Author's Note: Hi friends! I know it's been awhile. Just to let you all know, I've switched to Archive of our Own for all stories with an M+ rating. To confirm, I will finish Deductions and That Flesh of Mine here. But, my AO3 account (Witchy99) already has several stories there that are not posted on FFN. I did not, in fact, disappear entirely.
A huge thank you to everyone who left a review last time. I have not responded to them (I'm sorry) since I'm backlogged on responses since...uh, June 2020?
Deductions
Part One
Chapter 13: Say Something
The other side of the bed was cool.
Kagome blinked blearily at the digital clock on the nightstand. She wasn't in her room, but she hadn't been sleeping there for the last couple nights anyways. Slowly, she levered herself up onto her elbows, taking a moment to just listen. The only sounds that she could hear were coming from beyond the closed bedroom door, downstairs. Voices, though hushed. They didn't sound tense, but Kagome didn't have the same hearing that Inuyasha did.
Instead of lying back down, like she desperately wanted to, Kagome rolled out of bed. It was ungraceful but it couldn't be helped. Her legs hurt, the muscles sore, and she had one minute to remember why before she could feel herself turn warm all over. Right.
Inuyasha was…insatiable.
That wasn't a complaint.
Stretching and wincing, Kagome wandered out of the bedroom. She grabbed one of his t-shirts on the way, not wanting to put on the tight shirt she'd worn the day before and left on the floor. She did, however, struggle to put on her jeans, still hearing those voices below. It was a smart thing to do because the moment she opened the door, the conversation stopped. Inuyasha, as focused as ever, was sitting on the kitchen island, legs crossed beneath him as he stared at their wall of mystery.
Myoga, the café owner from downstairs, was sitting in a chair off to the side. He looked up at her, curious but clearly pleased. Kagome wanted to know what they'd been talking about. "Good morning," he greeted, hand gesturing towards a spot on the counter that Inuyasha was partially blocking. She could guess readily enough what it was. "I brought breakfast."
"Oh, thank you." Kagome looked at her own bedroom door for a moment before sighing, deciding that it could wait. She may as well get the plan from Inuyasha first.
Inuyasha, who was still staring at the wall and not sparing her a glance.
She walked by him to grab her tea, fully prepared for some sort of rant about what he'd been clearly focusing on for the however-many hours he had been awake. Instead, his hand gripped at her upper arm, warm and gentle, tugging her back. Kagome opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when her lips were caught in a kiss, quick but no less intent, before she was let go of.
"Really, Inuyasha," Myoga said, chastising. "She's just woken up. Let her have tea."
"There's no time," Inuyasha replied, sliding off of the counter. His cell phone was in his hand and where it had come from confused Kagome's morning-weary mind. "We have access to the residence of Shizu Yamaguchi. The sooner we go, the better."
Kagome should have just gotten dressed in her room immediately after all. She looked at her tea longingly. "Okay," she sighed. "It was a nice thought."
She turned around to go back up the stairs but Inuyasha was in front of her, not so much blocking her path but certainly in the way. His golden eyes drifted just above her shoulder before he scowled, glared at the ceiling, and then whirled around. "You have five minutes for tea. We'll leave in twenty."
Frowning, she turned back around to see Myoga smiling placidly at her. The old man shrugged, just as confused. "Are you sure?"
There was another scowl on his face, a tiny tick over her shoulder before he very purposely met her eyes. "Fine, fifteen minutes for tea," he growled. "We leave in thirty but no longer than that." With another shockingly quick kiss to her lips, Inuyasha spun around and leapt onto the second floor to disappear into his bedroom.
Kagome stared at the space he once was in disbelief.
"Don't let him get away with just anything," Myoga said then, pushing the chair he was sitting on towards the small side table at the other end of the room. He headed towards the door all on his own, but gave her one last look before leaving. "There's always time for tea."
The auto shop Jane Doe, officially confirmed as Shizu Yamaguchi, had once lived in a tiny house on the bad side of town. In fact, Kagome noted, it was the part of town that most people often forgot about when describing the city as a whole. When people thought of Hakurei, they thought of the big buildings of the financial district, or the colourful lights and screens of the entertainment district. Rarely did they think of the south side, primarily industrial and closest to the lake. Small, residential neighbourhoods were filled with crumbling apartment buildings and houses that had seen better days. Kagome watched as the scenery slowly changed the further they travelled, taking in a different – more telling – side of Hakurei behind the visor of her helmet.
Inuyasha had slowed at one point, pointing to what Kagome knew to be the Hakushin Medical Centre. It was the tallest, most sprawling building they had seen in a while, on a corner lot nestled between two, two-lane highways. For a long moment Kagome stared at it, seeing the number of cars sitting in the poorly-maintained parking lot. There were so many, filling it to the near brim. It wasn't even a hospital, but clearly the place was overworked and desperately needed.
They left with that bitter thought remaining unsaid on her tongue.
The ride to Shizu's house wasn't much further away, although the overall drive time had been nearly an hour with traffic. When Inuyasha slowed for the second time, it was to stop behind a parked police cruiser, a familiar detective leaning against it. Sango looked exhausted, her body slumped as she stared hard as her cell phone. Kagome hoped that with their search of Shizu's place, Inuyasha could find the final necessary pieces to solve the mystery for good.
"Detective," Inuyasha barked, golden eyes glowering at the meandering police officers around the house. "What the hell is this?"
"Not my jurisdiction," Sango replied with just as much of an edge. "You wanted to see the place in the fastest time possible. This is it."
"Fine, but tell them to stay out of my way," Inuyasha stated, crossing his arms. "Where the hell is Miroku?"
"Running your errand." Kagome frowned in confusion as Sango raised a very pointed brow in Inuyasha's direction. "What, you want him to clone himself?"
"What errand?" she interrupted, hand pressing against the leather of Inuyasha's red jacket. All of last night, they had talked about the possibilities on what they would learn from Totosai, the homeless man that had initially seen the man who murdered Shizu, whether he knew it or not. Never once had Inuyasha mentioned an errand.
