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

---

Inuyasha and Miroku walked down the familiar halls that led to Touran Kugyo's office. The morgue was never a place they enjoyed visiting, and now was no exception. The silence in the building was bone chilling, and to top it off, the building was always freezing. Once again, Inuyasha had forgotten a jacket. Miroku looked at his shivering friend sympathetically.

It was not Inuyasha's custom to knock, and so he did not now. He boldly turned the doorknob and let himself in to Touran's office, paying no mind as to whether or not he was welcome. Miroku figured this was mostly because he wasn't. Inuyasha and Touran often worked together, and in front of one another, they put up friendly faces, but each secretly hated the other. Inuyasha thought Touran changed her diagnoses based on the amount of money she was paid; Touran knew that Inuyasha was related to Sesshomaru, and that was enough for her. The exact history between Touran and Sesshomaru was unknown.

The FBI agents were surprised to find the office empty, so instead they proceeded to the next place Touran might be—with a body. They again roamed those creepy hallways in search of Touran, both walking in silence. The morgue, like a church or a library, was one of those places that one did not speak.

Their search was rewarded, or perhaps penalized, when they found Touran in one of the farther rooms. She was not alone, however, to their immense loathing.

"… Puncturing the right pari—oh, hey. What the hell happened to you?" Touran's question was directed toward Miroku and his cast.

"I was in the middle of a shootout," Miroku said dramatically.

Inuyasha scoffed.

Touran didn't look like she believed Miroku, but instead continued. "I'd have waited if I knew you were coming."

"They probably didn't know themselves," Naraku sneered. "With Inuyasha's memory and his lack of timeliness, it was likely an accident they stumbled in here."

"Take your stupid comments elsewhere," Inuyasha said. "We're here to look at the Higurashis."

"Plural, no; singular, yes," Touran said.

Inuyasha and Miroku blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I only have Arisa," Touran said.

"But you have Kagome's bullet," Inuyasha said. "She did come to you before she was taken to the hospital."

"Why would I have taken out that bullet? What if I'd damaged her brain further than it already was? I'm a coroner, Takahashi, not a paramedic. I deal with the dead, not the living. You can do whatever the hell you want to with a dead person."

Inuyasha gave an angry groan. He was going to have to go back to that damned hospital.

"Tell us about Arisa, then," Miroku said, stepping toward the autopsy table.

"Just telling Naraku," Touran said, stretching her hand out over the body so that she could point as she spoke. "The bullet penetrated the right parietal bone and went straight into the brain."

"Tell me you have the mother's bullet," Inuyasha interrupted in a tone that pleaded an affirmative response and threatened anything to the contrary.

Naraku looked at Inuyasha as though he were an idiot.

"Of course," Touran said, reaching over to a silver plate and picking up the bullet with a pair of tweezers. "A .22, the hit man's bullet of choice."

"Why?" Miroku asked, who was only vaguely familiar with .22s.

"They have enough energy to enter into the cranium, but not enough to exit. They just ricochet around inside, shredding gray matter, until they stop," Touran said.

"So right now, Arisa looks pretty ugly in there," Miroku said, grimacing at the thought.

"Yes, she does," Touran said. "I was just about to open her up a bit more and get a better look, if you wanted to stay."

Miroku immediately shook his head with a gracious smile. "As appealing as that sounds, Inuyasha and I must be off to the hospital. We have to get Kagome's bullet so it can be compared this bullet."

"Yes, I'm sure you're very busy," Naraku commented.

"Damn straight, so our time is valuable and you'd better enjoy it while you can," Inuyasha said. "And you'll be doing the comparing, so you'd be better be grateful we're saving you a trip."

"You just like to feel important," Naraku said.

"No, I know you'll go whining to Fluffy and he'll have me get it later anyway," Inuyasha spat. He turned to Touran. "Anything unusual about the body?"

Touran ignored the quarrel. "Slight bruising in various locations on the left side, but that's it. I'm assuming she hit herself when she fell."

"Was she sexually assaulted?" Miroku asked.

"She's married. I won't be able to tell."

"She's a widow. Was she sexually assaulted?"

Touran looked surprised at Miroku's response. "Let's find out."

As Touran moved toward the lower half of the woman's body, Inuyasha rolled his eyes and turned away, instead moving over to the bullet, examining it. "The hit man's bullet of choice" certainly sounded like something he might need to know in the future. Inuyasha stored the information away and grabbed a sanitized evidence bag, using the tweezers Touran had to put the bullet inside. He sealed it away, placed it back on the plate for Naraku to collect later, and turned around to see Touran wiping her hands, standing up straight.

"No evidence of sexual assault as far as I can tell. I can run further tests, if you'd like, but I highly doubt it."

