Lead Me Down the Garden Path
Investigations
"What can you tell us about the car chase?"
"Uh—well, it was horrible. I think it caused maybe five? Six accidents? I'm not sure. Can you tell me if all those people are okay, though? There are a couple people who—"
"I meant—do you know what caused it? What do you believe instigated the chase?"
"Oh, um, I don't really know."
"If you had to guess?"
"I'm sorry—I really don't have an answer for you."
"Describe the driver. What did the man with the firearm look like? What kind of weapon was it?"
"I never saw the driver, and it was a revolver of some kind."
"What did the man holding the revolver look like?"
"Oh, right—sorry. Um, he had red hair, wore face paint that was black? No, sorry, it was green face paint. I think. It was on his cheeks and forehead."
"More specifically?"
"Sorry, what do you mean?"
"Identifying details such as blemishes, scars, eye colour, hair colour."
"Oh, okay. No, sorry, I didn't see him closely enough for that. Oh, I was later told his name is Suikotsu, though. If that's helpful."
"Surname?"
"I don't know it. Sorry."
"Who told you his name?"
"My driver, Totosai."
"Surname?"
"Sorry…I don't know that either."
"Is that the old man you came in with today?"
"Yes."
"And how did Totosai know the shooter's name was Suikotsu?"
"Uh…he didn't tell me. He's worked for Inuyasha for a long time—at least I think it's been a long time. Either way I would presume Totosai's met him."
"You presume."
"Yeah."
"So you don't know for sure."
"No, I guess not. If it's any help, though, he's the Suikotsu from The Band of Seven."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because I was told."
"By this…Totosai?"
"Yes."
"I see. And how could you verify his identity for us?"
"Uh, well, I suppose if I saw a picture of him I'd know it was him."
"You suppose
"Well, I don't know—maybe Totosai could identify him; I didn't see the man that well."
"Hmm…okay. And the driver?"
"What about him?"
"What can you tell us about him?"
"Didn't I answer that already?"
"Please answer the question."
"Suh-sorry. Um, I never saw him. The Lexus was behind the limo most of the time and I couldn't see him clearly because the rear window was full of bullets."
"But you could see the shooter?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Uh, I just c—"
"—I don't understand how you could see the shooter, this 'Suikotsu', as per your driver, but you couldn't see the driver of the Lexus. Explain that to us."
"Um…" she squeezed her cold, shaking hands together to try to stop her trembling.
"—You're not in trouble, Miss Higurashi. It's just the standard questions for our incident report; we're just trying to understand what happened."
She nodded. "I understand that. I just don't really know what happened myself; I don't have the answers for you."
The car ride back to the house was silent as Kagome replayed parts of her interrogation in her mind. She couldn't help but feel like the two police officers who interviewed her must have thought she was useless. What good would her answers even be? She knew nothing. She saw nothing.
Maybe she should have taken Sango up on her suggestion to have legal representation present. Yes, Kagome was told she wasn't in trouble; but no normal, innocent citizen gets interrogated—or given the third degree that she felt she was given—for no reason.
Kagome sighed, her mind feeling heavy reflecting on her conversation that morning in the kitchen with Sango. Resting her cheek in her hand, Kagome watched the world fly by through the window. Thankfully, Totosai chauffeured her in a normal sedan; Kagome didn't think she could stomach another ride in a stretch limo ever again.
Adjusting her eyes to survey the outside landscape, Kagome felt another puff of an exhale leave her lips as the thought of Inuyasha surfaced in her mind.
Once her almost one-and-half-hour-long interrogation was finally over, Totosai had escorted her from the station. Upon exiting the building, Kagome and her driver had passed an introspective-looking Inuyasha, followed by Miroku, two older gentlemen in suits, and Sango. Kagome knew then that Inuyasha was going in for his questioning about the day prior equipped with his team of attorneys. She had known Sango was going with him; however, it had startled her to see him with a legal entourage. Was he in trouble? What warranted him needing that much of a legal presence? It had also reaffirmed to Kagome that maybe she was a stupid girl for thinking she didn't need a lawyer.
But again: she apparently wasn't in trouble.