Inuyasha made a face, not quite a scowl but not a wince, either. "Just a hunch. He's talking to the members of the board for the medical centre."
There was something missing from that explanation, but before Kagome could press further, the front door swung open. An older woman, clearly distraught, pointed at Sango shakily before stumbling her way down the front porch. She nearly fell, catching herself at the last second on the railing before continuing towards them. "You!" she called out, voice tremulous with concern. "Is it true? Is what they're saying true?"
"Mrs. Ito." Kagome watched as Sango's irritated expression swiftly changed to something far more compassionate, if a little blank. "Yes. I'm sorry to say that we believe Ms. Yamaguchi may be tied to a very dangerous crime. We believe she's at risk."
"She's—"
But Kagome elbowed Inuyasha as quickly as she knew how, glaring at him. "Inuyasha."
The consulting detective scoffed. "We're doing everything we can to find her."
Mrs. Ito had big grey eyes, doe-like compared to her tiny, weathered face. "Please, she's a nice girl. She's only ever been kind to me. She never tried to swindle me for every dollar I had and I don't know—" The old woman sniffled, tears forming at the edges.
Kagome felt horrible, knowing that the reason they even were able to make this connection was because of bloodied ring and an auto shop completely wiped down with trikelchlorite. Inuyasha said it was due to all the blood and no human could have survived that. Kagome had seen the crime scene photos.
Quietly, Inuyasha leaned forward until he stole Mrs. Ito's attention away from her thoughts. "We'll do everything we can," he told her, no nonsense and firm. "But no matter what, you'll be fine."
That was a promise Kagome knew he couldn't keep. She said nothing anyways.
"Have you given a statement to the officer that was with you earlier?" Sango asked then.
"You mean you didn't take it?" Inuyasha snarled, whipping his head around.
"What part of not my jurisdiction do you not understand?" Sango asked, in a tone of voice that suggested between the two of them, she wasn't the idiot.
Luckily, Mrs. Ito disrupted them. "He did, yes, but I don't know if I was any help."
"Give me twenty minutes, and I can guarantee you'll be helpful." Inuyasha eyed Kagome then, gesturing with his head for them to go inside. "Sango, can you see if these morons did a half-decent job?"
Kagome watched as at least three cops turned to glare at him. There was nothing for it, really. "Do you have to be so mean right now?" she demanded, tugging him into the house.
"Last time I had the distinct pleasure of saving their asses, it went badly."
"How badly?"
Inuyasha made a face. "Only slightly better than Koga."
Considering he was the lowest bar she knew, that didn't bode well. "Let's just check the place out."
The house was clearly broken into two apartments and apparently, Shizu had taken over the basement so that Mrs. Ito could stay on the main floor. It was relatively spacious, all things considered, though the ceiling was low enough to make Kagome feel almost claustrophobic. It was a brightly lit space though, lamps and ceiling lights everywhere to make up for the lack of windows. Nearly everything was dusty – the small kitchenette in the back corner, the shelving units, even the couches – and what was out and visible to be seen was messy, tossed around like someone had been in a hurry. It was clear, however, that no one had been to the place in a while.
Inuyasha explored the main room for only a few minutes, opening up a handle of cupboards and knocking on walls. His expression was grim, hands skimming the tops of piles of papers before he disappeared into the bedroom.
Kagome went to the bathroom, a tiny unit that was clean but loaded with product. Everything was drug store branded, no medications in sight. It was the tidiest place in the whole apartment, only the garbage turned over in the corner with scattered tissues and hair. "I'm not seeing anything," she called out then, taking one last look before making her way back into the main area.
"Come in here," Inuyasha replied, waiting until she poked her head in and took stock of the room. Cramped, full of stuff that littered the floor. He scowled like the room personally offended him. "Immediate thoughts?"
It took a second for Kagome to realize that Inuyasha was asking for her opinion already. He was pacing in the tiny room, opening every drawer and sorting through miscellaneous piles of things that had been scattered without care. He did so efficiently, quick flips of items before they were unceremoniously dropped and he moved on. He didn't even look at her, despite the fact she hadn't answered yet. Inuyasha was clearly irritated and trying his best to contain it. At least with her.
Small wins.
"Not that much," Kagome admitted slowly, leaning against the doorjamb. "I'd say she was hardly here, but Shizu's body was found on May 9th, so it's been over a month. Clearly no one checked in on her or her place. Dead plant in the kitchen." She leaned back, taking in the living space quickly as another thought occurred to her. "It looks like the place has been searched, unless she was this naturally messy."
Inuyasha already knew where she was going with it. "Unlikely. I checked her cupboards. Everything had a place. Her fucking spices were labelled with a label-maker. The apartment's been searched."
"For whatever our Elizabeth code hides," Kagome suggested, remembering their conversation from the doctor's house. "The other half that the encryption key will open."
"Exactly."
"How do we know it's still here?"
Inuyasha gave her an unimpressed glare, the barest pause in his movements. "Whatever they found and dug up required Shizu to be tortured to the death, and Suzuki forced into or leading to a faked suicide. They were smart so there's a chance they hid it well." He frowned, whirling around with his arms spread out, like he was testing the air around him. His eyes scoured every bit of the room. "What's out of place?"
Kagome, too, frowned, taking in one corner and dragging her gaze to the other end. "Nothing really. The furniture matches. There's dust everywhere though so I can't see if anything has been recently moved."
"There's not even a rug," Inuyasha muttered. "And this is a basement. There's no miraculous hidden wall space. This is a shit building in a shit part of town. I mean, compared to the doctor's place, nothing should even be here."
"What about where she worked?" Kagome asked. "Would she have left details there?"
