Disclaimer: Sadly none of the InuYasha characters belong to me; they were rightfully created and are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just borrowing them for my fanfic, that's all... really...
The Greatest Gift of All
Chapter 2 – Discoveries
"Mmm..." I groaned slightly as I felt his hand shake me slightly. I opened my eyes to meet his wonderful face, I smiled. He did this to me practically everyday, like my little alarm clock. He was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, like he was still sleeping. As if he'd done nothing at all, just sleeping. He peeked with one of his eyes to see if I'd noticed he'd shaken me. He saw that I'd saw him and laughed.
"Why hello there baby," I said as I stroked his hair from his eyes. We'd had a long night last nigh, we'd stayed up till midnight watching movies. How could he have woken up so early then? Oh. I remember, he fell asleep on me.
"Morning mommy."
"You hungry?" I asked. He nodded, I knew that. I rolled over and looked at the time that was on my bedside radio, it read 10:13AM. I got up and pulled the covers off of myself, "Okay, just a sec. I'll make breakfast." I pulled on my silk night robe that matched my night dress ever so pleasantly.
I walked to my bathroom located the far left of my bedroom, he followed me. As I turned the tap on and washed my face Shiriyu spoke again.
"Hey mommy," he paused. "Yes honey?"
"Can you make pancakes again? I love your pancakes." He stated looking up at me with those beautiful golden hazel eyes. I could help but smile.
"Of course honey."
"Did you brush your teeth?" Now being a mother, I had to make sure that he started off with good habits so that he would always do little things like that as an instinct.
He grinned at me, showing he's perfectly aligned white baby teeth. I reached down and rustled his hair, "That's mommy's good boy."
I finished brushing my teeth and quickly clipped my hair up. Within ten minutes I had already started breakfast. "Would you like egg and sausages too?" I asked from the kitchen counter.
"Yes please!" He called out from the dinning table.
I looked over at the curtains that were hung straight across the glass wall that over looked the busy city. I was never fond of heights. That's why I quickly covered them up with the only old two long curtains I had left. The curtains were the most hideous colour I've ever seen, a dark swap like green. Every morning I looked over at them and swore I'd get them changed. I just never got around to doing it.
I poured the last batch of pancake mixture into the pan then quickly took the frying sausages off the stove and dished them into our two plates that already had our scrambled egg.
That last pancake finished and I piled them equally on two plates. I couldn't help but smile at his smaller pancakes, they were the cutest thing. As his little stomach couldn't take as much food as mine. I turned off the stove and then slightly poured maple syrup on the pancakes as well as some butter. Oh how wonderful they smelt.
I got one of his little forks and a knife for him and placed it on his plate with his pancakes. I carried it over to him then returned to pour his juice, and my tea. After another trip to get my plates I finally sat down beside him on my four person dinning table.
I took a bite of my scrambled egg when I suddenly got up again and walked to the front door. I looked down on the welcome mat and there was the Saturday newspaper. I picked it up and walked back to the table.
As I sat down I noticed that Shiriyu had already finished his first pancake as almost finished his second. He must've been really hungry.
"So what would you like to do today Shiriyu?" I asked as I opened up the newspaper trying to find an article worth reading.
He finished chewing his first sausage and looked up at me, "I don't know."
I noticed the article on the second page on the murder, "...Ms. Tsubaki, head of the Dreamy Delights chocolate company known all over Japan was murdered on Friday morning after having an executive meeting held at her home." I read.
That must've been one meeting, I thought. "...The investigation which is being led by Detective Miroku Kazzana (age 28) is under way. There being no witnesses of the murder will make it difficult for the team of detectives..."
Looks like I'm not the only one that's made it in the newspaper.
"You know the Winter Festival is coming back next month; you want to go again this year?" I asked Shiriyu, putting the paper down and reaching for my cup of tea.
"Yay! Let's go again!" he replied.
The phone suddenly rang, interrupting our breakfast. "I'll get it." I got up and went to my cordless phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi Ms. Takahashi?" A small voice asked. Sounded like a small child's voice. I quickly glanced at my caller id and I knew who it was.
"May I please talk to Shiriyu please?"
"Of course," I answered. "Shiriyu, Hyouga's on the phone."
He slipped off his chair and then rushed to the phone; I handed it to him and listened to his conversation.
"Yah that sounds like fun!" He said into the receiver. "Okay, I'll ask."
