Dark as Day
Chapter Eleven
"The government will stop this," was the first thing Sango said to Sha and Kamen once they returned to the headquarters. "They won't allow the media to catch wind of this. It's crucial that we remain anonymous. The police will be silenced."
Kamen collapsed into a seat and Inuyasha sat up on the table covered in butcher paper. He knew that Miroku was undoubtedly on his way—he'd probably wet himself from excitement with the idea of examining Inuyasha again.
True to Inuyasha's prediction, Miroku bustled into the room a couple moments later, a smile plastered on his face. He didn't even bother with formalities. Instead, he just scurried over to Inuyasha.
The cut was still drizzling blood down his chest but it had become a dull ache more than a searing pain now. He peeled off the upper part of his uniform, revealing the small cuts that he'd obtained over the last couple of days which had yet to heal. Save for the black band around his bicep that masked his scent, he was completely naked from the waste upwards.
Sango kept on talking, Miroku continued examining and patching up his chest, Kamen stayed in her chair, and Inuyasha dully watched the ceiling lights flicker.
He had a bad feeling.
He'd stayed up the entire night. He was never tired anymore, so Inuyasha wasn't concerned that his eyelids didn't even begin to droop. He'd completed a term paper earlier than he normally would have and that, he decided, was a great success.
His radio was on, playing a light tune in the early morning rays as he hit the save button on his computer and printed off his paper. He rested his chin in his hand as he stared blankly out the window, watching as the sun crested over the endless waves of concrete, greeting the new day. Clouds peppered the sky, but they offered no threat of rain.
As the song came to an end on his radio, the young announcer's voice sounded clear, "Good morning Japan. It's the top of the hour. Today there's a thirty percent chance of rain with high sixties, low fifties." As the announcer droned on about the weather, the traffic, and the music coming up in the hour, Inuyasha tried his best to tune it out. That is until the announcer started talking about news, it came after the man mentioned the sudden sickness of cows, the long list of recent disappearances, the monotonous demon attacks on various parts of the city, and more information on the STARS Act.
"Last night, at approximately three thirty in the morning, security was breeched on a Japanese freight, transporting standard biological warfare machinery. Not long after the ship docked, however, witnesses claimed that they saw figures moving around the docks. For centuries the government has searched for some sign of the elusive taijiya, and last night, their suspicions were confirmed."
Inuyasha's head whipped up and he stared at his radio as if it had just sworn at him. Sango had said that the government would silence the media. What was this?
"The captain of the S.S. Venture had this to say," the announcer's voice was cut off and replaced with a grainy, raspy voice belonging to a much older man. "We knew that the police would be on patrol, making sure that nothing happened to us, but the demon hunters must have gotten to them first, because they showed up after the machine had been stolen. I'd grown up hearing stories of how the demon hunters protected people, but I never suspected them to be in league with the demons."
Inuyasha stared, shocked.
"Witnesses were able to identify that the majority of the hunters stealing the machine from the freight were of demonic heritage. The prime minister has yet to make a statement on the issue at hand. It can be confirmed, however, that the hunters openly attacked the crew of the ship as well as the police."
Inuyasha threw his radio against the wall and it shut off. Whether it was broken or not, Inuyasha wasn't sure, but he really couldn't care less about the outcome of an electronic device. They'd gotten it all wrong. The government had hired them to protect the crew. How could the media get a hold of this? Why couldn't any person see that the hunters had been trying to help, not steal the machine?
The hanyou grasped his jacket and shoved it on. Grabbing his keys, he stomped out of his apartment and moved down the crowded sidewalks of the early morning. He needed to clear his head, and while the city was hardly a breath of fresh air, it was certainly better than staying cooped up in his home.
As he moved, he saw an increased density of policemen. They moved down the sidewalks with the humans, their eyes sharp. Their cars rolled down the streets, following cars. Inuyasha pursed his lips. What was going on?
"Did you hear the news?" he heard people whispering beside them. People gestured towards newspapers, or pointed at televisions inside shop windows. The word of the taijiya was spreading like a wildfire. It was too late to stop the news. They'd have to handle the repercussions. Inuyasha clenched his fists inside his pockets, where he'd shoved them, and continued walking briskly, feeling his fury boil within him.
"It's a pity, really. They would have been better off on our side, don't you agree?"
"I always knew they were bad apples."
"It's truly a shame."
The words rang in his ears, all following the similar vein of it being too bad. Did these people truly believe that the demon hunters were bad people? They'd been trying to protect them. It had been Naraku who'd stolen the machine. Hadn't the police seen him, even for a split second, before he stole the machine and left Kamen and Sha to take the blame?
All around him he could see signs with the same reading: Protected by the STARS Act.