Pulling her phone out of her purse, Kagome saw that she had received two more calls from her family: one from Souta and one from her mother. Kagome tore her eyes away from the device, guilt resting heavily in the base of her throat; it suddenly felt difficult to breath, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat.
You got this, girl. Relax…
Her eyes fell back on her phone. She still hadn't listened to the voicemail she received yesterday from her mother. Kagome knew she couldn't ignore her family forever; however, Kagome didn't feel ready or emotionally stable to handle the conversations she knew were going to be difficult. Yet, the more time that passed, the more difficult it became to instigate that conversation. So, Kagome ended up making her decision by refusing to do anything. She needed time, she told herself, as if that justified giving her family the cold shoulder.
Kagome's stomach squealed from having been awake for several hours with only two cups of coffee to quench her hunger. Resting an apologetic hand on her stomach, she put her phone away.
After having watched Inuyasha scurry from the bed after his nightmare, Kagome had been unable to return to sleep. Rather than sit pitifully in bed consumed by thoughts about the night—lips parting; gasps for air; warm, rough hands on her skin—she got out of bed, put on her housecoat and went downstairs to start up the coffee machine. Fortunately, despite the early hour, Kaede was already awake and had started the luxurious Italian machine; the smell of freshly ground coffee beans slowly rose to greet Kagome as she descended the stairs. However, Kagome had been surprised to find that Kaede wasn't around. When Kagome rounded the corner to enter the kitchen, her eyes widened to notice that Sango was the only inhabitant in the kitchen, dressed to the nines, and staring intently at frantic black scribbles in a notebook. A pencil bounced off her bottom lip.
"Sango, you're up already."
Sango jumped at Kagome's soft words and the girl smiled at her friend, releasing her grip on the pencil.
"Good morning, Kagome. How come you're up so early? Couldn't sleep?"
Kagome shook her head and took a seat at the breakfast bar next to Sango. Kagome didn't want to breach the subject of her night with Inuyasha. There were too many thoughts, concerns, worries, questions circling her mind. It was likely best to stay far, far away from the subject of Inuyasha right now.
"What are you writing?" she asked instead, changing the subject.
Sango turned her eyes to follow Kagome's line of sight to the notepad. Smiling at Kagome, Sango flipped the pad closed.
"I'm reviewing some of the questions that Inuyasha is likely to be asked during his interrogation. Miroku said I'll be going along with him simply for notetaking purposes; but, the notepad is me just going above and beyond." She smiled. "You know me; one hundred and ten per cent. I figure I should know what's going on."
"And what is going on?" Kagome pressed, leaning forward in her chair.
Sango smiled pitifully at her friend and patted her hand. "I'm sorry, Kagome. That's one of the things that kind of sucks about being your best friend and working for Inuyasha; I can't talk about it."
"So you couldn't even give me a hint?"
"I'm really sorry; no."
"What about helping me prepare for what questions I might get asked?"
Sango frowned. "I'd highly recommend considering having legal representation present with you, Kagome. Just in case."
"In case of what?"
Sango shrugged. "It's usually just a smart idea."
"Am I in trouble, Sango?" The thought had never previously occurred to Kagome. She had been the victim in this. Hadn't she? The thought that maybe Sango knew something she didn't caused Kagome's stomach to drop.
"That's not for me to say, Kagome. I'm sorry; I don't know enough of what's happening to give you an answer. Just think about having legal present, okay?"
"You couldn't come with me? You're a paralegal."
"It's not the same thing as a lawyer," Sango said, smiling empathetically. "Besides, I'm technically on the team that represents Inuyasha. I would worry about there being any conflicts of interest."
Kagome nodded and picked at her fingernails. Sitting for a reflective moment, Kagome then shook her head, sighed, and stood up from her seat.
"It's fine, Sango. It's just driving me crazy how there's a lot of stuff going on that no one can talk to me about."
Sango's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean by that, Kagome?"
Kagome sighed, trying to dispel the anger rising in her chest. She sat her body down heavily into the seat from which she just stood. Kagome bit her bottom lip in frustration. She knew it wasn't fair of her to take her anger out on Sango, but the confusion was getting the best of her.
