Author's Notes: As I write this note out, it might be another couple of days before this chapter sees the light of day. My thoughts are in a jumble as I scramble to get ready to go back to school. I would also dump my political rants here, but I somehow doubt many of you would want to hear me shooting my mouth off.
Midnight at the Singin' Hound Lounge
Chapter 4- Hideout
"... And that's how we got here," Kagome finished explaining. "We need you to try and figure out who set Inuyasha up so we can clear him." They were all sitting in the basement of Kouga's home. He was the best fence in town for bootleg liquor, smuggled goods, and everything in between. He kept a close-knit organization of contacts and allies throughout the city that he called his "packmates." He had been supplying the Singin' Hound Lounge with their drinks ever since it opened. Unfortunately, he had also set his sights on Kagome and didn't seem to take "no" for an answer.
Koga leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the table. "I see. Well, it shouldn't be hard for my boys to figure out what's going on. It'll cost you of course."
At that, Inuyasha let out a snarl. Kagome knew exactly what Koga had in mind, and apparently so did her band mate. "We'll discuss that when and if you get us out of this mess," Kagome stated firmly. "Do we have a deal?" She knew the others would be looking at her in shock. This was a side to herself she seldom showed anymore. But this was really the only choice. Arguing with Koga would be pointless. If she refused him, they'd just waste valuable time until he caved in. If she agreed, Inuyasha's protective side would kick in and he and Koga would be at each other's throats.
Kagome liked to think that Inuyasha's protectiveness of her was a sign that he was interested in her as more than a friend, but this wasn't really the time or the place to be thinking about her own confusing love life. Well... what passed for one, anyway.
"Fair enough," Koga said at last. "You'd make a shrewd crime lord, Kagome," he said in a flattering tone with a sexy smile.
Kagome just smiled nervously while Inuyasha fumed quietly.
Shippo, who had only joined the band a few months ago and had never met Koga before, leaned over to Inuyasha with one hand to the side of his mouth and whispered loud enough to be heard, "Regular sugar daddy, ain't he?"
Inuyasha snorted in amusement with a snide-looking smirk while Koga turned to glare at the young drummer. He seemed to be sizing Shippo up at first. "How old are you, kid? 15? 16?"
"I'm 20, you rube," Shippo snapped indignantly. It sounded almost comical in his reedy voice. "I'm just kinda short. Not hittin' on all sixes there, are we?" he retorted, tapping on his temple with a raised eyebrow.
Koga narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Kagome. "Runt's got a hell of a mouth on him."
"I'm sitting right here, you know."
"As much as I'm enjoying this witty tit-for-tat," Miroku interrupted, "I believe we should all get back to the subject at hand."
"Right," Koga said as he stood up. "I'll put in a call to Glen, Mike, Vince, and Jeff. If there's anything worth knowing in this city, they can find it." With that he walked out up the stairs. "Make yourselves at home," he called out over his shoulder.
"Why do I feel like I just put my soul in the hands of the devil?" Inuyasha grumbled.
"It's not as if we have a choice," Sango remarked. "Even if we do clear you, our little car chase is going to cost a pretty penny to bail us all out."
"I'll talk with Sesshoumaru about that," Inuyasha said dismissively as he got up and went to the bar. He poured himself a shot of whiskey and looked over to the others. "A good band like us is harder to find than some people think. Sessh won't want to lose his main attraction."
"Man's got a point," Miroku added. "We'd be in debt to Sesshoumaru for a while, but we regularly sing for our supper anyway."
Kagome sighed and slouched in her chair. This was a fine kettle of fish. Inuyasha was framed, the rest of them were on the run, they owed Koga a favor, and pretty soon they'd owe Sesshoumaru money. She considered muttering about how it couldn't get any worse, but she didn't want to take a chance and jinx it. The universe was just cruel enough to do it.
Kagome looked up and folded her arms over her chest as she watched the others. Shippo was wandering the room, looking for something to do. He began skimming a bookshelf crammed full of enough dime novels to fill a newsstand. Sango was sitting quietly in thought. Inuyasha was taking a second shot of whiskey while Miroku walked over to join him. Kagome was desperately trying to stave off boredom as the seconds dragged on into minutes.
"While we're waiting," Miroku chimed in after a brief silence, "does anyone have any idea who would want to do this to us?"
"I though we already covered this," Inuyasha grumbled. "I don't start trouble unless I know can end it."
"What if you made a mistake and didn't end it?" Sango asked with a thoughtful expression. "Is there anybody you've crossed lately? At all?"
"Keh," Inuyasha snorted. "The last bit of trouble I got into was that black eye I gave Koga three months ago."
Kagome remembered that well. Koga had personally delivered a supply of whiskey to the Lounge and had tried once again to pick her up. After twenty minutes of trying to persuade him to leave, Kagome was about to brutally blunt with Koga when Inuyasha walked up and decked him across the face as if he were swatting a fly. Though Sesshoumaru hadn't shown any major reaction other than a slight frown, he said afterward that if it were medically possible to die of embarrassment, he would have been in his grave after that.
"I gotta give it to you, dog face," Koga haughtily remarked as he came down the stairs, "you do got a mean right hook." He had apparently overheard that part of the conversation. "Just don't get any ideas about trying it again."
"I'll keep that in mind," Inuyasha droned coldly and took his third shot of whiskey.
"Just how much of that can you pack away?" Koga asked curiously.