He handed me the phone, "Good morning Ms. Takahashi. It's Hyouga's mother calling. He was just wondering if Shiriyu would like to come over today." Hyouga's mother spoke. "Of course, I know he'd love to come." I looked down at him with the pleased look on his face. "Yes okay I will drop him off."
"Alright, goodbye." I hung up.
"So I can go?" I reached down and rustled his hair. "Yes, apparently you've got your day planned."
He smiled. "Finish your breakfast and then get ready okay?"
OoOoOoOoO
I was drenched in sweat, deep in concentration. I took him by his arm and flipped him over and pinned him to the mat by his neck. I've been at this for two hours, thinking over all the facts I received from Kuranosuke, all the associates at the meeting. All the associates on the tape, any of them could've been the murderer.
"Don't you have a case Kazzana?" Haku asked from under me, struggling to get free.
I felt another sweat drop roll down my cheek, "Yes."
At the moment I was more interested at how he was going to get out of this. He struggled some more trying different combinations to get out of my pin. After failing at them all he finally gave up. "I give up."
"You win again." He said, I smirked and then loosen my grip around his neck and got up. He looked exhausted and was also drenched in sweat. I took off the boxing glove on my right hand and offered him help to get up. "Well thank you for the work out Haku." I said and helped him stand up.
"Yo Miroku, heard you got to meet that hot looking researcher."
I looked over at Sano who'd just finished with one of the punching bags. I took off my other boxing glove and grabbed my towel that hung on the top rope of the ring. "Yah, so what if I did?"
Sano was your average selfish womanizer that meets women only wanting nothing by pleasure and nothing to do with love. Not at all like myself. I like to romance them a little, make them want me. (Not that that was difficult.) That way I don't feel guilty after I've slept with them.
He took a huge gulp of water from his water bottle and smirked, "When you're done with her save a piece for me alright." He joked. I laughed, "I can't guarantee you a big piece but sure you got it."
I wiped away some of the sweat on my forehead then headed for the dress room, a quick shower and a change of clothes would do me well.
The police department was nothing compared to our detective department, it was much more cosier and more resourceful. The teams here were asked to stay in good shape because it would improve our overall performance against the police department. Not that we stood for different things, both departments were crime stoppers and peace keepers. But of course the bosses being males it was most definitely a competition to be on top. So far, the detectives have been humiliating the officers.
--
As I finished my shower and changed into my regular white dress shirt, black dress pants and black boots, my cell phone rang.
I pulled it out of my workout bag that hung on my shoulder. "Yes?"
"There's been a discovery Miroku." Kuranosuke stated.
"Keep going." My eyebrows rose, the discovery could be what I still need.
"About a month of so before last Friday Tsubaki had wrote a living will as to who will inherit the company and who will have the different departments of company when she died. It's as if she knew she was going to die."
"Interesting..." I replied taking it all the information I'd just received.
"Wait, there's more." Kuranosuke paused. "A few weeks later, she re wrote the will with changes she had made and read itat her retirement party. Which was exactly last Thursday."
"Well I think you might have just figured out the two leading causes of this murder. Either the murderer didn't like the new will or they preferred the old will." I replied.
"I'm guessing they preferred the old will because if they killed the head of the company the new will would become active." He said.
"That could be it Kuranosuke, but you must keep your mind open to all the other possibilities." I replied.
"Yes, quite true. So were the fingerprints on the knife confirmed?" He asked. "No not as yet, but I'm quite sure the murderer wiped them off or wore gloves. A murderer would not leave a give away clue like that behind."
"Well one can hope, I had plans for this weekend."
I chuckled, "We all did."
"What about the suspects?"
"After a long night of tapes, only the top ten employees have entered the building and exited. All one after the other. But the security tapes were all for the entrance of the building, none were of the exit at the back of the building." I stated.
"Alright, you want to check it out?" He suggested.
"I'll meet you there."
OoOoOoOoO
"Alright then, give mommy a kiss." I bent down levelling with his height and he leaned over and kissed my cheek.
"If you want to come home earlier just have Hyouga's mom call me and I'll pick you up okay?" I said as I kissed his forehead. He nodded, "Okay mommy, see you later." I waved and walked back to my car. I sighed not knowing what to do with the rest of my day as I got into the driver seat of my well shined up sliver ford.
It sure was cold outside; I thought as I started the engine and pulled off. My car radio was still on as I drove through the busy streets, the stores were starting to get bright lights already for the upcoming Christmas season next month.
