"We're off to see Kagura, the wonderful Spider Club girl! If ever a Spider Club witch there was, Kagura the witch is one because… because, because, because, because, becaaaauuse… because of the wonderful things she does! TA-DAM-TA-DA-DA-DA-DAM! We're off to see Kagura, the wonderful Spider Club giiiiirl!"
"Will you quit it, please? You've been singing that song since we left the restaurant."
"I'll stop if you let me drive?"
"Keep singing…"
"I think they'll make a really weird couple."
"Huh?" Inu-yasha's mind did a three-sixty turn, trying to keep up with Kagome's wildly switching choice of conversation topic. God, was she hyper today or what? His mind was still trying to figure out which bloody way to take when Kagome went on, apparently realizing that her last comment had lacked a little in explanation.
"Sango and Miroku, I mean. A kick-boxer who reads "Guns and Ammo" and sees a clap on the shoulder as an assassination attempt, and a DJ with hands so wandering that they could've won the Annual American Walkathon without trouble. Imagine what their kids will look like – paranoid nymphomaniacs. I can see it before me now: "Hey handsome, is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? …AAAH! IT'S A GUN, ISN'T IT?! YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!!" "
"You have way too much spare time if you spend it thinking about stuff like that," said Inu-yasha, once he had stopped laughing.
"What are we going to do about her?" asked Kagome, and then added for his benefit, "Kagura, that is."
"Can you stop changing the subject every ten seconds?" Inu-yasha was now feeling as if his mind was a piece of string that Yura had been playing with. "Um… Kagura. We ask her if she's the one in charge of the Shikon deal, if she answers yes we bust her ass and use her to get to Naraku."
"And if she answers no?"
"We know she's lying, so we bust her ass anyway and use her to get to Naraku."
"Sounds good."
………………………………..
"Here we are now," Inu-yasha said half an hour later as he pulled up in front of a small house. "Get in there and find out where she's staying." Kagome glared sourly at him, and he favoured her with his most innocent look. "What? You're the one who said you're good at finding out information…" Realizing she was beaten, Kagome stuck her tongue out at him and walked into the Rent-a-cottage/Tourist Information house.
"Only one cottage rented, that must be hers," she said as she issued from the house minutes later. "It's the one at the other end of the beach, so we better get walking."
"Can't we take the bike?"
"Absolutely not." Kagome looked sternly at him. "It pollutes the wonderful Mother Nature and is a despicable way of transport. We will not sacrilege the holy beach area by driving a disgusting motorbike over it."
"You like the beach, don't you?"
"Yup."
"You wouldn't have objections if you got to drive though."
"Ooh, can I?"
"No."
The beach was a large one and there was a good reason it had the name it had. The wind blew from every direction possible at the same time, which was rather a feat. (The wind always boasted about this to the other elements. They found it very irritating, and regarded the wind as a rather blown-up element.) It took about a quarter of an hour for the two agents to traverse the beach, and when they finally arrived at the cottage that was Kagura's they were both exhausted. They knocked on the door, but received no answer.
"Do we have to have a search warrant to enter her house?" asked Kagome, peeking through a window.
"Hello?" said Inu-yasha, rolling his eyes. "We're the YSA. Thought you'd understood by now we don't have any rules whatsoever."
"Just thought you might have developed a conscience."
"Don't make me laugh."
The door was unlocked, and they walked into the small house warily. Alright, so this isn't exactly legal, thought Inu-yasha, but on the other hand she's not on the right side of the law, either. No one can blame us for just looking a little, right? The house seemed to lack any personal items, being quite empty and lifeless. Of course, if she was only renting it for a couple of weeks… still, one would have expected at least a coat or something! It was as if she had wanted to leave no trace of herself at all. It was hard to believe that anyone lived there – the house looked as if it had been deserted for weeks.
However, this was not the case.
Inu-yasha and Kagome were passing through the living room when somebody suddenly spoke, scaring the life out of both of them.
"Well, well, well. I think someone's about to get charged with breaking and entering." The two agents swivelled, seeing a high-backed chair standing in the other end of the room. Someone was sitting in it, with their back to Inu-yasha and Kagome, and this someone was now chuckling slightly. "Imagine that – two officers of the law behaving in such a sneaky fashion. Then again… I hear that the YSA doesn't always operate entirely legally."
"I think you'll find that we haven't broken anything yet," Inu-yasha replied, just to have something to say. He was trying to figure out who this person was, and how they knew about the YSA. It wasn't Kagura in any case – unless Kagura had had a sex change (the voice was very much male).
