Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. I also do not own the concept of 24. Only the story belongs to me.

Special thanks to my betas PockyThief, Kiyota and Ethereal Siren.

AN: As with The Void, some how I missed updating this story here even though I caught all the others. Sorry about that and please enjoy the two chapters.

The following takes place between 7pm and 8pm...

7:00

"This is ridiculous, you know as well as I do, that there is no way Kagome could have been a part of this. Kagome is loyal to the West, loyal to you, and yet you allow her to be thrown into the dungeon like some common thief. Is this really how you want to treat someone with a spotless service record?" Inuyasha demanding as he barged into his father's office, interrupting the meeting he had going on.

"Inuyasha this is not the time to be having this discussion. I am busy right now. Have your advisor set up a meeting with one of mine to arrange a time when we can talk. Now if you do not mind," Toga said leaving the rest of the sentence to hang in the air as he turned back to his advisor and tried to continue the meeting.

"My advisor? Don't you think that's going to be a little hard considering you threw her in the dungeon? Get her out of there and I will be more than happy to have her set up a meeting with one of your advisors to talk about getting her out of there!" Inuyasha shouted at his father, not really caring that what he had said didn't really make that much sense.

"She is still your only advisor? How many times do I have to tell you two that you need more than one? Appoint one of your other team members as your advisor and send them to talk to mine," Toga suggested before he once again tried to get his meeting going again.

"Unlike your incompetent advisors, Kagome can do the job just fine on her own. Apparently even Jaken can as well, since we both know Sesshoumaru would not put up with him if he couldn't do his job. Instead of suggesting to us to get more advisors, perhaps you should hire one that could actually do the job right," Inuyasha threw at him while giving his advisor a dirty look.

"Inuyasha I do not have the time for your antics right now. I am very busy at the moment. As I am sure you are as well. I know you do not believe Kagome would be a part of something like this, and truthfully I would not either, however, her parents are and I do not believe she would go against them. Now I need you to be getting the army ready to go after their convoy. We have already wasted enough time today as it is," Toga insisted, turning his full attention to his son.

"It'll take a few hours before enough men are suited up and ready to go. I already got things started before coming here. Contrary to popular believe, I do know how to do my own job. Just as every other member of my team does. You just better pray nothing else happens today, cause in case you have forgotten, the only reason you are still alive is currently sitting in a cell," Inuyasha pointed out before turning and stomping out of his father's office.

7:05

Hearing the keys rattling, Kagome glanced up to find one of the guards opening the cell door to allow Bankotsu to enter. Kagome just watched quietly as the door was closed and locked again behind him. "So I was right, the escort out there was for you. Probably means I was right about Sesshoumaru-sama being the one to send you down here," Kagome commented with a shrug as she watched Bankotsu look everywhere around the small cell but at her.

"Bank, relax. I understand that you are just doing your job. No matter what happens in this cell today, I will not hold it against you. To tell you the truth, I would have ordered you down here myself. Above all else, the lives of the royal family are more important and we have already had an attack on the lord's life as well as an attack on our Ambassador's convoy. We do not have the time to go pussy-footing around, worried about hurting people's feelings.

"They believe I have information that will help, your job is to get that information out of me. That is all you need to know, all that matters. Who I am, my years of service, my friends, my loves, none of it matters right now. I am simply a suspected traitor being kept in a cell for interrogation. Just think of me as someone you don't know, it will make your job much easier," Kagome assured him with a smile, finally getting him to look at her.

Bankotsu drew a deep breath before grabbing one of the chairs and placing it in front of her. As he exhaled, he sat himself down and stared at her for a few moments. "Sesshoumaru-sama has ordered me to try talking to you first. But I do not understand how I am supposed to question you when I myself do not believe you are guilty of anything. I was worried that they would send some incompetent idiot down here to do it and did not want to think of what that could have led to," Bankotsu explained as he set his pack down on his lap.

"Well I hate to make this any harder for you than it has to be, but I am afraid talking will do no good. I had nothing to do with any of this and so I have nothing I can tell you. I realize you can not just take my word for it, so as I said before, just treat this as a normal interrogation," Kagome instructed, ignoring his pack, having already figured that he would bring it.

"Who does Ambassador Higurashi work for?" Bankotsu began, making sure to pay close attention to Kagome's subconscious movements in case she let off any tells.

"Lord Toga and Lord Menomaru," Kagome replied without missing a beat.

"Who is Ambassador Higurashi loyal to?"

"The East," Kagome answered, seeing Bankotsu's confused expression, she explained. "My parents are from the East, remember? My father is the Ambassador of the East sent to the West in accordance with the treaty. His job is to see to it that the East's needs are met and that Lord Menomaru be represented here, just as the West's Ambassador did while in the East. Therefore, my father is loyal to the East first and foremost."

