A/N: You all are lazy! Lazy, lazy, lazy! I see that you're looking at this story, that you're reading on past the first chapter and yet you can't take a moment to review? I write for the people that read and enjoy, if you read and enjoy this, then review. Even if I get just one review a chapter at least I know I'm touching the interest of someone. So, please review or I'll stop writing because there is no point to it unless someone is going to read this and enjoy themselves. Thank you!
Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha and Co. I just screw them up to entertain fans.
Chapter Three
Angels and Demons
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I haven't even lived half of my life;
rebelling against, and embracing others -
These experiences are being tattooed onto my subconscious.
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He stood in the shower, his head bowed as the hot water pelted him, beating life back into him. It had been a rough night, it had been a grisly murder, and he had yet to sleep.
Often times Kaze Taishou wondered why he went to work everyday, why he put himself through such crime scenes, why he continued to chase down the bad guy when the end result wouldn't really change. For the murder victim it was too late, there wasn't a take back, there wasn't closure, they would still remain lifeless, buried in some dark and suffocating casket while their body rotted away. They wouldn't know if he solved the case or not, they wouldn't care.
He tilted his head back, let the burning water sting his face and rolled his shoulders to ease the tension.
It had been a damn rough night.
Turning off the water he stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel and scrubbed it over his face then hair. He moved to the mirror, using his hand to wipe away the fog and looked at himself. Violet eyes stared back, tired and hard and his hair clung to him. The Captain had been on his ass for months about cutting his hair, but he was too fond of it and the long style looked good on him. Shaking his head he moved into his room, drying himself off.
His room, his apartment was plain, barely looking lived in with the exception of his dirty clothes piling up in the corner behind his door, and the slept in bed. He had a dresser to put his clothes in and a bedside table to hold his phone charger and his alarm clock. It wasn't a home as much as a place to come and sleep because he wasn't allowed to sleep at the station anymore.
He moved to his dresser, pulling on boxers an jeans then a black wife beater, his harness and a red button down which his left open. Pulling his still wet hair back, he secured it with a pony tail holder and scowled at his coffee maker. It was half full; how long had it been since he made coffee?
Shrugging he turned the machine on to warm up the sludge and opened his fridge, leaning to look at the contents. Beer and old Chinese peered out at him and he scowled.
"I'm such a cop." Grabbing a mug he moved back to the coffee pot, irritated that it hadn't even begun to warm up it's contents and poured some out anyway, putting the mug into the microwave.
Glancing at his simple kitchen table, Kaze looked at the files that were spread open, knew the contents by heart and closed his eyes.
There had been so much blood. The man's body had been ripped open from stomach to neck in a jagged line, done by a sharp blade, approximately six inches long. It had been a brutal death, and he was sure the victim had suffered greatly. But it didn't bother him.
The blood, the fucking gore never even turned his stomach as a rookie. He had been deemed "unshakeable" by his partner.
She was dead now.
That shook him. It shook him hard, right to the core and left him aching and bitter.
He pulled the mug out of the microwave and grabbed the box of old Chinese from the fridge. He moved to the table, sat and read the report again.
He would read it over and over, he would solve this murder like he had so many others just so he could continue to work on her case. A cold case, a case that he would never give up on.
Taking a drink from his mug he flipped open the take out box and got to work.
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Kagome sat on a chair at the kitchen table and yanked another one in front of her so she could tie her sneakers. She couldn't remember the last time she woke up in such a horrible mood, and all because of the thief-standing her up-douche bag who she only knew by last name.
"Just forget about him." She snapped at herself as she stood, pulling her hair up into a pony tail and grabbed her house keys, moving outside.
It was an absolutely beautiful morning, a perfect morning for a run; and running was just what she needed. Moving to the side walk she stretched slowly, mindful of her sore body parts but absolutely refusing to let them interfere with her normal routine.
Waving a bit at a friendly neighbor she smiled, feeling better already and started her jog, heading towards the park nearest to her house.
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Kaze moved along the side walk, hands stuffed in his pockets and breathed in deeply. He needed to clear his head, step back, try and take a different look at the same facts. There was something he was missing.
"Sleep." He muttered then shook his head. Who needed it? He had gone through tons of cases on less sleep than he had now. He was missing something else…
Pausing he furrowed his brows. He had forgotten something.
"The hell?" Shifting he turned around, heading back to his apartment to look over the file again; and then it hit him.
The collision had him stumbling back, had him wrapping his arms around the thing that had just knocked the breath from him, then had him looking down in shock.
"Kagome…" He breathed as the woman looked up at him, shock registering in her own face followed by a look that he could only guess to be fury. "Oh, hell."
"You!" She all but snarled, her brown eyes spitting fire at him so directly he wondered why he hadn't burst into flames.
She shifted and the feeling of her in his arms created a rush of euphoria so sudden and direct that he just grinned at her, letting her go. He felt like he just got the sleep he needed just by seeing her angry face.
"You-you thief!" She shoved him and he didn't move, enjoying seeing the irritation and anger on her face grow.
"Me?" He grinned again and Kagome felt her heart stutter in her chest.