"She wasn't employed before she died," he replied, waving a dismissive hand. "No, the only place to hide something would be in the ceiling. Up, rather than to the side." His glare shifted above, but it only got worse. "Not even a drop fucking ceiling. This is all drywalled with no holes." Sauntering into her small closet, he pushed his way through the few remaining clothes hanging but came out a minute later, just as frustrated. "Nothing. Nothing at all. And everything is fucking trashed so I can't even tell what her room was supposed to look like. The drawers are a mess, the shelves are emptied—"
Inuyasha paused then, twirling around once more until he stared intently at a massive pile of papers, books and clothes in the middle of the room. "Elizabeth," he said slowly. "Why the fuck would his code be Elizabeth? Far too long for a safe combination."
"Could be a digital password," Kagome suggested.
"Could be," he agreed, nodding. "But CFU ran Dr. Suzuki's laptop and there was absolutely zero evidence of anything on his drive. Nothing in his cloud accounts. So why would her information be stored electronically and not his? Encryption is great, but they were worried. They were prepared. Hence the rings with the codes. This was a long time coming. No, they would have been too smart to leave it somewhere that's hackable." He growled. "And what's the point of the name? Shizu had a ring with their anniversary on it, so the date meant something to her besides the code for the safe. That suggests the name Elizabeth would mean something to the doctor."
Inside of a ring. Elizabeth. Nothing was coming up. Inuyasha growled and sat down amongst the pile of stuff, tossing things aside. Kagome went to help him, sorting through papers that looked like meeting minutes and books of fiction and—
"Elizabeth," Kagome said, staring at a hardcover notebook that had seen better days. It had an elastic binding around it, the edges frayed and worn, but what had caught her eye was the quote embossed on the cover: Obstinate, headstrong girl. And that was from— "Elizabeth Bennet. Pride and Prejudice."
"What?" Inuyasha's confused glance shifted from her face to the notebook, eyes scanning what she held aloft and towards him.
"Elizabeth Bennet is the love interest for Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice." Kagome let him take it, trying to remember the book she had read a long, long time ago. "Maybe Shizu was the doctor's Elizabeth."
"That's sounds incredibly dumb," Inuyasha replied, scowling when he opened the notebook to discover that some of the pages had been cut out in the middle, and inside was a very blue USB. "For fuck's sake. That's stupid."
"We found it," Kagome breathed, a little shocked. "Elizabeth wasn't a code after all."
"It was just a clue." Inuyasha exhaled heavily. "So disappointing."
"But we found it."
"You found it," he corrected immediately, standing up and snapping the notebook shut. "We'll give this to Sango for the police to go through. In the meanwhile, we need to talk to Mrs. Ito."
Kagome, confused, followed him back up the stairs. "Sango probably has a laptop with her, couldn't we look at what's on the drive?"
"No point, I know what it is. Also, it's probably what's tied to the encryption key so we'll need CFU to pull the files anyways." Inuyasha smirked at the officer standing by the front door, something with a hint of viciousness. The female officer looked vaguely ill and Kagome wondered, then, what had happened last time for this to be a reaction without anything even be said. Bewildered, Kagome followed him.
"What do you mean you know what it is? Wait, Inuyasha!"
The detective spun around, an eyebrow raised. Now that the USB was found and the mystery of the missing data solved, his entire demeanour was back to its usual cocky baseline. "Think about it, Kagome. What evidence would Shizu and the doctor have that would be worth killing for?"
"Something from the board?" Kagome suggested, trying to sort through all of the conversations they had had so far. "We thought it could be one of them, maybe something to do with how they wanted to change the medical centre. The upgrades and renovations. Expanding their care focus."
"Right. The only half-breed safe medical centre in the entire city. Tell me, why would they want to change it?"
Why? Kagome shook her head. "I have no clue. They wanted to make it bigger?"
"Motive," Inuyasha stated, nonsensically, his brain working clearly far and above hers. "What's the motive?"
"I thought we were trying to solve the murder of Sara and Jinenji, and now Shizu and the doctor," she tried.
"Inuyasha!" Sango called out, stealing both of their attentions away. "How much more time do you need?" Her magenta eyes flashed towards a crowd of police officers quietly chatting, looking none-too-pleased.
"Five minutes, at most. Did Mrs. Ito go back inside?"
Sango nodded, hesitating only for a moment before handing him a pad. "Statement is lacklustre at best. "Mrs. Ito can't remember the last time she saw Shizu, though she said probably a month. Maybe a little longer. She didn't file a missing persons report because Shizu had told her she'd been going back and forth to live with her boyfriend. Mrs. Ito just assumed she had wanted to stay there inside."
"Details on the boyfriend?"
"Only that he lived in a nicer part of town. Mrs. Ito had never met him but she saw him once when he dropped Shizu off."
"Did they show her a picture of Dr. Suzuki?"
Scoffing, Sango leaned to the side to tug out her cell phone from her pants' pocket. "No. But here. I had Miroku send me one while I was waiting; I'll text it to you."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Just date him already, for fuck's sake."
"What?"
"What?"
Kagome looked between the two of them, like a bystander watching a tennis match. It was made all the more uncomfortable by Sango's blatant, flushed embarrassment and Inuyasha's refusal to look anywhere but at the notepad in his hands. "We should probably go talk to Mrs. Ito," she suggested gently, when nothing else was said and the tension was getting far worse.
"Sure." Inuyasha tossed the pad uncaringly towards Sango before spinning around. "Make sure you get the name of the idiot officer that took that statement please! I want them fired!"
Kagome had to try incredibly hard not to look around when she could feel the stares of others officers watching them. "One day, you're going to have to tell me what happened."
"Oh, it's not a long story." Inuyasha pushed his way through the main door again but this time went straight, hesitating for a moment before taking off his shoes at the little mat. "There was a triple homicide. No one believed they were connected but I managed to solve it by reading the news articles. Went to their station, made a fuss, did the tiring ass fucking work of having to prove it to them – like they couldn't do their own fucking jobs – and then ended up fighting three officers in the street and getting one of them fired."
Kagome frowned. "What the hell did they do to cause that?"
At that, Inuyasha smirked at her. "You're the first person who's ever asked that."
"What do you mean?"
He shrugged. "Usually, people ask what the hell did I do to cause that."