"And who are you loyal to?" Bankotsu questioned after a few moments of digesting the information.

"The West," Kagome answered, once again without the slightest of hesitation.

"If your parents are loyal to the East, why are you not as well?"

"I was born here. I have spent my entire life here. Normally I only visit the East once a year on the Ambassador's homecoming trip. My friends, my 'family', my life is here in the West. I barely even know my uncle, and as such, I am loyal to Lord Toga above him," Kagome explained, watching with veiled satisfaction as the man she had trained picked up on the slight bit of information she had given him.

"Your uncle? What does he have to do with anything?" Bankotsu inquired, not bothering to mask his confusion.

"I see you do not know. Very well, it should also answer your next question," Kagome told him, smiling when he gave her a confused look. "Why my father was appointed as Ambassador. The late Lady of the East was my maternal aunt. The Lord my uncle, his heir my cousin. When my aunt married Lord Menomaru, she wanted my mother to become the Ambassador, as the East and West had currently been working on a treaty at that time. But Lord Menomaru did not wish such an important job to be given to a woman, worried that the West would not take her seriously, and instead decided that whoever married her would become Ambassador.

"Which ended up being a young lord from a nearby village of my mother's. My grandfather had originally been planning on my aunt marring him, but with Lord Menomaru looking for a wife, the first daughter, my aunt, entered into that marriage. Which gave my mother to the young lord for marriage and he in turn became the Ambassador," Kagome explained and watched as Bankotsu thought it over for a few moments before nodding his head.

7:20

Outside of Toga's office, a guard arrived, speaking softly with the guard outside the door for a few moments. The second guard gave him a slight nod after he finished speaking. "You should not be needed, but wait a moment just in case," the guard instructed before turning and knocking on the shoji door in front of him.

"Enter," he heard Lord Toga call out to him and quickly slid open the door and made his way into the room. Stopping in front of the desk, he bowed and waited for Toga to instruct him to begin. "Speak," Toga commanded, in a hurry to find out what the guard had to say as well as get back to his meeting.

"Jinenji-sensei has sent word to inform you that the guard, Roka was his name, passed away a little while ago. He did not awake again before and Jinenji-sensei has nothing else at this moment to report," the guard informed Lord Toga before being dismissed. Bowing once again, he walked back out of the office and closed the door behind him. Nodding toward the messenger, the guard took his spot in front of the door once again as the other began making his way down the hallway.

As he continued on his way through the halls, it wasn't difficult for him to determine that he was getting close to Sesshoumaru's office. The loud noises and screams of frustration were rather hard to miss. Thankful he was not on the list of guards allowed entry under the new safety measures, he quickened his pace, in a hurry to pass along the message and be on his way.

As he turned the corner and opened his mouth to speak, he caught sight of Sesshoumaru-sama's short advisor and decided to give the unfortunate guards posted outside, who were currently cringing at the loud crash coming from inside the office, a break and speak directly to Jaken. After the short man jumped at the noise, he turned his attention toward the guard and raised a bushy eyebrow in question. "I have been sent to inform you that Roka, the guard Jinenji-sensei was caring for, passed away not long ago. And that he did not reveal any more information," the guard informed him with a bow before standing at attention, either waiting for a reply or further instructions.

Jaken thought over what he had been told for a moment before he was startled by another crash coming from the office behind him. "Very well, I shall inform Sesshoumaru-sama of this. You best be on your way. I am sure you still need to inform Inuyasha-sama," Jaken said as he waved his hand to dismiss the guard. Taking a deep breath, Jaken tried to calm his nerves before turning around to the officer door.

Giving the guards a slight nod, he waited as they slid the shoji door open before stepping into the room and ducking as some flying object tried to crash into his head. Ignoring the loud bang as it hit the wall adjacent to the doorway, Jaken turned to his seething employer who was panting for breath in the corner of the room.

7:30

Jakotsu just sort of stood there after informing Inuyasha of what he had learned. He had known, even as he received this bit of information himself, that Inuyasha was not going to like it. He'd hair it in fact, much like Jakotsu did. With as much as he didn't want to be the one to tell him, or anywhere in the vicinity when someone else did, he also realized that the sooner Inuyasha knew about this, the sooner it could be dealt with and it would have taken him far too long to find and fill in someone he could trust to bring the news to Inuyasha.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Inuyasha finally screamed, startling Jakotsu, though he showed no outward sign. Figuring Inuyasha really wasn't looking for an answer, Jakotsu just waited quietly, knowing the outburst was far from over. "What the hell is wrong with these people?!" Inuyasha demanded and Jakotsu thought it wise not to remind him that he was one of 'these people'. "With as many times as she has risked her life for them, this is how they repair her?! As if being arrested, accused of being a traitor and being thrown in a cell isn't bad enough, now they have her being interrogated by a man she herself trained?"

