Author's note: Hopefully this chapter is alright. It felt a bit awkward, probably because it's mostly to set up the next one. If you can make it through this one, maybe you can really enjoy the next one.
Kagome sat on the couch, her eyes red from crying. 'How could this have happened?' she thought. 'This was supposed to be the safe place to raise a family.' Her mother sat beside her, holding her hand. She couldn't think of anything comforting to say to her daughter. How could she say anything that could take away the pain that her children could be in danger.
The two of them jumped as they heard a loud crash out in the entryway. They were getting up to see if the children had returned when Inuyasha stepped into view. She had never seen Inuyasha look like this before. He was slumped over like he could no longer had the strength to stand up straight. His eyes were red from crying, too. His shirt was ripped at the shoulder where he had wounded himself. The wound was still fresh and the stain continued to spread. She knew that the wound was the last thing on his mind.
"I couldn't find a trace of them," he said weakly. "Their smell just disappeared. I can't even smell them now." He rested his face against the doorway and sniffed. "Even when they're at school, the smell doesn't fade. Our scents are absorbed into the very walls of this house. If I can't smell them here, it's almost like they never existed."
"Don't say that, Inuyasha," Kagome said. She wrapped an arm around his waist and tried to lead him to the couch. "Mother could you get the first aid kit from the kitchen?"
"Yes, Kagome," her mother said, and left the room.
Kagome peeled back the part of Inuyasha's shirt that had been ripped so she could get a better look at it. "This looks awful," she said. Then she looked at his face. "Do we call the cops?"
Inuyasha sighed. "No, there's nothing they can do. If they were taken, it wasn't a mere human that did it. There isn't any way that smells can disappear like that. Especially specific ones like just the children." He looked his wife in the face. "I think a demon took them."
"How is that possible?" Kagome asked. "This is modern Japan. We left those behind in the Feudal Era."
"It isn't that much of a stretch," he said. "The times changed and this technology stuff advanced. Demons that were stronger than humans eventually lost the advantage to better weapons and were mostly wiped out. But I bet some went into hiding. Some that are able to take human form probably live normal lives. And those that can't live beside humans probably live in the isolated parts of the world like jungles and mountains."
"Do you really believe that there are some who still exist?"
"It's the only explanation," Inuyasha said, standing. "I've been able to live here for almost eight years. I bet there are others that have learned to disguise their looks or their smell."He knelt down and kissed his wife on the forehead. "I've rested enough. I have to keep looking for them." He started to head back to the door, but Kagome grabbed his arm.
"At least let me tend your wound," she said.
Inuyasha began to argue, but changed his mind when her mother returned. "Okay, he said, sitting back down. "Just be quick about it."
Inuyasha sat impatiently while Kagome treated his injury. After a couple minutes, they all heard the front door open and close. Inuyasha instantly stood and readied his claws. Fortunately for their visitor, he called, "Hello, sis, Inuyasha, I came as fast as I could after I got the message."
"We're in here," her mother called.
Souta appeared in the door frame. "Is it true that Hiro and Miori were kidnapped?"
Inuyasha's head drooped in shame. "Yeah, it's true."
Souta let himself fall back against the wall. "Uh," he grunted, miserably. "What have the police found?"
"We haven't called them," Kagome said. "We believe that some sort of demon got them. The police aren't experienced to deal with that."
"Then why aren't you tracking them, Inuyasha?" Souta demanded. "Why haven't you found them?"
"Calm down, Souta," Kagome said. "He's tried his best. Whoever took them was able to wipe out their scent completely."
"Let him yell," Inuyasha said. "He has the right to be angry at me. I failed to protect them so I should be punished. They were right under my nose."
"Don't say that, Inuyasha," Kagome's mother said, patting his arm. "There is still hope that they're fine."
Silence descended on the room for a few moments. "Where's your sword? Your Tetsusaiga?" Souta asked. "I would think you would have it with you now."
"We don't know. It was taken, too," Kagome said.
"Then that means that it was a human," Souta said. "You always talked about how a demon couldn't touch the Tetsusaiga."
"If it was a human, I could have tracked them down before they could even think of escaping. They would have left a scent or made a sound that would have woke me up," Inuyasha said. "There are ways around the Tetsusaiga's protection, though . It could have been a half-demon like me. Sesshoumaru once replaced his arm with that of a human and was able to wield it."
"So, what are you going to do?" Souta asked.
