Dizzy Defense for an Underdog
Chapter 3: Ain't Misbehavin'
"Miss Kagome! Miss Kagome!"
The pounding of loafers down the short hallway preceded the office assistant's entry like fanfare, the papers in his hand a waving banner as he burst through the door of Kagome's office. "Miss Kagome! Guess what!"
Giving the eager young man an indulgent smile, Kagome responded with an interested "I give up. What is it?"
"We've got a meeting set up to discuss a retrial!" Hojo pointed to the creased letter at the top of the stack, saying exuberantly "And there's authorization for the investigation too!"
Kagome felt excitement welling up inside her too at the news, and jumped from her chair to see the papers for herself. "This is wonderful!" She gave her assistant's hand an appreciative squeeze as she took the papers from him, completely missing the plume of red which overtook his face. "And just in time for me to tell Inuyasha today!"
Hojo fidgeted slightly, twiddling his now empty fingers as he said hesitantly "About that… Miss Kagome, don't you think it would be better if I went for you? I know you want to do the interviews yourself, but… don't you think it'd be… safer?"
Looking up from her eager reading with surprise, Kagome stated "It's not like I'm actually around the prisoners. They're very careful to keep everyone separated. Besides," she smiled, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a stack of ofuda, "I'm armed!"
Her assistant gave a hesitant laugh, but the worry didn't leave his eyes. "I- I know… but that's not really… what I meant." He shuffled from one foot to the other, glancing away from her gaze and back as he tried to force himself to meet her eyes. "It's just that… you know…."
Honest confusion took over the young lawyer as she watched him squirm. "Know what?"
"They say… the papers all said… apparently he, uh… seduced that woman… before he killed her."
Kagome's jaw dropped of its own accord, trying to reconcile her kind, blushing assistant and the load of rubbish he'd just spouted. "First of all" Kagome said evenly, masking the anger which wasn't really directed at him, "he didn't kill anyone, remember? He was framed. That's the whole point of organizing this retrial!" She turned away from him to place the documents on her desk, and finished sternly "and he didn't seduce her."
Hojo nodded; he trusted his boss, but he didn't know the same information she did. "You two talked about it?"
She nodded briefly, not quite willing to share her client's personal business, even with her assistant. An amused smile pulled at her lip though, and she said teasingly "Besides, you haven't met him; I can't even picture that jerk flirting let alone seducing someone!"
Looking only slightly more relieved, Hojo said softly "Well, if you say so. But still… be careful, okay? They say demons have some kind of pull over humans. They're good at putting us off-guard."
"He's only half demon, Hojo" she said with irritation, not missing the use of 'them' and 'us' but choosing not to comment. At least Hojo was willing to work with demons, even if he still put up mental walls.
"Sorry boss" Hojo responded sheepishly, nodding and excusing himself from the office.
Kagome waved him off and sat back down with a sigh, grabbing the stack of letters and pouring over them to try and distract her wandering mind. It was a vain effort though. Hojo being worried about her was nothing new: he was a genuinely kind young man, and she suspected he held her in especially high regard. Still… for him to be worried about Inuyasha… seducing her… it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard! With a huff she set down the letters and caught the corner of a familiar manila folder in her peripheral. Her hand reached for the file before she could stop herself, opening the folder to see the snarling mugshot of her convict-client. She glared back at the black and white photograph, as if to tell the half-demon 'I'm not afraid of you'.
Her daring began to falter though as she looked more closely at the photo, seeing things she hadn't before; the angry pinch of his brows and narrow glare hid a deeper agony than he wanted to let on, the sharp glint of the fang beneath his snarling lip threatening harm he knew he couldn't deliver. His white hair was grayed in the photo, scraggly and unkempt, testifying that he had no one to take care of him, and didn't bother to take care of himself. His dog ears stood alert atop his head, boldly declaring what he was… and boldly undermining the threat he was trying to convey. She couldn't help but smile; how could anyone with ears so cute really be so bad?
