Do you know what's painful? Trampolines. Especially when you smash down on the bar. I have the funniest feeling I won't be able to walk tomorrow...

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha -sigh-

Chapter Three: Unsure

Miroku cursed and ran towards Kagome, grasping her shoulders gently as if he would break her and then shaking her.

"Kagome, snap out of it! Pull away!"

"What the hell is going on?" Inuyasha roared. "Get her out of there. Bring her to my truck and leave her in there. Get Kouga to watch her, I don't care! Just get her out!"

Kagome seemed frozen and was mumbling parts of sentences, never completing one and never stopping.

"What's wrong with her?" Sango asked Miroku as she went to help him carry Kagome. "What is she saying?"

"I'll explain later," Miroku said. "Let's bring her to the truck."

As Sango and Miroku brought Kagome to the road, Inuyasha gave Ayame, a female officer, orders to watch the scene until he got back. Once they got Kagome into the hot truck, her mumbling ceased but her body became covered by Goosebumps and she was shivering uncontrollably despite the heat.

"She's in the truck," Inuyasha said, nodding towards the freezing girl. "So do you mind explaining some things?"

Miroku seemed to hesitate, eyeing his female friend for a moment before sighing and rubbing his temples. "Kagome is…different. Doctors claim she's…ill –for a better term- but I know she isn't."

"Hold up," Inuyasha said. "She's crazy?"

"No!" Miroku yelled, glaring at Inuyasha before looking at Sango. "I know for a fact that she isn't but there are no explanations to explain what's wrong with her. I know the answer but despite what I say, she won't listen. The doctors have really done a number on her."

"So, Kagome is sick with some sort of disease that makes her mumble and shiver hysterically and there is no cure or explanation for it?"

"It's not a disease," Miroku said slowly. "Kagome has been told most of her life that she's mentally ill, but like I said, she's not so don't start treating her differently."

"And how would you know?" Inuyasha asked, this entire time remaining skeptical. "You seem pretty confident against those doctors."

"Let me try to put this simply," Miroku said slowly unsure of the end result. "Kagome can talk to the dead. Twenty-four seven she hears their voices in the back of her mind and she's helpless against it. Kagome is a medium and I know this because my mother was psychic, she had the sight."

Finally, I found her.

She found it.

I've been waiting years to do this.

Years.

She will pay for what she did to me, but first, I'll make them pay.

All of them.

Those bitches will die…

And each of them will get a token of my loving affection…

"ETD?" Inuyasha asked the coroner who sat there bent over the dead body of Yuri Wadena.

"I won't know for sure until later when I do a better examination," Hachi Nakajima said professionally, arching his back and then straightened up until he stood. "I'd say about one a.m. though, or around there. The cause of death is strangulation."

"So the cuts are post-mortem?" Inuyasha asked, dreading the answer.

"Yes, and done with some care," Hachi murmured. "It was done right after Ms. Wadena died, so that's the reason there is so much blood. I'd say this is the murder scene of course since there was no trail and all the blood is here. I'll get more results later though."

"Thanks Hachi," Inuyasha said quietly and then turned around, facing the road where he could still see the figure of Kagome leaning against the passenger door of his truck, huddled there rubbing her arms. "Well, she was right about Yuri's death," he told himself, remembering the resulting conversation with Miroku.

"Kagome is a medium and so far, she can here the voices of the dead. A true medium can actually see the dead though Kagome has never told me she could. Psychic abilities are highly doubted because the abilities are rare. She doesn't believe it herself which is a great problem because she can never come to terms with it until she does."

He didn't believe it either of course. Kagome could talk to dead people and hear their voices? Yeah, right.

Bullshit.

Weary now, Inuyasha walked over to her, feeling uneasy because of what he was told and because his demon senses were always going haywire when he approached her. Maybe Miroku was telling the truth?

Nah.

He couldn't be.

"Is it Yuri?" Kagome whispered in such a low voice that Inuyasha, even with his good hearing, could barely make it out.

He nodded solemnly. "Yes, it is. How did you know about her?"

"I…I didn't."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her. "That's not what I want to hear Kagome. How did you know Yuri?"

"I'm telling the truth," Kagome said, her gaze down at the ground. "I've never seen her before in my life. We just moved here yesterday remember? I've been here once before but just to look around. I had come in late because of my work and didn't go anywhere but the shrine."

"Is there anyone that can prove that?" he asked out of habit, not because he was being rude though he could have put it more gently.

Now her eyes met his, the brown colour back and the pupils normal-sized. "No," she told him firmly. "I came alone."

"Okay, we can go to the station and do this, which we'll probably have to do anyways, but do you want to explain to me how you found the body?"

"I was having a walk; I couldn't sleep and brought my dog Spot with me. Spot must have smelt the blood because he ran away into the field. I followed him and didn't watch what I was doing and tripped over the body. I called Spot back and then called 911 once I got back to the shrine. Miroku was already up so he called my mother to come and pick up the dog. She did."

