A/N: Okay, so I took a few days – er - MONTHS off before I started this chapter. I was avoiding it for a couple reasons: 1. I'm sick of writing when I finish a chapter, 2. I didn't foresee this chapter when I plotted the story out, so this is actually a filler of sorts, and 3. I'm just a procrastinator all around.

But I decided to finish it all up last night, and get it out to you all today. Feel thankful, I only had two hours of sleep last night thanks to that! But it's okay, because I love all my reviewers. ::loves::

It was taking up a LOT of space to reply to each of you on here, so I'll just be replying via FF.N messaging. …But you have to REVIEW, people! Remember that it keeps me going, and I want to know what you like/dislike about my fic. Also, constructive criticism is more than welcome, it's appreciated. .

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to JupiterRain44, who left a lovely review and shares my hatred for Mary-Sue Kagome and my love for Sango-Miroku fluff. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Special Thanks goes out to: Purpletutugirl, who pointed out a few grammar errors in chapter five. I'll get on them right away. .

-SugarRos.

.o0o0o0o0o.

Chapter Six: Reckless Circumvention

.o0o0o0o0o.

Akane walked slowly down the sidewalk in the early hours of the morning. The sun had just risen on another pure-blue day; the sort of day that most people went out and enjoyed to the fullest.

But then again, most people weren't coming down off uppers.

Ugh. This was the bad thing about cocaine: it never lasted very long, and the comedown wasn't pleasant. She could suck it up her nose like candy, and only a couple hours later she'd be broke, out of the powder, and pissed at the world as a whole.

It was true what they said about addicts. About how the drug absolutely ruined lives. How it ran other people off. Akane now snorted the drug because she felt guilty over Kagome's disappearance, and all the same, she felt guilty because she snorted the drug. It was killing Akane, much like the coke itself was, that Kagome had never come back.

What the hell had happened to her? Akane had been coked out of her mind when Kagome had walked in on her little party and saw that Akane was still using, and it was slightly fuzzy how she had reacted.

Obviously, she left. And Akane felt bad, she really did. But Kagome didn't understand the pain of not being on the drug. She didn't understand the want. The need. The pure, driven force that controlled her entire body.

'Coke.' It would whisper in her ear. 'Coooke.' It persisted until she couldn't hear any other thought. Until she couldn't hear any outside voice. Until all she could see was the fine, white, crystallized powder floating around in her mind, forcing her to finally give in and fork up the money to get a fix.

She berated herself silently about her choice of drug addiction as she turned the corner onto another deserted street. Why the hell couldn't she have latched onto something that lasted longer? Like speed? Then she wouldn't be going through withdrawals so often or spending her money on so much of it.

As soon as the thought was realized, she shook her head and sighed. She was lying to herself still, it seemed. She'd buy just as much speed if she were hooked on it than coke. She'd buy it by the boatloads. Speed-heads weren't any different than coke-addicts, except speed could have anything in it, and you'd just never know. No, the truth was Akane was simply hooked. The powder had her by the throat, and wasn't about to let her go free any time soon. Or at all.

Her anger slowly faded as exhaustion took its course, and the depression Akane felt as she struggled to make it back to her apartment was overwhelming. Negative thoughts plagued at her mind, digging into her soul so that nothing, absolutely nothing was going to break her away from the life she had chosen for herself.

Nothing, that is, except for the small, beaten child laying in the middle of the vacant lot to her left.

'What the…?'

She would have missed the child completely if she hadn't heard his small, quiet whimper of pain. As it was, she had to pause in her step before she could make out the pale, ragged form of a small brown-haired boy lying on the dirt, his chest heaving up and down quite noticeably. After realizing that he seemed to be in a lot of pain, Akane started towards him slowly, cautiously, not really afraid, but not wanting to startle the small thing, and not really wanting to be startled herself.

She was, after all, coming down off uppers, and she couldn't be too sure how she'd react to whatever the boy would do or say.

