Sorry this took so long. Writer's block sucks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.


Ordinary

Chapter Six: Deadly


"What do you mean 'more complicated'?" Sesshomaru immediately responded, speaking to Inuyasha but watching Kagome.

"She just found another connection," Inuyasha replied. He too watched Kagome as she grew paler, her eyes more dilated but fixated on the blank wall in front of her.

Ever so slowly, her head tilted to the side, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Love. Love, love, love, love, love, love. It's everywhere, isn't it?" Her head turned to face Inuyasha. "Even….you. You. Love. HER! ME!" Kagome shook her head furiously.

"What the fuck is going on?" Menomaru asked, his voice high in panic. "What's she doing?"

Inuyasha ignored the captain. "Only you," he murmured. "But what about love? Why is love important?"

"Because it makes them fucking vulnerable," Kagome sang in a singsong voice, her tone feather light. "They give away their heart, break down their walls, and snap. It's just way too easy."

"Easy how?" Sesshomaru asked.

Instead of answering, Kagome started rocking back and forth in her chair. Her lips trembled but her eyes remained wide and focused on Inuyasha's face. "Do you want to hear a song?"

Menomaru sighed. "Why the fuck not? Go ahead."

Kagome took a deep breath, and then closed her eyes. "And when I see you again, it'll be with arms wide full of love. And I'll see you again; it'll be the day I live for, even when I'm dead. With arms full of love, I'll hold you and kiss you. Love you forever until death do us part, and death will do us part, for I am long, long, dead. I am…"

And that's when she started screaming.

Her voice, so loud and piercing, sent chills down the three males' spines. They all focused on her, watching as she threw herself onto the table, opening boxes. She ripped a few pictures and papers, tossed around bags and pads, until she finally found what she wanted.

Sergeants Ruri and Hari opened the door suddenly, causing Kagome to turn around.

"Get out of here!" Sesshomaru roared, glaring at the two.

But it was too late. Kagome leapt from the table and started to attack them. Ruri was clawed in the face, and Hari tried desperately to push her off as she shut the door. Even when the sergeants managed to escape the room, Kagome continued to scream viciously as she punched the door.

Inuyasha ran up to her, grabbing her arms and pinning them behind her.

"Let go!" she yelled.

"Kagome, focus. Stop Kagome, stop," he ordered. He tried to sound calm but even Menomaru could hear the note of panic in it.

After a few moments, Kagome's body froze. Inuyasha understood it as she had given up and slowly started to release her arms.

"Kagome? Are you okay? Talk to me," he whispered, his hand on the small of her back. "What do you hear?"

"Death," she whispered back, but the voice wasn't her own. It was the sound of thousands of voices, speaking out of one mouth, one body.

And that's when she lost it again. She threw herself against the room, her body smashing heavily into the nearby wall. She crawled, desperate even as Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Menomaru made a move to grab her. She clawed at the table until she was on it, grabbing a pad of paper and pen to scribble furiously on.

"Kagome, stop it. Tell me what's happening," Inuyasha asked calmly, watching as the woman he loved slowly fell apart. "What's going on?"

But she didn't listen. Instead, her handwriting filled the page, line by line, as she wrote what looked to be a story.

"Com-put-er," Kagome bit out, her voice choppy. It sounded like it took every ounce of energy she had to say it.

"Get her a laptop, now," Inuyasha yelled, looking at Menomaru.

Without waiting he left the room, the door slammed behind him.

"What's she doing?" Sesshomaru asked, walking towards the two.

"She's writing another story," Inuyasha said, looking grave. "Another murder is occurring."


Fucking bitch, go die.

Rot in hell.

Burn.

Scream for me.

This is what you get.

This is what you get for falling.

You fucking bitch.

You don't deserve to be who you are.


It was then that Menomaru ran in, a laptop in hand. He had managed to walk in the moment Inuyasha finished his sentence. "What did you just say?" he asked, panicked.

"Another murder is occurring," Sesshomaru said calmly. "Now sit down."

"What the fuck do you mean 'sit down'?" Menomaru yelled. "Someone else is being murdered at the hands of that bastard and all you tell me to do is sit down?"

