I'm going out of order, but I felt I should post this anyways.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Ordinary
Chapter Twelve: Possession
It felt like Kagome's heart had stopped beating. "Tsuya?" she tried once again, screaming into the mouthpiece but it was too late. The phone beeped its disconnection.
"Oh my god," Kagome gasped, shutting her phone and turning to face Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Menomaru and Kagura. "I think he's got Tsuya."
"Tsuya Atsuko?" Kagura asked. "She would fit the profile."
"Fuck the profile," Menomaru growled. "It's only been a day. How can this be happening?"
"He's evolving," Sesshomaru said evenly, pulling out his cell phone, ready to make calls. "Officer Minori, the ninth victim, was bound. Her arms and legs were tied to the head and footboards. This has never happened before. Also, she was drugged. There were traced of Valium in her system. Anything is possible now."
Kagome snapped her fingers. "Mr. Mizutani! Menomaru, do you know him?"
Menomaru glared at her, odd. "Of course. Why?"
"His wife," Kagome replied, looking at the group. "Tsuya called to tell me that she suspected the wife."
"And for what?" Menomaru demanded.
"Tsuya's a psychic – like me. But she's an empath. She can read emotions. Somehow she's got it that the wife has something to do with it. Isn't she a teacher? She told me that if you don't have anything to search her on, she will file a child- abuse report. Does he have kids?"
"Just one," Menomaru answered, nodding. "But not with his current wife. She's only the step-mother."
"Search her," Sesshomaru said, nodding. "I'll call the station and get the people moving. I'll get a basic perimeter around her house."
"Don't," Inuyasha warned, giving Sesshomaru a look. "If you put your men there, the killer will know. He'll go somewhere else, and we may never find the body."
"Then what do you suggest?" Kagura asked, shaking her head. "There's not much we can do. Just hope that we spot him."
"It won't be that easy," Kagome interrupted. "This guy – our killer has an advantage. He has to be psychic or something. He can talk to me, maybe clairvoyant? I don't know but I didn't sense his power."
"Miroku did say from the very beginning that there was a psychic around," Inuyasha mentioned, turning to Kagome. "Remember? He said it would explain why your powers are evolving."
"Fuck this shit," Menomaru cursed. "Alright. Send two cars, undercover. That's the least I'll go."
Together, the five of them rushed to the station. Kagome's head was starting to feel light. The voices were becoming too loud. As they entered the station, a few officers had set up a laptop in the conference room. Kagome looked at it and back at the others in horror.
"You didn't," she warned, feeling her stomach roll with nausea.
"If it starts happening," Sesshomaru stated, "we need every bit of information we can get."
Kagome massaged her temples. "Who the hell is doing this?"
"You tell me," Menomaru asked. "We still have shit for leads. The only reason we have a lead is because of Tsuya Atsuko..."
The rest of his voice faded as the room dimmed. Kagome whipped her head around, wondering what was going on. What was happening? Why didn't anyone else notice the darkness? And then it hit her.
The room went completely grey, only slight whites and blacks were the only other shades. She could hear the sound of whining, of sadness, and Kagome held her hands on her head, trying to listen to the voices of the dead.
She was in the Grey Time, and before she could move, before she could utter a word to warn Inuyasha, Sasara's ghost floated in front of her, bending down to meet her eyes. Sasara opened her mouth but no sound came out; however this time Kagome knew what to do. She let the voices consume her.
Kagome didn't think that it would ever be easy. It was like willing yourself to be taken over by a completely alien being. They had power over your body and you didn't. She just hoped that what happened last time would be the same for this time. She wanted control. She needed control.
"There's not much time," Sasara whispered.
"Who's doing this? Tell me who is killing all of these women. Tell me who killed you. Nothing will happen to you," Kagome tried to reassure, but Sasara shook her head wildly, as if her statement was unbelievable.
"You don't know," the ghost managed to say. "He'll kill me. He'll kill her."
"Tsuya?" Kagome asked.
Sasara frowned. "Who?"
Kagome shook her head. "Sasara, who is he going to kill?"
And that's when she started twitching. Sasara's entire body shook, and she looked around the room, her face contorted in pain. "He's coming. Oh god, he's coming," she panicked. "Kagome, listen to me. It's in the song. Kagome, it's all in the song."