She breathed a sigh of relief, however, when she saw that his eyes were indeed opened, albeit looking around in a frantic, panicked sort of way.

"Hello?" She called out tentatively, still a few feet away from his limp form.

The boy jerked his body as if he'd been shot with a bolt of electricity, and his eyes focused in on hers. "…Who's there?" He called, his voice high-pitched and panicky.

"Are you in pain?" She asked, wondering how he had come to be in such a bad way in the middle of an abandoned lot.

"I… I don't…" He managed to mumble out, looking slightly confused.

Curiosity got the better of her, and Akane closed in the last few feet and bent over him, getting a closer look. He seemed to be out of it, but heck, so was she, and she wasn't up to deal with anyone's shit at the moment. "Common, kid. Get on your feet." She scooped him under his arms and lifted with all her might, but dropped him like a sack of potatoes when he let out an anguished scream. "What?" She cried, her heart beating out of her chest. "What is it?"

"I-" He gasped out, sweat gathering at his brow. "I think I might have broken my leg… and my arm, too." He uttered in absolute pain.

"Oh." Of course it was going to be complicated. What was with her and running into people in need of dire and desperate help? She sighed and bent down over his body again. "Okay, I'm going to check and see if it's broken." And with a few swift, calm, calculated movements, and a few whimpers from the small boy, she gave him a grim half-smile. "Well, don't worry too much, kid. You twisted your knee something fierce, it's probably a bad sprain there," she chewed on the inside of her cheek before continuing. "your arm is harder to tell. More than a sprain, but not broken. Most likely a fracture."

"How- how can you tell?" He asked, worry and pain evident on his childish face, along with a hint of disbelief.

Akane couldn't help the small smile that crept up onto her face. The kid reminded her of Kagome in some ways. In fact, he was about her age when she had first stumbled across Kagome. They sort of had the same eyes. "A while ago I lived with quite a few people who always ended up with injuries. I had to be able to heal them up quick." She had to force back all the painful memories that came with the pleasant ones. Ryoga who'd always seemed to show up randomly with strange injuries, her Father and Mr. Saoutome who always ended up getting a good beating from their master, and her fiancé, Ranma, who had – although usually chided her with mean remarks – always stepped in harms' way when she was being threatened, and always became injured because of it.

She shook her head to rid her of her thoughts as the small boy replied.

"Oh." He simply mumbled. He was sitting now, at least, but he was still in agony, she could tell.

"Where do you live, kid?" She asked, sitting back on her heels and folding her arms around herself. The panic of seeing what she had thought to be a dead body had lifted all thoughts of candy powder, but now that he was alive and mostly well, her body began to ache for the substance once more.

He flinched at the question, but answered after a lengthy hesitation. "I… I don't live anywhere, I guess. I just ran away." A sudden fearful look overcame him, and he glanced around. "…Wait a second… Where am I?"

Akane raised her eyebrow in suspicion. "Don't tell me you've lost your memories as well." She couldn't help but notice the skeptical tone her voice took.

The boy shuddered into himself and shook his head. "No… I mean, I remember what happened right before I… But if that's so, how did I get here….?" He looked up into the early morning sky as if it held all the answers to his questions.

Akane sighed and stood up, shaking her head. "Well, okay, I'm not a completely horrible person to make you stay out on the streets. They can be extremely cruel to the young." She bit her lip as he turned his head to look up at her and they made eye contact.

Why did he remind her so much of Kagome?

"What do you mean?" He asked innocently.

"Come on, I'll help you up." She bent slightly at the waist and held out her hand for him to grasp. "You can come stay with me until you can reach someone else to help you out."

The shocked look on his face was priceless and familiar, and it made Akane's heart ache, wondering where Kagome could be at this very moment.

"You'll let me stay with you?" He couldn't believe his ears.

