Kagome eyed the only locked door in the little cabin. "Do you have the key?" she asked, looking over at Inuyasha. His ear twitched in her direction and he shook his head.

"Don't need one." He motioned for Kagome to stand back then turned and threw his shoulder against the aged wood. It didn't budge.

"I feel like you might need a key," Kagome said, earning herself an eye roll and a frustrated huff from Inuyasha. She suppressed a giggle and waited.

He scowled at the door and shook out his shoulder. "I got this, don't worry." This time, he raised his leg and delivered a swift but powerful kick near the doorknob. Which did nothing but knock Inuyasha on his ass, the door unscathed.

Kagome fought the urge to laugh and gave him a solemn look. "That's not going to work," she said and motioned at the hinges. "Unless you plan on kicking out the entire frame."

Inuyasha followed her motion and swore as he caught what she'd already noticed. "You know, you could've said something." He pushed himself to his feet and shot a betrayed look in Kagome's direction. "And I thought you loved me."

"Oh, stop." Kagome let out one more giggle then leaned up to kiss Inuyahsha's cheek. "If anyone could've kicked down a pull door, it would be you."

His smug smirk really should have let her know that he was about to do something stupid. His left arm shot out to keep her back and his right hand shot up above his head. With a shout, he brought his claws down on the door in a golden arc, moving in front of her in the same motion. She heard the wood cracking loudly as shards and splinters exploded around Inuyasha.

"That was so unnecessary," Kagome said flatly, taking in the hole in the wall where the door used to be. "Really."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Worked, didn't it?"

"Not the point." She stepped around him to survey the damage. The door was completely obliterated, reduced to only the small bits and pieces lying on the floor around them. Luckily, it didn't look like anything else was damaged or disturbed, even in the newly-revealed room.

Kicking away the remaining splinters of wood to create a path, Inuyasha led her through the doorway. The room smelled musty and the single window on the left let in minimal light. There were several tables set up along the walls and on each table was a small scene created from miniature figurines: battle scenes with fighters poised to attack, rolling landscapes of trees and flowers, a grand hall with figures in flowing dresses and formal suits. She couldn't decide where to focus her attention first.

"What is all this?" Kagome asked. She stopped at a table with a tiny party displayed in a tiny yard. There were streamers and tiny balloons decorating tables and chairs. A tiny figure with white hair and dog ears was standing on a chair and blowing out the candles on an intricate little cake. His parents stood behind him, hands pressed together and smiles on their miniature faces.

Inuyasha came up beside her and sighed. "My mother made these. It was a hobby of hers." Old emotions rose within him, surprisingly powerful.

Kagome looked at him with wide eyes. "She made all these?" she asked with a hint of wonder. "Everything is so detailed. And there's so many."

"It took her years to do all this and these aren't even all of them. There are more in the main house but these were my old man's favorites." He felt a little remorse for his treatment of the door now. Luckily, he hadn't damaged any of his mother's work with flying door debris.

"So, what else is in here?" Kagome asked, looking up at him. "You took that door down pretty purposefully."

He nodded towards the battle set up on a table along the back wall. "I know where my mini Tessaiga belongs."

One figure, dressed in all red, white hair streaming and dog ears standing proud, stood out from the rest. The tiny Inuyasha was the only combatant without a weapon, his hand outstretched like he could summon a sword from thin air with just a few heartbeats. He was standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the battle, a meadow stretching behind him to the edge of the table.

"What are you wearing?" Kagome asked. She eyed the garish red robes on the tiny figure then looked back at Inuyasha and tried to picture him wearing something like that. He did look good in red but she just couldn't see him wearing it head to toe.

"It's the robe of the fire rat. My old man used to make me wear it when we sparred. Said it was better than armor, would block any human weapon, and was supposedly fireproof." Inuyasha snorted with amusement as Kagome's face scrunched up. "Yes, I actually wore it. It's probably still in one of the dresser drawers in the bedroom," he said. "Never did get to test if it was fireproof though."

"It's very...red. Is it actually that red?"

"Yes. I didn't design it so stop looking at me like that." He reached over and tweaked her nose playfully, making her eyes cross. "Now stop making fun of my clothes so I can unravel the great mystery my old man left me."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small version of Tessaiga. Inuyasha placed the sword in his replica's hand, pushing it into place with a small click. The blade glowed for a second and there was a faint pulse of yōki. Something below the table thumped followed by a quiet scraping sound. The two exchanged a glance.

"I can't believe that worked," Inuyasha said, his brows raising.

"Maybe it worked," Kagome said before dropping to her knees beside the table.

