The Broken House of Taisho

Chapter 2: Throwback

Kagome woke up alone with the blood red quilt at her waist. Sesshoumaru's side of the bed was cold, not that that surprised her. She wasn't sure if he had ever gone to bed at all. Normally, this wasn't unusual but this morning, it sent a shiver down her spine.

Rolling over, her bedside clock announced with neon green numbers that it was ten o'clock in the morning. "Shit!" she cried, sitting up and getting out of bed. She grabbed her robe and tied it around her waist while cursing under her breath, wondering why her mate hadn't woken her up to go to work. The sun had been blocked from the room by the cream colored brocade curtains that Kagome had had to beg Sesshoumaru for. Throwing them open to light up the room, she could see the sun already high in the sky.

Exiting the bedroom, the hanyou walked through her penthouse apartment, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Kagome's eyes widened to see the crowd gathered around her breakfast table. "Um, hello?"

Sesshoumaru looked up from his position by the counter, apart from the crowd. "Good morning," he greeted. He caught the smell of the irritation emanating from his mate. "I did not wake you because I did not feel the need to do so. You have been through much in the past day."

"No more than you," she retorted softly, aware that everyone's eyes were on her. She smiled at the crowd. "Kaori, what a pleasure to see you. Hello, everyone."

Her mother-in-law gave a little nod of the head to the hanyou. For her part, Kagome was amazed that so many people could fit in her kitchen. The most important youkai in the city, most of them her family, sat around Kaori. Makoto, Keitaro and his mate Nami, Ruri, Kamlyn and Kagura, Ginta, Hakkaku, and her three eldest children were all there, sitting around a table strewn with documents and newspapers.

Kagome walked over and picked up one of the front pages. The murders at the Tenseiga building were the lead story, with a bold headline and a color photo of Sesshoumaru at the press conference. She could see her own face in the background, between Rin and Daichi. Skimming the article, her heart sped up. "Scandal?" she murmured. "Surely they aren't insinuating…"

"That we have committed these crimes?" finished Sesshoumaru. "Yes, they have. Just the human papers, of course, but even as unpopular as they are, these articles are getting attention. It was on the morning news."

The hanyou looked over at Kaori with wide eyes. Her mother-in-law shrugged. "Not my stations, my dear girl, but I'll tell you right now that my ratings were probably appallingly low this morning."

"We have to put the story on the evening news," Kagura said.

Kagome sat down in a chair that Hakkaku vacated for her. "No, you don't."

"None of us want to do this, Sis," murmured Kamlyn. "We have to, though. Everyone knows we're related. If we don't report, it'll look like a cover up."

The hanyou growled, making several of the youkai pull back a bit. "I don't understand how they can say these things about us! We had no motive to do this. There's no proof!"

"Um, actually there is," said Kagura, giving her another paper. "You two are the only ones that could have done all this. Someone used the codes to tap into the security system. You and Sesshoumaru are the only ones who could have done it. It's not enough for Ito and the rest of the Demon Squad, but for humans, it should be more than enough."

Ginta shook his head. "I still think that the police missed something. If Hakkaku and I could get into the computers they took! I'm sure we'd find evidence that it was hacked into from outside."

The other wolf nodded as he ran his hand through his hair. His mohawk was long gone, but it was still a shock of white. "The police have some great technicians, but they aren't used to a system of this size. But they'll never let us look. They would suspect us of planting something to clear you guys."

Kagome sighed. "It's alright. If this is their best evidence, I don't think we really have anything to worry about. Ito hasn't called us. More importantly, he hasn't arrested us."

Makoto cleared his throat from across the table. "I believe that we're forgetting the real reason we're here," he said softly. He appeared more serious than Kagome had seen him since the war. "We must realize that the humans are on the cusp of discovering the youkai population."

"What? How is that possible?" She turned around and looked at Sesshoumaru.

