23

The vibration of the bike's engine was soothing to Kagome after the excitement of the day. She gripped Sakaki's jacket a little harder so she could lean out and look at the jagged urban horizon through the visor of his spare helmet. The mid-afternoon sun shone orange through the haze over the city. Why did trouble have to come on such pretty days? Instead of an answer to her mental question, she got Sakaki with his own questions.

"So, you and your partner are time travelers, huh?"

"Yeah."

"What exactly do you do back there?"

"We destroy demons and try to get the jewel shards back."

"Sounds like a crazy job."

"No crazier than yours."

"I guess that's true."

They had gone beyond the place where they last saw Agatha, following the same highway. Kagome was getting used to the city. She wasn't looking up at the tall buildings as much as she had earlier that day. But one thing still bothered her. Everything was so grey. There was hardly a green spot in sight. She supposed she had been spoiled by spending so much time in the Feudal Era when everything was so pristine. But there could at least be a tree every few blocks. The presence of jewel shards invaded her thoughts and broke her peaceful mood. She gave a little tug on Sakaki's sleeve.

"I've got something. Turn here," she said pointing.

They passed under the highway and soon found themselves surrounded by old concrete apartment buildings. The traffic was slower there so they were forced to take their time.

"Are you sure the shards are here?" Sakaki asked over the street noise.

"Keep going," Kagome said. "We're on the right track."

24

Robin wasn't sitting close enough to stop Dojima. And she wasn't sure she would have even if she had been able to. She looked over at Amon to see if he would react, but he just stared at his computer screen and seemed to pay no attention. Since that day when she had saved Dojima's life, Robin had adopted Amon's hands-off attitude towards her flighty colleague. If she wanted to take her chances, let her. Dead cat curious. The word recurred to Robin quite suddenly. Who was dead cat curious now?

Inuyasha had been sitting so quietly on the stairs leading up to the chief's office, staring off into space with his hands folded into his kimono sleeves. The hunters had all but forgotten about him for a while. But now, all eyes were on Dojima as she flounced across the room and calmly sat down on the step just below him.

"So, what's really going on between you and your partner? Is she your lover?"

There was an audible gasp in the office at the bold question, but everything went quiet again fast. Inuyasha's eyes had grown wide with shock and he sputtered for a moment before answering.

"Of course not. It's not like that."

"Really?" Dojima pressed on. "Are you sure."

"Of course I'm sure." He turned away from Dojima in a huff but she wouldn't give up so easily.

"But you ARE in love with her, aren't you?"

Inuyasha sputtered again and growled.

"None of your business. You're worse than Miroku."

"Who's Miroku?"

"Part of my gang back home. He was the nosiest person I ever met. But you just broke his record."

"Really?" Dojima asked, obviously pleased.

Inuyasha looked her straight in the eye.

"Yeah, you're officially the nosiest person in the world."

Dojima giggled happily and stood up from her seat on the stairs.

"You know just what to say, don't you?"

Inuyasha didn't have time to react before the phone rang. Michael answered it right away.

"Hello… You did? Where? ... OK, I'll tell them."

Everyone in the office leaned closer to hear the news, all except Amon who sat stoic as ever at his computer. He did turn his head to listen though.

"They found Agatha's hideout," Michael announced when he had hung up the phone. Finally, Amon got up and faced everyone.

"Let's go," he said simply.