"Last night Inuyasha refused to tell me anything about what's happening. And, truth be told, it's really unfair—I'm involved in this, Sango. Suikotsu came after me. My apartment was set on fire. My life is getting wrapped up in this stuff, and yet for some reason Inuyasha refuses to let me know why. Is it just a coincidence? Am I just that unlucky?"
"Hold on a second, Kagome," Sango claimed, turning in her seat with widened brown eyes. "Last night?" A devilish smirk crawled from the corners of her satiny-pink lipstick. "What happened between you two last night?"
"I—" Kagome's words were interrupted by the blazing flush that erupted across her cheeks.
Ugh, way to go, Kagome, Kagome groaned in her head, trying to turn from her friend to hide her expression. She really didn't have the heart to get into this right now. She didn't have time to waste on psychoanalysing the events of her night with Inuyasha—his fingers on her shoulder blades; his tongue caressing the roof of her mouth; sliding her thighs on either side of his torso as she straddled him. Kagome shook her head to dispel thoughts causing knots in her stomach.
Sango immediately recognized the bashful look on Kagome's face and grabbed her friend's bicep to pull her closer.
"What happened between you and Inuyasha last night, Kagome?" Sango repeated.
"Nuh-thing," Kagome lied with emphasis, trying to sound convincing as she detached herself from her friend's claw-like grip. Kagome knew Sango wouldn't drop it. Kagome turned her eyes away from Sango's questioning stare. Sango knew her too well; she would know Kagome was lying.
"Kagome…"
"What?" Kagome groaned, not returning Sango's gaze.
Suddenly clarity seemed to dawn on Sango and her eyes widened.
"Oh my God, you two didn't…Kagome Higurashi, tell me this minute. Did you—"
"No! No-no-no, Sango. Jesus, nothing like that happened."
Sango leaned towards Kagome, and narrowed her eyes in her inspection. Kagome reactively leaned away from Sango.
"Why is your face so red if nothing happened? Also, your lips are swollen, Kagome."
"Because I'm anxious from getting interrogated by you before I have a formal interrogation in a few hours? And, I bite my lips all the time, Sango. You know that; they're constantly dry."
"Mhmm…"
Kagome scoffed, rolled her eyes, and then finally met Sango's curious and suspicious eye. "Alright, Nosy. He came to see me last night to apologize about this…whole thing," Kagome said, struggling to identify what the situation really was. "We argued—"
"—Typical—" Sango interjected.
"—And he kinda stayed the night."
"No he didn't…" Sango giggled, smacking her palms against the countertop and turning in her seat with a wideset grin.
Kagome nodded, her face on fire. "Nothing much happened," she muttered, "nothing that would interest you anyway, you pervert. But yeah, long story short, he stayed."
Sango laughed and grabbed hold of Kagome's hand, squeezing her best friend's fingers encouragingly. "Kagome, that's really, really amazing. I'm really happy for you. Was everything okay with you two?"
Kagome shrugged, curious what Sango may have thought happened between her and Inuyasha, but not curious enough to address it.
"Everything was fine until his nightmare this morning."
"Nightmare?"
Kagome simultaneously shrugged and nodded. She then shared with Sango Inuyasha's dodgy behaviour this morning, including his intense sweating and fleeing from her room.
"That's really bizarre," Sango mused, placing a finger on her chin. "And he really didn't say anything about what caused it? The nightmare, I mean."
Kagome shook her head. "Other than lying to me that he was fine and that his dream was nothing, he didn't say much of anything. But, I could tell from the look on his face that something really spooked him. Actually, Sango, I'm wrong; he did say something else, but it was while he was talking in his sleep. He said, I'm sorry, Musō"
Sango's nose shriveled. "Who's Musō?"
"That was my question, too," Kagome replied with raised eyebrows. "I'm worried about him, Sango. All the stuff with me aside, three of the band members attack the house and then two months later another band member strikes again. I don't know why, but they're going after him, Sango. It definitely seems that way, at least. This is all too crazy to be coincidence. Right?"
"What about you, Kagome?" Sango stated, her tone turning soft and serious. "You can't downplay how involved in these events you've been. I mean, that car chase was primarily involving you. Inuyasha got involved because he chose to. You didn't choose to be followed or involved in a car chase."
