Lead Me Down the Garden Path
Reconciliation
When they found themselves on the main landing of the house, the silence felt large and intimidating to Kagome. Inuyasha didn't utter a word as they descended the stairs; however, Kagome occasionally heard him take a laborious breath while staring down at his clenched fist. With the adrenaline of the moment behind them, Kagome could only imagine how much pain Inuyasha must be in now that he was coming down from his anger.
That descent felt like the longest moment of Kagome's life. Her eyes hovering over his shoulders and back, she felt shocked, her stomach pulsing on the borderline of nausea.
You have no idea the things I've done, Kagome. I've blackened my own soul with the shit I've done. I don't deserve nice words and apologies and everything's going to be fine. Nothing's going to be fucking fine.
The memory of his words pounded in time to her growing headache. Kagome couldn't gulp down the growing fear that was choking her: the fear that she would never again be able to see Inuyasha without memory of this night, memory of the horrors he shared with her.
The one thing Kagome couldn't wrap her head around—didn't want to wrap her head round—was how nonchalant Inuyasha had been in recounting all the lives that had come to an end by his hand. He had taken lives like it was nothing—those were the words he used. A chill ran up Kagome's spine and she uncomfortably crossed her arms in hopes of dispelling the unease plaguing her insides.
Wanting to reach out to him, to speak to him, but completely dumbstruck with what to say, Kagome bit her tongue and silently, obediently, followed Inuyasha to find Miroku.
Trailing in Inuyasha's shadow in the still of the night and quiet of the house, Kagome wondered if Inuyasha was leading her to Miroku's bedroom, a room Kagome had never before thought about or to which she ever thought she would find herself. However, Inuyasha seemed to change direction at the last minute and appeared to be heading for the kitchen. As they drew nearer to the kitchen, Kagome knew her suspicions were correct; the whispered voices of Miroku and Sango drifted through the halls like a beacon marking the way for Kagome and Inuyasha.
Once they rounded the corner into the kitchen, Kagome shielded her eyes from the bright kitchen pot lights and valance lighting. She heard a flurry of activity, including chairs scuffling and scraping against the hard, cold floor. Sango gasped, her eyes stuck on Inuyasha's bloodied midriff and cradled wound. Miroku swore under his breath, rhetorically asked Inuyasha what he had done, and then hurriedly stated he would go wake Kaede.
"Oh my God," Sango cried, standing erect and rushing towards Kagome and Inuyasha as Miroku simultaneously left the room. "Your hand, Inuyasha! Jesus, what happened? Kagome," Sango cried, her wild brown eyes turning to survey her friend's appearance. "Are you okay? What happened in there? Come sit down. Can I get you anything? Your shirt, Inuyasha. Oh my God..."
Kagome uttered several unconvincing statements like, "we're fine, Sango", or "nothing happened" or, "we're okay, really"; but, the words didn't appease Sango. Her mind too focused on her actions, Sango went to the sink to dampen a cloth for Inuyasha in hopes of helping him clean up some of the blood.
"Has it clotted yet? Is it still bleeding? Can I get you some aspirin, Inuyasha?"
Kagome smiled at her friend's worry over Inuyasha, but Inuyasha just rolled his eyes, ignored the offering of the cloth to clean himself up, and snapped at Sango to sit down, shut up, and relax.
"Where's Souta?" Kagome asked, turning to look over her shoulder to observe the rest of the kitchen.
Despite the flurry of their activities, the house otherwise felt empty and lifeless. Kagome couldn't put her finger on quite how unsettling it was to find herself in this situation; an otherwise lively estate, now sombre and still, was juxtaposed with the sudden chaos of Kagome and Inuyasha's appearance in the kitchen. Not to mention the unwanted memories of the break-in that teased their way to the forefront of Kagome's mind. She immediately distracted herself with thoughts of Inuyasha, forcefully turning her eyes away from where she had been assaulted in the kitchen by Mukotsku.
Kagome gulped down a mouthful of saliva. This whole day had been surreal.
Sango sighed and perched herself on the corner of one of the chairs, reaching across the table to rest a hand atop Kagome's.