Inuyasha, hands on Kagome's back, turned his head to glare at Menomaru. "Do you know where this bastard is? Who he is? Who he's killing? Where he's killing?"

For a long moment, Menomaru glared back at Inuyasha, challenging him.

"Do you?" Inuyasha repeated.

"No," Menomaru struggled out. "No, I don't."

"Then it's already too late," Sesshomaru answered. "Those are the answers we need, and our killer always kills on the first strike. It's a stab wound so deep, it's not possible to save. Even if we knew where, we wouldn't make it on time."

Kagome had already booted up the laptop, and her head flew back and forth as she copied what was on the paper to the Word document. The moment she finished, her fingers flew over the keyboard and Inuyasha, who was reading out loud to the group, had trouble keeping up.

"Inuyasha, just stop," Sesshomaru finally cut in, stopping his half-brother. "None of this detail is helping us. Nothing of what she's typing is anything new. The location isn't even mentioned and you're already at the part of her death."

"So what do we do?" Menomaru asked dismally. "What can we do?"

"I'm going to call Kagura. Inuyasha, you stay with Kagome. Menomaru, speak with your staff. For the believability purposes, it would be best not to mention the fact you know a murder is occurring. Just tell them to be prepared, and that any suspicious information should go directly to either of us. I'm going to continue pulling up the stats."

Menomaru nodded and left the room, followed by Sesshomaru.

"Dammit," Inuyasha whispered, rubbing Kagome's back. "Come on love, you can make it."

He just hoped that she could hear him. But as she typed on her keyboard, millions of little clicks filled his ears and he knew that she couldn't.

Because Kagome wasn't there anymore.

It was the dead letting their voices be heard.


Momiji Kikuchi wasn't found until the next day.

Her body was torn to shreds, her stomach a heaping mess of blood and guts. Part of her body was ripped open, black blood clotting and covering the ruptured organs underneath. It was a gory sight, and it was not one that anyone wanted to see.

Eight stab wounds.

She was the eighth fucking victim.

Menomaru shook his head fiercely as he turned away from the body. "What can you tell me Asuka?" he asked, speaking to the coroner below him.

"Do you even want to hear it?" she asked quietly.

Menomaru grimaced. "Not really, but go."

Asuka, the MD in the county, sighed as she tilted the victim's head. "Damage seems localized to the stomach and chest. One stab wound to the heart, the rest covering from her groin to jugular. For now, COD is a pretty obvious conclusion but I can't be for sure until I bring her back." There was hardly any clothing to deal with as most of it had been removed. The bed sheet that lay below her body was covered in blood, but strangely folded, as if she were never under them. "According to her liver temperature, she's been dead less than a day. I'd say twelve, thirteen hours."

Menomaru nodded. It was still early in the morning, only eight o'clock. The maid called the moment she found the body, and the terrified woman was still having trouble calming down. From what he could gather, she had come into the house at seven, and when she entered the master bedroom to clean it, she had found the lady of the house there.

Suddenly, Ruri appeared from behind him. "I just finished talking with the maid. She doesn't know all that much. She came to work at seven because usually the Mr and Mrs are gone by six-thirty. She knows where they work, but not their specific jobs. Hari is trying to gain contact with the husband now. Mrs. Kikuchi has been married to Mr. Kikuchi for ten years. ID names her as Momiji Kikuchi, age thirty."

"There aren't any vehicles in the driveway," Menomaru stated.

"The maid says they have two. One for the Mr and the other for the Mrs."

"So where is the Mrs's car?"

Ruri shrugged. "We can put out an APB. The maid gave the make and model."

Menomaru nodded. "Do that. If this bastard took it, I want to find out what he did with it."

"But why would he need it?" Ruri asked. "It doesn't make sense. There has never been any sort of transportation used for any other murder. Why now?"

"Kikuchi has been dead what, thirteen hours at most?" Menomaru asked, looking at Asuka who nodded. "Kagome started writing the story at seven, which means that either Mr. Kikuchi didn't come home…"

"Or he did," Ruri caught on. "And maybe our killer was interrupted."

Menomaru sighed. "I'm calling Inuyasha. Get Hari to update me ASAP. I want to know if the husband fucking came home last night."

