Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters within this fic.

00:00

It was still dark in the forest. The sky above the brittle, ice-covered tree branches was indigo-dark, and in the spaces between the rapidly clearing clouds a smattering of stars were visible. Towards the east, the colour had lightened to a slightly paler hue, but still not quite enough to actually provide illumination. The moon had sunk so far to the west as to be nearly invisible as well, proving a near-truth to the old saying, it's always darkest before the dawn.

A trail of sunken, half-snowed-in footprints wound through the trees, zigzagging wildly through the otherwise perfect white surface that carpeted the ground. Followed backwards, they led to a smallish clearing in the middle of the winter forest. A clearing currently occupied by the frozen dead bodies of a few youkai… and two live ones who shuffled through the snow listlessly as they searched. They were built along much the same lines as the corpses, as well; complete with orb-like bulbous yellow eyes and cracked, rough-looking skin, as well as similarly inhuman proportions.

On the edge of the clearing, incongruous in a magenta-and-white parka, stood a woman.

Kagura slid her arms into her sleeves as she stood knee-deep in icy snow, somewhat disgruntled at being cold, wet, and barely able to conceal her shivering from the two minor youkai who had accompanied her into the woods. Her black hair slid into her face and she removed one hand from the warmth of her sleeves to push it away impatiently.

"Haven't you found anything?" she called into the clearing.

"Blood, Lady, and bodies," grunted one of the youkai, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust—both towards the mess confronting her in the clearing and towards the youkai, which was hardly a prime example of its own or any species. Low-level youkai tended to appear far less human than those of higher status, and these two were no exception.

"I mean aside from the bloody corpses, fool! I already know that much, but have you found anything new?"

"No, Lady," said the same youkai, going back to its search. She sighed.

Damn that asshole, she thought furiously. Many years now, she'd been under his thrall. What the hell did he expect us to find out in the middle of nowhere anyway?

She watched idly as one of the youkai rubbed a long, rough-skinned arm across the surface of the snow, its clawed hand dropping into an area where the white material had been pushed aside. Nothing here but lots of turned-up snow and blood, thought Kagura, wrinkling her nose again. What happened here?

To pass the time, she thought back to when she'd last met the man, when she'd been sent on this infuriating, pointless errand. Perhaps if she thought about it for a little while, she'd be able to figure it out…

She'd been summoned to a different place this time, the basement of a small shop about a block away from Parliament. She'd known the moment she received the call, of course, that it was that bastard, but she couldn't help being somewhat surprised. He'd all but stolen her free will years ago for a very specific purpose—and once that had been done, she hadn't expected to see him ever again. Of course, he hadn't returned what he'd stolen from her… but he didn't seem the type to do things like that anyway. She'd never expected him to.

This time, though, he was wearing something different—some sort of… dress shirt. He had even seemed out of breath when he'd entered the room. Perhaps he was as eager as I to get the whole meeting over with, thought Kagura, hiding another shiver. Bastard.

"Kagura… I have another task for you."

"Yes, sir?" Hiding her annoyance… it was only annoyance, of course, she would never be afraid of him, she responded promptly.

"I have another task for you. I trust that you have not forgotten our little… pact?"

Bowing her head. "Of course I have not, sir."

"Good. Now, listen carefully…"

"This is taking too long," she snapped to the two youkai. The sun was beginning to rise; she could see the sky lightening above her, shafts of clear morning light slanting between the bare, ice-encrusted branches to gleam off the snow. "Tell me straight out: is there anything in this clearing… aside from bloody blood and bloody bodies?"

"No, Lady," the second youkai said, lifting its head from where it was examining the base of a nearby tree. It was of a slightly higher level than the first, though Kagura didn't have much of an opinion for any youkai less powerful than she—perhaps she was only human, but thanks to her 'pact' with the ass, she could probably have slain either of them within seconds. "But we have found traces of something, which could be…"

"Good," she said curtly, cutting him off. "We're leaving, then."

