Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. In fact, I don't own anything. So no one can sue me. Mwaha.

---

There was absolute silence in the hospital lobby.

The blood dripped onto the clean carpet, likely some janitor's pride and joy.

No one moved, only stared at the man as the blood fell from his wounds, slowly starting a growing circle of red.

"Stop it." Miroku didn't move his hand from the barrel of the gun, where a bullet had gone straight through his hand and into his shoulder. "Stop scaring these people. This can be handled without violence."

The policeman, who was perhaps the most shocked person in the hospital at that moment, only stared. Then after a moment he slowly lowered his gun, still staring at Miroku as though he had never seen anything quite like him. Miroku's hand followed the gun down until his hand returned to his side.

"We're FBI. We'll take care of everything from here. Go on back to your posts. Don't worry about a thing." Miroku had a short staring contest with the policeman who had fired the bullet before the policeman nodded and turned around, followed by his companion, both in such a state of surprise that they didn't even ask for proof of Miroku's FBI claims.

Miroku turned around so that he was facing the four people who had been making such a commotion before. "My name is Miroku Watase. I'm with the FBI. Miss," Miroku looked at the secretary, "if you would continue your duties without calling security, I can take over from here. The rest of you, please come with me."

The man who didn't want to argue with Koga immediately followed Miroku's instructions. Koga and the woman hesitated, Koga growling at Miroku in annoyance. The woman stared at Miroku, her mouth slightly open, but her feet firmly in place.

"Come on," Miroku said, beckoning them closer with his good hand. "We should talk outside."

"Hmm," Koga grunted, finally walking to the hospital doors. "Damn stalkers."

"WE ARE NOT STALKERS!" Inuyasha said angrily, his patience for Koga long since diminished.

"No yelling, Inuyasha," Miroku chastised.

The woman still didn't move. Miroku gave her a pleading look, and she looked as though she was about to consent, but then the phone rang to break her reverie. The secretary answered it, and the woman shook her head.

"No," she said in a melodious voice that captivated Miroku instantly. "I need to see Kagome. We can talk once I've seen her."

"You can't see her," Miroku said softly. "My friend and I are the ones who authorized her seclusion. We need Kagome to be left alone until her case is solved."

The brunette's fiery gaze was beginning again. "I can see her if I want to. She's my best friend, and I'm not going to let anyone stop me from seeing her. She's in the hospital."

"Listen to me," Miroku said. "I've seen Kagome. I can tell you that she's all right in the hospital's care. You have to trust me. If you try and get in by force, we'll have to arrest you. Please trust me."

"Why the hell should I do that?" the woman asked. "How do I know you're really from the FBI anyway?"

Miroku reached into his jeans pocket with his good hand and pulled out a badge, showed it to the woman, and put it back. "C'mon outside."

The brunette's expression showed that she didn't want to leave, but she was finding Miroku hard to resist. "I want to see her. She's my best friend."

"You can't see her. Try to understand. No one can see Kagome until they've been cleared as a suspect. Think of Kagome. You wouldn't want the person who tried to kill her to be able to come in and see her, would you?"

The woman bit her lower lip. "No. But I didn't hurt her."

"Then help us to clear you as suspect. The more resistance you put up to us, the harder it will be to make you seem innocent. Come with me and you can see Kagome sooner. Please, Sango?"

Her eyes widened. "How did you know my name?"

Miroku smiled and held out his hand. "With a face like yours, how could I not know who you are?" When Sango flushed but did not move, Miroku's smile widened. "I am well aware that Kagome's best friend is Sango Natsuki. If you claim to be her best friend, that's the only person you could be."

Sango stared at Miroku for several moments, then slowly walked over to him, taking the hand he held out to her. Miroku's smile broadened once more before he led her outside. Inuyasha huffed and rolled his eyes, walking over to the secretary's desk.

"Hey, wait until we're done talking with those people and then give that guy some medical attention."