"Do that."

"I'll let you know if anything comes up."

"Thank you for your time," Miroku said, heading towards the door. "We're off."

"Give my regards to the girl," Naraku said snidely.

"Go to hell," Inuyasha spat, slamming the door behind Miroku and himself.

---

Inuyasha was jumping out of the car before he had even finished parking. Miroku fearfully took control and switched the car to park, worried that they were going to continue gliding along the parking lot and crash. He abandoned the car in the middle of the lane, something close to what had happened on their visit the day before, and raced inside to catch up to Inuyasha.

The secretary informed him that Inuyasha, being his speedy self, had immediately gone toward the stairwell. Miroku thanked her and did the same, taking the steps three at a time as he followed Inuyasha's trail. He paused on the fourth floor, where Kagome was, and walked over to the main desk on that floor. He was again informed that Inuyasha had just been by, and that a man had taken him to another floor.

Finally Miroku had hopes of catching up to Inuyasha. His superior couldn't force everyone to be as fast as he was. After inquiring as to which floor it was Inuyasha was going, Miroku flew up the stairwell again, this time hopeful as he heard a door close above. He quickly reached the door to the seventh floor and walked inside, looking around for his partner.

He was overwhelmed by the difference in this room compared to the rest of the hospital. Hospitals were welcoming, or as welcoming as a hospital could be, but this room compared better to a storage facility. He was soon to find out that that was exactly what it was. Miroku tried to hold in his breakfast as he looked around, noting organs and fetuses in certain places, freezers containing only-God-knew-what in others. He knew the hospital wouldn't be doing anything illegal, but he thought what he was seeing should be a crime in itself. Those were fetuses—children—who were being put in glass on display. And for what? To sicken anyone passing by? To send to an experimental facility in an undisclosed location?

Miroku continued walking. Likely both.

"Aha!" There was a faint voice, unrecognizable, up ahead, somewhere amid the rows of boxes on the shelves. As it continued, Miroku traced it. "This is the one. Kagome Higurashi. It had to be surgically removed almost immediately after her discovery. If it had stayed, it would have continued blocking the neurotransmitters and killed her."

"Yeah," Inuyasha said, making Miroku stifle a laugh as he approached them. As if Inuyasha had any clue what a neurotransmitter was.

"What d'you think?" Miroku asked when Inuyasha glared at him, for he had apparently not muffled his amusement enough.

Inuyasha continued to glare at Miroku for a moment more before turning his gaze down to the bullet and looking at it more closely. "On a basic visual, I'd say we've got the same bullets. We'll give it to Naraku to find out for sure."

"Not surprising," Miroku commented. "Assuming we've got the same bullets, that means the same gun, which probably means the same shooter. We just have to figure out why Kagome wasn't shot until an hour later."

The man who had showed Inuyasha in looked between them curiously. "Someone else was shot too?"

"None of your business," Inuyasha snapped. He took out the same type of evidence bag he had used earlier and placed the bullet from Kagome inside. "We're taking this. How's Kagome?"

"Still in a coma," the man said. "She could be for months, the rest of her life even."

"Yeah?" Inuyasha said, inwardly groaning at the thought. His only witness couldn't help him. "Well if she ever wakes up, I want to be notified immediately. I'll leave my number at the front desk. I don't care what time of day it is; I'd better be the first one notified. You got that?"

The man nodded.

"Good," Inuyasha said. "Let's go, Miroku."

Inuyasha was good to his word. He and Miroku went down the seven flights of stairs to reach the ground floor and left Inuyasha's cell phone number with the secretary who'd been having the shouting match the day before. It was only as they were getting back into the car that they spoke to each other.

"Where to now?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha grimaced as he started the car. "To hell."

---

Inuyasha and Miroku didn't even bother to flip their badges. They were too well known around there to need such. Miroku was questioned several times by the concerned women about what had happened to his arm, and he told them specifically about how he had almost been killed, including details Inuyasha didn't know had even happened.

Taking the right hallway, Inuyasha left his friend behind, as he usually did when at the crime lab. Unless it was something serious or something that affected Miroku personally, he usually preferred to flirt while his superior got the dirty work.

Inuyasha hated talking to Naraku.

Taking another right into Naraku's office, Inuyasha was disappointed to find the man at his desk. He intended to throw the bullet onto Naraku's desk and simply leave, but he only got halfway through his plan. The bullet was on Naraku's desk and Inuyasha was turning around before Naraku's sinister drawl called him back.

"What is this?"

Inuyasha turned around with an annoyed look plastered onto his face. "A bullet."

"Clearly," Naraku said. "To whom does it belong?"

"Kagome Higurashi," Inuyasha said. "Call me when you've got something."

