Allo again, loves! I know it might not seem like it, but I can assure you that this is a SESSKAG fanfic. It kinda needs to start with INUKAG but you will see the purpose for that later. But rest assured, there will be nice little SESSKAG moments until the other pairing ends.

Chapter 2: Falsities

They arrived at the dismal, abandoned laboratory. With fear settling into her core, Kagome sucked in a large breath as she grasped Inuyasha's hand. She stumbled forward and the sound of the sirens, the voices, and the forensics teams dimming in her ears as the thrum of her heartbeat climbed. Kagome moved like a zombie into the building, her footsteps echoing off the walls that she had traveled through hours before.

Choking on her breath and the rancid smell, her vision teetered between the lights flashing in the hall and the aged image of it decorated in the boy's blood. Kagome could still smell his organs strung up on the walls, and the visage of his eyeball on her boot staring back at her haunted her eyes.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha gently shook her from her intense hallucinations. "Are you alright?"

The dazed expression rescinded from her tearful, azure gaze and she breathed, "I'm fine… I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

Not buying her reply, Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his body so he could steady her and protect her. She leaned into him and allowed his scent to ease her worries. They trudged on in the narrow space while the medical personnel and the police scampered to and fro like the rats.

The end of the corridor approaching them rapidly, the luminance at the end was white and blinding; akin to the light one would see at the end of their life. Kagome wondered if the boy had the luxury of seeing something so beautiful. Did he hear the angels sing his welcome while that monster chewed on his bones? Or did they cry for he was brought to them prematurely?

"Why are her eyes empty?"

A voice touched her brain and Kagome's vision cleared. A man clothed in a dark suit and cropped white hair graced Kagome's eyes. His tall, lean figure stood regally, his gaze piercing and blazing with agitation. He was surrounded by the bleached florescent lighting as people dressed in plastic suits bombarded the hanging carcasses with pictures and others were on the ground examining the evidence. They chattered lightly; there was even playful are just like those rats, Kagome thought.

"Finally, you join us, Higurashi," Sesshoumaru's baritones once again interrupted her musings and cautious glances. With a flat voice, he said, "Obviously we have this under control without you being here. If you find it necessary to take your time to arrive at a scene, then allow us all to forgo your presence. I have no use for those who are tardy."

"Oy, you called her here! It's not her fault that this shit is so gruesome that she can barely stand it! And it's like 4 in the morning! Sorry if we're not fucking bats like you." Inuyasha defended while still clutching her. His brash mouth then said quietly, but loud enough for all three to hear, "Damn, blood sucker."

Unable to stand his half-brother's impudence, he replied coolly, "Then she has entered the wrong field of expertise. This work is not suited for the faint of heart. I have no time for this nonsense. As you can deduce, an atrocity has happened here tonight and we have been unable to apprehend the animal that did this." He turned his back towards them and proceeded to return to the other investigators.

"Wait, Sesshoumaru. An animal didn't do this. It was a monster—a human," Kagome called out softly.

Sesshoumaru's feet paused and without looking, he questioned, "And how do you know this to be the truth, Higurashi?"

Kagome bit her lip nervously, knowing fully that he would probably think she was ludicrous. She inhaled the stench they were standing in and said lowly, unsure of herself now, "I had a dream about it, Sesshoumaru. I was walking down that hallway," she pointed behind her, "and then I came into this dungeon… the exact one we are in now. I-I saw it. It was-" her voice failed her and she shielded her face with her hands. Inuyasha rested his hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze.

Intrigued by her dream, Sesshoumaru sauntered towards the duo. Unfeeling for her nightmare, he asked, "What was it doing, Higurashi?"

Muffled and through her fingers, Kagome replied, "It was eating that teenage boy. His-His organs were everywhere! It ate that child's heart and then it stood before me…the way it smiled at me…I was so scared."

Incredulously, her boss countered, "It stood before you? It was consuming the boy that was here?" he thought for a moment, and then asked another question, "Was it a male or a female?"