He paused in his step and watched a police officer inside a shop with the sign gesturing aggressively to the shop keeper, who trembled slowly. They spoke, their lips moving quickly as they yelled at one another. Finally, the officer moved to a corner and started installing something near the ceiling.
What was the STARS Act anyway? What was going on with his city? His home? Inuyasha hated the foreboding sense within him that just wouldn't go away. Something was strange, and he hated not knowing what.
"We're needed," a voice crackled in his ear. He flinched and several people stared at him as they passed him. He cleared his throat and switched on his communicator so that he could speak to Kamen.
"Where?" he asked lightly, hoping that no one was listening to him seemingly talk to himself.
"Meet me at headquarters," Kamen's voice instructed.
"Right." Silence met this response and he switched off his communicator again, turned on his heel, and headed towards his home to get his uniform.
"So, where are we going again?" Inuyasha asked Kamen about an hour later after they'd set out to go to wherever it was that 'they were needed'. It was hard for him to imagine that they were actually needed somewhere when the media was currently slandering them.
"The prime minister's office," Kamen spoke after a moment. We're going in through the window. We need to do it quickly so we're not seen."
"We're what?" Inuyasha yelped out only to have Kamen's smooth hand clap over his mouth. He stopped dead in a tangent he was about to go off on.
"I know you don't like it," she said firmly. "But he's requested our presence."
"Asshole," Inuyasha snarled and Kamen nodded her head grimly. No doubt the girl had heard the media's slander as well. "I don't like this, Kamen. Are you sure it's not a trap? What if he's just going to… arrest us once we get there?"
"Since when have humans ever stood a chance against you?" Kamen asked, her lips quirked into a tiny smile. Inuyasha felt his cheeks turn red and he struggled to answer her with some clever and witty response—but it never came. He just stared at her and Kamen stared back (at least he thought she did). "Don't worry, we'll be fine."
"Yeah," he agreed, staring at his feet as they moved swiftly towards where the prime minister was waiting in his office. It was hard to be around Kamen, especially after last night at the docks. He was fighting huge currents of emotions. On the one hand, he was pretty sure that he liked Kagome. But on the other there was Kamen. What was a guy supposed to do? He liked both of them.
They reached the meeting place and crouched down on the roof of a building a short distance away. Kamen peered through a set of binoculars and Inuyasha looked behind Kamen, making sure that no one was coming at them from behind. He bit his lip and swiveled his ears, trying to make out anything suspicious from the loud hustle and bustle of the city itself. This was his first time being on a 'mission' in broad daylight. It was odd.
"Let's go," Kamen instructed. She pointed. "He left the window open, as instructed."
"Who's first?" Inuyasha questioned. They couldn't both fit through the window as the same time.
Kamen stood and switched on a button. He watched as the spikes of her ashiko sprouted from the bottom of her boots. The sharp tips were poised to latch onto the wall should the need arise.
"Throw me towards the window, I'll handle the rest," she explained. "You follow after me, and have your gasmask on, just in case." With that instruction, she latched her own over her mouth and nose.
He grasped her wrist and scooped her up into his arms, holding her like a husband did his bride. He stared at her and pursed his lips before pulling on his gasmask, hiding his distraught frown.
"Ready?" he asked her and saw her nod. He tightened his hold on her and pulled himself up to his full height. Edging to the side of the building, he poised and with a mighty heave, threw her forward. Kamen was prepared for it, however, and grasped the side of the building like a cat did a tree. Her ashiko planted themselves in the solid stone of the building and she began crawling up the building's side like a spider.
He watched her progress and waited until she was within the building before backing up a couple of steps. With a running start, he shot himself off one building and landed on the windowsill of the other. He crouched and slunk into the room. Kamen was already standing before the desk of the prime minister. For someone who'd just witnessed two taijiya jump through his window, one of them being very obviously demonic, the prime minister Musou seemed rather calm.
"Welcome," he stated in an overly cheery voice as he stood. He was young, younger than Inuyasha expected. He had dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. Nothing was out of the ordinary about him besides his youthfulness and the small mole underneath his left eye. "I'm glad to see you made it here without incident?"
He smiled at them but neither Kamen nor Sha betrayed an emotion. The hanyou followed Kamen's example and kept his face neutral. He was glad that at least his mouth was hidden. Kamen had the privilege of her entire face. She could be sticking her tongue out at him or rolling her eyes and neither her partner nor the prime minister would ever know.
"You called us here, now explain your reasons for our presence," Kamen said coldly. Inuyasha had to admit that Kamen was good at masking her emotions, seeing as how he was once on the receiving end of Kamen's acidic nature.
"Ah, yes," Prime Minister Musou seemed nervous, but he continued smiling. "I'd like to give my… sincerest apologies for… the situation your kind has been placed in."
"Our kind?" Kamen whispered and Inuyasha heard the venom in her voice.
