Disclaimer; I don't own Inu Yasha

Someone at the door!

Kirara watched as the grieving female collapsed into a hysterical fit of sobs, and she would had fallen over her if it hadn't been for the husband who fell down on his knees and caught her. The man laid his arms around his wife and let her cry in his embrace for a long time while Kirara sat patiently and kept guard over them.

The sun disappeared behind the city's skyline and was followed by a cold breeze which made the couple shiver. At last the woman opened her eyes and looked at her again, probably surprised that the feline hadn't moved.

"Mew." Kirara said, stood up and walked a few steps closer before she sat down and let her tails wag emotionally against the cold stone they were sitting on, "Mew….!"

"Are you still there?" The lady said with a broken voice full of sorrow, "Go home, there is nothing here for you."

The man suddenly looked around, "Who are you talking to? Is somebody here?"

"It is a cat" the woman said and nodded towards Kirara, "Probably one of those stray cats Kentaro feed when he is out in the garden. She must be waiting for him to give her food."

"It doesn't look like a stray cat," the man said. "It looks too nice and it doesn't seem afraid so it must be someone's pet, but I have never seen a cat like this one before."

"Who cares as long as my child is gone!" the woman screamed. "My poor little boy."

The man rocked his wife, "Have hope my dear, didn't the letter tell they would return him if we did as they said. I will make sure the men will be acquitted in court and they will keep their word."

"I wish we could tell the police," she cried

"Yes, I know. But who knows what they will do to him if they find out. I have met people like those in court before and their threats aren't empty."

The man stood up and pulled his wife up with him. "Let's go inside again, there is nothing we can do for now, only hope they take care of Kentaro while they have him."

Kirara moved out of the way to let them walk past, she sat still and watched the humans until they disappeared inside and closed the door, leaving Kirara all alone in the empty garden. Someone had abducted their little son, the humans had left no doubt about that. What should she do now? They hadn't said who had taken him or shown any knowledge that they knew where he could be, all they knew for sure was written on the paper the woman had clutched in her hand, and seeing it herself probably wouldn't make her any wiser. Kagome could possible have told her more.

The nekomata was in doubt, what should she do know? She didn't knew more on how the future world worked than what Kagome and her brother had told her and what she had seen on her last visit. All she knew was that Kagome would do everything in her power to find the little human if Kirara told her about it, but said priestess had her hands full with the upcoming trial where her friend would meet… Then again, could the child's abduction be connected to the same people who had threatened Eri earlier? Kirara thought hard about it. Sure, trials were few and far between back home and was really something only wealthy and powerful people had access to, but if Kagome was right, it was far more common in the future where guards made sure everyone was equal before the law and courts open for everyone.

If this was the case, perhaps Kagome's friend also would be threatened before she could witness against her attackers? Kirara stood up and walked around in circles as she thought. The trial was tomorrow, Eri hadn't shown any sign of being blackmailed when she visited Kagome, so if someone was to do it, they would probably do it very soon. Kirara looked up at the sky, the sun was gone and the night was approaching. Perhaps she should pay Eri a visit? After all, Kagome had asked her if she could watch over her friend so maybe she knew more about the dangers than she had told Eri. The priestess had met her share of bad people on their travels and had firsthand experience when it came to abductions…

Kirara turned around and looked at the silent house behind her, made up her mind and left.

The trip back on the bus was uneventful. Eri had found an empty seat and sat down on it from which see could see the different people who went on and off. Most people seemed to be men and women on their way back from work as their workdays ended, and she caught herself thinking if she one day also would be one of those. On the bus, off the bus, or the metro, to and from an ordinary job with fixed working hours where she only went home to eat and sleep. Eri sighed, she had always hoped for a little more excitement in her life than that, but then again, she already was aware of something that probably none but a very few knew about, the lie she would have to tell in court was a proof of that. The bus made ten stops during the twenty minute trip before it was her turn to leave, she left her seat and passed two other girls in school uniform, catching bits of their conversation; their next geography test. How lucky they were who wasn't supposed to stand in court to witness against three guys who had tried to assault them and several others.

Eri walked off the bus and watched it leave before she slowly started to walk, feeling more tired than ever. She would be glad when this whole ordeal was over and everything back to normal. The girl couldn't help but grin when thinking on that, not entirely normal. Kagome had something to explain to her, and she wouldn't back down until she had her answers, the girl was probably busy with more things than just being sick all the time. Still, she didn't want to do anything to alienate her best friend, she just wanted Kagome to open up for her and be honest, after all, they had been friends since day one at school.

Her home was two city blocks away from the bus stop and the street was crowded with people, but somehow Eri couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched as she walked. Was it her musings that gave her this feeling? She turned her head and began looking around but could not see anything out of the ordinary, just people.

Eri continued walking, there were plenty of people around her and approximately half of them walked in the same direction, she was just being silly she told herself. The horrible night through the construction site had probably scared her more than she thought; maybe she was developing paranoia because of that? But still….

She tried to walk faster just to test it… and yes, the feeling of being followed persisted, as if someone behind her also speeded up. No, it had to be wrong. She slowed down again and looked discrete behind herself. Nobody seemed to be walking faster than normal, but this almost made her suspicions worse and felt a cold chill creeping down her back. Her parents would be home, she would be safe there with them.