"And where does your mother live?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome shrugged, not letting her panic show. "Everywhere basically, she moves around a lot. Travels, you know? She's that age where she wants to see the world."

Inuyasha face grew taught and he growled. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

Inuyasha laughed acrimoniously. "You didn't answer the question directly. We found no prints other than yours in the field and with the dirt the way it is, the dog's prints should have been clearly visible. Plus, I don't smell a dog's scent here either and your scent is telling me you're lying…a lot."

"Then tell me if this is a lie," Kagome shot at him dangerously. "I did not kill Yuri."

Without waiting for an answer, Kagome walked off to her car and unlocked it, sitting in the front seat and then looking back towards Inuyasha. "Sorry chief, I have to go. Send whoever you want to watch me as long as they sit at the bottom of the driveway and are out of my way. I promise I won't run out on you though, too much is at stake."

She started the car and then drove forward, stopping beside him as she passed him. "Oh and I won't bother giving you my number," she added, "since you're probably going to find out every little detail of my horror story anyways. See yah around." And with that, she waved him off and drove, her wild black hair flying in the wind behind her.

"Chief, are you just going to let her go?" Sango asked behind him. "She is a suspect you know."

"I'm not stupid no matter what Kouga says about me," he told her. "Send him to watch her but make sure he stays out of her way and in the driveway. I have a feeling that she'll cooperate with us as long as we don't cross her line."

"Do you think she did it?" Sango asked curiously, studying the road where Kagome's car disappeared from view.

"No, I'm actually almost positive she didn't. She's too…"

"What?"

Inuyasha smirked. "Never mind, anyways I want a background check of Kagome and Miroku plus both his and her parents."

"How detailed do you want it?" Sango asked, scribbling down her orders on a pad.

"I want to know who her favourite teacher in kindergarten was and what she named her first teddy bear."

Sango laughed and started to walk away before she heard Inuyasha call her back. "Yes, chief?"

"Maserati convertibles are expensive aren't they? They're also fast cars."

"Yeah, so? What's your point?"

"Trite is a pretty small town and normally, we're always kept out of the loop on the next big thing or best new song. I want to know why she's here and what she does to force her to be here."

"You lied! Why?" Miroku demanded, glaring at Kagome sternly and speaking to her as if a little child.

"What else could I have done?" Kagome yelled, rising to the bait.

"Tell them the truth, maybe? That you're psychic? By the way, how did you find the body?"

Kagome glowered with anger but she forced herself to calm down. "Remember five years ago when I wrote those stories in the middle of night as an 'exert of stress?'"

Miroku nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"It happened again, last night –uh, this morning. I 'woke up' at one and then read the story. And…the voices came back."

"I guessed as much," Miroku admitted. "You got too close, you know. You started talking for them, out loud and you started to shiver."

"The chill of death," Kagome muttered, "is a horrible thing. I…I didn't expect it. It was just when I saw her, something inside of me clicked and everything was going through me so fast, I couldn't stop."

"Understandable. Now, why did you lie?"

"I don't know. I just did. It was purely natural and defensive instinct."

"And you realize," Miroku said dryly but not without a tone of worry in it, "that you've cornered yourself. They will find out and then you're going to have to explain why you lied. Which, once again, brings us back to the question, why did you lie?"

"What was I supposed to tell them?" Kagome shrieked. "That I'm a freaking person that freaking talks to freaking dead people? No thanks. I don't even believe that."

"Then let me rephrase that question," Miroku said calmly, ignoring her outbursts. "What are you going to tell them as an explanation for why you lied?"

Kagome sighed in defeat. "I have no clue. Oh, Miroku…why now? I thought our problems were finished. I thought I would have peace. Now, I have the biggest feeling I'll never finish the book I wanted to this month. I was doing so well on it too."

"You can't let this stop you from writing," Miroku said. "Start bringing a notebook around and use that. Anytime you have the urge to write I want you to write. Got it?"

"Is this the manager or friend speaking?" Kagome asked tersely.

Miroku stiffened at the comment but after letting out a deep breath, chose to ignore that as well. She was tense and under a lot of pressure. Finding a dead body could not be one of her better days. "Both I guess. You said you wrote another story, where is it?"

Kagome led him to her computer and switched it on, opening the program and gesturing for Miroku to sit down.

"It's over five hundred pages?" Miroku asked stunned. "That's the longest one so far."

"I know. It took me five hours to read so you have fun with that," she said with a sardonic laugh and then walked to the kitchen. "As for me, I'll make us some lunch since I missed breakfast and it's already two in the afternoon."

"How is she?"

"I wouldn't know but I wish-"

"Damn it Kouga!" Inuyasha roared on the phone. "We're investigating a murder, Yuri was killed. You and I both know how innocent she is –was."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry chief."

"Don't apologize and answer me already!"

"She's fine. She's even left her window blinds open so we could see where she is. She's mostly been in the kitchen cooking or reading or doing something. Mr. Tsujitani has been at the computer this entire time. That's around six hours straight."

"Fine, then. We're going to have to find out what's on that computer. Tomorrow we'll get forensics to get their prints and hopefully I can get a warrant to search their home."

