Yes, I managed to update! Finally sorry for the wait everyone. I do apologize for that. My muse seems to bounce around a lot. Right now I'm on Hetalia kick. I blame Uchiha B, she's been putting out too many Hetalia fics. Not that I'm really complaining either.

Chapter Two

The Target

Over the next few days everyone busied themselves as much as possible by digging through Kagome Higurashi's past. Hiro-san even talked to a few of her co-workers. However even with Alice's skills there wasn't much to discover on the net. By all appearances she was exactly what she appeared to be. A Hard working and brilliant but ordinary woman.

And yet something kept nagging at me throughout our investigation. Her recorded was too perfect with several small exceptions. The first thing Alice had done was to hack her former school's records. And it appeared what Higurashi-san said was true. Kagome-san's records from before her fith-teenth birthday were completely different than those that came later.

All of her teachers seemed to say something about her behavior (Private records of course). Sometimes it was her approach to a particular subject such as history. Others made note of her manner. According to them she was a brilliant student and very mature for her age, but at the same time very cynical. She had no friends that they were aware of, and very few peers that she would even talk to.

Her knowledge and understanding of certain aspects of history was tremendous and nearly un-heard of. It seemed that she had understood the Feudal Era even better than her teachers. Kagome's teachers had no problems recommending her to a good university. All in all she was a promising student.

Yet her records from before her birthday showed differently. The showed a girl with average grades and prospects. Though hard-working, by her records before Kagome Higurashi wouldn't have ever done as well as she did now.

I was immensely curious as to what caused her to change. Maybe it was just my own feelings or maybe it was something else altogether, but I wanted to know. Just what had caused her to change? I knew that I had certainly changed after I met Alice and the others. I had devised a plan to con the yakuza. Before I would have never even considered it.

Sou-san had even looked into any connection she might have with the underworld at Alice's request. In the end we had found nothing. Nothing that could possibly be the reason for such an abrupt change. And Alice was beginning to get frustrated. I knew it wasn't the fact she was disappointing Higurashi-san, but rather her own inability to find the answer. As for Higurashi-san, I didn't like her very much. There were several times that showed she cared little for her daughter anymore. I thought she might be seeking the answer out as vengeance rather than to help her daughter. Late in the afternoon while I was on break we met in Alice's room to discuss how we should proceed with our investigation.

"Alice? Maybe we should just ask her." I said after listen to everyone go back and forth for the past five minutes.

Alice sighed. "Narumi, she wouldn't tell her family. So you think she would trust a stranger. Kagome Higurashi is a cautious woman, and if nothing else has a secret. I should have never accepted a case like this."

"Just let me talk to her. Based on her mother's attitude, it's no wonder she won't talk. I doubt her mother cares much for her anymore. She probably blames whatever happened for taking away her 'perfect' daughter."

"And you don't?" Alice asked sharply. (I love Alice too, but she can get jealous over her 'assistant' even if she doesn't realize it.)

"It's not about that. I genuinely want to meet the person behind all of this!" I tossed up a few sheets of the data sheets.

"Affirmative. Vice-Admiral Fujishima, has shown skill in past operations. He might be able to approach the target without arousing suspicion. He's proven to effective at manipulating people as well." (Guess who said that? Our Favorite military nerd.)

Hiro-san raised his hand. "I agree with them, but I should probably go too. Narumi's presence might put her at ease, and I've got more experience with women." How could Hiro-san be so shameless about it?

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tetsu-san questioned

"No, right now it might be the best plan we have." Alice conceded. I couldn't figure out why she looked slightly upset. It was probably a pride issue though. "Narumi and Hiro might be able to get some answers. This is a first for me was well. A new type of case and a new way to gather information, I suppose it is only fitting. It's decided then. Tomorrow Narumi and Hiro will go to Higurashi Kagome's apartment."

I sighed when Hiro-san pulled out his phones and began to text on both at the same time. No doubt telling his girlfriends that he couldn't make it to whatever appointment they had set up. I turned away and headed downstairs. I needed to inform Min-san that I couldn't work tomorrow.

Besides there was only so much NEET a person could see in a day and still stay sane. I opened the back door and flinched at the sight of Min-san. I wasn't going to enjoy this.

"Narumi! We're busy here! Hurry up!" Some things never seem to change.

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"Are you sure this is the right way Hiro-san?" After school Hiro-san had met me at Hanamaru. He waved around a sheet of paper, and said to follow. I guess it was too much to assume he knew where to go.

"Hmmm, that's odd. I could have sworn it was around here." He looked over towards a group of young women and smiled. 'Just give me a minute. Hey ladies!" Hiro-san almost ran over to them in joy.

Seeing that it would most likely take a while, I sat down on a nearby bench and looked around. The area was definitely well kept and clean. Most of the people walking around looked like professional workers in their mid-twenties.

I had been sitting there for about five minutes before a young woman came up to me. At first I was shocked, she looked eerily similar to Alice. Long raven-black hair, milky white skin, and bright blue eyes. Though her eyes were a bit different. They were a deep sapphire blue and had a wisdom and sadness that Alice didn't.

"Excuse me, are you looking for something? You've been sitting here for quite a while. I don't recognize you."

I smiled. "I guess so. I was going with a colleague to meet someone, but he went off to ask for directions." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

She smiled, but it didn't completely reach her eyes. "We were looking for ********** Apartment Complex. (Yeah I'm going to be a bit lazy) The smile disappeared and she stared at me with un-veiled curiosity.

"I live near that area. Is there someone in particular you're looking for? She asked.

"Hmm I don't know her personally, but we were going to see Kagome Higurashi."

A curious expression came over her face. "And why would you want to visit her? She doesn't have any friends, and can be painfully cold towards other people. Her only passion is her work. So why?" The woman asked.

By this time Hiro-san was back and had heard part of our conversation. "It's a part of our job, besides . ." Hiro-san took the woman's hand and gave it a kiss. "Who would ever pass up the chance to meet a lady?" I sighed at his flirting. There goes someone who could have helped.

Her eye brows rose slightly and she removed her hand from Hiro-san's grasp. The woman turned back to me. "I believe I asked you why. Why would you want to meet Kagome Higurashi?"

I shuffled awkwardly under her gaze. "Though it is part of my job, I want to meet her. I suppose there's something I want to ask her."

"Hmmm" I couldn't tell what she was thinking. Then a peculiar smile came over her face. "Alright, I'll take you to her house. It's not that far from here." With that she spun around and walked away confidently. She seemed quite sure we would follow. But then again what choice did we have?

Hiro-san sighed. "Such a shame."

"A shame that you were rejected Hiro-san?" I paused and turned back towards the woman. "I'm sorry we never got your name."

She turned back towards us and smiled slightly. "I'm Kagome Higurashi."

And that's a wrap. Soooo how was it? I've got another story half done at the moment, so hopefully that will be out soon too. Thanks to everyone who commented, fav, or followed. By the way this Saturday and Sunday I and AnarchyNeko will be at the NekoCon convention. I'll be cosplaying as Alice, so if you want to yell at me there's your chance.