Author's Notes: As I write this, I had promised myself that I would be work on Chapter 13 of Lights, Camera, Action!, but I got really caught up in the idea for this chapter and knew that if I didn't write it down, I would lose it. Some of you might be annoyed with me, but to be fully honest, when writing you just have to go with what works. You can't force these. If you want them to not suck, that is.

-x-

Dawn of a New Age

Chapter 4- Discovery

The weekend went by quickly. Inuyasha was amazed by how far technology had progressed in fifty years. Though it seemed humans hadn't moved ahead much further than they had in 1983. He was a little disgusted to hear about what was happening in Africa. At first, he wasn't sure what they meant by "ethnic cleansing," but Kagome had explained to him that it was just a fancy term for genocide. That word Inuyasha recognized. He remembered Sesshoumaru and Koga being sent to the Middle East in '81 for that very purpose. It didn't pan out, though. They were back at headquarters in a month.

Humans were just stupid. They had the ability to make all these great things like movies, heavy metal, and ramen noodles, but all they ever wanted to do was find new ways to kill each other. He may not have been very bright, but even Inuyasha knew that the only two valid reasons for killing were to eat or keep from being eaten. And when you were at the top of the food chain, there wasn't a whole lot of need to keep from being eaten.

Still, Kagome seemed different. It seemed not all doctors were bad. Just the surgeons at the Project. She wanted to help people, fix them when they were sick and wounded. She said that doctors were supposed to help and heal, never harm. Someone should have told those bastards that. The night after he had fallen asleep with Kagome, Inuyasha had woken up to nightmares of his experiences on the cold steel tables, blades closing in on him.

The strange thing was, when he had woken up, he had wanted to go to Kagome and hear her voice. That had never happened before. There was just no way he could explain his reactions around her.

Except maybe lust. His mind still burned with memories of that morning. Her curvy form resting against his. His arm wrapped around her slender waist. Her petite hands spread out over his bare chest. It had only been maybe a second before he realized the situation he was in and tried to scramble away. But it was enough time for his erection to form. He had tried to hide it. What would Kagome think if she saw that? Maybe she had, since she had seemed like she was in such a rush to get to the bathroom and away from him. She must have been disgusted by the idea of a creature like him lusting after her.

A couple hours later, though, everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be when you only had known someone for a day prior. And that's what brought him to today. They were going clothes shopping. Kagome had given Inuyasha a pair of sweat pants that were a size too small, one of her over-sized T-shirts, a pair of flip-flops, and a baseball cap. He couldn't help but feel like an idiot, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was because all the humans he had seen in the brief time that they had been outside dressed a lot differently. But it wasn't like it mattered right now.

Inuyasha continued staring out the window for a while as Kagome drove. He wouldn't admit it, but he was feeling a little nervous about this. She had warned him that the mall would be really crowded. She would do all the talking and he just had to let her know if he approved of her choices. Seemed simple enough, but at the same time Inuyasha was really not looking forward to it.

They arrived in the mall parking lot, and Inuyasha immediately felt the alarm bells in his head go off. If there was only one human to each of these cars, the place would still be filled with them! What was so fascinating about these places that drew so many humans to them? Inuyasha climbed out of the car with Kagome and took a moment to steel himself up for this.

"Just stay cool," Kagome said reassuringly. She took his clawed hand in her own petite one and smile softly causing Inuyasha to look away before the blood had a chance to rush into his face. "Just follow my lead and don't make eye contact with anyone else. Like I told you before, some people don't like scions that much and your hair and eyes are a dead give-away." She had explained before that psions sometimes manifested unusual traits such as exotic hair and eye colors.

Inuyasha just nodded as they walked to the mall. Apparently psions didn't have it too easy these days. There was a lot of discrimination and not many laws to protect them. They didn't even legally count as humans because of their mutated DNA. That certainly didn't help things. All Inuyasha could do was hope they didn't run into any of the people Kagome had described. It wasn't that he was afraid of them. After all, he was a Moreau; genetically superior to humans. No, he was more worried about Kagome. If they saw she was a psion, they would try to hurt her. And if anyone laid a single hand on her, Inuyasha swore that he would break every bone in their body, tear their limbs off, and then if they were lucky, he would let them die.

