Author's Notes: This chapter was revised on January 24, 2006.

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-June 8th-

Entry at 4:27AM

I slowly walked towards the pale girl, watching Naraku from the corner of my eye.

"Kanna, please go home!" He begged her yet again, but she was now standing beside me and I knelt to her level.

"Hey there, what's your name?"

"Kanna," She replied, voice completely emotionless.

"Okay Kanna, can you tell me what you're doing down here by yourself?" I asked, trying to get a better look at what hung on the chain around her neck.

"I'm visiting Dad since he had to leave," Came the simple reply.

"Dad?" Inuyasha questioned as he walked over.

The girl pointed to Naraku, hugging her stuffed bunny a bit closer, "He's my Dad. He had to leave me with his friend a few years ago and began to live down here."

I narrowed my eyes in thought, "Where did you use to live?"

"With Dad and his friend in Okugi City, then Grandma and Grandpa's house burned down and Dad began to act strange," She explained quietly.

I still couldn't tell what was on the chain, so seeing that she was being fairly cooperative I asked her, "Kanna, what's that around your neck?"

The pale child reached down, my breath catching in my throat in anticipation, but- it wasn't another dog whistle. It was a small mirror.

"A mirror?" Inuyasha's question mimicked my thoughts.

"Dad gave it to me before he left," She replied, voice still without a discernable emotion.

"Please, I know I've done something wrong, but don't hurt my daughter. She has nothing to do with this," Naraku pleaded, speaking up.

I heard the sirens drawing closer and looked up. "The police can watch over her until she can get a ride home," I reassured him, knowing that the girl's knowledge of the situation might be needed.

We dealt quickly with the Police Chief, Mr. Kuranosuke Takeda. I was glad to see that he was too busy having his men deal with Naraku to bother interrogating me as to where Sango was. The guy never could get it through his head that she just didn't like him.

After making sure that the police were taking proper measures to investigate Naraku's personality situation and having Sesshoumaru and Kagura threaten them into promising to alert us to any new developments, we saw them off.

Heading out to Sesshoumaru's car, InuYasha insisted that he was the one to drive; luckily, Sesshoumaru knew he was in no condition to be behind a wheel so a brotherly feud didn't break out.

Making our way through the city, we were headed for a small inner-city hospital that was nearby. The drive there was in complete silence, but I could tell Sesshoumaru's breathing was a bit more ragged than normal and Kagura was trying to tend to his arm as best as she could with her own injuries.

Finally, we arrived at the small clinic and quickly helped the other two detectives inside. We had just barely entered when an elderly woman approached us.

"Mr. Taiyoukai, what happened this time?" She addressed Sesshoumaru.

"It's over now. We finally got him," He muttered quietly in return.

The woman reached up, using a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his cheek, "Looks like Naraku left you with another set of scars as a goodbye present."

"My partner's still alive though," He replied, Kagura looking up at him as he said it.

"One set for the little girl, one set for your partner," The woman stopped as Sesshoumaru pulled off his trench coat and she noticed his arm, "And it looks like your arm was in payment for finally catching him," She said stepping forward to inspect the two bullet wounds.

"If it's just my arm, then it was a cheap price to pay," He replied, flinching ever so slightly as she tapped on one of the holes.

"Let's get you into the Emergency Room, Sesshoumaru. I'll tend to your partner."

He nodded in response, walking with as much dignity as one could while cradling their own bloody arm towards the Emergency Room doors.

Kagura looked down to the woman, "You seem to know him fairly well."

Adjusting the patch over her eye, the woman replied, "I've probably treated every severe wound that man has gotten while trying to close the case on Naraku and he still hasn't changed one bit." She looked at Kagura thoughtfully, a knowing smile on her face, "And I'm taking it you're the female partner he acquired since the last time I saw him."

The black-haired female nodded in reply as the woman extended her hand.

"The name's Kaede, head nurse of this hospital. Come on now; let's get you two girls fixed up," She said walking towards a nearby room, then halting when only Kagura followed. I blinked, realizing she meant for me to follow as well. That's when she noticed Inuyasha beside me.

"I see he even got his brother in on this one."

"I was involved in the case via my own agency, thank you very much," He replied, crossing his arms.

"You haven't changed a bit boy, ever since I had to patch up your leg when you were seven I knew you'd be competing with your brother the rest of your life. Your father would have loved to have seen you two working together like this though."