She nodded, and took his hand into her own, throwing his arm over her shoulder and helping him up, this time with much more cautious care. The boy let her lead him to her apartment, which took much more time than it would have if A) the boy's leg and arm hadn't been injured, and B) he hadn't passed out in pain right in the middle of the trip.

Sighing in annoyance, Akane shifted so as to get a better hold of him and dragged him the rest of the way.

Getting up the stairs was a bitch. Beneath

.o0o0o0o0o.

A week later, Souta woke up.

His first conscious thought was that he was warm. Warmer than he'd ever remembered being while in the orphanage. Warm like the few years he'd spent with his parents before he and his sister were sent to such a terrifying place.

So why was he feeling that warmth now?

Slowly, his eyes blinked open. Once. Twice. Three times before he adjusted to the glow of the afternoon sun shining in through a window to his left. The ceiling above his head was cracked and bore watermarks, signs of flooding. Slowly he sat up to see the bed he was currently laying on was topped with a large amount of torn, dirty, yet extremely warm blankets, and the walls of the small apartment were cracked and had a number of holes gouged into them.

Shaking, he pulled back one of the blankets, wincing in agony as his leg and arm, both tightly bound, shot pain through his body. He cried out, dropping the blanket as he clenched his teeth to stop the flow of tears that had suddenly sprung into his eyes.

What had happened to him? He couldn't… quite… remember…

Slowly, he tried to move his feet, but that, too, shot excruciating pain up his left side, and he grit his teeth again, stifling a groan. "Damn…" He breathed, hissing the words out through his teeth.

"You cuss?"

Souta jumped a mile into the air, which he immediately regretted due to even more pain rocketing through him, and he let out another string of curses in his agony. He'd thought he'd been alone.

The voice snickered. "Apparently so."

Finally able to breathe normally again, Souta turned his head to see a girl, no, a woman, sitting across the room, a yellow mug in one hand and a newspaper in the other. She looked grimy and thin, and her eyes bore dark circles, which stood out next to her pale skin. Her short, black-blue hair was greasy and slightly tangled.

"Ah…" Souta spoke, not entirely comfortable to be so unaware of his surroundings and company. "Who are you?"

The woman raised her brow and placed down her magazine as she looked straight at him. "You don't remember me?"

He shook his head, eyes wide. "Should I?"

"You should." She muttered, picking her magazine back up and taking a sip of whatever was in the steaming mug she was clutching.

Souta bit his lip, trying desperately to remember. The orphanage, the Headmistress, the fall… the pain. And then a girl with dark hair and sunken eyes trying to pull him up. Gods, how that had hurt.

He frowned. "You helped me?"

"I did." She didn't look away from her magazine.

He shook his head, trying to sort out his thoughts. They were all hazy, like dreams, and he realized he felt sluggish, as if he'd been asleep for a very long time. "How long have I been out?"

"Hmmm…" She said, eyes still locked on the article in front of her. "I'd say for about the better part of the week."

"A week?" His voice took on a strange, high pitch and he felt himself go white. "I've been out for a week?"

The woman nodded, taking another sip before allowing her eyes to drift back over to him. She took in his appearance, sighed, placed down her magazine again and stood to walk the short distance to his side. "Alright." She muttered, sitting down on the bed next to him. "Let's check your wounds."

Souta shrunk back as she invaded his private space, expecting icy cold hands to clamp hard onto his body and force him to bend over. Instead, she merely held out her hands and calmly waited for him to touch her.

For a second, Souta was unsure what to make of it. Could he trust her to touch him? To help him? He took another look at his surroundings, sucked in a deep breath, and figured he was trapped. He couldn't move with his leg, he didn't know where he was or what was on the other side of the apartment door, and… well… he felt as if he could trust this woman. She had, after all, taken him in out of the cold and bandaged him up. He just hoped she hadn't seen the bruises and welts that covered his lower stomach and chest.

Slowly, he placed his hands into hers.

She acted as if he hadn't shown he'd been conflicting with himself at all. "So, Kid. What's your story?" She pulled at his arm lightly, and started to unwrap the bandage.

