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

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-June 8th-

Entry at 2:32PM

I was just about to return my attention to the young boy when a light knock sounded on the door.

"Kagome?" A soft voice inquired, as the wooden door swung open.

I blinked, it was Bankotsu all right- but the face I saw was very different from the one I'd seen minutes before when he was with the two children.

"What's wrong? Did someone call you?" I quickly asked; my worries about Jakotsu building by the second merely due to his somber expression.

"No, I'm just..." He sighed, running a hand through his bangs, "Well, I started thinking," He hung his head, "It's been three days and with all the injuries, well... I..."

Biting my lip at seeing the worries I knew he'd been suppressing, I was about to intervene in an attempt to raise his spirits. Surprisingly, none other than Inuyasha had beaten me to it.

Before I could protest at his hasty actions, my partner had stormed over and lifted Bankotsu up by his collar. Then, he proceeded to give him a piece of his mind.

"You listen here- Kagome and I have been busting our asses on this case and we aren't giving up on finding him so damned easily. Keh- if I thought he was dead I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to some stupid little brat, so you'd better start helping us out more or we'll gladly write him off as another death under the Naraku case. I mean- if he was so weak a few cuts killed him then maybe it's better off he's dead!"

I stood with mouth agape, knowing how deep those words would cut into Bankotsu when he was already visibly distressed. Whether intentional or just Inuyasha's tactless anger being let loose- the words did have their effect.

"Shut the hell up," Bankotsu seethed under his breath.

"What's that?" Inuyasha taunted, digging the proverbial knife deeper.

Firmly grasping onto the hand that held him up, Bankotsu constricted his hand around Inuyasha's, causing my partner to let the gang leader go.

Knowing how their tempers were, I was prepared to jump in and stop a fist fight when Bankotsu's fist impacted with the wall behind him instead.

His back to the silent room, he spoke, "He's not dead. Jakotsu won't let a few little wounds kill him. He'll live. He has to live, you hear that?" Quickly snapping his head up, he glared at Inuyasha, "He's alive somewhere damnit and if you detectives don't help me find him soon I'm gonna kick your loud-mouthed ass like I did last week!"

Knowing all to well where this was heading given the infuriated looks in both men's eyes, I stepped in, "Calm down, both of you- there's children in the room and I don't want to have to call a doctor down here, you got that?" I said firmly, leaving no room for protest.

"Keh!" Was the only reply from my partner as he sulkily went over and unceremoniously plopped back down into the chair.

Turning to Bankotsu, I offered a slight smile in hopes it would calm him some, "Bankotsu, we'll do everything we can to find Jakotsu for you- but right now, we need to get more information about Naraku and the people connected with him. I'm hoping if we can find out the people behind him, we'll find Jakotsu. I don't want anyone else to die during this case; the list is already too long."

Shoulders slacking, he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "I just can't take this much more, even Chiyo and Yuuta thought it was strange that Jakotsu wasn't with me."

I blinked, the names not registering in my mind, "Chiyo and Yuuta?"

"The young boy and girl you might have seen out in the play area. Whenever Suikotsu would come up here for medication issues or to see Kikyou, Jakotsu and I would always stop and play with them. But today, well I couldn't bear to tell them Jakotsu might not..."

He was breaking, despite his attempts to stay strong and hide his worries; his shell was shattering much like it did last night after finding Jakotsu's shirt.

I cast a quick gaze over to Inuyasha, remembering his unusual worry that this situation had aroused. It was times like this, that I really wished I could spend every moment of every day with all the people I cared about, and I knew that Bankotsu was probably thinking something similar and wishing he'd done so more in the past.

Words weren't exactly forming properly in my mind at the moment, yet I felt the need to do something to try and comfort the distraught man before me. I looked up, and that's when I noticed Souten standing beside Bankotsu.

"Hey Mister."

"Souten, right?" He asked, trying to force a smile.

"I don't know much about all that's happening, but just be strong. That's what my brother always tells me. He says, "If you're strong then nothing else matters," or...something like that," She said with a shrug, "Plus whoever this is that's missing, well I'm sure he'd be very upset if he knew you were hurting because of him. Eh, well... okay, so I suck at this philo-whatever stuff, but cheer up. Things will get better... I hope." Souten continued, offering a nervous smile.

Stooping to her level, the young gang leader paused before pulling her into a hug.

"Thanks kid, I really needed that. Look, when we find Jakotsu, you should come and try battling us at video games too, okay?"