"Doesn't… doesn't he want the bullet removed now?"

"Feh," Inuyasha said. "He's too busy flirting to even realize he was shot."

When Inuyasha got the woman's nod of consent that she would help Miroku later, Inuyasha turned on his heel and walked out of the hospital, taking a left as he spotted the group he was looking for, Miroku still grasping onto Sango.

Damn womanizer.

Miroku had led them to an out-of-the-way area, to a corner of the hospital where there was only grass and flowerbeds. He sat down on the grass, inevitably forcing Sango to go down with him. The rest of them had sat down and made themselves comfortable, waiting for Inuyasha. When Inuyasha joined them, Miroku began speaking, still holding Sango's hand.

"When my colleague, Inuyasha Takahashi, and I came here, we were following Koga."

"Stalkers," Koga murmured.

"WE ARE NOT!"

"Speak for yourself," Miroku said to Inuyasha, but then immediately continued, giving no one any time to react to his statement. "So I know Koga and Sango, but who are you?"

The man to whom the question had been directed looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled. "I'm Akitoki Hojo, but everyone calls me Hojo. I'm one of Kagome's friends."

"Yes, you're on our list," Miroku noted. "Well, we just lucked out! Hojo, Sango, we've been meaning to interview you. We are, of course, investigating Mrs. Higurashi's death and the attempted murder on Kagome."

The three college students' mouths dropped.

Miroku looked at them, confused. "What is it?"

"Mrs. Higurashi?" Sango said after a moment. "Mrs. Higurashi is dead?"

Miroku now understood, and he slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Dammit!" Koga said, pounding on the ground. "I almost lost Kagome, and now Kagome's lost her mom!"

"Who would want to kill Mrs. Higurashi?" Hojo asked in shock.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Miroku said.

Sango's grip on Miroku's hand became increasingly tense. He felt the circulation leaving, and he looked over at her to ask her to loosen her grip, but couldn't bring the words out when he saw her.

She was crying. Her head was bowed so as to try and hide them from the world, but with her hair loosely pulled back, Miroku saw them. He didn't remember that his hand was turning white from lack of blood, but only saw her anguish.

"She was so nice," Sango said, her voice breaking up in between her words. "She was the kindest person I've ever known. She practically raised me! Who would ever want to hurt her? Kill her? She was so generous, always willing to give up her money or her time for a greater cause. She devoted her life to Kagome, to everyone around her! She was such a beautiful person." Sango whimpered. "Why? How could this happen? WHO COULD KILL SOMEONE LIKE THAT?"

No one said anything. Sango cried. When her speech was done, she slowly began allowing blood flow back into Miroku's hand. After a minute of silence, Sango wiped the remnants of her tears away and looked up, blinking at the sunlight that hit her face. Hojo, too, had been crying, though making much less of a scene, and Koga was looking at the sky, blinking furiously. Miroku waited another moment before continuing.

"Hojo, we'll let Sango recuperate and start with you. Can you tell me when the last time you saw Kagome was?"

"I actually saw her mother last," Hojo said, "but the last time I saw Kagome was in biology. That's the last class we have together."

"But you say you saw her mother last?" Inuyasha said, finally speaking up now that they were getting back to something he was more comfortable with—interrogation.

"Yes," Hojo said. "I saw her at Publix."

"About what time was that?" Inuyasha asked skeptically.

"Um…" Hojo said, trying to think. "Maybe around four or five? I don't remember exactly when."

Miroku nodded. That matched up with the timeline they had collected thus far. Arisa Higurashi had used her credit card at Publix around four thirty.

"And you don't know of any enemies Mrs. Higurashi or Kagome has?"

"Not Mrs. Higurashi," Hojo said, "but Kagome has quite a few."

"Really?" Miroku said. "Know any names?"

Hojo nodded. "It's really anyone who is competitive about grades. Kagome's the top of every class she's in. Mostly Onigumo Tsuzitani and the Sevens."