Back to that asshole, she thought, narrowing her eyes as she gritted her teeth to keep them from chattering. She began the process of crafting their ride home, calling on the power her not-quite one-sided bond with Naraku had granted her—feeling as she did so the presence that the youkai had undoubtedly been referring to, but not caring in the slightest. It was the power she had gotten from him that let her do this, that allowed her to sense the faint, lingering traces of something outside the normal… and the fact that it was thanks to him made it difficult to bear. Naraku…

00:00

"Ha," crowed Inuyasha as he sat down at the table, to the first solid food he'd had in days. Kagome sighed and put her head on her hand, watching him idly as he stared down at the plate before him with obvious glee. Without hesitating for even a second, he shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth, not even bothering to chew as he pointed his now-empty form at Kagome. "D'you see 'aat, 'itch? Nuffin 'a-end!"

"Please don't talk with your mouth full," said Kagome, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass as she looked away. Everyone else had finished breakfast already and left, except of course for the hanyou, who had been fast asleep until several minutes ago. At the very least he seemed much better than he had been the previous day. "Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?"

Inuyasha's chewing slowed, and for one brief second the expression in his golden eyes became unreadable. Then he swallowed, pointed that fork at her again, and said, "you shut up, wench."

Miroku leaned around the open doorway and looked at Kagome. "So you're babysitting for today?"

Kagome sighed again. "I guess so."

Inuyasha scowled at her, slightly puzzled, then transferred his gaze to Miroku. "Babysitting for who?" he asked suspiciously.

Miroku laughed, holding up his hands reflexively. "Why, Souta, of course," he said. "Who else?"

Inuyasha gave him one last glare for good measure, then turned back to his pancakes. Kagome had been somewhat reluctant to give them to him immediately, as they had been sitting for almost half an hour before he woke up, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

"I thought you'd be in the shop," Miroku said to Kagome, leaning against the doorway as Inuyasha went back to eating. "Don't you usually help out there?"

Kagome shrugged. "Yeah… I'm going down soon. Don't worry about me." She sipped at her orange juice.

Inuyasha finished the first pancake, moved his fork towards the second, and paused. There was an interesting pattern of burn marks on the upturned side, like a web of slightly charred… err… pancake material laid on top of the normal side. Curious, he prodded it with a claw, flipping it over. The other side was normal…

"What exactly do you do down there?" Miroku asked Kagome. "To help with the store, I mean."

Kagome shrugged. "Oh, I help with the register, I get books and things from storage if we're running out of something on the shelves… just general odd jobs."

"It seems like it would be an interesting place to work," said Miroku, nodding. "Do you get a lot of customers, up here in Aneston?"

Kagome laughed, recalling the previous day, when it seemed that they just wouldn't stop coming in. "Oh, it depends," she said lightly. On Murphy's law…

Inuyasha had turned the pancake over again and was looking at the burnt side, all hunger forgotten. He reached out and poked it—it even felt different, through the stickiness of the syrup. Did all pancakes have two different sides like that, and he'd never known? He thought back, to the last time he could remember eating them. It was a very long time… he thought he could remember his mother making them for him, if he thought back far enough. Before…

"So would you say that you enjoy working in the shop?" said Miroku, allowing himself a faint smile as Kagome smiled back at him.

"Of course," she said.

They were both interrupted by a snort from Inuyasha. "I see you at least are no different… perverted bouzu."

Miroku froze, appalled. Had he… he had really been thinking… and after he'd decided not to do that any more!

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and yelped. "Hey!" she said, standing up, "what are you doing?"

He looked up at her almost guiltily, beginning to regret making any noise. His hands were liberally coated with syrup, at least they were from the brief glance she got before he shoved them under the table. "Keh! I was eating, wench," he said.

"Not by the looks of it, you weren't," she retorted, seizing his arm by the sleeve at his elbow and bringing it up from under the table. "What were you trying to do? Dissect the pancakes with your bare hands?"

He choked in a reply, and his face settled back into that pout she'd seen so many times. "Keh."

Kagome let go of his sleeve and pointed at the sink. "Wash your hands," she commanded.

He looked towards the wall, eyes closed and still pouting. "And just why would I do that, wench?"

She almost laughed at that. He was asking her why?

