Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I do, however, own Hachi's wife Minako-san.

Chapter Four: August 11th

I stared at my closet, unmoving and unable to manage a cohesive train of thought. I could feel as Koga's frustration and impatience with me grew tangible, but I still couldn't bring myself to pack. We were running out of the time allotted to us by Sesshomaru-san to prepare. I didn't move a muscle.

Sesshomaru-san still hadn't told us where we'd be staying during our protective custody; his only instruction was to pack as much as we could in as little time as possible. Aoi Koga was stuck watching over me as I tried to follow orders, with Inuyasha over at Kagome-chan's while she did the same. In all fairness, it was rather difficult to pack when I didn't know what to pack for, and doing anything while still sluggishly trapped in my state of mental numbness was proving to be quite a feat on its own.

I heard Koga begin to grumble something under his breath. "You gotta get a move on, Tsujitani-san," he called to me irritably. "We've got to get you out of here."

"I know," I answered, my voice dry and scratchy from underuse. I hadn't had much to say since Sesshomaru-san informed me of the protective custody. Kagome-chan, however, was a different story. She was on a continual roll, her questions and demands coming one right after the other: in Sesshomaru-san's office, on the drive back to her apartment; she most likely was still giving Inuyasha an earful. She wanted to know every aspect of the chief of police's decision, though I didn't have much to ask about. They were sending Kagome-chan and I away, for an unknown amount of time to be constantly babysat by Sesshomaru-san's younger brother, with no contact to family or friends. What else was there to know about?

I stiffly reached for a T-shirt from my closet shelf. At least I knew enough that all of my suits and ties were probably not needed, wherever I was headed. After the initial move, blindly grabbing clothes and shoving them into the open suitcase on my bed was surprisingly easy. I made sure to pack plenty of the essentials, though judging from Koga's raised eyebrow as I threw socks and boxer shorts into the suitcase, I might've been overdoing it.

I grabbed a few books to keep me busy (though without my phone and laptop I wasn't quite sure how I was going to make it), and after packing a few essentials from the bathroom, I was ready. Looking to Koga, I shrugged lamely, showing him my packed suitcase. He nodded approvingly, and I followed his quick glance to the clock on the wall of my bedroom. After all of that stalling, I still managed to pack in just over five minutes.

Koga made a quick phone call, grabbing my suitcase for me and leaving it at the ready by the front door while I stood in the kitchen uselessly, my hands in my pockets. I took a quick moment to say goodbye to my very expensive, optimally located, rent-controlled apartment. Who knew when I would see this place again?

Koga cursed into his phone and I wandered out into the living room to join him, my curiosity piqued.

"How much longer is she going to take?" he complained, pinching his eyes shut and kneading his temple with his thumb. There was a pause as he waited for the other line—I could only guess it was Inuyasha—to answer. "What do you mean you don't know?" he shouted after a moment.

I chuckled to myself as I made my way back into my bedroom. Apparently, Kagome-chan had been unable to make up for as much lost time as I had in packing. I sat on the edge of my bed, my head down and my eyes focused on my folded hands. We were down to the wire now. I gave my dresser, with its drawers mostly empty and half-opened a miserable look. I only had until Kagome-chan was finally ready, then I really would be leaving this place until God only knew when.

I sighed heavily, throwing myself backwards onto the mattress. Something on the nightstand caught the corner of my eye and I spied my phone, unpacked and sitting there silently as if it had already endured a month of no use. I glanced nervously back down the hallway, straining my ears to hear Koga's activity. By the sound of his irritated voice, he was still arguing with Inuyasha on the phone.

Looking back at my phone, I gulped. I only had this one last opportunity to call somebody before I was officially off the map. Making a split-second decision, I reached for my phone, scrolled through my recent calls and found Hachi's number.

"Hello?" It was a female voice, though not unknown to me.

"Minako-san?" I asked in a hushed voice, immediately identifying the voice of the answerer as Hachi's wife.

"Yes." She sounded confused. "Did you need something Miroku-sama?"

I was confused as well. It was early enough in the afternoon that Hachi should've still been at work. So why was Minako-san answering his cell phone?

"Is Hachi with you?"

"No, he's still at work," she verified. "He left his phone at home; are you not in the building?"

"No," I answered in kind. My stomach fell a little at not being able to reach Hachi. He was my oldest and only true friend; I felt I owed him a little more of an explanation than I'd left him with before my meeting with Sesshomaru-san earlier today.

"You have his work number don't you?" Minako-san was asking. "I can give it to you again, if you'd like."

"That's okay," I denied, giving the clock on the wall a quick glance. From the sound of things, Koga was wrapping up his own phone call. I wouldn't have time to make a second one anyway. "Listen, can you give him a message for me, though?"

Minako-san was instantly alerted. "Is something wrong, Miroku-sama?"