"My story?" He asked, eyes intent on her actions, curious as to how she touched him. Gently, controlled, avoiding the places people normally touched him. It felt strange. He didn't know how to react.

The corners of her mouth tilted up. "Where're you from? What happened to you? Why did I find you in an abandoned lot all beaten up?" She finished unwrapping the bandage and paused to raise her eyebrow at him again. "You had to have known I'd be curious." She added, a light tone in her voice that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Souta shivered, not wanting to remember the cold woman that still haunted his conscious. "I was… running away." He mumbled, tilting his head down.

"From home?" She bent his arm slightly at the elbow.

He winced. "No, I don't have a home."

"Where were you running from then?" She asked, re-wrapping the bandage and patting it as a finishing touch.

Souta froze, warning signs going off in his head. He just met this woman. He didn't know her. She could easily turn him in. End his life. Kill him. She could be anyone, he just didn't know.

He also didn't like the fact of anyone knowing what he'd had to deal with. What they'd all done to him. The dull ache of the pain they inflicted on his body was still fresh. It still throbbed. He still felt disgusted and dirty.

"Not going to tell me, huh?" She wasn't looking at his face, she simply moved down to inspect his knee.

"Sorry," he mumbled, embarrassed, "I just-"

She held up her hand to interrupt. "It's fine, we all have our little secrets." Then she gave him a wink and put his leg down. "So if you're not going to tell me where you were running from, will you tell me why?"

He paused, his mouth hanging open for a few seconds as he thought out how to answer this question also. There was no way in hell he was letting her know what they had done to him there, what they had forced him to do. He didn't want her to know that, to think him disgusting or dirty, like the other kids had. He realized it felt so good for someone to not look at him with eyes of either lust or extreme pity. Finally, he landed on an answer that was not the whole truth, but enough of it.

"I'm trying to find my sister."

"Your sister?" Both her brows rose this time, in curiosity.

He nodded. "Yeah, she ran from the- ..er... she ran away as well a few years ago, but I haven't heard from her since." He blushed at his mistake. Being from an orphanage was shameful. He didn't want her to know. "It's really important that I find her."

"Why?" She tilted her head to the side.

Souta sighed, shaking his head. "She made a promise to me and broke it. I need to find her and make her keep it." His hands clutched into the blankets in his lap, and he winced, feeling the shooting pain in his arm again.

The woman stood and walked across the room, leaning against the wall, her arms crossing in front of her. He eyes seemed to grow darker. "Who's to say she's not dead?"

He paused, pursing his lips, thinking it over. "….She's not," he finally replied, and knew that it was true, "I just know."

It was her turn to pause, a frown playing on her pale lips. "…Well, it must be true then. Where do you plan on going?"

Souta didn't answer. Where was he going to go? It's not like he had any money or any working experience, and he was injured now, too. Mentally cursing himself for being so foolish in his escape of the orphanage, he slowly shook his head.

"Don't have a place to go, huh?" She confirmed, a strange tone in her voice. "I thought as much." She paused for a few seconds, and Souta was sure that she would give him no more than a week to heal up and head out.

"Would you like to stay here?"

What was that? "I'm sorry?"

"Would you like to stay here?" Her face was pulled into an expression of amusement.

"Here?" He confirmed, making sure he'd heard her right.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, pushing away from the wall with her foot. "Well, it's not the Hilton, but it's a roof. And besides, I've been rather lonely since my… roommate left." She finished with a frown.

Souta cocked his head to the side, noticing the tone of disappointment in her voice. "Why did she leave?" He asked, genuinely curious. "I mean, you seem like a nice enough person."

Her eyes narrowed and she lifted her hand up to her lips, thoughtfully. "Mmm, I guess you could saw we were headed towards different things, and she didn't like the way I lived. " Then she rolled her eyes again, shaking her head. "Not that I can blame her, I don't like the way I live." She let out a sarcastic bark of laughter.