"A journalist somehow made it up to the top floor to look at the crime scene," Makoto said, answering for his younger friend. "He saw the burn marks. He saw the acid marks. He witnessed the fully formed snake demoness, Sakura, being put into the body bag. If it wasn't for the blood, the demons would have smelled him, but as it was…"

Kagome stood up and walked over to the coffeepot, pouring herself a large cup of the black liquid. "Five hundred years ago, I told the youkai population that they had to begin to hide themselves. I knew that in this day and age, no humans knew of us and none had known of us for centuries. You know, I didn't think it would be possible at first. We had no governing body, just four territory leaders that didn't even get along very well. There were near misses, of course, but we managed." She drank the coffee in one large draft and slammed it down on the counter. "And now you're telling me that one slip could destroy us all?"

Even Sesshoumaru looked slightly surprised at the hanyou's outburst. "It has always been possible," he replied.

His mate rubbed at her ears. "I'm sorry, but you know, I've worked so hard at keeping us alive for five hundred years! Now, when I have no more information about the future, when I can't help us anymore, we may have ruined everything."

Kaori stood up. "I know, my dear. You have been our seer for five centuries and now things are out of your hands." She held up her hands when Kagome's scent spiked in agitation. "Sorry, I didn't mean to patronize you."

The hanyou nodded. "Thank you. It's just that I don't like to be left out of the loop," she said, shooting a deadly glare at her mate. He only gave her a small shrug.

"Okay, so what do we do about this?" spoke up Daichi for the first time. "I like the good life myself and we all know that humans can be really stupid about things they don't understand."

Washi scowled. "The good life? Is that all you care about, Daichi? You're a quarter human. Is that why you're an idiot sometimes?"

The youngest Taisho son stood up and glared at his elder brother. "I'm not trying to be selfish, Washi. I'm just saying that humans might get a bit… touchy about the fact that most of the elite in Japan aren't human themselves."

The eagle demon opened his mouth to retort, but Kagome cut him off. "Hush, Washi. Daichi's right."

Her son looked at her. "How can you let his words slide, Mom? He insults his own heritage. Your family is human. You grew up as a human. It was your human side that saved him from a lot of lashings as a kid."

"I know, but Daichi is just concerned about our welfare, even if he speaks inappropriately." Kagome sighed and went to Sesshoumaru. "I think, perhaps, that we just need to remember that we're stuck in this trouble together."

The taiyoukai looked down at his mate as the scents of anger and irritation faded from the air. His sons appeared embarrassed, grunting their apologies to each other in typical male fashion. "I believe that if the humans ever discover our existence, that it should not be in this way. Not with scandal and mystery surrounding it. This incident is certainly not the best occasion for a coming out party and if we want to preserve our positions in society, as youkai or youkai posing as humans, we should do all in our power to stop this from going any further. I think this is one of the few times in our lives that solving a smaller problem will fix the larger one. How to go about it though, I must admit that I am not certain." He frowned. "I do not like being uncertain."

Kaori stood up. "Quite right, my son. I believe it may be time for the classic of all broadcast media."

"And what would that be?" Keitaro asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Misdirection, of course," said the matron. "I can't report lies, but every good journalist knows that the best way to make people forget a scandal is to bring up another one. It's just a matter of time."

Sesshoumaru nodded his approval. "Let us hope that some corrupt human chooses this moment to make a mistake." He looked at the clock. "I believe that we have exhausted this subject. We should all get back to our days' business."

They all murmured an agreement and stood up, their chairs scraping across the hardwood floor. Kaori, glowing in her berry colored suit, came up to kiss her daughter-in-law goodbye and to whisper assurances to her son. She sounded as if she was convincing herself more than Sesshoumaru. "Come on, Kaori. Stop pestering them," Makoto said from the doorway.

Kagome smiled at her mother-in-law. "We'll be fine," she said, leading Kaori towards the door. "We'll call you if anything happens."

"I lost this family once. I will not lose it again," said the elder woman.

"No one's losing anyone," asserted the hanyou. She hugged her before Kaori could say another word. "We'll see you soon. Goodbye."

With the door shut and locked, Kagome went back to the kitchen and glared at Sesshoumaru. "You're a real jackass, you know that? You know that you should have woken me up for that entire meeting. I like to hear things for myself, not secondhand from you." She stalked across the floor to get herself another cup of coffee.

