Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own any product, line, or book, or manga. I own a car, and that's about it.

Warning: I'm using the 'F' word in this chapter. Hope you aren't too offended.

My Sixth Sense

Chapter Four: Discovery

By: Luna

I eyed the temple grounds for a moment before heading straight towards the God Tree, looking around and pretending my ghost didn't scare the crap out of me sometimes.

I sat the base of the tree and leaned up against its bark, sighing a little as I let myself relax. I've been so tense all week, and I have no idea why. I haven't been around here since I've been doing my laundry and looking up as much as I could about demons and to see if there was any written credibility about them, and I'm not talking about vampires (who are the only type of "demons" I've been able to find in books). Frankly, I just don't believe in them.

I stretched my legs out in front of me and looked up, blinking in surprise when I noticed Inuyasha staring back down at me from a fat, wide branch of the God Tree. "Um, hello."

He landed neatly, right next to me, and crouched down. Secretly, I'm pretty impressed. That branch was at least thirty feet high!

"You're not Kikyo." He said, frowning as he looked me over from his crouch.

Rolling my eyes, I smiled a little. "Of course not. I'm Kagome. Who's Kikyo?"

He stayed quiet for a moment before standing and crossing his arms. "It's none of your business, bitch. Why are you here? And…" Here, I saw an endearing flash of uncertainty. "And how can you see me?"

"Well…I don't know why, but I can see dead people. Since you're dead, I can see you. Get it?" I craned my neck back so I could see his face.

"But I'm not dead!" He burst out, surprising me. He looked angry and frustrated, and maybe just a tad bit lost.

"Um, I'm pretty sure you are." I corrected him, eyeing the bloody stain on the front of his haori.

"No, I'm not."

What was he, five? "Okay, then how do you explain that no one can see you? That you're stuck in this area?" For our first conversation, I think it's going pretty well. Though I've got to admit, I've never met a ghost that didn't know he was dead one way or another.

"I… can't tell you." He sounded like he was sulking, but I couldn't really tell since he turned his head away.

"Do you know who killed you?"

He stayed silent and ignored me. I pointedly cleared my throat loudly. "I'm trying to help you, you know. It wouldn't hurt to give me a little leeway… Inuyasha."

I waited, wondering if this was going to be like Rumpelstiltskin and the minute I guess his name the game's over. Instead, I was quite surprised when his hand actually grasped my throat and suspended me above ground, effectively choking me. I grasped at his wrists and suddenly regretted saying his name. This was in no way like a fairytale. I should've known. For one thing, I'm not blond and I can't spin gold…

What if saying it enabled him to be able to touch me? I kicked my feet desperately and pointed my toes, trying hard to reach the ground to give me a little room to breath. It was hard since he was taller than me by at least two or three inches, and he was chocking me with just one arm suspended past his head. I'd feel impressed by that too if it hadn't been me who's chocking and if it hadn't been me whose vision was going black…

Slowly, however, his grip lessened until it became nonexistent, and I felt his hand pass coldly through my head before I landed hard on the floor. I blinked up at him, trying to clear my eyes from the tears that suddenly sprang up, and swallowed hard. He was looking frustratingly down at his hand. Shouldn't I be afraid? Shouldn't I refuse the job here and now and run screaming back to my disbelieving Mama? But I couldn't. I just sat there stupidly in front of the man who just tried to kill me and stare up at him as I tried to catch my breath back.

"What the heck was that for?" I coughed and stood, rubbing my neck. It hurt to speak, but I tried my hardest to pretend I wasn't affected. I didn't want him to know how much my heart felt like it had stopped beating and how my body felt like now that fear was finally filtering through, leaving me slightly numb. I still couldn't walk, barely even standing, so I made myself nonchalantly lean against the God Tree and glare at him. He growled at me and took a step forward, but I didn't move. My legs were still wobbly.

"Do you know Kikyo? How else would you know my name?" He took a threatening step forward, his claws perilously close to my face. Would he be able to touch me again?

"I guessed?" At his look, I hurriedly said, "No, I'm serious. I truly just guessed. I was asking my Grandpa about the history and then I went to the library and BAM! A Eureka moment."

"A Eureka, what?" He asked with a raised brow, and seemed to be calming down. But I think inside he was just relieved that he was finally able to talk to someone. Five hundred years by himself? I didn't blame him for being murderous and crazy, thinking that he wasn't really dead. Really. Even though he just tried to kill me and almost succeeded…

"It's a word to celebrate a moment of discovery." Now that my throat was working properly again, I silently prayed I wouldn't get bruises. That would be hard to explain.