"So she just left?"

"I think so. She got angry and stomped out, but she never came back. I haven't heard from her since." She shrugged.

"Aren't you worried?" His hands twisted in the blankets.

She waved her hand in front of her face. "Nah, I've got stuff to take my mind off of it. So I'll tell you what. You can stay here, and you can rest up and start looking for your sister once you feel up to it." Her lips curled up. "All you have to do is keep out of my stuff, got it?"

He nodded. "Got it."

"Good. You'll like it here, kid." She stood and headed for the kitchen, turning on the faucet and started scrubbing at a dirty pan.

"Souta." He had to control his voice so it wouldn't crack with emotion. How could he possibly have come across such good luck?

"I'm sorry?" She asked, half-listening from the kitchen.

"Souta. My name is Souta."

Slowly, she put the pot down, turned to face him, and smiled. "Akane."

She wasn't his sister, but Souta suddenly felt at home.

.o0o0o0o0o.

Kikyou had fucked Kouga's brains out.

Gods, the woman was crazy, but the sex was amazing. Incredible. He knew why Inuyasha had gotten so hooked. So obsessed. So… trapped.

Luckily, Kouga had gotten smart when it came to Kikyou, and never became drunk before they did the deed, and he always made damn sure he had a condom that he'd bought himself on-hand. Not trusting her would save his reputation and job in the end. Being blackmailed once by the psycho was enough.

Kikyou lay on his desk, biting at her thumbnail and staring at the ceiling fan, that thoughtful, slightly angry look in her eyes that let Kouga know she was plotting.

"Adoption…" She muttered out, her voice deep with anger. "I can't believe that seventeen-year-old little… twit has gotten it into Inuyasha's head to adopt! It's infuriating!"

"Mmm," Kouga agreed, sitting in his chair, fully dressed and now impatient for her to leave. She made him uneasy when she wasn't riding him like the sex goddess she was. "I think he's planning on handing the kid over to her when they break the marriage off."

Kikyou let out a small, wicked little laugh at his words. "Kouga, I can't believe this information. The marriage being a sham is absolutely perfect. If I wait for the right moment, the right time to break such news to Senator Kobun and his wife…" She let the threat hang in the air.

"You promised you'd leave my part in all this out of it, right Kikyou?" He asked, the annoyance evident in his voice. He didn't trust her one damn bit.

She harrumphed and stood from his desk, still completely naked and still utterly sexy. Kouga felt his manhood twitch. He covered it up by leaning into the desk. He didn't want her staying for a second round, he had work to do.

"Don't worry," she muttered, picking up her dress and stepping gracefully into it, "they'll never know about our… deal." The last word was an obvious double meaning. 'Don't forget I've still got you good.' The word said. 'Rape is an awfully hard charge to disprove.'

He couldn't help the threatening growl that escaped his throat. "No need to threaten me, Kikyou. I know what you can do."

"Let's not forget it, shall we?" She zipped up the dress and grabbed at her purse, pulling out her lipstick and compact. "How is Kitari doing, the little scoundrel?" She asked nonchalantly.

"He's doing his job, following the girl around. When he sees an opening he'll dive in, I promise."

"Mmm, I hope he does." She raised her eyebrow, her lips now perfectly painted a dark red. "For your sake, of course."

Then she was out the door.

Kouga couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief before calling up Kitari to make damn sure he was doing his job.

.o0o0o0o0o.

Akane opened the door of the beaten up 1995 Buick Riviera, a wad of dollar bills in her hand and a mouthful of bad taste. Slamming it behind her, she took off down the street without a backwards glance, and after turning a corner, she stopped and counted out the bills. 1,080 Yen. 1,080 Yen for a blow wasn't a lot. It certainly wasn't enough to pay off her dealer, whom she owed much more than 1,080 Yen. Unfortunately, the blow was wearing off again, and she knew it would only be a little while before she went crazy with need.