That didn't make her feel any better. Unhappy, she followed Inuyasha as he called out to speak with Mrs. Ito. The woman was sitting in the living room, a much larger space than the one downstairs. An untouched teacup full to the brim sat before her but the woman made no move to try and drink it. "You're back," she said, a little confused. "Do you have more questions?"
"Just two." Inuyasha squatted down by her side, still a good distance away but incredibly informal. His golden eyes tracked the shaking of her hands, the paleness of her face. "If you don't mind."
"Of course," the woman replied. "Anything to help Shizu."
Inuyasha took out his phone, tapping at it until he could show her. "Is this Shizu's boyfriend? The one you saw?"
Mrs. Ito puckered her lips in consideration before nodding, firm. "Yes, that's him. Shizu really did like him. He was so kind to her. I had hoped—Well. I had hoped maybe they could work things out. Him being a demon and her—You know."
A human. Kagome swallowed hard, suddenly unable to look anywhere but at Inuyasha. Half-breeds were given such a heavy, horrible hand. Not quite to the standards of demons but too different to be human. No wonder Dr. Suzuki had fought so hard to keep Hakushin Medical Centre a safe place for half-breeds. No wonder he had pushed back against the board's wishes, demanding equal care. No wonder he snapped out in the news, spoke his mind. He loved a human woman and if they were to have a child, that child—
"Last question," Inuyasha said, taking his cell phone away. "Has anyone gone into the basement? You or a contractor or anyone else?"
"No," Mrs. Ito said, shaking her head. "I can't do the stairs down, you see. My knees. But—"
At her pause, Inuyasha raised a brow. "But what?"
"But my hearing isn't what it used to be," she admitted, looking exhausted. "And I thought—Well, one time I was watching my programming and I thought I heard a noise. But by the time I got the remote to lower the volume, I didn't hear anything. Thought I imagined it." Mrs. Ito frowned, worry creasing her already wrinkled face. "Why? Did something happen?"
"No," Kagome promised, pushing through the lie. "No, everything was fine. We just wanted to know."
"Thanks for your time," Inuyasha replied, standing up out of his squat. "We'll be in touch if we need anything." He didn't comment on her lie, didn't even give her a look.
Kagome thought that was progress.
Once again, they were at Ayame's.
Kagome sat in the exact same seat as last time, back to the restaurant while she ate dinner. Inuyasha, across from her, simply glared at some space behind her left shoulder. She would turn around but the food was so good and she was starving. "Do we always have to skip lunch?" Kagome asked. "I feel like every time we go to a crime scene, we skip lunch."
"You know I don't eat on a case."
"A terrible decision."
"My decision." Inuyasha's golden gaze shifted to her, the tiniest quirk of his lips showing off amusement rather than the irritation of before. "I'm a half-breed."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Doesn't mean you don't need to eat. In fact, that's an argument that you should be eating more. Just because your body naturally slows its metabolism at a stronger rate than a human's while being starved, doesn't mean it's remotely healthy."
"This is the least interesting conversation we've ever had."
Shocker. Kagome huffed. "What do you want to talk about then? Totosai?"
"No," the detective replied, frowning. "That topic's been exhausted. He either shows or he doesn't, and he either provides us with a clue to Shizu's death or he doesn't. The only anomaly in this case right now is her murder."
"Because she was tortured."
"Exactly." Inuyasha reached out to grab at her water, drinking from the straw while he gaze returned back to scanning the crowd of the restaurant. "She was tortured. Bled to death in some auto shop for the information she and Dr. Suzuki were hiding."
"If we could find her body, we could determine if her death was before or after the doctor's." Kagome took another bite of her food and wondered, briefly, if this conversation should be bothering her more. She had worked at Sakura Scientific, had seen far too many things far more disgusting than what they were talking about. Unaffected, she took another bite. It was only while she was chewing that she realized where her water went. "Hey!"
"Irrelevant either way." Inuyasha didn't even look at her. "Who cares who died first? They both died. The most logical progression is that they strung her up and used her for leverage against the doctor. He didn't give in. They killed him, tortured her, and failed to get the information anyways. Our Spider was back to square one."
Kagome wanted to complain about her drink but there was no point. She continued, interested despite herself. "The Spider, as in the person behind everything."
"Everything but Sara Asano's murder," Inuyasha replied easily. "Every other kill – the burglary – has been meticulous. The only reason Shizu was found was because of bad fucking luck: a homeless person saw, called a cop, and that cop just so happened to be a bear demon and sensed the trikelchlorite. Had that chain of events not occurred, we never would have known. Dr. Suzuki had been assumed a suicide. Case closed. But then Sara got suspicious and she pulled in a reporter, Jinenji. Sara died mysteriously and then Jinenji was a loose end. His kill was clean, hers was not."
"But Shizu and Suzuki were killed first…" Kagome frowned. "So the Spider was involved previously, and then he was forced to get involved again after Sara died?"
"Forced is the wrong word, but essentially yes." The rhythmic tap-tap-tap of Inuyasha's nails was almost overly loud in the otherwise quiet room. There weren't that many patrons to Ayame's that night, only the owner herself and one of the bartenders Kagome vaguely remembered working up front. Despite the wealth of tables available to them, Inuyasha had specifically gone back to their little corner, moving aside tables and chairs until they fit right in.
She made grabby hands at her water and Inuyasha, still clutching it to his chest, passed it over easily. The straw was bitten. Kagome sighed before taking a drink. "You think the Spider is some big criminal mastermind."
"I don't think. I know." Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her. "There are threads everywhere. It's interesting enough that I may do something I promised myself I'd never do."
"Eat on a case?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Text Sesshomaru."
"Your asshole half-brother."
"The one and only." He scowled then, fingers unceasing in their pattern. "I've tried everything from local PD. Their resources are just too limited. The gaps in their cases too wide. I can't figure out if there's more."
"To this case?" Kagome asked, frowning. "How much bigger could it be?"
"Not this case," he corrected. "In general."