He had turned around again when Naraku said, "And just what exactly should I do with this?"

Just as before, Inuyasha faced Naraku, annoyance clear. "Use your imagination."

Naraku seemed to be enjoying Inuyasha's snappish remarks. "Inuyasha, are you feeling all right?"

The FBI agent glared. "Fantastic."

Naraku smirked at Inuyasha's sarcasm. "Just missing that special someone?"

"What is it with you and getting on me about women?"

"I find it remarkable that a woman could stand to be within ten feet of you."

"I find it remarkable that you still have a job."

"Sesshomaru gave it to me."

"Yeah, well we all know what I think of Sesshomaru."

"I'll be sure to tell him that."

"I'll tell him myself."

Naraku's smirk widened a bit, but instead of bickering with Inuyasha anymore, he picked up the bag the bullet was in and threw it back at Inuyasha. "Why don't you go talk to whoever's in Weapons? I'm sure they'll be happy to give you a match. It'll just take a moment."

"Get off your lazy ass and take it to them yourself!"

"I'd hate to deprive you of the opportunity." Naraku leaned back in his chair, looking over his cluttered desk. "Besides, I might accidentally… lose it."

Inuyasha glared at him again before walking out of the room. "Lazy bastard."

As it was, Kagura Kouji, the CSI who had ordered Inuyasha and Miroku off the crime scene when they had first arrived, was the person in Weapons. She looked just as thrilled as Inuyasha about his presence in the lab.

"Tell me if this matches the bullet found in Arisa's head." Like he had done to Naraku, Inuyasha tossed the bullet at her.

"You idiot!" Kagura said, reaching out to catch the bullet. "You could compromise the evidence, tossing it around like that!"

"Yeah, yeah. Your boss wasn't complaining; you shouldn't be either."

Naraku didn't complain about that… Inuyasha noted suddenly. Strange. He'd normally find any reason to criticize me.

Kagura carefully removed the bullet from the bag Inuyasha had it in and walked over to a two-sided microscope, placing it underneath. She turned the bullet around several times before standing up and nodding.

"It's the same kind."

Inuyasha walked over and leaned down to see inside.

"On the left is the bullet from Arisa, the right from Kagome," Kagura instructed. "They're a match."

Inuyasha scrutinized every inch of the two bullets just to make sure. Kagura was right, however, and he stood up straight, nodding. "Keep those safe."

Kagura sneered. "What the hell do you think I do around here? Let valuable evidence sit and rot?"

"Something like that," Inuyasha commented as he walked out.

He ignored the ugly looks he got as he passed down the hallways, continuing confidently through the building. He and Naraku's team had never gotten along very well, even when Naraku wasn't heading it. When he reached the lobby, Miroku was telling a new group of girls his dramatic story about saving a twelve-year-old girl from a rabid madman's shooting spree. Inuyasha unapologetically grabbed Miroku's injured arm and jerked him away from the women, causing Miroku to yelp in pain.

"It's a good thing the cop was a bad shot," Inuyasha commented as he led Miroku back to the corvette. "You get out of that cast soon. I dunno how much more of your lies I can take."

"I wasn't lying," Miroku said, wrenching himself out of Inuyasha's grasp, causing another ping to fly through his arm. The hospital must have given him a loose cast because they were mad at him. "I was exaggerating."

"Yeah," Inuyasha said in a tone to humor Miroku.

Miroku nodded and got in the passenger seat of Inuyasha's car. As Inuyasha started it, however, Miroku looked at him. "Can I drive?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "With that arm? And when the doctor told you no?"

"I'm less of a risk even like this than you on the road with anything that moves."

Inuyasha blinked, his face void of emotion. "No."

As his superior drove out of the parking lot at his usual dangerous pace, Miroku considered telling him how much he had been reminded of Sesshomaru at that moment. In the end, he decided against it. Inuyasha was behind the wheel of the car that Miroku was in. Living was nice.

---

Miroku prided himself in being quite fluent in the language of Inuyasha Takahashi. He knew that when Inuyasha went from calm to angry in a moment's notice, he needed to keep pestering. He had hit an embarrassing subject and was on the verge of finding more blackmail information. He knew that when Inuyasha was silent, he was defying the gods and using his brain. He knew that when Inuyasha was really angry he would abandon petty insults, like calling Sesshomaru by his real name instead of Fluffy. He also knew that even when that happened, Inuyasha hadn't reached the height of his anger abilities. It was when Inuyasha spoke calmly and firmly that he needed to start running. Miroku had only witnessed this terrifying experience once, and someone had ended up dead.

Despite his ability to predict Inuyasha's every thought, word, mood, and action, Miroku was still occasionally caught by surprise. He was therefore taken aback when Inuyasha pulled into Miroku's driveway and ordered him out of the car.