Goddamn he was good looking.
She balled her hand into a fist and swung out. Kaze grunted as she caught him right across the cheek and stumbled to the side, surprised.
"Give me back my drivers license you bastard!" Her entire arm vibrated with the hit, making her elbow ache and she felt satisfaction roll through her as he pressed a hand to his cheek and stood straight.
He watched her for a moment to decide which direction to take and decided he'd take the low road all the way.
"Do you always go around decking cops?" He watched the question register, watch the color drain out of her face then come back quickly in the form of red.
"You, you're a cop?" Kagome felt her throat tighten a bit as scenarios of going to jail flashed through her mind's eye.
"A homicide Detective to be exact." He dropped his hand and moved to her so that they were toe to toe. "Do you want to go to jail for assaulting a Detective?" Kagome opened her mouth, closed it then took a deep breath and opened it again.
"Can you please just give me back my license and we can forget this whole thing?" It killed her to be polite, but she'd rather be dead in the park, a knife through her ego than dead in some jail cell with a butch bitch from Block A with a knife through her gut. Kaze watched her, felt the strong pull of attraction that had had him walking over to her in the bar and smiled slowly.
"Dinner, you owe me a night out." Kagome watched him for a moment then pulled back her foot and kicked him hard in the shin.
"You stood me up!" She shoved him over as he hopped on one foot and watched him fall and roll in the grass. "Forget the damn license. I'll just buy a replacement!" She snapped and turned, jogging away.
Kaze watched her go then laughed and relaxed in the grass. It was as good of a place as any to take a nap, and he was positive that he'd be seeing that interesting woman again.
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Kagome walked out of the elevator and towards her cubical, glancing around as a hush fell over the floor.
She paused, shrugged a shoulder then started walking again, only to have a hand clamp down on her upper arm. With a startled yelp she turned and looked down slightly at her boss.
"Mr. Giles…" He watched her over his slightly dirty glassed, his round face a bit red and his eyebrows pulled together.
"Ms. Higurashi, whatever trouble you're in I would greatly appreciate if you refrained from bringing it to work with you. It is a distraction to other employees and reflects poorly on this company and on you." His voice whispered quickly and harshly in her ear before he let her go and stepped away. Blinking owlishly and extremely confused, Kagome watched him waddle away.
"What the hell…?" Shaking it off she moved to her cubical, letting the strap of her purse slide down off of her shoulder where she caught it in her hand then froze.
Long jean covered legs stretched from their place on the corner of her desk to the edge of a black wife beater, partially covered by a shiny gold badge. A gun harness was slightly hidden by a long sleeved red shirt and the grin on the face of the man sitting in her chair made her blood boil in her veins.
"You're stalking me. This is harassment." Her voice was calm, more calm that she thought it would be.
He lifted a hand, holding up her license between his fingers.
"It's amazing what you can find out about a person when you know their name and address Higurashi Kagome."
She leaned to take the card from him and he tilted his hand away from her quickly so she only grabbed at thin air.
"You don't act much like a cop. I suppose you don't need to though, or have manners for that matter when all you deal with is dead bodies." She snapped and he shifted, standing up so that she was forced back between the desk and himself. Kagome glanced back as her butt bumped against the edge of the desk.
"What an interesting woman..." His voice was low and he took a step towards her so that his chest brushed against hers and she sat to break the contact. "Have dinner with me." His voice sent a shiver down her spine and she jutted out her chin in a show of stubbornness.
"You stood me up." There wasn't as much venom in her voice as she would have liked and she cursed him for smelling so damn delicious; it was clouding her brain.
'Does she remember?' He wondered then stepped between her legs so that they were pressed together in a rather intimate position.
Kagome's breath caught as the sounds from the bar filled her head. Low throbbing music, the riotous laughter of a group of men in the corner, and his low voice whispering in her ear as they talked. She shivered as she remembered the feel of his hands slipping under and up the sides of her shirt, slightly rough fingers brushing gently over her skin to pull her closer as they danced. Kaze watched her face.
Oh yeah. She remembered.
"I apologize." His voice was sincere as he watched her still. "I had a surprise meeting with a dead body." He said it with good humor, concealing the hardness and the anger that came with the statement that had nothing to do with the woman in front of him. "Give me one more chance?"
Kagome wondered why her chest suddenly felt tight as she nodded slowly. "One more chance."
He smiled, stepped back and slipped her license back into his pocket, unseen by her.
"I'll let you get to work then. You get off at nine right?" She nodded mutely and watched him. "See you then." He gave her a charming grin and she watched him walk off, slowly letting out the breath she hadn't noticed she was holding.
"See you then…" She echoed softly.
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"Mama."
"Oh Kagome! I was just thinking about you!" Kagome smiled at the enthusiasm in her mothers voice and was sorry that she would cause it to fade. "I just got back from the store and I got the ingredients to make your favorite pot roast for tonight." She gushed.
Kagome hesitated. "Mama, about that…" She heard the rustling of grocery bags still in the background.
"You're not coming tonight?" Kagome flinched at the disappointment in her mothers voice and pinched the bridge of her nose, shifting her cell phone.
