A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. As always, thanks for your reviews and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Special thanks this chapter to ArtemisMoon whose reviews really helped me to get myself motivated. Also, thanks for pointing out a few continuity errors, which I will go back and fix eventually... Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and characters.

Chapter 16: Kaede Spills Some Info

Across the table, Kaede pushed back a strand of gray hair. Kagome leaned forward. "Inuyasha's been trying to talk to you for the past couple of days," she said.

"I know."

"Then you know why."

"Yes."

Shippo chose that moment to chime in. "I told her all about it." He hopped into Kagome's lap, causing her to jump slightly. She hadn't seen the small boy come into the kitchen.

Kagome studied the older woman. She was being unexpectedly cagey. "Is there some reason you don't want to talk to Inuyasha about it?"

Kaede sighed. "It's not that," she assured the teenager. "I do want to talk with him. It's just…it's hard to figure out where to start. And I want you to be there as well."

"Okay." Kagome agreed. "Then do you promise you'll talk with us after he gets back from work?"

"Yes," said Kaede.

"All right, Kagome, let's go!" said Shippo. "You promised you would take me to the park today, remember?"

"Right," said Kagome. She took Shippo's hand and walked out of the kitchen, pausing at the door to throw a glance at the woman who was sitting at the dinner table, her gray hair hiding her face.

And that was why Kagome found herself standing outside the Bellevue Hotel that evening at precisely 5:00.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Inuyasha looked up at the clock. About damn time, he grumbled, fighting the urge to slip his fingers up under the bellhop cap and scratch his ears. He slipped into the locker room to get rid of his nametag and sign out.

As Inuyasha entered the door marked "Staff Only" an elevator across the way opened. Kouga stepped out of it and on to the polished floor. He sniffed, there was something that smelled sort of familiar in the air. Before he was able to identify the odor, though, the revolving door began to spin.

Kouga, with the well-honed instincts of a government agent, whipped his head around to stare at the entranceway. Okay, perhaps well-honed instincts wasn't the right term. Maybe paranoia would be better. Or jumpiness. Or an irrational feeling that Inuyasha was about to blast through the door. Yeah, like that's gonna happen, he berated himself.

Although, on closer inspection, he was glad that his "instincts" had caused him to turn. The girl was petite, with long dark hair flowing down her back. She was wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, which, the instinctual part of his mind noted, was pleasingly snug. Not too tight, but definitely contour-fitting. He watched as she crossed the floor and stopped in front of the reception desk.

The voice of the receptionist when he greeted her came clearly across the foyer to Kouga's ears

"Hello, miss. How may I help you?"

"Oh, I was looking for someone."

"A guest here?"

"No, he just started working."

"Oh, you me—"

Before Myouga could finish his sentence, Kouga had crossed the room.

"Are you sure you weren't looking for me?" He asked, flashing his most debonair smile.

"Umm. No, actually. I was looking for a friend of mine who just started working here." Kagome looked up into the face of the guy who had just approached her. His blue eyes were twinkling down at her. She smiled, "Sorry."

"Well," he replied, "I'm sure next time you'll be looking for me." He stuck out a hand. "What's your name? I'm Kouga."

Kagome blinked. He certainly was forward, but hell, sometimes there was something to be said for a guy who approached openly, assuming he wasn't perverted. An image of Miroku flashed into her mind.

"I'm Kagome," she said, taking his hand.

"Well, Kagome, I figure this is probably fate. Why don't you forget about your friend and come have dinner with me?"

She stared at him a moment, a smile playing about her lips. "Are you serious? You don't even know me."

"I don't need to. That's what dinner is for."

Kagome just shook her head. "I guess I'm not quite as trusting as you then."

The eyes looking down at her were suddenly serious. "That's probably wise," Kouga agreed, solemnly. "You never know what type of person you're going to encounter here."

"That's true," Kagome agreed. She certainly hadn't expected to meet him. She glanced at the young man out of the corner of her eye. He was lounging against the reception desk, the sleeves of his dark jacket pushed up to show rather muscular forearms. There was something attractive about the serious expression that had just crossed his face, a piece of dark hair falling across his forehead.