"What?" Miroku said in confusion.

"You heard me," Inuyasha said. "Get of my car."

"But why?"

"I'm going to go do something."

"Do something."

"Yeah."

"On duty."

"Yeah."

"And I can't be there?"

"No. Go check and see what's happened about the kid's broadcast or something."

"Why can't I come with you? Is it Kikyo?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "No."

"Then why can't I come?"

Inuyasha looked at his friend in annoyance. "Because I can't trust you."

Inuyasha had not said this in a tone that knew Miroku would be hurt, and so his dark-haired partner immediately followed where he was going. "You are going to go see a woman, though."

"Not exactly."

"Not exactly."

"No, not exactly. Stop repeating me, dammit!"

"You're going to a woman's house."

"Why are you so sure this has to do with a woman?"

"Because I know every secret in your life. The only thing you can't seem to trust me about, and I really have no idea why, is women."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. No idea why?

"So where are you going, Inuyasha? You can't force me out of this car."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

Miroku wouldn't put it past Inuyasha to do so simply because Miroku had said he couldn't. "I'm injured. You can't hurt an injured person further."

"You can kill them and then not have to worry about them at all."

"Ah, but you like me too much to do that."

Again Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that!" Miroku said, laughing. "Come on, you can't hide it from me. Where are you going?"

Inuyasha glared at Miroku and gave an angry sighed. "I'm going to the Higurashi mansion."

Miroku looked surprised. "Why?"

"I want to process the crime scenes again."

"Don't trust Naraku?"

"Not in the slightest."

"So why can't I come?"

"Because we would split up, and you would either take the bathroom with Kagome's personal effects or her bedroom with her lingerie."

Miroku's eyes danced. "You can't hold me back now."

"You can't come without your equipment."

"It's inside the house."

"So go get it."

"Surprisingly, Inuyasha, I do think."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I won't leave you."

"Liar."

"Only a little."

"RPS. If I win, I get to come. If I lose, I still get to come."

"What the hell kind of rules are those?" Inuyasha said angrily.

"The injured partner's rules. And Sesshomaru's if I call him."

"You traitorous bastard. You wouldn't dare."

"I'm not on such bad terms with your brother."

"Half-brother."

"Are you in or not?"

"Why the hell should I play if you're just going to come either way?"

"Because it makes me happy inside."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "You're intolerable."

Miroku smiled and prepared for rock, paper, scissors as well as he could with one hand in a cast.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Inuyasha was angry again. "What the hell is that?"

"A bomb."

"There's no bomb in rock, paper, scissors!"

"That's the beauty of it. I always win."

"Yeah, well my rock's gonna smash your bomb!"

"And set it off, which will in turn blow up your rock. Clever, Inuyasha. So this is how you earned your degree in criminal justice. Blow everyone up so long as you win."

"You have five seconds to get your ass out of my car."

"You could get your car out of my ass." Miroku's innocent smile was his favorite way to infuriate his superior.

"NOW, MIROKU!"

"Yes, mother."

Miroku laughed when he was barely out of the car and Inuyasha floored his way out of the driveway and down the street. He walked up to his front door and let himself in, taking his cell phone out as he did so. He'd call Inuyasha and threaten to call Sesshomaru, and half an hour later Inuyasha would pull back up into the driveway in his haughty mood. It was times like these that Miroku loved his job.

---

A/N:

I just came from my kitchen. My mum's looking through a magazine, and on one page there are all these signs to put out in your garden, and most of them are things you always want to say to your plants that aren't cooperating with you. I just wanted to tell you all that my favorite was the most simple there, but the most effective: GROW DAMN IT!

So yeah. MY TOUR OF THE CRIME LAB IS MONDAY! YEAH! I'll be sure to tell all of you how it went on my next update. I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited about this!

Oriental food rocks my socks. Orange chicken is the best. Yum, yum. I had oriental food for dinner tonight. -happiness-

Next chapter Inuyasha and Miroku are probably going to spend most, if not all, of their time at Kagome's house going over it again. … Yeah, I'll somehow make them stay at Kagome's the whole time, because that's the last thing I have planned for that day. Hmm… this'll be fun. : )

Oh yeah, and Touran's line about the .22s is totally credited to CSI. I heart that show.

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

PS: Just to be clear, long reviews really are the best. Especially the critical ones. I'm not even joking. For the most part, people always say that it was a great chapter and they can't wait for me to update again. I like hearing that, of course, but don't be afraid to tell me what was wrong with the chapter too. If something sucked, tell me. If you found something funny, I want to hear it. If you cried, I want to know that too. Just letting you know that the more detailed responses you give me, the better I can write future chapters. : )