Eri took a deep breath and continued as if nothing was wrong. She didn't know if she really was being followed or if it just was her imagination and she longed to be back home inside the safety of their apartment on the sixth floor.

She hardly dared to breathe, and when she finally caught eye of the tall building she lived inside, Eri started to jog, something that soon turned into a sprint and this time she was sure someone followed. She made a dash to the main door with the key in her hand, opened it, shut it behind her back before she ran over to the elevator and pushed the button frantic as she glanced behind herself.

*….PING!...*

The elevator door opened, although painfully slow in Eri's panicking mind. She jumped inside and alternated between pushing the door-closing button and the button for the sixth floor. The doors finally closed and the thing started to move. Eri let herself slide down the wall until she sat on the floor, trying to calm herself. She was home now and nothing bad could happened here.

The machine didn't use many seconds before it arrived at her destination and opened its doors again. Eri peeked out, looking in both directions to see if she was alone. The hallways to the apartments were empty. Eri went out and started walking to the sound of the elevator closing its doors behind her. She had only taken a few steps before a rumbling sound made her jump and turn frightened around.

"Who is there?" she said nervous but couldn't see anyone. "Where are you?"

But the rumbling sound continued and Eri took a few steps back, staring hard down the main stairs to the left of the elevator, but nothing appeared. Then she suddenly recognized the sound. It was the elevator itself! She looked at the floor numbers and the decreasing numbers told her it was on it's way back down again. Feeling silly, Eri scowled at herself for being so stupid, scaring herself like that. She walked on, found the right door and locked herself inside.

"I am home! Mom, dad, are you here?" She asked loud and got two confirming yes at the same time. Feeling all worries and fears loose grip on her, Eri kicked off her shoes, went around the corner and through their white painted corridor, past her and her older sisters room before she came to the living room where her mother was putting plates on the dinner table.

"Hello dear, how was your school today and your…"

*…DUNK…SLAM…*

"Did you bring someone with you?" Her mother asked surprised and looked at the corridor her daughter just had come from.

Eri's face went white as a sheet, "No I didn't!" She almost whispered and felt her body went numb with fear once again, this couldn't be happening!

"No, not her, not home…! I closed the door, I locked it securely behind me I swear!" Eri swallowed and stepped backwards to her mom who seemed confused. Her dad suddenly decided to look out from the kitchen at the other end of the room to see what was going on but didn't get the chance to actually say or ask anything as a frightened Eri beat him to it.

"Who is there, how did you get in and why have you been following me?" she shouted. "Answer!"

The entire apartment went silent for a split second, but then the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor and a male voice spoke;

"Who I am is not of your concerns and as for how I got inside…, let us say I got my own special key…" The footsteps came closer.

"As for why I am here… I got these three friends of mine you see, and they seems to have run into trouble. And when they get into trouble… let us put it this way… others also get into trouble if they don't help them…"

Her dad rushed to her side with a frying pan, ready to protect, "Stay away" he said, "Or I will call the police!"

"I will advise you not doing that," the voice said, coming from just around the corner this time and Eri found herself clutching her father's hand. "Those guys often make things far worse than they need to be. All I ask of you is that during the trial you don't… AAAAAAhhh!"

Eri jumped back in surprise when the owner of the voice suddenly screamed, and the upper part of an ugly looking man fell halfway out from the corridor and landed on his nose as he didn't manage to use his hands to break the fall. The impact however made him lose something in his hand and it slid across the floor, but Eri immediately identified the object as a gun. The man himself, a middle-aged man with black hair and tiny pig-like eyes, had the back of his shirt torn open and with a nasty looking wound on his back. He ignored the pain and spun around on his elbows to look at the unidentified attacker.

Neither Eri nor her parents could see who the attacker was as the person was hidden behind the corner. Suddenly, a deep rumbling growl coming from the corridor, sent shivers down their spines and the man looked frightened behind himself. His face went pale as a ghost and he screamed again, but this time in horror.

"What! No, impossible!"

Panic gripped him and he began crawling to where his gun had landed but didn't get far as something got his feet and yanked him backwards, making him disappear into the corridor again.

"Aaahrg, help, please come and help me…!" the man begged as he screamed in fright and pain.

Both she and her parents ran to look around the corner, only to see the burglar being dragged away around the next corner to their entrance. He tried to hold onto the leg of a tiny table and stared pleadingly at them.

"Heeelp, please….., aargh. Spare me!"

"What is going on!" Her dad said frightened as the screaming man disappeared again, leaving a tiny trail of blood on the floor.

"…Stop let go of me…"

"Stay where you are, lock yourself into the bathroom, hide!" He ordered Eri and her mom as he tried to stop them from following after whatever it was. Eri however, made a sideways jump and slipped past her dad who yelled she had to stop. She leaped over a broken vase from the table, turned around the corner and came into the entrance room.

"..No pl…"

*….SLAM….!*

Eri stopped so fast that she almost fell over. Their door was open and whatever it was, it had taken him outside and brutally silenced him there. Her mom and dad was hot on her heels but didn't get to reach her before she peeked outside…

How was it this time, please review and tell.