Inuyasha joined her and they both searched under the table. It didn't take long to spot the single floorboard that had slid out of place, like the panel of a large puzzle box. Inuyasha pried the board the rest of the way up, getting a small jolt from some leftover defenses, and set it aside. The musty stench increased with the reveal and the puff of dust made them both sneeze several times.

When he could breathe again, Inuyasha inspected the compartment. Hidden beneath the floorboard were several neatly stacked files, all thick with paper. They were worn with age and a thick layer of dust covered the top folder. There were no visible labels to indicate what the files contained.

It appeared that they'd found what they were looking for. Why else would his father leave him the sword if not to lead him here? These files, whatever they contained, must have been hidden for a good reason. The information they contained could provide the answers they so desperately needed. Was Naraku's name somewhere in those files? The reason for his father's murder? The secrets behind the men with the spider tattoos? One thing was certain: they had a lot of reading to do before the weekend was over.

Kagome ran a finger through the thick layer of dust. "It's gonna be a long night," she said and sat back on her heels. "Good thing we brought snacks."

"I just hope we find something useful. I'm tired of all the mystery." Inuyasha started pulling the files out one at a time. He set them on the floor between him and Kagome, dusting them off as he went. "Let's take these out to the main room and get comfortable. The dust in here is driving my nose crazy."

They each took a couple of files and made their way out to the couch. Whatever was in the files, they were ready to find out.


"Yes, we're fine...No, we haven't been attacked…
No, I'm not an imposter…
No, Kagome doesn't need to call you just so you can hear her voice and yes, I'm going to punch you the next time I see you if you keep bringing it up."

Inuyasha ran a hand over his face and turned his eyes towards the rising sun. The morning air was bitterly cold, even for him. A fine mist swirled through the trees and skimmed over the snow-covered ground. It would have been a nice, peaceful morning if he didn't have to start it with a check-in call to Koga.

"I gotta get back. I keep leaving her alone and I don't fucking like it." He hung up before Koga could argue.

Kagome would still be asleep, having only gone to bed a few hours ago. He had been able to smell the exhaustion on her and see the bags forming under her eyes. They'd spent most of the night poring over all of the files they'd found under the floorboards. Three of the folders contained information from his father's research into hanyō and the fourth was dedicated solely to Onigumo Naraku and all his father's thoughts and suspicions about the man. The whole ordeal left them both exhausted and reeling from a series of disturbing realizations.

As he hightailed it back to the cabin, he began to wonder what the actual fuck they were supposed to do now. His father's research would change, well, everything. They would be exposing decades of cover-ups, lies, and conspiracies. It was likely that, instead of keeping them safe from Onigumo, they would just become targets of angry extremist groups hellbent on keeping the status quo. His and Kagome's relationship would be under constant scrutiny, subject to…

Inuyasha was wrenched from his thoughts by a series of disturbing scents and sounds carried to him on the wind. He swore as he realized they weren't alone in the woods anymore. The distinct scents of at least four men, all with a mix of human and yōkai blood, were easily discernible now. He could hear them moving through the forest, not bothering with stealth. They were shouting, their voices overlapping and making it hard to pick out individual words.

"...grab her…"

"...fuck."

"...just a human woman…"

"...don't let her…"

He knew leaving Kagome alone was a terrible idea. She was alone and facing at least four men, none of whom she could purify easily...or without killing them. He was close enough to pick up her scent, tinged with fear and adrenaline. If he could smell her and hear them then that meant either the barrier was gone or she was outside of it. The former was far more likely given who they were likely up against.

Despite his mad rush towards the cabin, the shouting and footsteps seemed to be moving further away. Were they chasing her or were they retreating? He burst into the clearing to find one man standing at the door to the cabin, arms crossed and eyes scanning the surrounding forest. When he spotted Inuyasha, he tensed and dropped his arms to his sides, one hand creeping to his back. Inuyasha didn't give him the chance to grab his weapon; he was across the clearing and slamming a fist into the man's chest in the blink of an eye.

Bones cracked and the man crumpled to the ground. Kagome may have felt guilty over killing these men but Inuyasha wouldn't be losing any sleep over a few shattered ribs (or a few cracked skulls). If they hurt her in any way, none of them would leave these woods in one piece, if at all, anyway. Growling and flexing his claws, Inuyasha sniffed and strained his ears to locate the other three assholes. There were too many footprints in the snow to form a reliable trail.

The man on the ground groaned and tried to push himself up but Inuyasha was within kicking distance. A quick blow to the back of the man's head ensured that he wouldn't be moving anytime soon. He could hear the three remaining goons moving through the forest around him, their steps slow and methodical, searching. He realized suddenly that he could no longer smell Kagome, or hear her, or sense her presence at all.