"Right." He looked at the ground before sitting next to me cross legged with his arms crossed.

I felt kind bad, because I was getting the vibe that, now that he can actually talk to someone, he doesn't really know what to say. And Grandpa did say they were violent, so maybe he was just acting on his natural instincts in a moment of anger. I remembered the hate he felt for Kikyo and could almost understand why he wanted to kill me… but I also know I'm just trying to convince myself. I should just stop now and accept that I'm scared shitless.

With a sigh, I eyed him again. I could only see the top of his head and the silky silver hair and the cute dog ears, so I slowly made myself relax. As I sat down with him and brought my knees up to my chest, I got the feeling that I'll be getting a lot more bruises from now on. Despite my fear, I wasn't going to allow myself to back down in the face of his anger. "So... can you not tell me a single detail about what happened to you? I truly am trying to help."

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye before looking in front of him again. "How should I know? One minute I'm being pinned to the tree and the next I'm… here." His voice was dull, his eyes distant. I looked away, feeling bad again. He must have been really lonely.

"Who pinned you? Why?" My juices were starting to flow, and the fascination this situation held in me started to burn. Curiosity wasn't necessarily good thing, and I unfortunately had it in abundance.

He jumped up suddenly and seemed agitated. "That's none of your business, bitch!"

"It was Kikyo, wasn't it?" I said quietly, watching him. "She was a priestess here and you… you loved her very much. And then she betrayed you and killed you."

He had his back to me and he stood very, very still. "How do you know such things?" he was quiet, which I don't think was a good thing when it came to him.

"I felt it. I saw it. Do you remember? When I went through you in the hallway?" I watched as he slowly turned and stared down at me. "Do you believe me?"

"I… yes. I saw you, too. You were in a room with other children and you were… alone." His voice was gruff as he sat down next to me again, awkward in his own way.

I winced, and looked down at my knees. Yes, I was alone. All through school I was just the freak, and even now I don't really have a big handful of friends. That was my own fault, I suppose, with being so open about the things I sometimes see. And what parent wanted their kid to hangout with a girl who saw ghosts who had committed suicide, some hanging in classrooms or walking around with bloody wrists. I guess that's why I'm so messed up now, but I've learned to live with it.

"So… why do you think Kikyo killed you?"

He frowned at me, much fiercer this time. "I told you, I'm not dead."

"Um, right, of course you aren't. So why do you think Kikyo killed you?" I absently rubbed my neck and looked at him, glad he was looking away so I could stare. Despite his murderous tendencies, he was nice to look at.

"How should I know? If I'm dead, aren't you supposed to be the one figuring that out?" He snapped out, tapping his fingers against his arms in agitation.

I blinked before clapping my hands and laughing. "Eureka! Inuyasha, you're a genius!"

It was his turn to blink at me, and then he just looked at me like I was an idiot. "No, I'm serious! That's what will help you move on to the next life! If I find out why Kikyo killed you! Isn't there anything that you can help me with?"

He gave a frustrated sigh and once again his expression told me he thought I was an idiot. "For the last time, I'm not dead."

I waited. And waited. Then I frowned. "Is that it?"

He just stared at me, irritation clearly written all over his face. "Maybe in your case it's something that you can't tell me, is that it?" But he didn't have to tell me. I knew that was the reason why. Something niggled at me in the back of my brain, and I wondered what I should be remembering before I blocked it out to concentrate on what he was saying.

"If I can't tell you, why are asking me?" He grumbled, then just leaned his head back against the tree and looked up at the sky. "Times sure have changed."

"What do you mean?" I cocked my head to the side and asked, a little distracted at the abrupt change of subject.

"For one, girls in my time weren't so rude or loud mouthed."

Insulted, I stood. "Why, I never! There is no reason for you to start name calling, dog-breath!"

"Feh. Whatever." Then he hesitated, mumbling under his breath. "Bitch."

"I'm leaving if you're just going to call me names." And I would have, if it were not for the flash of desperation I saw briefly in his eyes. Poor guy. He hasn't been able to speak to anybody in five hundred years, and now all he gets is me. Maybe I should consider being nicer. "But I guess I can stay here and keep you company if you're nice to me."

"… Whatever." He said. And relaxed.

///--///

I swirled my cappuccino's foam around the glass with a spoon, resting my chin in the palm of my other hand. Kouga was so boring. The entire time all he talked about was himself. In fact, I think he's still doing it, but I can only vaguely tell. I stopped listening after the first fifteen minutes of this so-called date. I thought back to Inuyasha, wondering if I'd be able to help him at all if his reason for being bound to this earth revolved around enchantment, which it so obviously did.

