Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but I do own this idea.

A/N: Looking back, this by far is my most successful chapter yet reviews-wise.

Huh.

Terminology

People/Names
Keibu – honorific for a police inspector/captain
-han – -san in Kyoto, but pronounced -han due to their different accent

Things
Suikan – Japanese hunting jacket with squared shoulders and wide sleeves (Inu's red shirt)

SOULMATE:
YOU'RE A SOUL YET I'M YOUR MATE?

6: Soiled Moods

"The trouble with the rat race is that
even if you win, you're still a rat."

—Lilly Tomlin

I have discovered that the reason I am in a bad mood is because I was attacked by a centipede youkai on my way to school today. Yes, I really just realized that was my mood's downfall. What sobers me up is Jii-chan's crying on my shoulder, which makes the whole situation even more uncomfortable for me, the person who knew about my great-uncle's death beforehand.

Right as I came home, he got the call from the hospital telling him that his brother died of heart disease. From that point on, Jii-chan calmly hung up and told me the news before crying on my shoulder, which was conveniently in the same room: the kitchen. It's kind of hard to make dinner with someone's head restricting your arm's movement—not to mention weird to feel someone's tears through your shirt—but I deal with it; I'm probably the closest thing to comfort the old man will get in this household. I show my grief by remaining silent, letting two hours pass of me cooking and him bawling his eyes out. At some point, I think I mused over whether Jii-chan was the sensitive type or not until realizing he wasn't, and that I would cry if my brother died, too.

As I finish frying some fish on the stove and the ramen cups from the microwave beep, a faint snore echoes through the kitchen, and I feel my shoulder grow lighter as a thud follows. I turn around to see Jii-chan has fallen asleep and fell to the floor, because apparently, when mourning, I'm the greatest pillow known to man. After an eep! and pulling together my strength, I manage to get him on the couch and pull a blanket over him. I sigh as I go tell Souta that dinner's ready, only for him to come down, grab a ramen cup and plate of fish, and run back upstairs to the confinements of his bedroom.

Well. That was nice of him.

NOT.

Dang, I will always play the part of "unappreciated mom", won't I?

I sulk at my brother's antisocial behavior while I grab the two cups of ramen left, a plate of fish for myself, and bag-up Jii-chan's food for when he wakes up. I then grab a water bottle and make my way outside. I wonder… If Inuyasha can sleep like a normal person, can he also eat food like one as well?

Once I slide the front door open, his head whips around to face me before he huffs and turns away. Right now, he's on one of the wider branches, staring off into the sky. I yell, "Hey, Inuyasha!" His ear twitches, but he doesn't really acknowledge me. I jog closer until I'm nearly beneath him. "Do you wanna eat or not?"

When his ears stand at full-alert and he turns to me, sniffing the air, I know I've caught him. Smirking, I ask, "Mind bringing me up there, too?" In a flash, he's jumped down, thrown me over his shoulder, and pounced back onto the branch. He quickly sets me down beside him, and for a moment, I resist the urge to barf. All that fast movement made me dizzy, not to mention, his shoulder didn't feel so good when it was poking my guts.

Gods.

I hand him a ramen cup, nausea decreasing significantly when I see what he's watching: the sunset. I didn't expect it, but standing so high with a magnificent view of the closest thing to nature a city can get is pretty neat. The very top of the sky is the darkest, beginning at a dark indigo before shifting into azure, then regalia, then mauve, then peach, then salmon, before finishing off with tangerine around the horizon; the sun is just like mere golden streaks in the orange part, though.

I pick at the fish on my plate, eating it in small bites as I concentrate on the colors of the sky and nothing else. The sounds of the city, voices of noisy pedestrians, Inuyasha's surprisingly soft breathing pattern, lights of vehicles below, clatters of people—they're all nonexistent right now.

At least, they were until Inuyasha burped.

I break out of my stupor to see him not kicking one, but two ramen cups below the tree. Glaring at him and trying to suppress my slight anger—who knows what'll bring up at that cinnamon scent—I shove the rest of my fish in my mouth before jumping down and gathering the trash. He's about to run off, that stupid ramen stealer, when I announce, "You're not going anywhere." And at his sly smirk and undoubted response, I say, "I need your help with something important."

Inuyasha kehs before sitting down where he stands, crossing his arms by slipping his hands into his suikan. I hurriedly throw the garbage away, rushing inside to set my plate in the sink, go upstairs, and grab all of my gear. And, just in case, I grab my black backpack and stuff it with dark clothing—or more specifically, the ensemble I always wear during sneak-in missions. I smooth out my shirt a little, and hear an instant plop by my feet.

