Author's Notes: This chapter was revised on January 24, 2006.
-------------------------------------------------------
-June 8th-
Entry at 8:31
I could hear my hasty footsteps echoing off the concrete floor. It created a strange rhythm that seemed to mimic my erratic heartbeat as thousands of questions raced through my mind.
"Please don't let there be a fourth shot. But what if one of those three wasn't Bankotsu's? They were fired right in a row, as if someone was shooting someone else. And it hit something or it would have continued to ricochet. And Inuyasha…he was trying to say something about…us…"
Pausing when my mind touched on my partner, I turned to see him lagging behind me. Knowing he wasn't the type to be hesitant to rush into a situation, I knew that it must be something in regards to what he was trying to tell me.
"Inuyasha?"
He looked up then, his absent gaze catching mine as he walked up beside me.
"What's wrong, Kagome?"
His eyes held that innocence that they sometimes hide, like he was truly worried that something was wrong with me.
"I should be asking that of you. You're lagging behind."
"Keh!" He muttered, making sure to make a large production of crossing his arms, "I don't see the point of helping someone who is so adamant against us helping."
"Inuyasha…" My head tilted slightly and I could feel a soft smile tugging at the corner of my lips, "Sometimes people have trouble admitting they need help, especially when someone they love is in danger. Now come on- we need to go."
Blinking, his golden eyes widened a bit before he hastily looked away, a light blush creeping onto his face, "Keh, I know."
I shook my head, Inuyasha's personality seeming more and more endearing rather than irritating like it used to be. I blushed then myself, berating my thoughts for even going into that direction.
"He's my partner…that's all. And it's not like…"
Pausing, I recalled what he had begun to tell me earlier. Slowly, a knowing smile appeared on my face.
Reaching down, I snagged up his hand.
"Come on now, we have to keep moving forward," I said, pulling him behind me as I increased my pace.
And sure enough, his expression of surprise faded into a reassuring smile as he picked up his speed to keep up with me.
-----------------------------------
We rounded the corridors where the lights remained, and another possibility came to mind.
"At first I thought the only reason Musou left these lights was to lead us out, but they can also lead us back if needed. Perhaps- well, maybe he really is just trying to help us. But still, there is something strange about him."
As we neared the junction in the hallways that we'd last seen the other four at, I could hear unfamiliar voices and the sounds of a scuffle in a room off to the side. Subconsciously, I held Inuyasha's hand tighter as I pulled my gun out.
"Suikotsu!" I made out the voice of the young female nurse first, her voice calm as usual, yet with a tone of underlying panic.
"Stay back, Miss Kikyou. This could get dangerous," He replied, his tone a mixture of his calm-side and his other-side.
And I knew at that, it wasn't just the situation he was saying could be 'dangerous.'
Walking over slowly to the doorway into the storage area, I began to count the number of the figures I knew weren't those that came with us. Estimating that it was but a small faction, perhaps five men at the most was slightly reassuring, but- as I looked back to where Suikotsu stood I realized that soon we'd have yet another problem on our hands. Clutching at his head as if he was trying to force his other side back, the brown-haired man was fighting an inner battle already.
"Kisama…"
I heard the word growled out under his breath and knew we were too late.
"Suikotsu this isn't necessary," Kikyou pleaded with him as she firmly held onto his shoulder.
"Inuyasha, should we?" I questioned, turning towards my partner.
"What are you asking me for?" He snapped back.
Shifting my eyes back into the room, I squinted in an attempt to get a better grip on the situation at hand.
The room was only half-lit, making it very hard for me to decipher what was truly going on. Slowly, I edged into the doorway a bit, and that- shed an entirely new light on the matter.
Using the final beams of sunset coming from the skylight overhead, I pieced together the full picture easily.