"Er, yes," Musou fidgeted, but his smile never left his face. His chocolate brown eyes, which could have very well have been warm and understanding once, were twin chips of ice. Inuyasha took a step closer to Kamen, and he felt her aura wrap around his. It offered him comfort, even if he wasn't necessarily nervous standing before a young little jerk of a leader.
"You were the one that hired us to protect the BWATE canon," Kamen said sharply. "And now you're placing the blame on us when it was clearly the Ring Leader's doing."
"Well you see…"
"And now you've called us here to simply apologize? You have betrayed the taijiya, who have protected this country for centuries. You have betrayed our secret by refusing to silence your own police officers. So why was it that you're blaming us now? Are the demons not a big enough scapegoat anymore?"
Inuyasha bit his lip, staring at Musou with as much contempt as he could muster. His golden eyes flashed dangerously. He stepped closer to Kamen and placed a hand on the small of her back, trying to calm her down. She looked like she was on the verge of attacking the prime minister, and he figured that the prime minister might openly accept this—seeing as how it would give him a concrete reason to blame the demon hunters.
"Scapegoat… I don't know what you're talking about," Musou said stiffly.
Kamen snorted and Inuyasha glanced at her, impressed by her ability to openly disrespect the minister. It was kind of cool, he had to admit. He kept his face neutral as best he could, however.
"Ha! Surely you've been planning on using the taijiya as soon as possible, haven't you?" Kamen growled out. "You need a good reason as to why the demon problem hasn't been improved at all since you gained office. You can blame it on us because if the demons have increased support, it will be harder to fight, yes?"
Musou's eyebrows furrowed and his iced eyes stared at the two hunters angrily.
"I once again would like to offer my sincerest apologies. But rest assured that you and your kind will come to no harm." Musou's eyes flickered to where Inuyasha's hand disappeared behind Kamen and he quickly dropped it, though he missed the warmth of Kamen's body. "Japan is trying its hardest to protect the people. The STARS Act will hopefully offer more support and protection."
Kamen gave one last dignified snort and strolled towards the window. "This meeting is over." She turned her attention to Inuyasha. "We're going."
"Yes," he agreed and shot one last reproachable look at Musou before falling after Kamen. The girl, using her ashiko, ran down the length of the building and landed on the ground before darting into an alleyway where no one would see her uniform.
Inuyasha made to jump after her when Musou's voice stopped him. "A word please, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha froze and turned his attention back to the prime minister, who looked absolutely thrilled. He frowned deeply. "I don't believe I gave you my name, minister."
"No, surely you didn't," Musou murmured with a large grin. He waved his hand and the window slammed shut. "I'd just like a… word with you before you go along your merry way."
Inuyasha inched towards the other windows, in hopes of finding one open, but they were all locked. He turned his gaze back towards Musou, who looked positively gleeful.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Just a word," Musou chuckled.
"Word," Inuyasha said dryly. Musou chuckled darkly and swept from behind his desk. His clothes seemed to billow out behind him and his dark brown hair framed his youthful, handsome face as he approached the hanyou. Inuyasha tensed and glared at the man.
"A comedian, I see," Musou whispered, his breath breezing over his face. Musou was too close. He took a step back. He was growing increasingly uncomfortable and knew that Kamen was probably pulling her hair out wondering where he'd gone off to.
"Get away."
"Tsk." Musou frowned and glared at Inuyasha. "Is that anyway to treat the prime minister?"
"What do you want?" Inuyasha demanded.
"I just wanted to know if you'd heard anything about your mother yet, Inuyasha." Musou laughed again and something stabbed Inuyasha in the heart. Not literally, but figuratively speaking it felt like someone had just ripped his vital organs from his chest. He took another step back and clenched his fists, glaring daggers at Musou.
No, not Musou. Suddenly it clicked.
"Naraku," he growled. "What have you done to the prime minister?"
Naraku-not-Musou laughed happily, his chocolate eyes glowing with mirth, though Inuyasha doubted that Naraku truly found all this as funny as he was letting on. His hand grasped the hilt of Tessaiga and he watched the minister's eyes flicker to the sword before locking on Inuyasha again.
"You idiot," he whispered, his laughing voice suddenly gone and replaced with a sinister, cold voice that shook Inuyasha to the core. "I am the prime minister. I always have been the prime minister. These fools of humans can't tell the difference between a true human and a shape shifter."
"No," Inuyasha marveled. "You didn't."
"Ha," Naraku snorted. "I've been bidding my time and finally my time has come. Soon this city will be cast into my complete and total control. How ironic, don't you agree? That those stupid humans' undoing will be thanks to a man they trusted? I find it rather quaint, really."
"You…" Inuyasha trailed off when Naraku locked eyes with him. He felt cold fury surging through him and resisted with all his power not to strangle Naraku.
