See notes in First Chapter.
+ Assume all Chapters are "fillers" and the "open" plot doesn't exist. There is no plot. There is no Story. This isn't going anywhere. Move along.
+ The warning that my updating schedule may become irregular is very shortly to become reality. Life remains stressful and has failed to even out as hoped. Just a few more chapters prepared before we hit that wall.
+Your reactions to Kagome's mother amuse me. Akina is a part of an element in society that persists in victim blaming and excusing "boy-like" behavior in effort to perpetuate the narrow view that no woman can be happy without man, marriage, and children. It is still common in Japanese Society/custom to expect a woman to quit work upon marriage or no later than children. That Akina viewed Kagome's "dream" as foolish or unrealistic in this context isn't so far-fetched. It's certainly not reality, or wouldn't have been, but people believe what they want to believe.
+ Some of you may have noticed that chapters lengths vary wildly. That's just how the chapters worked out. I break up the story where it works not at any specific word or page count. In fact, when I first starting writing this story absolutely everything was in one long file. I later broke it up where it made the most sense, hence uneven chapters.
XI.
Miroku settled easily on the public bench of a modest-sized park before taking a bite from the crepe he'd purchased from the truck outside the entrance.
He had never been good at being idle when there was a case to investigate.
While a specific search engine would definitely be helpful in sifting through available information on the internet, building it would take time. There was no instant programming method and whatever was built would have to be tested and refined. The process had already taken weeks and would likely take weeks more.
He knew that, and luckily, he worked for a boss who also knew that.
Still, once set on a task to find victims and help them, Miroku chaffed under the steady, sandy flow of time sweeping by. He hated to let suffering continue when he'd been tasked with exposing and fixing it.
Hence why Miroku's brain had continued working the problem over until he'd realized there were other ways to investigate possible victims. Inuyasha had managed to send one of his former girlfriends to the hospital. Such violent behavior wasn't likely to disappear or de-escalate over time without external interference. Other victims would almost certainly have been sent to the hospital.
Knowing Inuyasha had sent one victim to the hospital wouldn't exactly be a huge lead in a city the size of Tokyo. There were several different hospitals to cover the area after all. So Miroku went back to the one he knew had seen one of Inuyasha's victims. The one Kagome had been admitted to was a great place to start. Employees who worked on Kagome would be the most likely to recognize a repeat.
One of Miroku's best informants worked in that hospital and made the rounds of different departments on a regular basis. He didn't plan to ask anybody to violate privacy laws and Hachi knew that. The tanuki hadn't been aware of any patients that had passed through ICU with similar injuries but he had known someone who worked almost exclusively in intensive care since before Kagome's stint as a victim of violence.
Miroku shifted to look around the manicured area around his bench as he finished his snack and waited. Crumpling the wrapper and accompanying napkin to stick in his pocket, Miroku turned to stretch his arm over the back of the bench, he shifted slightly to take in more of the people in the park. One knee came up to rest over the seat beside him bracing his ankle over the opposite leg. Perhaps it wasn't the most courteous or formal way to sit in a public bench, but it did help reserve the seat for his contact.
There wasn't a lot of traffic in this particular park at this time of day, at least not during this season.
Most of the people he was able to observe were merely passing by on the sidewalk that passed the quiet inlet to the park. It wasn't exactly warm enough out to invite prolonged enjoyment of nature. If Miroku weren't meeting someone here, he certainly wouldn't have thought to stop in. But it was a good spot to have a quiet conversation unlikely to be overheard. Certainly better than a cafe, restaurant, or other public meeting place to be found in doors.
Here there was no crowd to guard against eavesdropping. The street noise and close confines of the surrounding buildings prevented unknown listeners from overhearing. Not that Miroku was near to the level of playing spy with this assignment yet. A lot of security could be purchased with the simple expedient of sitting out in plain sight and acting like there was nothing to hide. No one knew what he was working on explicitly beyond his employer so there was no one to try and hide his inquiries from.
The former cop glanced down at his watch to gauge how long he was likely to be kept waiting. Miroku wasn't given an exact time to expect this contact. Hospital staff didn't keep strict hours and schedules, especially in the intensive care unit. The only thing kept rigid was a start time when employees had to show up and even that could move earlier if an emergency arose that required more coverage.
Being without the backing of the department required some adjustment in how he went about things. Miroku couldn't flash a badge to encourage cooperation. He didn't have the protection being official usually carried. Hachi had given him some trouble upon first meeting him yesterday.
