Author's Notes: This chapter was revised on January 24, 2006.
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-June 6th-
Entry at 6:35PM
Bankotsu sighed and put the phone back to his ear. "Hey, Mukotsu are the other guys there? All but Suikotsu? Where is he at? You don't know?" Bankotsu frowned, "You haven't seen him since this afternoon? Okay, I'm calling over there now and I'll call you once I know something. Bye."
He looked to me and forced a smile, "I'm hoping he's home."
"I hope so too," I replied, praying that what I suspected wasn't right.
Dialing quickly, he awaited a reply. Apparently, someone answered. "Hello? Suikotsu? Damnit, don't start that Japanese with me now. Calm down and listen to me. Jakotsu's in trouble, Naraku's trying to use him to get information out of me. Something about the stuff we stole from old Hakushin. Apparently we got away with something Naraku really wants, and he's going use Jakotsu to get it. Yeah, yeah, 'Temee, omae o korosu' indeed. No, the detectives think that'll just cause trouble if we go in after him. What? You're coming over here? Yes, I'm at the office. Okay, if you really want to. Um sure, Suikotsu. Bye."
I looked at him questioningly, but he answered before I could talk.
"Suikotsu thinks he's been at home all day- at least both his sides say so."
"Both…sides?" Kagura questioned.
"He's got multiple personalities. Lucky for us- he's only got two."
"And why doesn't he take something for it?"
"Well, Mukotsu does what he can- the best usually being putting one side 'to sleep' and letting the other dominate. Though, if we don't have the cash for one ingredient the best we can do is suppress the other persona so he won't get too destructive. That's the medicine he's on now- almost entirely calm, but if you upset him, the other side might come out."
"So is he coming here?" I asked trying to figure out what was going on.
Bankotsu nodded, "I think he wants to go kill Naraku, but I talked him into coming here instead."
"He's probably worried about you, considering the circumstances."
He frowned, "I want to go kill that bastard too, but if it endangers Jakotsu… Well, I just can't risk it," He added hanging his head.
"Let me try something," Kagura said pulling out a cell phone and dialing. "Hmm, he must be there now. He's not answering, but I'll leave a message," She paused, then spoke, "Hey, its Kagura. When you aren't serving Mr. Asshole, check on Jakotsu and give me a call."
Bankotsu's eyes narrowed, "Who are you talking to?"
She hit the end button, and replied, "Oh the guy you dealt with last week on Naraku's behalf. He's there today, so he can check on Jakotsu for us."
"Oh. Thanks," He said, forcing a weak smile.
"It's the least I can do. Now, let's sift through these tapes and see if we can decipher the other member involved."
"Let me call Mukotsu back first," Bankotsu said about to dial his cell phone, when I stopped him.
"I have some things I'd like to ask Mukotsu as well, so is it okay if we use the office speaker phone?"
"Why do we have to use to the speaker phone?" Bankotsu questioned.
Inuyasha grumbled, "Keh, so I can hear it. Kagome's not the only detective here."
"Seems that way to me." Sesshoumaru said calmly; dodging as Inuyasha threw a pen at him.
"Will you stay out of this!"
I walked over to the desk phone and had Bankotsu dial it. It rang a few times before Mukotsu picked it up.
"Hey Mukotsu."
"Ah, Bankotsu, did you find Suikotsu?"
"He was at home, but he's coming over to the office now."
"Good. I didn't want him to try something stupid like taking Naraku on by himself."
"Yeah, me either. Oh and Kagome said she had something to ask you, so I'll put her on the line."
"All right."
"Okay, Mukotsu?" I started tentatively.
"Well hello lovely lady, what is it you need to ask?"
Lovely lady…errr
Composing myself, I cleared my throat and continued, "Bankotsu was telling us that lately you've been using medicine that just suppresses Suikotsu's personalities, and I was wondering if when you suppress them like that, is it possible for the person to forcefully make the other side sleep?"