Cash. She needed cash. Enough to pay off her dealer and buy more off of him. Enough to get her through another week of working to buy food for her and her new roommate.

She shouldn't have taken the kid in, even if he did remind her of Kagome. Even if she was fairly certain he, in fact, was Kagome Higurashi's little brother. The one she had talked about getting away from the orphanage. How many homeless little boys named Souta could there possibly be in the area? And ones that looked like Kagome's counterpart no less?

Even so, she shouldn't have taken him in. His leg had healed up enough, though his arm could get a good look at by a doctor, so he was okay to walk around. But who the hell would hire him? What could he possibly do but steal food?

Nothing, that's what. And money she could be giving to her dealer was spent on the little boy she'd helped from the goodness of her heart. What did he give in return? It was just take, take, take with him. He was like an infant, unable to care for himself in the least!

The more she thought, the more angry and resentful she became, and the more the need for the powder grew, until she could barely contain her rage. She began to make her way back to her apartment, fully intending to tell the little brat to get the hell out and never come back. To tell him that the other homeless kids on the streets made it, and he damn well could also. Life was tough, and he needed to learn that no one would help him. He'd gotten lucky running into Akane as he had, and he should be thankful and move on. Find it damn sister by himself.

Then she passed the poster stapled to the telephone pole on the sidewalk.

'WANTED' was printed in giant letters on the top, and Souta stared back at her, his big eyes happy as he smiled up into the camera. He looked a bit younger than he was now, but that was him. And underneath him was a price for his return.

Souta Higurashi

5'0 tall

12 years old

Brown hair, brown eyes.

Please contact Center City Orphanage with information or whereabouts.

REWARD: 55,000 Yen.

Fifty-five thousand Yen. Fifty-five thousand. That would easily be enough to pay off her dealer and buy enough blow to get her through the next few months!

She could feel the coke, practically taste it running down the back of her throat after having snorted it up her delicate nose. Ah, the thought brought shivers up her spine, turned her on, gave her something to dream and lust after.

The boy had to get used to disappointment, right? Had to get used to betrayal. Besides, he had escaped once, who was to say he couldn't do it again?

Having convinced herself, Akane stopped at the closest public phone and dialed the contact number.

A cold voice answered the phone. "Center City Orphanage."

"Ah, yes, I'd like to speak to your headmistress, please?"

"One second."

Akane shifted on her feet, feeling nauseous, but not able to tell if it was because of withdrawal or because she was about to do something despicable.

"What?" The voice was flat and uncaring.

"Headmisstress?" Akane asked, willing her voice to be harsh a strong.

"Yes. What is it?"

She took in a deep breath. "I just saw your wanted sign, for Souta Higurashi-"

"You know where he is?" Her reply was immediate and harsh. Pushy. It caught Akane off-guard.

"Y-yeah, I know where he is, he-"

"Give me the address, I'll send someone to pick him up, and you can ride with them to collect your reward." There was a pause. "I would, of course, like to thank you in person."

The woman was getting on Akane's nerves, and she had to remind herself of the money involved in order to stay on task and get the job done. She needed that cash. She needed that blow.

"Fine." Akane gave her the address and hung up the phone, then pulled her ragged, dirty overcoat tighter around her thin frame and completed the few blocks back to her apartment.

Souta was sitting on the bed, staring out the window when she came in. The place was spotless, free of dust and grime. He knew he couldn't do much, and Akane would certainly miss his eagerness to clean the place, as some sort of payment for boarding.

She didn't think about it much, though. She thought about the money she was about to get. About the powder she would buy with it. And about fun times she'd have on it.

"Akane, you're home!" He exclaimed, wincing as he slid off the bed and walked towards her to give her a hug.

Akane backed away from him, but placed a cheerful smile on her face, hoping not to startle him too much.

"Hey kid." She pushed her hair out of her face. "Get dressed warmly, okay? We're about to go somewhere to grab some cash."