I hesitated. There was no clean way to answer that question, even with as simple as it was. "N-no," I finally stammered, then sighed. "Just tell him to look out for himself, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, though by her tone I could hear that she wasn't satisfied with my answer.

"I'm going to be out of town for a while, and I won't have my phone," I continued, hurriedly trying to get out all that I felt needed to be said. "I just wanted to make sure that he'll be alright."

"Okay," Minako-san repeated, sounding much more unsettled. "I-I'm sure we'll be fine, Miroku-sama." There was a short pause, and then she asked, "Will you be alright?"

I smiled in spite of myself. Minako-san was the best woman, and she was perfect for Hachi. She always treated me like the son they never had.

"I'll be fine," I assured her quietly. "I've got to go though, Minako-san. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too," she responded earnestly. "I'll see you later, Miroku-sama."

I hung up quickly, barely managing to put my phone back in its place on the nightstand as Koga came around the corner. There was something about the way Minako-san had bid farewell on the phone that suddenly made me feel much better. It wasn't a goodbye; it was a "see you later." The inconclusiveness and certainty of the statement seemed to be just the pick-me-up I needed. This wasn't going to be permanent.

"Hey," Koga alerted me from the doorway, and I suddenly realized he was accompanied. I was briefly stymied; I hadn't heard a knock or the intercom buzz. "You have a visitor."

"Koharu-chan," I greeted with mild surprise. I had risen to meet her, but the force of her embrace knocked us both back onto the bed.

"You have five minutes," Koga informed me. "Kagome-san's ready; we've got to get this show on the road."

Koharu-chan scowled back at Koga as he left us alone. "Oh, Miroku," she whined, turning back to me, "Do you really have to go on this business trip now?"

I raised an eyebrow. So that was the excuse they were giving for my sudden absence.

"Uh, yeah," I fumbled, scratching the back of my head. "I do. It's—it's very important." I was baffled at my lack of composure. Did I actually feel bad about lying to her?

She huffed. "Well, how long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure."

Making a small cry of protest, Koharu-chan buried her face in my shirt. "We're supposed to get married in a month, though. Will you be back in time for that?"

I balked. Was our wedding really that soon? How had I managed to block that rather important detail out until now? "I'm not sure," I repeated, wincing slightly as I elicited another indignant and shrill cry.

"C-can I at l-least c-come see y-you?" she wept, her voice halted by watery hiccups.

"No," I said, feeling lower than dirt. Sure, it takes a bomb and being forced to live under police protection for me to actually start caring about Koharu-chan. "Listen, I'll be back as soon as I can," I promised vaguely.

This did little to console her, her sobs growing in volume as Koga came back from the living room to retrieve her.

"Time's up," he said. "Let's get a move on."

"Honestly," Koharu-chan cried bitterly as I helped her to her feet. She wiped her nose daintily. "Of all times for you to be sent away for business… What about the police? Are they just going to follow you?"

Koga answered for me. "Yep." His answer was brazen. "So you don't have to worry about him, Nanako-san." He looked to me. "Ready?"

I nodded, turning back to Koharu-can. "I've got to go," I informed her as gently as I could. "I'll see you when I see you, yeah?" I tried to smile encouragingly.

She threw her arms around my neck and clung to me tightly. "Will you still marry me when you get back?" she asked pitifully.

I hesitated; I couldn't help it. I may have had some sort of newly developed fondness for her, but I was almost certain that had formed due to my sudden, unwanted leave. Our upcoming wedding still didn't fill me with any sort of excitement or anticipation.

"Yeah," I told her, cursing myself inwardly as I spoke. I walked her to the door, not having much of a choice as she held my arm in a vice-like grip. "It'll be fine," I said positively as she stepped into the hall.

Koharu-chan nodded sadly. "I love you, Miroku."

"I know," I said awkwardly in return. We kissed, and I did my level best to make sure she controlled herself while in front of Koga. He shut the door almost immediately after we parted, and I looked at him, startled. Weren't we supposed to be on our way out as well?

He was eyeing me with a strange look, giving me a smirk that was decidedly unpleasant. "You didn't say it back."

I bristled. "Say what back?"

"You didn't say you loved her."

I scoffed, grabbing my suitcase and pushing passed him to get to the door. "What do you care?" I demanded lowly.

"Hey," Koga defended himself, putting his hands up in submission. "I'm only saying. I mean, you are engaged to her after all."

I studied him for a moment, stalling before we boarded the elevator. "Are you trying to rub your perfect marriage with Ayame-san in my face?"

His smirk widened malevolently. "Not at all," he swore unconvincingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Let's just hurry to Kagome-chan's. I want to get this over with."