"You really think that this is true?" Inuyasha voiced.

Disregarding the whelp, Sesshoumaru removed Kagome's hands from her bowed face and repeated softly, but more firmly, "Was it a male or a female?"

She lifted her gaze to hold Sesshoumaru's before closing her eyes. Kagome unwillingly recalled the memories of the monster's face and thought long and hard about the sexless creature. Finally, she answered with a shake of her head, "I-I-I don't know Sesshoumaru. It was dark in here in my dream. I remember it had long hair and it was beautiful and the moon was my only source of light."

"It is most likely female then," he concluded.

"But," Kagome started, gaining more confidence, "you had long hair too. It wasn't until yesterday that you cut it off. So the sex can't be determined yet. Besides, with all the fads today with hair, many young people seem androgynous."

Sesshoumaru stared her down and caved, "You may be correct." He paused to think and said, " It is strange. If something was eating that boy, then it should have left traces of its DNA- hair, skin, nails, fingerprints, footprints. I've had six different teams come through here in the last four hours and none of them can find anything. Not even animal prints. This thing is clever and knew what it was doing."

Kagome bowed her head again in thought, the bright lights casting shadows on her face that made her expression darker than it really was. She couldn't figure out how the beast was able to escape undetected when there were puddles of blood that she knew it had stepped in. How could it not leave any trace of its existence?

"Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha's voice cut in, "I believe in Kagome, but why do you? I would think that you'd find this to be too weird."

The older man's gaze shifted and bore into his brother's disrespectful one. "It is because, little brother, Higurashi mentioned that the human ate the heart of the teenage boy. There was no heart in his chest when we found in. There was no trace of it remaining unlike the other organs which have all been accounted for."

Kagome's breath hitched as she heard Inuyasha bellow too loudly beside her, "You are fucking with me!"

"On the contrary, Inuyasha. Only the beast is 'fucking with you' and the rest of us," Sesshoumaru's monotonous voice permeated the air.

Inuyasha was about to open his mouth in an attempt to make a smart-ass remark when Kagome quickly raised her head. "When did you guys find him?"

Ripping his eyes away and resisting the urge to sock his brother in the face, Sesshoumaru answered smoothly, "A restricted number called the department head's personal cell phone with a voice disguiser and tipped us off. Raizo summoned hell upon this place and we arrived here at almost 1 AM."

Kagome's eyes hardened and Sesshoumaru continued, "Everything here was fresh when we arrived slightly past midnight. Except for the hanging carcasses, which are just animal bodies, the boy's death was new and only a couple hours old. The bodies of the animals have been here for weeks."

"There is no way to find out who owns this place?" Inuyasha asked.

Blinking, Sesshoumaru answered, "Unfortunately not. This building is more than a few decades old and even off the map. It has no address and no owner. We were only able to find this place through latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates which were given to us by the unknown person."

She wiped her hand across her forehead and sighed, "I guess I'm not needed anymore. You guys seem to have this place wrapped up. I guess I'll-I'll just go home and we can work on this tomorrow." She tugged on Inuyasha's shoulder and they began walking away from the foreboding presence of Sesshoumaru Taisho.

Before she could take another step towards the exit, Sesshoumaru called to her, "Higurashi," his raised his voice slightly and asked forcefully, "was there anything else in your dream that you neglected to inform me of?"

Both people stopped in their steps and Kagome visibly stiffened. She placed her hand over her injured neck –an act not missed by piercing gold-hazel eyes—and she said quietly, "No" then with more conviction, "No, Sesshoumaru. There is nothing you need to worry of. The rest of it was just gruesome details." She resumed her pace out of the bleached room with Inuyasha glued to her side.

That was only an equivocation. She is hiding something from me and she will reveal the entire truth. Sesshoumaru's words echoed in his brain as he stared at the opening her body had disappeared through. In an uncharacteristic movement, Sesshoumaru ran his large hand through his cropped hair before returning to the crime at hand.

