Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

Chapter Twelve

They had finally gone into the room were he smelled Kagome. It was empty. "What the? I could have sworn I smelled her go in here!"

"Well, apparently you were wrong." Miroku retorted angrily. Of course, anyone who had been as nervous as he was at the moment would be a little angry. He was nervous he couldn't find Kagome, and the fact that he couldn't do such a simple thing made him mad at himself.

"Don't give me any attitude! I will find her!" Inuyasha grabbed the boy again and jumped out of the building, onto another rooftop.

Inuyasha was on a rooftop. The wind was blowing softly, Miroku was babbling. "Would you shut up! Ka- Your friend could be hurt and I can't find her if you keep distracting me!" He yelled.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so distracting if I wasn't being held by the collar! I'm choking to death and just now I realize that you aren't trying to kill me or something!" Miroku yelled feverishly. 'Who is this whacko? This can't be Dogman...can it? This is the guy who saves little kids and fights off...HIM...is he really this mean?' Miroku was kicked out of his thoughts when he was tossed onto the roof. "Dammit! Did you have to drop me like that?" He yelled as he got up. He side was now sore. He could've sworn that Dogman didn't just drop him- but he pushed him as well. 'What's his problem?'

"Yes." Dogman answered shortly. 'For all I know...you could have caused Kagome to run away.' He sniffed the air. 'But I do know, that whether it was Miroku's fault that she ran away or not- someone else ahs her now.' He was panicked now. If someone actually took the time to capture her, what else would they do to her? Kagome never did anything to defend people so- so whoever took her must be cold blooded and careless about what harm they cause her.

"Smell anything?"

"What? No!"

"Chill out!" Miroku took a few steps away from Dogman. "She has perfume on tonight. It kind of smells like...hmm...flowers. Flowers and-"

"That's right! It smelled like flowers and vanilla!" (interesting smell ne?) Inuyasha sniffed the air again, searching for the scent he had forgotten about. 'Why did she have to try a new perfume the day she was kidnapped?' "Got it!" He called as a familiar scent entered his nostrils.

He grabbed Miroku's arm and jumped down the side of the building.

"Kyaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Miroku yelled as his legs almost hit the sharp edge of a porch. They were on an apartment complex and the homes had porches that protruded from the main building. He grabbed onto Inuyasha.

He was falling gracefully until the leach grabbed onto him...now he was part of a human pretzel and plummeting to the ground. "Kyahh!"

"Kyahh!" They both were yelling, even after they landed on the soft garbage bags in the large dumpster. Dogman was the first to realize they had stopped falling. 'We are sooo lucky.' He thought as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He then hit Miroku on the head. "Idiot! We already landed! Stop yelling!" Miroku opened his eyes for the first time and realized that the stranger was speaking the truth.

"Oh."

"What's that?"

"Huh?" Miroku felt Dogman's body stiffen against his.

"The neighbors heard us...and they're angry." Even Miroku could hear the footsteps approaching now. It didn't take a hanyou's hearing to hear the loud rumble.

"Shit." They replied in unison.

She had taken a short stop at work after dropping off the teenagers. The newspaper office, even at this time, was still loud. She could hear the clattering sounds coming from the typewriters. 'Do these people ever go home?' These people DID start work very early in the morning, and it was now nine at night.

She sighed as she walked up to her office...cubicle really. She had decided to take the stairs. A little exercise wouldn't hurt that much. Her steps echoed through the stair well as she made her way to the second story of the building. She was walking slower then she normally would have. It felt like it had been such a long day.

'Kagome looked so beautiful...and Miroku was just so handsome.' She thought innocently. The two really did make a cute couple. 'I hope that Inuyasha realizes what he's missing. It's obvious that Kagome feels strongly about him, though I'm not sure in what way exactly. Then the three of them can all be friends. That would be so nice, they all deserve it.' She sighed again as she exited the stairwell and walked towards her cubicle.

It was just as she had left it earlier that day, messy as hell. 'I should probably clean it sometime.' She thought to herself as she situated herself in her rolling chair.

She dug for a pencil in the mess of papers, earning herself a few paper cuts. "Ow." She whispered to herself. "Those things really do hurt after about five of them at once" She went towards her file drawer. 'I think I have a band aid in here...but it's been years since I've actually opened this drawer. She went to the bottom one.

It was true, she hadn't gotten to cleaning her 'office' so there were many places in the small space that she hadn't even touched for a long time. "Ah hah!" She found the 'ancient' box of bandages. She took one out and wrapped it on her ring finger where the most cuts were. "Well..." She was deciding whether or not to use another bandage on her other fingers. "Nah...this one was the only really bad one." She went to close the box, and something prevented it from closing.