"Sasara, no! Stay here! Who's hurting you?" Kagome screamed. She could feel something weird scratching at her back, but she ignored it. She needed to know who was doing this. She had to save Tsuya. "Tell me!"
Sasara's head bowed, blocking Kagome's view of her face.
Once more, Kagome tried. "Tell me who is doing this."
Possession.
And that's when she let out a scream. A scream filled with so much emotion, it tore Kagome to pieces. Sasara's ghost screamed pain, agonizing and deep and her face twisted with so much anguish, Kagome wondered if you really could kill a ghost.
"Sasara!" Kagome yelled, but it was too late.
Sasara was gone.
The grey surroundings started to fade, instead being replaced by brilliant colours that forced Kagome to blink. Her ears popped loudly and she covered them, hurting at the changes that surrounded her.
"Kagome! Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, the scratches belonging to him as he tried to grab her without success. "Come back to me!"
"It's in the song," Kagome murmured over and over again, rocking slightly. The voices were singing, their voices haunting her.
And when I see you again, it'll be with arms wide full of love. And I'll see you again; it'll be the day I live for, even when I'm dead. With arms full of love, I'll hold you and kiss you. Love you forever until death do us part, and death will do us part, for I am long, long dead. I am the dead. And you, the living. Breathe me back my soul and I will take you to a faraway place called home...
What did it mean?
"Tsuya's cell phone is shut off and she's not responding to her home phone," Menomaru said suddenly. Whipping around, Kagome realized that he had just walked into the conference room. She hadn't realized that he ever left.
"And your men?" Sesshomaru asked.
Shaking his head, Menomaru said, "They don't see a thing. There's absolutely no movement but there's no clear visual on the bedroom."
"We need to move in," Sesshomaru murmured.
"Wait!" Kagura announced, coming in from behind Menomaru. She, apparently, had left too. "I just got the basics on Mizutani's wife. It took a while, since there's absolutely nothing on her. I went through Mizutani's files, and located his primary information. He was married once and had a child: Soten Mizutani. She goes to the elementary school that Tsuya Atsuko teaches at. I haven't reached anyone though to confirm whether she's in her class."
"It's practically midnight on a Friday night. No one will answer," Menomaru interrupted.
"But that's not the point," Kagura continued. "He re-married a couple years ago."
"That's who Tsuya said to look up," Inuyasha stated, turning to look at Kagome briefly.
Are you okay? He never got a response.
"To who?" Menomaru asked.
Kagura shook her head. "You won't believe it."
Kagome, through all of this, was focusing on what Sasara said. It was all in the song, was it? Kagome tried to break it down, trying to figure out what all of it meant. Some of it seemed pretty straightforward. Other bits seemed to make no sense at all. But the very last line...
Breathe back my soul and I will take you to a faraway place called home.
How could you breathe back someone's soul? And what was home?
The voices of the dead chanted the song over and over, making it sound almost like a soothing lullaby. If this was the song that the dead sang, it had to mean something to those that were dead. Would "home" then be considered Heaven?
How could you breathe back a soul?
Breathe back a soul...
Breathe back a soul...
"I have no clue," Inuyasha's deep voice boomed, breaking Kagome's train of thought. She looked up at him, a scowl lining her features. He shook his head. "But I didn't really pay attention. Kagome? Do you know her?"
"Who?" Kagome asked. "I was thinking."
"The receptionist," Kagura answered. "Mariya Mashina. She's Mizutani's husband but she goes by her maiden name during work."
"Yeah, I know her," Kagome said, not understanding. "She was the one that flirted with Miroku all the time. She was all over him."
"That's Mizutani's second wife. She's the step-mother of Soten. The one that Tsuya wants us to look at," Sesshomaru stated. "Does that make any sense?"
Kagome shook her head. "I haven't had contact with her myself. She dealt with Miroku, trust me."
"It doesn't even fit the profile," Menomaru argued. "Why are we looking into her? She's a female, not much upper strength in general and from the picture on our database she's not exactly strong. That wouldn't fit with anything we profiled for this entire case."
"It's a male," Sesshomaru confirmed. "There's no other way around it. It can't be a woman."
Possession.