"They said the same words over and over again. You heard all of the important parts," he replied, fixing her with his cold eyes. Setting down his own cup, he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to put his mouth against her ear. "I could not wake you. I heard you tossing all night and you finally looked at peace."

Kagome gave a weak scoff. Her ears were her weakness, but she was determined not to give in just yet. "Five hundred years, Sesshoumaru, and sometimes you still treat me like a child. I needed to hear all that was said. I do not want a nicer version from you later."

He pulled back just enough so that his breath wasn't on the shells of her ears. "When have I ever hidden the complete truth from you?"

"Never," she sighed. "I just wanted to be woken up, you know? Sometimes you just make decisions for me that I could easily make myself. I feel weak when you do that."

Sesshoumaru turned her around in his arms, took the coffee from her hands and set it on the counter. "That was never my intention."

"I know," she replied, looking away.

He placed his metal fingertips underneath her chin and made her look back at him. "I will attempt to stop it. You must understand that for hundreds of years, my word was law, the final decision. It is something I am used to and you have never complained before."

She ran her hand down his cybernetic arm. "When you were the Western Lord, I understood it. I even understand it when you overrule me at the office. But at home, I think you should remember that I am your equal, not your subject or your subordinate."

"I will remember," he answered.

Kagome reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him an intense kiss. Mentally checking where the kids were and satisfied that the four eldest were out of the house, she slipped her hands under his collar. A growl of contentment came from Sesshoumaru's throat, wordlessly agreeing with where this was going.

Satu's high-pitched cry over the baby monitor broke them apart and Kagome sighed. "I always forget how bad their timing is." She began to walk towards the nursery. "Of course, Satu is easy compared to Daichi. Remember that?"

Another growl, now irritated, came from the taiyoukai. "His wailing didn't let us mate for three months."

She laughed a bit as she began to climb the stairs. "But when we did… oh, wow."

Sesshoumaru smirked as he continued to follow her. "If you just accepted the help of a wet nurse for Daichi, we wouldn't have been put through such an ordeal."

"I raise my own children, Sesshoumaru. The only reason we are getting a nanny for Satu is that the business needs me too, but I refuse to let any child of mine become more attached to a nanny than to her own mother. I've seen it happen too often among our kind. When Satu doesn't need her, the nanny is gone." She pushed open the door to the nursery and went over to the crib where Satu was still crying. Flattening her ears, she picked her daughter up, instantly quieting her. "Her diaper is wet. You fed her?"

"I did," he replied. Catching her incredulous look, he added, "With Rin's assistance."

Carrying Satu to the changing table, Kagome looked at him again. "Um, you know that you hate this part right? With that sensitive nose of yours?"

"I already can smell it," he informed her.

"Yeah, I know. So what's up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You only would have followed me if you had something on your mind."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "I have been considering one matter, apart from our immediate troubles." He paused as Kagome cleaned up Satu, continuing only when the diaper was in the trash. "I believe that my mother and Makoto are sleeping together."

Kagome froze with the new diaper in hand. "What? No… How do you know?"

"They are good friends, so I cannot depend on my sense of smell, although they are blanketed in each other's scent all the time. I have noticed they look at one another quite often, as we do at meetings, when we would rather be alone in my office."

The hanyou blushed. She and Sesshoumaru had a rule that personal relationships should not interfere with business, but one day they had broken down. She still remembered the embarrassment of finding a Post-It note stuck in her hair. Sakura, thankfully, had been the one to spot it as soon as she left, but the knowing smile on her face had caused Kagome to be red all the way back to her own office. After that day, they added a rule that Post-Its were to be kept in their drawers at all times. "That's not really convincing proof," she said. "The children trade looks all the time, for instance."

"I am aware that it is not damning evidence," he replied. "It is a feeling."

Kagome finished changing Satu and picked her up again, balancing her on her hip. "Okay. Well, next time they're here together, I'll watch. If they are sleeping together, does it bother you?"