"No, I get that, Sango."
"Miroku told me months ago that you were in danger; that that's why you needed to stay here; that it was safer for you here."
"Yeah, I know," Kagome breathed. "I don't know, maybe Inuyasha is the target and I'm just getting hit in the crossfire? I don't know; it all doesn't add up. Again, it would be helpful if someone would just tell me what the hell is happening."
The girls were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Miroku and Kaede in the kitchen. Miroku's boyish laugh echoed off the cold quartz counters and wooden cabinets. The atmosphere had then suddenly brightened and Kagome happily accepted a cup of coffee from Kaede—she truly didn't understand how she had been able to stay away from it until then.
Two cups of coffee and some small talk later, Kagome had left the kitchen in order to prepare for her morning appointment at the police station. As Kagome had left the kitchen, it wasn't lost on her that Miroku took over Kagome's chair beside Sango.
Watching Totosai turn onto the street belonging to Sengoku Manor, Kagome started to bite her lip. She wanted answers. Her body felt antsy and irritable from knowing how much she didn't know.
"You look troubled, Miss Kagome," Totosai called from the front seat. Kagome raised her head to meet Totosai's eyes in the rear-view mirror. "Is everything alright?"
Kagome forced a smile and tried to laugh away her anxiety. "Yes, sorry, I'm fine. Just thinking."
Kagome watched Totosai's eyes crinkle from the smile he made outside of her line of sight, and she turned her eyes back outside her window.
She heard the usual creak of the rod iron gates and watched the usual shadow dance of the tree trunks flying by the moving vehicle as it coasted down the driveway. Turning her eyes to the middle console of the car, Kagome couldn't believe it was still morning; between Inuyasha running from her bed, her conversation with Sango, and then the interrogation, Kagome was about ready to go back to bed. It almost felt impossible to believe it was barely 10:00 a.m.
Totosai mumbled in an irritated tone and it caused Kagome to exit from her thoughts. Looking out the front windshield, Kagome felt her eyebrows squeeze together in question. Inuyasha stood in a circle with his legal team—and Miroku—in front of the house.
"How are they home already?" Kagome verbalized with wide eyes, unaware of Totosai's nodding in agreement to her question. Totosai knew he tended to drive on the slower side—much to his employer's chagrin—but Totosai didn't believe he was that slow.
What the hell? How is that even possible? Kagome's mind wailed. He hadn't even gone in yet when we were leaving! His interview must have been not even 10 minutes!
"Kagome!" Sango called once Kagome stepped foot out of the parked car. Kagome had clambered out of the vehicle before Totosai could even attempt to open the door for her.
"You guys are back already?"
Sango's face became covered with an ambiguous expression; her morning hadn't gone as planned either: Sango had been asked by the senior partners to wait in the hallway rather than attend the interrogation.
Why would they have bothered to ask her to come at all if they were just going to ask her to wait in the hallway? How could she do her job when not even in the same room as the rest of the team?
'This shouldn't take long', one of the partners had claimed before disappearing behind a windowless door. Grumbling and irritated, Sango had watched as the four men—the two lawyers, Miroku, and Inuyasha—walked into the room greeting two men in suit and tie; they didn't even look like police officers.
Sango tried to convince herself it wasn't a sexist thing, that there was some explanation for this choice to keep her out of whatever conversation was going to happen. However, when the meeting ended, Miroku kept avoiding or deferring answering Sango's questions. Even Inuyasha had eventually replied, 'I would drop it, for your sake, Sango.'
What the hell does that even mean? Sango questioned, left to stew in frustration and anger the entire car ride home.
"Inuyasha was quite proficient with his answers," Miroku finally spoke up, not oblivious to the incredulity of the two women. "We were in and out of there in fifteen minutes."
Yet, my interview lasted an hour and a half…Kagome groaned in her mind.
Yet, I wasn't allowed in, chauvinistic bastards…Sango growled to herself.
"But you're home before us? We left before you."
Miroku smiled; he appreciated Kagome's stubbornness.