He wasn't sure why he was being so protective of Kagome, but there was no time for thinking about that. The double-glass doors opened on their own and Inuyasha was assaulted by a deluge of sounds and smells that threatened to overwhelm him. There were obnoxious digital sounds; the cries of babies; the shrill voices of children; the endless babbling of teenagers; the incessant droning of adults; the pounding of hundreds, possibly thousands of footsteps; the splashing of a fountain... It was enough to make his head spin.

And then the smells. Food, body odor, colognes, perfumes, scented soaps and shampoos, sweat, vomit, small animals, and the myriad of individual personal scents belonging to each human in the building. It was a major sensory overload. The tests in the Project had shown that Inuyasha was capable of sniffing out a single apple hidden in a thousand kilos' worth of onions with only the slightest bit of difficulty. But this time it wasn't the difference between onions and apples he was trying to process. This time it was thousands upon thousands of smells that hit him in one huge wave. Good thing he had a strong stomach.

"Inuyasha," Kagome started with concern in her voice, "are you okay?"

Inuyasha swallowed once and kept his eyes to the ground. "I'm fine. But this place smells like wet ass." Among other things.

"That's the problem with compressed humanity," Kagome said as if admitting to an unpleasant truth. Which wasn't that inaccurate, really. "We'll make this quick."

Inuyasha allowed himself to be guided through the mall, trying to avoid looking at the swarms of humans around him. He had never been out in the open like this before. So many scents, so many bodies, so many faces. And the feeling of millions of eyes on him. It was enough to make his skin crawl.

Their first stop was a large store with obnoxiously bright fluorescent lighting. Kagome seemed to know where she was going at first, but when they reached the section with a big sign over it saying "MEN'S DEPARTMENT" she looked a little unsure. "Now let's see," she said as she went to a large rack of blue pants that Inuyasha had seen the soldiers wearing when off-duty. He thought he had heard them called "jeans" once. "Good, these are on clearance. Hold still, for a second." She took one pair off the rack and held them up to Inuyasha's legs.

He felt his face flush again, but decided to try real hard to make sure all the blood stayed up there instead of going to his crotch. Her hands her so close, but he tried not to think about it. It would be way too awkward if he suddenly got an erection here where neither one of them had any place to run.

Inuyasha was greatly relieved when she removed her hands. "Okay, these look about right. Let me just get a couple pairs and we'll move on..."

The next stop made Kagome blush this time. "UNDERGARMENTS" the sign said. One look at the shelves and Inuyasha immediately figured out what had her so nervous. She was approaching the section hesitantly, trying to avoid eye contact with Inuyasha. He couldn't help but feel a little amused by that. She must not have had much experience with men's clothes. Maybe her embarassment at being in this section meant she was a virgin. He couldn't help but wonder what her love life had been like. She was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But maybe being a psion had scared other men away from her?

Inuyasha shook his head to clear his mind of those thoughts. This was not getting him anywhere. He looked to see Kagome looking through a display of cotton shorts before holding up a pair like she had done before, but much more hesitantly. She quickly pulled her hand back and grabbed a couple packs of that kind. "Close enough," she muttered quickly.

"What next?" Inuyasha asked in a low voice.

Kagome also grabbed two packs of socks and headed back toward the counter they had passed on the way into the store. "We're going somewhere else to get you some shirts and a couple things for your head." She quickly paid for the items at the front desk while the wrinkly lady at the register kept giving Inuyasha funny looks. She must have thought he was suspicious. Unfortunately, they scientists at the Project had never intended to have him move around in public very much, so he tended to stand out a bit.

It was a relief to be out of there, even if it meant going back into the sea of humans and their nauseating body odors and artificial smells. When one group of giggling teenage girls passed them, the scents coming off of them were obviously fake. They were also very powerful. Kagome scrunched up her nose in distaste, but Inuyasha felt like he was about to vomit. This merely bolstered his opinion that humans were stupid. They were so unhappy with their own scents, that they drowned them in something even worse.

Kagome eventually lead Inuyasha to another store with a big neon sign over it that said "FEEDBACK." "I figure this is a good store for you," Kagome explained. "It has all kinds of retro stuff from the late 20th century. Believe it or not, people are still into that stuff and... oh no!"

Inuyasha followed Kagome gaze into the gaudy store to see three girls about Kagome's age who all looked up at the same time and smiled, looks of recognition on their faces. Inuyasha smelled a huge awkward moment coming up.