"I see now, they're after the stolen goods in those crates. But, of course, when they saw Suikotsu and Kikyou waiting out in this hallway, they must have shot towards them. And…" I paused, my eyes glancing to where Kikyou's hands were on Suikotsu's shoulder, "And it looks like Suikotsu got hit at least once…"
"Kuso. How dare you…"
With a frown, I bit my lip. Knowing the rest of his words were slowly becoming more and more Japanese. Between the anger and the bloodlust from seeing his own injury, it was only a matter of seconds before his other side came out completely.
"Inuyasha, we have to do something. If Kikyou stays there, she might get hurt in the crossfire."
"Like what?" He grumbled back, obviously irritated yet- like me- without a plan.
"I don't know, but we can't just stand here."
"Kagome…"
I looked up to him intently; waiting for what it was he had to say.
"I don't think those guys have noticed us yet. If we stay here, then we can shoot them if they try anything."
Estimating the distance between us and the intruders, and figuring in the way the light fell- I quickly came up with an idea.
"Inuyasha- let me climb on your back."
"What?"
"If they look towards this door- all they can see is our silhouettes. If I'm on your back- it'll appear as a tall man."
"Are you saying I'm short!"
"Shh- no, I'm just saying someone that's six-foot plus is more intimidating."
"Keh- whatever."
Quietly, I moved behind him as he assisted me up onto his back. Once I got my balance, I leveled my gun on the men.
"How long are we going to do this?" Inuyasha whined.
"As long as we need to. Now stay still so if I have to shoot it won't mess up my aim."
"What aim?" He muttered.
"I heard that," I shot back.
It fell silent for a moment before I picked up the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. Before I could react, they fired once and Suikotsu moved to block Kikyou.
"You bastards, how dare you drag Miss Kikyou into this!"
Reaching into a side-pocket of his cargo pants, he said one thing- only this time, it was all in Japanese.
"He's in his other side now…" I murmured to myself.
"Good. His other side can fight," Inuyasha muttered back, "Because it's not like I can do anything with you on my back."
"Inuyasha…" I warned.
"What?"
"Never mind… it's just…"
I cut my sentence short as I heard one of Onigumo's henchmen cry out in pain.
Snapping my head in that direction, I began to see how Suikotsu of the Kotsu gang got his reputation. Between each of his fingers, he held three daggers, almost like a set of deadly claws. And he wielded each- with an amazing accuracy.
On seeing a man fallen- the other intruders began to move in. Each drawing their weapons and surrounding Suikotsu and Kikyou.
In a fluent motion, Suikotsu reached his left-hand down to pull three more daggers from his other pocket. With daggers now in each hand- he rushed forward, slashing out towards anyone that got too close. But his movement wasn't completely erratic, since I could tell he was consciously avoiding their gunshots.
But, as I noted with a frown, this side of Suikotsu wouldn't have as many inhibitions over killing someone. And if this case added a murder charge to the Kotsu gang's reputation- the other charges and Jakotsu's situation would only become worse.
"Inuyasha, we have to do something before he accidentally kills someone."
"Well I still can't do anything because someone is on my back," He muttered.
Sighing to myself, I replied, "Will you stop whining and work with me?"
"Keh. I am working with you. I've been holding you on my back for the past thirty minutes for that very reason."
"It has not been thirty minutes," I shot back, my irritation slowly building.
"With this weight, it feels like it."
At that, I could feel my eyebrow twitch and strongly had to resist the urge to pull out the dog-whistle and blow it directly into his ear.
"Listen. If you ever want me to bring ramen to the office again, you'll shut up and work with me."
I could tell his expression had shown momentary shock at my threat, but then he quickly covered it.
"Keh. Fine. So what are we supposed to do?"
I looked back at the fight going on in the other room, and suddenly I had an idea.
"It's like back when we caught Naraku, I might be able to shoot down one of those light fixtures and use the distraction for us to move in. Then, all we have to do is contact Miroku and Sango and get the police in here as soon as possible."
"Inuyasha- I just need you to hold me steady. I've got an idea."