"Souta sat with us in the leisure room for a while after you went into his," Sango nodded to Inuyasha, "room to talk." She paused to take a breath. "Needless to say, we didn't finish the movie. We didn't do too much after that; I wanted to come see you," Sango continued, turning her tired eyes to scour Inuyasha's visage, trying to read him and the situation, "but Miroku wouldn't let me.
"After a while, Souta couldn't stop yawning, so Miroku showed Souta to one of the guest rooms. He's been in there ever since." Sango exhaled humourously, "He told me to personally wake him up the second I saw you. He was really worried about you."
Kagome shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. "What did you all think would happen? I'm fine."
"Well, can you explain to me what the hell happened to him, then? Clearly something happened."
Inuyasha looked up from his injured hand and narrowed his eyes at Sango. "You implying something, Sango?"
Sango furrowed her brows. "Yeah, Inuyasha, I am. What the hell is wrong with you? Trashing your room like an adolescent child acting out! If Kagome weren't here—"
"—Don't you start with me, bitch! If I—"
"—Sango, Inuyasha, stop it," Kagome snapped, her eyes yo-yoing between the pair. "When Miroku comes back, we can—"
"—Good Lord, Inuyasha," Kaede cried as soon as she stepped into the room. The old woman's appearance stole the words from everyone's lips and they watched in staggered silence as her presence filled the room. She cradled a white metallic box in her arms. A frown accentuated her wrinkled features as her eyes assessed Inuyasha head to toe.
Kagome bit her lip in guilt that Miroku should have gone to disturb Kaede in the almost early morning. Kaede wore a dressing gown tightly cinched between a drooping, aged bosom and a rounded, stout middle. Her nighttime appearance caused the older woman to appear more grandmotherly than usual, her hair knotted back into a vintage, low-hanging updo.
"What have you done to yourself?"
"Relax, Kaede," Inuyasha retorted with an eye roll. "I'm not dying or anything."
"Hmm," she responded with an unimpressed tone. "I imagine the item that caused this harm is likely in much worse condition than yourself."
Inuyasha smirked as he relinquished his hand to Kaede's outstretched palm. "You could say that."
Kaede's half-moon spectacles dangled on the edge of her nose as she turned Inuyasha's hand within her grasp, surveying the extent of the damage. Inuyasha flinched once or twice, his breath caught in his throat once, and all three times Kagome jumped uncomfortably. She couldn't stand to see him in pain. Sango went to stand by Miroku at the kitchen entryway, hoping to give Kaede the space she needed to accurately assess and remedy Inuyasha's injury. Kagome was hovering on the edge of her seat, her thumb between her teeth as she watched Kaede command Inuyasha to wiggle his fingers; the elder wanted to ensure Inuyasha hadn't sustained any nerve damage.
"You're fussing over nothing, old woman," Inuyasha grumbled impatiently as Kaede continued her inspection. "Just slap a bandage on it and we all know it will be good as new by morning."
"Do you have medical training, Kaede?" Kagome inquired, watching the senior woman release Inuyasha's hand to rummage in the white box she had brought with her.
Kagome wasn't the only one trying to ignore Inuyasha's impetuousness; Kagome could see Kaede shaking her head at Inuyasha's outbursts, and hear Sango's scoffs. However, Kagome couldn't help that her stomach was knotting over concern for Inuyasha and disbelief for the current situation.
A part of her didn't want Kaede's inspection to end. Kagome was scared what the conversation between the four adults would look like once Inuyasha's wound was no longer the centre of attention. Inuyasha and Kagome came to find Miroku for a reason: for him to enlighten Kagome on the parts of Inuyasha's tale that Inuyasha, himself, couldn't speak to. When Kaede left, Kagome would have to confront her catch-22: Kagome didn't want to know more, but she did. She wanted to understand, but was scared what that understanding would mean for her, and what it would do to her relationship with Inuyasha.
"Aye," Kaede sighed in response to Kagome's question, lifting a small plastic bottle from the bin and raising it to her line of vision to inspect. "I do. Many years ago, long before this young pup's father hired me as a caretaker, I was a midwife.
"Hold out your hand, Inuyasha," Kaede instructed with a tone gruffer than that she used with Kagome. "Some ointment and a few sutures and your hand will heal just fine."