Eyes falling back to the ones in the photo, Kagome had to admit… his ears weren't the only thing cute about him. Well… perhaps cute wasn't quite the word. Those yellow eyes held startling intensity in person, and even in the photo she could see their inhuman shine. His sharp jaw and strong chin would have been attractive on any face, and in her opinion, his fanged expression only added to the effect. The white of his hair framed his tan skin perfectly, drawing even more attention to his dark lashes and brows. He was so different, but in an undeniably intriguing way.
Just as Kagome felt herself sigh, leaning her cheek on her hand as she looked at him, something in her head snapped back to reality. Wha-what was she doing?! Shaking her head in panic, she shoved the files across the desk, as far away from her as they could be, and slapped a hand to her blushing cheek to try and rub away the red. She only made it worse.
'Maybe Hojo was right' she thought anxiously, 'maybe demons really do have influence on humans'. That thought lasted a mere second before she threw it out with a grimace; the only things influencing her right now were reactive hormones at the sight of a handsome man. 'Honestly!' she thought in exasperation, 'I'm not a teenager anymore!' Still….
She glanced across the desk at the still open file, focusing once more on his mugshot, and bit her lip to suppress a giddy smile.
"Y-you're serious? On the level?"
Kagome smiled a brilliant smile which not even the glass between them could dampen. "On the level. I'll be meeting with the city judicial council this week!"
Inuyasha was a little more subdued as he said suspiciously "But they could still say 'no', right? It ain't a done deal."
"Well, no, there's a chance they could reject our appeal…" her smile faltered, but with forceful persistence she put it back and said strongly "even if they do, we'd just take it to a higher court."
The prisoner scoffed, his hands linking up behind his head as he reclined in his chair and said flippantly "Good luck with that. The mooks only get worse the higher up ya go."
"Huff all you want, but I think we've got a good shot at this!" Kagome met his side-eye glance with a determined frown, and added eagerly "Even if you're not holding out hope, I am. I've got enough hope in me for both of us."
He smirked a little at that, and she thought she heard a muttered "That's true" as he sat up straighter and looked across the partitioned table at her.
"So, what's on the menu today?"
"Well," she started, hiding a smile at his slangy saying, "I suppose we pick up where we left off last time." Slipping out a small notebook, she flipped through the first couple pages before setting her pen to the paper. Glancing down at her previous notes, she sat up straighter and said in a business-like manner "We discussed your first meeting with the victim, Nurse Kikyo, as well as several of your subsequent visits. How many times did you meet with Kikyo before –"
"Not much written in there."
Kagome froze at the blatant interruption, staring blankly at the convict whose gaze had redirected away from her own. She followed his line of vision to her notebook, slightly weathered and worn but obviously empty. "Wh…what has that got to do with…."
"You never take notes on other chums, or what? Just keep a backlot o' beat up old journals?" His eyes rose to meet hers, and she fumed at the teasing glint in them. The jerk was trying to goad her into an argument! Of all the nerve! What was his problem? She just asked-
The answer hit her like a slap to the face. Of course, he was avoiding the question! But… why? Did he just not want to discuss Kikyo, like last time? Would his answer be incriminating? Or… was he simply embarrassed for her to find out? 'Honestly,' Kagome thought sourly, 'is he 28 or 12? If he can't be mature about this, he'll never get out of here!' Grabbing her pen in both hands and twisting the cap to relieve some growing irritation, Kagome said evenly "This notebook was a gift from my grandfather – for taking over the business. I… haven't had much chance to use it." Kagome looked expectantly back at the half-demon, hoping he'd catch her unspoken deal. She'd answer his question, and in return, he'd answer hers.
It was apparent he'd missed the point entirely however, as he asked abruptly "So why ain't ya used it?"
She nearly snapped her pen in half and hurriedly put it aside; she really didn't want to deal with ink spills on top of aggravating clients. Since when was she the one on trial? "Inuyasha, are we really going to go through this again?" She set him with her sternest glare, but he only raised an amused eyebrow in response.
"What, business slow or somethin'? Or are you just that bad of a lawyer that you have nothin' to write about?"