Sesshoumaru stepped out of the room and walked alongside his mate down the hallway. "No, I don't believe so. I wish that I had been informed, however. Makoto is my oldest friend and she is my mother. I wonder why they do not become mates, if they are so attracted to one another. And sometimes, I wonder what my father would say about it."

"I think that your father might be happy for his former mate, especially after she went through so much. And perhaps they don't want to mate because they're afraid of messing up their relationship. It's a delicate thing, going from just friends to much more than that." She looked up at him. "Don't you remember?"

"We were never friends," he replied.

The hanyou gave him a smack on the arm. "Shut up. Yes, we were."

Sesshoumaru looked at his daughter in his mate's arms. "If she goes to sleep again…"

"Which she won't do," interrupted Kagome. "And it's Midori's half day of classes. She'll be home in an hour or so. Sorry, my mate, better luck tonight."

"Hmm. Well, when she does get back, perhaps you should take her out to spend some of our money."

Kagome turned to look at the miser she was mated to. "You want me to spend money? With Midori, the shopaholic child?"

"She was quite distressed yesterday," he pointed out.

"I know," Kagome replied, lowering her head. "I feel so bad, forgetting to call the school like that. She should have heard that we were fine immediately, not hours after she heard ambiguous reports about murder at Tenseiga Corp. She must have been terrified to come home."

Sesshoumaru nodded as they went to the first floor. "But she did and for that, I am proud of her."

His mate stopped in the living room and placed Satu on the floor with her toys. "Are you saying that she needs some time with her mother then?" She smiled. "That's awfully sensitive of you."

He scowled. "She deserves reward for her composure, nothing more."

Kagome reached up and kissed him on his crescent moon marking. Even if her mother lamented that none of the children had inherited her dog ears, she was more than happy to have two daughters with their father's crescent moon and a son with his stripes. "I'll take her shopping as soon as she gets home, but you have to take care of Satu. Ruri couldn't stay today because she had a presentation to her clients."

Sesshoumaru looked over at his daughter, who was banging her stuffed cat against the edge of the coffee table. "Satu and I will be fine."

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"So how did you convince Dad to let us go to the mall?"

Kagome looked over at her daughter. "Actually, it was his suggestion. I think he was worried about you after yesterday, although he'd never admit it."

The black and silver haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Well, I'll take advantage of this rare occurrence."

"Good idea."

They strolled past the shops selling jewelry, sporting equipment and make-up. Several people stared at the mother and daughter, but they ignored them. They were used to it. Many people recognized their faces from various magazines and news spots, more so now with all the attention on her family. But Kagome knew that her daughter was also receiving a lot of attention for her exotic looks. Although she could hide the red streaks in her own hair, Midori had never mastered the concealment spell well enough to hide her silver strands. Sometimes, Kagome suspected that she liked the attention. "Where are we going?"

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. Shoes? Clothes? Random stuff that your father will burst a blood vessel about?"

Laughing, Midori pointed to the Gucci store across the way. "I could use some new sunglasses."

"You don't need three hundred dollar sunglasses," sighed Kagome.

"What about a six hundred dollar handbag?" her daughter asked with a wicked smile. It faded as Kagome stiffened and looked back over her shoulder. "Mom? Hello?"

She shook herself. "Sorry, baby, I just got a weird feeling for a second there." She smiled at her child. "Well, let's go look in at Gucci. I do have that charity ball for Unicef to go to in a few weeks and this year, your father said that you can come too."

"Really? I can have a dress and everything?"

Kagome furtively glanced back again. "Of course. You'd look silly in jeans. But you're over fifty and we think that you can behave well enough. I know you won't prove us wrong."

"Definitely won't," she said, nearly bouncing in excitement as they stepped into the store. "Let's go look at the dresses!"

They walked through the sparsely decorated store, past the shoes and handbags and other accessories to a rack of silky, slinky dresses. "Forget it," Kagome said, watching Midori pull out a low cut, back-less red number. "Do you want the males at this ball to live through the night? Because your father will kill anyone who looks at you in that dress."

