KOTODAMA

"The soul that resides within words"

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Chapter XXIII

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Bibliographic registry

Scroll Nº62

Discovery 8828, Sengoku

Sesshomaru came to the village, and passed by our cabin. Kagome was there, a few meters away of us, slowly cleaning the leaves I had helped her recollect this afternoon. He looked at her, a tinge of something I could, maybe, interpret as nostalgia in his gaze; it seemed time and its attempts at humanizing him had, maybe, been successful to some degree.

'You know I cannot slay death's servants when they arrive,' he said then, indifferent as always.

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The blue light coming from the police car was standing out, despite the neon signs hanging on each side of the streets. The presence of its intermittent flares managed to make of the ambience, something eerie even, one that compelled, most people crossing that street, to walk with slightly more caution. It wasn't usual for a vehicle of that kind to block it. The police remained in front of a club near the Kyomu, an already worrying situation by itself, yet in this case, the van belonging to forensics only doubled it, adding a sordid twist to the extraordinary event.

InuYasha started to approach, dissimulating his presence. With a tug, he adjusted his red hood a bit more, as part of his ritual of invisibility; he wasn't sure if it was effective, but it had yet to fail him. Quietly, he moved forward until he found a police officer he recognized, which halted his steps. With better judgement, he sought an angle that may help him keep his anonymity while observing what was going on, one he found by a wall of the nearby building. He couldn't help thinking that, whatever the situation was, it may be related to the one that had happened a few nights ago, at the club.

Jakotsu and he had to take care of a client that gave them quite some trouble, due to consuming a substance that, it seemed, had come from the clients inside the Kyomu itself. InuYasha was not ignorant, nor naïve enough to not know that among Naraku's dealings, drugs were involved. However, it had always been done discreetly, and with a firm hand. Now, however, it was getting out of control.

When InuYasha checked the pockets of Mister Midori, the client from a few nights ago, he thought he had found some pills. Later, he found out it wasn't exactly like that. Suikotsu, a doctor that would often help them with any issues arousing in the business, explained the envelop contained a couple of capsules with a liquid that could be ingested, or applied directly to the eye; the doctor did not want to say anything for sure without analyzing the content first, yet Suikotsu believed it was a designer drug. Mister Midori had to spend a good part of the night under the doctor's watchful eye, who managed to mitigate the effects of the drugs in the man's body.

After that, Jakotsu and InuYasha checked a few clubs in the district, inquiring to some of their acquaintances in the business, if they knew of any similar cases. In a couple of places, they admitted to had had an episode that may fit what they were describing.

Now, from the club he was watching, he caught glimpse of many officers coming and going, as well as employees of the very club that he already knew from his own time in the zone. A moment later, he managed to discern how they brought out a body from inside the place.

InuYasha observed the scene a bit longer, and when the police officer turned and cast a glance in his direction, he stepped back and into cover behind a neon sign that dissimulated well his figure. InuYasha knew who he was, although the man did not know him; he was the inspector Sesshomaru Taisho, eldest son of the previous police captain, Toga Taisho, who had died in an ambush more than twenty years ago. InuYasha should feel something, that was how it was supposed to go, yet both persons were but empty names to him.

He turned around, then went down one of the narrow alleys between the buildings. He knew these routes perfectly, and he preferred them when it came to venture through the district, his steps bound to the hotel ran by Miroku as his thoughts willingly wandered to the Taisho family. He had come to know about them a few years ago, back when he had decided to look into his father. Back then, all he wanted to know was why his mother and he had been left alone.

It was around that time that he met Myoga.

The man had been recommended to him by Kaede, saying that if he wanted to know something about someone, Myoga had contacts to inquire to. InuYasha had not expected to find a place like the one he was in charge of, and much less become involved in the communitarian activities there.