Roaring out the last few words, Menomaru snapped open his cell phone and dialled the number he had programmed into it earlier.

"Hello?" a distinct female voice answered.

"Kagome? Is Inuyasha there?" Menomaru asked.

"Yeah, hold on I'll get him."

"Wait," Menomaru cut in, his mind racing. "Do you remember the stories after you write them?"

Kagome made a humming noise on the other end. "Every detail. Why?"

"Was our killer interrupted while he was killing the victim?"

"You mean Momiji?"

Menomaru shivered, feeling the effects of something greater taking hold. While Kagome had her breakdown, going into what Inuyasha phrased as 'automatic writing', Menomaru had just watched. Whenever he could escape, he would. Did he believe in psychic powers? He wasn't too sure. But Kagome couldn't have known the name otherwise and to that, Menomaru gave her respect. If an FBI agent believed in her, and a chief believed in her, he guessed he had to too.

Kagome continued. "Not…really. She was already long dead. He had finished stabbing her eight times and then he pulled his knife out of her. He stared at her for a long time and he went to…reach for something…" Her voice trailed off.

"Kagome?" Menomaru asked. "Are you there?"

"Go to the bed," Kagome ordered on the other end.

Menomaru did as he was asked and let her know.

"Near the footboard, imagine someone on their knees facing the victim. Now where the knees should have been there should be blood. A single drop."

Finding the spot, Menomaru felt giddy. "Is that our killer's blood? Because if–"

"It's not," Kagome interrupted, destroying all hope. "But it's a mistake and a clue."

"How?"

"The blood that fell was from the knife. The killer usually makes short, aggravated sentences when he kills, which is written in the story. However, the victim usually pulls at their senses – like smell. Momiji smelt bleach. I think our killer cleans his knife now and if he stabs her to the hilt, where trace collects…."

"We just might be able to get trace from the bleach in the blood. Maybe it's a unique manufacturer. Hell, it's a long shot," Menomaru said but smiled. "But it's the only shot we have."

When the call ended, Menomaru swore softly. "Son of a bitch," he murmured to himself. Then, after a moment of waiting he shouted, "Where the hell is forensics?"


"Who was that?"

Kagome turned around and smiled, leaning back on the chair in their discussion room. Inuyasha had just finished organizing some files while Sesshomaru and Kagura had gone to get food and coffee for everyone. The call of a suspicious disappearance had alerted the department, and Menomaru had called in everyone that morning.

"Captain Menomaru," Kagome said. "Did you hear?"

Inuyasha nodded, smirking somewhat. "All those murder mystery novels sure help, don't they?"

Shrugging, Kagome answered, "A bit. I mean I understand the process of forensics and police work better. Like the idea of trace and toxins and so on."

"Did you call Sango last night?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yeah," Kagome responded. "She didn't take Miroku's current condition very well. But I told her that he was awake and fine with only a few bruises."

"That wouldn't calm Sango down."

Kagome sighed. "I know. I had to remind her that she had to stay there."

Sesshomaru and Kagura walked in at that moment with coffees and bags in hand.

"Here we go," Kagura heaved, placing down the bags on the table. "Dig in. We got a little of everything."

Kagome picked a bagel from one of the bags and a coffee from the tray. "So what are we doing?"

"When you and Inuyasha left last night, Menomaru had a very detailed discussion with me," Sesshomaru started, his voice expressionless. "First about you and the idea of psychics but later it went on to the victims and we discussed all the stats. So we should go over them so you two aren't left behind."

"Let's start with Mari Kan," Kagura started, going to the board with a coffee in hand. "Brown hair. Grey eyes. Twenty-eight years old. She was a paralegal for a small firm in the city. From what we concluded she left work just after six and walked to her apartment. She was found stabbed to the heart – the COD – in her bed. There are signs of a struggle near her entrance way but no evidence to convict or suspect anyone. Going with Kagome's theory, she did have a boyfriend, who had been on a business trip down south."

Kagome made a noise. "Do you have any notes from the interview with him?"

Kagura handed her a stack of papers. "Somewhere in there. Now, neither Sesshomaru nor I worked this case because we only found it through DNA sources on the killer's knife."