I felt his hands bracing my legs and him making sure he had a good enough grip to compensate for any jostling the gun's reverb caused.
Leveling my aim on the light fixtures I could make out, I waited for the henchmen to position themselves under them, yet for when Suikotsu was at a safe distance.
It took a few moments, but finally- I saw my chance and fired.
The bullet hit its mark, the light falling down onto three of the men that Suikotsu hadn't already injured and Suikotsu himself had moved back just at the right moment.
"Got it," I said to myself, as I placed a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, "Okay, let's move in, Inuyasha."
He nodded and helped me down as the two of us moved in.
Guns leveled at the fallen men, I kept my eyes open for any possible remaining ones hiding amongst the crates of the storage room.
Reaching into my pocket, I quickly fished out my cell phone and dialed up our two other partners.
"Hello?" I heard Sango's voice over the line.
"Sango, we're over on the other end of the complex. We've got a couple of Onigumo's lackeys cornered so we're gonna need some of the police force you distracted to come over here and pick them up for questioning."
"What about Bankotsu and that situation?" She questioned, knowing that was our reasoning behind having them move the police away from the south side of the warehouse.
With a frown, I glanced in the direction Musou and Bankotsu had left in, "I'm not sure what's going on there, but the police won't see them. And we'll get Suikotsu out of the area before they get here just in case."
"All right, we'll get them down there right away. I just have to convince this guy on night shift to move again. It won't be that hard," I heard her cover up the mouthpiece for a moment, "Miroku, go tell that Akitoki guy that's in charge that we've got an id on some of Onigumo's henchmen down in the south sector of the warehouse. Inuyasha and Kagome are gonna hold them there until we move in."
"Okay, I'll tell him," I heard Miroku's muffled reply in the background.
"That all you need, Kagome?"
"That's all for now. Go in the door on the southwest side. We left it cracked open and there are lights leading down the hallway to where we're at."
"Gotcha, see ya in a bit."
"See ya," I replied, ending the phone call and turning back to the people before us.
"Inuyasha, what are you…."
I paused on noticing my partner tying off a rope around the men we'd captured.
"Keh. It's the best I can do. Their weapons are over there," He motioned with his head towards the pile of guns and knives.
Blinking, I found myself smiling back at him, "Thanks Inuyasha. That'll be a big help."
He shifted his gaze, trying to hide his embarrassment at the compliment, "Well…it's not like I could just let them keep it."
Turning back towards Suikotsu and Kikyou, I was pleased to see that it too was being dealt with.
"Just calm down and hold still," The black-haired nurse instructed as she ripped part of Suikotsu's sleeve off to act as a bandage for the bullet wound he'd sustained.
"I'm sorry Miss Kikyou, I didn't mean to get upset. But when I thought they were going to shoot you, I just…well, I just panicked."
"Don't worry about it. You didn't kill anyone, so there is no reason to be upset. It'll all be just fine," She reassured him, gently caressing his cheek to help soothe his raw nerves.
Sighing in relief that things here ended up better than it first seemed to be, I found myself looking off in the direction that Musou and Bankotsu had gone in.
"Unless there was a gunshot at the same time there was a gunshot here, there's been no loud sounds of any kind coming from that direction. I sure hope everything's going all right…"
But before I could think anymore on that matter, my cell phone rang and I pulled it out to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Have you and my brother been having any rat troubles there?" The calm, unamused tone of Sesshoumaru asked abruptly.
"Rat…troubles?" I questioned.
"According to the information we received from one of Onigumo's men here, they'd sent some that way."
"Oh! Actually, yes. We just got six of them cornered and the police are moving in."
I heard a gunshot, and the phone fell silent for a moment.
"Kagura…"
And that was the last thing Sesshoumaru said before the line went dead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Preview for Chapter 29:
The sun is setting quicker on the horizon. The phone connection to Sesshoumaru and Kagura has gone dead. And if something isn't done soon, the death count will only start to rise.