"I'm going to go back out there and see if I can find any trace of them." Inuyasha touched the bandage that Kagome had just put on his shoulder. "Thanks. Stay here in case the monster or the children return."
Souta took out his keys. "I'll drive around the city to see if I can find them. I'll call if there's anything to report."
Kagome's mother took her cell phone out of her purse and handed it to Inuyasha. "You need one, too."
"No, I don't need one of those things."
"What if the children do come back?" Kagome asked. "If you have that, I can call you and let you know. You do remember how to use it?"
Inuyasha studied it. "Yeah, I think I remember what to do. I'll be back as soon as I can." He put the phone in his pocket and dashed from the room. Souta waved at his mother and sister and left, too.
The two worried women sat back down on the couch and looked out the window. The sky was just beginning to change from black to blue. "I hope Inuyasha is able to find the children by nighttime. Tonight is the new moon."
Inuyasha had been jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to find any trace of Hiro and Miori. He had searched almost all of the city and was beginning to get tired. He sat down on the top of a large building, continuing to sniff, trying to sift through the almost unlimited numbers of smells for the two he loved the most. He listened with his sensitive ears and couldn't detect their voices. He glanced up at the sky. He saw that the sun had already passed the halfway point. 'Damn,' he thought. 'Only about eight more hours before I become even more useless to them. I have to find them.'
He stood and was about to leap to the next building when he heard a shrill whistle rattle his eardrums. He grabbed his head in pain. 'That's no ordinary dog whistle,' he thought through the waves of pain. Then the whistle sounded again, much softer this time. The whistle continued to go off every ten seconds. After hearing it two more times, Inuyasha quickly turned and leaped to the other building. 'It's to the east and it isn't moving. Somebody's trying to lure me there.'
After three minutes of leaping, Inuyasha finally found the source of the whistle. From his vantage point on top a of a tall restaurant he saw a middle-aged man standing across the street with what looked like a cigar in his mouth and reading a newspaper. The man was just a couple inches over six feet tall with the build of a football player. He was dressed in a gray suit and tie, with a dark pair of sunglasses. As Inuyasha continued to stare the man looked up at the half-demon and showed a cold smile.
Inuyasha felt a shiver go down his spine. 'It was almost like something told him I was here,' he thought. He almost felt too impatient and wanted to jump down from where he was, but Kagome had always stressed about him not making a scene. Inuyasha knew that jumping from a building would be considered 'making a scene.' He quickly made his way to the other side and looked down. There was nobody in the alley, so Inuyasha gracefully dropped down into it. Then he quickly adjusted his cap to make sure his dog ears were hidden.
He made his way out onto the sidewalk. He checked to make sure that the man was still there. The man had put out his cigar, but continued to read his newspaper like he hadn't seen anything. Inuyasha impatiently waited for the walking sign to allow him to cross the street. He occasionally wished that he was back in the Feudal Era, especially when he had to wait for something simple like this. 'If I didn't have to wait, I'd already be throttling him for where the kids are at.'
Once the light changed, Inuyasha rushed across the street, rudely bumping a couple of people out of his way. He walked directly up to the man and shredded the man's newspaper as he continued to read it. "Where are my kids at? If you don't answer in ten seconds that will be your neck."
The man folded up the remains of his paper and put it underneath his armpit. "Mr. Inuyasha, I've been told that you were brash, but I wasn't expecting that." He took off his sunglasses and looked at the half-demon with his cold pale eyes. "That really isn't the way to talk to the people who have taken such precious things from you."
Inuyasha lost his temper. "They are not things. They're my children." He aimed a punch right at the man's chest. He heard a chuckle, and suddenly his hand had been enclosed inside of the man's giant hand. He tried to push forward, but the man seemed unmovable. Inuyasha sniffed the air. "You're human. No matter how strong a human is, they shouldn't have been to stop my punch like that."
"Perhaps you have been living amongst humans too long and have let their weaknesses rub off on you," the man said. Then he gave Inuyasha's hand a sharp squeeze, but the half-demon refused to show any pain. "I will let go if you will promise to be civil. I am not here to fight, though I could kill you right now."
Inuyasha glared at the stranger. "Alright," he finally said. "I won't attack you again. Not right now anyway."
"Good," the man said, giving a cold smile and releasing Inuyasha's hand. "I actually just have a short message for you and your wife, Kagome. That is her name, right?"