Fear, like he'd never felt before, made his heart seize in his chest. Her reiki, a bright spot he could always easily find with his yōki, was gone leaving a gaping void in his senses. The only thing keeping him sane and keeping his yōkai blood from rising to the surface was her missing scent. If she were dead, he would be able to smell it. So that meant she was hidden from him, probably behind a barrier. He let out his breath as he came to the conclusion that she must be hiding within her own barrier, safe as long as none of the men tripped over her.

That left him with the opportunity to start taking these assholes down without worrying too much about her safety. So he focused his hearing on the rustle and crunch of men moving through the woods and started to head towards the closest attacker. He quickly located his first target and took to the trees so he could approach him from above, being much stealthier than his opponents. Silently and carefully, he got into position then dropped, knocking the oblivious asshole out with a hard blow to the head. Two down, two to go.

Before he could determine his next direction, Kagome's scream tore through the forest. The horrible sound, full of terror and pain, was the worst thing Inuyasha had ever heard. A second later, a wave of her reiki rushed past him and he could swear he felt her fear pulse through his body as it passed. Her scent returned to him, thick with her terror and something else he couldn't identify. It made his blood boil and his instincts rise with the need to find and protect. There wasn't time to think, to plan, to contemplate what he may find as he rushed towards Kagome's fading aura. Branches whipped around him, the cold of the day forgotten as an inferno of rage took over and the world started to bleed red. His claws and fangs lengthened as the world came alive around him, his senses picking up every minuscule sound and scent. Even as his senses roared to life, his awareness began to fade.

It was too late to lament forgetting Tessaiga.

Somewhere in the haze, he heard Kagome call out for him. He tried to latch onto the sound to use it as an anchor. He needed to regain control before he hurt her. The trees thinned and he burst into a clearing. Kagome was there, only feet away, held tightly by a large man with a scar over his eye. Her eyes widened when she saw him and he realized she was glowing a bright pink.

Another blast of reiki rolled around him and sent him careening away from her. His blood burned under his skin, his yōki too close to the surface to escape harm. He didn't blame her; she was only trying to defend herself and probably him; she had no way of knowing that, as his blood took over and turned him full yōkai, her powers became deadly.

His back slammed into a tree and he slid to the ground. He thought of her, of her smile and her laugh and the way her skin felt under his hands, as the pain took him away.


Kagome did her best to stay silent even as she struggled to come to grips with the last few hours. She was bound, blindfolded, and strapped to a hard seat in a moving vehicle. The quiet rumble of the engine and heavy breathing from her left was all she could hear aside from an occasional cough to her right. It was freezing, her sweater and jeans doing nothing to stop the cold from seeping into her skin. A part of her wished they would just kill her and get it over with. She was so tired; her body felt heavy, her reiki was barely a flicker, her mind was struggling to process everything, and her heart…

Biting back another whimper, she tried and failed to not think of the mess leading up to her current predicament. Had they known Inuyasha wasn't there when they took down the barrier? Maybe if she hadn't woken up, hadn't let them chase her, hadn't failed to hide within her barrier, hadn't tried to outrun them...maybe then Inuyasha would be fine. She couldn't think of him right now and she tried to focus her mind on something, anything else.

It was no use and she found herself picturing, for probably the hundredth time since they blindfolded her, Inuyasha's face as she purified him. When he'd burst into the clearing, his yōki raging, his eyes blood red with those unnerving blue pupils, and those jagged violet markings across his cheeks, she'd panicked. He'd gone into a blood rage, which wasn't supposed to happen. His blood was supposed to be balanced, human and yōkai in perfect equilibrium. But she'd been able to feel it, the way his yōki had taken over, possessed his body and mind and suppressed his human heart. It terrified her.

In her panic and her fear, still being held in the brutal grip of one of her attackers, she'd lost control and sent out a wave of reiki so powerful she'd almost been knocked off her feet. He was close enough for her to see his body get blown back, slamming into a tree and slumping to the ground. She was pretty sure she'd killed him.

"Quit yer fucking blubbering," a harsh voice in front of her said. "We're almost there then you can cry all you fucking want, where I can't hear you."

She hadn't even realized she was crying. Her tears soaked her blindfold and her nose started to run. Breathing was becoming difficult as she started to cry harder, her breath hitching with her sobs. What difference did it make? Let them hurt her, yell at her...kill her. It didn't matter anymore.

"Will you shut her the hell up?" the same voice growled.

"The fuck am I supposed to do?" the man next to her asked. "Hit her until she stops crying? You want the boss to murder me?"