"Ah, yes; that can be explained by Inuyasha's erratic driving. One would think that being in a car accident less than twenty-four hours ago would make him slightly more cautious; but—" Miroku laughed with a shrug, "—That's Inuyasha."
"Stop complaining, Miroku," Inuyasha barked as he left his lawyers and meandered over to the three. "Everyone's in one piece, the cops got what they wanted and we can all just move on from that bullshit."
"Your interrogation went well then, Inuyasha?" Kagome's voice felt small leaving her lips. These were the first words directed at him since their intimacy—nipples erect, Kegel muscles flexing, fingers gripping clothing—the night before.
"Yep."
Sango had to bite her lip to prevent herself from saying anything as she watched Kagome's reaction to Inuyasha's cold response. Kagome's eyes widened and her neck jolted as if she had been slapped in the face. Kagome's eyes lowered and paced over the ground in front of her. Her entire body seemed to shrink into itself.
"Did everything go well with your interview, Kagome?"
Miroku too was gingerly aware of Kagome's response to Inuyasha's curtness. He could see her trying to hide the look of hurt and confusion on her face.
Shaking her head slightly, Kagome took a breath and forced a small laugh with a closed-eye smile. "It was long, but I'm glad it's over. Actually, Miroku, I was wondering if—"
"This is so fucking stupid," Inuyasha hissed suddenly, randomly, and so hotly that it caused Kagome to jump and to completely forget what she had been about to say.
"Inuyasha," Miroku scolded, shaking his head, as if he knew what had set Inuyasha off. "I thought we discussed this..."
"Is everything okay, Inuyasha?" Kagome inquired, not knowing what Miroku's comment had meant. After a silence following her question, Kagome suddenly felt introspective, worried about how meek she thought she sounded.
"All of this is just really fucking stupid; I'm fucking sick of this shit," Inuyasha snarled again. Gripping his hands into fists, he stormed away from the group, hopping the portico steps two at a time and disappearing through the large front doors.
"What's wrong with Inuyasha?" Sango asked, taking a protective step closer to Kagome.
Miroku sighed laboriously and rubbed at the back of his neck. "He's just had a long day, I think."
"It's not even noon yet, Miroku," Sango chided.
Miroku tried to smile warmly, although Sango could detect a sad look in his eyes. "It may still be morning, but a lot has happened for him."
Smiling once more at Sango, and squeezing Kagome's elbow supportively, Miroku bid a "Pardon me, ladies" to both girls and turned to follow in Inuyasha's steps, disappearing into the front door.
Sango shook her head in confusion and turned to her friend. "I want to get out of these clothes and then would you want to watch a movie, Kagome?"
Kagome pulled her lips to the side and released a heavy exhale.
How could he possibly be back to that hot-and-cold bullshit? Kagome's mind reeled. She couldn't believe how indifferent to her he had been. Five hours ago, she had woken up in the same bed as him. Five hours ago, he had been asleep with an arm draped across her stomach, his chin on her shoulder. Seven hours ago, she had to use every ounce of strength in her willpower not to rush things and have sex with him. Seven hours ago, they had been lost in each other, with pleasing her seeming to be the only thing on his mind.
How had so much changed, how could all of that be completely forgotten in such a short span of time?
The confusion felt so all-consuming Kagome could have gagged on it. Squeezing the bridge of her nose, she hadn't before realized the headache thrashing around behind her eyes.
"Actually, Sango, if it's okay with you, I think I might just go lay down. I'm not feeling all that great."
Much to Kagome's surprise, sleep found her after almost thirty minutes of lying in bed. Much to Kagome's extreme pleasure, she had also found that the household staff changed the sheets when making the bed. This made it a lot easier for Kagome to toss the pillows to the floor and climb underneath the cavernous duvet.
Dreams had kept their distance although her thoughts were quite loud when she first faced the darkness of her closed eyes. Putting conscious effort into not thinking and not crying, Kagome had gratefully found sleep, waking up mid-afternoon and feeling too confused to leave her room. The thoughts she tried to escape by sleeping were quickly creeping up on her.
Reaching for her phone on her bedside table, Kagome tried to distract herself by browsing her social media. She ignored how she had more notifications and friend requests than could be displayed in the pop-up bubble. Primarily, Kagome wanted to check in on her brother.