Inuyasha exhaled brusquely and did as he was told and Kagome turned her sight away from Inuyasha's injury. Turning in her chair to face the kitchen's entrance, Kagome's eyes landed on Miroku and Sango engaged in a quiet conversation between the two of them.
The chair scraping the floor beneath her, Kagome walked towards her female friend, who stopped midsentence to embrace her childhood friend. Kagome didn't want to stomach the sight of Inuyasha's blood anymore.
Behind Kagome, she could hear Inuyasha telling off Kaede for man-handling his injury. She tried to moisten her drying mouth in an effort to dispel her discomfort.
"You have no idea how much grief you caused me, Kagome," Sango whispered into her friend's hair. "I was so sure something awful was going to happen when you went in there."
Kagome smiled appreciatively at her friend and held Sango at a distance. "I told you Inuyasha wouldn't hurt me, Sango. We just talked."
"Were you there when he—? You know. His hand?"
Kagome shook her head. "It happened right before I went in."
"Was his room—?"
"—It's completely wrecked," Kagome whispered hotly, her eyes stinging in memory. "His bed, the window, it's a war zone, and to think I made him—"
"—You cannot take any responsibility for Inuyasha's hotheadedness," Sango interjected with furrowed brows. "Do you hear me, Kagome? You can't control how he reacts to situations."
"Sango's right," Miroku added in an equally hushed tone, despite his knowing that their conversation was quite audible to Inuyasha should he care to eavesdrop. "Inuyasha has been reactive like this since I first met him. Like it or not, it's how he responds, digests the information. I won't say it's healthy, but that's Inuyasha."
"You promise me he didn't hurt you?"
Kagome sneered at Sango and shook her head. "I told you, Sango. He wouldn't hurt me, okay? He only hurt himself. That idiot…"
Sango sighed, sensing the irritability in Kagome's tone; she knew she shouldn't push the young woman any further. "Did you at least find some of the answers you were looking for?"
Kagome turned then to Miroku's stern glance and apprehensive eyes, suddenly self-conscious of his presence. Miroku was the one who had pleaded with Kagome to reconsider and not enter Inuyasha's room in the first place. However, her hunger for answers, for closure, had made her disregard his pleas. What did he think was going to happen to her once she found out the truth? Did he believe Inuyasha was going to tell her? Kagome inwardly appreciated that Miroku had warned her selflessly, knowing very well that Kagome was going to struggle with the truth, should she discover it.
Biting her lip, Kagome nodded slowly.
"What did he tell you, Kagome?"
Kagome turned her gaze away from Miroku's imploring stare.
"He told me about them, Miroku," Kagome whispered quietly, uncomfortably, after a moment's delay. "The Family. The Band."
Inuyasha's words circled her head, confusing her, causing waves of confliction to swell within her. Kagome's emotions felt all over the place: concern for Inuyasha; guilt for causing him to act out like he had; disbelief of the childhood he experienced; heartache and anger for the terrible things he admitted he had done, had been done to him.
Kagome's heart reminisced the gentle touches and longing kisses that her brain now associated with a killer of men and children; an enigmatic love interest who had been moulded by a kingpin to be an emotionless weapon. Turning over her shoulder to look at him, Kagome saw Inuyasha, her Inuyasha; however, she couldn't help but see a stranger in the same seat. This evening, she had been introduced to a side of him she didn't knew existed. And if she wanted to remain in his life, she needed to find a way to understand and consolidate those two versions of Inuyasha into the man seated behind her.
How could she grow to love a killer? How could she accept that she wanted to let into her heart a man who admitted he burned people alive?
Part of her ached with sympathy for him, for the horrors of a life he had been forced to live. However, despite how much Kagome's brain tried to focus on the fact that Inuyasha truly was a victim in all this, she couldn't stop her mind from drifting to the horrific acts Inuyasha said he had done.
"I see," Miroku replied after a delay, interrupting Kagome's mental confliction. "Did he—"
"—Keep your hand dry, Inuyasha, or those bandages won't do you a lick of good, you hear me? In the morning, I'll reapply the ointment and change the bandages. Don't aggravate the sutures or your wound will be sure to hurt."
