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Back to the Future

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"Congratulations of making it this far dearest Sango. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take you to find your beloved. By now you must know that I have learned your secret. That you and your pathetic friends killed me. Well now it's my turn to make you all suffer. Oh, how the sounds of the monk's screams made me blood sing. How does it feel to know that your deepest love is on the brink of death? I hope it brings you endless pain. Speaking of which, I have taken the small fox kit of which your pathetic group was so fond. His existence means little to me so I have no qualms about dispatching him. However, I will not hurt him if you give me what I want and what I want is the half-demon Inuyasha. Bring him to me at the place where it all began and I will return this pathetic child. You have 72 hours."

"What the literal fuck is this supposed to mean?" Kosei huffed angrily as he glanced over the letter once more before handing it over to his police chief, "This makes absolutely no sense. This gives us no information other than the man is completely insane! Who the hell is Sango? Why did he kidnap an animal and think that that Inuyasha guy would turn himself over to save it? Just...just what the fuck?!"

"Interview them all again," the middle aged man sighed as he leaned back in his chair and gestured helplessly at the small piece or parchment, "See if you can find out more information or pictures or anything that'll give us a lead. Take someone other than Chiyo. She seems to have too much a personal connection to this case. We can't risk anyone getting too emotional. You know how women can be. I still think that Inuyasha fellow is probably pulling all the strings and she's soft on him."

"Sir, I disagree," Kosei responded sternly - trying to quell the anger he felt at having such a fine officer belittled for her gender, "He has had an alibi for each attack and you didn't see him earlier. He was devastated that his girlfriend had gotten attacked. Now I don't think he's telling us the whole story. I think he's trying to protect someone but I don't think he's the one pulling the strings."

"You're inexperienced and not being rational. All this began the moment he came into the picture. He's the tie that binds," the police chief clipped dismissively, "For the next 72 hours, I want him under 24 hour watch. I want to know where he eats, sleeps, I want his phone bugged, the works. I want to know his angle. What is he getting out of these attacks?"

"Sir, I think you're wrong," Kosei protested weakly before sighing heavily, "But I'll set it all up if those are your orders."

"They are," the chief answered solemnly as he tossed the case file across his desk, "Now get to it."

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The first thing that registered in Kagome's chaotic mind was a calloused, clawed hand gently running through her hair with intermittent soft sighs of worry and the occasional gentle pressure of lips against her temple. It wasn't for lack of trying that her eyes remained closed. She wanted to open them. To reassure herself that it was - in fact - Inuyasha bathing her in such tender affection after the nightmare she'd been forced to endure.

It would seem that she'd made it to a hospital. The soft echoing beep slow and steady of the heart monitor like a truck backing up from a fair distance away. The general smell of chemicals intended to prevent the smell of disease wafting into her nostrils. The odd stretching feeling of an IV in the crook of her elbow.

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha would mutter miserably every so often as his lips pressed against her temple, "I'm so sorry."

It was a funny thing what five years could do to a person. He was so much more open and willing to show his affection - more willing to apologize even when he had no real reason to do so, sharing almost every little thought with such willingness and ease like never before. Thinking back to when the beads first broke, she remembered how angry and cruel he'd been. Even after they'd reconciled, he'd never been truly open with her. At least not like he was now. In the past several weeks, he'd admitted his fears, his shortcomings, his desires...he'd talked to her about everything. He was so very different and yet the same man she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. Apparently five years could do a great deal, especially when heartbreak was involved.

Time lost all meaning in the darkness of her mind. It could've been several minutes, several hours or several days. Her heart broke when she heard his involuntary intake of breath after they explained that there were times coma patients never woke up and if they did, their memories would sometimes be impacted. He'd been very affectionate after that and on a mission to go over every second of their journey together as though that action alone would force her to remember him when she woke up - from the arrow being pulled from his chest to the beads breaking to the day she was taken from him. From what she could tell he never once left her side.

At some point, her mind registered that his body was laying out next to hers - his hand gently moving around her middle as he tried to mold his body against hers in the cramped confines of the hospital bed, sharing his body heat as much as he'd been trying to share his heart with her these past moments of unconsciousness. Smiling softly at the feel of his chest rising and falling against her back, she purposefully focused her energy on making their breaths in unison - trying to find a subtle way to let him know she was aware of his presence...and it worked.

"Kagome?" he whispered softly in disbelief - his breath tickling her ear, "Can you...are you awake?"

Try as she might, Kagome couldn't make herself respond past a gentle fluttering of eye lids and an increase tempo of the heart monitor.

"You can hear me can't you?" he breathed in relief as he buried his face in the crook of her neck and held her as tightly as he dared, "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Nothing like this will ever happen again. I'm never leaving you alone. Never."

A soft breath sigh of exasperation made its way past her lips - much to her chagrin and his relief. Chuckling darkly - an almost desperate sound marred by the choked sound of holding back a sob - Inuyasha apologized once more before pressing a gentle kiss at the nape of her neck.

"Your family is here," he admitted quietly to the comatose woman in his arms- deciding to act like she was awake despite all evidence to the contrary and wanting desperately to change the subject away from the fact that she hadn't opened her eyes officially, "Well, not here right now but...they're at your apartment. Your grandfather and I had a talk and I think...I think he's okay with us being together so maybe give him a chance, alright? He loves you and I don't want to come between you two."

Five years was indeed a strange period of time. Where did that gruff, rude and obnoxious man go in those few years? Was it because he was so desperate to make this work or was it truly that the separation had changed him? A small piece of her mind too couldn't help but notice how the case for her grandfather was made. He finished with the fact that her grandfather loved her. Maybe he just didn't have it in him to stay mad at anyone who he knew loved her. Only time would tell.

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It was strange. Very strange. So strange. He could've sworn this was not where he fell asleep. In fact, this was the most bizarre lodging he ever had managed to procure in the entirety of his life. He'd never seen this type of architecture in all his life and the furnishings were incredibly bizarre. Some of the items that were attached to him looked somewhat familiar - Lady Kagome had brought some such things with her all those years ago but the majority of the tiny beeping or blinking items were foreign to him. His hand seemed to have undergone some major trauma and his skin seemed rather more taut than it had been the day before but he attributed that fact to a trick of the unnatural light in this bizarre place.

"Hello?" the ebony haired man who was last aware of himself over five hundred years ago called out into the strangely pristine room, "Is anyone there?"