"Because you're getting syrup all over the place," said Miroku from the doorway, having recovered enough from his surprise to watch the proceedings with amusement. He paused. "Including yourself."

Inuyasha looked down at his crossed arms, and at his shirt, now covered in the sweet substance. "Fuck."

"Maybe you could wash your mouth out too while you're at it," Kagome muttered as he stood up and went to the sink. He glared at her over his shoulder as he scrubbed at his hands.

Miroku sighed, but kept the smile on his face. "I suppose I'm not the only one who hasn't changed, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha turned around quickly and flicked water at him, making him twitch. Almost as an afterthought, he turned again and flicked more water at Kagome.

"Hey!" she protested, facing him in her chair.

He snickered, pulled his hands out of the sink, and did it again.

"Stop doing that, Inuyasha," she said warningly.

He stared at her for several seconds, his face as perfectly unreadable as Miroku's (or perhaps the comparison didn't fit in this instance—in the doorway, Miroku was struggling to hold back laughter). Then, very slowly, he raised one clawed hand and flicked.

"All right," she said calmly, "that's it." Reaching out to where her mother kept the newspapers beside the table, she rolled one up and stood, brandishing it threateningly. Miroku laughed outright.

Inuyasha growled at him. "Oi, bouzu…"

Quickly Kagome's hand was descending towards him; just as quickly, he reached out and caught her wrist. "Please don't do that," he told her pleasantly, still holding onto her wrist. With his other hand he allowed the newspaper to unroll itself, and surreptitiously glanced over at it.

"You need to learn when to stop when you're told to," said Kagome, reaching out with her other hand and tweaking one of his ears lightly. She discovered that it was indeed soft—slightly warm and covered with downy fur, too. She pulled her hand away with regret.

"Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" said Miroku. Kagome glanced at him, then over at the hanyou. He had frozen in place and was staring at the newspaper in his hand, amber eyes wide.

"Inuyasha?" she said softly, suddenly worried.

Abruptly he spun round, dropping her wrist as though it had stung him and throwing the newspaper onto the table as he did so. "Keh." He glowered momentarily at the settling mass of paper on the shiny tabletop, then whirled again and left the room, pushing past Miroku.

Kagome exchanged a startled glance with the older boy. "What was that about?" she asked.

Miroku shrugged. "My guess is as good as yours."

Kagome looked down at the newspaper. Some of the pages were beginning to come loose, and the pages were crumpled where Inuyasha had been holding it. The front page was face-up on the table, with large headlines declaiming some sort of business victory. There was a large black and white picture of the man involved, someone named Genken Tankyuusha, a tall and handsome man with quite a lot of flowing pale hair. "Something he saw in the paper, maybe…?"

"Perhaps," said Miroku, taking a step into the room. Suddenly his breath caught. "You don't think…"

"Something to do with Kikyou?" Kagome had lifted the paper and was scanning it for any mention of the girl. Miroku came over and looked at it over her shoulder. "No… if there is, it's somewhere inside." She paused briefly, thinking. "His hanyou powers don't include being able to see through things, do they?"

"Not that I know of." Suddenly Miroku gasped again, a faint intake of breath right beside her ear. "Kagome… let me see that."

She handed it to him silently, puzzled.

He scanned over the page again, and she frowned slightly when she saw his brows contracting. "Is something wrong?"

He looked up as if he'd been startled. "No. I was just… thinking."

"What did Inuyasha see in the newspaper?" she asked him again.

Without answering immediately, he laid the paper flat on the table again and smoothed out the front page. He pointed towards the image that took up most of the top half. "Do you know who that is?"

She nodded, still confused. "That's Genken. Some sort of important businessman. There's an article beside it, see?"

He shook his head impatiently. "No, not his name… look closely at him."

She squinted down at the picture. "Yeah," she said with disgust. "They only made the picture so big because he's good-looking. Talk about money-grubbing…" Good-looking, she thought with amusement. Pretty is more like it. If he wore a dress he could pass for a woman!

Miroku shook his head again. Suddenly he pointed to the image. "I know there's no colour, but… look at his hair."