"I've come to warn you, Inuyasha… That it would be… quite a shame for everyone to suddenly find out who you are, hm?" Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "I sincerely doubt that your school will be keen on keeping you… and do not I think that your neighbors will feel comfortable having you next door. Come to think of it… I doubt that the STARS Act will allow you to live, should your identity be revealed."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Inuyasha whispered.
"Certainly not… just a friendly warning," Naraku drawled. Inuyasha felt fear seize him. "Do take care, Inuyasha. I'd hate to see you lose your head under such puny things, don't you agree?"
He was shoved towards the window. "I daresay that your master is probably waiting for her pet to return. You should heed his call, yes?"
"She's not my master."
"Of course she's not. It would be a pity if something happened to her, too, though."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Inuyasha repeated, feeling his anger boiling within him.
"I only want you to give me what I want," Naraku drawled.
"And what is it that you want?" Inuyasha demanded to know. Naraku didn't answer him, simply stared at him with a disgusting little smirk on his lips. Inuyasha wanted nothing more than to rip that stupid look off the man's face. Inuyasha moved towards the window. Inuyasha's hand quivered as he reached for the windowpane. It opened under his furious tug.
"Oh, I don't think it needs to be said that this meeting never happened. I trust that you want your mother to remain safe," Naraku said airily. "I'll give you another chance to join my side, Inuyasha. I daresay that you'll be very happy on the winning team."
Inuyasha growled.
"I'll take that as a no, then." With a dainty shove, Inuyasha was falling from the building. He landed briskly and darted to the alleyway. The moment he was shrouded in the darkness, Kamen snapped her hand out and shoved him against the wall.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"He tried to convince me to join him." It wasn't a complete lie. "I guess he probably felt he could get to me with you gone… since you kind of lost your temper up there." He smirked, recalling the memory of Kamen cursing Naraku-not-Musou out.
"What a fool," Kamen said angrily and he felt her aura crackle and burn like a fire. "Thinking that a simple apology will let us forgive him for what he's done. Doesn't he understand what the repercussions will be for his foolish actions?"
"I think he does. But it's like you said… he just needed another scapegoat. By this time tomorrow, the entire world will hate the demon hunters, I figure," Inuyasha whispered, feeling the ridiculous foreboding sense seize him again. Things were looking to be more and more hopeless.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned hesitantly, as if unsure the boy standing before her was actually her history partner. She'd just retreated down the steps of her shrine home only to see Inuyasha standing there, looking up at the sky blankly, as if he didn't notice the rain splattering off his face.
At the sound of his name being called, however, he moved his head so that deep lavender eyes stared at Kagome. His ebony hair was plastered against the back of his neck and his bangs were flattened over his forehead stupidly. He gave her a tiny, hesitant smile.
"Er, hi Kagome," he whispered, feeling his cheeks turn pink.
Kagome felt her own cheeks turning pink despite herself. She shortened the distance between them and lifted her umbrella and covered the dripping boy with it as well as herself.
"What are you doing out here on a day like this?" Kagome questioned. She didn't bother asking him why he was standing outside her home, she wasn't sure if she'd like the answer or not. Her stomach flopped. Her cheeks turned red.
"Just walking," he said softly with a shrug.
"I was about to head out towards the store. Rin ran out of shampoo again. Um… do you want to come with me?" Kagome asked skeptically, eager for the company, even if it was coming from the boy who seemed slightly out of it that day. She enjoyed Inuyasha's company and she rarely saw him outside of class. It was a nice surprise, albeit unexpected.
"Sure," he agreed and they started moving. Inuyasha stayed under the sanctuary of her umbrella and Kagome tried to ignore the fact that all her blood was relocating itself to her face. Weren't limbs supposed to fall off when cut off from blood supply? Kagome could have sworn that her pinky would fall off at any moment.
"Did you finish the term paper?" Kagome asked conversationally, and Inuyasha nodded. Her hand brushed his and Inuyasha felt his breath hitch in his throat. This was getting ridiculous. He was acting like a pathetic little boy around Kagome and it was wearing thin on his senses.
"Did you?" he asked—or more like squeaked—trying to engage in conversation with the pretty girl standing dangerously close beside him.
Kagome's affirmative nod, instead of informing him, simply captivated all his attention. He watched the way her black locks bounced on her shoulders, curving slightly inwards and swaying as she moved. Her bright blue eyes, a startling contrast to her onyx colored hair, stared up at him.
"Are you okay?" At her words his head snapped forward and he nodded curtly. She bit her lip. "Okay."
Their hands brushed again. Inuyasha felt like his face was going to explode if anymore blood rushed to his cheeks.
It took him a moment to realize that when their hands brushed again, Kagome's fingers seized his and encased his larger hand in her soft grip. He froze, nearly tripping Kagome with his abrupt stop. He stared at her, his eyes bugging out.