"Let me put it this way," Inuyasha said with a smirk, "I've never lost a drinking contest yet."
Koga shook his head slightly and looked around the room at the others. "Well, I've got my packmates out on the streets. They'll ferret out your answers by tomorrow night at the latest."
"Can you ask them to pick up the new issue of The Shadow?" Shippo asked off-handedly as he continued perusing the bookshelf. "It came out yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to make it to the newsstands."
"You should have told me that when I was callin' them," Koga deadpanned, giving a flat look to the back of Shippo's head.
"Ooh, you've got back issues of Weird Tales?!" Shippo piped up excitedly. "Bees knees!" He grabbed several issues of the horror comic off the shelves and darted toward the table to start reading.
"Kid's easily amused, isn't he?" Koga quipped at Kagome, clearly trying to bait the young drummer into another argument.
"Can't talk now," Shippo rattled off quickly in a clipped voice. "Comics."
Koga shook his head with a sigh of exasperation. "I'll bring you all some bedding and pillows. Until we figure out the score, mi casa es su casa." Unfortunately for Koga, he wasn't nearly as charming as he thought he was. Kagome was never really impressed by his excessive displays of flattery and bravado. At least when Inuyasha started beating his chest, it was because he had a short temper. Well, that was an understatement. He blew like a volcano regularly and had more pet peeves than the most irritable nitpickers.
Still, he seemed self-aware of his flaws. Kagome could remember every time he'd lost his temper with her in the ten years they'd known each other, and every time it was only a matter of twenty-four hours tops before he apologized in his own dysfunctional way. She smiled softly at the memory of the, "Shut up and let me protect you!" incident seven years ago as she glanced over at Inuyasha and Miroku, both of whom were currently humming, whistling, snapping, and tapping their feet as they tried to work out the melody to one of the new original songs they'd all been working on. Inuyasha called it Heat in the Key of Blue.
Kagome shook her head to clear it before anyone caught her staring. A glance at the recessed window off to the side showed that it was getting dark out. Normally, she was used to staying up late, but the day had been so hectic and confusing... Breakfast interrupted by cops, Inuyasha framed for murder, a car chase, spending most of the day trying to hide from the police long enough to get to Koga, and now here... Hard to believe it was sunset already. Sleep would be welcome.
-x-
Inuyasha spent the next hour or two taking shots and working out a few songs with Miroku and Sango. If he got out of this alive, he could make a whole LP about this experience.
Occasionally, Inuyasha would glance over at Kagome as she dozed on the bedding Koga had provided. He hated that son of a bitch, but damned if he knew exactly why he felt so possessive of Kagome. Her presence was enough to set him on edge for the last few months, but he wasn't so sure that was a bad thing. They would argue endlessly about music, movies, Vaudeville, the virtues of specific drinks, whether or not it would rain... the most unimportant bullshit in the world. But if he ever really got her angry, he would desperately struggle for some way to apologize that didn't compromise his male pride.
God his love life was so confusing. He thought he and Kikyo could have been happy together, but after a couple of months, he knew it wasn't going to work. She just... didn't have that enthusiasm for life. She didn't know how to enjoy herself. Not like Kagome could. It was a familiar train of thought that led to the same dead ends every time. Inuyasha really didn't want to have to think about it right now.
Shippo abruptly yawned as he tossed down another comic book and stretched out. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and looked at the comics Shippo had already gone through and saw that many were still unread. "You only went through half the stack and you're calling it a night?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, but if I read another issue, the sight of monsters and zombies might start to bore me, and..." At that Shippo paused and shook his head as if such a thing was unthinkable. "I just can't let that happen... No..." With that, he kicked off his shoes and claimed a random bedspread.
Inuyasha heaved a sigh and unbuttoned his shirt. "May as well get some sleep ourselves," he mumbled as he went to a bedspread next to Kagome. "Because when I find out who the bastard was that set me up... I'm going to make them regret ever being born."
-x-
Author's Notes: I picked a bad time to fuck up my sleep schedule. Oh well...
kireinoir: I hope this chapter clarifies the Inuyasha/Kagome relationship a little more.
sapphirepink: Hate to disappoint on the seduction part, but I have some interesting things planned for how Inuyasha and Koga interact later on. Same with Lights, Camera, Action!.
Father Malvado: This is basically a crime thriller. It's supposed to be action-packed, tense with only a few chapters for catharsis, and since it's pulp fiction our heroes will get out through more than a fair amount of dumb luck and ridiculous stunts.
Scherezade7: As I said, you don't see enough pulp fiction these days. Though now that Sky Captain is out on DVD, I need to make a trip to Suncoast...
Jurei: Shippo is where I really get to have fun with the Jazz Age slang. I can see him being the one who uses more of it than anyone else in the group. This chapter in particular is loaded with it.
Magellan-chan: It's kind of assumed they get the cuffs off as you can tell. And this chapter was only a breather. All hell will break loose very soon.
Mimiko: I hope you like gunfights, too. (hint, hint)
Alfred: It won't take nearly so long to get anything updated. But it will be slow. I have a busy course load this semester.
Maiden of the Moon: For now, I have to concentrate what little money I have on covering basic necessities at school. My credit card only goes so far.
Fanny T: I realized I neglected some description on Shippo, so I made up for it here. And yes it is jazz they're playing. Back in the 30's, you could not call yourself a music fan if you did not listen to jazz.
