Author's Note: Hello again everyone. Here is the latest chp. Enjoy and review please. LOL! Thanks to all you wrote your kind words of praise for this humble story. I loved it.

Oh, yes! I almost forgot. I don't own Inuyasha.

CHAPTER 2: Romeo

He had fallowed her when she first tried to escape him, but he found her. Then he punished her. The punishment had always been the same, and today would be no different. He unlocked his trunk of his car in the darkness of the University's parking lot. There was still three hours before the twilight hours would come over the snow capped mountains gracing the fair city of Tokyo with another cold fall day. He peered into the trunk and looked at the pitiful lifeless figure inside. She, Yuri, hadn't been able to satisfy the beast, and so she paid with her life. Yuri wasn't Kagome. He had been foolish to think the woman could compare to cure this hollow pit within his meaningless existence. No, he shook his head. No one can replace the object of his obsession. 'Kagome,' he thought 'look what you made me do. You spoiled me for any other women.' He scooped the body up and started walking. 'Only you Kagome.' He mused. 'Only you will be able to sooth this savage beast within.'

He found the perfect spot. It was just a few yards off of the dormitory that Kagome was living at. There was no way she would be able to miss his gift for her. This gift was a penance. He had paid for his sins, and this was proof. Kagome had to forgive him.

He manipulated the body like a piece of clay bending the legs slightly in a kneeling position. He then brought her hands together in as if she was silently praying. The girl's short hair was somewhat in disarray from their prior fuck fest. She was good lay, but… that didn't matter. He tried to smooth out the wild locks before adding his personal signature on her body. The fragrant white rose filled his senses before he tucked it behind Yuri's ear. 'For you Kagome.' He smiled.

He walked off towards the dorm that housed his Kagome inside. He had only one dark intention at that moment, and that was to get Kagome.

Kagome had wakened up from her nightmare at five o'clock in the morning with tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her sterling silver eyes mirrored her tired frightened soul. The feeling of doom seemed to be intensifying within her every passing second. She could tell something wasn't right, but what. It had been six blissfully peaceful months with no sign of him, no sick demented gift left for her to find, but that didn't mean he wasn't still there. Lurking and waiting. Kagome had often recognized this ominous dark cloud around her soul as a bad omen. She faintly heard a loud knocking on her bedroom door alerting Kagome that someone was there.

"Kagome?!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Kagome are you okay? Please open the door!" Sango pleaded. She heard her best friend's sorrowed filled scream in the night. It almost gave her heart failure. 'Damn! Not again! Can't Kagome have one night of relief?' She asked silently to any divine deity that could hear her.

"Sango what is it?" A slightly worried voice called out down the dim hallway.

"It's Kagome. I think she is having another nightmare."

The small lithe girl walked over to where Sango stood in front of the locked bedroom door. Rin felt an ache in her heart for her roommate, and close friend. If she could do anything to alleviate the source of Kagome's pain she would have willingly done so, but this source of Kagome's affliction was an unknown. This evil had no known name, and no known face. "Kagome, please, it's us."

Kagome tried to dispel this sinking feeling shrouding around her. She could hear her friends begging for her to open the door and let them in. Not just physically, but emotionally too. They needed proof she was alright. At times, Kagome would pray for hours thanking kami for the two best friends she had in this dreary life in which she had been so cruelly trapped in. They helped Kagome cope by anchoring her abused and tortured spirit to something she thought she had lost, forever. Sango and Rin made her feel… well, just feel again, she supposed. They made her realize that locking yourself away from the world was exactly what he wanted. He wanted the power of breaking a once high spirited, carefree, and giving girl by bringing her down to her knees. He almost succeeded. But, damn if she wasn't going to fight him, whoever the hell he was. Kagome slowly left her warm bed and head for the door.

Click

The two girls held their breath with that click. They were beginning to wonder if Kagome was going to open the door. Sango and Rin waited until Kagome was in full view before wrapping her in a tight bear hug. They could feel Kagome's body tremble faintly in their hold.

"Tell us Kagome. Tell us what it is." Rin cried.

Thousands of white rose petals littered the hallway that led up to the door that roomed the object of his obsession. He special orders these rare ice silk rose petals from the Netherlands, he wanted nothing but the best for his Kagome, and she deserved nothing less. His thoughts darkened for a moment when he thought of the fools that would try to analyze his actions.

'Those fucking profilers that worked for the police know shit. They would probably come to some conclusion in which they would describe me as unstable, a psychotic man that finds pleasure in masochistic actions against his victims. And what the fucking hell do those bastards know!' he seethed as his thoughts continued along with his supposed diagnosis. 'Then as a sign of remorse he places a white flower in his victim's hair. It's like he is asking there forgiveness for the atrocity he committed against them.' He laughed menacingly. They were so off target that they would never get an accurate reading on him. Hell, they'd never catch him. Those assholes doubtlessly thought him to be a vagrant stalker that has spent some time in the military and has a medical background by the way murders are carried out. Yes, blame it on those poor hearted veterans. The ones who were broken in the war only to come home mental unhinged at the pandemonium they witnessed in other countries. 'Yes, this poor bastard had taken a liking to an individual by the name of Kagome Higurashi. Most likely because of what she represents and now he is trying to gain her attention.'