Kagome bit her lip, unsure whether his reaction was a positive or negative one. Hesitantly, she ducked her head and released his hand.
"Sorry," she muttered and continued walking. He was quick to follow after her, partly because he wasn't keen on staying out in the rain and partly because he couldn't bear to be away from her for too long.
He bit his lip, watching her hand swinging limply at her side. He wanted more than anything to capture it again. But it nagged his mind. Naraku knew of his identity. He'd threatened him the other day… whether or not that would progress to blackmail had yet to be seen. But, at the same time, he couldn't endanger Kagome.
He watched her profile. She kept her head down and her eyes trained to the ground. He could feel the tension in the air from the shattered moment he'd ruined by his hesitance. But he knew it was for the best. He had to protect Kagome, right? He had to protect her from his other persona—from the life Sha had gotten himself wrapped up in.
He swallowed. His hand twitched. He wanted to hold her near him but it wasn't the right thing to do. He couldn't be selfish in a time like this. He had to keep her interests and her life at heart—if he got in too deep he could seriously endanger Kagome.
And the increasing conflict with Kamen rang in his mind. Kagome was wonderful and the more sensible one to chose, obviously, seeing as how he knew her real name and her real person. But there was something appealing about Kamen as well. How did he even get into this situation? He went a twenty-two year streak of having absolutely no luck with girls—except for high school girls in his college years, but that was something he didn't even consider—to suddenly having two women to choose form? What was a poor guy to do?
He licked his dry lips and he reached out his hand, grasping it in his. He saw Kagome's head tilt to look at him, her face bright red. He offered a tiny smile and she returned it. She looked so incredibly gorgeous in that one moment. Her blue eyes were shining, her black hair, rolling over her shoulders, waved slightly in the breeze. The rain that drizzled around her was almost a startling contrast to how much she seemed to… glow.
He squeezed her hand tightly, aware that he may have just ensured Kagome's death.
"It's funny," Inuyasha spoke in the semidarkness. He knew that Kamen was there, sitting only a couple feet from him, yet it felt like a thousand miles of separation. He waited for a response from his partner but didn't receive one. He sighed and continued. "How screwed over this country is."
His eyes traced the outline of the waning moon, its pale face disappearing into the inky darkness of the sky. He frowned angrily at the moon, wishing that it was waxing. He shifted so that he was sitting on the side of the building the two sat on, swinging his legs out tiredly, feeling the cool night air.
He felt Kamen move and sit beside him. He smiled at the small comfort and tilted his head towards the ruler of his transformations. He frowned. "I hate the moon sometimes…"
Kamen titled her head, too. She seemed unfazed by his abrupt change of subject. "How come?"
Should he relay the information of his transformations? He figured that she had a right to know—after all, it would be rather hard to explain it to her when one day Kamen called him for a mission and the moon was gone from the sky.
"The new moon marks the time I lose my powers." He already knew that Kamen knew of the hanyou's decrease of power—everyone knew that hanyou lost power once a month, ruled by some supernatural force. The moon or otherwise.
"Hm," Kamen hummed but said nothing more. He was glad for this, because he didn't want pity from her or anyone.
"But at the same time…" His eyes turned wanton as he stared at the face of the moon. "I long for a time when I can actually be called normal. Sure, I'm weak and I feel as if I'd been stripped of everything I need for survival… but I can honestly say that I'm human. That I'm not demonic in anyway. That I'm not evil."
"Only ignorant people believe that all youkai are evil," Kamen whispered gently and her words brought him comfort.
"Yeah, I suppose. It's just that… I'd grown up believing that all demons were evil creatures and that humans were the struggling and valiant race. That humans fought with integrity and that we were good. I was taught that demons were vicious and uncaring, willing to sell anyone out in order to gain power and blood. But now…"
"You know that the world is in war, Sha," Kamen explained gently, like a mother would console her crying child after a nightmare. "When things are strictly black and white. Good or bad."
"Am I black or white?" Inuyasha asked Kamen.
"You're neither."
Inuyasha sighed. "I knew you'd say that." His eyes traveled across the ebony black sky. "I'm a shade of grey, then. I'm demonic… but I'm pretty certain that I'm not evil. At least, I hope not. I mean, I'm human, too. So what am I?"
"People are unwilling to see the different shades," Kamen agreed. "Things are never strictly black and white." Inuyasha agreed with a nod. "But no one is willing to see that. We succumb to the rumors and stereotypes, putting all our trust into something that could possibly be wrong and biased."
"What are we then?" he questioned. "Some see us as evil while others don't."
"Without evil there is nothing to measure good against. Without good, there is nothing to measure evil against. One cannot live without the other. We need both to stay balanced." Kamen turned her head and smiled at him. "We need an equal balance. A Yin and a Yang."