She squinted at it. "Blond?"

He shook his head for third time.

She peered more closely. Now that she thought of it, it was too pale to be blonde… it looked almost white, especially where the light struck it.

Long white hair… feminine features…

She drew back from the picture with a gasp, nearly striking Miroku's chin with the back of her head. "That's not… Inuyasha, is it?"

Miroku laughed. "No! Of course not."

She turned to look at him. "Then what…"

Miroku readjusted his ponytail again. "I believe… I think that this is Inuyasha's elder brother. It certainly looks like him…"

"His brother?" Kagome's eyes widened. "But that means he's a youkai! Are you trying to tell me that Genken Tankyuusha, the Genken Tankyuusha, is a youkai?"

Miroku nodded. "One of the benefits to being a true youkai is that one can utilize concealment spells," he said. "I remember seeing Genken… his real name would be Sesshoumaru, then, if I'm right… in his true form. It wouldn't be particularly hard to hide… he looked nearly human to begin with. Silver hair, yellow eyes like Inuyasha's, claws… he had pointed ears, too, though they were more humanlike in appearance, and he had marks like tattoos…"

"Huh." Kagome looked back down at the picture, looking over the image. "So he… if Inuyasha has a brother, then we could go see him! Tell him his younger brother is hurt, and needs help!" She watched Miroku eagerly for signs of agreement.

He was looking at the paper too, and frowning. "I'm not… entirely sure," he said slowly. "Unless we're completely off the mark where Inuyasha is concerned, his reaction wouldn't indicate that he has a particularly good relationship with Sesshoumaru… Genken."

"Oh." Her face fell. "But why would that be? They're siblings—he ought to go anyway, and if they don't like each other, than they can make up!"

"Well," said Miroku, "from what I remember, Sesshoumaru seemed rather fond of Inuyasha. I'm not sure… perhaps something happened." Something would have had to, he thought grimly, remembering. The first time he had met Inuyasha—neither of them could have been much older than four or five—he had been climbing over the high fence of the big manor-house some ways down the roadway because he thought he'd seen a pretty lady behind it. While other things from around that time were fuzzy, the meeting stood out. All the children in the small town had been warned away from that house—it was haunted, or the people who lived in it didn't tolerate others… the fence was held up as proof of that. A spite fence, they called it. Miroku didn't know what spite meant, but it didn't sound very nice. He had been on his way to another friend's house when he'd caught the glimpse, through a knothole in the thick wood… and then he'd decided to climb it.

Kagome sighed, snapping him back to the present. "That is a pity," she said. "They do look rather alike…" Suddenly she paused. "Wait, did you say that Sesshoumaru was a true youkai?"

"Yes," said Miroku cautiously.

She frowned. "How can that be? If Inuyasha's just a hanyou… wouldn't Sesshoumaru be only half too, then?"

"I believe that they are only half-brothers," said Miroku. "I'm not certain… I was never given all the details."

"That's sad," said Kagome, looking down at the table without focusing on it. "What a rotten life… Only a half-youkai, only a half-brother… and now they don't even like each other, and then he was shot by the woman he loved…" She found that the more she thought about it, the more upset she felt. Oh, but that was awful!

"It's all right," said Miroku uncomfortably, noting her distress. "We don't know the whole story yet, remember?"

She sighed. "I suppose…" Suddenly she frowned. "Where did he go, anyways?"

Miroku shrugged. "Back to the guest room? Playing with the television in the living room again?" He paused, frowning. "In… the woods…"

Kagome paled and ran to the door, dashing down the hallway to the guest room. "Not there," she gasped at Miroku after throwing the door open. He was following her more slowly. "Window's closed, though…"

Miroku nodded and opened the door to the living room. "Not here either."

Quickly they both headed towards the door to the narrow staircase. Kagome hurried down in front of Miroku, who began to look mildly amused before he was even halfway down.

"Kagome," he said softly, "I don't think we need to worry…"

She didn't hear him as she pushed through the door and entered the shop, running out into the front of the shop and nearly reaching the door within seconds.

"Kagome where are you going?" asked Mrs. Higurashi from behind the desk, startled.