I reached a stop light when suddenly my cell phone rang, I answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sango, how've you been?"
"Oh hi Ayame, I've been good."
"I called your apartment but you weren't there..." she stated.
"I just dropped off Shiriyu at his best friend's house, they wanted to spend the day together."
"Speaking of the little guy, how's he doing?"
I laughed, "Oh he's been great, just as adorable."
"I bet. Oh! I heard about Tsubaki's murder, is everything alright with you and Shiriyu? You guys didn't have to move or anything right?"
"No everything's fine, we didn't have to move. There are investigators and police all around the place, trying to figure out who murdered her."
"You didn't see anything did you?"
"No. Shiriyu and I were no way near the apartment when she was murdered."
"Oh that's good. I hope they find the murderer soon." She said as I turned the block with my building finally in sight.
"Yes, me too. My guess is that the murderer had something against Tsubaki..."
"But anyway, enough of this murder. Sounds like you're free today, you want to spend the day together?" She paused, "It's been ages since we've spent time with each other. We can catch up."
I smiled. "Yes that sounds great, meet me at my apartment like always?"
"Alright, I'll be there."
I hung up and pulled into the underground garage.
OoOoOoOoO
I walked with my hands in my pocket on the walkway leading to the exit of the building; I thought that maybe I might get an idea of the murderer's alternative of exiting through the back doors of the building.
Kuranosuke went around to the front to the security office to get the tapes of the back exit of the building.
As I walked I noticed a few young boys were playing in the snow, they looked like a bunch of twelve year olds. They were throwing snowballs and running around, one was chasing another when suddenly he tripped and fell. Boys will always be boys.
When suddenly I noticed something sticking out of the snow, something the boy probably tripped over. At first it looked like wood but only a very small piece was sticking out. The boy had already gotten up and went back to his running as I walked over to the mysterious object.
I bent down and then removed some of the snow around the object. No it wasn't wood, it was a daily planner? Someone must've dropped it; I looked at the position where the planner was. Why would someone walk over the middle of snow covered dirt leading...? I looked over to see where the person could've went if they walked in the middle of the once grassy area.
Nowhere. The area was fenced around with wooden logs. They weren't that high though, so I suppose they could've jumped it. But that was only if, they were in a hurry to leave the area.
Something told me this planner was more important than I thought. I down at the planner, the pages were probably wet, I wondered if they were missing clues that I needed for this case. Though I knew I couldn't touch it. The owner's fingerprints could still be on it. I pulled out my handkerchief I kept with me for why my cases got a little dirty.
I picked up the planner and wrapped it up with my handkerchief; I took out my phone and then called Kuranosuke.
"I think I might have figured out the path the murderer took when they were finished with Tsubaki."
"What did you find something?" He asked.
"Yes there was a schedule planner book covered with snow, how much you want to bet it belongs to one of the associates that were at Tsubaki's meeting yesterday?"
"You want to send to the lab and get checked?"
I smirked, "No, I've got someone else I think can get it done faster. Meet me at apartment 2107."
I hung up and pushed the planner in pocket as well as my cell phone and walked the rest of the walkway and opened one of the doors. I noticed there was a security camera, good. If the murderer used the back exit this case could be over by Monday, I thought as I pushed the button for the elevator.
The right middle elevator door opened and I entered and pushed the 21st button right away. Hopefully she was home and didn't go anywhere.
The elevator door opened and I turned left down the hall. I'd noticed a few police officers at the front of the building trying to catch up on our speed on this investigation. I wondered it they were having their crime lab check the apartment after ours had already done so. There was no way I was going to let them beat us with this case, I thought as I reached her door.
I noticed that two police officers were standing by Tsubaki's door; they weren't going to find anything useful in there. Against the wall were sorrow gifts I guess you could call them, it was mostly bouquets of flowers and plants though.
I knocked on her door.
"Yes Detective?" I quickly looked over and saw her walking towards her apartment.
"You were out?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, my son wanted to spend the day at his friend's house." "But never mind that. What I'm more curious about, is to why you came to see me." She said as our eyes met.
"I came to ask for your assistance."
"Oh?" She said as she took her gloves off, and reached into the pocket of her light brown wool jacket that matched her winter boots and fished out her door keys.
"How about we talk inside?" She smiled at me and opened the door leaving me standing there for a few minutes. God how tempting that smile is.