"Kagome!" they all cried out in unison and rushed toward them. Yup. Huge awkward moment coming up.

"Hey, guys," Kagome said a little nervously.

The three girls immediately focused their attention on Inuyasha. "Who is this?" one asked curiously.

"Ooh, he's cute," remarked another.

"Is he your new boyfriend?" asked the third.

Inuyasha pulled the bill of the cap down further and Kagome turned beat red. "No!" she exclaimed, letting go of his hand with a soft squeak of surprise and embarassment. "This is Inuyasha. He's..."

"I'm from out of town," Inuyasha answered. He remembered overhearing the instructions given to the Moreaus allowed to go into the outside world. His situation was a little different but he could probably fake it. "I'm staying with Kagome for a while until I can get settled in." That was basically the story that Koga was supposed to give if ever cornered.

Kagome looked at him, a little surprised by his reply. "Uh, Inuyasha, these are my friends. This is Yuki, Eri, and Ayumi."

Inuyasha just nodded at their bubbly hellos. He really wanted to get out of here. Now. He did not like the way they were looking at him. At least when Kagome had been staring at him, she had the sense to blush. With these three he felt like their eyes were trying to undress him. Not a pleasant feeling.

"By the way, Kagome," Eri said, "what's with his clothes? Is he doing laundry today or something?"

Kagome just giggled nervously. "Y-yeah. Also, some of his luggage got lost, so I'm helping him shop for some new clothes."

Eri and Yuki just nodded, buying the story, though Ayumi looked a little skeptical. Thankfully, she didn't say anything though.

"Anyway, we can meet up later," Kagome said. "I still have a ton of things to do today." She hurried her way through the good-byes, practically shoving her three friends out of the store.

Inuyasha heaved a sigh of relief. He had refused to budge while those three were in his presence. It was not an experience he cared to repeat. "Are they always like that?" Please say no, please say no, please say no...

"Kinda," Kagome answered. Damn. "They're all a little flirty, but Eri... I think she considers men a legitimate hobby. Ayumi is the one with some sense. For a second I was worried she wouldn't by your story. That was some pretty quick thinking, by the way."

Inuyasha just looked off to the side and grunted. "Keh."

Kagome rolled her eyes at him and began to cruise the aisles with Inuyasha in tow. She picked out a half-dozen shirts with short sleeves, one that buttoned down the front, two with long sleeves, and a cap and a bandana. When they got up to the counter, she also grabbed a pair of glasses with dark lenses. She paid for everything quickly, this time not having to worry about the cashier. Judging by his red eyes, he was probably another psion like her.

"One last stop to make," Kagome said as they left the store. "We need to get you a pair of shoes."

That ended up being a long and tedious process. Inuyasha didn't like shoes. They felt restricting. Of course, he had never worn any footwear other than slippers his whole life, so that made some sense. It took almost an hour before he just decided to concede defeat on this one. Kagome was quite insistent on him getting shoes. It seemed that a lot of public places insisted on them. Seemed kind of stupid, but whatever.

As soon as he had settled on a pair that he could tolerate, Kagome once more began herding him to where ever she wanted to go next. "We'll duck into a department store and you can get changed," she explained as they went into one of those really big stores like the first one. She steered him toward an area labeled "DRESSING ROOMS" and foisted a pair of jeans, a pack of socks and those cotton shorts, a T-shirt, and his new shoes on him. "Here. Go into one of those rooms and change into those. I'll wait out here.

Inuyasha just grunted and complied. He decided to get this over with quickly. The shoes presented a small challenge in the laces. He had seen the way the guards laced up their boots, but he had never thought to try it himself. In the end, he just tied the laces in a small knot and stuffed the ends under the tongue. This way it was a little loose and much more comfortable.

"You almost done?" Kagome asked patiently from the other side of the door.

"Just need a hat." A moment later, the baseball cap she had bought him sailed over the edge of the door which he deftly caught. He pinned his ears down and stuffed the cap over his head. It was still a little uncomfortable, but it was better than being discovered in public.