The tanuki had made a big deal over it. Rubbing it in and declaring himself free of the former obligation that had induced Hachi to share information. Miroku had to inform the minor youkai that even a civilian was capable of turning in someone with the raccoon-dog's history.
Hachi was working at the hospital under false pretenses.
Miroku didn't usually need the tanuki for his connection to the hospital and associated staff. Medical information was strictly protected by various laws and policies and even the dirtiest cops wouldn't even attempt it. No Hachi was usually tapped for his connections to a network of swindlers, smugglers, con artists, and frauds that both included the raccoon-dog in their number and competed with him for marks. The difference between some of the scum Hachi squealed on and the two bit, snake-oil salesman that worked at the hospital was the severity of their crimes. Hachi's false medicines were usually a one time transaction that never harmed anyone and occasionally did help. The placebo effect could be powerful. Hachi had never had the scope in his operation to pray on the terminally ill to the point that bank accounts were drained or savings depleted. It was mostly just pocket change.
The only reason Hachi had come to Miroku's attention the first year after he'd finished the academy training is because the little tanuki's minor scam had been hi-jacked by a far more greedy and aggressive usurper.
Miroku smirked lightly to himself. Hachi always made a big fuss over their continued association though. Every new visit was started with protests of innocence and begging to end the whole thing, but with very little time Hachi would start singing about how much worse this other criminal element was without prompting. The former cop had never even had to resort to fake threats or empty promises. Well, until he wasn't with the department any more.
Sighing to himself and shifting on the bench, his gaze turned to the crystal clear sky above.
"Hachi didn't mention you were the type to lolly-gag in public parks," a sharp voice cut through the manufactured calm created by the absence of immediate machine noise found in the false canyon bound by buildings. Miroku's gaze swept instantly from the empty view to take in the registered nurse he'd been waiting for. The woman's hair was a stark white bound up tightly at the back of her head, obfuscating the actual length of it. Her dress was a somewhat old fashioned uniform, starched stiff and white. Her face was incredibly smooth which wouldn't have been surprising, if she were youkai.
Unfortunately, despite the detectable youki threaded through the woman's aura, Miroku could sense she was completely human, proven by the amount of reiki also present in the aura around her person. In older times, before the days of advanced spiritual study and education, this woman would be called a kuromiko. Nowadays, that distinction in the flavor of reiki was acknowledged to classify as a variation in energy rather than intent as it had formerly been believed. Every human had some access to reiki but there were only some who drew it to them like magnets enough to effect the energies around them.
The reiki users that voluntarily chose to associate with small youkai like whichever one Tsubaki housed in her spirit were not corrupted or tainted by the association because of the peace established and maintained in society today. Even the tendency of people like her to consume the spirit energy of others wasn't considered inherently evil, every living thing consumed energy. Provided the collection was conducted under specific legally defined circumstances, Tsubaki was a law-abiding citizen living a normal life.
It wasn't like she was required to feed off the life forces of young women of a certain age, appearance, or experience. Energy was energy. So, as long as the life energy she took came from someone already at the threshold of death, kept alive by machine and for the purpose of organ donation, it was completely legal. Probably why the woman worked in the ICU. Lots of accidents ended with medically dead patients that were technically still viable for organ donation and contained enough residual life energy to sustain one of her kind.
Miroku didn't much care for such individuals and tended to watch them carefully whenever they happened to be about. It was very easy for any one of them to cross the line if no one was looking. So he looked and he made sure the ones he encountered knew it. "I don't know that waiting for a contact could be considered 'lolly-gagging' wherever it happens to take place," he returned evenly. "Hachi had suggested this location and time was for your convenience. Do not criticize the courtesy shown you." Miroku would have been happier to wait in a coffee shop or to meet his contact outside her hospital where he wouldn't have to worry about prolonged exposure to chilly temperatures.
"Hmph!" Tsubaki scoffed. "My convenience, you say. You are the one asking for information, dragging me out of my routine to aid in your efforts, whatever they are. I may complain about whatever I wish. You are asking me to skirt privacy laws, threatening my position and livelihood. And for what?" Her dark eyes narrowed at him irritably. "I remember you, digging around after the Higurashi case. Yet all your professional effort proved a waste of my time. Nothing happened to the cretin."
"Maybe not then," Miroku conceded. "My job was to investigate, which I did. It is not my fault the subsequent file was then purposely mislaid by others at both enforcement agencies."