"Sure thing," Souten smirked, "But I'm warning you- just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."

I held in a laugh, finding it very amusing that she'd twisted the usual phrase to make her seem like the more intimidating one. Relief began to filter into my muddled brain, as a satisfied sigh escaped my lips. Leave it to a child to be able to reason with Bankotsu in a time like this the best.

Seeing him stand again, he looked over to Shippou then back to me, "So, what's the deal here?"

"This young man's father was captured by Naraku not that long ago, and you have some interesting information about the situation, correct Shippou?" I questioned, trying to slowly edge him into revealing more.

Bankotsu frowned, his brows furrowed in thought, "The last name doesn't happen to be Kisai, does it?"

I blinked, "I didn't know you'd heard about this, Bankotsu."

"Musou mentioned something to me about a Mr. Kisai when we worked out the deal about stealing from Hakushin. Said apparently the cops almost had Naraku, but well..."

"But that they shot my Father instead?" Shippou finished bitterly.

Once again, I noticed that Souten flinched whenever Shippou brought up the cops that had accidentally killed his Father, and then it hit me.

Earlier she said she was trying to get her brother because Mr. Takeda wanted to speak with him. Then, is Souten's brother a police officer, I pondered to myself looking between the two children, But then why doesn't Shippou know that Souten's related to a police officer?

While I thought things over, Bankotsu had walked a bit more towards the bed and paused, "Kid, I know things are rough on you. Losing a parent is a bitch, trust me- I've been there... but please, if you know something that will help me find Jakotsu, let us know. I can't very well challenge you and your little girlfriend here to a video game battle if I'm without a partner, you know?"

Shippou cast a quick glance at Souten, who seemed to be a bit flustered by the term "girlfriend" having been used, "It's settled then, in my hopes that what information my Father left me might prevent another unneeded loss of life, I'll continue what I was telling Miss Kagome earlier."

Lifting the notepad back up once again, he continued from where he'd left off.

"So as I was saying, the police weren't much help, but I did have my hand-held PC system that was connected with one I knew my father still retained. You see, given the range and memory capacity of the Kitsune PDA and intercommunication system…"

"The what?" Inuyasha questioned

The young boy held up the small electronic device, "This," he answered, rolling his eyes, "Due to the way it's made I was able to contact my father. He informed me of his location and assured me that his captor hadn't injured him. Since I now had the location of where Naraku was holding him, I contacted the police once again- this time masquerading as an anonymous tip-off about Naraku's whereabouts."

Curious as to this prodigy child's methods, I decided to inquire about it, "But since you'd just called them, didn't they recognize the voice?"

He smiled, "Very perceptive, no wonder you're a great detective. I take it he's just around for show then?" Shippou smirked, obviously enjoying pulling Inuyasha's strings.

"Show? I'm not some stupid dog! I work just as hard as Kagome!" He snapped.

"Oh really?" The orange-haired boy pressed further as Souten stifled a laugh, "So let me guess- you beat up all the bad guys and do all the manual labor while she gathers information, right?"

Inuyasha frowned, knowing all to well that the child had him pegged, "Yeah…well- so what if I do?" He retorted, standing.

I moved to intervene, "Come on now, Inuyasha- let him talk. Just sit there and be patient unless you'd rather go help your brother with the police issue."

His frown deepened as he slumped back into the chair, "Keh!" being his only reply.

I looked over to Bankotsu, who was standing quietly by the wall. He appeared to be slightly amused that a mere child was so easily outwitting Inuyasha, yet I could see that his worries about Jakotsu were still being turned over and over in the depths of his mind. About to turn back to Shippou to once again set forth the question, a very light tap was heard at the door, followed by two quiet voices.

"Are you sure he went in here?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Just trust me for once."

Apparently I wasn't the only one that heard it, and Bankotsu walked over and slowly opened the door.

He smiled upon seeing whoever it was, and I began to walk to where I could see them as well.

"Hey there you two, what's up?" The braided man inquired.

I saw the young girl step forward, "We were just um wondering if…"

"You're up for a rematch already?" He asked, amused.

She nodded, and the boy spoke up, "Yeah but can you call Mr. Jakotsu to come? It's more fun when he's here too."

All facades of happiness dropped from Bankotsu's face as he looked to me for some semblance of help.

"You should probably tell them. They need to know," I said quietly.