A morning a week, InuYasha would help, and in exchange, Myoga would look into his family based on what InuYasha knew about them; the name of his mother, and his own surname. Six months passed like that, with him going to the communitarian center, a sort of hybrid between a dining area and a nursery, feeling annoyed at first, at the lack of an answer while having to put up and entertain kids he didn't know. Every time he would inquire about the matter, Myoga's answer was a: it's being handled, together with some other odd job for him to do. That was how InuYasha came to know some of the people working at the marketplace, who donated ingredients to the communitarian center so that the man could prepare food on a daily basis. Sometimes, he would wonder about the story behind Myoga, and the why of his dedication. Those very same people began to pay him small sums for helping in their stores, and InuYasha came to the realization that there were other ways to make money. Maybe, it wasn't enough to get out of the Kyomu, yet regardless, to know it was possible, was a good start.

One of those mornings, Myoga approached him with a white envelope in hand, the size of a sheet of paper for a letter.

"I hope it's of use to you,"the man said as he extended it to him. InuYasha received it, tacit understanding of the answers he may find, "if you need more information, I'll put you in contact with Totosai."

In those papers, InuYasha found names, dates and events. From them, he learnt his father had been married when he died, and that he had an elder brother. He did not, however, judge them based on that; the short years he had lived, had shown him many things, teaching him that all stories have more than one side to them. Regardless, he found himself wanting to know more.

One afternoon, he went to the station where the police sergeant Sesshomaru Taisho worked. He wasn't sure what he was looking for; maybe, he simply wanted to the up close to someone who carried his same blood. After circling around the adjacent streets to the station, he finally gathered the courage to come up and ask to a couple of officers, who were on their way out to do their rounds.

"Is sergeant Taisho in the station?" It was the first time he mentioned the name out loud.

They answered, slightly puzzled, then InuYasha thanked them before starting inside, still hesitating. He had to step aside when a police car entered at a higher speed than what's advised, through the inner street, and stopped a couple of steps away from him. Next, he saw Sesshomaru Taisho coming out of the driving seat, then addressing, with little consideration, the officer by his side.

"Put this mongrel in a cell," were his words, as he fit his hands inside a pair of white gloves.

InuYasha remained silent as he observed the man, who was probably around eight years older than him. His appearance was different, but they shared the same silvery hair and golden eyes, their father's heritage. InuYasha was already aware of that detail, yet to see him in person with such similar characteristics, filled him with a sensation that was a mix of interest and unattachment. They were nothing to each other, after all.

"Do you need something?" Sesshomaru had asked him with a stern tone. InuYasha pondered what to reply, since he didn't actually need anything from him. "Do we know each other?"

Evidently, InuYasha caught onto, the man had noted his appearance.

"No, nothing," he replied, then left.

Those were the only two words he ever said to the other child of his father.

A few months later, he reached to Totosai. The man seemed to him like a character brought out of a manga, that was emulating the detective novels from the north-American movies. The office was situated in the basement of an old building, whose only exterior light came through the small, top window that was at the street's level, where InuYasha could see the occasional passerby through the curtains that gave a moderate measure of privacy to the room. It seemed the man slept in that very same place, which he found peculiar. Once again, and like always, he made no judgement about it; he himself had a bunk at the Kyomu, in a room with just a small table and a shelf for some books.

"Myoga told you to come, right?" Was the greeting he received from the man, his words uttered through a cigarette between his lips as he skimmed through some files at the top of a pile, surrounded by other seven piles laying beneath his desk. Everything around him was much of the same; an endless accumulation of papers and information.

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There wasn't much left for InuYasha to arrive at the place he'd meet with Shippo at. He spoke with him on the phone a few hours ago, making sure to check if the boy was alright before telling him they'll have dinner at an izakaya they both knew, a few streets away from the house they shared. He had to admit that, now that Shippo had that phone, it was easier for him to make decisions that involved the both of them. For a moment, then, he though about the possibility of using one of the phones Naraku had available for those working for him, yet he discarded the idea immediately; the less favors pending between them, the sooner he'd be able to get away from the web that man threaded. In that very same thought, he wondered then… what was making him, despite his wish to leave the world he knew behind, investigate that matter for the Kyomu?