She saw that he was still playing soccer and watched some few-second-long videos he had posted on his pages from recent games he played. Feeling slightly homesick, Kagome decided to internet browse instead, reading the news, online shopping—really anything to keep her distracted from thinking about a particular person.
However, it was difficult to keep her brain away from the subject of Inuyasha. With the car chase and the death of Suikotsu so recent, Kagome found it impossible not to see the subject in any newsfeed. She saw YouTube links from voyeurs who had witnessed the events of the day prior. These were the people who posted the videos like "Inuyasha and Kagome's First PDA!" or "InUyAsHa's TrAsHeD SpOrTsCaR!" Kagome saw a link to a newspaper's website with the caption "Inuyasha ran my mother off the road: An Interview" and another link to "Small business forced to rebuild after demolished by car accident."
Kagome felt sick and struggled to sit up in her bed. The sheets and duvet felt choking. Browsing through the links including both her name and Inuyasha, voices from a long past conversation started to haunt her:
"Not that I care or anything, but how come you've never asked me about the band?"
"Oh, um, honestly? It's none of my business."
"You actually don't care?"
"It's not that I don't care. I said it's none of my business. I try to think about it if our roles were reversed. If I was you, I wouldn't want my entire life to be defined by one part of my past. Just because my life had been made public to everyone, doesn't give everyone the right to know all about my private life, you know?"
Kagome groaned and rested her head against the headboard of the bed, her eyes temporarily removed from her phone to skim the ceiling as she thought. The Internet was such an incredible resource and she had every opportunity to put to rest some of the questions for which she desperately sought answers. All it would take is a quick search bar filled with particular characters and she could obtain the world's insight into what happened between Inuyasha and the band.
Kagome's heart was pounding at the idea. How easy it would be for her to type in Inuyasha's name and, likely on the first page of search results, explore links that would take her into an exploration of his past—news articles, blogs, pictures, forums.
Yet, no matter how accessible that information was to her, she couldn't overcome the roadblock she felt. She just couldn't do it. Why?
Because it's an invasion of his privacy, she moaned internally. It's a breach of his trust. Just because he's famous doesn't mean I have the right to obtain information about him that he doesn't wish to share with me.
I mean, how would I feel if I didn't want him knowing information about me but he could just as easily go behind my back to learn that information? That's not how relationships should be.
What relationship? A voice within her body retorted sarcastically. Whatever the two of you have going on, it's certainly not a relationship.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever it is then going on between us," she verbalized cheekily in response.
Kagome sighed and turned her eyes back to her phone. The untouched blue links on the browser from her previous search results taunted her. Kagome scrolled to the top of the page in hopes of clearing her search history. However, before she could hit the back button, Kagome's eyes fell upon a link that piqued her interest and seemed safe enough—16 of The Band of Seven's Greatest Moments.
Thinking that their trial likely wouldn't be called one of their greatest moments, Kagome deemed the link safe and clicked it. She held her breath as she watched the circle cursor impatiently as the page loaded. She couldn't rid herself the feeling that she was doing something she should not be.
Once the page loaded, Kagome observed that a picture and a short paragraph providing rationale for each 'great moment' accompanied each numbered icon. Kagome scrolled through, taking particular note of a few items:
Number 16 – The band changes their name from "A Band of Thieves"
Number 12 – The band's first Asia-wide tour
Number 10 – The band's first North American tour
Number 05 – The release of their final album, Mt. Hakurei
Number 03 – The launch of Kikyo's career
Number 01 – Inuyasha signs on to manage the band
Kagome smiled at the image accompanying point number one. She found it endearing that this fan—whoever they were—had genuinely believed that Inuyasha was the best thing to have happened to the band. With recent events heavy on her mind, she wondered what Inuyasha would have had to say about that. Skimming the paragraph for point number one, Kagome noted key words of interest such as "greater exposure," "better publicity," and "more eye candy."
Smiling to herself at the idea of fangirls all over the world thinking of Inuyasha as eye candy—and here I am sitting in a bed inside his house…a bed that he joined me in last night...—Kagome absentmindedly scrolled through the pictures again.