"Simply entering then," said the voice indifferently. "But don't worry… I'm a nice person. I won't be nasty and call the cops – because I know more than anybody else how unpleasant that is. And besides, I imagine you have a completely innocent reason for coming here. You wished to speak to Kagura, didn't you?"
"Where is she?" asked Inu-yasha. He was suddenly getting a bad feeling from this…
"Kagura had to go away," said the voice, and there was a certain edge to it. "For her… health. However, I am free to answer any questions you may have." The chair turned, revealing a man dressed in a crisp, posh suit and with long, dark, wavy hair. "You can call me Naraku."
………………………
Several possible answers suggested themselves to Inu-yasha, such as "Naraku, you bastard! Die!", "You are hereby placed under arrest. Don't try to escape if you want to father children in the future" and "Pleased to meet you, you can call me Inu-yasha." He had no need to use any of them, however, since Kagome stepped into view. Naraku – who a moment ago had looked so calm, so composed – turned chalk white upon catching sight of her, mouthing silently, his face a mask of terror.
"Y – you!" he managed.
"No," said Kagome quickly. "I am Kagome Higurashi, and I don't know you. At all."
Inu-yasha would wonder a lot about that reply later.
"Oh, alright," said Naraku, taking hold of himself again and even smiling. He gestured hospitably towards two leather chairs beside him, turning his swivelling chair to face them. "Please, do sit down. I can't bear to see you standing while I'm feeling so comfortable myself. As I said, I will be quite pleased to tell you anything you want to know – within certain limits. Then of course, it is up to you to decide if you want to believe me or not."
In a daze, Inu-yasha and Kagome sat down. Inu-yasha didn't know what his partner was thinking, but he did know that this was not how he had pictured his meeting with the most slippery criminal in the city. And there was something very disturbing about Naraku's voice… a feeling that he'd heard it somewhere else…
"Did you have Kohaku Gari kidnapped just to land Goshinki in jail?" asked Kagome. Inu-yasha blinked, looking over at Kagome in surprise. It wasn't exactly the opening question he'd have expected.
"Very clever," Naraku replied, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, the bastard was getting rather too restless. Wanting a larger share of everything, wanting to quit the business, wanting so called "freedom" for him and his sister… he and Kagura were never any of my most loyal employees. So I set up the kidnapping and turned him in. Simple as that."
"The story about using Kohaku as a burglar was a fake story you fed Goshinki?"
"Of course." Naraku sneered. "If I had wanted to use that whelp I would have chosen a rather less unpleasant way of meeting him. I have found that kidnapping someone seldom makes them friendly inclined towards me. Goshinki lacked the brains to see that." (Always knew he was stupid, thought Inu-yasha with satisfaction.) "He was loyal, though. Didn't say a word in court, which impressed me, I must say. Of course, he didn't know that I'd been the one to call the dear YSA…"
"You were the snitch," said Inu-yasha abruptly. "I knew I recognized your voice. You were the one who tipped us off about Goshinki."
"Exactly," said Naraku, without a trace of remorse.
"Tell us about Kohaku's father," said Kagome quietly. Naraku looked nonplussed for several seconds before lighting up in remembrance.
"Ah yes, Mr Gari! Do you know, I had not noticed that they were related until just now. What a coincidence! The world really is small, isn't it." He paused, seemingly delighted, then went on. "Very well, Mr Gari. He was a regular at the club – a gambler. Not a very skilled one, I'm afraid… He owed me great sums of money before his untimely passing. Debt and also some… extra contributions to the club. In exchange for my silence regarding his activities at the club."
"Blackmail."
"That is such a vulgar word!" Naraku looked pained. "Voluntary contributions in exchange for services rendered is the phrase I would rather have you use."
"Did you kill him?" asked Kagome, still in that quiet, dangerous voice.
"Heavens, no!" Naraku looked shocked. "What would be the gain in that? He provided me with a large amount of money every month. To kill that man would be idiotic! No, I'm afraid Mr Gari simply did not want to go on with his life anymore. A pity. It is always sad to see strong, healthy, and above all rich people pass away. He still owed me two grand. Nice as I am, though, I have not contacted his remaining family about it."
"You disgust me," said Kagome.
"Thank you, dear."
"You've got some nerve." Inu-yasha was digging his claws into the arm of his leather chair, trying not to lose his temper. "We will have you for this. Bastard." Naraku lifted one corner of his mouth in quiet amusement.
"You will have a hard time proving your case," he said dispassionately. "Mr Gari did not transfer so much as a penny to my account. You will find, however, if you go through his bank account, that he made very generous donations to the Red Cross on a monthly basis. Amazing, isn't it… how even the most selfless people – like, say, a Red Cross worker – can be bought for just the right amount of money?"