Kaede cleared her throat while closing the lid of the medical supply box and connecting the clasp; she wanted to announce her departure, sensing the tone the conversation was about to take, all too aware of an elephant in the room.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Inuyasha groaned, turning his bandaged hand over in his other fist, inspecting the older woman's handy work.
"I bid you all a goodnight," Kaede called, removing her glasses, placing them into a pocket of her dressing gown, and smiling at the other inhabitants of the kitchen. "Try not to make a mess of my kitchen."
Kagome and Sango both smiled at the woman and nodded their heads, offering their thanks and wishing her a good night. After she disappeared from sight, the kitchen remained in an uncomfortably hushed quiet while the group listened to Kaede's padded footfalls disappearing into the larger silence of the house.
Waiting enough time until he was certain the older woman was out of earshot, Miroku opened his mouth to speak. "We should probably take a seat," Miroku sighed out into the silence, keeping his eyes on Sango. "I suspect there's a reason you brought Kagome down here with you, Inuyasha."
"Yeah," Inuyasha called. "There's some shit we need to talk about."
Miroku exhaled heavily as he held out a chair for Sango, his forehead creasing. "I do hope you've considered, Inuyasha, that the openness of the kitchen is quite inappropriate for what you're suggesting. Does the confidentiality and seriousness of the topic really mean—?"
"—Will you just shut up and sit down, Miroku? Right here's good enough. I mean it, before I change my mind."
"Inuyasha," Kagome called, stepping hesitantly towards him, "we don't have to do this. I appreciate everything you've told me in confidence, but if you don't—"
"—Miroku, I want you to tell Kagome about Naraku and the Kuzawari gang. I've told her some, but there are pieces only you can attest to." His face darkened and he angled his head downwards so his eyes were out of Kagome's line of vision. "I just want to get it out in the open, once and for all."
Kagome watched the colour drain from Miroku's cheeks.
"I'm sorry, who?" Sango cried in a chary tone, sliding herself slowly into the seat Miroku had arranged for her.
Inuyasha provided Sango a brief, arguably half-assed, synopsis of what he told Kagome, skipping over the details pertaining to his adopted father, the initiation into the Kuzawari, and Musō. For all Sango knew, Inuyasha had some dealings with a criminal named Naraku but she was kept in the dark about the extent. Despite the limited, shallow information provided to Sango, Miroku grew quite agitated at the idea of Sango being roped into Inuyasha's dangerous history.
"This doesn't involve Sango, Inuyasha," Miroku argued, his cheeks billowing. "She doesn't need to be dragged into this. Kagome, come now, you surely can—"
"Miroku, stop," Sango argued, placing a hand on his arm to physical stop his words. "If Kagome's involved, I'm involved. There's no argument about it. I'm in this too, so just spit it out."
Miroku took a moment to gather his thoughts, his heart racing in his throat. Rubbing an aggravated, disbelieving hand down his face, he shook his head before circling the table and taking the open seat beside Inuyasha. The boys sat on one side of the table, the girls on the other.
"I don't even know where to begin," Miroku sighed. After a moment of his searching the tabletop for a linear formation of his thoughts, Miroku said, "I guess it would make sense for me to first explain how I came to meet Inuyasha."
He sighed once more and then began.
"When I graduated university, my father got me a job as a Research Analyst at Japan's central intelligence agency, Naikaku Jōhō Chōsashitsu, better known for its nickname, Naichō."
"Sure was helpful that Daddy was the Director at the time," Inuyasha guffawed somewhat under his breath.
Miroku took a deep breath to stomach Inuyasha's comment and chose to continue, leaving Inuyasha's remark unaddressed.
"For a few years, my work was really straight forward: I coordinated investigative reports on risk management for various securities or assets for the Deputy Director of Naichō."
"In plain English, Miroku?" Sango prodded.
"In other words, Sango," Inuyasha spoke up, leaning an elbow on the table, "Miroku was given a homework assignment and he researched the shit out of it, and then did a little presentation on it so his buddies who worked out in the field didn't get killed. Did I miss anything, Miroku?"
"No, Inuyasha," Miroku responded, ignoring Inuyasha's facetiousness. "That just about covers it."
"And your assignments or investigative reports were on the Kuzawari?" Kagome inquired, eager to move the conversation along.