"Oh dear fuck," Kagome whispered, her eyes wide in horror.
"What?" Inuyasha demanded, shaking her should slightly. "What are you thinking?"
"'Breathe back my soul and I'll take you to a faraway place called home'. It fits!" Kagome cheered. "Home is Heaven. And to breathe back someone's soul is to make the dead human again. Alive. It makes sense."
Menomaru scoffed. "A woman is going to be killed and you're cheering about some fucking riddle?"
"No!" Kagome yelled, whirling to face him. "It's the song that the dead use to refer to our killer. Our killer is male but our killer is dead. Don't you get it? It's possession."
For a long moment, everyone just looked at her. Kagome growled. "And I'm the one holding us back?" she shouted. She shook her head and then turned to Inuyasha. "Don't you remember? When you first met me, Miroku talked to you about the idea that spirits – dead people – could live again if they took over a human mind. If a door from the Grey Time, or limbo between worlds, is opened, a spirit could have the ability if they were strong enough to invade the human mind! That's what happened."
"So our killer is male," Sesshomaru concluded. "But our body is female. The strength–"
"It doesn't matter," Kagome argued. "The body can do anything. Anything at all. The reason that we stop ourselves most of the time is because we feel that we're too weak, or that it hurts too much. We have powers around us, surrounding us that we don't even know about. Every human has a latent psychic ability but most just can't access it. If the killer has it in his head that it's possible – it's possible."
"So Mariya Mashina-Mizutani has been possessed by a ghost? And now she's killing people? Why?"
"We have to figure out who the killer is first," Kagome answered, shaking her head hopelessly. "But the killer can't disappear like a ghost can. He's obviously so powerful that he's been slowly taking over Mariya's mind. She's losing the battle for her own body."
"I'll call her work and see when she was last in," Kagura said, nodding and leaving the room.
"It makes perfect sense. Sasara has been afraid to talk to me because she was afraid of dying. The killer was a ghost so I guess he could hurt her in the Grey Time if he so chose. That's why I can talk with him."
Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her tight. "But why are you connected? Why are you able to look into these deaths and write these stories?"
Kagome shrugged. "I don't know Inuyasha. I just don't know."
"I just called the Palace," Kagura shouted, walking back into the conference room. "The last time she was at work was earlier today, around three p.m. She was sick with a major headache. Her supervisor said she had them a lot and that medicine never worked. That's the last they've seen her."
"Bingo," Kagome said. "Headaches are a sign of the invasion on her mind. He was attacking her brain the entire time but her body just didn't know how to register it."
"So Tsuya was right," Menomaru said; his voice deadly calm. "And that puts her in the killer's sights."
"Get your men inside!" Sesshomaru barked, turning around and lifting his shirt to reveal the gun in its holster. "We need to get to her house now."
"What about scaring her?" Menomaru asked. "We can't risk it...either way."
"He – she's changing her M.O. every time," Kagura added. "By this point, there may not even be a guarantee that it will be in her bedroom."
Menomaru started making loud, clear orders as they left the conference rooms, several officers paging the vehicles under surveillance. The orders were clear. They had to move in.
Kagome made it to the doorway when her body crumpled over, the voices no longer singing the soothing lullaby but screaming as if on fire. She covered her ears, but knew it would do no good. The voices were inside her head, not out.
"Kagome! Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled. "Talk to me."
"The voices..." Kagome panted, wincing in pain. "They're screaming...so loud."
A scream tore out of Kagome's lips and she threw herself across the room, her arms and hands tensing and then releasing.
"She's having an episode!" Inuyasha yelled, running towards her but yelling at Sesshomaru. "She's starting to write the story. Get them in now or Tsuya's dead!"
Sesshomaru looked at Menomaru who nodded.
They only had a matter of seconds and the clock was ticking.
"No!" Kagome screamed, her voice eerie with the sounds of the dead lacing into it. "I...will not...do it!"
But her body wouldn't listen. It was as if she was a puppet in some sick show, forcing her to kill off another person. Kagome realized that it was almost like murder. Writing their deaths meant their deaths were already occurring. She was easily an accomplice.
"Kagome, I'm right here," Inuyasha murmured, grabbing her body and holding her tight against him. She threw herself onto the floor, barely managing to escape his grasp.