"Ying-yang," Inuyasha whispered, swinging his legs. He watched the pale white surface of the moon. White—purity. But at that moment, the moon seemed like the evilest thing he'd ever seen. Perhaps there was still a lot he needed to learn.
They lapsed into silence, their eyes watching the sky for signs of life. The moon smiled down at them but no stars dared to breech the intense light of Tokyo. Inuyasha sighed and rested backwards, swinging his legs and resting his weight on his hands. Slowly, Kamen followed suit and he felt her fingers brush his as he got comfortable. He felt a surge through him much like with Kagome and he suddenly felt ashamed of himself. How could he think of Kamen and Kagome at the same time?
He jerked his hand away and covered up the movement by brushing silver hair away from his amber eyes. He shifted his attention away from the sky and again on Kamen. She was watching him and he paled. He felt so naked and raw under her gaze and he hated it. He hated it so much.
"Maybe I am evil and am just kidding myself," Inuyasha decided faintly, not daring to look at Kagome. "Maybe I've always been evil. This demon blood has been inside me since I was born, after all."
"You're not evil," Kamen tried to abolish such a thought from the hanyou's mind. Inuyasha still remained unconvinced. Naraku's words from long ago rang in his ears. He was demonic—he was evil. That was just the way things are.
"And how do you know?" he asked Kamen, feeling his defenses fly up. How dare Kamen try to tell him what he is and isn't.
"Because I know you," Kamen whispered. "I've seen the way you act."
"You don't know me. You don't know me at all," Inuyasha snapped back before clamping his lips shut. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but there was no way he was apologizing. "You only know… this."
He waved his hand vaguely at himself, his claws dragging through his silver hair for a split second. His golden eyes narrowed and his dog ears twitched before flattening against his head. He bit his lip, feeling the pointed canine delve into the soft flesh of his lip without breaking the skin.
"It doesn't matter what's on the outside," Kamen tried to sooth the ruffled feathers of her partner. She reached out a hand, as if about to touch him before retracting it and cradling the appendage against her chest. "It's the inside that counts."
"Save the sappiness, Kamen, it's not working for you," Inuyasha sneered before staring down at the bustling streets far below. The skyscraper they sat on seemed so incredibly high above the world below. He felt like he was completely disconnected. He liked the feeling.
"I'm not trying to be sappy," Kamen muttered. "I'm trying to make you see logic here."
"I am seeing logic. I'm a demon so I'm evil. Demons are evil. If I'm a demon then I'm evil," Inuyasha ranted, waving his hands as if it would better demonstrate his knowledge of the situation. "I've figured it all out."
"If you're evil, then why are you a taijiya?" Kamen demanded.
"I was forced into the taijiya," Inuyasha replied snidely, his hand gripping the clinking rosary beads that hung limply around his neck. He tugged on it and the beads glowed, sensing such a movement as an attempt to break the magical bind. "It's because of you that I'm even here."
Kamen flared up. He could see her anger mounting. Her cheeks were turning red but not from embarrassment. No, they were turning red with her anger. It was a common sign. Her thin eyebrows were arched downwards, giving her the customary 'angry' look he often associated with her.
"If you had a choice, then, you wouldn't be here?" Kamen demanded.
Inuyasha contemplated such a question. Would he be? Before his birthday he would have thought this the coolest job in the world. But now, he was just tired and wanted to go back to his normal, dull life. It seemed so appealing now that he was forced into a life of fast moving mayhem. He longed for the days when he could sleep the entire day and really sleep. He hadn't had a dream since the night of his transformation, as far as he could remember.
He bit his lip and glanced at Kamen. She was watching him earnestly; he could feel her intense gaze on him. He mulled over the question for a long moment, unsure how to answer it.
"Yes," he finally said. "Had I had the choice—a better choice." He remembered with contempt the choices he had: the taijiya or death. "I wouldn't be here right now. If I had a choice, I'd be normal again."
"Normal is incredibly overrated," Kamen snarled before jerking to her feet and stomping away from him. He blinked and stood as well, nearly slipping off the roof in his haste, and darted after her.
"Hey, where are you going? We have a job to do," Inuyasha scolded his partner. He watched Kamen's shoulders stiffen with every word he uttered.
Finally, she came to a dead halt and Inuyasha nearly slammed into her. She whipped her head around and for a brief moment Inuyasha could have sworn he saw a tear dart out from underneath her goggles. But it had to be a trick of an eye for surely Kamen was strong enough not to let her emotions control her like this?
"I'm going home," she snarled. "Naraku's not going to show up tonight. I thought you'd be happy." Her voice was incredibly watery but Inuyasha chose to ignore it, not wanting to admit that Kamen was crying… and that he was probably the cause of it. "I mean, now you can be home and pretend to be normal."