"The Sevens?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yes," Hojo said. "The Sevens are… well…" He looked as though he was having difficulty finding something good to say. "They like to keep to themselves and—"

"They're a group of punks who think they can do whatever they want," Koga said. "They and their girlfriends have recently gotten really hostile toward Kagome."

"Just recently?" Miroku asked with interest.

"Yeah," Koga said. "Dunno why. They weren't really on good terms before; they just tried to stay clear of one another. For the last month or so, though, they've gone out of their way to make life difficult for her."

"Like how?" Inuyasha asked.

"Well, they started trashing her car. Popping tires, breaking in and stealing things, that kind of thing."

"That's a federal offense. Why didn't Kagome report any of this?"

"Kagome has a tough side," Koga said, "but she's also got a soft spot for some things. For some reason, she pitied those losers and didn't want them to get in trouble."

"I see," Miroku said. "Can you think of any other people with a grudge against Kagome?"

Hojo shook his head, but Koga nodded. "Ayame Wakinosa."

Miroku looked confused. "Isn't she your—well, Kagome's friend?" Koga had already made it clear at Shikon University that he was not friends with Ayame, but Miroku had assumed Kagome was friends with her.

"Yeah, only because I'm there," Koga said. "Ayame hates Kagome because I'm in love with Kagome and not her. Ayame's always trying to get Kagome into trouble and such. I tell her to leave Kagome alone, but she's a determined wench."

"Anyone else?"

This time Koga shook his head.

Miroku squeezed slightly on Sango's hand. Sango, as if just realizing that their heads were still linked, drew hers away quickly. Miroku looked slightly hurt, but hid it as he said, "Is there anything we should know, Sango?"

Sango shook her head.

"You could be a little more helpful," Inuyasha snapped. "It's your best friend that's lying there in a coma."

Sango's head jerked up. "A coma?"

Miroku reached over and smacked Inuyasha. "Idiot. You really need to learn tact, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha glared daggers as he rubbed his head.

"Kagome's in a coma?"

"Yes," Miroku said, "but try not to worry. There's nothing you can do except to tell us everything you know. When was the last time you saw Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome?"

Sango shook her head slightly as though to clear her mind, thinking back. "At Kagome's house, I guess. After we went out to Buyo's, I stayed at her house for an hour to work on homework."

"And did you see Arisa Higurashi there as well?"

Sango nodded. "Yeah. As I was leaving, she was walking in the door. We talked for a minute before I left. That was the last time I saw either of them."

"About what time was that?" Miroku said.

Sango shrugged. "I don't know."

"Think harder," Inuyasha said.

Sango gave him a hard stare as she thought back. "I'm not sure. I didn't look at a clock. A vague guess would be fiveish."

Once again, the timeline was being completed. Miroku spoke. "Did anyone normally come over to the Higurashi's later in the evening?"

"Not usually," Sango said.

"Then you were probably the last one to see them alive."

Sango closed her eyes as this fact sunk in. "Probably."

The FBI agents made a note of this.

"Hey," Sango said suddenly, "what's happened to Sota? If Mrs. Higurashi is… dead… and Kagome is here, where is Sota?"

Miroku opened his mouth as though he were about to speak and then closed it.

Sango knew this could not mean anything good. "Tell me. You have to tell me what's happened to Sota."

"We don't know," Inuyasha said after a moment, seeing that Miroku was not going to answer her. "We were hoping one of you could tell us."

Sango's jaw dropped. "He's missing? He could be dead!"

Miroku slowly nodded. "That's a definite possibility."

Sango stood up immediately. "And you're just sitting here? Send out a search party, broadcast his picture, do everything you can to find him!"

"Sango, please," Miroku said. "Calm down. We didn't want to make a fuss until we knew he wasn't staying at a friend's house or something."

