Inu-yasha stood in front of Sesshoumaru's big mirror, trying on his brother's long trenchcoat. "How's it look?" he asked Kagome, who was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, grinning. "Will I manage to convey the "cool and mysterious secret agent"- image?"
"You look fantastic." Kagome laughed and shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you're doing this. Why get dressed up just to meet a snitch?"
"My trouble is that I'm too nice..." Inu-yasha sighed, wearing the expression of a long-suffering martyr. "I just couldn't stand ruining all his expectations, poor guy. Imagine how disappointed he'd be." He took the coat off again and slung it over one shoulder. "So what are you doing tonight? I'm really sorry I had to cancel..."
"Nah, it's OK," said Kagome lightly. "I understand, of course. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe join Koga and the guys for something – he called while you were out..."
"Did he?" Inu-yasha almost bit his own tongue. Damn the wolf! "Well, hope you have a nice time." Did I just sound unbelievably jealous? In that case, why did I?
Inu-yasha was a good guy, but quickness to accept emotions wasn't one of his best qualities.
"Yeah... a lot better than sitting home alone. No, it's OK!" she said quickly as he was about to apologize again. "It's just that since Sesshoumaru won't be home either, my only company here tonight would be Sota, who's currently on a looong visit to Mr Sandman. It's funny though – I used to live alone for many years, and had no problem with it. Guess you just get used to company. It's a drug. Like coffee." She winked at him, easing his feelings of guilt a little.
"Well," he said, "it's half past nine now so I think I'd better get walking." Kagome giggled at the emphasis on the last word. "See you later tonight, hopefully I'll have something new by then... if this snitch isn't a complete incompetent as well as an embarrassment to the criminal world. Nothing from your contacts, by the way?"
"No, nothing. They don't move in those circles," grinned Kagome.
"You know, the intonation you gave "those circles" didn't exactly flatter the fact that my friends do."
"It's all in your head."
"Shut up."
..........................Inu-yasha stood on the Red Bridge, freezing his ass off. It was a quarter past ten and he was beginning to feel more than a little pissed off. Not only was this guy possibly just a waste of time – he didn't keep appointments, either. Well, Inu-yasha wouldn't give Bankotsu any good references of him, that much was for sure.
"Sorry. Did I make you wait?"
Inu-yasha looked up sharply as he heard the voice speak, and saw a figure dressed in a long, black coat of expensive design standing in front of him, with the hood pulled up to hide her face. Her face, for it was a woman. Well, it shouldn't really come as a surprise – there were all kinds of devices for changing your voice over the phone if you wanted. She was still masking her voice, talking low and with her face hidden in her collar, but something about it nudged him, some tiny spark of recognition. But it couldn't... it couldn't be Kagome, could it?
Could it?
Inu-yasha stamped his feet, trying to get some heat back into them. It was an unusually cold night, and he was much tempted to just yell something obscene at this person who'd made him stand for a quarter of an hour on a wind-whipped bridge, and then go home and make himself a large cup of hot chocolate. However, that wouldn't be very clever, so he discarded the idea (rather reluctantly).
"Yeah, you did," he said out loud, trying not to sound too annoyed. "But I'll look over it, as long as you have something good for me. You said you knew something about the Shikon deal. What have you got?"
"Well, I can for example tell you where the demoness known as Kagura currently resides. And I may be able to supply the final link between her and Naraku." The woman was walking towards him, hands in her pockets. When she was two metres off she stopped, raising one gloved hand to her hood and pulling on it, securing that her face was still hidden. "The question is, agent Inu-yasha – what are you willing to give me in return?"
Inu-yasha looked at her curiously. Hang on, he thought. She is not right. She's not at all like she was on the phone... this is an act.
Or the phone call was an act.
"Who are you?" he asked.
She was silent for a moment, face buried deep in her collar. Then she laughed softly.
"You are so clever," she said. "I knew it from the first moment I saw you."
She pulled the hood off her face. And Inu-yasha looked into the eyes of Kikyo Miko.
……………………………
For a long while Inu-yasha didn't say anything, while he tried to work out just what was happening. What was going on with miss Miko? Why was she there? Why had she called him, pretending to be a snout? Finally he decided that he had to say something.
"Um," said Inu-yasha.
"Not what you expected?" Miss Miko smiled frostily. "I am so sorry."
"No but... but... what the hell?!" Inu-yasha threw out his hands in an exasperated gesture, at the same time throwing manners to the winds. At the moment he was a little too pissed off to care. "I mean why did you have to meet me here? Why not just call? And have you been doing investigations of your own, in that case why didn't you tell us? Some cooperation would be nice! And why aren't you even on time? I think my ears are frozen! They're sensitive! I'm telling you, miss Miko, that if you didn't happen to be a client – "
"Oh, do stop with the 'miss Miko', Inu-yasha," said Kikyo Miko, smiling again but this time much more warmly. "It's getting to be such a bore. Why did I want to meet you here, you ask? Well, the first and most simple reason is that I suspect your phone is being bugged. There is someone inside the YSA who has been working with Naraku, helping him out and giving him information. I wanted to be able to tell you at least some information that would not reach his ears eventually. And..." she walked closer to him until there was hardly an inch between them, "I also had my own highly private reasons for calling you out like this."