"I've changed my mind," said Kagome slowly. "To say you disgust me would be to big of an understatement."
"So how do you feel about me then?" asked Naraku, a mocking smile upon his lips.
"I'll tell you when I've made up a word ugly enough."
"Who's your girlfriend, Naraku?" asked Inu-yasha suddenly. The question caught the other man off guard, he could tell, and he grinned with satisfaction. Bingo.
"My, how personal this conversation has turned." Naraku smiled, trying to look indifferent but wavering slightly. "I have no girlfriend at the moment."
"Maybe not, but you had. A powerful priestess, who you betrayed."
"I – do not know what you are talking about." Inu-yasha saw the other demon's eyes flick towards Kagome for a fraction of a second before Naraku regained his composure. "And that subject is off-limits. I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you. The YSA really has a very strange form of interrogation."
Kagome and Inu-yasha shared a look. Naraku obviously found the subject an uncomfortable one, but pressing him wasn't likely to lead to any new information – rather, the risk was greater that he'd get angry and refuse to tell them anything else. To drop the subject for a while would probably be better.
"Who told you we'd be coming here to see Kagura?" asked Kagome. Naraku smiled.
"Kanna!" he called imperiously. The door to the next room opened and what seemed like a young girl of maybe thirteen, fourteen years stepped through. But her eyes were dark and empty, and far too wise for a youth. She was carrying a large, round mirror with both hands. Naraku beckoned her to his side and put a hand on her shoulder. "This is Kanna, one of my employees. She may look young, but this is not the case. She was the one who overheard you today in the restaurant, and hastened to tell me. You see, Kanna is a demon of nothingness. She is rather good at not being noticed. And she has a very useful mirror… why don't you show them, Kanna?"
The girl clutched the mirror to her. The reflection in the glass blurred and Kagome and Inu-yasha found themselves looking at a recording, it seemed, of their lunch with Sango and Miroku. Their voices sounded faintly from within the mirror…
…"We now know that she's staying in a cottage at Windy Beach, so we're going to go see her."
"A useful mirror indeed," smiled Naraku as the two agents stared at it, dumbstruck. "It can do a lot of wonderful things – even steal souls. Of course we never use it for that purpose," he continued smoothly, "but it's interesting, isn't it? Fantastic what uses a seemingly unimportant object can be put to in the right hands."
"And yours are the right hands, I presume?" asked Kagome icily.
"Not at all. I can't work it. Kanna is the only one with that skill."
The girl smiled to herself, a quiet, satisfied smile, and hugged the mirror to her again. "Pleasure to meet you," she said in a lilting, childish voice, smiled that quiet smile again, and left the room silently. Naraku looked after her, shaking his head slowly.
"Do you know, sometimes I feel like this is child labour," he said conversationally. "She looks so young, does she not? And yet she is probably not much younger than myself. A strange child…"
"What is your connection to the Shikon deal?" asked Inu-yasha abruptly. Naraku looked mildly surprised.
"None."
"Oh no, of course," said Inu-yasha sarcastically. "The invisible hand again. Let me rephrase the question: What is Kagura's connection to the Shikon deal?"
"None that I know about," said Naraku calmly.
"You cool bastard." Inu-yasha shook his head. "I just can't believe you. We'll get proof of your involvement somehow though, and when we do you won't just be facing a year or two in prison…"
"I believe there was a hitch there." Naraku leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hands. "Prove it," he said softly.
"Did I mention that I really don't like you?" asked Kagome, rising from her chair and pulling on Inu-yasha's sleeve. "Come on, we've wasted to much time on this bastard as it is. Goodbye, Naraku. I hope that next time we meet face to face, there will be bars between us."
"That can be arranged," said Naraku pleasantly. "There's still the question of breaking and entering…"
"Prove it," snapped Kagome. "And it was only entering."
………………………..
"Cold ones like that are the ones I just can't handle," snarled Kagome as they sped on their way homewards. "Bloody snobs, think they're perfect just because they dress like fucking Beau Brummel…"
"We really need to find a connection though," said Inu-yasha thoughtfully. "I'm sure we can provide evidence enough to link Kagura to the case. But we need the link between her and Naraku. So the question is how we're going to get that…"
"Are those friends of yours?"
"How many times do I have to tell you not to change the subject like – " The rest of Inu-yasha's sentence was cut short as the group of men that Kagome had pointed out opened fire. At them.
…………………………
References: The melody to the song Kagome sings in the beginning is "We're off to see the wizard" from The Wizard of Oz. Just wanted to make that clear :)