Okay… I'm just wondering… How did the scroll get inside my shirt and why did I not notice it before?

I shrug before strapping on knives, swords, purification dust bags—anything useful. Then, I open up the scroll and see its next pairing: Nobunaga Amari + Higurashi Tsuyu. Well, that's just peachy, isn't it? Throwing the scroll underneath my bed, I rush outside to find a particular half-demon in the same exact spot, gazing at the sky again. "Inuyasha?" He turns to me, and I ask, "Where are these kidnappings and murders supposed to be at?"

/~\*/~\*/~\*/~\*/~\

I run to keep up with Inuyasha as he jumps from rooftops of buildings to where this possible kappa is. I'm trying to run at a normal pace so passersby will think of me as going out for a jog, but since I'm wearing my school uniform, they're probably thinking I'm rushing to school for something. Most students never really wear their uniform out in public all that much unless they're doing something school-related, so…

Hopefully that explains some things.

I'm surprised at how swift and smooth Inuyasha's movements are; he looks like he's used to running on high surfaces and jumping from them, too. For a split second, I imagine feudal Japan: jungles with trees instead of skyscrapers, grounds with soil instead of cement, surfaces with insects instead of neon lights. Then, I can see it: a red-clothed inu-hanyou flying through the branches above, his silver hair a sheet in the sky.

I wonder why the image looks so clear when Inuyasha comes to a stop, jumping off the side of the building to land in front of me. Luckily, I see him and pause as well instead of accidentally running into him. We're about two blocks from school, I notice, so my I need to go to school excuse will work out just fine. Inuyasha tells me, pointing over to a nearby park, "There's where the cases have been taking place."

I observe the area: law enforcement officers and cars, investigators, police lines—the works. Shit. We're too late. I sigh, "There's nothing we can do. Cops are everywhere and—"

Wait, where's Inuyasha?

I look around until I notice there's a certain bracelet in my hand, and I see him walking past and through people at the scene, getting behind the lines. And even though I know they can't see him, what if he just somehow manages to blow his cover?

Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—

"Kagome-han?"

SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT—

"Nobunaga Keibu-sama?" I say back, plastering on a smile. "-Sama," my ass! I could beat this guy in superiority any day! Except social superiority; anyone would listen to a police captain over a third-year high school student. "What're you doing here?"

Man, does fate like to screw with me or what?

He smirks back. "I should be asking you that," he says, and I resist the urge for my eye to start ticking. I don't like how he's treating me like an old friend, like I never told him to back off from my cousin, a woman fate makes him run into repeatedly (but, of course, I pull them apart), like he never told methat he was keeping an eye on me because I was suspicious for being interested in any unsolvable cases (all of which had to actually do with demons and ghosts). Still, he answers, "The Tokyo policemen need our expertise. This is another Open Heart Case, it seems."

"Ahh," I say, sounding understanding. Anyone from Kyoto would know about that case right now; it even made national headlines, which is why Tokyo's newspapers have been talking about it as well. "What do you mean by that? What's going on here?"

"Why are you here?" he asks, ignoring my questions.

As a woman used to being in charge, this kind of peeves me off, but I just put out my frustration by scratching my arm, pretending to have an itch. "My great-uncle died, so Tsuyu dropped Souta and me off to stay with my ojii-san for a while and cheer him up," I tell him, only fibbing slightly. "I was on my way to school when I saw the police cars. Is there something wrong, or…?"

Thankfully, probably due to my backpack and school uniform, he takes the bait, and decides to reply to my inquiries. "There's been a string of murders and kidnappings taking place in this park," he informs me, and I nod, already knowing that. "Apparently, kids have been taken right from under their guardians' noses, and there have been miscellaneous drowning and killings." When I give him a curious look, he tells me simply, "Peoples' bodies have been turned inside out, their livers eaten. How the fuck does this shit happen?" I blink a few times at his foul mouth, but I've grown used to it; he always curses when cases that confuse him come up. (Remember, I only know this because I listened in on all his private conversations through a bug in his office. That is not the best way to learn about someone, though it surely is effective.)

Truth is, I hate kappa. I just hate them: how they kill innocent people and play pranks as if no one else exists. How they'd pull unsuspecting people into the water to drown them, how they'd peek up your skirt when you weren't looking, and worst of all, actually shove their arm up your ass and grab a hold up of your tongue to only pull it out of your butt, turning you inside-out. Out of all youkai, I hate kappa the most, and luckily, I haven't had to deal with them before this point. I want to vomit when I think of them.