"Oh, fault. Blame." She huffed with clear condescension. "Only a petty child speaks of such in the face of proven ineffectiveness."
Miroku wanted to argue procedure and protocol. He wanted to point out ignorance of the missing files until Sesshoumaru went looking for them. Staring at the stiff woman before him, his points tasted like ashes in his mouth. He'd been the one to assemble the file, when he learned no one was planning to pursue the issue further Miroku could have skipped the chain of command and climbed higher up until he met with someone who would, before the official file disappeared.
And arguing procedure felt false after he was terminated for ignoring it. Obviously, procedure and protocol weren't real impediment given the right circumstances and opportunity.
Trying to turn things back on Tsubaki, claiming she didn't do anything wouldn't work either. Tsubaki didn't have access to the file Miroku constructed. She did what she could with the resources she had. The woman had kept Kagome's assailant from contact with her, denied Inuyasha entrance at all hours of the day. Of course, in order to do that, Tsubaki had also blocked everyone for a time, but no one could argue the nurse had sat by and allowed more harm to her patient.
"Well, something is being done now," Miroku settled. This woman rubbed him the wrong way when he'd first met her back after Kagome's attack. Time and familiarity had never eased his initial opinion. This woman was hard, uncompromising, and bitter. She had no compunction of stabbing unnecessary nuisances like law enforcement and victim family members with chiding words.
Tsubaki took her job seriously, her focus incredibly narrow and well-defined. If you were her patient, she would fiercely fight to keep you that way until you were well or declared medically dead. Until then, everyone not wearing a medical uniform was the enemy of your health and she would insure they knew it and kept their distance. Medical personnel didn't get a free pass either. Every member of the team on her patient was checked and double checked for identity and intent. Every doctor's decision was questioned and vetted before implemented.
Miroku didn't know what her success rate was, but Hachi had insisted that Tsubaki was well respected, if a bit feared through all departments at her hospital. Kagome had likely been lucky she'd landed in that hospital when Inuyasha attacked her.
"Now?" Tsubaki's eyes slit in an angry glare. "Now the statute of limitations is almost up. What can you possibly do now that the little Higurashi has fled before the wolf like a little coward?"
It was Miroku's turn to glare. "Insult me if you wish, but you will not impugn Higurashi's courage in my presence," he warned. Not only would Miroku give Tsubaki hell, but his employer would likely violently show the nurse the error of her opinions. "Inuyasha did not stop harassing the victim because she left the hospital."
"She lived on a shrine," Tsubaki sniffed in disdain. "The little girl was a reiki user capable of manipulating the Seishin-tekina shouheki to keep out a mere hanyou."
"She did not live on that shrine alone," Miroku retorted. "Her mother did not accept Inuyasha's guilt. Higurashi was forced to flee the island for safety."
"What kind of fool woman wou-" Tsubaki began in disbelief.
"I did not come to ask about the Higurashi case again," Miroku cut her off realizing the unproductive subject for what it was. "Higurashi's file has finally found its way into hands that intend to find justice. Unfortunately, as you indicated the statute of limitations runs out soon. My new employer has tasked me with locating any other victims of the southern daijin's violent proclivities."
"Privacy laws prevent me from-" Tsubaki began by rote, repeating the mantra of every hospital staff member confronted for questioning.
"All I want are dates," Miroku interrupted her again. "Not names, not lists of injuries, not family situations, not location of the incidences, just dates. You are familiar with Higurashi's injuries and you would recognize similar sets of injuries if you saw them again." He didn't know what type of youkai Tsubaki kept a pact with so he didn't mention anything about scent or other methods of detection. Not all non-humans were types that could identify someone by scent alone. Birds saw spiritual energies. Dragons tracked by thermal signatures. Nobody had successfully defined how insects tracked people, but their ability to do so almost outshone the scenting abilities of inu and other mammals.
"What makes you so certain there were other victims?" Tsubaki stalled.
"When Inuyasha rediscovered Higurashi's whereabouts his harassment renewed in the same vein as when he was forced to let off it," Miroku informed her. "His troubles in his relationship with Fukuda Kikyou stem from repeated infidelity which ends in a humiliating confrontation for Inuyasha's other lover, same as with Kagome. It is a logical conclusion to think he might follow those public break ups with the same violent follow up as the first we are aware of," he pointed out. "The problem is that Inuyasha is often the subject of gossip and the tales are often exaggerated if they aren't completely false."
