Alright guys, here is the deal. I screwed up. Big time. I got confused with the chapters because I had a prologue in the beginning so that mixed up the order so chapter thirteen should REALLY be chapter twelve...get it? Anyhoo, I must've either deleted this chapter on my computer thinking I had already posted it or whatever. SO... This is the REAL chapter twelve and chapter thirteen -Rage- will be reposted. Maybe that will explain the slight gap.

Sorry about that... hehe.

Disclaimer: Nada.

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Chapter Twelve: Darkness

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"I call this meeting to order," Miroku said firmly, smacking the long table with the flat of his palm.

Everyone looked at him questioningly.

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, confusion clear in her features. "Actually Miroku, Inuyasha did."

"Oh, I know," he said indifferent, "I've just always wanted to say that."

Sango shook her head. "Come on Miroku, this is serious, especially if word gets out about us letting you two in on this."

Inuyasha nodded gravely. "I don't doubt the town already suspects you. It would probably be better if you always stayed together or had one of us with you because think about it: murders just randomly starting the minute two newcomers move in to a once peaceful town?"

Kagome agreed. "So we'll do that. First though, Inuyasha I think you need to call in some reporters and answer some questions. So far your people have been left in the dark about all this and they should be aware. Not only that but you need to set a curfew or something."

Sango turned away from Kagome and stared at Inuyasha also. "Plus, you should talk to Totosai. I don't doubt he'll soon appear in your bedroom one morning demanding answers. Remember last time?"

Inuyasha shuddered. Once there had been a thief going around and taking everyone's stuff. At first it was just jewellery, but it soon elevated to TVs, credit cards and items of value. Inuyasha hadn't told the mayor anything and one morning had found Totosai beside his bed, staring at him expectantly. Afterwards, Inuyasha bought double locks and always double checked his system before going to bed.

Miroku just shook his head, not understanding what Sango meant but ignoring it. "Sango has a valid point Inuyasha."

Inuyasha cursed. "Could I just hire you two as interrogators? I swear you'd do a good enough job."

Kagome laughed at that. "I could only imagine."

"Anyways," Inuyasha said, "down to business. Each of you has an estimated profile on our killer. Male, around the age of twenty-five to forty and he probably lives in Trite as much as I hate to admit. Now," Inuyasha stood up and walked to a board that was covered over with a cloth, "these are pictures and notes from Yuri and Kirara's deaths. You also have a booklet with notes about it."

"Did you get anything from forensics?" Kagome asked and Inuyasha shook his head.

"Not a thing. Whoever is killing these people is good and knows what they're doing. No fingerprints, trace…nothing."

Miroku looked up. "Have the suspects all been checked out with secure alibis?"

"Already taken care of," Sango confirmed. "It's almost like a cold trail. We have nothing to go on or work with unless another body shows up, and that's just horrible. We need more information, anything that can clue us in to why they're doing this."

Kagome felt a knot in her stomach, thinking about her stories. None of them knew and she didn't even think Miroku made the connection just yet. Quickly, she changed the subject. "What about the man that tried to kill Inuyasha? Could he be the murderer?"

"It's always possible but not for sure. It would add to the profile though," Inuyasha nodded.

"Why do you trust us with this?" Kagome asked abruptly. "I mean, you said it before, we're newcomers. Why us?"

Inuyasha looked at Kagome for a moment and then sat back down, clearing his throat and pushing his papers aside. "Because you were right Kagome," he murmured. "You were right about everything. You found the two bodies, you showed us clues that we would either never or eventually have found and you showed me how to find the axe. We may have found the axe sooner or later but the armour in the back of that alley on the other side of the street wouldn't have been searched for a while. We may get prints off of that axe and the blood on it was definitely Kirara's because I could smell it. The deputies here are used to this stuff. They learn to shoot a gun with all the likelihood that they will never even take it out, never mind shoot it."