Her eyes wavered over male faces she didn't recognize and others she did, primarily Suikotsu and Mukotsu. The smiling, happy faces of the two men with whom she associated so much anger and pain made her feel uncomfortable. Scrolling quickly, desperate to escape the harmfully familiar faces, her phone's browser finally settled on the picture for number twelve: the band's first Asia-wide tour. With Inuyasha being the primary focus in the foreground, Kagome held the phone in both hands and explored the picture in a bit more detail.
A younger Inuyasha stood in front of a giant crowd of people, a sign saying "Welcome to Shanghai" visible in the background. Some of the other band members were evident in the picture; however, their backs were to the camera while they seemed to be signing autographs for fans. Kagome's eyes turned back towards Inuyasha's face—despite it being, as the blog said, one of their greatest moments, Inuyasha looked genuinely unhappy, almost emotionless. Kagome couldn't place his expression other than it didn't seem to fit the occasion. The blogger had written-off his expression, stating that "that Inu attitude we all know and love" was present in the picture. However, Kagome didn't think it was right to label the expression as simply his attitude. He looked angry.
Kagome's eyes scoured the picture in hopes of finding a source to explain his reaction. Kagome made note of the following: Inuyasha was writing on what looked like a CD for a little boy—maybe the little boy was annoying? There was also a man, likely the boy's dad, with untamed black hair—maybe he was an aggressive parent harassing Inuyasha to sign the CD? The man stood behind the boy with his hands tightly gripping the boy's shoulders—could he have been neglecting the child and Inuyasha witnessed it? That grip looked controlling, unnecessary.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at both the child and the man, eventually determining the child was just a kid and there wasn't anything more she could read into about him. But, then her attention turned back to the man; although she didn't recognize him, she didn't associate a good feeling with the man's face.
A knock on the door caused Kagome to jump and she audibly laughed at herself, feeling ridiculous for scrutinizing a picture with such intensity.
"Hey, Kagome," Sango called from the slightly opened door. "Do you mind if I come in?"
Kagome smiled at her friend and sat up further in bed, moving her body from the middle to one side of the bed. "Yeah, of course, Sango."
Sango closed the door behind her and climbed on top of the bed, leaning against the headboard next to Kagome.
"What have you been doing?"
Kagome laughed. "Well, I was napping. But then I decided to browse the Internet and I ended up finding this stupid click-bait blog about the Band of Seven, and—"
Sango's laugh interrupted Kagome's thoughts. "Find out anything good?"
Kagome covered her face with both hands. "You mean other than the fact that I was driven to analyse a picture of Inuyasha because I can't, for the life of me, understand the real Inuyasha?"
Sango laughed again and patted Kagome's thigh. She then picked up her friend's phone, eager to look at the picture in question that Kagome had been analyzing. The girls sat in silence as Sango scrolled through the 16 pictures just as Kagome had minutes ago.
"I agree with most of these; however, they're pretty common-known events for the band."
Kagome snickered. "It was the first I heard of any of it."
"Not everyone is you, Kagome," Sango chided affectionately. "Some people actually pay attention to the news in real time." Kagome laughed and rolled her eyes at her friend, swatting her arm.
"But, I feel like this list should have been seventeen of their greatest moments," Sango laughed sarcastically. "The author didn't list emboldening their apparent stalker as a moment of triumph."
"Stalker?" Kagome echoed, recoiling at the suggestion and frowning. "What on earth are you talking about, Sango?"
"You said you were analyzing pictures? How could you miss it? This guy here with the crazy black hair from the 80's? He's in almost all of the pictures."
"What?" Kagome squawked. "No way."
Grabbing her phone back, Kagome scrutinized each picture, amazed that she hadn't noticed something as simple as one man being present in almost each and every picture. To Kagome's surprise, it was that black-haired Dad with the claw-like grip on his son.
No wonder Inuyasha looked so displeased. Maybe he knew he was being stalked.
Author's Note
Welp – better late than never, right? Thanks to everyone who is still enjoying this story even though I've kind of been slacking with the updates. You guys are the best!
Please review with your thoughts! :3