With one last bite, she dropped her fork onto her plate and sighed, pushing it away. Now that she had eaten it all, she felt like she was overstuffed. Not eating at lunch was the worst decision possible. At least they would have to walk through the Arches to meet Mimisenrei and Totosai. Hopefully that would help, even though the nighttime had considerably cooled the weather. Her light jacket was barely warm enough.
"You ready to go?"
Kagome made a face at him. "We still have an hour until the meet."
"There's nothing that says we can't go early." Inuyasha smirked at her then. He stopped his tapping to lean forward on the table, elbows perched right by her empty plate. "Maybe we'll get lucky."
"With what?"
"More news. The Arches always has the best secrets."
Kagome sighed and nodded. "After this case is done, I'm going to sleep for a week."
Snorting, Inuyasha leaned back to wave at the bartender, absentmindedly saying, "Trust me, I'll be keeping you too busy for that."
It could have meant anything, but there was a tone, and then there was a tone. Kagome could feel herself flushing, grabbing the water and drinking from it just for something to distract her. If Inuyasha on a case was like this, what would he be like if his attention was all on her?
"Ready to go?" Ayame's voice floated from over her shoulder, making Kagome nearly choke on her water. There was a firm pat to her back and Kagome croaked out a thanks as the owner slid in closer to their table. "I thought you'd at least stay for dessert with your girl."
Inuyasha didn't even blink, face still casually amused as he stood up. "I get plenty of that at home. Now, we have a quadruple murder to solve."
"Inuyasha," Kagome groaned, "you don't just say that."
"I really expected the whole not dating spiel again," Ayame replied with another firm pat to Kagome's back. "Inuyasha, I thought you'd be less snarky if you got laid."
"No such thing," Kagome grumbled.
Ayame had to slide out in order for Inuyasha to leave. Kagome watched as he forcefully jammed a bunch of bills into her hand before grabbing Kagome by the wrist and all but dragging her from the restaurant. She was so full, all the jerking around felt terrible, but the night air felt like brilliant relief the moment they were outside. Unlike last time, it was so much quieter. Only two people stood to the side, murmuring amongst themselves. Inuyasha didn't let go of her as he pulled her around to the alleyway, his hand a searing heat through even her jacket.
The last time she had been here, Kagome had been attacked. It was a fleeting thought, there and gone as Inuyasha shoved the helmet into her hands and got the motorcycle started. The last time, Inuyasha had stayed inside to talk to Ayame. She wondered if Inuyasha was purposefully rushing her through the process of leaving to try and forget.
They fled the parking lot quickly and Kagome relaxed against Inuyasha's back. Around them, the city was bathed in golden light, the sun falling across the horizon. She could barely see it through the buildings, glimpses of light as they sped along the streets towards the Arches. Towards their next clue, where hopefully they would get more answers and Inuyasha would be able to solve this once and for all.
In the dying light, the Arches seemed so much more desolate. Kagome hadn't thought it was possible for it to be so, the buildings seemingly even more ruined than the last time. Impossible, she knew, but a feeling that she still couldn't shake. It made her walk closer to Inuyasha as they trekked across the broken pavement. She was so distracted by the scenery around her that when Inuyasha abruptly stopped, she crashed right into him.
Breath leaving her, she grabbed at his arm and tried to look around. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing here is wrong." Inuyasha whirled around, frowning. "What's wrong with you?"
"Me?" Kagome shook her head, trying to dispel her uneasiness since leaving Ayame's. If only she hadn't remembered the attack from last time. If only she could be more like Inuyasha, singularly focused on the case above all else. With a quick rub to her face, she put on a smile. "Nothing, I'm fine. I promise."
"That's a blatant lie." Kagome opened her mouth to argue but the detective took yet another – impossible – step closer. They were pressed against each other and his eyes, so intent and focused, stared at her like he was trying to read every emotion off of her face.
It was just like the very first time she had laid eyes on him in the parking lot at Sakura Scientific. The parking lot had been better kept and the building far nicer, but the night had been as cold as it was now. She shivered, despite the heat of him. "I'm okay, Inuyasha."
He narrowed his eyes. "Nothing is going to happen."
"I know." The dismissiveness in his tone would have thrown off anyone else, but it was reassuring here. Any threat would be accounted for already. Inuyasha knew the ins and outs of the Arches. He knew the people. He knew this case. He had told her days ago that he thought he'd solved it already. "I trust you."
His gaze didn't let up, that stare still assessing. Kagome let him look, letting the warmth of him steady her. They stood like that for what felt like whole minutes, a ridiculous notion. Inuyasha would never waste time like that, Kagome knew. Still, when he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips, she blinked in surprise. Her wrist was grabbed once more and Inuyasha pulled her onwards, grip loosening only for a moment until their fingers laced together.
They had to separate to duck into the building, but this part at least was familiar to her. She followed Inuyasha through the winding hallway, the light quickly fading through the cracks in the barely boarded-up windows. Before they had even made it to their destination, an old, familiar voice called out. "You're early."
"Too excited," Inuyasha replied tersely, sounding anything but excited. Kagome peeked around him, spotting the demon sitting in an old chair in the corner of the room. His massive ears hung low, bald head covered in age spots. "Thank you for sending news."
Mimisenrei simply shrugged. "I became curious after you left. And then worried."
"Worried?" Kagome asked, frowning. "Why?"
The old man crossed his arms, eyes closing. "There is a system in place," he said slowly, voice crooning. "And that system is imperfect but it allows for a network. Yet the man you sought was nowhere to be found."
"But you found him," Inuyasha stated.
"Despite his wishes," Mimisenrei sighed. "I would have let him disappear but there were things he was saying. Things that I could not in good conscience let lie."
"So he did see something important." Kagome faced Inuyasha, feeling a tiny bit of hope in her chest. If Totosai would only show up and let them know what he saw, maybe it would be enough. Maybe this would be enough. Turning to Mimisenrei, she asked, "Do you know what it was he saw?"