She stared into his eyes, putting one hand against his cheek. Then she kissed him.
Inu-yasha's eyes widened in shock. Whoa. That was unexpected... The woman he had found so fascinating, strange and unreachable, turned out to be not quite so unreachable after all. From the first time she had stepped into their office he had wondered about how it would be like to kiss those cold lips – um, now that he did, the experience wasn't an unpleasant one.
But was that what he wanted?
Inu-yasha broke the kiss, stepped back a pace. "Uh, I'm sorry," he said awkwardly. "But I can't return those, er, feelings."
Kikyo's eyes narrowed. "I see," she said. "So the little whore already has you enchanted, does she?"
"You know Yura?" asked Inu-yasha, feeling astonished.
"What? No, that's not who I meant." Kikyo frowned.
"Then you mean... Blossom?"
"Who?"
"Twinkles?"
"What? No, I – "
"Oh... that chick who came from South Dakota? But she was only here for three months or something, and had a horrible accent anyway..."
"What are you, retarded?" Kikyo Miko exclaimed in irritation. "I didn't mean it literally! I'm talking about the girl who has infiltrated your bureau, leaked information to Naraku, befuddled you, exploited you, fooled you, used you. You know who I mean, don't you? Yes you do, I can see you recognize what I say. Haven't you thought so yourself? I know you've been suspicious of her."
Inu-yasha's throat had suddenly gone very, very tight. "You're lying," he said, speaking automatically, his brain racing.
"No, agent Inu-yasha, I am not lying." Kikyo smiled, a pointed, cold smile. "She has fooled you all along. Did you think she came to your agency because she liked you?"
"She was assigned to us..."
"Of course she was. By Naraku! She was planted there as one of his most faithful servants. Did you not suspect her? I'm sure you did. And I did, as well. I've been following her, watching her, since the first day she stepped into your office. I've seen her on her own time, returning to the Spider Club to give report. I've seen her at the airport, casting spells over the staff, spells to insure they remembered nothing of the large import of drugs that took place there. I've seen her talking and laughing with you, the false little bitch!" Kikyo broke off, staring angrily at Inu-yasha with eyes black as coal. Inu-yasha's breath caught in his throat. Could such hatred and jealousy be faked? Kikyo Miko had to be telling the truth! But no, it can't be true, it can't...
"It is true," said Kikyo Miko quietly. "Kagome Higurashi, as she is currently known, is the right hand of Naraku, the Spider. She is nothing but a fraud. She is the one in charge of the Shikon Deal. She has been working alongside you, but she has laid traps in your way time and again without you noticing. She has led you along false trails. She tricked you, Inu-yasha. And she is so good, isn't she." Kikyo smiled again. "She really made you believe she liked you, hm?"
"You can't be telling the truth." Inu-yasha head was spinning. It was too much to take in! Something kept telling him it wasn't true, yet everything he'd thought, everything that had puzzled him, all the pieces fell into place when Kikyo Miko spoke.
"Why do you think she has information about stuff you've hardly heard of yourself? Why do you think she has contacts in the underworld? Why do you think she's always been one step ahead? Think, Inu-yasha, damn it! Don't be fooled by her charm."
"But..."
"Sheez, the way you make it sound I seem like some kind of criminal!"
Inu-yasha swirled around, coming face to face with Kagome, standing a few metres further away. Suddenly aware of how close he had been standing to Kikyo, he took a few steps away from her, towards Kagome, and opened his mouth. However, Kagome spoke before him, raising her voice slightly.
"The way I see it, criminality must run in the family then, right? Right? Don't you agree with me, Kikyo... Higurashi?" Inu-yasha left his mouth open. Staring from the one girl to the other, he wasn't sure what shocked him the most – the truth about Kikyo's surname, the suddenly enraged, twisted expression on her face or the bow and arrows that had just as suddenly appeared in her hands.
Kagome smiled.
"Hi, sis."
…………………………
Wow, thank you all for your reviews! I can't believe I've made it to 20 chapters – and there will be more!
elsiey: Indeed, the conclusion is near. Hopefully everything will be made clear. (That rhyme was not intentional, I promise.)
NefCanuck: …trap… in a way, yeah. :)
Inu-yasha'smistress: Yeah, I know… I'm kind of sad it's drawing to its end too. :P But on the other hand, once I've finished this I'll be able to turn my thoughts to other projects I've been thinking about. (Yeah!)
jester: Thank you very much… that's really great praise.
luvinukagome: Thanks for all the kind words… although Sweden is not that cool when you actually live here… but there are some things about Sweden I would never switch for anything else. Spring, for example. Spring is a great season here.
Sorry for the cliffhanger. (Although if you're going to keep reading, just uh… prepare yourself for one or two more.)
And about the time – we're six hours before your time, so when it's 10:54 in the morning in New York, it's 16:54 over here.
angel-from-hell321: Wouldn't want you to go crazy, so I guess I'll have to hurry up over here… Though I'm happy you find it so twisting, because that's what I was aiming for. :)
glenlightarrow & Crazy Tengu: I update as soon as I find a spare hour, rest assured. (The problem is that lately, spare hours have been getting harder to find…)