Inuyasha slowly nodded.
"You two are to be in front of the school where she teaches at eight-thirty tonight. It is the school that's a couple miles from your home, right? The one with the nice playground where you and Hiro and Miori play sometimes while waiting for Kagome to finish up?"
Inuyasha refused to acknowledge the man's scare tactics. "Be at the school at eight-thirty. Alright, can I have my children now?"
The stranger laughed. "No, we will take you to see them tonight. My master won't be ready to see you until then. And tonight will be quite dark without the moon. We don't want you to get lost on your way."
The half-demon let out a soft growl, but managed to stay in control. "But they are still alive, right?"
"Yes, from what I was told. They will be alive when you see them. After that, their lives will be in your hands. Just make sure you show up. My master will not hesitate to kill them if you refuse to show yourself." The man put his sunglasses back on and straightened out his suit. "Don't bother following me, because I'm not going there until I drive you there. You should spend this time with your wife. This may be the last day you see each other." Inuyasha watched the man as he walked off down the sidewalk and out of sight.
Kagome looked at the clock for the hundredth time. It still said 5:47. She gave Inuyasha's hand a squeeze. They were sitting on their couch, quietly waiting for the time to go meet the stranger at the school. Kagome's mother was sitting in one of the chairs with her hands folded in her lap. Souta was dozing while leaning against the wall.
The utter silence was about to drive Kagome mad. She wanted to talk to her family, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She almost jumped as she heard her husband begin to say something.
"Kagome, you need to quit blaming yourself," Inuyasha said. "You wanted to return here because you truly believed they would be safer here. If I thought you were wrong, I would have told you so. I had actually been thinking the same a few months before that attack anyway." He sighed. "If anybody should feel guilty, it should be me. I said I would protect you and the kids here or there, no matter where we were. I was to one that failed."
Kagome started to argue that point with her husband, but her mother beat her to it. "Neither of you should be ashamed. You have been the best parents that you could be. The true problem is that we live in an imperfect world. No matter how much you try, sometimes you just fail. That's why our job is so important. We can make the world a little better, but it's our children and the values we pass on to them that can truly change whatever world you live in for good. You have both shown them what courage, determination, and, most importantly, love are and how important they are. When you get Hiro and Miori back, you should continue to show them how to live. Through them, you can make wherever you live better."
Inuyasha and Kagome nodded. After a few more minutes of silence, Inuyasha said, "Thanks." He got up and gave his mother-in-law a hug. Then he made his way upstairs. The rest of the family heard him rummaging around upstairs for a couple minutes before he returned. "Here, Kagome," he said, handing her three arrows.
"What should I do with these?" she asked.
"Do your priestess stuff to make them sacred. If I can get close enough to this bastard tonight, I'll stab him through the heart with one of them and purify him. I'm still sure that the master is a demon."
"But won't they hurt you if you have them?"
"I'll only have one," Inuyasha said. "You need the others in case you get attacked. And it won't hurt me much. Once we leave here, it probably won't hurt me at all. It only hurts people with demon blood, remember?"
"Right," Kagome said, taking the arrows. "I should be able to do this before we have to leave." She focused as she started to pass her purification powers into the first arrow. Inuyasha showed a very small smile as he sensed her tension ease a bit as she occupied herself with her task. Now he had to concentrate on preparing himself for the long night ahead. He somehow felt more confident after hearing what Kagome's mother had to say, but he still didn't feel quite like himself. He could already feel the very beginning of the transformation.
He looked at the clock which said 6:12. He really hated having to wait.
Inuyasha and Kagome were standing in front of the school when a black car pulled up. The same man who had met Inuyasha earlier got out of the passenger side and opened the back door. "In you two go. I'm betting the little kids are anxious to see their mommy and daddy."
Inuyasha motioned for Kagome to go ahead and get in. Then he followed after giving the stranger a stern glance. As the first man got back in, the man in the driver's seat pulled back out on the road.
The first stranger turned back around and looked at Inuyasha's black hair. "I like what you did with the hair, but you didn't have to get all dressed up for our sake's." He laughed and turned back around.
"Keh," Inuyasha quietly grunted and put his hands in his coat pockets. He felt Kagome scoot over and lean her head on his shoulder. The feeling of his wife beside him made Inuyasha relax a little. The warmth of the sacred arrow that was taped to the back of his shirt also provided him with some small comfort as they continued to ride in silence.