"I couldn't make sense of it." The old demon still didn't open his eyes. "But he's coming. You will know soon enough."
Mimisenrei was correct. Within seconds, Inuyasha was twisting to look at the way they came, Kagome following suit. Another older demon came into view, two younger demons flanking him. The one in front seemed uneasy, massive eyes searching every corner like he was desperate for escape. It brought the cloud of uneasiness back over her. Inuyasha, too, was frowning, gaze clearly assessing the old man from head to toe.
Noticing his gaze, the old demon grinned. It was slightly manic, eyes a little too wide to be normal. "I said I'd come, didn't I? Didn't I?"
"You must be Totosai." Inuyasha said this slowly, watching as Totosai fidgeted before taking a step back. "Why are you so scared?"
"Scared?" Totosai laughed. Even to Kagome's ears, it sounded nearly insane. "What's there to be afraid of?"
"You tell me."
"I don't think I will." Totosai moved into the room until he could glare outright at Mimisenrei. "I came. I'm here. I came, didn't I?"
He seemed almost delirious, completely nonsensical. Kagome took in his thin frame, the older demon's gaunt face. His clothes were threadbare but long, covering his arms and legs completely. When Totosai laughed, she couldn't help but wince. There was something wrong in that sound. Inuyasha, she could tell, noticed it too.
"Tell them what you told me," Mimisenrei stated then, gesturing their way. "And then you can leave like you wanted."
"Who says I want to leave? Nowhere is safe. Those people are everywhere."
"Who is everywhere?" Inuyasha demanded. He was still frowning and Kagome could see his arm moving from the way he tapped at his leg. This situation wasn't what he expected. Something was up, or Inuyasha must have seen something he didn't like. When Totosai didn't respond, he growled. "Who?"
Totosai continued to glare at Mimisenrei until he sighed loudly, throwing his arms up in the air. "Like you haven't seen the spiders crawling about," the old demon said, words making Kagome's heart freeze. Coincidence? There was no way. Was there? "They're everywhere. Every corner. The webs have eyes."
"Very tin-foil hat," Inuyasha snorted, though the tone was far more relaxed than his posture. Kagome remained just slightly behind him, watching the exchange. "Officer Nishio said that you contacted him because you saw something at that auto shop. Something that scared you."
"Pfft," Totosai hissed, arms flailing yet again. "As if that would scare me? Ha! Do you know what I'm capable of?"
Inuyasha's stare turned inquisitive. "I don't care. What are you afraid of?"
"Didn't you hear? The fucking spiders!"
"But there's only one Spider." Kagome could tell the difference in how he said it, how he addressed this mastermind behind it all. "So you must mean the Spider's men."
Totosai wagged a finger at him. "Very sexist of you," he taunted.
"Kagura."
The old demon made a face, nearly disgusted. "I don't know what that means."
Inuyasha's mouth pressed together in a thin line. His fingers were a rapid beat on this thigh. "Forget it. What did you see that night? Why did you call Officer Nishio?"
Twitching, Totosai took a couple steps backwards, nearly bumping into the younger demons that were waiting, looming guards that made the room far too cramped. "See something, say something. Isn't that the motto?" the demon asked, practically a cackle. The look in his eyes was too wild, a train falling off its tracks. "There was a man moving shit in the early morning. Looked wrong. Looked bad."
"What did you see him taking from the shop?" Kagome asked.
Those big eyes trained on her. "What I saw at the shop was nothing. Nothing. Nope, not a thing."
Inuyasha growled. "Cut the bullshit. You told Nishio that at four in the morning, you saw someone moving things in and out of a shop. One of them looked like a body."
"I did see that," Totosai replied, nodding enthusiastically. His grin was an echo of joy, a false picture of it. "But that was nothing I say, nothing compared to what I saw after."
"After." The tone of Inuyasha's voice was flat. Kagome didn't have to look at him to know just how unhappy he was. Totosai seemed unstable, a man without an anchor. She eyed Mimisenrei, still sitting in the corner. The long-eared demon didn't seem remotely surprised by the conversation. She wondered just how much he knew already, how much had been shared.
"Tell them," Mimisenrei encouraged, as if noticing Kagome's gaze.
"No." Totosai shook his head, stepping back once more until he crashed into the other demons. He jumped a little, cackling as he edged along the room, the better to maintain space. "Can't go back. He'll smell me and last time was bad enough. He can smell me here, you know. He'll find me. He'll finish what he started. I can't have him take off that mask."
"What kind of mask?" Inuyasha asked carefully.
Totosai gestured towards his mouth, mimicking a shield that covered his nose, cheeks, mouth and chin. Kagome frowned, not getting anything from it, not even when Inuyasha tensed all over.
"Pink hair?"
The old demon nodded and in a show of vulnerability, he wrapped his arms around himself, near shaking. It was emotional whiplash, from wild and manic to something far more fragile. Kagome felt the unease cling, a wretched sort of sympathy leaking out of her. This poor man. Did he have anyone at all?
Distracting her from her thoughts, Inuyasha twisted her way, face lowering until their gazes met. "The man he saw is the one who attacked you."
The pieces clicked together. "And the one who stole Sara Asano's body. That confirms your theory that the Spider did it all."
"Everything but Sara's death." Inuyasha frowned, turning back towards the old demon. "What happened that night?"
But Totosai was shaking his head, morose. "I don't want to remember."
"You need to," Inuyasha pushed, but Kagome tugged at the sleeve of his jacket, stopping him.
"Totosai," she murmured, as gently as she could. "We're trying to catch him. Inuyasha will stop him, I promise. We just need your help. You can help us, right? You wouldn't have come, otherwise."
"I didn't want to come at all," the old demon snapped, but his face twisted with indecision. "I didn't want to follow him either but I just—I used to be different. And I made the call but the man— I was sure it was a body. I thought he was part of some gang, maybe. God knows there's a ton of that shit here. But he wasn't. He wasn't." A pause, his forehead creased and brows furrowed in remembrance. "He knows my scent. The only reason I'm still alive is because I surprised him. Fire breath." He gestured with his hands, like an explosion coming from his mouth. "Stopped him from getting too close. I ran."