We'd been on the road for hours. I'd been the gentlemen and relinquished the passenger seat to Kagome-chan, though I now regretted this. I felt shut out of the conversation in the back, and was forced to entertain myself for a great portion of the ride. However, as time wore on, it became very apparent that Inuyasha and Kagome-chan's conversation was one that I did not want partake in.

At first, I'd chalked up her nervousness to the fact that we had no idea where we were going to be living for the next while and the fact that there were people out there that obviously wanted us dead. Then I began to realize that she wasn't actually nervous at all. All of the shy looks, self-consciously tucking her hair behind her ear, making sure to touch her hand to his arm exactly the right number of times and for just the right length of time; I'd seen the same tricks pulled by too many women to not know what was going on in the front seat. Kagome-chan was flirting with Inuyasha, and expertly at that.

In all honesty, I had to admit to myself that I was jealous. If I'd known that Kagome-chan was this good a flirt, I would've tried much harder at wooing her, and I certainly wouldn't have given up so easily. How could she be so scary with me and be so shamelessly affectionate with Inuyasha? Is it even possible to contain all that in one person?

I tried to think back on all of the relationships of Kagome-chan's that I'd known about. Stymied, I only came up with one: a former employee named Hojo-kun. This, however, led me nowhere as I remembered that while she handled him more kindly than me, she still turned him down flat. There had been a rumor that was the reason why he'd quit, something about being too embarrassed to continue working with the girl who'd rejected him. This had led me to believe that Kagome-chan was just extremely picky, though she'd apparently decided she already found what she was looking for in Inuyasha.

I scoffed mutely to myself as I watched her little game unfold up front. Stupid, lucky bastard.

Finally, Kagome-chan sighed genuinely. "How much longer, Inuyasha? We've been driving for hours."

"We're almost there," Inuyasha responded gruffly. "Maybe another twenty miles or so."

I glanced out the tinted windows doubtfully. We were in the middle of nowhere. It looked highly unlikely that we'd come across a town within the next twenty miles. Images of a horrible, creaking shack standing alone in a barren, black wasteland came to mind and I swallowed heavily. Sesshomaru-san wouldn't do that to us, would he?

The next few miles passed in silence and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding as the first signs of civilization started to appear. It was scant, but at least we weren't going to be completely alone. Then I remembered that both Sesshomaru-san and Inuyasha had vehemently stated that we were not going to be allowed to leave the safe house freely, and I frowned. What good was civilization if I couldn't even enjoy it? I found myself wondering if we might as well have been banished to that creaking abandoned shack from my imagination.

Suddenly, Inuyasha turned off the main highway (if a two-lane street with only one stoplight could be called a highway) and began driving along a thin, one-lane dirt road. The already small town completely melted away as he pushed forward, the headlights of the car the only thing lighting our way.

We continued a little further, until finally the shape of a small cabin was illuminated by the headlights. Not a shack, but not exactly what I'd call homey either. In terms of a safe house, it seemed altogether pitiful. Inuyasha slowed the car to a stop right alongside the cabin and took the keys out of the ignition.

"Welcome home," he said sardonically, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car. He went around to the trunk to retrieve our suitcases, while still inside the car, Kagome-chan and I exchanged uneasy looks.

Finally, I shrugged and followed after Inuyasha, lagging behind as I waited for Kagome-chan. She caught up with us, clutching her purse in a death grip as she surveyed the cabin anxiously.

"Okay," I heard her mutter to herself. "Everything's going to be okay."

Inuyasha dug around in his pocket momentarily before producing a single key on a ring. Before he turned the key in the lock however, he paused. Curious, I leaned around his shoulder to see what he was doing. There was a ten-digit keypad located just below the doorknob, something that I hadn't noticed before. I tried to spy as he punched in the code, but his shoulder blocked too much of my view.

Pushing the door open, Inuyasha stood aside to let Kagome-chan and I enter the cabin first. Kagome-chan stepped in ahead of me, and I heard a sharp gasp as I followed suit.

"Oh my…"

"Kagome-chan?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

I followed her gaze, my mouth falling open dumbly as I looked around the cabin. If I thought the cabin made a lackluster safe house, it was only because I hadn't seen the inside yet. From floor to ceiling the walls were lined with thick metal plates, bolted securely around the frames. The floor itself was actually concrete, with a shaggy rug tossed lazily in the front room. All the windows had been boarded up, with the only light source being the flickering florescent lights that appeared to be all throughout the cabin. The furnishings were limited to the bare minimum, and everything looked to be untouched for quite some time.

"Well," Inuyasha said, folding his arms and plopping down on the sagging couch. "Whattaya think? Feel safe yet?"

He was trying to mess with us, though Kagome-chan and I were still too busy staring around the front room and attached kitchen with awe. Finally I looked back at Inuyasha, shaking my head in disbelief. I couldn't believe a place like this actually existed.

"Yeah," I muttered, dropping my suitcase at my feet. "I think I feel safe."