"Not at first," Miroku replied. "At least, it took several years of surveillance data crunching for me to finally put two-and-two together to realize how every trafficking scandal in domestic and foreign Asia had Naraku at its root cause.
"When I finally shared those discoveries with the Deputy Director, the Director of Naichō, my father, instituted a Japan-wide campaign to reduce the level of human trafficking reported by law enforcement officials. This is what launched our formal investigation, our task force, into taking down Naraku."
"But, how was human trafficking linked to this Naraku person?" Sango asked, her eyes alternating between Inuyasha and Miroku.
"Several reports of suspected trafficking that were received by either law enforcement or known victims had provided descriptions of a culprit who, based on the descriptions, we believed to be one man. These descriptions were later verified by CCTV to be Naraku."
"But you told me he was the head of this gang," Kagome directed to Inuyasha. "Naraku really went out and got his hands dirty?"
Inuyasha snorted. "Of course he did. It's one of the main ways he was able to obtain such loyalty from the rest of the kobuns. He would never send a man to do a job he would be unwilling to do himself. Only in those instances where Naraku needed to use intimidation or force did he send me on his behalf; otherwise, he chipped in just like the rest of us."
Kagome winced at Inuyasha's comment and turned her gaze downwards to the tabletop.
"So, once we started seeing trends of Naraku," Miroku jumped in, reclaiming the narrative and crossing his hands, "my team of Analysts paid a bit more attention to his movements. The more we tracked him the more we got to know other players who worked with him, other players who were known Yakuza members. This was how we discovered he was a central figure in the Kuzawari."
Not just a central figure, Kagome thought with a frown on her face, but the oyabun, the head of the whole thing.
"And this involves Inuyasha…how?" Sango inquired, drawing Kagome out of her introspection.
"Naraku didn't just traffic adults, Sango," Miroku began, his tone becoming heightened, "he also trafficked children."
"Alright," Inuyasha snapped, "so we've established that Inuyasha was kidnapped by Naraku to do his bidding—boo fucking hoo. Can we continue with the story, Miroku, or what?"
Sango's eye widened at Inuyasha at the revelation so bluntly shared amongst the group. However, Miroku continued speaking before Sango had an opportunity to let the information sink too deeply.
"The more we tracked Naraku, the more able we were to be proactive with his movements, become familiar with implications of events he was planning. The biggest event of my career as an Analyst occurred when one of my long time informants advised us of an incident: the Kuzawari intended to breach the Chinese government to traffic across their borders." Miroku snorted indifferently. "It was the high stakes move my father was waiting for."
"So, what happened?" Kagome leaned forward in her seat, her increasing heart rate noticeable in her chest.
"We were in a position where we knew where Naraku was going to be, and when, beforehand. It was an opportunity we couldn't pass up; capturing Naraku had such significant implications on trafficking the Asian population, not to mention the prestige that would follow from capturing the head of a Yakuza gang offshoot."
Miroku steeled his expression and continued. "My father didn't want to take any chances. He made the executive decision to have me trained as a Field Agent; he was adamant it wasn't enough that I was behind the ear pieces providing guidance. Naichō's Director wanted me at the head of the task force, able to predict and foresee Naraku's every move, then respond accordingly. And why not? I was the subject matter expert; by this time, I had spent three years studying Naraku's movements."
"What happened once you became a field agent?" Sango questioned. "I'm guessing Naichō acted on your informant's information?"
"Yes. My informant met us at the border; however, before we instigated the mission, the informant shared new information: this time, Naraku wasn't just planning on transporting people, but weapons. The informant provided us with the location of the arms warehouse and, without questioning the validity of the information, we pounced. The Director's objective was very clear: my father wanted Naraku's head on a platter."
Miroku licked his lips and took a closed-eye breath. He could feel his throat beginning to ache and rasp.
"Too blinded by our desires to be heroes, nine of us were transported to Nagoya, where this reported dojo was located that housed the weapons, as per the informant. My father, hungry for victory, led the group. But when we got there, it was worse than we thought."
"Worse how, Miroku?" Sango asked after Miroku seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment, delaying the story.
"It wasn't just weapons, but drugs and children we found. It wasn't until we started trying to rescue the kids did we realize it was a trap."
