Chapter 12: Maybe six feet ain't so far down

A few bodies were hanging by ropes in there, one beginning to decompose, another a drying skeleton that had obviously been dead for a few years. Sango realized one of the bodies couldn't have been over three years old when he was killed. She looked away, tears streaming down her face. "He was only little..."

With that, she dashed out of the room, banging into Miroku violently as she fled. He broke his gaze away from the dangling corpses and ran after her.

She was standing in the living room, staring out the window at the night, still sobbing. Miroku came up and placed an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, hey, hey... It's okay. We'll call the police again, Mushin will be put to death, and we can live happily ever after."

Sango shook his arm off. She smiled at him sadly. "Don't you get it? If Mushin takes a polygraph test and says he didn't do it, then you're the next suspect in line."

"What?"

"You'll be a suspect. And if I'm the only witness, I have to testify against or with you."

"Why am I a suspect? It's his closet!"

"Because you're the only other person in the house!" Kirara came up and began rubbing against Sango's leg. The girl bent down and picked her up. "Maybe I'm just... You wouldn't... would you?"

"Of course not! Why would I?" He put his arm back around her shoulder. "Sango, I'm your best friend. I would never, ever keep anything from you."

Sango lay her head on his shoulder. They stood like this for awhile, looking out at the night. It thundered suddenly, and they jerked apart. Miroku scratched his head. "Um, you should probably call the police."

"Oh, right."

A different officer from the one who had arrested Mushin came to check out the bodies. The first skeleton was only identifiable by it's dental files, and it turned out to be a four year old girl named Nina Tucker, who had disappeared from her house, which wasn't too far from Sango's house, a year ago.

The second victim was a five-year-old boy named Suikotsu, Sango's next door neighbor. The other two had also lived in her neighborhood.

They were all standing in front of the squad car now. It was even colder now then it had been earlier, and Miroku had his arms around Sango. They were talking about the therapy in low voices and the officer was watching them, eyes strangely flat. "Mr. Ito..."

"Yes?"

"If you would pay attention to me and not your girlfriend..."

"I am."

"You do realize if we don't get any leads, you will be taken into custody."

"Yes sir, I do. I am certain I am wholly innocent..."

"Ok, Mr. Ito, but I want you to know, at the moment, you're a main suspect."

"Thank you for informing me. I would like to keep in touch. Can I get your name?"

"Ah, of course. I am Onigumo to friends, Muso to enemies."

"Enemies?"

"Your girlfriend looks awfully pale. Go ahead and take her inside, warm her up, get her hot.."

"Um, goodbye, sir."

Miroku and Sango walked off, the young man glancing behind him furtively. Onigumo had a distinctively eerie feel around him.

Onigumo watched them go, his eyes shifting flatly. "Those two may interfere with the cycle..."

Hmmmm, what cycle? That won't be revealed until the sequel. Sequel? Yes, sequel. And I know this chapter seemed somewhat repetitive, it was supposed to be. I accidentally got the chapters mixed up in my head. Oops. My bad.