Kagome's feet shuffled quickly, semi-dragging the younger Taisho behind her. Panting lightly, grotesque images of the smile dotted her vision, the monster's breath whispered over her shoulder, and the pain of the teeth sinking in was relived over and over and over again. Her voice spoke in her mind, I have to get out of here. All I see is this thing, and it won't stop finding me. I know Sesshoumaru didn't believe me…. I guess I'll have no choice but to tell him tomorrow. Kagome picked up the pace and her body was almost running, dodging the wary people with purple rings drooping under their eyes.

Faintly, in the recesses of her mind, she heard Inuyasha protesting, "Kagome! Stop running! You'll scare the shit out of these people or you're gonna trip and fall!"

But she refused to stop until she was outside. Sesshoumaru was correct. Though this was pretty much what the bullet points suggested in her job description, the agony of knowing that someone could be ripped apart and eaten in such a horrific manner was excruciating for Kagome. She could feel the deceased boy's cries in the marrow of her bones despite that fact she wasn't even there when it happened.

Finally, the crisp night air struck her lungs and she stopped running. If you hadn't been inside, no one would have guessed that a demon had just consumed the boy. Everything outside appeared peaceful-minus government personnel swarming the area like hornets. She bent over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

"Ahhh fuck it, Kagome," Inuyasha exclaimed as he pulled her hair away from her shoulder. "You made that wound start bleeding again, and look at your shirt! I don't think we can get that stain out!"

She stood up straight again and touched her fingers to the saturated bandage. Yep she was bleeding… and it was a lot. The adrenaline prevented her from feeling the pain. Noncommittally, she waved him off and smiled gently, "It's okay, Inuyasha. I can't even feel it. Let's just go home."

Kagome attempted to escape him, but he caught her slightly muscled arm and they shared a look. "Oh, no you don't. There's an ambulance over there. Let's get ya fixed up." Inuyasha began dragging his girlfriend over to the paramedics. He threw his head over to look at her again and said somewhat playfully, "Besides, I don't want you to bleed all over the bed."

She grinned at his effort to ease her tension before sitting on the back of the van. Inuyasha motioned one of them over and asked, "Hey can you stitch her up? She won't stop bleeding."

The paramedic looked at the girl and a light of familiarity came to his eyes that made Inuyasha uncomfortable. "Anything for Ms. Higurashi," he said with a wink.

Laughing lightly she said, "Inuyasha, this is Miroku. We met one time during another case. Sometimes we hang out at the hospital when I go to see some of the patients there."

The white-haired man eyes the dark-haired one warily before shrugging. "Well, I guess I can let you two just catch up. I'm going over there to talk to some of the guys. I'll be back by the time you are done."

Watching him as his figure disappeared in the scurrying of bodies, she looked at her friend as he pulled out a numbing liquid in a syringe and the needle and thread. Kagome met his gaze apprehensively as his nimble fingers removed the makeshift bandage, unearthing a large cut surrounded by teeth marks. He bit his tongue at the sight before injecting her uncovered wound. Promptly, Miroku picked up the needle and set to work.

"How's Sango? I haven't heard from her in a while," the dainty woman questioned in an effort to take her mind off the tooth that was driving into her skin.

"She is doing well, Kagome. She has been very busy with her nursing internship as well as her work." Miroku's expression changed quickly and as he posed, "Kagome, what happened in there? Many of us don't know because they cleaned the worst of it up before the majority of the forces got here."

With a sharp intake of air at the sudden question, Kagome continued to stare at the bustling bodies as she answered, "There was a murder. Somebody kidnapped a teenage boy and brought him here… It- It was a cannibal and ate the boy raw."

Finished with his work, Miroku held his silence as he cut the thread and used medical tape to hold the gauze in place. After endless moments, he brought himself to say, "Dear, Kami. That's terrible! You didn't see the body, did you?"

"….No."

Miroku looked at her thoughtfully and voiced, "Well it would be better that way." Sensing the need to change the subject he asked another question, "So, how did you come by this?" He nodded his head towards her newly patched up wound, but he was unaware that he didn't change the subject in the slightest.