Three times a week she would drive the twenty minutes to the other side of the city and spend a late evening with her mother.
Once a week she would bring half of her pay check with her.
"I'm sorry it's such late notice, I was just invited to dinner and…" She didn't get the sentence out of her mouth before her Mom let out an excited gasp.
"You have a date? What's his name? Where did you meet him? Does he want children?" Mrs. Higurashi couldn't remember the last time her daughter actually went on a date with a man. "You'll come by tomorrow and tell me all the details won't you? I love you, be safe darling!" Kagome looked at the phone as her Mom hung up and couldn't help but laugh. Slipping her phone back into her purse she grabbed her work headset and pulled it on, shaking her mouse to clear the "Go team!" screensaver away.
Logging back onto her computer she paused as she pulled up her work screen.
What was his name?
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"Kaze…" Kaze continued to type up his report, ignoring the voice. His lip was split, his head was ringing from the gun going off right next to his ear and his ear buds from his Ipod were doing very little to funnel the music in and filter the noise of the station out.
"Kaze. Hey. Hey…Kaze Taishou!" He ignored the nagging voice still and continued to type, his irritation growing.
"InuYasha Taishou!!" The voice yelled loudly and laughter broke out in the bullpen as he closed his eyes and counted to five mentally.
He wouldn't kill his best friend…but he sure as hell would bust his nose.
Yanking out the head phones he stood and turned with a snarl on his face. "Any of you fuckers got a problem with what my dear, sweet mother named me?!" Heads turned away from him quickly and the laughing stopped instantly as a few people raised their hands in surrender.
"You are so touchy." He brushed off the hand that clasped onto his shoulder with an angry noise.
"What the fuck is a suit like you doing in my bullpen anyway?" He turned to look at his childhood friend.
"Yash, I'm hurt." Kaze barred his teeth and slapped the man upside of the head sharply.
"Miroku, goddamn it, I told you not to call me that here!" Miroku flinched and rubbed the side of his brown hair covered head and grinned.
"You're the one defending your name here, and yet there you stand, telling me not to call you by it." He took a step back as Kaze swung out at him and straightened his purple tie.
"You don't understand. You're parents didn't give you such a weird name!" He huffed as Miroku dusted lightly at his black blazer.
"Hey buddy, you don't have to bitch to me. I grew up with you, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. I remember. Now what do you want? I'm busy." Kaze snapped as he sat back down in his chair, clicking the save button on his word processor before it decided to eat his report.
"I just got off of work. Thought I'd be bitched out by you because I was running late, but here you are completely forgetting about out plans."
Kaze grunted as he started typing. "Plans?"
"Drinks, football, bar? Hot chicks with big boobs and thin shirts?" Miroku made a groping motion towards his own chest and Kaze continued to type.
"Can't."
"What do you mean you can't? It looks like to me you're nearly done with whatever you're typing at the speed of a snail and I promise, all you have to do is pick up your shirt and put it on and I'll even drive us to the bar."
Kaze paused and looked at him. "What bar?"
Miroku stared for a whole five seconds before scowling. "Beer. Boobs. Football."
"Oh." Kaze started typing again. "I can't."
"…why not?"
"I have a date." He missed the look of shock cross his friends face and he lifted a hand, rubbing the back of his neck. "How do you spell 'apprehended'? "
"What do you mean you have a date?"
"It's those things that you have all of the time, that end with sex. Only, I know how to wear a condom."
"I know how to wear a condom damn it! Who do you have a date with?" Miroku grabbed his tie, loosening it with a single jerk as Kaze fished in his pocket, pulling out the license and handed it to him. "Kagome Higurashi." Miroku squinted at the picture. "Hey, you know, she looks like…" He started then paused as Kaze turned to look at him.
"She doesn't. They're nothing alike." Miroku handed the license back then held up his hands.
"No, no. You're right. Nothing alike." He shifted, watched the look on Kaze's face go from bad to worse. "Well InuYasha. I think I'm going to head out to the titty bar then. Since you have a…date…" He cleared his throat as Kaze continued to stare then waved a hand, walking out to the front door.
"I can't believe he's going out with a woman." Miroku muttered as he walked out.
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"Here you go Boss, a list of all of the shrines in Tokyo. It's rather long. And speaking of shrines, I didn't realize you were such a religious man. Kind of funny when you think about it." The man with the braided hair paused as the cold stare his boss gave him didn't waver. "You know…considering what you do for a living and all…" He trailed off.
"Your services are no longer needed." The man stood up from his desk slowly as the man with the braid backed quickly to the door.
"I'm sorry to bother you with such things Boss, honestly I am! It was just some stupid…no wait!" He yelled as a gun went off, the bullet passing through his open mouth, exploding the back of his head over the closed door.
The man leaned, pushing a button on his phone.
"Dispose of him." He said as he sat slowly, shuffling through the papers and clicked the button off. "Where are you hiding, my Shikon no Tama?"
Quotes: 'Hemisphere' from RahXephon
A/N: What do you think? Getting more interesting? Feedback if you please!!
…Nuclotei