Inuyasha hung his head. I hadn't heard much about his father from him, but it was hard to live in this city and not know of the detective by the name of Taiyoukai. He was the first detective to take the Naraku case two years ago, and the first to lose his life because of it. It had always been said that's why his two sons took up the profession and why Sesshoumaru had worked so hard to gain ranks and be able to take on his father's case. Inuyasha, well, I had a feeling it was like Kaede said- he was merely competing with his brother on a more grandiose scale. But even with all that, I was also glad that they both had a part in capturing Naraku. I'm sure it gave them some sort of peace over their father's death.

"And is this young lady your partner?" The nurse asked walking over to me.

"Yeah, she is," He replied; then after a pause he spoke again, quieter this time, "…you might want to check on her, she decided to go rushing into a burning room a while back."

Kaede looked at me closely, "I figured it was something from a fire. Okay, come on, I'll fix both of you up."

I followed the nurse and Kagura into a nearby room, Inuyasha lagging behind us. "Just sit over there, Miss…"

"Higurashi, Kagome Higurashi," I replied.

"And I'm taking it you're Miss Nishikaze, correct?" She asked, gathering some gauze from a nearby drawer and handing Kagura a hospital robe to change into.

"Yes, but I don't believe we've met," The female detective said, perplexed.

"Sesshoumaru mentioned taking you as a partner to me when he got that first set of scars on his face," Kaede replied, looking at the bullet wound on Kagura's side. "InuYasha, you're going to have to step out for a bit while I patch this up."

"Keh, whatever," He muttered, walking out the door and closing it behind him.

"Sesshoumaru said something about me?" She paused, turning to Kaede.

"You were working on the missing person's case that ended up overlapping with his at the time, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I met Sesshoumaru the day Naraku killed Rin's parents. I was called in because that family was the three reported missing I was looking for."

Kaede nodded her head, as Kagura pulled her long red oriental dress off and slid on the hospital robe.

"Well that first set of knife scars on his face was from Naraku. Gave it to him moments before Sesshoumaru was able to save the little girl and get out of there. He might not be showing it, but I'm sure that the fact his other cheek bares the same two scars is hurting him more than physically," The old woman explained, pausing to wash the blood from Kagura's side before she continued, "You see, when they found his father's body, Naraku had marked two slash marks into each cheek- just like those Sesshoumaru now has."

"I see," Kagura said quietly, "I guess I'll have to be careful about mentioning those then. I always thought perhaps they were just part of the strange birthmarks and traits that ran in his bloodline."

"Ah yes, the Taiyoukai's have always had some unnatural traits to them. Take Inuyasha for example: his mother was in such a state of shock when she saw her son had ears like that, and I'm sure Sesshoumaru has been taunted on more than one occasion when younger due to that moon-shaped birthmark on his forehead."

"Has anyone ever figured out why?" I spoke up, curious myself as to my partner's ears.

"It's a mystery of science that's been in their bloodline as far back as they can trace it. For all we know, they might be part of some strange extinct race of humans, but well, even science and medicine can't explain everything in this world," She stood then, picking up some of the gauze, and beginning to wrap Kagura's side up, "You're lucky; that bullet just grazed your side. Shouldn't be too bad, just blood loss."

"And my back?" Kagura said pointing to the line of blood that ran diagonally across it.

"How did that one happen?" Kaede asked, wiping the blood off.

"After Sesshoumaru got shot in his arm, he couldn't move very well, so I had to jump over him to keep another shot from hitting him."

"So it skimmed across your back instead of hitting him in the head," The old nurse deduced.

"Yeah," Kagura replied, rubbing at a slight scrape on her left arm.

"I'm glad to see that stubborn man finally gave in and got a partner. He owes his life to you for it, whether he'll admit it or not."

Kagura smiled weakly then, "I just wish I could have done something to protect his arm."

"Don't worry, Kagura. He's a tough one. A measly arm isn't going to stop him any," Stepping back and looking over Kagura, she nodded to herself, "All right, I've bandaged all I can. Now to see about you," She said, turning to me.

"I'm okay, really. Just smudged in ashes with a few scrapes," I protested, holding my hands up.

"Hmm, you were in on the little shoot out with Naraku too I take it?" She questioned, wiping at the spot on my cheek where the bullet had grazed it.

"Yeah, I was," I replied as she bandaged the wound up.

"Good, that means you two ladies can tell me all about the little showdown while we wait to hear about Sesshoumaru's condition," Kaede said heading for the door.

