Disclaimer: This is really depressing to say, but unfortunately, neither of us own Inuyasha, or Case Closed/Detective Conan.

We do own the story plot though, so make a note of asking us if you want to steal it. (Which in that case it would be borrowing!) We'd love to see other people do a crossover like this!

Chapter three:

"Why did they have to come along?" Richard grumbled aloud. "Its bad enough I'm stuck with you two."

He scowled, as he followed after the four high school students, Rachel walking alongside him, with Conan following slightly behind. "And if that's not enough, then I find out they don't even have enough money to pay!"

Rachel sighed. "Dad, we already promised we'd help find her. Besides, it's not like you have anything better to do. And I thought we all agreed that it would be better if they came with us when we went to meet the Higurashis. We don't want to alienate her family."

Richard started grumbling again, this time, his words incomprehensible.

Conan rolled his eyes, and ran to catch up to the others, who were walking much faster then himself.

They were all on their way to the Higurashi shine to talk with Kagome's family and try to figure out what they knew about her disappearance, and her boyfriend.

What Conan thought was weird was that her family wasn't the one who originally contacted them. "Maybe they do actually know where she is," he mused to himself. "But why wouldn't they want anybody else to know?"

He shook his head, and tried to clear his thoughts. "Maybe they don't want anybody to know about her boyfriend? He did sound kind of dangerous..."

He looked up to notice everybody had stopped. "Huh?"

"We're here," Eri announced, gesturing towards the shrine, where the name was engraved.

Richard groaned. "You've got to be kidding me! We have to walk up all these steps?"

"It's really not as bad as it seems," Hojo consoled. "You get used to it."

Richard sighed, and they started on the way to the top, where there was both the shrine itself, and the family residence. By the time they reached the top, Richard and Conan were winded, leaning over, and had to stop to catch their breath.

Rachel looked slightly concerned, but critical. "Serves you right, dad, for laying around all day, and not getting some exercise once in a while."

Richard was too tired and annoyed to reply, and while Conan and he were catching their breathe, Rachel, Hojo, and the others waited patiently.

After some time, they two stood up, and looked around. The shrine itself was fairly large. Off to one side there was a huge old tree, obviously of some importance, and further behind that there was an old well house. The shrine grounds where well maintained, and the house on the right of the shrine, was pleasant, but humble in the way that it wouldn't draw people away from the shrine.

It gave off an alluring aura, which seemed to lull people into a sense of security.

"The house is this way," Yuka directed, leading them through the shrine to the front of the house.

It was early afternoon, and the sunlight drifted through the trees, which moved placidly in the warm breeze, while they waited on the front step for someone to answer.

Impatiently, Eri knocked again, this time louder, and almost immediately after, the door opened to reveal a lovely middle-age woman, who was apparently Kagome's mother.

"Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, Hojo," She greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Well," Ayumi began hesitantly.

"We were wondering how Kagome's doing," Eri and Yuka said together.

"Have you seen her lately?" Hojo asked.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled softly, and shook her head slightly. "Kagome's not here at the moment. Is there something you wanted?"

"We were wondering if you knew Miss Kagome Higurashi's whereabouts," Richard cut it.

Mrs. Higurashi turned her attention to Richard, taking notice of him for the first time.

"Her whereabouts?"

"Yes, I'm a detective, and..."

Rachel interrupted. "I'm sorry to intrude, but could we ask a couple of questions? We're concerned about Kagome, and we want to make sure she's okay."

Mrs. Higurashi hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, inviting them in. "Why don't you all come in and make yourselves at home, I'll get some drinks, you must be thirsty from your walk over here."

The group filed into the house, Kagome's friends automatically heading for the living room, and finding a place to sit down. Rachel followed them, while Richard took a moment to thank Mrs. Higurashi for her time, before he, too, headed off into the living room.

Conan was the last to enter the house, and nodded politely to Mrs. Higurashi.

"Would you rather be with my son, Sota? He's a little bit older then you, but I'm sure that would be much more interesting then listening to us talk," Mrs. Higurashi offered.

"Sure," Conan smiled brightly, and Mrs. Higurashi went to get Sota.

Conan thought being with Kagome's younger brother might be a good opportunity to find out about her and her boyfriend. Younger kids had a tendency to blurt out things that weren't supposed to be known. Something that maybe the Higurashis were hiding. Something that maybe Mrs. Higurashi wouldn't tell them.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the arrival of Sota and Mrs. Higurashi, who waited a moment until they introduced themselves before retiring to the living room to her guests, with their drinks.

"Come on, I'll show you my room," Sota called out happily, dragging Conan behind him. "Isn't it cool?"