"Would depend on how powerful that personality was over the other one. But yes, I suppose it would be possible."
"And if that was the case, could that person do something while 'not themselves' and not realize it?"
"If you're speaking of Suikotsu- it's never happened before. Even when his calm side sleeps, he still will remember what he did in his angry side…but, with all the medication I've been trying lately it is possible he had some unforeseen reaction to one of them."
"Okay. Thank you, Mukotsu."
"Anytime sweetheart."
I cringed, sweetheart! Meanwhile, Bankotsu walked back over to the speaker.
"Neh, Mukotsu. It's me again. So how's Renkotsu?"
"Ah, he's fine. The bullet just grazed his shoulder. He went on back to his place once I got him bandaged up though. I think he's a bit pissed off about everything as well. You know him; he hates it when someone overpowers him at something."
"Yeah, tell me about it. He…" Bankotsu stopped as a loud crunching noise was heard over the speakerphone. "Mukotsu, what is that noise?"
"Ah shit, Kyoukotsu! Don't eat that, you freaking cannibal! I don't want to have to pump your stomach again!"
"Gesh. Calm down Mukotsu, it was just a metal can," Ginkotsu's voice commented.
Bankotsu dragged a hand down his face, "He's right Mukotsu; he's eaten worse."
"This is getting stupid again," Inuyasha muttered.
"He's eating…a can?" Kagura asked in disbelief.
"Kyoukotsu has this bad habit of…well, eating strange things," Bankotsu replied.
"Go eat food. Sheesh, I have something in the refrigerator," Mukotsu sighed. "Oh, Bankotsu, I had a question."
"Hmm? What?"
"That night Jakotsu left did he mention anything to you about helping Naraku out with something?"
"No, nothing at all. He just said he had to go meet with Renkotsu for some secret reason he couldn't tell me about."
"That's really strange. You think someone would have seen him between your place and Renkotsu's."
"Someone did."
"What?"
"Suikotsu saw him walking towards Renkotsu's that night. He was the last of us to see him."
"Suikotsu was? You didn't tell me that."
"Look Mukotsu, I don't want to jump to any conclusions yet, okay?"
"Okay, gotcha. Aw damnit Kyoukotsu, cook the meat before you eat it!"
"Is he eating raw meat again?" Bankotsu questioned.
"Yeah, he is. We should be lucky that after all the stuff he's eaten his stomach has just built up some tolerance to things like that."
"I still don't know how he swallowed that Rubber Ducky of Jakotsu's whole."
"That is truly a mystery, right there." Mukotsu replied with a laugh.
"Okay, this is beyond stupid!" Inuyasha exclaimed, "Can we please get on with our lives?"
"He ate a plastic duck? What is that guy, some damn machine?" Kagura sputtered.
"Actually, Ginkotsu's more of the machine of the group. Well, he has the metal jaw replacement at least," Mukotsu replied hearing the outbursts.
"Well, I better go for now Mukotsu. I'll call you if I find out anything, okay?" Bankotsu said, trying to get things calmed down.
"All right, same to you. Bye," He replied hanging up.
"That was so pointless," I heard Inuyasha mutter, before the room went quiet.
Sensing that we all were deep in thought over the matter, Bankotsu turned to look at me.
"You're thinking that it's Suikotsu, right?"
I winced, but gave him the truth, "He's the biggest lead we've gotten so far. Sorry Bankotsu, but it looks like, he might have done something without knowing it…"
"If that's the case, then I just want to get Jakotsu out of there and hope we can get Suikotsu's medicine fixed. Those guys," He paused, a determined gleam in his eyes, "Those guys are my family. I'd hate to lose anyone of them or see them hurt each other."
"Well, I think one of these tapes must have that other member on it. We should probably see if it is who you suspect," Kagura suggested.
Bankotsu nodded and went to sit down on the couch. I decided to sit beside him- just in case something upset him again. Plus- someone was sitting in my chair at the moment. Namely- Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru was leaning quietly against the wall by the doorframe, and if I hadn't looked about, I would have thought he had left the room due to his silence.