"Out, mum, I think that…"

"Crazy wench," she heard another voice grumble, and spun round to face the desk, skidding to a stop. There was Inuyasha, leaning on the desk with a distinctly contemptuous expression on his face. "Someone's been sticking bees up her…"

"Inuyasha!" she said, gasping. She heard laughter from beside her, and turned to look at Miroku, who was approaching them slowly. He struggled to contain his mirth as he neared her. "You were… down here the whole time?"

Mrs. Higurashi nodded as Inuyasha endeavored to look bored. "He's been talking to me," she said. "Since no one's come into the shop yet, it gets a little boring."

Kagome sighed. "I'm sorry, mom… I should have been helping…"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her. "Oh, that's perfectly fine, dear," she said. "After all, I had Inuyasha to keep me company, right?"

"Keh!" said Inuyasha, crossing his arms.

"Pardon me, Mrs. Higurashi, but… what were you talking about?" asked Miroku.

She laughed. "Oh, not much, really. I asked him what he thought of Aneston, and it sort of… went on from there." She glanced at Inuyasha. "Personally, I'm glad that you seem to be properly up and about this time… You had us really worried for awhile."

Kagome couldn't keep the incredulous expression off her face. Inuyasha had been… having a pleasant chat with her mother down in the shop?

"Why didn't you tell us you were going down here?" she said, annoyed. "You could have saved us a lot of worrying." Miroku was nodding behind her, though the amused look on his face was hardly helping her case.

Inuyasha growled at her, claws digging into the edge of the desk. Mrs. Higurashi tapped on his hand lightly and he removed it, a guilty look flitting briefly across his face before he continued to glare at Kagome. "Need I tell you everything I do, girl?"

Kagome blinked. Girl? His repertoire of names for her was getting milder—instead of wench, or bitch, now it was girl? "You do when you've been hurt like that," she retorted, noticing Miroku and her mother watching the argument without getting involved. Was it possible that Inuyasha was watching his language in front of Mrs. Higurashi? "What if you'd run away again? You remember what happened last time!"

He scowled. "D'you think I'm that stupid?" he asked, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm a… a… I heal quickly, girl! It stopped bleeding ages ago, and it doesn't even hurt any more!"

"Oh?" Mrs. Higurashi clapped her hands together. "That's good, then. Later on, when the shop closes, there are a few things I'd like to ask you, Inuyasha."

He glanced over at her and nodded uneasily. Kagome put her hands on her hips. So her mother merited politeness, but she didn't? After a moment she sighed, looking down at the floor. Rudeness seemed to be as much a part of him as the silver hair, or the claws—which, oddly enough, her mother still hadn't commented on. Perhaps she assumed that they were false…

"So no one's come in yet?" she asked her mother, glancing towards the firmly closed door. Mrs. Higurashi shook her head.

"Not a soul."

Miroku stepped forwards. "Mrs. Higurashi, may I ask if I can help with the shop for awhile? I must admit to feeling slightly superfluous at the moment."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded. "Certainly. Though at the moment…" she paused, thinking, and then changed what she'd been about to say. "Ah! There's a box of new merchandise, in from the city—we got them a few days ago. But they seem to have been damaged somehow. A few are in selling condition, a few are salvageable, and a few… well, aren't."

Kagome gasped. "Oh! The… the paperbacks?" Upon Mrs. Higurashi's nod, she felt her face begin to warm. "I… uh… I forgot to tell you," she mumbled. "The window blew open, and the rain got on them—two days ago."

"Oh," said Mrs. Higurashi. "The window, eh? So that's what happened… We'll have to get that fixed up soon."

Miroku stepped forwards. "Mrs. Higurashi, if I can be of assistance in any way during this situation, please don't hesitate to ask."

"All right," said Mrs. Higurashi, amused as she looked at him. "Since I can't exactly fix them right now, why don't you get the books from the back and make sure they're not still wet? If you could flatten the covers it might be nice too. They may not be in condition for sale even then, but we may as well check."

Miroku nodded. "Where's the box?" he asked Mrs. Higurashi. She pointed towards the back of the shop.