"That's…disturbing," I comment, trying to show how bothered I am by how the people were killed considering a girl my age should not be used to hearing such details. I don't think it's working, but to drift attention away from me a little, I say, "So, you—and your team—" At his verifying nod, I continue. "—are here because they need your experience with strange cases, or…?"

He nods, confirming my first guess. "Thing is, this is just as confusing as the Open Heart Case," he mutters, making me blink again. "Bodies have been found in the ponds, in toilet stalls, along the shores of the water—any place nearby water." He exhales tiredly, pinching his nose as he whispers, "What are we dealing with?"

I remain silent, watching people work from afar. Or, more specifically, watching Inuyasha work from afar. He's observing the bodies up close, and I can tell by the few glances he's giving me, he wants me to check them out. But I can't—maybe I can get away with it without Nobunaga here, but I can't blow my cover with the guy around. I always tried to make him believe I was one of those Law and Order freaks who loves seeing crimes being solved and knows a lot about law enforcement, but he's a tough cookie who just won't believe it. But, dammit, Inuyasha's eyes keep meeting mine, begging for help, and…

Double dammit, why can't I say no?

"Nobunaga Keibu-sama?" I ask, and he looks down at me since he's taller. I take an unnoticeable breath before stating, "If you'll allow me to go see their bodies, then I won't stop you from pursuing my cousin."

He looks shocked and suspicious for a moment, but with a resigned sigh, I know he agrees. After all, he didn't even know Tsuyu's secret address and couldn't obtain it from the phonebook because I'd convinced my cousin long ago that many killers—humans and demons alike—picked out random victims from the listings. I can give him whatever information he needs about her while also putting soul mates together.

He doesn't even ask me why I wish to see the bodies. Silently, we weave through the throngs of officers and police lines, Nobunaga flashing his ID to those who question why he's behind the lines, and after that, everyone overlooks why he's taking an eighteen-year-old to go see corpses. The first thing he says since our little deal is, "The latest killing happened to a teenager. Apparently, he was at the park with family when—"

"Kagome," a gruff voice calls, making my attention drift from Nobunaga to Inuyasha, who I immediately walk to, passing Nobunaga as I grow closer to the body. Our eyes meet, and for a moment, I realize how his eyes match the color of the descending sun. Then, he murmurs, "It's your classmate—that Hobo guy's twin brother."

I blink, snapping out of my golden-eyed daze. "What?" I mutter. Hobo…?

Oh, Kami.

"Hojo?" I ask, scanning the area. Sure enough, there's a familiar bob of brown hair, and he's next to a woman crying. They have a whole family there, mourning over the loss, and my heart rips at the scene. Even worse?

It completely splits when my eyes stray to the body on the ground.

The paramedics have decided to keep it inside-out for certain purposes, but seeing the organs on the outside…

I'm permanently scarred.

"Kagome-han?" I turn to Nobunaga, who's gesturing to the body they're about to pack up. I take a deep breath, specifically from Inuyasha's area since only his natural scent can be on him (not the smell of death), and step forward to investigate. I've seen gruesome cases, but knowing that this happened to a kid who went to my school, who was the twin brother of a boy who'd been annoyingly nice that morning—it bothers my stomach to no end.

I bend down beside the body, holding my breath, and covering all airways. I take in the way the tongue seemed stressed, how the buttocks seemed to be stretched, how the organs around the liver have seemed to be perturbed and clawed, and nod, indicating I was done. Without meeting his eyes, I take the pen out of Nobunaga's pocket, grab his hand, and scribble down Tsuyu's information. Then I quickly leave the scene, Inuyasha a few steps behind me.

I don't meet Hojo's eyes on my way out of the park, afraid I'll just see an exact copy of him turned inside-out. Inuyasha's hand unexpectedly rests on my shoulder for comfort, but I don't acknowledge it. Cases are always harder to deal with when you're somehow connected to the victim, whether you met them or had a mutual acquaintance. When you're dealing with murders of any kind, you're supposed to have a clear mind to deal with the fact that someone died, and you need to skip over the grief to solve it.

"Kappa," I whisper to Inuyasha, though I'm sure he already knows. "Hojo's brother…was killed by a kappa, and there are probably more keeping all those missing kids hostage, stuffing them up until they can kill and eat them, too, and—"

"Shut up," Inuyasha says softly, "and just walk to the runt's."

I obey.