"Well. I'm staying here for a while," Kouga told her. "Maybe if we run into each other again, we could have coffee at the hotel restaurant or something. Then we'll really know whether its fate or not." That ought to take care of her precautions, he told himself. After all, it wasn't like they would be leaving the building.

"Right," Kagome agreed, fully intending not to see him again. Not that he wasn't attractive in his own way, but right now, she sort of found herself going for more of the golden-eyed look. Also, she wasn't sure about the sketch-factor of going out with random guys who she happened to meet in hotel lobbies. He looked okay, nice suit and all, but you never knew.

"I'll see you around then." He said, waving a hand as he backed off. Okay, he hoped he hadn't pushed too hard there. Gauging it was a tricky business. Maybe he had worked the fate angle a little too hard? It was hard to tell with girls these days, and it had been a while since he had tried to pick up a random stranger. But there was just something compelling about her; her presence was soothing. He resisted the urge to look back as he crossed towards the exit. Time to focus on finding Inuyasha he told himself as he pushed through the revolving doors. "Now," he muttered to himself, "If I were a fugitive running from the long, handsome arm of the law, where would I go?"

As he stepped out into the light, he decided that first, probably, the fugitive would go for some food. Probably, most likely, at that little café that was just down the block. And of course, once he was there, he would have to sample the goods to help him in his quest to understand the mindset of the criminal.

Kagome watched Kouga's tall figure cross the room, a bemused expression on her face. Well. That didn't happen to her everyday. Behind her, a door marked "Staff Only" opened, and a well-known head stuck itself around the corner.

"Hey, Myouga, I think I've broken the damn time punch card thingie."

"Again?" Myouga grumbled.

Kagome jumped, slightly. "Inuyasha," she turned. "I was looking for you."

"Oh. Hey. What're you doing here?"

Behind the desk, Myouga chuckled. "Mostly she's getting hit on by tall, dark, handsome men."

Kagome blushed, and Inuyasha scowled. "What?" he demanded.

"Well," Myouga tipped his head to one side, considering, "Maybe not that tall."

Inuyasha's scowl grew. Damn girl, coming here and getting hit on. Didn't she know better than to talk to strangers? He was just about to open his mouth and ask her, when she interrupted him.

"Inuyasha, you ready to go?"

"Almost," he looked down at her, "I've just gotta get Myouga to fix the punch card thing."

"I can't believe you broke it again," Myouga tsked, as he hopped off his chair and led Inuyasha back into the staff room. "It's really very simple to use."

Half an hour later, Inuyasha and Kagome were finally on their way back to Kaede's. Kagome was being unusually silent, her thoughts skipping ahead to the conversation that they were about to Kaede. Inuyasha watched her suspiciously. Who had she been talking to before he got there to make her so silent?

"Oi, Wench."

"Hmmm?"

"Why'd you come to pick me up?"

"Oh," Kagome'd forgotten that she hadn't explained that to him yet. "Kaede said she would talk with us once we got back. I couldn't stand waiting around anymore, so I decided to come and get you."

This time it was Inuyasha who lapsed into thoughtful silence. So, Kaede was finally around to talk with, was she? His steps quickened, they'd better get there before she disappeared again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A rose-patterned curtain twitched back from the window above the sink. Shippo turned around. "They're here," he announced.

"Good," said Kaede. "That means that you can get down off the counter now."

"Okay," agreed the child, hopping off the counter and crossing the room to stand next to the older woman.

A few moments later, Inuyasha and Kagome entered the kitchen.

"So, you finally going to tell me all about what's going on here?" Inuyasha demanded, as soon as he saw Kaede's face.

"Inuyasha," hissed Kagome, "don't be rude."

Kaede motioned the two teenagers over to the table and offered them seats. "It's quite alright, Kagome," she said, "He is just a little bit anxious, that's all."

Inuyasha ignored the comment, in favor of pulling up a chair.

"Before I begin," Kaede said, "I just want you to know not to get your hopes up too high." She surveyed Inuyasha with a serious expression. "I mean, I know some stuff, but nowhere near all of the details."

"That's fine." Said Inuyasha. Anything she could tell him would be more than he already knew. Beside him, Kagome nodded silently.