"That still doesn't answer my question Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly. "For all you know I could be the killer and that how I know everything. Maybe I'm schizophrenic and that explains the voices I hear. You don't know Inuyasha, you don't know." She was playing the Devil's advocate, she knew but she had to take the chance. Kagome braced herself to be yelled at, kicked out, or done something to. Instead, Inuyasha reached across the table with his hand and held it open, waiting for hers.

"Then show me Kagome."

"W-what do you mean?" Kagome asked fearful. "I don't understand."

"Show me you're not the killer."

"I don't have an alibi Inuyasha," Kagome said slowly, still not getting it. "And I can't show you."

"Let me listen and be the judge," he said quietly. "Let me hear."

Kagome jolted and sat there frozen, fear written across her face. Beside her, Sango and Miroku stood quiet, not daring to interfere. She didn't know what to do. He…he wanted to go with her, into the abyss. He wanted to hear the voices. Did he think this was some sort of game? Kagome's anger flared and she glared at him. "Are you stupid? Is this some kind of ride to you where you think it's a thrill? Like some drug that makes you high and you get that experience that brings you away from reality? It's not Inuyasha! You have no clue! I would trade anything to be normal, anything. Do you think I like these voices? Do you think I like walking around or stepping into an old building only to hear the angry cries of the dead? Well I don't!"

Kagome didn't know how much she could take. Sango and Miroku remained quiet and Inuyasha just watched her, his hand still held out. His face was expressionless and that made her all the angrier. Standing up, Kagome slapped his hand away and started to walk out. The voices within her mind started to grow loud and her anger only fuelled the matter. The screams and cries roared in he eyes but she ignored it all. She didn't wish for it to go away, or die down.

And then she felt warm hand grab hers and suddenly her world went black.

The roaring in her ears deafened her and it wasn't until she literally saw Inuyasha within her mind that she started to struggle. 'I should be here. I didn't will it. I didn't push myself. Why am I here? Why is he here?'

As if it were a second reality she ran up to him. "What the hell are you doing here?" Kagome demanded, staring him down. Darkness surrounded them and the voices didn't cease. She didn't know if he had heard her until he answered back.

Just not in the way she expected.

"Did you bring us here?"

Kagome was taken aback but then shook her head. "No, I don't like going here for your information. See this darkness? We can get lost in it, forever, especially if we stay here too long. The longer we're here, the more vulnerable we are because without life our body slowly start to disappear and another soul can fight us."

He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to go on.

"If we lose, the other soul takes over our living body and our mind drifts forever in this God forsaken abyss." Her harsh words were sharp and Inuyasha stared at her for a moment longer before turning away, looking at the darkness that engulfed him. The only thing that held light seemed to be his body and Kagome's.

"I wonder…" he mused out loud and Kagome was about to question him fearfully when he closed his eyes and wished.

All of a sudden, flashes and memories rushed within his mind and he saw pictures rolling, dancing around like a never ending movie. It was Kagome. Remembrances of childhood, school, friends, heartbreak and love surrounded him and he realized that he was going through Kagome's memories.

And then it all stopped.

Darkness surrounded him once more but this time, Kagome was gone. He felt alone and her presence wasn't even there. All he could hear were voices that crushed him and suddenly he felt the gripping fear that made him want to run. Run away and find Kagome. To find Kagome and save her from this nightmare. How did she live with this? What caused her to have this pain and fear?

Out of the inky blackness, a burst of light shot through and suddenly a door appeared. The darkness slowly vanished and instead transformed into a long winding hall. He was confused but most of all curious. He knew he was someone buried in Kagome's mind, in a void where the voices haunt her, but where did this door come from? Where did it lead? He walked down the hall slowly, studied his surroundings and finally when he approached the door, noticed that on the other side of the door lay a dark room because no light emitted from crack at the bottom of the door. He tentatively reached for the door handle.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Inuyasha jumped and looked around, only to see Kagome right behind him. He looked around her, wondering just how in the seven Hells she got there but where she snapped her fingers, he returned his attention back to her.

"Looking for a way out," Inuyasha answered quickly, meeting her fierce eyes.

"That's not the way out," Kagome said bluntly. "Whoever wills to be here has to will to get out. That's how it works. Here, grab my hand. I don't even know how we really got here in the first place."