"There's a door right beside the stairwell… you might have seen it, on the left side, right beside the bookcase. That's storage."

Miroku nodded and headed towards the back while Kagome continued to stare at the ground and Mrs. Higurashi busied herself with the register. After a moment Mrs. Higurashi looked up, however, and glanced at her daughter. "What's wrong, dear?"

Kagome sighed. "I ought to have told you about the window right away," she mumbled. "But I forgot… it was my responsibility, I said I'd help with the shop, and I… I completely forgot!"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her. "Oh, Kagome, you don't need to worry about that. With everything that's been going on, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself for losing track of them briefly."

Suddenly both looked towards the back of the shop. Miroku was leaning around the side of one of the bookcases, trying to stifle his laughter. "These are the books?" he asked.

Kagome nodded. Miroku turned the book in his hand over to look at the cover, still laughing.

"I remember this," he said, half under his breath.

"What?" asked Inuyasha, also walking out from behind the bookcase. He was holding the box full of books in both hands, and seemed to be sulking again. Miroku put on his vague smile and glanced over at him.

"Oh, nothing…"

"Keh. Well, when you're done giggling, why don't you tell me where I can put this fuh—this box," said Inuyasha, wincing slightly as he shifted the object in question.

Miroku delicately placed the book in his hands on top of the box, raising an eyebrow as he watched Inuyasha's slight change of expression. "Doesn't even hurt, huh?"

Kagome smiled more at Inuyasha's near-slip of the tongue, until the meaning of Miroku's words hit her in full. "Inuyasha! If it hurts, why didn't you say something?"

He turned his face away from her. "Keh! Because it doesn't hurt, bi—girl."

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "And I just checked the bandages last night… oh, I hope it hasn't started bleeding again."

Kagome put her hands on her hips and looked hard at Inuyasha. "Well, has it?"

He thrust his jaw forwards, decided to fake not having heard—despite his hanyou sense of hearing, which had enabled him to catch every word. "Has what?"

She kept up her gaze, despite her somewhat undermined position… being halfway across the room from someone tended to diminish the force of a good glare. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No."

She sighed. "Let me see."

He was instantly on guard. "What?"

"I said, let me see the bandages. If there's no blood, I'll let you go."

"I said it's not, bit—girl. Why don't you just leave it there?"

"Because if you're lying to me, then it'll only keep getting worse!" she retorted.

Miroku raised his hand slightly. "If I may interject, Inuyasha, going along with Miss Kagome's wishes will not detract in any way from your general… ah… standing at the moment."

Inuyasha glared at him—up close, too. Miroku wasn't fazed. "Oh, so now you want to see me topless too, is that it, bouzu?"

Miroku sighed. "Well, as I can see you wish to continue your argument, perhaps I'll take the books upstairs and try to repair them." With that he neatly plucked the box out of Inuyasha's hands, nearly dropped it from the weight, and turned to nod slightly to Kagome and her mother. Then he was turning again, very slowly, and making his way towards the stairs.

Inuyasha snorted. "Stupid bouzu." He moved to follow him.

"Stop right there," ordered Kagome. When he did, she walked quickly forwards. He realized her intent seconds before she reached for the hem of his shirt, and caught her hand quickly. Kagome looked up at him, annoyed, and twisted her arm in his grasp… Then, before he could react, she darted out her other hand and seized the black fabric, gripping it triumphantly. Inuyasha growled slightly, trying to manoeuvre his arms so that she couldn't lift it.

Kagome didn't notice as the bell of the shop jangled. She did, however, notice when her mother called her name.

"Kagome?"

She let go of Inuyasha's shirt immediately, turning to look at the front of the shop. Her face coloured immediately. Tsuyu, a friend of her mother's, was watching them both curiously, as was Mrs. Higurashi herself.

"I'm going upstairs," muttered Inuyasha, turning around. Kagome smiled weakly at Tsuyu.