"By the way," Inuyasha said. "Kagome found something that could be helpful. The husband walked into the house when the killer had finished stabbing our victim. Because of it, he jolted and blood dripped onto the bed. Apparently bleach was involved, so we might get some trace from the blood."

"What happened to the husband?" Sesshomaru asked, eating his sandwich.

"It just ends," Inuyasha responded. "He kills her and watches her die. He jolts when the husband enters and he thinks of something that makes him laugh."

"Laugh?"

Inuyasha nodded. "It doesn't say what."

"Here!" Kagome called out. She read from the document of the interview. "'I can't believe it. I loved her so much. I shouldn't have gone but I needed the money. I just bought an engagement ring and I wanted to pay the credit card bill off before she could see it.'" Kagome smiled brilliantly.

"So he was going to propose," Kagura shrugged. "What's the point?"

"So was Takeda – Sasara's boyfriend. Love is the connection. Marriage is what bonds the love between two people. Our killer is targeting those not yet married but to-be engaged."

"Or already engaged," Sesshomaru cut in. "The second victim was already engaged. Her wedding was only a month away."

"He picks his targets well. He has to stalk them for weeks," Inuyasha muttered. "To know that they're engaged is easily distinguished by a ring but he has to find them when they're vulnerable in their bed."

"When the partner's either away or at work," Kagura finished.

"So he's evolving," Sesshomaru concluded. "This murder was only separated by forty-eight hours. Sasara was killed this past Sunday and our new vic died Tuesday. He's stalking several women instead of just focusing on one."

"Her name was Momiji Kikuchi," Kagome said quickly, preferring her name to the label of victim. "She was only thirty. That's four years younger than me. She barely lived."

For a long, long moment, nothing was said because only silence could explain it all.

"I'm going to phone Menomaru and see when he's returning," Sesshomaru said suddenly, breaking the heavy silence.

"I'll come too," Inuyasha jumped in, sliding out of his chair and following his half-brother out of the room. Shutting the door behind him, Inuyasha walked quickly towards Sesshomaru, trying to catch up with the demon. "Sesshomaru, I need to talk to you."

Sesshomaru stopped and turned to face Inuyasha. "Okay."

"In private," Inuyasha murmured, looking around at the officers bustling from one place to another.

Rolling his eyes, Sesshomaru walked to the front door and left the building. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the doors to his car. "Is this private enough?" he said tirelessly.

Inuyasha merely got in the passenger seat, sighing heavily as he ran clawed fingers through his silver mane. When Sesshomaru was in the car, Inuyasha looked around before turning.

"I have a problem," he started.

"Just one?" Sesshomaru shot back.

Inuyasha growled. "Fuck you," he spat but pulled out his cell phone.

"Inuyasha, if you're trying to pull some trick you better cease, because I will surely kill you."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes but continued to search for something on his phone.

"Inuyasha–"

"Here!" Inuyasha shot out desperately, turning his phone around so that Sesshomaru could look at the tiny screen. On it was a not-so-perfect picture with a deadly glare and a lot of white.

"What the hell is it?" Sesshomaru asked.

Inuyasha looked at the phone himself, placing a finger on the screen. "A ring."

Sesshomaru could feel his body tense. "A ring?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha said slowly. "You know. The kind of ring that you hide in a sock, in your sock drawer, in your place back in Trite because you know your significant other wouldn't go looking there."

Sesshomaru bit his bottom lip on the inside. "That kind of ring."

"A fucking engagement ring!" Inuyasha yelled suddenly, smashing his phone down on his leg. "Fuck this bullshit," he cursed. "At first, I had no idea why Kagome was somehow connected to this murder. There seemed to be no reason, no strings…"

"Just diamonds," Sesshomaru said quietly.

"Yeah," Inuyasha answered softly, as if he was slowly draining away into nothing, fading into the background. "Diamonds."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes because the connection was now all too clear.

"And yet again, Kagome's a target."


Connection made! Woo. Okay. I more or less have the next chapter plotted out so it shouldn't take long. Reviews help :)

Also, on my profile I have two stories that I'd like to complete on FanFiction (along wit the stories already published), so please feel free to tell me which one you prefer or what you would like to see next.

Until next time!