Kagome's temper snapped as she'd almost done to her pen, anger seeping into her mind faster than the ink she'd managed to salvage. She could feel her face flush and her pulse pick up as she fought to regain control, but when his lip curled up into a smirk, she couldn't hold back any longer. "It's a wonder they accused you of murder" she snapped, her black curls spilling over her shoulders as her hands fisted at her sides, "when it's obvious that your real crime is being an insufferable jerk! The gods help us if you actually open your mouth in front of the judge, because one crack like that and you'll be on the next boat to Siberia!"
Instead of the apology she was hoping for, Inuyasha reacted with a scoff, turning burning eyes on her as he said in a low voice "Oh you think you got me all pegged down, don't ya doll? You see me a few days in a week's time and assume you got all the cards. Well let me tell you somethin' Powder-Puff, you better think again." His posture straightened as he squared his shoulders, reminding Kagome fleetingly how much taller he was than her. Even looking down at her, she could see the straining chords of his neck as he tilted his head slightly, sizing her up like prey. "I ain't no puppy on a leash. You think just 'cause I was framed, I ain't done nothin' wrong. But you forget: I've been in the slammer for ten years now. I've learned a thing or two that would make your pretty ears bleed." His head tilted toward her, his piercing yellow eyes boring holes into hers from beneath a canopy of choppy off-white bangs. Lips pulling up into a sneer, a fang poking over the edge, he said in a deep, husky voice "You don't wanna know what I'm capable of."
Several beats of silence followed that proclamation. A victorious smirk sat on his face for a minute or so, but then it morphed in confusion, then slight surprise, and the lengthening silence was broken by a very irritated "What's your problem?!"
Kagome was sure he could feel the heat from her face through the glass, but she couldn't help it! She knew what he was doing; knew he was trying to intimidate her and scare her away from asking more questions. But despite her head being perfectly clear on that matter, her heart wouldn't stop pounding over those hooded golden eyes and the timbre of his voice. The way his hair brushed along his jaw and how his broad shoulders flexed as he tried to seem so big and imposing…. All he had been doing was acting like a cornered animal, lashing out with a showy display of aggression, and yet he had her in more of a tizzy than any film-star who ever graced a double-feature. Hojo's warning's from earlier in the day rang through her head as she thought back on how alluring he'd looked. 'He seduced her….' Kagome knew in her heart of hearts that the man before her had never intended something so underhanded toward the nurse, but… it wasn't so hard to imagine how the rumor might have come about. At his perturbed outburst she knew she had to say something, just as she knew her smart reply of "W-what?" was not going to cut the mustard this time.
Inuyasha surprised her though by shutting his mouth. He was looking at her closely, suspiciously, and she felt incredibly unsettled under the scrutiny of those yellow eyes. Silence filled the room once again, but this time Kagome found she had nothing to focus on. As her heart settled back to its normal pace, she noticed the ticking in the room that seemed to accompany the steady beat, and she almost jumped as reality struck back and she remembered why she was even there.
"You still haven't answered my question!"
As Inuyasha slumped forward with a groan, dropping his face into clawed hands and gripping handfuls of white, Kagome was hard-pressed not to do the same as she settled in for another session of teeth-pulling.
Still in a daze as the guard locked him back in his cell, Inuyasha stood in the empty space by the door for a minute or so after the guard left, lost in a sea of very confused thought. What the hell had happened in there? One minute she'd been yelling at him, accusing him of being a jerk, and right when he thinks he's got her on the ropes… she sends out a whole slough of conflicting signals that make his head spin like a top. Her heart rate picked up – not surprising, since he'd been trying to scare her – and there'd been an increased scent of perspiration, which also should have been normal, but… that wasn't fear he smelled back there. He didn't really know what it was, but the heavy blush on her face and her lack of response afterwards made it clear that his intimidation attempt had failed. If only he knew what he'd done… maybe he could use it again. It got her to shut up, that was for sure, and… if he was being perfectly honest with himself (which he didn't like being if he could help it), she had looked kind of… cute like that. 'There she goes bein' a Kitten again' he thought with a smirk, finding that the more he thought on it, the more fitting the name became. Not that he'd ever share that particular moniker with the attorney, but the thought of it was amusing.