Slowly, Kagome closed her eyes and felt Inuyasha's warm hand in her own. She imagined the room where their bodies lay and pictured the reality in which they lived it. When Kagome opened her eyes, it was only then that she realized it wasn't working.

"Are we there yet?" Inuyasha asked, opening one eye. When he saw the terrified look on Kagome's face though he immediately shut up and looked around. The door was still there, looming behind him but the hall seemed to dissipate around them. Kagome's hand slipped out and it wasn't until the last minute that Inuyasha noticed that she was falling to her knees.

He caught her quickly. "Kagome, what the hell is going on?"

"It's not working...Inuyasha, it's not working! I can't get us back!"

It was now Inuyasha's time to turn scared. "What do you mean, you can't get us back. Of course you can, you have to! Maybe you're not focusing enough?"

"Right," Kagome said shakily. "Right, that's right…"

She's tried again, focusing all her power on the real world but when it didn't come, she felt helpless and insecure. They were never going to get out. Never.

- - -

Ami Dai looked around her apartment, staring at the blank walls that surrounded her, suffocated her. The place was small; a kitchenette that was part of the living room with a television and then her bedroom, the only place with a door other than the bathroom.

Ever since she heard about the deaths of Yuri and Kirara, Ami had sat in her room, thinking and wondering. She hadn't been close to either of the girls; the occasional serving from Kirara and the odd acknowledging wave from Yuri but that was about as far as it went.

And now they were dead…

Ami had always been a big fan of murder mystery shows and loved watching the bad guys always getting caught, regardless of the short amount of time and the way some things just magically showed up. The good guys always won, always.

So this wouldn't be any different.

Ami sighed to herself as she stood up from her bed, walking slowly and stiffly to the bathroom to splash some water on her face. A jolt would at least assure her that she was still alive.

The bathroom was small and cramped, barely big enough to fit more than two people at a time. There was a bathtub that had a shower head attached to the wall, a toilet and a sink with a large mirror hanging over that entire top part of the wall. The mirror seemed to be the only good part of the place, since it was big enough to see anything and everything.

Now, as she entered the bathroom, she wished the mirror was gone because when she caught her gaze in it, she wanted to look away. Her brown perfectly straight hair looked limp and the broken ends made it look so much worse. Her face was abnormally pale and her brown deep chocolate eyes that held wisdom much older than her years looked tired. She was a mess.

The cold water felt good when it touched her face and she waited for it to drip dry before looking in the mirror again, thinking about the murders.

She closed her eyes and listened intently to the silence that surrounded her and roared in her ears. Suddenly, Ami was very sure of one certainty. The thought sent a shiver down her spine but she knew it was true.

Another was going to die. Not now but soon.

Another must die…

- - -

"It's not working," she whispered. "We're stuck here. We're going to fade away…here. I- I don't want to go…" Kagome started to shake and it took everything Inuyasha had to calm her down. He tried soothing her and holding her but when that didn't work, he decided to lift her up bridal style and start trying to find a way out.

"It's so dark…just like back then. I don't want to die, I don't want to starve. Let me out, let me out!" Kagome screamed, burying her face in his chest, her hands grasping his shirt tightly.

Kagome was starting to lose it, Inuyasha thought and when he turned to see the only door that was available to him he realized that he would have to find another way. The minute he turned around he felt the heat and power and the minute his eyes landed on the wooden door he saw the red and orange flames licking it up.

"I need to get her out of here," Inuyasha said to himself, looking around. "I need to go back, I need to get back." He ran around but nothing seemed to change. The same endless black surrounded him and soon he became desperate. It was then the realization sunk it. He was trapped in Kagome's mind, her inner ability, forever.

They were going to die.

"It's so dark…so, so dark. He's going to leave me, forget me… I don't want to die. Momma…Momma where are you?"

He looked down to Kagome, who had now calmed down enough to just whimper though the tears still fell and stained her cheeks. His fear intensified and as he searched around the area that was like a virtual reality he started to lose it himself.