Jakotsu decided, since he himself had just informed Inuyasha that Bankotsu was down with Kagome, that that was another question that didn't really need to be answered. He watched for a moment as Inuyasha began to pace around his office, mumbling to himself, before turning to answer the knock on the door. The guard whispered to him for a moment before Jakotsu sighed and closed the door. "I'm afraid there's more bad news," Jakotsu began as he turned back to Inuyasha, who paused in his pacing.

7:35

The children of the kingdom stood in wonder, not sure if they should be excited or scared by what they were hearing. From their vantage point in the courtyard, they could easily hear the raised voices coming from not only Inuyasha's office, but Sesshoumaru's as well. And while Inuyasha being loud wasn't anything new to the children, Sesshoumaru's bellows certainly were. Not to mention loud crashes had been coming from his office for quite a while now.

"Has the whole kingdom gone mad?" Kohaku questioned as he glanced over at his friends after another crash came from Sesshoumaru's office. Before any of them were able to answer, they were startled by Inuyasha's yell of 'they are all idiots' and they glanced back at his window to make sure he wasn't yelling at them.

"I think they may have. If arresting Kagome wasn't bad enough, now both of Lord Toga's sons have completely lost their minds," Kanna decided shaking her head as another crash came from one of the offices above them, though it was hard to tell which one had caused it.

"Arresting Kagome? Why was she arrested?" Shippo demanded as he turned to his friends completely confused at the new information.

"Oh that's right, you were asleep weren't you? You haven't heard," Rin realized as she turned toward her friends, pleading with them for one of them to fill him in on what he had missed. Catching the look in her eyes, Kohaku nodded and sent her a reassuring smile.

"Just remember people don't tell kids that much, what we know is from overhearing conversations, so we don't have all of the facts," Kohaku began and the girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"I already know this, Kohaku, get on with it," Shippo instructed, annoyed his friend seemed to be trying to stall.

"The guard that came here and told Lord Toga about the convoy," Kohaku began again only to pause when Shippo cringed at the mention of his parents' convoy. After a moment, Shippo nodded for him to continue. "Well when he woke up again, it seems he told Lord Toga who was behind the attack. Apparently it was the other Ambassador and he overheard him talking about it when he went to warn them. Then Kagome was arrested as a traitor seeing as it was her parents behind the attack," Kohaku finished and watched his friend carefully, unsure of how he would take the news.

"But that doesn't make any sense. Kagome promised me she would get those responsible for the attack on my parents, she can't be a traitor. It's just not possible," Shippo insisted, throughly confused about what he had just learned.

"Well she seems to be insisting she's innocent, so you're probably right," Rin told him, hoping to calm him down a bit. "Besides, Inuyasha-sama is on the job, if anyone can prove her innocence it's him right?" Rin questioned as she turned to glance at each of her friends. After a moment, the three of them nodded earning one of her bright smiles.

7:40-8:00

"Why did your parents attack the convoy?" Bankotsu questioned, his eyes trained on Kagome's face, not that he really believed he would spot a tell tale sign of her lying, but it was his job to try.

"They didn't. There is no reason for them to have nor to believe they have. All of Lord Toga's evidence is based off of one guard's accounts. A guard that arrived here battered and beaten, very likely having sustained at least one blow to the head, based on his wounds. Now I can not for the life of me think of any reason for the guard to have been lying, nor did I sense any malice from the man, so it is more likely that he simply misunderstood what he heard.

"Or perhaps remembered incorrectly. Either of these explanations are far more likely than my parents having betrayed not only the West but the East as well. My father has spent most of his life doing everything in his power to keep peace between our two kingdoms. Not only making sure that Lord Menomaru is represented here, but also that Lord Toga is represented every time he went home. If even a suggestion of my parents being behind the attack leak to both sides, this could easily start a war between the West and the East.

"My father has been ensuring for almost 20 years that, that did not happen. And now with the impending wedding with Inuyasha and Kikyou, there is no way my father would do anything to endanger the peace between us. What Lord Toga and the others should be looking for, if it was in fact not just a group of random bandits, is anyone, within or outside of the two kingdoms, that wished to destroy the peace between us.

"Between Lord Toga and Lord Menomaru, there are plenty of enemies that would use this opportunity to strike us. And yet, time is being waisted interrogating me. Let me ask you one thing, Bankotsu," Kagome began as she looked him straight in the eye and held his gaze, "If, and I stress the word, I had any prior knowledge of the attacks or was in some way connected to them, why would I remain here? I could have easily gone with my parents this morning without raising any suspicions as I have often gone with them on the trip.

"I could have left and been far away, safe and sound, rather that working to not only prevent the death of Lord Toga this morning, but also stopping the later attempts. Think back on today and all that has happened. Think about everything, every move that I have made. I apprehended a would-be assassin before he was able to kill Lord Toga. Going undercover I was able to find and apprehend two others working together with the first assailant and prevent them from going any further in their plans.