The profilers would somehow screw over some poor individual thinking it was him. He sneered into the night, 'Idiots!' What was it the called him? He smiled inwardly at the name. It was highly amusing to him, but it seemed fitting. 'Romeo,' the name echoed in his thoughts. 'Yes,' he pondered. 'I am Romeo. I romance many women in this city. I do it in hopes that they cure this beast inside, and all those that fail to do so die.'

However, another idea came to him out of his morbid mind. There was one person on the task police force that could find him. This cause him to sober somewhat. That is why he made sure that he was always two steps ahead and one step to the side, forever lurking in the protective shadow of what they called public defenders. Yes, he was an officer. His badge cloaked all of his misgivings. No one would ever think that an officer of the peace lived, no, thrived for the chaos around him. But, this clever disguise allowed him the freedom to pursue his interest. Without being caught. Yes, life was good. Inuyasha would never figure it was him. At least until it was too late.

The trail of petals went down the hall to a close door marked exit. His hand reached into the bags of expensive flowers that he made into a silken cloud for Kagome's feet, which continued down the stair well down to another door, a door that would lead to the gift to which he left for her to find. It would show his love for her, or at least that is what he thought. 'I'm willing to kill for you Kagome. This is a penance for all the sins I have committed against our love.' The path stopped when he reached the fire alarm outside the dormitory. 'Come to me Kagome.'

Before Kagome could even utter her worst fear, 'He's back.' A shrill buzzing pierced through the thought still of the night. The girls jumped away from their bear hug on each other and let out squeals of surprise. While Rin and Sango stayed frozen on the spot trying to recover from having life nearly scared out of them, Kagome took off. In those finite minuet seconds, the two could have sworn that Kagome was a master magician. She was there one moment and gone the next.

'No, no, no, no! Why can't you leave me alone?' Her thought yelled. 'What have I ever done to you, to deserve this?'

Kagome knew. She just had this undeniable, unexplainable feeling that ensnared her entire being. 'Him!' Kagome threw open the main door to her dorm apartment as she raced out, and stepped valiantly into the hallway, or at least she tried to appear it. Her cobalt eyes darted frantically back in forth into the hallway nervously. A part of her wanted to find this evil that haunted her unmercifully for the last eight years of her life and demand he stop. While another small part of Kagome wished he was there waiting outside for her. But Kagome was fighting to override the more rational side that was screaming at the top of its lungs for her to go back inside the safety of her apartment.

'Safety?! Hahaha! What a joke.' She thought bitterly. Kagome could not believe that these episodes that occurred regularly in her life happened on accident. No, it was him. It had always been him. She could leave because he followed. Kagome had learned the hard way. No, it was best to try to continue to live life as if nothing like this had ever happened. 'Impossible.' Kagome should have known that where ever she went, or what ever she did to safe guard herself he would always invaded her safety. Her fortress that she thought no one could penetrate, but this psycho was different. 'It was like he knows me personally. But, how the hell is that possible? I have to find out. I have to make this end!' Kagome's thought came to a crashing stop.

Her feet felt something soft against her silk. Kagome gained a doe eyed looked as she peered down to the ground. There it was. His signature. His personal marking, that appeared one to many times before, and now seemed to be begging her to follow. To go to him, and go she did.

Inuyasha sat in his office, in the 47 precinct in down town Tokyo, off in thought. The loud everyday noise reverberated off the cheaply built precinct walls painted a gloomy dismal gray. It was a conglomeration of phones ringing off the hooks, screaming detainees that were soon to be booked and held for various violations of the so-called public law, and finally the every present voice of Police Chief, Myoga Lee, yelling his displeasure to anyone that got in his way. 'That man is in dire near of a vacation, or retirement.' Inuyasha smirked, but he wasn't the only who thought that way. It was the consensus of all public defenders in prescient 47 that had the extreme honor to work under Police Chief Myoga that thought that. They just preferred the latter.

Even with all those distraction it could not penetrate the harassing thoughts of the past. Her death haunted him for over eight years, during which he swore that he, Inuyasha Tsuwamono, would find her killer. He could remember the day of Kikyou's murder perfectly, just like it was yesterday. How could he forget? Word of a murder spread like wildfire in the beautiful city. Inuyasha heard from his father, InuTaisho, that the murder took place at the sacred Higurashi shrine in the early morning hours of twilight. Inuyasha had been filled with an overwhelming urgency to go to. He had sense of doom and foreboding sink heavily upon him. 'Kagome.' Inuyasha had feared for her safety. The friendship they had formed was something that went deeper he and his girlfriend, Kikyou, had. What they had was purely physical. Granted, he cared for Kikyo he did not love her. What they had was mutual beneficial for the both of them. Don't get him wrong he enjoyed the act, but there wasn't that spiritual connections of understanding.