"May I help you ladies?"

Kagome turned to see a short but beautifully proportioned girl in a silk top and cashmere skirt. "Oh no, thanks. We're just looking."

The sales girl smiled at them. "Okay! Just let me know if you need a dressing room or anything." She walked back to the front of the store to greet a couple smartly dressed in black.

Midori was looking through the rest of the dresses. "Alright, how about this one?" she asked, pulling out a variation on the classic little black dress.

"Very nice," said Kagome distractedly as she watched the sales clerk talk to the couple.

"Mom, you're not even paying attention to me."

She looked back at her daughter. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I think that we should leave though. Let's go to another mall. There's a larger one on the other side of town."

Midori frowned and put the dress back on the rack. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right," replied Kagome. She took her daughter's hand. "Come on, let's go."

Although Midori made a small noise of protest, she went along with her mother, towards the exit. The couple that had come in after them still hadn't moved away from the sales woman near the doorway. "I'm sorry," she was saying, "I can't understand you." She frowned as the couple continued to speak in a foreign language.

The silver streaked demoness stopped, pulling her hand out of her mother's grasp. "They're speaking Cantonese," she informed the sales girl. "They want a red suede handbag that will go with ruby earrings."

"Midori…" Kagome took her hand again. "Please."

"Right. I'm coming," her daughter answered, smiling at the relieved sales girl.

They left the store as Kagome's phone began to ring. Trying to walk just slow enough not to attract attention, she fished her cell out of her bag and answered. "Hello?… Ito-san, how are things progressing?… Well, thank you for your confidence in us." She stopped dead, nearly pulling Midori's arm out of her socket. "What do you mean, 'poisoned bullets'?… Species-specific? Do you mean they only react with youkai blood?… Oh, good Kami… Alright, yes. Goodbye."

"So, that wasn't a good conversation, was it?" Midori asked as Kagome urged her forward again.

"Ah well, the good news is that Ito doesn't buy into the bullshit that your father and I were the ones that killed those people. On the other hand, the attack was by humans that know about our race. The bullets were made just to kill youkai. It's almost certainly an attack on us personally."

Midori bit her lip and looked behind her. "Please stop, you're making me paranoid."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. I just want to get home to your father."

The tingling sensation that she had felt earlier went down her spine again and Kagome turned to see the couple dressed in black following them. Midori looked back as well. "They aren't really Chinese," she said, her voice wavering. "Their pronunciations were all wrong. I thought it was a dialect, but now that I think on it…"

The man and woman stopped in the walkway and stared at the mother and daughter. Kagome became painfully aware of how long it had been since she had fought a real opponent, someone other than Sesshoumaru in sparring sessions. She wished that Tetsusaiga was by her side, instead of on her bedroom wall, above Tenseiga and Tokijin. "Midori… hide yourself."

"Absolutely not," muttered her daughter.

Kagome growled softly, but said nothing. It would be of no use. Her child had inherited her parents' stubborn natures. Instead, she swept the terrain with her eyes. It wasn't very crowded, because it was so early in the afternoon, but there was little cover. A bullet would go straight through the glass on every storefront and it would endanger human lives. She could see a pair of young youkai in one of the shops, staring out at the unfolding situation. They had already sensed the tension, the danger. That was not good. Soon, even the humans would notice and Kagome could not afford to make a spectacle of this.

"What do we do, Mom?"

"We keep moving. Let's get to the parking lot," murmured Kagome, keeping her eyes locked with the man's as she took a step back.

The man smiled at her as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a silenced gun. Beside him, the woman removed her own firearm from her purse. Her smile spread across her face, turning her into a grotesque joker, as she lifted her gun into the air and fired up at the ceiling. "Everyone, down!" she yelled over the screams of terror.

Kagome took Midori's hand and began to pull her down to the floor when the man turned his gun on them. "Not you two. Stay standing, monsters."

The hanyou looked over at the youkai couple again, the only other ones still standing. They looked at her in expectation, but Kagome shook her head and they got down to the ground as well. "Just two of you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the human couple. "I'm rather insulted by your confidence."