Inuyasha pulled the latch and stepped out. He looked to Kagome to see if it met with her approval. She looked him up and down a couple of times, that appreciative glint coming into her eyes once more. Her friends, he could sort of see it. They didn't know what he was. But she had seen him without the hat. When she had explained her ability to read her auras, he thought for sure she knew by then that he wasn't natural. So why was she giving him those looks? She was so beautiful she could probably have any man she wanted for a mate. Why was she wasting her time looking at him like that?

"Pretty sharp," Kagome commented with a grin. "Do you want to get something to eat before we leave?"

Before Inuyasha could answer, his stomach growled in answer. "Assume that was a 'yes,'" he grumbled. He had seen people act embarrassed when that happened. But he couldn't understand why. It was a perfectly normal reaction to being hungry. Of course, humans seemed unusually up-tight about their bodily functions in general anyway.

Taking his hand once more, Kagome took him to a large open space filled with tables that reminded Inuyasha of the guards' dining hall. Except the food here smelled a lot better. "Is pizza, okay?" Kagome asked off-handedly as she looked around at the various little alcoves with bright signs and people serving food.

"Is what-now, okay?" What was she talking about?

"Pizza," Kagome said, obviously not getting it.

"What's that?" Inuyasha asked, a hint of impatience entering his voice.

Kagome looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I swear for every one of my questions about you that gets answered, another two pop up. But we'll worry about that later." She lead the two of them over to a table and set the bags of clothes down. "Just wait here. Try not to get in any trouble, okay? I'll be back in a minute."

Before Inuyasha could make a crack about getting into trouble, Kagome had already taken off. What was he going to do with her? Then again, what would he have done without her? Would he have ever gotten out of the stasis pod? And if he did, what were the odds that he would meet someone like Kagome who would try to help him without pitying him? Slim to none, really. He really hated to admit it, but he depended on her.

Still... given the choice, Inuyasha would probably choose her over any other option. He may have been dependent on her to survive in this future world, but at least she didn't treat him like an idiot or a lapdog or something. He owed her more than he could give with just the simple acts of kindness she had already shown him, and yet she acted as if he owed her nothing. He had heard of altruism, but he didn't think it existed anymore. Kagome just proved him wrong.

Inuyasha continued on with that train of thought for a moment before Kagome came back with a square cardboard box, out of which seeped a mouth-watering smell. She set it on the table and opened it up to reveal a large, circular thing that at once looked unappetizing and downright irresistible. Weird how that actually made sense in his head.

"Help yourself," Kagome beamed. "I'm not very hungry, so I'll just take a slice."

Inuyasha took one piece for himself. He paused a moment to inspect it before taking a bite. The instant his jaws closed, he knew that this pizza had the nutritional value of a bowl of grease. And for some reason that just made it all the more delicious. Within three minutes, he had wolfed down half the pizza. He glanced up at Kagome to see her giving him a strange look. He swallowed a mouthful and shrugged. "What?"

"Did you actually taste any of that?" she asked, slightly in awe.

"Yeah. Do you think we could have some more of this for dinner?"

"Tomorrow night, maybe," Kagome said as she shook her head lightly with a soft smile. "I was going to order some Chinese tonight."

Inuyasha just nodded. "Where's the bathroom?"

Kagome pointed over toward a corner of the pavilion. "Men's room is over there. As soon as you're done we should get going."

"Right," Inuyasha answered. "I won't be long." With that he stood up and proceeded to the bathroom. The smell was quite overpowering. Apparently, a couple people didn't know how to flush, and a few didn't know what toilets were for. Worse, the chemicals used to clean this place were still giving off fumes that made his head spin. He decided to get this done with and get the hell out of there.

On his way out, Inuyasha felt a warning bell go off in his head when he saw some strange human sitting beside Kagome, the latter of whom looked exceptionally uncomfortable. A growl started in the back of his throat and he started to stalk up to the table, the conversation soon becoming audible.

"Oh come on, babe. I'm clean." If his scent was any indicator, that human was lying his ass off about that.

"No! Get the hell away from me." Kagome knew what this guy wanted. And she seemed thoroughly disgusted with him. Inuyasha couldn't help but feel a flicker of amusement at that. "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"A very beautiful one. One who really should have a good man in her life." If he was lucky, Inuyasha would let him die. But at the moment, things didn't look nearly so bright.

"You have exactly five seconds to leave before I call the police," Kagome said with finality.