"Put a muzzle on her or something."

"She's not a dog and that won't stop her crying. Just shut up and deal with it, asshole."

The man in the front grunted but didn't argue. She was starting to gain some composure, too worn out to even properly mourn. Wherever they were taking her, she wished they'd just get there already. She wanted to rest and have a proper breakdown without an audience.

"Here, give her this." The third voice, also male, was much too calm, almost lazy. "She could use a nap."

"You sure?" What if she's-?

"It's fine," the lazy voice said. "It's perfectly safe."

"Whatever."

There was some shuffling and then something jabbed her arm just below her shoulder. It hurt and within seconds her head began to spin. She tried to fight it, to hold on to awareness. Cold fear shot through her at the thought of being unconscious in a car full of men, restrained and helpless. Kagome barely had time to panic before the drugs took her away.


"You know who the fuck I am?" Koga asked as he glared at the cop blocking his path.

"Nope and I don't care."

"Fucking hell," he mumbled, turning his back and looking for silver hair amongst the sea of blue uniforms. They wouldn't even let Sesshomaru through and this was technically his property. How things had gone sideways so fucking fast was a mystery. A hand landed on his shoulder and he whipped his head around to find another officer giving him a scrutinizing look.

The newcomer narrowed his eyes at Koga. "What business do you have all the way up here, Matsuno?"

Great, someone who knew him. "The Takahashi's hired me and that's all I'm at liberty to say so if you'd kindly fuck off or let me through, that'd be great."

"Can't do that, sorry. Open investigation, you know the drill."

Koga wanted to punch the smarmy look off the pencil-necked asshole's face. Instead, he went back to scanning the crowd for Sesshomaru. Why was it so hard to spot the bastard? He should stand out like a sore thumb. The bastard was probably hiding in a tree or something.

"Tedious, bureaucratic nonsense."

The bored drawl immediately drew Koga's attention and he finally spotted a brief flash of silver peeking out from behind a tree. A well-dressed detective was waving his hands and scowling at the partially obscured figure of Sesshomaru, shouting something about protocols and open investigations.

Koga made his way over slowly, savoring the sight of someone else having to deal with Sesshomaru's bullshit. It was a bit surprising that the imposing yōkai hadn't simply ignored all the red tape (and the literal yellow tape) and just waltzed his way back to the cabin. Sesshomaru wasn't one to be kept away from his goals, unless…

Koga sniffed the air and caught the lingering stench of Jaken, slightly stale and trailing past the police line. So that's what they were doing. Guess he could continue to help the cause. He spotted the most important-looking person nearby and started another argument.

It took another hour of useless back and forth arguing before they finally let them through. When they got to the little cabin, it was stripped bare; every piece of potential evidence carted away to be cataloged—or burned. Jaken was waiting for them, whistling to alert them to his position hiding in a tree. How had the fucking toad managed to get himself into a tree?

"They took two barely conscious men away in handcuffs," Jaken told them, dropping to the ground with a thump. "And another body wrapped up and tied in a tarp."

"That doesn't sound like proper procedure," Koga remarked. "We're they all out of body bags?"

The scents were all muddled from the army of useless uniforms that had been milling around the forest. Kagome and Inuyasha's scents were there but impossible to follow. There weren't any obvious signs of a struggle; no pools of blood, no swathes of destruction. There also wasn't any Inuyasha or Kagome. Koga's gut twisted as he contemplated the body in the tarp.

He looked over at Sesshomaru who was flipping through a stack of files. "You find something?" Koga asked and held his hand out expectantly.

His hand went ignored, of course. Sesshomaru didn't even bother to look up as he answered, "Yes."

"Wanna share with the class?" He didn't bother to hide his impatience. This would go a lot quicker if they were both reading through whatever the hell they'd found.

Jaken made an indignant noise from his place at Sesshomaru's feet. "My lord will share information when he is ready and not a second sooner."

He hated the stupid toad. "Yeah, well, clock's ticking and two of our friends are missing," he pointed out.

Sesshomaru finished the first file and handed it over to Koga. It was thick, the musty papers yellow with age. The first page was a list of family names with dates next to each one. Koga flipped to the next page started reading:

Date: 06/27/1947

Subject: the Sato family

Bloodline: Mother, miko. Father, hanyō. Two children, quarter yōkai with moderate reiki levels.
Observations: Parents had no trouble conceiving and there were no complications during pregnancy. Both children born healthy, older (female) showed signs of spiritual powers at 5 years, younger (female) successfully created a barrier at 6 years. No problems with sickness from yōkai/human blood. Both children (10, 14) healthy and thriving at time of report.
Conclusion: It appears that spiritual powers may somehow help to balance the blood. More observations will be needed to confirm.