"You think they did it?"

Inuyasha sighed, not wanting to share that information with Kouga. "We have to look at all possibilities. It doesn't matter."

"Personally, I don't think she's capable of it."

"That means shit to me Kouga," Inuyasha said tediously. "Assumptions normally just throw us off track and we don't want that right?"

"Right chief." He could hear Kouga sigh on the other end. "I'll call you when the lights go off."

"Good. Thanks."

Kouga laughed. "I think that's the first time you've ever said that to me."

"Well, I just thought…never mind, until then."

Inuyasha closed off his cell and turned to face Sango who sat across from him at his desk. He gave out an explosive sigh and then sat down with a humph in his leather seat. "I thought this was going to be an easy job but no, a killer has to show up and this isn't one of those drunken bastards either."

"Is that demonic sense kicking in?" Sango asked with a drawl and Inuyasha swore under his breath.

"Why must you be so sarcastic about everything?" he asked with a whine. "It's great when you're interrogating someone but with me? I don't know how your boyfriend does it."

"Probably the reason why we broke up four months ago," she stated, lifting her brows at him.

"You mean you two are finished?" Inuyasha looked at her seriously for a moment before laughing. "Thank God, I hated him."

"Are you telling me that after four months of him never showing up at the station you never suspected it was over?" Sango shook her head and then grabbed the clipboard full of papers off his desk. "Forget it. I don't even want to know."

"Anyways, back to business," Inuyasha said gruffly, not really wanting to comment on his lacking of social knowledge. "Do we have those background checks on those two yet?"

Sango shook her head. "No. Not yet. Ayame's finishing it off. Last time I checked, she was almost done."

"Well she needs to hurry it up," Inuyasha commented and then scoffed. "Trite is too small of a town. We need more resources."

"Want to call in bigger help?" Sango suggested but cringed when she saw the fire in his eyes. Obviously, his pride and ego were far too important.

"I'm not even going to consider that," he said finally. "They've always been known to take over these cases. When rumour spreads out that Yuri Wadena was killed –which will no doubt be very, very soon- Trite will be overwhelmed with panic. I'll do everything I can to keep it low key but with the FBI or whoever else coming in here, the pioneers might have to be locked up in padded rooms."

"You're cruel," Sango said distastefully but nodded anyways, understanding.

Just then, a knock at the door came and both of them looked up to see Ayame Kakazu walk in holding a stack of paper. "Here's the info you wanted chief," she said with a smile. "Both of them are squeaky clean legally. Not so much as cheating on a parking metre. Mr. Tsujitani has an interesting background though; his mother was in the FBI. In a special unit I believe. From what I got –which was practically nothing- she was a seer or had 'the sight.' It helped solve a lot of cases for them and she caught three serial killers in her time, not to mention everything else she did. She died on duty and her husband paid the price. Got drunk and blew his brains out. Miroku Tsujitani is Kagome Higurashi's manager, like he stated and has been working for her for over five years. I don't know if he worked with her before that because there was a switch in companies and a loss of information."

"What do you mean 'switch in companies'?" Inuyasha asked, following what Ayame said as he read the paper that held much more detail.

"She was strictly a romance novelist and then on May 23rd, she switched. She finished the series of romance because they were already written and then went straight to murder mysteries. All of her books since then have been best sellers and on the top of the charts. There is passion but more than that is depression and horror. Quite a transition from romance," Ayame added, thinking. "Unless something happened to her, maybe?"

Sango nodded. "It makes sense. I'll add that to the questions. So what is there about Kagome?"

Ayame took a deep breath. "She's won tons of awards for volunteer work, community hours and donations and charities. Never got a ticket before and never had to pay for anything she's ever done bad. No speeding tickets, no bad parking…the works. Kagome is a novelist; five years ago she was only in romance and then made the transition to mystery and suspense. She was born with her mother and father in a lodge where her mother was a maid or cleaner. Her father was a part-time manager. That's probably how she met Miroku, by the way, since his father was the manager there. After a couple years they moved out and lived together. For years it was like that until her parents divorced. It was joint-custody and Ms. Higurashi went from one parent to the next every week. Nothing was ever complained. The only thing that struck me odd though was that there was some sort of file with her, she was in the actual database, but I couldn't get in. It's locked up tight. Ms. Higurashi probably paid a lot of money for that to happen."

"That is odd," Inuyasha said slowly. "And that file was created five years ago?"

"Yes," Ayame nodded.

"Where does her mother live now?" Inuyasha asked. "Kagome said she travels."

Ayame faltered a bit. "I…I've never heard that saying for it before but I guess it works…"

"What works?" Inuyasha asked, now confused.

"Kagome's mother is dead. And surprise, surprise, it happened only two months before the file was made, five years ago…"

Have any of you noticed that I always end these on cliffies?

Next Chapter: Accusations - "Do you know what's pissing me off Kagome?" Miroku asked, takingher coke before he finished, just in case she dumped the perfectly good contents onto him. "You not accepting the fact that you're a medium."

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