Flash Back
Inuyasha drove over to the shrine like the devil was at his heel. The smell of burning rubber pervaded the surrounding atmosphere as the squeal of tires rotating at a velocity of unseemingly speed. Has he approached the shrine his hazel eyes scanned the surrounding area which was now crowded with police cars, fire engines, and an ambulance. Inuyasha threw the car into park and jumped out of the car and went for the steps.

Officers were shouting words of warning at Inuyasha, and tried to restraint him but Inuyasha was too agile for them. He dodged and ducked limbs intent on stopping his progress up the steep steps. "Kagome!" He roared at the top of his lungs as he neared to the threshold of the entrance.

However as Inuyasha advanced closer he faltered on the last step when he saw a body hanging from the old wooden rust color archway. His eyes could not and would not believe what the scene before him was portraying. Blood was pudding in a small pool just a few feet from him. A gust picked up and the lifeless body turned in the wind. Suddenly he felt his stomach turn as he lost his stomach contents on the steps below.
End of Flash Back

"Yo! Tsuwamono!" Came a slightly amused voice. "Mutt face, are you there? Or, did you finally go off the deep end?"

A hand waved in front of Inuyasha's face broke his looming past. His eyes lost that distant look as they came back into focus. Only to realize his annoying asshole of a partner, to which he was just recently assigned to, was invading his personal space. Life at the moment was just fucked up. Inuyasha growled as his partner's hand continued to wave in front of his face.

"What do you want you pansy ass?"

Kouga scowled at the insult Inuyasha blessed him with. "Why you fuc…

"TSUWAMONO! OOKAMI!" The harsh grating voice rang into the small office of the two detectives. That voice that demanded their attention could not stop the ringing in their ears, and stop Inuyasha and Kouga's all out verbal assault.

Like lambs being lead to slaughter Inuyasha and Kouga fell silently into step into. They were making their way to the slaughter room a.k.a the Chief's office. The eyes of their fellow co-workers giving them looks of sympathy. They all knew those two would be on the receiving end of earning another asshole by the time the Chief was through with them. The door was open and awaiting them to step in.

"Shit!" Kouga muttered. "This is entirely your fault mutt!"

Inuyasha chose at the moment not to respond to Kouga, for if he had, the entire police force would have to pull him off the pansy ass. It took almost all the self control he had not to say a thing. Inuyasha coped however with the thought of kicking Kouga's ass mentally, and that brought a slight smirk to his face.

The two detectives entered hesitantly, side by side, in silence waiting for the Chief acknowledgment of presence.

The Chief was sitting in his swivel executive style chair which was now facing the only window in his office. Chief Myoga was a late middle aged man with thirty years of experience on the force. No one would have ever believed that a short five foot two inch tall, wide stalk male with a limp could have ever been Chief, and yet here he was to prove the different. Chief Myoga liked to think that his being short and slight handicapped was compensated by his commanding features. Granted he was bald, but bald as the new beautiful. Well, according to his wife anyway. His face was hardened over time due to the stress of the job, but his look came in handy. It made him look more intimidating and in control. Chief Myoga heard Tsuwamono and Ookami come in but he stared out the window with an unyielding gleam in his brown eyes. "Shut the door."

Inuyasha complied with the Chief's order then returned to his stationary post as before.

"There's been another homicide." Chief Myoga said as he finally turned in his chair to face the detectives. His face obtained a hard look to it before he continued. "This one was located on the University." He paused. "It's the same M.O." Chief Myoga's eyes locked onto gold ones.

"What?" Kouga chocked, but the Chief didn't answer him.

For that last comment was aimed at Inuyasha. He knew all to well what that meant. The bastard had struck again. It had been six months since the last homicide, and everyone believed that the bastard had left town. But, Inuyasha knew better than that, and now it had begun again. Inuyasha clenched his fists together his nails biting into the tender flesh of his palms almost drawing blood. Inuyasha was fighting the anger that threatened to expose itself at the new information.

"I'm assigning you and Ookami to investigate this case." Chief Myoga said in a low tone before leaning over his chair to open his bottom desk draw. "This goes against my better judgment, but…" Once again there was a conceded pause. "You are the two best detectives in this area, and no one has been able to catch this fucker. I have faith you two will be able to find this crazy ass."

"What the hell are you talking about Chief?" Kouga shouted. "We have a fucking serial killer in the city?!"

Inuyasha only nodded to the Chief. It was his unspoken acceptance of the case. He would have given anything to have worked this case years back when he first started the force, but the Chief had always denied him. Inuyasha had been furious with the reason that had held him back from the one case that he had a burning desire to work. The reason had been scalding. It was called personal conflict of interest. Until now. Why? Inuyasha right at the moment didn't give a damn. He got the case that had been plaguing his thoughts ever since Kikyou had been murdered, and he be damned if he didn't take it. Inuyasha watched as Chief Myoga with drew a large manila envelope and set it onto of his desk.

"Come on Chief!" Kouga was whining. He wanted answers. His cool blue eyes stole a glance over at his partner who had been strangely quiet then back to the Chief. "Damnit someone say something!" Kouga bellowed.

Chief Myoga slid the manila envelope forward a bit before reclining back in his chair. He looked at the new detective to his precinct. "Romeo's back."