Tsubaki nodded and finally sat on the far end of his bench, a gesture that indicated she was willing to help facilitate his efforts to search out other romantic casualties in Inuyasha's past. Still, it was somewhat of a surprise when she answered the question directly after giving him such a hard time about the past. "There have been three in our hospital," the words were sharp and fast, as if she couldn't believe she'd revealed them at all. "The first arrived nearly two years after Higurashi. The second came in three years after that one and the last barely a year later." The woman sighed in anger and resignation. "None of them fared so well as Higurashi," the nurse added. "I feel I can tell you about their final outcomes without breaching the laws. You don't know who they are and I won't go into specifics."
"That's fine," Miroku nodded. It was actually more than he was expecting to learn. The time frames would help focus his search a bit, at lest initially, allowing him to produce viable results that much faster. Granted, he would still have to search the news rags and gossip papers, but starting his search back from the endpoint of a victim landing in the hospital was certainly easier and faster that sifting through every article in his data set dated from Kagome's attack nearly a decade ago.
"The last patient suffered debilitating brain damage and will never be able to live unassisted again. The second barely made it to the hospital before succumbing permanently to her acquired injuries, but the first..." Tsubaki shifted to stare at him seriously. "That first one subsisted in a coma for over five years. The plug was pulled last fall. I don't know who paid for her medical or who made the decision to cut the power," Miroku realized staring at the nurse that Tsubaki was angry on behalf of this unknown woman. He imagined she'd be even more angry if she knew that the plug pulling coincided with Inuyasha's rediscovery of Kagome's location. "The first woman was never visited by family. When she was in the ICU and the administration contacted her next of kin, the family refused to take responsibility for her."
It was a lot more information than Miroku was expecting to receive about mystery patient number one. Something about that first victim after Higurashi had the hard woman ready to track down Inuyasha and do him personal damage. "You don't have to say more," Miroku tried to ease her.
"I've made my decision and time is fast slipping by," Tsubaki snapped. "I've been unable to do anything about it until now and if your employer can help ameliorate the collateral damage of that woman's injuries I'm going to do something now." Miroku cautiously leaned back from the heated nurse and raised his hand in a placating gesture. "The first woman wasn't a victim alone though no other bodies were brought in with her. She had given birth within the previous year and if her family refused to claim her, what happened to that child?"
Miroku sucked in a breath, horrified by what Tsubaki had just implied. While it was entirely possible the victim had birthed the child of some other male, the chances were more likely Inuyasha had fathered a pup and failed to take responsibility for it. Sesshoumaru was going to be incensed. Inu felt very strongly about the protection of pack. That Inuyasha had bred the woman automatically made her and whatever offspring resulted pack. That the hanyou had then put her in the hospital and allowed the child to be lost to the whims of fate was probably the very worst thing an inu could do. There could be no telling what traumas had been handed down to an unprotected pup with blood ties to the current youkai omo.
"I am sure my employer will insist on locating the child," Miroku didn't have to guess about that. Sesshoumaru would likely change Miroku's focus to finding that poor thing to make sure the pup was healthy and safe. He just didn't know what the plan would be after locating it. Sesshoumaru didn't have the means or capability to care for a pup on his own.
The public did not couch the dangers of Sesshoumaru's life in terms that entirely indicated the hazards of being Masashi's eldest son and heir apparent. Miroku didn't need a translator to know his employer was often assaulted, occasionally kidnapped, harassed, and nearly raped on an unfortunately regular basis. The risk would be too great to expose a child to. Taking on personal responsibility for a child would likely also serve to distract Sesshoumaru increasing the chances that one of the above attempts would catch him up permanently when it wouldn't before. At which point the pup would likely experience further trauma as any youkai out to harm Sesshoumaru in such ways would hardly care about the welfare of the child that would also be affected.
Miroku resolved to have a few contingency plans worked out before he informed Sesshoumaru of this bomb. It might mitigate a more volatile reaction in the inu if he knew solutions were already being considered for this new problem.
"Maybe I could believe in the mandates of your employer if I knew who that was," Tsubaki commented dryly. "After the dedicated agencies failed to mete out justice for Higurashi leading to the fates of three more, I find it difficult to trust in unknown, faceless, entities."
Miroku shrugged. "You have my face," he pointed out, refusing to answer her unvoiced question. Tsubaki didn't strike him as one to gossip, but all it took was one word in the wrong ear about it and his investigation would be moving against new efforts to hide what he was looking for. "My employer wishes to keep his involvement quiet lest those who previously worked to bury the Higurashi file wake up to the effort to dig up the rest of the victims and whatever pattern Inuyasha has fallen into."