Nodding in agreement, he stooped to their level and gently placed a hand on each of their shoulders, "Chiyo, Yuuta- I don't want to upset you, but about Jakotsu- he's missing at the moment," He stumbled on his words, trying his best to keep strong on behalf of the children, "These two detectives are going to help us find him, but we're…"

Seeing that he wasn't able to finish, I spoke on his behalf, "We're going to need some time to get him back to Bankotsu safe and sound."

Chiyo reached out and hugged Bankotsu, "Is Mr. Jakotsu going to be okay?"

Forcing a smile, he replied, "I hope so Chiyo, I really hope so."

"We'll take care of you until Mr. Jakotsu gets back then," Yuuta said bravely, offering a determined smirk, "He wouldn't want you to be all alone, Mr. Bankotsu."

The repressed emotions finally shone through as a hint of tear trailed down the young gang leader's face and he pulled the two children into an embrace, "Thank you. Both."

After a brief moment of silence, Bankotsu turned towards me, "Kagome, I'm gonna go and stay with these two. I'll be out in the play area if you need me."

"Okay Bankotsu, I'll let you know if we find out anything important."

"I'll do the same if Musou calls," He remarked, lifting Chiyo up easily onto his shoulder and holding onto Yuuta's hand, he made his way out the door.

I watched as they made their way out; then with a heavy sigh in hope that things would soon be back to normal, I turned my attention back to the orange-haired boy and the black-haired girl beside him, "Sorry about the distraction, we can get back to your story now Shippou, but I'm still curious as to how you got them to listen to your second call."

Shippou smirked, hit a few keys on the hand-held device and spoke, "Just like this," a higher pitched female variant of his voice reverberated.

Blinking in utter awe of the possibilities such a device could have, I finally brought myself to speak, "That's…amazing."

"It is rather useful," He replied nonchalantly.

"So they took your tip-off about the location?"

"Correct. Meanwhile, my father continued to relay encoded messages to me with the information he was overhearing," Shippou replied, producing another quick sketch to illustrate the issue.

"Information? You mean from conversations Naraku was having?" I inquired, watching Inuyasha from the corner of my eye in hopes that he'd stay patient just a bit more. I could already see that he was tapping his leg in annoyance.

Pulling back up his drawing of Musou, the young boy continued, "It seems that Naraku's little pawn wasn't as cruel as one would first think. I hold no animosity against him, being as he was doing his best with his undercover status to try and help my father."

Interested in seeing if the story Musou had given to the Kisai's was the same as the one he told me, I played innocent and asked, "Undercover? You mean he was working behind Naraku's back?"

Shippou blinked, "Well since that guy that was just in here seemed to know this 'Musou' character, I would have assumed you did as well."

Damn, this kid was good… I nervously laughed, "Yes, we have had contact with Musou, but we don't know all the details about his connections with Naraku. I was hoping some of your information might fill us in."

Taking what I said for what it was, he finally answered, "Ah I see. Well, he told us he was an undercover representative of a rival group of Naraku's from another city. His absent-minded nature did make me question the validity of this though."

Okay, so it's the same story Musou told me. I guess that's really all Musou is then.

"It looks like I'll have to get into contact with Musou then to see if these stories hold up," I replied, continuing to pretend our knowledge on Musou was limited, "Right now though, can you tell us what kind of information your father had sent to you?"

I knew the longer this took, the more irritable Inuyasha would be- plus, I wanted to get back to trying to find Jakotsu before Bankotsu lost it completely. Offering a smile to the young boy in hopes it would encourage him to trust me, I waited to see if Shippou was indeed going to hand over the information he'd been keeping from the police.

After giving a questioning glance to Souten, he slowly punched in a code and the small monitor of the device began to display fields of text, "Here. I trust you'll put this to good use, Miss Kagome."

Taking it into my hand, I began to skim over all the information it contained. Lists of underground transactions, robberies, illegal drug trafficking and more- it was a detective's jackpot. Then one section of the text, that seemed to have been from an old newspaper clipping, caught my eye.

"The Sarudoushi estate, which was damaged severely in a fire, has been left to their two sons: Onigumo Sarudoushi and Naraku Sarudoushi."

Naraku has a brother? My mind slowly processed all that this could mean and I knew right away, we'd found something big that was going to turn this case around.

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Preview for Chapter 24:

Naraku has a brother named Onigumo, but how does that fit into the case? And is it perhaps this unknown sibling that is the true reason behind Jakotsu's disappearance?