Pursing her lips, she turned to him and lied, "Some animal bit me… but don't worry, I don't have rabies or anything." Laughter could be heard, but it didn't reach Kagome's eyes.

The paramedic placed a comforting hand on her thigh and was about to reply. However, it wouldn't be so for Inuyasha approached the two and cleared his throat quite gruffly. Miroku withdrew his offending hand and instead looked towards the boyfriend of the investigator, "She's all stitched up. It might hurt, so let her take some ibuprofen or put ice on it."

An agitated gaze pierced the medic's purple one as he clicked his tongue. Inuyasha replied, "Will do…"

"Miroku."

"Yeah. Okay. Will do, Miroku." Inuyasha grabbed the young woman's arm and Kagome slightly turned and mouthed, "Sorry!"

Miroku only snickered at Inuyasha's over-protective attitude. He would never feel for her or touch her in that way anyway. When someone has a bedmate at home like Sango, who would need another? Miroku simply shrugged his shoulders and went back to work.

After leaving the sight of the male in question, Inuyasha loosened his grip as Kagome caught up to walk by his side. His eyes, hazel and gold like his brother's, constantly scanned the vicinity as he brought Kagome to the car. He fished around in his pockets for the keys that would bring the car to life, but had no luck.

"Do you have the keys?"

Kagome looked on her person quickly and found no evidence of them on her person. "No, look a little harder. I doubt you lost them." She leaned against the car patiently as she allowed herself to peer into the woods ahead of her. Out of the corner of her eyes another pair stared back and its hungry gaze devoured her.

Then, it smiled at her.

Fear gripping her, she blinked once-twice-three times and the creature in the woods was no more.

The unlocking of the car startling her, Kagome fumbled to get inside and pull on her seatbelt. She tried to convince herself that she had seen nothing. Her nerves were frayed and her normally strong resolve was rattled and shaken roughly. Invoking her lessons in yoga, she attempted to even out her breathing. Inuyasha started the car and proceeded to drive away from the scene.

Minutes into the drive, he grabbed her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. Quietly, he said, "Why did you lie to Sesshoumaru? And though you think I wasn't really there when you were talking to that lecher, why did you lie to him too?"

Kagome stuttered, "I-I honestly don't know. I doubt they would have believed me anyway. They would think I am crazy and then send me to the psychiatric ward." She gave him a half-hearted smile.

Inuyasha scoffed, "Doubt it. You're one of the most valuable workers in the whole department. Even my shit-faced brother wouldn't send you away so easily."

"Maybe." And the silence fell over them again as the passing streetlights caused their faces to fluctuate from light to dark again.

Pulling into the garage and then momentarily ending the life of the mechanical beast, Inuyasha and Kagome sat in the car hands still embracing each other. He leaned over and kissed her cheek before saying, "We should get inside. You have your work cut out for ya tomorrow."

Kagome nodded before brilliantly smiling at him, "Thank you for everything."

Stepping out of the car, she heard something drop to the floor. She scanned the concrete and then picked up a piece of paper. Eyes widening so much that they might fall from her sockets, she turned over the paper and whimpered. Her shaking hands let the leaf float to the floor as she backed into the darkest corner of the wall.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried as he rushed over to her now fetal form. "What's wrong?! What happened?!"

Eyes still wide, she only pointed at the object on the floor. Inuyasha reluctantly left her side before gasping.

There, in his tanned hands, was a picture. The picture was of a human with long hair and cold eyes grinning with malice. Beneath the inhuman human were the boy's remains sticking to the body bag as his life's essence squirted from severed arteries and veins. Though it was partially unzipped, one could see the face of the boy—ripped and shredded and missing his eyes. Inuyasha then turned the picture over and saw what made his Kagome shrink back in terror. Only two words scrawled in cursive decorated the other side. Only two words written in blood made him want to gag:

"Look inside."