I felt sorry for him. Who had hated him so much that they would make it impossible for him to move onto the next life? Or, actually, I should think as to why Kikyo hated him to the point where she'd want to bound his soul for all eternity, and then make it impossible for him to be able to ask for help in moving on. She must have been a real bitch. Then why had Inuyasha fallen in love with her? I'm sure that like attracts like and the reason he must have fell in love with her was because he was a real prick… but somehow I didn't think that was the case.

"So what do you think?" I heard Kouga say. Automatically I smiled and said, "Oh, definitely!" and went on with my thinking.

How would I be able to find any information on a woman five hundred years old? Not everyone in history was recorded. Not every great person was remembered. Could Kikyo have been one of the few that were? Maybe… but she seemed so bitter. Only a bitter woman would have done what she had to Inuyasha. Well, a mean one could do it too, I suppose, but I had the feeling she was just bitter. Why?

And how the hell was I supposed to figure it out? All Inuyasha is giving me in ways of clues is to tell me he's not dead, and that's not very reliable seeing how he obviously is.

"Vintage cars are the greatest, don't you think Kagome? Do you like Vintage cars?"

No, I hate them. "Absolutely!"

I took a sip from my cappuccino and looked across the street, distracted. I've tried getting to pry Inuyasha out of some facts, but he was so closed lipped about the whole affair that I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to get anything out of him. But if I was right and he had some sort enchantment working around his poor death, then I shouldn't try to pry. Everything was bound by rules, and the dead are no different.

I blinked when, suddenly, a little girl about seven years old stopped to stare at me from outside the window of the small café we were at. I blinked at her, wondering what she was doing out here all alone. She was wearing an old kimono of yellow and what looked to be once red, but was now a muted pink color. Her eyes were quiet, almost vacant, but I felt sadness, too.

There was a red serrated mark on her neck…

I looked at Kouga but he seemed to be oblivious, and he was still talking about something. I looked back to the girl to find her pointing a finger at my hip. I looked down, confused, but didn't see anything on my dress. When I looked back up at her, she was gone. Poor girl. If Kouga wasn't there I would've tried to help her, but it would be rude if I just left him in mid sentence.

"So what do you say, Kagome? Shall we give it another go?"

I looked blankly at his eager face and for life of me I couldn't say a single word. What was he talking about? "Um, sure. Absolutely."

"Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow at eight, how does that sound?" He stood up and took both of my hands in his as he pulled me up, too. "You're at the shrine, right? Don't be late!"

Before I could react he bent down and kissed me. I haven't been kissed in a while, so it was nice. But Kouga was so totally boring that it affected me from enjoying his kiss the way normal women would enjoy kisses by a cute guy. When he pulled away, his face was beaming, and I managed to give him a weak smile as I pulled my hands away. "Eight o'clock, then." I managed to say.

"Right! You'll absolutely love the cars they're showcasing. And they'll even have a jazz band playing! It's perfect, right? You said you loved jazz, so I think it'll be a perfect second date." Oh God. Did I really say that? I hate jazz.

"Um, of course! I can't wait. I'll see you tomorrow then!" I left more quickly than I should have, but I had to get away. What had I just gotten myself into? Kouga seemed so… dull. He was cute with his full head of dark hair and clear, pretty green eyes, but the attraction ended there.

When I reached the shrine I noticed workers were bringing in a full length mirror, and I walked to Miroku and Sango who were directing them where to put it. I raised my brow at them in question. "What are you getting that for, if you don't mind me asking?"

"The other one broke."

I wanted to ask how, but Sango's face turned to such a deep shade of red, I kind of got the hint. I laughed at them, not being able to help it. "I thought you were supposed to be a holy man?"

Miroku smiled a seemingly serene smile. "I'm merely a caretaker of this lovely shrine. I once considered becoming a monk, but my beautiful Sango changed my mind."

"I didn't do anything!" Sango protested, still red. "You're the one who groped everyone in sight to the point where monks refused to let you in their sanctuary!"

"Um, I'll be going now. I need to find Inuyasha." I said with a slight smile as I edged away.

Sango perked up and walked forward to stand beside Miroku. "So his name's Inuyasha? Will you be able to make him leave?"

I decided to ignore Miroku's hand that seemed to inch closer and closer to Sango's bottom. "It's not that easy. This is going to take some time for me to finish. Can you handle my price? I won't work on this case for free, you know."