"Alright. Well, as I am sure you have figured out by now, you are not the only one who survived the rebellion. There were those like Shippo," Kaede paused to gesture towards the little boy who was currently climbing into Kagome's lap, "Who were created after the rebellion."

"Why doesn't he have ears, too?" Kagome interjected.

Kaede frowned, "Well, he was born after the rebellion. By that time, the focus of the experiments had changed a little. The scientists decided that they wanted enhanced humans who could also pass easily into society. Thus, they tried to minimize any physical manifestations of the gene tinkering."

"But," Inuyasha interrupted, "His abilities can't be as good."

"No, they aren't," Kaede agreed. "He is limited by the humanity of his body, but his senses are still significantly better than a normal human's."

Shippo nodded from his position in Kagome's lap. "I have some other skills, too," he bragged.

"Hmph." Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, but let it pass. There would be plenty of time to go into his other "skills" later. Kagome could probably get it all out of him pretty easily.

"So they continued their experimentation even after the rebellion?" Kagome questioned.

"Yes, but with modifications. The main problem in the early days was the extent of the power of the enhanced humans."

"But are there any other early ones left?" Inuyasha leaned forward in his chair. "What happened to everyone in the rebellion?"

Kaede stood up to get a glass of water, sighing as she did so. She spoke from the sink, glancing back over her shoulder. "Most of the active participants were…gotten rid of. If not immediately eradicated, they were taken care of quietly as the years passed. Some who didn't actively take part, such as yourself, were spared and kept in isolation. Those who sided with the government were also spared. And…" Here she paused again, gripping her glass and turning back to the table. She looked Inuyasha straight in the eye. "The leader of the rebellion was captured and has not, yet, been killed. But he, I hear, is kept even more closely watched than all of you who did not take sides."

Inuyasha inhaled sharply. So. He was not alone, and many of them were still around, some even integrated fully into the human world. He didn't quite know what to do with the sudden onslaught of information.

"But where is everyone?" Kagome asked. "Inuyasha was kept in isolation, but it sounds like," she gestured vaguely at Shippo, "That was not the case with everyone?"

"That's very true," Kaede agreed. "And Inuyasha was probably kept especially isolated due to the relationship between him and the leader of the rebellion. But I really don't know what they did with everyone else." She frowned briefly. "Even Miroku doesn't seem to know."

"What're you saying about me?" A cheerful voice called from across the kitchen. Inuyasha, demonstrating, once again, his unnatural quickness, was out of the chair and halfway to the door before he got a good look at the man who had spoken.

"Oh, it's just you," he grumbled.

"Good to see you, too, Inuyasha," Miroku smiled. Sango poked her head around the corner and smiled too.

"Ah," Kaede stood. "I wondered if you would be by."

"Well," Sango smiled somewhat apologetically, "It seems that they have moved the main area of investigation into the city."

She turned to Inuyasha, "Have you managed to get work yet?"

"Yeah. I'm working as a …" Before he could finish his sentence, Shippo flew out of Kagome's lap. He looked back at her accusingly.

"Sorry," she sighed, before easing herself back into the chair that she had flown out of a moment before. Sango shot a glance at her partner, but he was standing innocently by Kaede. Yeah right. Like that innocent look was fooling anyone. The only part she didn't get was how he could move so quickly sometimes.

"Anyhow," Kagome decided to join the conversation, "Yeah. He is working, but I was thinking maybe we should cut his hair. And dye it."

"What!" Inuyasha stared at her, aghast.

Sango nodded. "Mmm. I see your point. The hair is pretty conspicuous."

"What the fuck makes you think I'll let you near my head with a pair of scissors?" Inuyasha said.

Kaede smiled. "Well, I can see that you four have some catching up to do. Come on Shippo." The two left the room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was only after Sango and Miroku had left that Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "We never did get around to telling them about your job," she said.

"Well, they said that they were staying at some hotel nearby and we've got their number. I'm sure we'll see them again soon," he mumbled from his position on the sofa.

"I suppose you're right," said Kagome, pulling the blankets more securely around her. After a moment of silence, she giggled. "After all, we still haven't resolved the issue of your hair…"

Inuyasha groaned and buried his head deeper into his pillow.