Souta looked up at her, confused, his head tilted to the side. "Grab some cash?" He asked, and followed Akane with his eyes as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. "You don't mean stealing it, right?" Slight nervousness moved into his tone.

"Nah. Let's just say I ran and errand and am receiving pay for it." She tried her best to smile at him nonchalant. "Relax, get dressed, they'll be here in a few minuets."

True to her word, three men dressed in their finest showed up at her door. Souta allowed them to escort them down to the awaiting taxi.

His trust in Akane amazed her. And she had to block out the fact that she was about to take the kid back to the very place he'd escaped from.

.o0o0o0o0o.

Akane fidgeted nervously in the uncomfortable wooden chair in the dark, shabby hallway of the Center City Orphanage. The dank smell of mold and unwashed bodies floated under her nose, and she scrunched up her bridge, wondering what kind of officiate could possibly be running the place.

But that was beside the point. Akane was nervous for a reason. Of course, the fact that she was completely sober at the moment had something to do with it. The sickness of withdrawal had set in again, and she was in desperate need of a fix. But other than that, she knew that she was at this place to betray the little boy she had found in a heap on her way home two weeks ago. Little Souta, who had desperately pleaded with her to keep his whereabouts a complete secret. Who had told her about his unfortunate life at the very place she was now visiting.

But the poster and the reward money it promised for the return of Souta was too great a seduction, too great a temptation. The money would pay her rent for a month and keep her up to her nose in white powder for two. The kid would just have to deal.

It wasn't like she was responsible for the kid. It wasn't like he was her little brother. And it wasn't like she could keep him in her apartment any longer, either. She couldn't feed him, she didn't have the money to buy him clothes or support him, he was just there. Too young to work and too broken to move.

Biting her lip to control the rage of conflicting emotions, and the urgent need for more powder, Akane was relieved when the headmistress stepped out of her office.

She was an uptight-looking woman, in a long, straight cotton dress of gray, her wiry, dark brown hair pulled back into a school-teacher's bun making her already-prominent thin-hooked nose stick out even more. Her eyes seemed dull and cold, and she didn't smile as she looked down at Akane.

Hurriedly, Akane stood and tried to smile through the pain of withdrawal, sticking out her hand for the woman to shake. "Hey, I'm Akane. We spoke on the phone?"

She didn't answer. Instead, the headmistress simply sneered and waved to hand towards her office door. "You may enter." She said.

A little put off by her rudeness, but thinking purely of the money she was about to receive, Akane stepped into the bland looking room and sat in front of the wooden desk.

Seconds later, the headmistress was seated across form her. Neither said a thing, and Akane began to fidget again.

"Where did you find him?" The headmistress finally asked, her thin lips pressed into an even thinner line.

"Uh, in an empty lot about ten blocks from here. I was on my way home and-"

"Was he injured? Did you notice anything?" She interrupted.

Akane paused, uneasy. "Um.. yeah, his arm and leg. Said he fell from a window-"

"Jumped, actually." She declared, no humor showing in her face.

"Yeah, well, nothing broke." Akane replied, perturbed. "Just a bad sprain and a fracture."

"Mmm, yes, well we have an on-site doctor that will look at little Souta." She pulled open a drawer and pulled out a wad of bills, placing them on the desk and sliding them over to Akane. "There you are. 55,000, as promised. Please feel free to count it out."

She did, and satisfied that it was all there, Akane smiled and stood, eager to contact her dealer and get him off her back. "Thank you very much. Have a good day then." She said, turning towards the wooden doors.

The headmistress's voice stopped her. "Ah, just one more thing, Miss Tendo."

Slowly, Akane turned to look at the chilling woman again.

"I don't suppose he's told you the whereabouts of his sister?"

"Sister?"

She nodded stiffly. "Yes, his older sister, Kagome Higurashi." The headmistress paused to stand and move around the desk, this time leaning against the edge. "She's been missing too, although it's been quite a few years now."

