to the edge of the hole, so that she could peek over it. A thin shaft of dust-filled light fell to the bottom of the hole and Kagome could just make out a small child, black hair grayed with dust, and tear streaks running through the dirt on her round cheeks. She peered more closely and saw that a large cement block had fallen onto the girl's right ankle, and she could see the swelling even from her vantage point.

"Suki, I'm not leaving you, but I'm going to crawl back out and see if the others can come help you out yet, ok?"

The girl sniffled and wiped a hand across her face. "Ok."

Kagome smiled warmly at her once more before slowly making her way backward out of the tiny gap she had crawled into.

The ground shifted. Screams and yells broke out and she froze in her spot as random shouts of "The foundation is shifting, move away from the site!" reached her ears. 'Oh no…the girl.'

"Kagome!"

She could hear her name being yelled from behind her.

"Kagome, damn it, where are you?"

"Mr. Silver! I'm over here! I found the girl!" She started to move backward again and froze when she felt the ground beneath her shift again. 'Oh no…' And suddenly she was falling. Her hardhat was quickly knocked from her head, and she braced herself, rocks and dirt skidding downward with her, dust stinging her eyes so that she shut them tight. She felt herself hit solid ground, and covered her head as more rocks caved in around her and pelted her body painfully. When it all seemed to still again, she carefully attempted to open her eyes, allowing them to tear up, and wash away the dirt that had made its way past her eyelids. It was no use anyway; everything was dark.

'Perfect. Just perfect. Way to go, Kagome. Your first day of action, and what do you do? You get trapped beneath a collapsed building.'

She did a mental check for injuries, but found only a few sticky spots, blood most likely, and several tender areas of flesh. 'Ugh, I'm going to be black and blue. If I ever get out of here, that is.'

A sudden shifting of dirt to her right reminded her of the reason she had fallen to begin with. 'Suki!'

She lunged for the moving dirt, and clawed her way through it, reaching desperately for a limb or body. Her hand closed around what felt like an arm. 'Arm or leg, I'm not picky.' She pulled gently but firmly and felt a hand grab onto her forearm as she finally removed the child from her dirt-filled grave. When her head became free she coughed violently, trying to dispel the dust and filth from her mouth and throat.

Kagome pulled her closer and held her as her chest heaved, grateful for air. Her eyes were closed, and there were gashes covering every bare expanse of skin. Her matching pink shorts and top were covered in filth, her lip was split and bleeding, and her hair filled with clumps of dirt, but she was alive. The only major injury seemed to be her right ankle, which was clearly broken.

The rocks above shifted, and more dirt fell down. She shielded the child's body with her own as the rocks pelted her once again.

"Kagome! Can you hear me?"

"Mr. Silver! I'm down here!"

She heard him curse loudly, and saw his head pop into view against the small gap of sky above her. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of the site? Damn it!"

'Yeah…guess I deserved that.' She cringed, closed her eyes and awaited further lecture.

"Are you ok?" Kagome's eyes popped open in surprise at the concern evident in his voice.

She swallowed and looked up at his silhouette. "Yeah…yeah, I'm ok. And I have the girl. She's right here in my lap. I think her ankle is broken, and she isn't conscious, but she's breathing, and I think she'll be ok."

He nodded. "Ok. Cover yourselves, I'm coming down to get you."

Kagome held the girl closer to her chest, and bent forward over her body. "Ok! I'm ready!" She heard rocks slide to her left, and felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned in surprise to see Inuyasha kneeling next to her, a clawed hand resting on her left shoulder.

"You alright?"

Kagome swallowed and nodded. He started to rise but she grabbed at his hand as it began to leave her shoulder. "Mr. Silver?"

"Inuyasha."

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I just…I just couldn't leave her alone. She was scared, and…I was coming out to call you over to help her and…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause more trouble. I should have listened to you."

He glared at her, but she could tell that his irritation wasn't as deep as he made it out to be. "Yes, you should have." His gaze drifted to the girl in Kagome's lap. "But I understand. It wasn't your fault the ground gave way. The explosion must have collapsed some of the pipes beneath the foundation. When they collapsed, the ground gave way too. It wasn't your fault. Let's just get you two out of here."

She gaped at him, and he glanced down at her worriedly. "What are you looking at?"

"I just…I thought you'd be more angry. I thought…I thought you'd yell at me more."

He snorted. "Yeah, well, I'll save that till after we're outta this mess. Don't worry…I'm not done with you yet."

She winced. "Oh. I was afraid of that."

He leaned over and scooped the girl from her arms. "I'm going to take her up first, ok? Stay still, and cover your head again."

She did as instructed and heard him grunt slightly behind her. When a loud thump resounded next to her a few moments later, she looked up sharply. "How on earth did you do that so quickly?"

Inuyasha reached a hand down to help her up and grinned cockily. "I'm half demon. I can jump higher than you puny humans can."

She took his hand and he pulled her abruptly to her feet. So abruptly, in fact, that she fell forward once again into that wonderfully solid chest of his, and found herself enjoying the experience immensely. 'Mmmm, it's nice to be back again. We should really visit more often.' She lifted her eyes upward and blushed when she realized exactly whose chest she was currently nuzzling, and blushed even harder when she found the owner of said chest staring down at her strangely.