"Overconfidence is your weakness, not ours," replied the woman.

Kagome only raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you hope to accomplish here? Murdering me in full view of dozens of people is hardly the covert operation you pulled at the Tenseiga building. Why bother going through all of that just to blow your cover now?"

"Situations change, monster," snapped the man, waving the gun impatiently. Kagome watched the barrel with trepidation as it pointed towards the others in the mall. He saw her eyes widening and smiled. "So you're concerned for them?"

"Clearly you aren't," retorted the hanyou. "How strange that you keep calling me the monster."

The man smirked and trained the gun upon Kagome once more. The hanyou barely had time to tense her muscles before both he and the woman squeezed off a bullet. Kagome went down and to the left, pushing her daughter out of the way. Midori screeched, regained her balance and sped into the jewelry store next to them. "Mom!" she screamed, horrified when she could not hear her mother following.

Kagome lifted her head from the floor. "Stay down!" she yelled back, forgetting her agreement to let Midori stay by her side. The couple's aim was too practiced. These were professional marksmen, not some trigger-happy humans.

She looked at them again. They had moved closer, frowning at their initial failure, but not firing again. They stared at her expectantly and Kagome realized that they wanted her to be standing up, fighting them, or better yet, running in cowardice. She waited for a few seconds, until the woman glanced at her partner, and Kagome took her chance. Rolling to her feet, the hanyou ran in the opposite direction of her daughter. She was taking a chance. She knew that one of them could go back and target Midori easily, but Kagome would have bet her collection of Manolo Blahniks that they were much more concerned with her.

The woman snapped something at her partner before they shot at her again, forcing Kagome to dive behind the large potted plant in the middle of the walkway. She heard the ceramic shatter and dirt spill out as the rest of the plant began to fall back on her. She had to run again, but there was no where else to hide. If she faced them, she would have to use her demonic powers. She was pushing it as it was, pressing the limits of human speed.

Their footsteps approached and the decision was made for her. Kagome pushed the remainder of the potted plant into their path and took off again, swerving sharply to avoid any bullets. The only thought going through her head was the terrifying fact that bullets moved faster than sound. One of her greatest advantages had been taken away by modern technology.

The decorative marble paneling on the wall exploded and Kagome turned her head to see that the man had drawn a much larger gun from underneath his jacket. People in the mall were screaming again. Someone had been hit. The scent of blood was in the air. Kagome turned a hard left, coming back the way she came, towards her assailants. The person hit was a human, lying on the floor by the entrance of a cellular phone shop, cradling his arm. Just a flesh wound, she realized in relief.

The clicking of reloading the gun clip, came to her ears and the next bullet that hit the wall sizzled. She began to panic. They were using the poisoned bullets. She could smell the chemicals, even though the metal fragment was buried deep into the wall. She wouldn't live if she kept this up. Her demonic side was the only thing that could let her survive.

Decision made, Kagome slowed her speed, allowing the couple to catch up. They stopped thirty feet away and raised the gun barrels again.

"I'm so sorry, Sesshoumaru," she murmured, kicking off her shoes. Turning to the wall, she sprinted up the marble wall, hitting the thirty foot ceiling in two seconds. Before losing her propulsion, she smashed her hands into the marble, gripping it with her claws.

The assassins only paused for a moment, giving Kagome the chance to scramble along the wall, making her finger and toes bleed with the repeated impact. Ripping off a ventilation grating, she crawled inside and backed into it as deeply as possible. For a few moments, everything was relatively quiet. She could only hear her rapid breathing and the murmurs of her attackers.

Suddenly, her cell phone rang. It was Sesshoumaru's personalized ring – the Star Wars theme, which Kagome for some reason had found infinitely entertaining at the time.

Grimacing as it vibrated in her jeans' pocket, she wiggled in the shaft just enough to reach it and pull the irritating contraption to her ear. "What?" she hissed.

"What are you doing, wench?" he hissed back. She grimaced again. He only called her 'wench' when he was feeling dominant in the bedroom or when he was really, really annoyed at her. Somehow, she knew he wasn't feeling frisky. "Do you realize that there is a breaking news story about a mall shooting right now?"