Akane didn't reply. Her fears had been confirmed. Souta was Kagome's little brother. The irony that they would both need help from Akane… that Kagome had been just this close to seeing her brother again.

She had to push the thought from her mind.

Watching Akane's conflicting facial features, the headmistress shrugged. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. I would, however, offer another five hundred for her return." She grinned at the instant greed that appeared in Akane's eyes. "Oh well." She sighed, feigning defeat. "It's been so long, and she was oh-so-young when she left. I wouldn't be surprised if she turned up dead."

Akane paused, gulping down a heap of guilt before replying. "….What if I told you I know Kagome Higurashi?"

A drawn out silence before the headmistress spoke. "….Go on."

"Kagome Higurashi used to live with me. We were roommates. We worked the streets together. She left about a month ago, but she probably didn't go far." Akane inhaled sharply, determined to get that extra cash. "I can find her."

"Can you, now?"

"Yeah. I have my connections on the streets. I can find her."

"And you can bring her in? Completely unharmed and alive, I mean." Skepticism etched the headmistress's voice.

"Yeah, she'll come with me if I ask. I can get her here. We're good friends."

"Mmm, yes, good friends stab each other in the back all the time." She replied sarcastically, then sneered. "Junkies are good for that."

Akane jeered back as if she'd been hit, but didn't speak up to defend herself.

"Well, if you are indeed telling the truth, then the five hundred dollars is yours. After you bring her to me, of course."

She shrugged. "No biggie."

"I'm sure. You're excused."

Akane got the hint. She turned and left the office, thinking of nothing but the extra five hundred she was about to get her hands on. Eager to get out of the orphanage, which totally gave her the creeps, she stopped in shock to see Souta being dragged down the hallway by the men that had picked them up, and they passed her as she made her way towards the exit.

"You promised me!" He cried out to her. "You PROMISED me!!!" He screamed, struggling vainly against the giant pair of hands that pulled him towards the stairs. "YOU PROMISED ME!!!!"

She tried with all her might to push the image of his horror-stricken, angry, betrayed face, the sound of his desperate, fearful cries out of her mind. But it struck with her.

Even when she handed her dealer the cash Souta had earned her.

Even when she was handed a bag of powder.

Even when she sucked it up her nose through a dirty straw.

Even when she felt the pure bliss of the cocaine seep into her brain.

Souta's face, his cries, just wouldn't leave her alone.

.o0o0o0o0o.

---1,080 Yen is about 10 bucks. Sucks, doesn't it?

---55,000 Yen is about $500.

---Oh, and because I didn't mention it in the last chapter, Kagome first asks for 12,000 Yen a week, which is about $110. Not much, huh? Then Inuyasha refuses and demands to pay her 310,000 Yen a week, which evens out to about $2,900 a week. Sounds like too much, but rent, food, clothes for two people is what he considered into the deal, plus, he's rich, so a cheep place for him would cost at least 3,000 a month, right? lol.

Anyway,

Oh my gawwwwd! The angst!

Okay, this chapter was particularly emo, but I swear I didn't mean for it to be. At least no one is cutting themselves, right? (No, SugarRos! They're just being molested and snorting drugs up their noses, GREAT. Not emo at all!) haha.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. It ended up being COMPLETELY Akane/Souta filled (with a little Kikyou/Kouga thrown in), but at least we now know the motive for Akane seeking out Kagome again. How many people are after her now? The Headmistress, Akane, Kouga, Kitari (whoever the hell THAT is! Care to take a guess?) and Kikyou. Is Kagome popular, or what? Too bad they all want to do bad things to her.

The next chapter shouldn't be too far along. I got my urge to write back after this chapter, and FINALLY Inuyasha and Kagome will make an appearance again. I know you're not seeing a lot of them at the moment, but it was important to the story that I get some side characters some time in here, otherwise their actions would be unexplained.

-SugarRos

Next Chapter: Acquired Resources.