00:00

The phone was ringing, a dull, tinny noise interspersed with heavy static. Kagura clasped it to her ear, trying to keep from fidgeting impatiently in her small, dingy apartment. She had begun the call the moment she got home, barely taking the time to flick on the light in her kitchen before lifting the receiver. The two youkai were long gone, dead before they were even halfway back to the city. Nobody would miss a couple of sewer monsters too poor to acquire concealment spells, and apparently His Bastardness Naraku didn't want word of that little clearing in the middle of nowhere to get out. He wouldn't kill her though… she supposed he had too much confidence in his bond with her for that. He believed that he could make her do whatever he wished… what rankled was that it was true.

She couldn't help the feeling of satisfaction that rose up inside her, though. Now that she was through with that task, perhaps now she could attain some measure of freedom—she knew full well, of course, that Naraku wouldn't simply let her go, but he might forget about her for a time, let his guard down… and then, maybe, she would get an opportunity to be rid of him once and for all. Take back what was hers, wrestle out of his grasp forever, and leave the city… to be as free as the element she had been given control of.

Whatever I think of him, I must admit that he does have a sense of irony, she thought wryly as she waited for an answer. Giving me power over the wind… and then keeping me reined in constantly. Even when I thought I was free, I suppose I never really was…

Finally, a click, barely audible beneath the hissing static. "Hello," she said, a simple introduction in case it was not him answering the phone.

There was a faint trace of annoyance in the familiar voice. "Yes?" No name was given… he knew it was her, though. There was no question of that.

"I carried out the request you gave me," she said dutifully, somewhat puzzled now. She could hear faint voices in the background, but not what she would have expected… whatever she'd expected. Screaming, perhaps? Sounds of violence, maybe… but not quiet, dull voices chatting in the droning monotone voices she had come to expect of most politicians.

"And?" said Naraku.

"There wasn't much there," she said. "Blood, some youkai corpses… fresh-looking, not that it means much. It's too cold for anything to decay."

"That's all?"

"Yes."

There was a long silence, broken only by the static and the faint sound of the voices in the background. Briefly one of the voices was raised from its monotone. I guess politician-voice got tired of talking so quietly, thought Kagura, holding the phone tighter.

"You realize what the punishment is for failure?" came the soft response over the phone.

This was just barely warning enough for Kagura to sit down quickly to avoid a painful collapse. A second passed… another…

Abruptly a wave of pain swept over her, originating from her chest, a hollow, intense ache that grew worse with each moment. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, could only remain doubled over on the grimy tiled floor as the horrible feeling washed through her entire body, leaving her numb, limp and gasping.

The blasted phone had fallen just close enough to her ear for her to hear Naraku's next words.

"As it happens, the situation is not completely irretrievable. Someone else happens to have come across the information that I sent you to find… I will not tolerate another failure on your part, however, do you understand?"

She wondered dimly what his little politic-talking underlings thought of that little speech, before the shuddering aftermath of Naraku's little torturing session hit her in full and left her in no condition to wonder about much at all. Damn… bastard…

00:00

o.O I'm EVIL. I just realized that… And the plot thickens once again (very, very sorry to those who are growing impatient… I have it all planned out—that is, until the next change of plan comes swinging in out of nowhere—but some information won't come out until the characters learn about it… which may take a little bit longer.)

Anyways, now I feel silly… I just found the name of the lord whom Naraku was impersonating (because I couldn't find it for chapter 8, I just used the title the castle retainers used: Waka)… but the name is actually Kagewaki Hitomi.

And… well, writer's block will probably return the moment I try to insert some new concept… but this chapter was fairly easy. Maybe because it's so much fun to portray Inuyasha's mischievous side…

As for Sesshoumaru… Tankyuusha means searcher, and Genken means war dog. Someone else has used the Genken name before (I believe it was for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father, the Inu no Taishou) but… I did find the name on my own. It wasn't until after I'd put it in until I realized that I'd seen it before (not Tankyuusha... to my knowledge, NO one has used that yet)… but, well, I don't mind. The meaning fits well enough. (By the way… Genken is the surname. I may not be going with all those various Japanese words that tend to sprinkle fics, aside for those that are best left alone (like youkai, hanyou, shikon, etc), but I will keep the names in their original format.