/~\*/~\*/~\*/~\*/~\

The moment Inuyasha and I reach his front yard, the kitsune bounds from the house, yelling cheerily, "KAGOME!" He tackles me into a hug, and I manage a laugh and a smile when Inuyasha glares at him for only acknowledging me. Shippou simply brushes him off, probably assured that he won't get hurt as long as I'm holding him. "Inuyasha," he huffs toughly, and I giggle. He grins cheekily, and I return it, especially when he asks, "Are you gonna get my body today?"

"Uh-huh," I say, walking into the house, leaving the door open for Inuyasha even though it's unnecessary. Suddenly remembering something, I open my clasped hand and slide the bracelet onto Inuyasha's wrist so that he can walk on surfaces like a normal person and touch any light object, etc. Then I wander through the house, going to the basement door, and I'm about to open it when I'm sort of, maybe shoved out of the way.

I glare at Inuyasha, but he merely huffs air. "Wench, I'm going to go check it out."

"Whatever you say," I mumble with a roll of my eyes, turning to Shippou as Inuyasha goes downstairs. "Hey, you want to play I Spy?" I ask him, and he nods excitedly. After I teach him the game, we both take turns pointing out something in the house and guessing what the object is. It's only after we've done this for a while that I realize Inuyasha hasn't come back up.

What in the hells…? I tell Shippou, "Wait here; I'll be right up," and open the door further as I call, "Inuyasha!"

He snaps, "Don't come down here!"

Okay, scratch my previous thought. It's now, What the FUCK?

I'm about to step down when he appears out of nowhere, looking like he'd just seen a ghost. He ushers me out, and I scowl at him, mentally demanding an explanation. "Don't go down there," he says simply, his face pale.

My frown burns deeper into my expression. I'm pretty sure this isn't normal behavior. Even for a bipolar hanyou, this isn't anywhere close to normal behavior (or sane, at that). "What's going on, Inuyasha?"

"Hey, runt," Inuyasha mutters, making Shippou's back straighten. "You're staying with me in the tree from now on, okay?" Eyes shining with admiration, the kit nods before racing out of the room, undoubtedly heading for the shrine as he chants something along the lines of "I get to hang out with Inuyasha and Kagome!" I turn to Inuyasha and raise an eyebrow, wondering exactly why he did that. He just grumbles before grabbing my arm and pulling me out of there.

Hey, hey, hey!"Jerk!" I snap childishly, jerking out of his hold and walking on my own. I do not like to be manhandled. But I'm wondering, what happened down there…?

The rest of the night, I clean out the shrine for Jii-chan, reheat his dinner and give it to him when he's awake, and help Souta with his homework. It's only after I've taken my shower and dressed for bed that I realize Inuyasha was acting kind of weird today. I put on my slippers before walking outside to the tree, where he's startlingly awake. From how he seemed to sleep this morning, I thought he would've been out by now. Taking note of Shippou sleeping securely on the branch nearby him, I whisper, "Inuyasha?" His ear twitches, acting as his greeting. "Hey, I was in my room, thinking, and I was wondering…" Here's the grand moment:

"So, uh, what did you think of my school?"

Wow, am I lame or what?

His eyebrows noticeably furrow. "What?" I sigh, and he growls, "I know what you said, wench, I just wanted confirmation." He then pauses before grunting, "The kids stank, it was too fucking noisy, there was always that bell that made me want to kill a mass of people, and the food stank just as much as the people. Oh, and at that, THERE WAS A FUCKING WOLF DEMON IN THERE!"

I blink. And stare at him. Then ask, "So, you liked it?"

"Keh, it was okay," he confesses with a shrug. "Better than being around my brother," he mutters.

I consider asking about that until I recall he doesn't like to really talk about anything personal. So instead, I actually pop the question I wanted to ask in the first place:

"Why?"

Aren't I descriptive?

Inuyasha turns to give me a baffled expression, and asks lowly, "What?"

"Why did you take care of me during school today?" I question. "Why did you warn me that it was Hojo's twin? Why did you even tell me about the murders?" I mean, it's obvious he doesn't care for me, a miko and whatnot, and I can't be trusted, so why was he so, I don't know, caring and helpful?

He simply fehs and turns back to looking out at the sky that he seems to find so interesting. I sigh as a few moments pass, and go to turn back when he states, "A little birdie told me to be nice to you."

I snort instantly. "A little birdie"? That does not sound like something he'd say. I ask innocently, "Which kind of bird?"

He whips around, and I blink as I process the serious look on his face. Inuyasha? Being serious? Why has he been so serious ever since school ended? His sun-kissed eyes scorch in the darkness of the night, and I can just imagine my water-pooled orbs widen when he murmurs in reply,

"The dead kind."