"Hmm?" She looked at the box curiously. "Why isn't it closing." She lifted the cover of the box and noticed a piece of paper sticking out. 'Sheesh, I know I'm messy, but honestly! I put papers...no that's a picture in a band aid box." She took out the wallet sized picture from the box. "Wha?" She dropped the box.

She jumped back a bit. "Why do I still have a picture of Bankotsu?"

They had finally escaped from the angry neighbors.

"Hey Dogman." Miroku got out between gasps.

"What?" Asked Inuyasha as he sat on the edge of the roof.

"Why were you running from them anyways? The town loves you, they'd understand that you're trying to save someone."

"Well, " Inuyasha began. "It's not about them understanding. It's about me doing the right thing. I could boast to them about how I'm saving someone, but what will that help? The police...they won't help. She won't be considered a missing person until she's gone for a little longer, at least a day. Those people can't really do anything for her anyways. They'll just make noise and distract me."

"But wouldn't the police help if we both say we saw someone drag her off?" Miroku asked.

"There's a good chance that the police don't like me. Every time I'm in the news- I did something that they couldn't. The truth is, even though I've helped a few people, many will hate me."

"What if I said something?"

"You're just a teenager, they'll probably think you're just trying to cause them trouble."

Miroku was confused by the hero's reasoning.

"Well, what can we do?"

"We...can save her ourselves."

She tried to tear the picture, but she couldn't. No matter how much she despised him for the things he had done...she just couldn't. She still loved him. He had always been there for her. He had made her life so happy, That is...until he betrayed her. But betrayed sounded like such an evil word. Was she really betrayed? Or was she just lied to?

They had been engaged, she was in heaven, and the next things she knew, her brother had been killed. Sure, sure Bankotsu didn't kill Kohaku, but he helped. Was she just supposed to ignore that fact and live on? What was she to do?

Well what she did do was move, get a new house, a new job, a new life, and she was fine with that. Except she kept thinking about Bankotsu. His hair, his eyes, his voice. No matter what she changed in her life, her heart would always feel the same. She was empty. Sure, it is better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all, but wasn't it also better to be loved back at the same time? For those feelings to be mutual? She couldn't help but question their relationship. Did he not love her at all? Was he lying to her from the beginning? Or did he actually feel for her? And in that case, was he just offered something better than her love?

She shook her head. 'Sango! That part of your life is over now! Forget it!' She placed the picture back in the box, and threw it into the file cabinet. (No, Sango! Throw it away! You can do it!) She left her papers scattered in her cubicle and didn't bother to fix anything up, she then ran down the stairs rushing to go home.

But as she walked into the lobby, she heard hushed voices. And her reporter instincts sunk in and she rushed to over hear the conversation.

"Kanna, really? Stop saying that!" Sango recognized that to be Kagura's voice.

"Fine..." A much calmer voice replied, Sango assumed that was Kanna. "Oh, but did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Sango listened more closely to the excited whispers.

"About Dogman?"

"Dogman?" Sango whispered to herself.

"Dogman?" Asked Kagura.

"Yea, I heard he murdered someone."

"What? He's been front page news, how could I have not heard about that one?"

"Well, I heard it happened years ago."

"Years? But I thought he was new."

"Well, that's not what I heard."

"Well then, what did you hear? I want to know!"

"He murdered this kid, Kohaku um...Taiji I think."

"That sounds I lot like that writer, Sango's last name."

"You thought so too? Isn't it ironic though? She is publicizing her brother's murderer?"

"Well I guess that's what she gets for having one of the best stories of the past few years."

"That's awful Kagura! Don't say that!"

"Well, it's true! She's just a mediocre reporter, why should she get the front page stories? I mean, my cousin, Musou, he's been working for the Picayune years longer than she has, and he's never had front page news."

"Aww, whatever you say."

'So wait...Bankotsu didn't really murder to Kohaku?' Sango jumped to conclusions. 'I-I, He can, he's innocent. I ended it and that 'hero' framed him?' She was excited. Her past lover might not be guilty of what she had accused him of. 'B-but can this be true?' Her eyes glazed over.

If that was true, then she HAD been publicizing Kohaku's murderer. And if that was true, she COULD go back into Bankotsu's strong arms. It was true, all these years Sango needed him, or someone to help her. Her brother had dies, and with Bankotsu gone she had no one to lean on. But now, if that was true...she had her love back!

She walked off in a daze, not hearing the laughter coming from the two voices: "Ha! She actually believed it! I would have never guessed she was such an emotional wreck that she would believe it, but she did!"

He had finally tracked her scent down. She had to be in the warehouse, she had to. There was no way that she could be anywhere else now, no where else.

And now it was time to kick some serious ass!

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