"Oh come on! Why did you assume it was me?" she snapped.

He was growling. Another bad sign for her. "Instinct. Where is our daughter?"

Kagome sighed. "She's safe, I hope." A bullet hit the rim of the ventilation shaft and she yelped. "But I'm not!"

"I cannot help you," he said evenly. "It is bad enough that two Taisho family members are involved. When you resolve your present situation, we will have to talk about this further."

"I didn't go looking for them, you know!" she replied, exasperated and crouching further into the shaft as another bullet sparked against the metal.

Sesshoumaru was quiet for a moment. "You will be fine, Kagome. If I were truly concerned, I would call the former Western army to your location. As it is, this is still a family matter. Protect our daughter, kill the gunmen."

"Everyone will see what I am, if they haven't already," she answered, her voice belying her nervousness. "Doesn't help that the psycho duo keeps calling me a monster, of course."

"Well then, I believe that your situation calls for a bit of indiscretion," he said, before hanging up.

Kagome snarled and shoved the phone back into her pocket. "Idiot," she muttered. She scooted up to the edge of the shaft, trying to remain out of view. Bracing her feet against the walls, she bent her knees, asked Kami for luck and catapulted herself from the shaft.

Somersaulting through the air, she landed on her feet, facing the assailants who had patiently waited for her return. "You really want to do this?" she asked them.

"Really do," replied the woman, squeezing her trigger again.

The hanyou got down and rolled away, stopping in front of a cutlery store she had never noticed before. "Kami, you're kidding me," she muttered, ducking again as the shop's glass door shattered. She darted in and glanced at the terrified clerk, cowering in the corner. "Those sharp?" she asked, pointing to the impressive sushi knives behind the cash register.

"Yes," he squeaked.

"Get in the back room," she advised, the words barely out of her mouth before he scrambled into the room, locking it behind him. She leapt over the counter easily and, turning away her eyes, slammed her elbow into the glass. The footsteps of the assassins were coming closer. "Took them long enough," she murmured to herself as she grabbed as many knives as she could.

Facing the door again, an enormous meat cleaver caught her eye. She smiled, smashed the counter open and took that as well before crouching down and crawling around to the back of the store.

"Come out, monster," said the woman. "We tire of your games."

Kagome could smell their annoyance, their sweat from chasing her up and down the corridor. Creeping to the bend of the counter, she took a breath before standing up and hurling the meat cleaver at the woman. She shrieked as it struck her left shoulder and imbedded itself in her bone. Dropping to the ground, the woman let go of her gun and put her hand on the knife's handle. "Not as sharp as I wanted," lamented the hanyou quietly.

The man roared and shot at the counter blindly, missing Kagome by several feet. She heard him help the whimpering woman to her feet and they made their way out quickly. The hanyou waited several moments before getting up, still holding the sushi knives. Looking down, she could see a thick trail of blood. She smiled in triumph.

A scream tore the air apart and Kagome's heart dropped. She hadn't heard that scream since 1976, when Midori had broken her leg in four places while skiing in the Alps. Vaulting over the counter, she ran out, following the bloody path the couple had left. It led directly to the jewelry store that Midori had taken refuge in moments earlier.

The man was standing between the counters, his arm outstretched and pointed down towards something on the floor. Beside him, leaning heavily on the glass counter, the woman was standing in a pool of her own blood. "Get away from her!" Kagome screamed, dropping the knives and moving towards them with incredible speed.

He lifted his lip and moved to fire again, when the woman collapsed, drawing his attention for a crucial moment. Kagome sprang forward, smashing him into the glass and jewelry behind him. She landed on top of him, closing one hand around his throat and another around his wrist. She felt the bones break under his skin and he gave a garbled gasp as he dropped the firearm.

Looking over, Kagome saw her daughter on the ground, breathing hard. Her wound was almost in the same place as the woman's, her left shoulder. She had her right hand on the injury, applying pressure to slow the blood flow. "Mom… your eyes," she murmured.