Settling onto his cot with an exhausted sigh, Inuyasha thought back briefly to their meeting. He'd been so flustered by her strange reaction that he'd hardly put up a fight when she'd asked him about Kikyo again. He'd gone so far as to tell Kagome how Kikyo had been his first friend, and he'd been hers. He shared what he remembered of Kikyo's own history, how her inheritance had been a wall between her and others, always tainting her relationships with greed. She was never really close to anyone; they only sought her companionship to get them closer to the priceless jewel she wore around her neck. When he'd first met her… he hadn't known about it. When she'd finally told him about her great-great-great Grandmother's heirloom, it had been months into their acquaintance. He wondered sometimes how much of the wait had been her trying to prove his friendship, and how much had simply been distrust; most of the time he tried not to think about it at all.
Kagome had been kind and professional through the remainder of their visit. Her strange slip seemed to have been a fluke, and Inuyasha was grateful for it, because with all the uncomfortably sensitive information he shared, the last thing he wanted was for his emotional attorney to do something… emotional. Kikyo had always bridled her emotions, and Inuyasha was unprepared to deal with a female of such opposite nature. Unpredictable was an understatement with her.
They still hadn't reached the point of discussing the other woman's death, and Inuyasha wondered how he'd be able to get around it. He knew it was important information… hell, it would be the lynch-pin of their entire case if he shared his real alibi. But that was just something he could never do. He'd been so painstakingly careful all his life that no one knew, and the thought of someone finally learning of it, after all this time…. He wondered briefly if his silence was worth a life-sentence, but he knew that the freedom gained by breaking his silence would only lead to death. There was no helping it, he'd just have to keep stalling her until she either gave up and left, or….
Glancing down at his pillow, Inuyasha reached out a tentative hand towards it, hesitating before slipping beneath the old cotton cover and pulling out a white handkerchief. Bringing it to his nose for a quick sniff and catching the faint yet lingering traces of her scent, Inuyasha pulled back slightly to trace the embroidered forms of her initials with his eyes. He didn't really want her to go. She was amusing, and someone new to talk with, and she treated him like a somebody instead of two useless halves. Plus, she smelled amazing, and in this pit of sweat and blood that was the prison, he wasn't about to take something like that for granted.
So, he couldn't let her leave, but he couldn't exactly help her unravel all his secrets either. There had to be some way to distract her… to throw her off the scent. His thoughts turned suddenly to one of their recent topics of conversation, and an almost startling realization came over him. In all their meetings, she'd never once asked him if he knew where the jewel was. She'd asked if he had known about it, asked when Kikyo first showed it to him, but she never asked about what had happened to it afterwards. Any lawyer and detective who'd ever bothered to search him out had only wanted to know the jewel's location. They grilled him for any clues about it, and over time he'd come to sympathize with Kikyo's plight. No wonder she'd felt so lonely, when all anyone could see of her was the stone in her possession. Perhaps Kagome was waiting to ask him about. Maybe she just didn't want to come off like the money-grubbing charlatans who'd come before her. But then… any time he or she had mentioned the Shikon jewel heirloom, she'd never shown even the tiniest hint of interest. He shook the thought away; he hadn't known her long, but Inuyasha was sure she couldn't be that good at hiding something. She certainly hadn't done well hiding her reactions to him earlier. So what else could it be? If she didn't think he'd hid it, and she wasn't interested in finding it, then that must mean…. Inuyasha froze as he realized 'She must already have it.'
*Author's Note:
Yeah wow another chapter! Not sure how it happened, but I've got like 5+ aus that I'm working on now, and so all of them are taking forever to update because I've just started so many projects… but I haven't forgotten about them, and I still love them, so please don't think I'm going to abandon this or any of my other au stories. They're all near and dear to me, and a lot of fun to write (when I actually have inspiration) so please hang in there with me! I'm doing my best! (And I'm not getting paid – just remember that :P)
Thank you so much for the continued support and the reviews and follows and faves and everything! It makes my day and gives me motivation to keep this up!