"Makes sense," Tsubaki nodded, acknowledging the breadth of corruption in the world when it came to the wealthy, powerful, and publicly respected. "You probably shouldn't have been so straightforward about what you're looking into in the first place."
"I believed it was the only way you would cooperate," Miroku defended his decision. "I couldn't very well ask you for dates of incidences matching Higurashi's circumstances without referring to Higurashi's case. You are unlikely to tip off anyone in Inuyasha's camp. And no one would believe Hachi anyway."
"The fault in that logic resides in the reality that you believed Hachi," Tsubaki huffed. "How long are you planning to keep this investigation under wraps? Inuyasha can't receive his due punishment if his crimes are kept secret."
"Once the investigation has been completed to the satisfaction of my employer he will decide which avenues to pursue," Miroku didn't doubt every piece of evidence would find its way into the hands of Masashi. Hopefully, the great dog wouldn't turn around and dismiss it all in order to protect his younger son. The former officer truly feared Sesshoumaru would find the fate of several human women weighed against Inuyasha's pending punishment wouldn't mean enough to Masashi even with the backing of fact, an abandoned child and violence against a pack member.
Perhaps, Miroku should make plans on what to do in the event Masashi fails to take the safety of women seriously. Some of the old timers don't view females as equal to males yet. He'd never seen real evidence of Masashi behaving that way, but just because the dog didn't go out of his way to beat up women didn't mean he would act to prevent other males from doing so.
"Which avenues might those be?" Tsubaki demanded skeptically. "This single individual is hardly likely to do better than the enforcement agencies charged with protecting the public. What reason would a private citizen have to see real justice done? Even splashing the reality across the public pages of reputable news distributors won't do much to prevent the fool from continuing to act unrestricted."
Miroku blinked at her reaction and acknowledged the truth in her words. If Masashi didn't reach out and punish Inuyasha appropriately, it would be left to popular opinion. The problem was how easily the masses could be influenced by slant, selective information, and phraseology. While the actions themselves were heinous, there were a lot of people who would dismiss the injuries as a result of foolishly allowing interspecies dating. Victim blaming took on a whole new level when it crossed the line of humanity.
There were far too many willing to write off anyone that didn't stick to their own kind.
"I would identify my employer,"Miroku sighed quietly, "but it is fairly certain that such knowledge would hinder any efforts to question prejudiced elements further in the investigation." He wasn't exactly saying that Tsubaki couldn't keep a secret herself. He was more worried about himself. Miroku knew himself and if he got in the habit of divulging his employer's secret identity, it wouldn't be secret. "I am paid to be discrete."
"Hmph!" Tsubaki's dark eyes narrowed at him. Her frustrated suspicion provoked Miroku to assume a pious expression he usually employed to deflect accusations of perversion when he was a teenager. It was strange to be using it now. "Fine," she huffed. "I will wait and see," the nurse declared in a magnanimous tone that didn't fit the situation.
Miroku didn't have to tell her anything. Tsubaki wasn't even required to know his inquiries weren't for personal information. He could just be a busybody or inquiring for the sake of his own curiosity. But she wouldn't have been as explicit for something like that.
One of the skills that had made him successful in the police force despite conflicts with the politics of higher officers was his ability to assess the personalities of the people Miroku interviewed. Some responded better to a friendly rapport, requiring Miroku help them identify him as a peer of similar views and moral standing. Others were more comfortable dispensing gossip, tasking Miroku with making them feel like they're divulging a juicy, naughty secret that made them feel a small amount of power over those whose confidences they betrayed or passed judgment on. Still others wouldn't open up unless he proved to be completely serious, demanding Miroku seem completely accepting and certain of the truth they dispensed.
It taxed his powers of observation and ability to act as Miroku was seldom able to correct a misapplied strategy. Tsubaki required seriousness, candor, a solid belief that he was mildly afraid of her bad opinion. She was not so difficult to read. Hachi needed the illusion of coercion, even though they both knew Miroku would never hurt the tanuki seriously. His first encounters with each of them had been preceded by interviews with other officers working the cases that first brought him to them.
His next interviews would strike out into new territory without the benefit of forewarning. Tsubaki had prepared him to interview that first victim's family when he discovered their identity. There may be no hints about the personalities of the others.