"Okay, we'll try the main room's tape about an hour after that last time," Kagura said fast-forwarding it and pausing it after a short while. "I'll just let it play for awhile, unless it gets too upsetting. Not even I want to hear all the shit that bastard puts people through."
She hit play, and it began.
"What happened to him?" Kagura's voice on the tape asked.
"Interrogation. See if you can get him bandaged up," A man's voice replied.
I didn't recognize that voice.
"Oh, that's Musou," Kagura remarked to me upon seeing my perplexed face.
"Musou?"
"He's the other guy that works for Naraku. Don't worry about him though; he says he's working undercover for some gang that's trying to take down Naraku."
I nodded and made note of it. The tape progressed.
"I'll take care of him. What's his name?"
"It's Jakotsu- one of the Kotsu gang's people. Naraku's trying to use him as bait for the leader to spill some info."
"That bastard…"
"Go on Kagura, get him someplace safe. I've got to talk to Naraku soon."
"Alright Musou, I'll look out for him."
I could hear the footsteps walking off, then silence. It was then I noticed that Inuyasha had fallen asleep in my chair. I had to admit- I was wondering why I didn't hear him grumbling or shooting his mouth off.
Right as I was about to get up and go wake him, I noticed that Sesshoumaru had pulled a pen from his jacket and had tossed it at his sleeping half-brother. I tried to focus on the tape, as I watched the two siblings glare at each other.
"So Musou, did you get him out of here for now?" Naraku spoke as his footsteps entered the room.
Inuyasha, meanwhile, had stirred awake; glared at Sesshoumaru, and in turn, tossed the pen back at him, followed by a paper clip from the desk. Sesshoumaru just raised an eyebrow.
"Yes Naraku. Kagura is dealing with him. What did you need?"
A paperclip and two pens made their way back towards Inuyasha. He scowled, and reached for something on the desk.
"I need you to handle the following matter with the Kotsu gang leader."
My concentration on the tape was getting more and more disrupted, as the two brothers were now hurling a paper wad back and forth. Inuyasha glaring. Sesshoumaru- as usual- was totally deadpan. I looked to Bankotsu, his face deadly and serious. I could tell he really wanted to go kill Naraku right this instant.
"What sir?" Musou asked.
"Tell him- we've got his little plaything here as a hostage. He has one week to tell me what he did with that heirloom of Hakushin's before I kill the boy off."
"Should I tell him now?"
"No. Wait three days. Let him miss Jakotsu a little first. Longing makes the heart grow fonder, they say," Naraku's laugh echoed slightly off the warehouse's walls.
"If you insist, sir."
"Go get the other one. The one who was kind enough to bring Jakotsu to me."
"Yes sir."
The other one? That means- the other Kotsu member…
"Kagura, just a moment," I said standing and walking over between the childish fight- catching the paper wad in mid-air, "Can't you two be serious?"
"He started it!" Inuyasha said in defense, pointing at his brother.
"Dozing during a briefing isn't proper."
"Shut up!"
I glared at Inuyasha and then turned back to Kagura, "Okay, you can continue."
She nodded and pressed play.
"Well well, there you are." Naraku's voice said as footsteps were heard approaching.
"What did you need from me now?" Another voice spoke.
Bankotsu's eyes went wide- he recognized that voice, "That's…that's…"
Before he could finish though, there was a commotion from out in the hallway. Miroku and Sango were yelling at someone, then I heard Rin's scream. We were all about to go out and investigate when the door slammed open.
There stood Suikotsu, with Rin in his arms and a knife to her throat.
"Bankotsu's coming with me to Naraku's now- or the kid gets hurt."
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Preview for Chapter 7: Suikotsu's holding Rin hostage until Bankotsu joins him in going to Naraku's place. They have the tape with the voice on it, but can they stop the action set in motion before someone else gets hurt?