"Inuyasha," Kagome panted, looking up at his amber eyes in despair. "Don't let me do it. Don't let me kill her."
Inuyasha nodded. I won't hurt you.
But I won't kill her, Kagome argued. You have to.
Inuyasha leapt on top of Kagome's squirming body, forcing all of his weight to fall on her fragile body. His muscles tensed as he pinned her down, making her arms and legs tuck into herself so she couldn't kick or scratch. Kagome let out a howling cry of agony, as her hands reflexively started to drum against the floor.
My hands, Kagome cried in her mind. They do everything.
Inuyasha didn't even think. He couldn't think. He knew what she was asking of him and he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Inuyasha, now. You have to do it now. Kagome pleaded with him desperately.
I can't hurt you. I won't hurt you Kagome.
There's no other way.
Inuyasha choked hard, wondering if their relationship would ever be completely and utterly normal. He wondered if it would ever have the chance.
Do it.
No, Inuyasha fought.
Now, Inuyasha. If you don't do it so help me God–
Kagome never got a chance to finish her statement, because Inuyasha's fist pounded on her head.
Suddenly, her world when devastatingly black.
There she is. My pretty.
She was going to rat me out. She knew who I was.
But she never knew the full extent of it, did she?
And that's what's going to end her life.
She's going to die.
She's going to die now.
Tick tock, here I come.
Tsuya... Be ready.
I'm going to kill you.
And this time, your heart won't be the first stab I make.
Tsuya Atsuko never realized that she would actually die this way.
She was strapped to her bed, the darkness pooling around her. The dresser that sat in the far corner looking menacing, unlike the thoughts she previously had. The mirror looked broken. The lamp looked twisted. The paint looked like it was peeling.
All if it were signs of death.
Because Tsuya knew she was going to die.
She always thought that she would avoid death. She felt that her abilities as a psychic would prevent any such death from occurring. A murderer usually premeditated their victims. Tsuya knew that she was premeditated but... She never came into contact with the step-mother of Soten.
That had to be the killer.
Had to be.
The evil that was felt in the child covered the room, practically suffocating her like a heavy blanket. This was the evil that was haunting Soten. This was the evil that killed Minori.
This was the evil that was going to kill her.
Her psychic abilities were useless now. The only thing that she could hope for was that Kagome had listened to her and that they were searching for Mariya right now. But she wouldn't give them enough credit to say that they would find her on time. Tsuya had been around long enough, had seen enough nightly news and read enough newspapers to know that death surrounded everyone.
Tsuya was going to die tonight. She just wished she could tell Nobunga good bye one last time.
She just wished she could tell him how much she loved him, and how desperately she wanted to say yes to his proposal a few days before, but didn't because she feared this.
She should've said yes.
It would be her only regret.
Regrets are useless now.
Tsuya wondered when it would happen. It would hurt and she expected that. She didn't expect the gods to be so gracious as to let her die instantly. The killer didn't get off on that.
Nobunga, I love you.
There's no point in praying.
Tsuya felt the first tears start to roll down her cheeks. She was terrified. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die.
You've been a bad girl.
Sobs started to wrack her body as footsteps in the hall came closer to her bedroom. This was it. Her time was up.
A bad, bad girl.
Mariya Mashina-Mizutani walked in, her face oddly cheerful as she licked her dry lips. Lovingly, she caressed the knife in her hand.
"There are cops outside you know," Mariya said.
Instantly, Tsuya's world fell apart. Two things occurred to her: one, Mariya just gave her hope because the cops were near; and two, Mariya's voice wasn't female.
It was the voice of a man.
"But don't worry, you're going to die before they even get near," the dark voice taunted, twirling the blade. Slowly, Mariya climbed on top of Tsuya, her hair flowing down and tickling Tsuya's body. The knife, gleaming in the darkness by the light that streamed through the crack of a small curtained window traced patterns on her body. Red lines followed the tip of the blade and Tsuya choked on a sob.
"There's no use in crying Tsuya. You're going to die. It's the end."
Tsuya closed her eyes and waited for the pain.
She closed her eyes and thought of Nobunga's face.
She closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.
Until the knife was rammed into her body.
Yay! Another ending. Lovely. ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT!
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