There were two photos at the bottom of the page, both of the happy family. The girls looked to be around 8 and 12 in both pictures and in one the younger sister was glowing a faint pink. Koga flipped to the next page, barely believing what he was seeing.

His stomach dropped as his brain tried to process the images and words that glared up at him. He was taken back to the box Kikyo had shown him, full of crime scene photos and police reports. One sentence stood out:

Both parents and older sister deceased (fire, suspected intentionally set), younger sister missing.

This page was dated only six months after the first. The younger sister was either 10 or 11 when she disappeared. There was no follow up and Koga could only assume that she'd never been found.

The rest of the file was more of the same, with multiple accounts of children with both reiki and yōki born healthy and growing up with no conflict between their halves. Some of those children made it to adulthood and a few married full yōkai. Their children, with blood more yōkai than human, should have rejected their reiki. According to current science, they all should have gone into blood rages early on, their yōkai blood taking over to neutralize the perceived threat.

Instead, their reiki and yōki worked to balance their blood. In one case, the mixed powers protected a child from accidental purification at the hands of an angry younger sibling. They were immune to spiritual power despite their heritage.

"Oh fuck," Koga mumbled as he came to a rather disturbing conclusion. "No fucking way."

Sesshomaru, who was reading the final file, looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Is there something you wish to share?"

No, he didn't want to share. He wanted to pretend they'd never found these files; wanted to erase the knowledge that was seared into his brain now. It was all a little too much, the cover-ups, the deaths, the missing children. Where did they even go from here? What the hell were they supposed to do with this?

"I think I know where all those missing children went," he said, forcing down the bile rising up the back of his throat. "And I think I know why this Naraku asshole wants Kagome."

"Elaborate."

"I mean, just think about it. Part-yōkai children with spiritual powers, who nobody even really knew existed in the first place, go missing for years and none of them are ever found. Who attacked Kagome? Part-yōkai adults with spiritual powers. What does Kagome have that's in short supply? Strong spiritual powers." He looked at Sesshomaru, waiting for his reaction.

"Are you just now figuring this out?"

Jaken snickered and Koga shot him a withering look which sent the little toad hiding behind a tree. He had no patience for either of them or their bullshit at the moment. Kagome was gone and if Naraku had her she was in some serious trouble. They still didn't know where Inuyasha was or whether he was even still alive. And to top it off, now they had law enforcement breathing down their necks.

A file was thrust under his nose, Sesshomaru's impatient look accompanying it. "Conspiracy is not a word I use lightly but I do believe that is the most accurate term for what we have uncovered."

Koga took the file and pulled out the first page. 'Suspected involvement' was written across the top in large, bold letters followed by an extensive list of names: Taigokumaru, Tsubaki, Urasue, Manten, Hiten, Kajinbo, Tekkei. Each one was a powerful human or yōkai at one time or another, all with one disturbing thing in common: they were all outspoken purists. They wanted everyone to be pure of blood, pure of spirit, and pure of power.

There were other names, not nearly as recognizable, and a few names that made Koga's blood run cold. First was Hakushin, an old priest hellbent on eradicating every drop of yōkai blood from the face of the earth. His followers were responsible for several bombings of yōkai-friendly businesses and yōkai hospitals in the 1940s.

Then there was Ryukotsusei, a powerful dragon yōkai on the complete opposite of the spectrum. His attempt to kill every spiritualist (then every human when there was nobody to stand in his way) was well documented, as was his downfall at the hands of Inuyasha's father in the late 1800s.

"Most of these people are dead, though," Koga said, mostly to himself.

"They are all dead," Sesshomaru corrected. "Some of them under exceedingly suspicious circumstances."

Yeah, they were in some deep shit. The rest of the file was full of evidence of Naraku's connection to each person on the list. Whether through donations, business mergers, political partnerships, or just vocally supporting some iniquitous bit of legislation; they all found ways to bolster Onigumo Naraku's career throughout the decades, both before and after he became the well-known politician he was today. And now they were all dead and Naraku had an army of stolen children, probably brainwashed since the day they were each abducted.

Koga was about to voice his frustrations when his phone rang. Surprised he even got a signal, he pulled it out and checked the number. It was Ginta, one of his longtime friends and his right-hand man.

"Yo, tell me you've got some good news," he said when he answered.

Ginta was quiet for a moment and Koga could hear several excited voices in the background. "Listen, you need to get back to the city in a hurry."

"What's going on?"

"It's about Inuyasha. We've got a serious problem."

Fuck, the mutt better not be dead. "Start explaining. Now."