"So you followed him," Inuyasha prompted, though this time his tone was far more leading, less accusatory. Kagome was almost delighted that he was following her approach. "You saw where he took the body."
"Yeah, I saw. I'm not going back. Not ever."
"You don't have to," Kagome promised gently. "We just need to know where to go. Help us find her so we can catch the man who did it."
Totosai stared at her, disbelieving. His hands scratched at the pale underside of his forearm, hiking up the tattered sweater he wore. Slowly, he looked to Inuyasha and frowned. "You look like trouble."
"I am trouble," Inuyasha replied easily. "But I don't give a shit about you. I care about answers, like where the fuck the body is. We won't take you there but I need an answer."
"You won't find it," Totosai replied, shaking his head. His desperate gaze shifted to Mimisenrei. "But I'll tell you where. That's it, though. You can't come back for me. If you don't find it, I don't care."
"If you truly hadn't cared, you wouldn't have come at all," Inuyasha pointed out. "You wouldn't have followed the suspicious man as he went to dump the body. You wouldn't have tried to do something to stop him."
The older demon scowled. "Who says I tried to stop him?"
"It's written all fucking over you." Inuyasha waved at him with his hand and Kagome couldn't tell if his reference was to some clue on his body or to his general demeanour. Totosai shook his head, getting more antsy by the minute. The consulting detective shifted, pulling out his wallet. He didn't even bother to count the bills as he handed a wad to Mimisenrei and then another to Totosai. "Payment for your consult."
Totosai scowled. "I don't want your money."
"Whatever makes you feel better," he replied, rolling his eyes. The money just went into Mimisenrei's hands anyways. "Just tell me what you know."
Kagome felt like she was holding her breath, impatient and terrified in equal measure. The old demon before her looked just as scared, the edges of crazy still lingering around his eyes. There was no more smile, though. No more cackling, disjointed laughter. "Help us," she encouraged, when Totosai was sullenly staring at the floor.
"Fine," he hissed, a tiny puff of smoke bursting from his lips. "Make sure to bring a lock cutter."
The docks.
Inuyasha didn't look happy, shoving his cell phone into his jacket pocket. He had just gotten off the phone with Miroku, demanding information left, right and centre. "It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't make sense?" Kagome asked, trying her best to speed walk by his side. "Do you believe him?"
"He sure as fuck wasn't lying," he replied, golden eyes focused out over the distance towards where their motorcycle laid in wait. "But the docks are active. Every day of the week. Weekends. There are even night shifts, security. Why the hell put a body there?"
"He said it was in a storage container, right?" Kagome asked, trying to move through her thought process to make the clues make sense. "Maybe the container was due to go out? By the time they discovered Shizu's body, it would be too late. The body would be far more decomposed. Depending on the state of the container, evidence could be lost."
"Evidence could also be preserved," Inuyasha argued, a fair counterpoint. "It's too risky. This is part of the plan. This has to be part of the Spider's plan."
Kagome pursed her lips, unsure. There was something nagging at her though, something from their earlier conversation. "Who is Kagura?"
For a moment, Inuyasha didn't respond. It was only when Kagome tugged on his jacket sleeve once more that he frowned at her. "What?"
"Kagura," Kagome repeated. "You mentioned the name to Totosai. Like it meant something, when he was talking about spiders being everywhere."
"You're going to be mad."
Well, that was a good start. Kagome stopped, still a few feet away from the waiting motorcycle, arms crossed. "What do you mean, I'm going to be mad?"
Inuyasha scowled, but that golden gaze of his was just as intense as it always was. He hesitated for a moment more before huffing. "On Monday, I brought down Sakura Scientific. The lab is fucked. Everything is at a standstill and all of the managers are under investigation by Hakurei PD."
"What?"
"They were going to sue you," Inuyasha stated, as easy as stating the weather. "In fact, they had falsified and built an entire case against you, as well as one against the Hakurei Police Department. They were going to file a formal complaint against Sango and Miroku… Literally everyone. They had a queue of media connections lined up to start a public case, hoping for an outcry of support and tying everyone's hands. The only way it would have been satisfied is if they took the falsified evidence – because there was no proof to the contrary besides my word and yours – and then you would have been fucked. So. I fixed it."
Kagome shook her head, but she was still confused. "How did you fix it?"
"I did my fucking job." Clearly tired of being so far apart, Inuyasha closed the distance between them. He didn't touch her but he stood so close that the warmth of him could be felt. Even his gaze was like a physical touch. "Kagome, I did it to protect you."
"You still haven't said what you did."
Another huff, exasperated. "It was your director who did it. Him and his brother. I got them to turn on each other and then the whole thing came unraveling. One of them tried to bargain for a deal. He gave a name: Kagura. He said she was the person that approached them in the first place to organize the burglary."
"The director? And Manten?" Kagome bit her lip. "It wasn't the other two?"
"No. Kaguya and Yura were just easy targets." Inuyasha scowled. "I should have seen that from the beginning."
"But Kagura isn't the Spider, you don't think?"
"I don't know," Inuyasha admitted, sounding unhappy about it. "Probably not, though. Someone who has their hands on everything like this person does… You don't manage the day-to-day dealings yourself. You have people do that for you. Kagura is probably one of their trusted, though."
That, at least, made sense. There was still one more thing, however. Kagome tilted her head up, leaning forward to press their bodies together, the slightest pressure. "Why didn't you tell me?"
A complicated expression crossed his face. She could feel him back away, a tiny step that spoke of a larger chasm she had yet to traverse. "This is a lot. The whole case. It's a lot."
"I know that," Kagome answered him, as honest as she knew how. "You told me that from the very beginning. You never coddled me." A thought occurred to her then, sudden and stark. "You're coddling me now."
He narrowed his eyes. "No."
"You said it yourself. You did it to protect me."
"Obviously."