Kagome glanced at the salespeople and other customers, who were all staring at her in shock and fear. She knew her eyes were glowing red and that her concealment spell had dropped away to reveal her red streaked hair, fangs and claws. Midori's had slipped away too.

Trying to regain control of her demon, the hanyou reached over and grabbed the man's gun. She held it to his head as she climbed off him. "Are you okay, Midori?" she asked.

"Well, a hospital might be nice about now, but yeah… just in incredible pain."

Kagome sniffed the air but she could not smell the acid scent of the poison bullets. "You'll be okay, little one." Glancing over to the woman, she was surprised to find her eyes were open. She gave the assassin a malicious smile.

"We have failed, yes," choked the woman. "But my compatriots will not."

The hanyou's eyes flashed red. "Tell me who you are and your friends will find out all that much sooner if they have the power to beat me." The woman laughed, moving jerkily as if she was trying to sit up. Kagome made no move, keeping her gun on the man's forehead. "Tell me or he dies."

"We die anyway," murmured the woman, pulling out a derringer from her waist. Before Kagome could react, she put it to her temple and pulled the trigger, lodging the bullet deep into her brain.

The man suppressed a whimper as the woman slumped to the ground with blood splattered everywhere. "Look what you've done," he cried. "You've killed an angel of Kami."

Kagome looked down at him in amazement, barely catching the movement of his jaw. When he began to convulse and foam at the mouth, she dropped to her knees and grabbed his shirt. "Tell me who you are!" she demanded.

The man only smiled sadly as he died.

"What… what was that?" whispered Midori after a long moment of silence.

"Cyanide," replied the hanyou, finally releasing the dead man's shirt. "Who the hell uses cyanide these days? Who is he? A Russian spy from fifty years ago? Argh." She stamped her foot as she looked down on the dead pair.

A dozen men suddenly converged on their location, holding a variety of high-powered rifles and pistols, and all pointing them at her. "Drop your weapon!" one of them barked.

Kagome sighed, putting down the gun and raising her hands. "Where were you guys? We missed you and your pretty guns."

"And your pretty ambulance."

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"Although the police would not comment upon the identity of the two women, several witnesses said that one of the women was none other than Kagome Taisho, the president of Tenseiga Corporation. The company suffered a public relations blow just yesterday when six people were found murdered on the top floor of their headquarters. Witnesses to the mall shooting had even more to say, claiming that Mrs. Taisho performed superhuman feats in order to disarm the attackers. They also reported that she went through physical changes that gave her claws and fangs. These claims have only compounded beliefs that Tenseiga Corporation has performed genetic testing on some of their employees, including one of the murder victims. Detective Ito of the Elite Task Force has denied all of these allegations, but—."

Kagome turned off the television and set down the remote on the bedside table. She looked down at her daughter, asleep under the allergy-free sheets. Everything reeked of antibiotics and disinfectant.

The door opened and her mate stepped into the room. His eyes were cold as he looked at her. "The doctor says she will be able to remove the sling in a week."

"Good," murmured Kagome. "The drugs pretty much knocked her out."

"Hmm."

They stared at one another across their daughter's bed. Kagome's chest hurt badly. She had seen Sesshoumaru in many moods over the centuries – angry, annoyed, proud, even happy on a few rare occasions – but she had never seen him as disappointed as he was now. It was emanating off of him in waves.

"I thought what I did was enough," she said. "I thought I had distracted them. They weren't supposed to go after her."

"But they did."

"I tried…"

"And failed."

Kagome was shaking, trying to keep back her sobs. "She's my daughter too, Sesshoumaru," she choked. "I don't need your help to feel this miserable."

The door opened before her mate could respond. A pale woman with unnaturally black hair and green eyes came in. She appeared human, but her scent belied her youkai nature. She smiled at the troubled pair, her gaze barely flickering over the injured girl on the bed. Sesshoumaru frowned at her.

"Machi."

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A/N: I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story (or at least those that reviewed). I don't really have anything to say except thanks for all your support.

Review responses removed due to ban