"Also, with the help of Sango, discovered that not only was one of them a guard that worked in our kingdom, but also that there was a forth assailant still within our walls. And using a plan of my own creation, was able to, once again with the help of Sango and Kagura as well, stop him before he was able to carry out his plans. Also, when the guard arrived and I recognized the colors of the East, meaning he was most likely a messenger from Lord Menomaru or from the convoy, I was the one who ordered the guards to allow him entrance and to be taken to Jinenji-sensei.

"Exactly what part of all that I have done today sounds remotely like I have betrayed the West? If I was a traitor, I would have allowed the assassins, who have no connection to myself, to do their jobs and no one would have ever been the wiser. Yet, that is not what happened. So tell me, Bankotsu, do I sound like I betrayed anyone? Perhaps I should say it this way. If I had betrayed the West and wished for the death of Lord Toga, he would already be dead," Kagome insisted causing Bankotsu to give her another confused look.

"I see I have confused you again, Bankotsu. Do you know why I am the most decorated person in this entire kingdom? It is not only because I am the most the trained. I am also the most trusted. I am the only member of Inuyasha's team, other than himself, whose movements are not restricted. I can enter Lord Toga and Sesshoumaru-sama's courters without their lives being endanger. I can come and go as I please. There is nothing that happens in this kingdom that I do not know. Everything shared with Inuyasha, he shares with me.

"Everything Sesshoumaru-sama knows, I know. Their schedules, their plans, their dreams, their secrets, I know it all. I know everything from the first girl that Inuyasha kissed, to Sesshoumaru-sama's top secret wife prospects to the kingdoms Lord Toga is currently trying to enter into treaties with. Some even his own advisors are not aware of. I know every nook and cranny of this kingdom. The secret passages, the royal escape routes, where they will be hiding in case they are driven out of the kingdom.

"There is nothing that I do not know. If I wished the death of any member of the royal family or their advisors, I could have accomplished my goal many times over. And I most certainly would not have done so in such a public manner. I am the most decorated because I am around them the most. Because I have had more opportunities than others to be there when something happened. Because I have spent most of my life training, because not only am I good at what I do, but I'm the best. I do not brag, merely speak the truth.

"Do not think for a single moment that if I wanted to be gone, that I would still be here. Now you can suggest that the reason I stayed behind, if I had anything to do with what happened, was to make sure plans here did not fail. However, now that the heat was on, I would get as far away as I can. And I could. Right at this very moment I can think of at least four ways to get out of this cell and slip away. First of course is the many people that would break me out of here in a heart beat if I asked them.

"Second, there is a small sliver of metal over there on the floor," Kagome informed him pointing over to where it was, "That could easily pick the cell lock in a matter of moments. Then there are the chairs. I could quickly start a fire with them and escape during the commotion. And of course, I could always use them for weapons once I was out of here. Idiots out there unshackled me the moment they put me in here. Guess they figured since I was just a woman they had no reason to fear me," Kagome told him with a slightly dark chuckle as she turned to glare at the guards on the other side of the cell.

"What is the forth?" Bankotsu questioned once he had Kagome's attention again. Having been still testing him to make sure he was doing his job correctly, Kagome couldn't help but smile when he refrained from getting distracted away from her remaining escape plan.

"This cell, and all the others, were made to hold men, not small woman with slender figures. I could easily pass through any of the bars without ever making a sound," Kagome told him with a shrug. "For all the reasons to disprove any idea that I have betrayed the West, there is but one to prove I did not. I am now, have always been and will always be, loyal to the West."

"I wish I could just take your word, Kagome, I really do. But you know I can't. And if I do not start doing more than just talking soon, I fear, the guards will grow restless and have someone else sent in here. As much as I do not wish to be the one to do what I am about to do, I wish it even less that it is someone else. I truly hope what you said when I first arrived is the truth, I hope that you can forgive me for what I do," Bankotsu told her as he stood and sat Kagome in the chair he had been using.

She did little more than send him a reassuring smile as he began to tie her arms to the chair before moving out of her line of sight. Setting his pack down, he opened it up, grabbed a small dagger and began making his way back over to her. Closing his eyes, Bankotsu took a deep breath. "Above all else, Bankotsu, always do your job," Kagome whispered softly to him but a moment before he opened his eyes and dragged his blade against the flesh of her arm.

***

AN: Now before anyone starts screaming about Kagome being OOC, let me remind you that this is an AU and she is in fact not the 'Kagome' we all know and love. In this story, although there really isn't one, she is the most Jack-like character. Think of how she acts as how Jack would act, seems a bit more in character now doesn't it? :P

Please R&R, good and bad reviews are welcome, however, I will ignore flames.