"You don't protect anyone," Kagome pressed, ignoring the distance he created by closing it, filling the gap with her hands grabbing at his hips. "You don't beat around the bush. You don't go out of your way to hold back details just because it might hurt someone's feelings. In fact, you generally do the opposite. You love getting under people's skins."
"Because they're fucking idiots," he replied, automatic. "What do I care if they hate me?"
Inuyasha was scowling, body tense. Kagome could feel it even through his leather jacket. She took a breath and shook her head, leaning forwards until her forehead pressed against his chest. "Don't coddle me," she told him then, firmly.
"If you fucking think for one second I wouldn't stop shit like that from happening again—"
"I didn't say not to protect me!" Kagome argued, shaking him as much as she could. He barely moved, but he could at least feel the pressure of her attempt. "Protect me all you want. That's fine. But don't coddle me about it. Don't lie to me."
"Technically I never lied. It just never came up." Kagome took a breath and above her, Inuyasha growled. "Fine. Yes. Whatever. I'll tell you."
"I'm not going to run away, you know," she said easily. "Even overwhelmed, I'm not leaving."
The growl was immediate. "Who the fuck said anything about leaving?"
Maybe he hadn't said it, but the implication was there. Kagome wasn't a genius like Inuyasha. She didn't make connections like he did, pulling clues and data points from seemingly innocuous, everyday tidbits. But slowly, Kagome was growing to know him. Even such a short time together – as professionals, as friends, as recent…whatever they were – the minute details were becoming clearer.
Inuyasha didn't want to give her a reason to leave.
"I guess," he said then, grudgingly, "I should tell you the last bit of news."
"News?" Kagome lifted her head, the better to look at him.
"Sango was able to pull some details on Shizu. Not much. There wasn't a missing persons report, but her job was pretty important, as far as civil servants go."
"Oh?"
Inuyasha smirked down at her and finally – finally – his own arms wrapped around her. "Think you can solve the mystery, yet?"
Like Inuyasha had stated earlier, the docks were bustling with life. It took obnoxiously long for Inuyasha to make the security guard cry, finally letting them in after repeatedly telling them 'no.' Kagome would feel sorrier for him but there was a body still hidden away, a clue that could get them potential evidence leading to a conviction. Not for Sara Asano's murder, no. That was already being queued up, just waiting on a warrant Sango was desperately trying to get from a judge.
No, this was for the largest picture. The Spider. Still, it all tied together.
The webs have eyes. The thought made her skin prickle and she couldn't blame it on the rumble of the motorcycle beneath her as they finally pulled to a stop deeper into the maze that was the docks. Totosai had given them enough direction, at least, to go to a section of it that was fairly empty. The containers were all branded, big bold white letters across rows and rows of metal boxes. "Why is no one over here?" Kagome asked the moment she took off her helmet, taking a look around. "It's like a ghost town."
Inuyasha's lips thinned, but he pulled up his phone, tapping away. Within a minute, he made a face. "Bankruptcy filing," he said at last, scanning the storage containers slowly. "No one is here to manage anything until bills are paid."
"That seems…odd." Kagome frowned, trying to see if she could spot a nearby office. Totosai had mentioned one in passing, giving directions from there to find the body. "Inuyasha—"
But his cell phone started ringing and Inuyasha answered it, flashing her a knowing look. "Miroku, tell me what the fuck is going on."
She couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but Kagome knew after their little talk that Inuyasha would surely tell her everything. With a last glance back, she started to roam. Every once and a while she could hear Inuyasha growling, some threat leaving his lips. She was pretty sure she heard the words fuck the warrant and get here soon, asshole. It was hard to say for sure, out of proper hearing range and completely out of sight, but even the thought made her shake her head.
They would figure this out, Kagome told herself for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Inuyasha had solved it, he had as good as told her. And once she found the office—
There. Ahead of her, a faded white trailer came into view. It looked rundown and just as abandoned as everything else, but there was an old, water-damaged sign that read OFFICE in big letters. She felt a thrill run up her spine, the realization that this was ending, it was ending—
Spinning around, Kagome opened her mouth to yell out to Inuyasha. Even if he was still on the phone, he would know. He would come and they would find the storage container holding Shizu's body and then, it would be up to the police.
Before she could shout, something fell in front of her, a mixture of colour. Kagome stumbled back a bit, surprised, and then—
Utterly terrified. Because it wasn't something. It was someone.
Pink hair. Mask.
"Hello doctor," the familiar voice taunted. The same voice that she heard at Sakura Scientific. The same voice that had attacked her outside of Ayame's. With demonic speed, a hand covered her mouth. Kagome tried to scream, to bite, to do something to get Inuyasha's attention or to run away. But before she could even try, something slithered on top of the shoulder of the man holding her hostage.
It was a demon, with two thick, pointed, spider-like legs for arms. More of a creature than a humanoid, though it bore the same face as the man before her, pink hair and all. He smiled, a wicked thing. "This time," the demon said, "we don't have to hold back when we open her guts and eat her alive. And this one looks…delicious."
Then, there was nothing.
Next Time on Deductions:
"Who are you?" Inuyasha demanded. He didn't recognize the sound of his voice.
"Oh Inuyasha," the Spider replied, far too coy. "That's no fun at all. Wouldn't you much rather play a game?"
Is this the third story update in a row that I've left on a cliffhanger? Yes. Do I feel any remorse? Absolutely not.
CONTEST: The first person to correctly identify who murdered Sara Asano via either review, DM or tumblr ask will win a one-shot from me. Any prompt of your choice, up to 10k words, minus anything I'm uncomfortable writing. Unfortunately, as much as I love guest comments, you will need to be signed in to your account so that I can reach you.
Let me make it clear that this will not be easy (or I hope not?). ALSO, I only expect you to solve the murder of Sara Asano - who was not murdered by the Spider. You don't need to give me the whole conspiracy, though if you'd like to, I would love to hear your ideas. Any name mentioned in this story is fair game for consideration as the murderer.
Lastly, feedback is love.