"No need," Inuyasha snarled as he came up to the table. He glared darkly at the pervert sitting next to her, rinkling his nose in disgust at his greased up hair. "She said 'no.'"

The man obviously wasn't as stupid as he looked, because the scent of fear was very noticeable on him. Inuyasha knew very well that he struck a very intimidating presence when he tried.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked, uncertainty clearly laced in his voice.

"None of your damn business," Inuyasha snarled. "Leave."

The man's look of fear turned to one of disgust. "You're a psion. How'd you manage to bone a girl like her, hypnosis?"

Inuyasha saw from the corner of his eye that Kagome was on the verge of castrating the dumbass. Shame she wasn't as fast as him. Inuyasha snapped a hand out and grabbed the man by his collar. In a moment of panic, he whipped his hands about trying to escape from the Moreau. But Inuyasha simply pulled him forward into a hard kneestrike to the stomach before tossing him back onto the ground. He felt the eyes of people around them on him and that's when it registered. His hat was gone!

Inuyasha quickly pinned his ears to his head and looked around frantically for his hat before he felt Kagome jam it over his head. "Let's get out of here!" she whispered desperately. Grabbing his hand and the bags, they ran toward the exit. Inuyasha could hear the sounds of footfalls in pursuit behind them and scooped Kagome up into his arms and took off at full speed, easily outstripping the pathetic humans. He paused only long enough for the sliding doors to open for him and made for the car. "Open it! Now!"

Kagome looked at him in awe for a moment as he put her down before nodding and opening the car. They both ducked in and proceeded to take off out of the mall parking lot.

Once they were out of sight of the massive structure, Kagome heaved a sigh of relief. "I didn't know you could move like that," Kagome said.

Inuyasha just shrugged. "One of my powers." For the time being, he figured it was better to allude to the idea that he was just another psion rather than a Moreau. It wasn't a lie so much as it was just not being specific.

The ride continued in silence until they reached the apartment building. They were about to go inside when a purple car like Kagome's pulled into a vacant space and a dark-haired man jumped out. "Hey, wait!" he called out.

Inuyasha turned to face him, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. There was something about this guy that he didn't like but it was hard to place. Kagome seemed a little edgy around him too. "Have we met?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, no we haven't. My name is Miroku Yamashita."

"You mean the reporter?" Kagome asked incredulously. "You're that Miroku Yamashita?"

"Last time I checked," Miroku said with a small grin. His expression then turned serious. "I saw you two at the mall. I saw your... companion without his hat."

Inuyasha tensed up. He was ready to spring on Miroku if he tried anything. But the question the man asked caught him completely off-guard.

"You wouldn't by any chance know anything about a... Project: Moreau... would you?"

-x-

Kagome bit her lip nervously as she brought the coffee out into the living room. Miroku was sitting in the recliner and Inuyasha sat on the couch, watching the other man like a hawk. She sat down next to Inuyasha and sent him a reassuring look. She was beginning to get the idea that something big was about to happen. Miroku Yamashita was one of the world's most famous investigative reporters. He had a penchant for uncovering human rights violations and corporate scandals. That had probably made him a lot of enemies and a lot of friends in his days. It was surprising that he was so young, though. He must have been in his late twenties at the very oldest.

"Thank you," he said graciously as he accepted the mug of coffee. He sipped slowly on it. "Would one of you like to start, or should I?"

"First, I just want to know what this Moreau thing is," Kagome said bluntly.

"Very well," Miroku sighed. "Where to start... I was doing an investigation on discrimination against psions in rural areas when I came upon the Kabori family. They looked like psions at first, but I got the feeling there was more to them than met the eye after a while. That was when I saw their son, Shippo. He had triple-jointed legs ending in small paws and a fluffy tail."

Kagome blinked once. Was he telling the truth? "W-what happened?"

Miroku took a sip of coffee before proceeding. "Since I had seen their son so clearly, they knew that I wouldn't leave until I got answers. It was hard convincing them to trust me, though. In the end they told me that they and all the others on their ranch were refugees from a thing called Project: Moreau. Over the next few days, I worked with them to dig up information to fill in the gaps in their story. This is what I've figured out so far:

"Project: Moreau began in the spring of 1944. As it turns out, the Nazis really were experimenting with a supersoldier program. They were trying to take what they believed to be the superior genes of the Aryan race and elevate them to a level of perfection that surpassed the point nature had stopped at. Bullshit, really. All the genetic superiority crap was discredited in the mid-twentieth century.