"Of he wasn't," Sango said, as though this were the most stupid thing she had ever heard. "Sota doesn't have any friends except for Rin and Kohaku."

"Rin and Kohaku?" Inuyasha said.

"Rin Hiwatari and Kohaku, my little brother. They're the only people Sota ever talked to."

"And since we're assuming Sota isn't staying with you, how do you know he's not staying with Rin?"

Sango stared at Inuyasha, now seeming to have found a new height of stupidity. "Rin is a girl."

"Obviously," Inuyasha said, not picking up on Sango's point.

"Sota is a boy."

"Since he's Kagome's brother, I should hope so."

"Inuyasha," Miroku said in exasperation, "leave this part to me to figure out."

Inuyasha shrugged.

"Well, now you know he's not at a friend's house! Go do something!"

"Of course," Miroku said, "but if it's all right with you, we'd still like to call Mrs. Hiwatari to make sure Sota isn't there."

Sango hesitated here. "You can't."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "And why the hell not?"

Sango hesitated again. "Rin doesn't have a mom. She lives with this old man who adopted her a long time ago. He's a crazy madman; I don't know why they entrusted her to him."

"So Mr. Hiwatari then?"

"Mr. Sato, Jaken Sato," Sango said. "Nevermind, just let me do it."

Sango pulled out a cell phone from her back pocket and held down the number seven, revealing Rin's home to be on speed dial. After a few moments, Sango spoke. "Hello, Mr. Sato? This is Sango. No… no, that's not what this is about. What? Mr. Sato, please try not to be paranoid. Kohaku is a good kid. Yes, I'm sure. I need to know if Sota stayed at your house last night. I know he's never slept over before, but I just needed to check. Kagome hasn't lost him! I can't tell you that. Will you just answer the question? Thank you. Goodbye, Mr. Sato."

Sango closed the phone and shook her head. "He's not there. Now will you do something about it?"

"We'll get right on it," Miroku said, standing. "Thank you all for your time. I assume we can find you at Shikon University in case we need you?"

"If we have classes," Koga said. "We don't live there."

"You can always find me there," Hojo said.

Koga and Sango shared a look of disgust.

"There we go, a good student!" Miroku said, patting Hojo on the back. "You keep it up!"

"Thank you!" Hojo said, beaming. "I will!"

"You take care of the broadcast," Inuyasha said, walking away. "I've got other things to take care of."

Miroku smiled mischievously. "Kikyo-related things?"

Inuyasha turned around with a sharp glare that it would have terrified even the bravest of men. He instead looked over at Sango and said, "I'd take about six steps away. In about two minutes he's going to grope you and give you some cheesy line about how his hands are drawn to the most beautiful things."

Miroku's jaw dropped. "Inuyasha! How dare you spoil my fun!"

"Your mouth's as active as your hand," Inuyasha spat, turning away and walking over to the black corvette that was still parked in front of the hospital doors.

Miroku looked pleadingly at Sango as she wearily took Inuyasha's advice, eyeing Miroku's hand with mistrust. The dark-haired lecher looked back at Inuyasha for help to reconcile his relationship with the beautiful brunette, but Inuyasha was already driving out of the parking lot.

"Hey!" Miroku shouted, suddenly bolting after Inuyasha, an admirable task since moving his left arm was exceedingly painful. "How am I supposed to get home without a car? INUYASHA!"

---

Inuyasha parked out front of a pale-colored house behind an ancient-looking Toyota. The neighborhood gave the feeling that it had not long ago been the delight of the city, but was now losing its boastful glow. The house Inuyasha was in front of was perhaps the most rundown in the neighborhood, the plants in front of the windows willowing and an abandoned oak tree in the middle of the slightly unkempt yard. The curtains over the windows were closed, and the door was slowly gathering dirt to make the pretty white door slowly turn gray. The garage door, too, had this same appearance, though perhaps to a greater degree since it looked as though it had not been used in several years. Inuyasha walked familiarly along the path up the front door, stepping over some weeds that were trying to block him from his goal. He stepped onto the small porch and knocked on the tainted door.