I finally got to my senses and entered her apartment. I closed the door and turned back to her only to find that she'd already taken her jacket and boots off. She was wearing faded light blue jeans that made her amazing cures look a lot more amazing. I didn't even think that was possible.
My eyes trailed up the remainder of her body, she was wearing a rather tight black t-shirt with the sleeves slightly cut short. She did have a little muscle there but never mind that. Her t-shirt outlined her full breasts perfectly. She could probably bring any man to his knees with those.
Okay, enough of that. Right now, I had to focus on the case.
She turned around and leaned on the top on the back of her black and green stripped couch and crossed her hands over her chest.
Dammit.
"Okay Detective Kazzana, I'm listening."
Well for the first time me being in her apartment I looked at her eyes, "So you're not even going to ask me to have a seat first?" I tested her.
She laughed, "I suppose you're right. But my son doesn't like strangers sitting on the couch though."
Two could play this game.
I walked over to her couch (with my boots still on by the way) and sat down on her matching one person chair for the couch. "I'm sure his mother won't mind."
Before either of us could say anything more, there was another knock on her door. Which must be Kuranosuke, I figured.
"That's my partner."
She looked back at me as she walked to the door, "Would he like to get my rug dirty too?"
I watched as she opened the door. "Kuranosuke?"
"Sango?"
"W-what are you doing here?"
Was I missing something, did they know each other?
"Has my partner been here?"
"You mean Detective Kazzana? Yes he's here, making himself at home." She shot me a glare, and I smirked.
"I didn't know you worked for the TYDD." She stated as Kuranosuke entered and she closed the door.
"Miroku here wouldn't stop pestering me till I agreed to be his partner."
"You didn't tell me you knew her Kuranosuke." I spoke up.
He took a seat on the big couch and replied, "You didn't tell me you met her."
"So I take it you have a long history with her?"
She sat down, Kuranosuke looked over at her. "I guess you could say that."
I didn't like that look.
"Do you still remember that June?" Kuranosuke asked her, they're eyes met.
I cleared my throat reminding them that I was still in the room. That June? What happened that June? They obviously had a past together.
They were silent. The I spoke again, "No no, do continue, I'm quite interested with your past with Kuranosuke." "You never told me about that Kuranosuke."
He smiled, "We use to date back in university." She looked away I assumed trying to hide her blush.
"And what happened in June?"
"Well last June five years ago, we called it quits on the relationship and went different ways." Kuranosuke answered.
"But sounds like you got over me Sango, heard you have a son." He said to her.
She smiled, "Yes my little boy, Shiriyu."
"So who's the father?" Kuranosuke asked.
Wait, the boy was about five years old. That's the same time her and Kuranosuke broke up. But he's not the father...
I stroked my chin and pondered, plus it takes nine months to develop a child.
That doesn't make sense, so either she was cheating on him or.. The boy's features filled my mind, none of his features matched Kuranosuke nor did any of his features match Sango. Just the hair, but dark brown hair like that was common in this city. That could only mean one thing.
"He's not yours."
Morelen: lol why thank you, Shiriyu is probably my ideal attempt of a little Miroku Jr. Even though he's not Miroku's son in this story lol. But he is adorable isn't he?
Steph: Thank you, I will try to keep up the good work lol.
Chigiri Ikeda: Yes interesting is quite the word to describe what I've got planned.
Anna: Hey Anna! Thanks a lot for the very encouraging review. I hope you thought this chapter was good too!
sangofan89: lol you bet he didn't like Miroku, now imagine what he's have to say when Miroku and Sango start spending time together.. heh heh
Demon Exterminator Barbie: Glad you think it's awesome, stay tuned and find out how much more 'awesome' it can be!
Krisa-chan: Heh heh, apparently you're the only one to wonder that. Wait till you hear all about it on the next chapter!
shippousangoffe: Thanks, I updated! Hope you liked.
A/N: Ooooo, Miroku thinks he made a very big discovery! Find out if it's true or not and what Sango has to say on the next chapter!
Oh which reminds me, since the break is officially almost over and I still have a pile of homework left to finish.. Okay alright! I didn't start yet xD, but a few long hours will make up for it. Then I'm busy for the remainder of the week so the third chapter will be posted sometime next week. It also depends on the amount of homework I get that week too, can't be that much, hopefully. Well thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
All the best, Hitomi-san :)
P.S. I fixed all the stupid grammar mistakes on both chapters, god I can't believe how many I made!