He smiled to himself. Maybe, it was inevitable for certain bonds of loyalty to form with those you know, even if they weren't the most decent people around. The next day, he would go to the Horaana to share with Naraku what he knew, so he could take the necessary measures. It was clear to him that, as long as he kept working inside his web, he would need to act smart.

When he entered the street where he was supposed to meet Shippo, he found out the boy was already in front of the place. It was easy to discern him among the crowd, with his red hair-ribbon and the ungainly features he had acquired during his adolescence. He seemed distracted with his phone, and InuYasha even caught sight of a smile as the youth wrote something. He smiled almost in reflex, and pondered the best way to widen the future for the boy who was leaving his teenager years. He was like family to him, and he hoped to be able to help him create a future just like the youth's real family would have wanted. Little had they spoken of his past, for his mother had died shortly after he was born, and his father had raised him for as long as he could.

"Something interesting?" InuYasha wondered, once he was but a few steps away. Shippo's gaze rose and found him.

"I didn't hear you arrive." He slid his phone inside his pant-pocket. "You always arrive with some observation; can't you just say hello?"

InuYasha smiled again, understanding that complaint was but a smoke screen to hide what he was watching with such joy on his phone.

"So restless… what were you reading?" InuYasha feigned an attempt at reaching for his phone inside his pocket, not really pretending to take it.

"Eh!" He retorted, stepping aside, "have you not been taught that curiosity is a bad muse?"

"Would you look at that? You are becoming wise," he poked him some more. It had been days since they last saw each other, and he was aware that they should spend more time together.

That took him to entertain the necessity of finding a new place to be at. Shippo didn't seem uncomfortable with the way they were living, yet InuYasha thought he had to widen the youth's possibilities, and knowing more places and activities should help him gain perspective. He shook off those ideas, however, not wanting to darken the moment.

"Something to hide?" InuYasha smiled with a certain malice, going back to his feigned attempts at burglary. Shippo took a few steps towards the izakaya.

"Better we grab dinner; they are going to close soon," he warned.

InuYasha observed him as he moved ahead, his words falling on deaf ears. It was logical that Shippo thought this was but a banter between friends, and in a way, it was; however, InuYasha was concerned because of the relationship between the boy and one of the members of the Raijū family. He knew the reputation of Soten's elder brothers, and detested that Shippo was in any way, involved with them. He felt restless before what a teenager relationship could produce. So, he looked for the words to clarify his thoughts; after all, it wasn't the boy's responsibility to know what could worry his illegal tutor.

"You know condoms exist, right?" InuYasha let out, and immediately realized how poorly worded it had been; he hadn't thought about it much, yet… what would you say to a teenager you were in charge of, and that was like a brother, so that he would use protection?

Shippo's steps came to a halt, and almost seemed to visible shrink. InuYasha interpreted it as the gesture one does before the piercing pain of a long and fine needle. He remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"I hope you know as well," Shippo replied, turning around, just enough to be heard, "You are spending a lot of time with your girl, after all."

InuYasha's lips parted, and he even breathed in to reply. Kagome and he were not like that, not really; maybe they were a couple of friends with certain feelings floating between them, one he had spurred when he left a kiss on the girl's lips, a kiss she had not mentioned at all after that.

"Fair. I deserve it." InuYasha took the two steps left to reach the youth, then took a few more before poking him again, "let's grab that dinner, weren't they closing soon?"

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To be continued.

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A/N

This story carries a part of my heart with every chapter. Its marrow has been in my mind since the start, but since all stories surprise me as I write them, in a way, it's also telling itself to me.

Thank you for keeping me company in this adventure that is to create.

Kisses,

Anyara

This text is possible thanks to the translation of: Dezart