"Anyway, the Project was meant as a foil to the Nazis attempts at making a supersoldier. It was spearheaded by a young Japanese surgeon who had defected to the United States named Naraku Tanaka. His work was based on finding the common elements in the DNA strands between humans and other animals so that they could be bonded. The resulting lifeform would be stronger as a result of the synergy and removal of genetic flaws. It was pretty groundbreaking work for the times, but it was so out there it never got any kind of recognition. But the government was desperate. So they allowed him to form Project: Moreau."

Miroku paused once again and Kagome took a sip of her coffee to try and ease her tension. Inuyasha sat still as a statue beside her. "What happened in the project?" she asked after a moment.

Miroku looked up at him and her. Despite the fact that this was a serious situation, he seemed to be giving her some very appreciative looks. His aura clearly showed a kind of lust, though it was nothing like that jerk at the food court. Still made her feel uncomfortable though. She cleared her throat to try and get Miroku to focus.

"Anyway," he said went on, as if nothing had happened, "the Project persisted even after World War II ended. Doctor Tanaka was quite persistent. And then, in 1949, they had their first success. It was a human/ape hybrid, the first of the Moreaus. In 1950, they created two more. It was one string of successes after another from there on, always experimenting with new species. In the 60's, they began working with canine DNA such as dogs and wolves. I'm guessing that's where Inuyasha here came from?"

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha who just closed his eyes and looked down. "1964, experiment 027, Group C," he said mechanically.

64-027-C. The tattoo. So that was what that meant. He was branded like a piece of property. Kagome couldn't help but feel her heart go out to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and immediately felt him begin to relax a little.

Inuyasha heaved a sigh before continuing. "I wasn't the first. Group C was the third batch of Moreaus out of five that were part of the twenty-seventh experiment of that year. The other twenty-six had failed. I guess making dog, wolf, and bear Moreaus was harder than making ape ones."

Miroku nodded once before speaking. "From what I understand, they were created to be scouts, trackers, and shock troops. They were the first Moreaus to be given DNA from early psions. This is when the Project really went into full swing. And where the details get kind of foggy.

"Apparently, the US government decided to terminate the Project in 1984 when they discovered that Doctor Tanaka had been getting extra funding and going behind the inspectors' backs for over a decade by selling the services of the Moreaus as mercenaries to any party who could pay his exorbitant fees. The assassinations of several political figures in Eastern Europe and the Middle East were eventually linked to Project: Moreau, as well as a handful of massacres, unsolved murders, and so on and so forth." Miroku pursed his lips a moment.

"The only problem was that when the CIA was sent in to shut the Project down and exterminate the Moreaus, they found its headquarters abandoned... Doctor Tanaka has not been seen or heard from since. But there are still occasional sightings in particularly volatile regions of the world that have lead the government to suspect the presence of Moreaus in their old mercenary role. The most recent of which being in North Africa."

Kagome took a deep breath and looked to Inuyasha as all of this information sank in. So that was it. He must have faced pretty cruel treatment while in the Project if it made him so closed off and distant. It certainly explained why he seemed so naive to the outside world. She could only begin to imagine the kind of things he had seen, though. Even with Miroku's scant details, she already had a few ideas of just what went on behind the closed doors at headquarters. It probably had something to do with his distrust of doctors as well.

A part of her felt like it was being wrenched out. The very thought of the things that this Doctor Tanaka had done made her stomach turn. She didn't know why exactly, but she was certain he was probably one of the most vile people to walk the earth. Fortunately, it was doubtful that he was still alive. He'd easily be over a hundred years old by now.

But if the Project was still around... what did that mean for Inuyasha? Would they try to take him back if they found him? Would they put him back into that stasis pod? It didn't really matter, because Kagome decided then and there that she wouldn't let them do anything to him. He deserved to be free.

"I was hoping that your friend..." Miroku started again. "Inuyasha, was it? That Inuyasha could shed a little more light on what happened to the Project. And perhaps explain to me why you look so young for someone who should be in his late sixties or early seventies."