"Yes, we know. We'll tell you when we need to let you go, if this ghost business goes on longer than usual and nothing gets taken care of."

Okay. So he's basically questioning my work ethic. Well, I'd like to see him exorcise a ghost! I raised a cool brow and walked past them into the house. "Of course. "

I passed the workers heading outside the door and kept calling for Inuyasha. Where on earth was he? I stopped when I saw the full length mirror resting against the wall at the end of the hallway, and stopped to check myself out. The closer I got, however, the more disturbed I became. That wasn't me walking closer and closer to the mirror.

I stopped not a foot away and stared at the cold blue eyes staring at me with such contempt. I studied her slowly, taking in her priestesses' gown all the way down to her sandaled feet, then back up again, stopping at her left hip when I saw something glowing. I reached down and touched that spot on myself, wondering if it was on me or on her. I met her eyes again, and I was very, very serious.

"So you're Kikyo." I said calmly, telling myself to act as if I were talking about the weather.

Her eyes slid past mine, and I looked in the mirror to see Inuyasha standing there behind me, his fists clenched and hatred simply oozing off him. "You bitch." His voice was very, very soft, and I knew that I should be careful. I wasn't sure who he was talking to. Could he see the reflection like I can?

He slowly walked closer until I could feel the icy essence of him rest on my back, and I watched through the mirror as he reached out a hand and caressed the reflections face, tracing a finger along the curve of her cheek. I would have called the gesture loving if his hand hadn't shook and he looked at her with such black hatred. Then he reared back his fist and slammed it into the reflections face, and in my shock I simply stood there as the mirror shattered. Pieces went flying everywhere, and I was too shocked to really do anything even when I felt my cheek sting as a shard of glass flew past.

Miroku and Sango came running up behind me, staring at me in shock. I could only stare dumbly back before I brought my eyes to Inuyasha. He was breathing heavily, and I thought that maybe it took him effort to touch living objects. He stared at me for a moment, his face suddenly hollow.

"You're her." He said shallowly. His eyes were so tortured. "You're fucking her!"

Then he turned on his heel and marched away, through the walls in the direction I knew to be the God Tree. "Inuyasha, wait!" I reached for him but it was no use.

I shoved past Miroku and Sango and ran out the court yard just in time to watch Inuyasha disappear within the foliage. I ran to the base of the tree and looked up to see him curled against the trunk, his knees pulled into his chest and his head resting against the arms he crossed atop them. It was the most defeated I had ever seen him. "Inuyasha, what do you mean? That was Kikyo, wasn't it? What did you mean?"

"Don't you get it?" His voice was muffled in his arms and at the height he was at I could barely hear him. "She's in you. You can't help me. You carry her inside you. She'll never let me leave."

"What?" I carry who inside me? That sounded… weird.

I don't understand. What I saw back there… I could've sworn that the caress he gave my reflection was one of love, or perhaps lost love, and it was obvious Inuyasha was angry. "Please, Inuyasha, can't you tell me anything? How about before you were killed?"

"God damnit, woman, for the last time I'm not fucking dead! Quit saying that!" He lifted his head to yell at me this time, so that was a start.

"Okay! Okay." I took in a deep breath and noticed that the arrow I saw before wasn't there. What the…? Did Miroku remove it? I shook my head and made myself concentrate. "Tell me about your relationship with her then. Tell me anything that might be able to help me."

I vaguely noticed that both caretaker and wife were standing on the porch watching me, but I gave my undivided attention to Inuyasha. He was my priority. Slowly, he relaxed enough to let both of his feet dangle over the side of the large trunk, straddling it as he looked up at the sky.

"It's the only thing that hasn't changed."

"What?" I said stupidly, automatically looking up at the sky too. What was he on about again? Why does he always look at the sky? "Um, so can you tell me about Kikyo? Why did she come to hate you so much?"

He took his gaze away from the sky to stare down at me, his face still and serious. "Because I killed her."

"What?" I sounded like a parrot, but he couldn't have thrown me a larger hoop if he tried. "What did you say? That's not possible!"

I heard a sigh, and then a soft thump as Inuyasha landed beside me. "Sit down, bitch."

When I only stared at him, he reached out and I was shocked when his icy hand clasped my wrist and jerked me roughly to the ground so I could sit beside him. "After five hundred something years my memory might be a little rusty, so listen well…"

///--///

Again, reviews are wanted. Story alerts are nice, but not as flattering as an actual review.

Luna