Conan studied the room for a moment. It was filled with games and action figures. Definitely the room of a twelve-year-old boy, or however old Sota was.

"Yeah, cool," Conan echoed, being polite.

"So why are you guys here anyway?"

"Kagome's friends were worried about her, 'cause they hadn't seen her in a long time," Conan replied straightforwardly. "They hired Detective Moore to find her."

Sota sighed a bit. "Sis is gone so long, I'm not surprised her friends got worried," Sota plopped himself on his bed.

"Why is she gone long? Is she with her boyfriend?" Conan asked, trying to be casually without sounding too eager.

"Boyfriend?" Sota blinked. "Oh, you must mean Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha?" Conan thought to himself. "That's an unusual name..."

"How can I help you?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, now that everybody was comfortable.

"Do you know where Kagome is?" Hojo asked bluntly.

Mrs. Higurashi paused a moment before answering. "I don't know exactly where Kagome is. But I'm sure she's safe."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

"IS she staying with her boyfriend?" Rachel asked.

"Boyfriend?" Mrs. Higurashi inquired, slightly confused. "Do you mean Inuyasha?"

"Inuyasha?" They all repeated stupidly.

"Yes," Mrs. Higurashi nodded. "But I don't think they're necessarily going out. At least not that I'm aware of..."

"But she's staying with him?" Yuka prodded.

"Yes,"

"And you don't know where they are? Do you have an address, some way of contacting him?" Richard questioned.

"I'm afraid not," Mrs. Higurashi admitted. "But he seemed like a very nice person, and I trust him to protect Kagome."

"You don't even know where he lives?" Rachel asked, slightly somber.

"I don't think Inuyasha really has a home. I haven't really had the opportunity to ask him," Mrs. Higurashi answered. "But I wouldn't worry about Kagome. She'll be fine."

"You aren't worried at all?" Eri asked incredulously.

"I trust Inuyasha will take care of her," Mrs. Higurashi stated firmly. "And anyway, she comes back to take her exams, doesn't she?"

"That's right!" Ayumi brightened up. "And there's one this Friday!"

"That's in two days!" Yuka exclaimed.

"Do you really think she'll be back?" Hojo questioned, still slightly concerned.

"I put a lot of faith in Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi explained, standing up, which signaled to the others that she was finished talking. "I'm sure she will."

"I want to show you this new game I got!" Sota exclaimed, jumping from his bed, and rummaging through his things. "Its really cool."

Conan humored Sota, and allowed him to drag him into playing against him, even though Conan didn't really play games at all, and Sota was creaming him.

"You're not really good at this, are you?" Sota laughed. "That's okay, neither is Inuyasha. Even though he's an actual hero. Kinda funny, isn't it?"

"Hero?" Conan blinked.

"Yeah, he's really cool, he actually goes around fighting demons and stuff."

"Really?" Conan asked, disinterested. He wasn't concerned with knowing useless information that was told. It sounded like Sota had been playing too many games, or maybe Inuyasha was into role-playing or something like that.

"Uhh, it's kind of hard to explain, but I think Kagome took a picture of him once. She has it in her room. Wanna see?"

"Sure,"

Sota led Conan into his older sisters room, careful not to disturb anything. He found the picture in her desk, and carefully took it out, handing it to Conan.

"That's Inuyasha?" Conan asked, skeptical.

Sota nodded. "Aren't his ears cool?"

Conan almost rolled his eyes. "Great," he thought to himself. "Inuyasha is some kind of role-play fanatic. That's going to be a lot of help."

Sota turned around when he heard his mother call for him. "Ack, we have to go."

Apparently, Mrs. Higurashi was done talking to Richard and the others.

"You should come over tomorrow, I can teach you how to do that combo I beat you with," Sota offered, accompanying Conan to the door.

"Sure," Conan replied, not at all sure he would. It all depended on how much Richard was able to find out.

After they left, Conan started thinking back on the conversation he had had with Sota. He wasn't sure he had learned anything useful. That, and he had those lovely stairs to walk down to look forward to. That wouldn't be fun.

He slowed down, not all in a hurry to reach the entrance. Maybe he could find a clue around the shrine?

He sighed, "Yeah, that's likely," he mumbled to himself. Out of the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw a light come from the well house.

"I must be imagining things," he muttered, running to catch up to the others.

He left before he had time to see the supposedly "lost" Kagome Higurashi slide open the door from the inside of that same well house, noticing the retreating forms of the visitors.

"I wonder what they were doing here?" she mused. "I guess I'll ask Mama. I can't wait to see her again."

She smiled to herself, carrying with her a gigantic bag that appeared to only be half full as she made her way up to the house.

A/N: There you go! Hope you enjoyed. We appologize for the long wait..

Anyway...

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