'I need to get back, now. I want to go back. I want to go back now!' Inuyasha thought frenziedly and it was then that it happened.

Reality came back in a rush, the senses overpowering and the deafening roar starting to fade away. Kagome felt a slight heaviness on her and opened her eyes to look around. She was on a couch, a warm blanket on top of her with Inuyasha on a separate couch parallel to hers and in between stood a very angry Sango and Miroku.

"I swear to you chief, the next time you do that I'm just going to let you fall to the ground instead of catch you," Sango threatened and eyed Kagome wearily. "Are you okay?"

Kagome nodded. "I'm fine, just…confused. Inuyasha, what did you do?"

She looked to his couch to see that he was already sitting up with the blanket thrown off of him. He looked hesitant to speak but then shrugged. "I touched your hand and wanted to find out the truth. I heard the voices, I was…in your mind, I guess. And then, I wanted out. I woke up."

Kagome stared at him for a while, her jaw clenched and her fists curling and uncurling. "So, you can influence my mind in more ways than one," Kagome murmured callously, taking her gaze off of him and to the floor. "That connection we have… If we connect in any way, you can control the voices and where we go. I guess that means you can go in deep too, which also explains what happened at the café."

Inuyasha shrugged again, not really sure of it himself. Her words came out so cruel that they stung and he didn't know what to say. "Sorry" wouldn't change anything and she sure as hell wouldn't listen to him even if he did say it.

And then there was what he saw…her memories.

As if she read his mind, she looked up at him. "You saw my past didn't you. My childhood… I saw yours. And then there was the door. Why the hell did you try to go in there?"

Inuyasha was taken aback but answered. "I thought it was a way out…I thought-"

"But you didn't really know, did you? You didn't wait for me, care for me! Inuyasha, what's behind that door is what made me who I am today. Everyone has a tragedy, family issues, childhood issues… No one has the perfect life. And now that you seem to be able to control my mind just by touching me and subconsciously reaching out, I suggest you never open it. Ever."

"Why?" Inuyasha asked, looking at her curiously. He knew he was pushing her but he had to know. "The minute you started screaming about dying, about being in the dark it burst into flames. What's so terrible that it caused such a thing to happen? Is that what made you psychic?"

Kagome glared at Inuyasha hard. She couldn't speak and she had nothing more to say to him. She wasn't about to spill her life story and she sure as hell was going to do it here. Kagome vowed to never tell anyone. The only person that knew was Miroku and that was because he took part in it. "It doesn't matter," Kagome said harshly, looking towards the floor.

"But I think it does," Inuyasha challenged. "Kagome we need you and your abilities but if you won't do it then how are we going to stop this murderer? I'm not going to go in your mind and force it but you need to. You have to for these girls. You have to do it Kagome because I promised them I would and I can't, not without hurting you."

"Thanks," Kagome said bitterly. "It's nice to know you care."

And with that, she walked out, leaving the other three in stunned silence.

- - -

Nazuna Orikasa left the station when the night was settling in. Officer Nobutoshi drove her home, his company quiet. Her house was not far from the station and you had to pass the café in order to get there. It was difficult for her, to watch as they passed the café doors and not do anything but pray for Kirara's soul to rest in peace.

But she was murdered and how would that help her rest? Would her spirit even try? Hell, was there even an afterlife?

Nazuna looked out the window, toying with a long strand of black hair. She still couldn't believe she had literally jumped into the arms of Inuyasha, telling him that she was the killer. She wasn't.

Something in her mind though, some echo of knowledge kept telling her that she knew… Did she know who the killer was? She most certainly had no suspicions and wasn't straying away from anyone for just that purpose. But then, why was she so positive that the answer was just beyond her grasp?

Maybe that was because of the letter she found on her seat in the car, the letter that she hid under the mat at the police station, the letter from killer.

Maybe that was why she gave it to them.

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Well hopefully now it all makes sense. I want to thank Mikhaila for pointing the fact that chapter twelve was missing. Once again, oops. My bad.

Sorry!