"Umm…"

She sighed inwardly as his chest vibrated with the noise. 'Mmm…nice.'

She felt his hands gently grip her arms and lift her. "Woah!"

He rolled his eyes. "I need to lift you in order to carry you out of here. I'm pretty sure you can't climb out on your own, so it's easiest for me to just jump."

She blushed even hotter and nodded quickly before wrapping her arms about his neck.

"Ok…hang on, and close your eyes so you don't get dirt in them."

She felt his body lower and tense, and suddenly it sprung upward with a speed that startled her. She gasped and ducked her head into Inuyasha's neck. She felt him hit solid ground again, and sighed with relief.

She stayed still and reveled in the comfort of the moment before the clearing of a throat reached her ears. Her eyes shot open to reveal her nose embedded into aforementioned throat. It cleared again, and she could make out a slow flush creeping its way up from the unbuttoned shirt color, until it gradually covered the entire neck. She watched it in fascination as it moved upward, over a finely chiseled chin, perfect nose, and she stopped suddenly when she was finally facing a pair of wide, golden eyes. They were currently staring at her in confusion and embarrassment and Kagome realized, quite belatedly, that she was still in the arms of one very handsome hanyou.

She squealed suddenly and scrambled so frantically that he dropped her.

"Owww…" Kagome rubbed at her bruised behind and looked up at the half demon angrily. "What did you drop me for?"

He shifted uncomfortable and crossed his arms over his chest. "You started flailing all about! What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to set me down nicely!"

"I tried! You were clinging to me like a damn koala or something!"

Kagome blushed hotly and yelled back. "Well you were the one who scooped me up to begin with. Without asking!"

"Well you were the one who fell down the hole, and needed me to come rescue you! And you didn't even thank me for it, ya ungrateful bitch!"

Her eyes flared in angry and she had just taken a large breath to scream back at him when she noticed that there were people gathered around them, watching and listening. Many people. Many people with cameras. And microphones. And bright flashing lights.

She lowered the finger she had been pointing angrily at him, and instead used the hand to push herself up off the ground. "Umm…right. Thank you."

He 'humphed' and looked away in embarrassment, mumbling what sounded like a "You're welcome."

The awkward moment was thankfully broken when Kan reappeared at Inuyasha's side. "Sir, I think you should come take a look at this." Inuyasha noted the worried look on his face and followed him quickly to the ambulance, Kagome fast at his heels. They arrived to see two EMT's standing outside waiting for them.

Kan nodded to one, and the man stepped forward. "Mr. Silver? The little girl we found at your site…"

"Suki! I nearly forgot! Is she ok?"

The man nodded at Kagome. "Yes, she's fine. She'll need a cast for her ankle, but other than that, it's just scrapes and bruises." He turned back to Inuyasha. "But, we found something peculiar when we were looking her over for other injuries." He glanced around at the many reporters being restrained by only a few police officers. "I think you should step up here and see this."

Inuyasha and Kagome followed him into the back of the squad, crowding onto one side of the stretcher, with the EMT on the other. Kagome looked down worriedly at the girl before her, and grasped the tiny hand gently.

The EMT lifted up the little girl's shirt, and she gasped. Inuyasha leaned forward, and read what was written across her torso in large black letters. "This child could have been killed in your project. Perhaps you should pay more attention to the safety of those you are supposedly trying to help."

The letters were written in bold black marker, and Kagome ran a hand gently over the girls stomach. "She was kidnapped…from the park. She was there playing, and someone knocked her out and placed her on the site. And then…"

"They blew it up." Inuyasha clenched his fist. Those bastards. How much do you want to bet that every reporter out there knows that a little kid was hurt in the accident too? Now the whole city will be after my head."

He pounded a fist into his thigh. "Damn!"

Kagome squeezed the child's fingers one last time before stepping out of the ambulance and sat down shakily on the curb. Reporters shot questions at her frenziedly, but she let them muddle into a steady background murmur as she waited for Inuyasha to exit the ambulance. When he didn't appear she started back for the vehicle, but froze outside the open back doors. Inside she could see him gently lift the hem of the girl's shirt, and slide it back into place. He stared down at her face and mumbled something to her before stepping quickly from the vehicle and striding rapidly toward his car.

Kagome couldn't hear exactly what he said, but she could swear she read his lips.

"I'll find out who did this to you. I promise."

o0o

Sooo, I didn't even read this one over before posting it. I'll get to that later. I just wanted to feel good about myself and post updates for any of my fics that required updating. I'm SOOOOOOOO tired. Stupid work. Stupid school. Stupid…schoolwork.

So, I would just like to say…I love you. Each of you. I want to make personal little notes to each and every one of you. And I will…next chapter. When I'm not half dead.

But you have to know…I love you. My love for you…is like diarrhea. I just can't hold it in.

Seriously.

Anyway, next chapter…more Miroku. And Inuyasha anger. I missed his anger in this chappie. He was too nice. He needs more fits of rage, dang it. Oh, and some good Kouga flirting, and Sango and Miroku should meet. Yeah…yeah, that sounds nice. We'll do that. That's always entertaining.

And keep your eyes peeled for a one shot coming out…it's going to be good times…once I actually start it.

Feel the love, and please review? With…words of inspiration? I need all the help I can get. Muah.