It was a few moments before he heard a shuffling of footsteps, and the door opened an inch. A girl with long, straight black hair and slits for eyes peered through the crack at her visitor. Realizing who it was, she stepped back and held open the door for her guest.

"Inuyasha," Kikyo greeted.

"Hey," Inuyasha said, stepping inside. He waited for Kikyo to shut the door and then led the way to her living room, knowing the map of the house by heart. Inuyasha wearily collapsed onto Kikyo's worn couch, throwing his arm over his eyes to shield them from the light of the room.

"Rough day?" Kikyo said.

"I'm supposed to be the night shift," Inuyasha said, "and I've been working for twenty-four hours."

"Who's working now then?" Kikyo said.

"Day shift," Inuyasha said. "We forced it on them."

"How kind of you," Kikyo said. She carefully maneuvered herself on the couch so that she was lying on top of Inuyasha, resting her head against his chest, listening the beating of his heart. "What happened today?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Not much."

Kikyo closed her eyes, trying to hide her annoyance. "You never tell me what's going on."

"I can't," Inuyasha said. "Not about work. That's confidential stuff. You know that."

Kikyo sighed. "I really wish you would tell me. Don't you trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you," Inuyasha assured her quietly. "It's just part of the job. It's something I agreed to when I took this position."

Kikyo didn't say anything for a moment. "I feel like you can't trust me. You never tell me anything. How do I know that you actually weren't pulling a double today? How do I know you weren't with some other girl?"

Here, Inuyasha sat up on his elbows to look at Kikyo. Kikyo, in turn, pushed up against her palms so she could stare at Inuyasha.

"There's no one else," Inuyasha said. "I promise you. And you know I wasn't with anyone else. You spoke with me on the phone, remember? I've been working, I promise. Don't you trust me, too?"

Kikyo was silent for several moments as she looked into Inuyasha's eyes, searching for some kind of answer. After another moment she gave a slight smile. "Of course."

Inuyasha returned the smile and lay back down, resulting in Kikyo returning to her previous position. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, each enjoying the comfortable silence that had come over them. Finally, Kikyo moved up and pressed her lips against Inuyasha's skin, slowly kissing him all around his neck. Inuyasha smiled, but made no other movement. Kikyo moved up Inuyasha's body and then down it, helping Inuyasha out of his shirt so that she could get to his chest.

Inuyasha allowed himself to relax in Kikyo's home, in Kikyo's presence. She was the one who made him feel at peace inside, like he could overcome any obstacle that came during work because he would see her that night. Inuyasha thought back to the ring he had seen at the jeweler's store last week. The thought of ever not seeing Kikyo when work was over was devastating. One day soon he would have to ensure that that was never a possibility.

---

A/N:

Hey again, everyone! So I wrote another chapter this weekend. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm so excited about this fic. I've got this outline of what's going to happen, and it makes me so excited.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT DIANA'S AMAZING, EXCITING, WONDERFUL NEWS IS? Well, guess what? I'm going to tell you! Okay! On Monday, March 13 (the Monday of Spring Break), I'm going to… GET A PRIVATE TOUR OF A CRIME LAB! I'm so excited! Just recently I began considering a career as a crime scene analyst (CSI), and this makes me SOOOOOOOOO happy! And I'm telling everyone. The only thing I haven't done is announce it in the morning at my school. I'm thinking of doing that Thursday. THIS HAS BEEN DIANA'S AMAZING, EXCITING, WONDERFUL NEWS!

Next chapter Inuyasha and Miroku are going to go visit Touran, the coroner. I'm not sure if they'll get to the hospital after that or not in the next chapter… probably.

Thankx for reading, but since you've bothered to read it, take a moment (or several, since long reviews rock) to review it and tell me your opinions. Thankx again!

Riles