"Just a second," Kagura spoke up.

"Something wrong?" The nurse asked.

"I'd rather walk about in my bloody dress than in this thin piece of fabric with the back wide open if you don't mind," She said, indicating the usual problem with hospital robes.

"You're as bad as Sesshoumaru. We could never get him to wear those either."

As we were waiting for her to change back, I heard the distinct voice of Inuyasha yelling at someone out in the hallway.

"Oh yeah! Well you should watch where you're going!"

"Kuso, don't you start with me idiot. I am not in the mood to beat you up," Came the familiar voice with the Japanese words mixed in.

I rushed out the door, and as suspected, there was Suikotsu and Inuyasha glaring at each other.

"Suikotsu, what are you doing here?" I questioned, hoping it was enough of a diversion to keep a fight from breaking out.

"Oh hello, Miss Kagome. I'm about to kick this baka's ass for messing with me when I'm not in a good mood," He replied, cracking his knuckles.

Just as it seemed eminent that a fight break out, a calm yet forceful voice spoke up from down the hallway, "Mister Suikotsu, your friend wouldn't be too pleased to know that you're picking a fight with someone at a time like this."

As the figure drew closer, I made out a female nurse, long black hair like my own, but it was pulled back in a ponytail with two loops hanging down from the sides. I looked to Inuyasha; he seemed to recognize her.

"Kikyou?" He asked before Suikotsu turned to her, and rushed to her side.

"I'm so sorry Miss Kikyou, but he bumped into me and I guess we just got upset."

"Just try and behave yourself when in the hospital, for my sake at least?" She said with an edge of a commanding tone to it while placing a comforting hand on Suikotsu's shoulder.

"Sure thing, Miss Kikyou."

She turned her gaze back to Inuyasha, "Well well, never thought I'd run into you again."

"Not my fault your grandma and my dad decided to set us up, Kikyou." He retorted crossing his arms. I could merely conclude they'd been set up on a blind date of sorts, and from the sound of it, it didn't go well.

"I still haven't forgotten you dumping that plate of food on me, you know," Kikyou said, icy glare on her face.

"You're the one that spilt the drink on me first," Inuyasha responded, glaring in return.

"And I said it was an accident," She shot back.

"And I still don't believe you."

"Um, so Suikotsu, what are you doing down here anyways?" I said, trying to break up the fight and quench my curiosity.

He hung his head, "Bankotsu got hurt."

"What!" Both Inuyasha and I exclaimed at the same moment.

Suikotsu sighed, "Renkotsu had picked the lock and gotten out that way while Ginkotsu was sleeping. We can't find him anywhere, but he left a message on Bankotsu's phone. I really don't want to repeat it, but let's just say it upset Bankotsu so much; he punched his fist into my bathroom's mirror. Miss Kikyou's been spending the last hour picking glass pieces out of his arm."

"I didn't know you knew the Kotsu-gang members, Inuyasha," Kikyou spoke up.

"They're involved with our case for a missing person," He retorted.

"Jakotsu, I presume?"

"Yeah, him," Inuyasha said walking a bit towards me.

"Bankotsu's in a room down the hallway, if you want to speak to him," She replied, turning.

I looked back to Kagura and Kaede who'd been watching from the doorway. Kagura waved her hand towards me, "Go on, I just want to check on Sesshoumaru's status and then I'll head that way as well."

I nodded and began to follow the young nurse and Suikotsu down the hallway.

She quietly pushed open the doorway, and we stepped in. I paused on seeing Bankotsu's condition; I mean I knew things were bad, but I didn't want to see him like this.

His entire right arm was covered in gauze, and there were a few scrapes on his face, most likely from glass that shot upwards. He was clenching the tattered purple shirt in his hand; even though, it was obviously causing him pain to move it so soon after the injury.

Slowly looking up, I caught a glimmer of a tear that was about to escape his eye as he locked eyes with all of us. "Did you…find him yet?" He shakily asked.

I sadly shook my head no, "We got finally got Naraku though, so we'll surely find Jakotsu soon." And I sincerely hoped I could live up to that, for everyone's sake.

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Preview for Chapter 17-

Wounds on the heart aren't easy to heal, as everyone is quick to find out. Sesshoumaru is faced with a decision that might change his life, and Bankotsu is falling deeper into depression due to the situation at hand. Can Kagome and InuYasha find a way to help them both, or will it take someone else to ease the pain caused by the entire ordeal?