Inuyasha's lip curved. He didn't appreciate Kamen's attitude. "You're not going anywhere," he snarled and grasped her wrist. She tried to jerk it away but he held firm. "We're supposed to stay here."
"So all of a sudden you care about your missions?" Kamen barked angrily and with a mighty heave she managed to yank her hand free from Inuyasha's grip. "Just a moment ago you told me that you'd give anything to be normal again!"
"That doesn't change the fact that this is my job. We have a job to do so stop acting like a spoiled little child and get your ass back over here so we can actually do that job," Inuyasha snarled out angrily as he grasped Kamen's forearm and jerked her backwards again. Kamen stumbled and her back pressed up against Inuyasha's chest but the girl was quick to jump away from him.
"Oh, I'm a spoiled child, am I?" Kamen snapped out, her fists clenching as she spun around to glare at him. She bent her knees, resembling an enraged cat that'd just been dropped in water. "Then what does that make you? A tantrum throwing toddler?"
"No I'm—"
"Just go away, Sha," she snapped out. "If you don't want to be here, there's no point in you staying." She sneered. "Wouldn't want to keep you here against your will now do we? I know my company is just so hard to bear."
And then it clicked—Kamen's sudden anger towards him. She'd taken his decision to not be here personally. He had to admit that he'd grown used to Kamen's company. He hadn't meant for it to sound like that, though. He swallowed and inched towards her.
"Kamen… I…" Kamen whipped around and started marching away, obviously not wishing to hear whatever it was that he had to say. He wouldn't allow this to stand, however, and marched after her, his hand outstretched. "Kamen… wait…"
He grasped her shoulder and attempted to turn her around. But, as was often the case for the unlucky hanyou, he momentarily forgot that he was handling a human and he was certainly not someone with standard human strength. With a large whip of his hand, Kamen was spinning in the air before she landed roughly on her back. She gaped up at him.
"Gah! Kamen… I didn't mean…" he trailed off when Kamen rocked her back and kicking her legs up managed to land on her feet, crouched down. She was glaring daggers at him, he could tell, he could feel them.
His eyes bugged out when Kamen flicked her wrist and four kunai—squeezed between her fingers—seemed to materialize. Her teeth were clenched and she stood slowly. With a small grunt, the pointed objects came sailing towards him and nicked over his arms. He knew for a fact that Kamen could have killed him—and also knew that Kamen wouldn't kill him—and that it was probably just a warning. That didn't keep him from getting angry, though.
"You… you idiot!" he snarled as Kamen ran towards him, her fists clenched. He dodged a well placed kick to his groin and seemed to almost dance around the enraged girl. "I didn't mean to!"
But it seemed that Kamen's rage had caught up with her—her fists flew towards him and he tried desperately to dodge them while throwing his own round-housed kicks her way. They seemed to move in a synchronized fashion atop the skyscraper. It seemed as if they'd been meant to fight against one another. They moved like a fluid, Kamen swaying to the left and dipping under Inuyasha's arm while he grasped her foot and flipped her in the air. To the untrained eye, it could almost seem as if they were dancing.
"You… inconsiderate… jerk…" Kamen seethed in between punches and kicks. Inuyasha almost swore he saw another teardrop but wrote it off as a trick of the eye. Surely Kamen was not getting this sentimental over their fighting?
He dipped under her attempts to double kick him and swept his feet out as she landed, catching her behind the knees and knocking her off balance. Her hands spun around like a windmill's before she fell onto her back. With a quick backwards roll, the girl was on her feet again, crouching and glaring at him. He crouched too, their bodies poised to attack.
They both launched at one another simultaneously. Inuyasha and Kamen banged together with such force that they fell to the ground. Inuyasha rotated himself so that his back hit the ground and Kamen was on top of him. He struggled against her as she attempted to pin him. His hand whipped out and lashed at Kamen, nearly catching her ear.
Then, with a small, almost inaudible ripping sound, Kamen's goggles fell away from her face. His claws had connected with the band that held the equipment to his face. Inuyasha almost expected to see some disgusting deformity there.
His eyes watched as the goggles fell away from Kamen's face. It seemed to move in slow motion and Kamen reached for the goggles, trying to lodge the thing back on her face and protect herself. It fell onto his chest before rolling and falling to the ground with a large clunk.
Silence met the resounding clunking noise and Inuyasha hesitantly lifted his head, almost afraid of what he'd see there. His breath hitched in his throat as he gazed upon the unhidden face of Kamen. She looked just as shocked as he did.
He followed the curve of her face as it disappeared under her unruly bangs. He watched her tiny nose rise up between her eyes. Her eyes… the most breathtaking, most beautiful, most astounding shade of blue he'd ever seen. It took him a moment to register the oceanic gaze that was staring back at him and it took all his willpower not to utter out the three syllables of her name.