Inuyasha just blinked once slowly, seeming to think about it. "They put me in suspended animation in 1983," he said, his voice coming out a hoarse whisper as if he'd just finished crying. "I just woke up last week."

"I see," Miroku said. He took another sip of his coffee and watched the Moreau closely for a moment. "And what can you tell me about the Project while you were... conscious?"

There was another long pause before Inuyasha finally looked away from the floor and out the window. "I don't wanna talk about it right now," he said flatly.

Kagome felt that wrenching sensation again. It was her heart. Inuyasha must have felt like he was finally free from the Project and now he found out that there was a strong possibility that it was still around. He looked like a small boy who had his first dream crushed and ruined. Tears burned her eyes at the thought of what he must have gone through and was going through now. No one deserved this.

Miroku seemed to pick up on the tension in the air and he stood up, leaving his unfinished mug on the coffee table. "I'll leave you my contact information," he said softly. "I'm determined to find out everything about Project: Moreau and put a stop to it. I'll leave you the contact information for the Kabori ranch as well. They can fill you in on the rest of the details about what happened to the Project around the turn of the millennium and how they escaped. I'll drop by if I find out anything else."

A small business card floated down onto the coffee table as Miroku turned on his heel and quietly left. Once they were alone, Kagome turned back to Inuyasha. She moved closer to him and he turned his back to her, tensing up. She could understand why he was being so distant right now, but the urge to comfort him was stronger than the urge to just leave him be and sort things out. Kagome slipped her arms down over his shoulders and leaned against him lightly.

Everything was still for a moment before one of his clawed hands tentatively took hold of one of hers. His tension melted slightly, but there was still enough to show that he knew this problem wouldn't just go away. Sooner or later, he was going to have to confront Project: Moreau for his freedom. But Kagome silently promised him that she wouldn't let him fight this battle alone. She just couldn't.

-x-

Author's Notes: I really shouldn't be up this late. But I am anyway. I'm going to have to take a break from writing for a few days to catch up on the rest of my assignments. God, I'm so irresponsible.

Anyway, onto the reviewers...

Mimiko: I'm hoping to get better characterization for Miroku in the next chapter. Don't take this one as the standard. And speaking of zodiacs, I found it kind of weird that my Chinese zodiac is eerily accurate, far more than Scorpio.

Father Malvado: Lars Ulrich is the wanker-I-mean-drummer for Metallica, and Verne Troyer was Mini-Me. Anyway, college-age women you say? Think you could put in a good word, eh, eh?

Xthe stranger withinX: I must admit I've never had one of my stories described as WAH.

SilverMyste: Good to know I'm progressing as a writer. If this story didn't measure up to the beginnings of LTMBYM or LCA! in its first few chapters, then I would know that I was doing something wrong.

Izayoi: Another double-review. The site does not want to behave, does it?

Magellan-chan: Moreau is French. It's pronounced "mor-ROW." And late last night, I came up with a really hokey mnemonic: the story about Project:Moreau is "more-au." That's bad, real bad, I know. Anyway, Sango and Miroku will be strong supporting characters in this of course. It took some time for me to figure out what I wanted them to be and do in this story, but I think you'll be relatively pleased. As for Shippo, I decided to keep him a kid this time, try something different. That's all you're going to get.

Mukyuu Tenshi: Read "The Island of Doctor Moreau" and you'll see the significance of the name.

bluefuzzyelf: You guessed right. The full details will be disclosed over the next few chapters with a few surprises here and there down the road.

InuGoddess: I figured a darker, more realistic tone was needed for this story and sexual tension really lends itself to that sort of feel.

Vamps: (sobs) Yes, I know it's short, but I ask that you please bear with me. I don't like writing excessively long chapters, and I have to balance my writing with schoolwork. I thank you all for your interest and ethusiasm, but please give me some time and breathing room.

Cynical Chaos: I never saw the movie, but the book was probably better anyway.

Decrescendo: Believe it or not, I haven't read Transcending a Dynasty yet and I had the first chapter of this story written and posted before I read The Price of Freedom. And if anyone accuses me of plagiarism for the use of the word "psion," I'm going to kindly direct them to the official website for Wizards of the Coast so they can see exactly where I picked up the word. Anyway, you're right: Aragorn is cooler. I may be biased though because I look a little like him. I don't really have the whole "Man of Gondor" look, but everyone else seems to think so.