Kagome…
Kamen was Kagome. It took him a long moment to register the fact that he was staring upwards into the face of Kagome who had been Kamen only a moment before. Kagome scrambled, scurrying away from Inuyasha as if he'd just slapped her. Her hands whipped up and covered her face and she bowed her head, tendrils of black hair that had escaped her high pony tail falling over her face.
"Kamen…" He struggled not to call the woman by her true name. "You…?"
Kagome shook her head furiously, whispering out incoherent words that even Inuyasha's excellent hearing could detect. He crept towards her and she scurried away, as if afraid he'd burn her.
"I tried so hard to hide it…" she remarked. For a brief moment Inuyasha mused over the idea that Kagome had known who he was the entire time. But he quickly excused it. Blue eyes… the strangest feature he'd ever seen on a Japanese girl. "I didn't want anyone to know."
"Know what?" Inuyasha ventured to ask, crawling towards her until she backed into the wall that surrounded the door that accessed the staircase leading downwards. Her bottom lip quivered and he resisted all his urgings not to kiss her.
It seemed as if the sun had just risen. Kagome was Kamen. Kagome was Kamen. They were one and the same. His conflicting feelings towards both girls were unfounded. Suddenly the reason he felt so connected to both of them made perfect sense—the two were the same. What were the chances? And now that he gazed upon Kagome's face, capturing in the way the moonlight reflected in her blue eyes, he wondered how he'd been able to read her emotions without such powerful windows, how he'd been able to overlook the way their auras pulsed and churned with his presence, how Kikyou looked remarkably like Kagome and yet so incredibly different?
"That it had an effect on me," Kagome sobbed and kept her head bowed.
"That what?" he questioned, unsure what she'd meant.
She just shook her head, refusing to answer him. His clawed hands reached out and grasped her shoulders. "Kamen…" he whispered. "Answer me."
"It's not everyday that you'll find a Japanese pureblood with blue eyes, don't you agree, Sha?" Kamen spoke instead of answered his question. He frowned, wondering what it was that Kagome was getting at but agreed nonetheless. "It's kind of an interesting story… I wasn't born with blue eyes."
"Huh?" was Inuyasha's oh-so-intelligent remark.
Kagome laughed sardonically, raising her head so that he could see the tears swimming in her gorgeous blue orbs. He reached out a hand, brushing the tears from her eyes. She shut them tightly and shook her head slowly.
"Remember the night I told you that my father was killed by a demon?" Kagome questioned, lifting her head and staring at him. He nodded slowly. "That was only half the truth."
"What do you mean?" he whispered, as if afraid to speak.
"I killed my father… I was possessed by that demon," Kagome said and swallowed thickly, choking on a sob. "It was six years ago but I still miss him… it's still painful. My father died by my hand, even if I didn't willingly move it." She clenched her said hand shut and covered her heart, her eyes still clenched shut. Her voice was watery and bitter, as if each word were slowly sapping her of her life.
"The blue eyes are the after effects of the demon's possession. The demon, she was an elemental demon, an ice youkai… she was within my body for months, harboring, incubating her power. My father finally detected her presence once her occupying my body caused my eyes to change color. Even after she'd been forced from my body… the blue eyes are the ever constant reminder that I was possessed." Silence rang in Inuyasha's ears after she fell silent.
"After that," Kagome continued on after a short time. "I joined the demon hunters… to avenge my father and repent for what I'd done to him. Sango, my cousin, helped me work my way to the top that I'm at now."
Inuyasha wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to such a declaration. Kagome's blue eyes, still swimming with unshed tears, stared at him, as if she were expecting him to say something to her. His words were lodged in his throat, unable to escape his mouth. He wanted more than anything to comfort Kagome… to help her.
"Say something…" Kagome demanded, her voice cracking. "Just say anything."
He crawled to her and before he could stop himself, he had his arms around her. She cushioned her head against his shoulder and cried silently. The feelings within her Inuyasha could empathize… for he'd lost a father, too. But he'd never killed his father. He'd barely known his father. Kagome had lost her father and it had been by her own hand. Whether it was her fault or not didn't matter.
But at the same time, he was happy that her goggles had fallen off. The girl that he liked—for he had admitted his feelings for Kagome—was the same as his partner. The weight of the kiss he'd stolen from Kamen when he'd secretly dreamed of it being Kagome seemed to rise off his shoulders. He held Kagome tighter. He didn't have to worry anymore. Kagome could take care of herself, he knew that. He wouldn't have to worry… everything was going to be okay.
"I'm here," he whispered in her ear and felt her nod rather than saw it. She squeezed him tightly and he returned the gesture, cradling her softly against his chest, feeling her warmth seeping through his uniform. Everything was going to be okay.
Inuyasha's eyes darted to the moon and he couldn't have cared less that it was waning.