Miroku took a shaky breath and steadied himself for what he was about to say.
"In that moment, my informant was discovered to be one of Naraku's kobuns, a double agent. Naraku had found a way to infiltrate Naichō, and he used our own hubris against us. For years, this informant had laid this elaborate trap for Naraku, slowly working to gain our trust, my trust, to lead us right into the palm of Naraku's hand. All that planning and deceit led us to that moment where Naraku could eliminate the entire task force rather than pick us off one by one. Of the nine of us who entered the dojo, only three of us lived. That was the night my father died."
"Oh my God," Kagome gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Miroku," Sango cried, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand in comfort.
Miroku took a breath, kept his eyes firmly on the table in front of him, and pressed on.
"For the next few months, seeking vengeance on Naraku, on the Kuzawari, was the only thing that got me through the days," Miroku continued, steeling his gaze on the tabletop so he could persevere through his narrative. "Following his death, my father was replaced as Director by this up-and-coming young general from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. He had military, tactical intelligence; however, he was also impulsive. He wanted to do whatever it took to remove the shame that fell on Naichō the day my father died. He was my senior officer, but he was also a mentor. I wanted his respect and I wanted a long leash. It wasn't long before he commanded I was involved in every Kuzawari investigation, debrief, or task force.
"So, with the backing of my new Director, I obsessively poured myself into my vengeance. The dojo was abandoned after the attack; however, I staked it out for days at a time, convinced that Naraku couldn't so easily abandon a central location where he had housed so many trafficking victims and goods.
"After a few weeks, I finally caught my big break. Early one morning, hours before dawn, I witnessed a meeting between two people at the dojo: Naraku and Bankotsu."
"What?" Sango exclaimed. "Inuyasha's singer?"
"I understand your sentiments, Sango," Miroku nodded. "I, too, couldn't fathom why a musical celebrity would be meeting with Naraku of all people, especially at that particular location. From that point onward, I spent my free time investigating The Band of Seven, wanting to learn for myself who Bankotsu was and just how he came to know Naraku. If anything was clear, it was that Naraku was up to something, and he was using Bankotsu to accomplish it."
"So, that's how you came to meet Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.
Miroku half-heartedly shrugged. "Inuyasha and I hadn't become acquainted by that time, but I knew of him, yes."
Inuyasha grunted a laugh. "What he means to say is that I knew of him. Not-so-subtle Miroku followed along in our entourage for our Asia-wide tour. It wasn't long before I picked up on the fact that he was stalking us; no one received unrestricted access to anything without my being aware of it from Naraku." Inuyasha blurted a laugh in his throat. "I knew something was up with him because he was snooping around, but he wasn't a kobun."
"I can imagine that didn't end well for Miroku," Kagome proffered.
Miroku chortled and patted Inuyasha on the back affectionately. "He tried to use his art of persuasion—"
"—Violence—" Inuyasha substituted.
"—to get me to leave him alone, but I begged Inuyasha to hear me out."
"But unbeknownst to you, Miroku, Inuyasha was a kobun," Kagome commented sadly.
"That's correct," Miroku sighed. "But in time he shared that knowledge with me. What I came to learn about Inuyasha, was that he hated Naraku just as much—"
"—Feh! If not more—" Inuyasha interjected.
"—as me," Miroku concluded.
"How did you reach that conclusion?" Sango probed.
"I can answer that one," Inuyasha guffawed. "He straight out asked me if the band had any involvement with Naraku and the Kuzawari. He stated he had photographic evidence that Bankotsu was involved and he wanted my help in using Bankotsu to get to Naraku."
"That's bold," Kagome chuckled.
"You can hardly blame me," Miroku remarked, "having witnessed Bankotsu and Naraku in a suggestive predicament, only to later witness Naraku himself trailing the band around on several instances. They were so clearly connected I just needed to find how or for what purpose."
"So, Inuyasha let you stick around?"
Miroku nodded. "Yes, Kagome, he did. He ended up restricting some of my access, but it was better that than returning to Naichō a failure. You see, Inuyasha's primary concern was that kobuns who acted out Naraku's bidding, thanks to the band's travel plans, would know my identity, or knew what happened at the dojo with my father and the task force. For months Inuyasha and I met and spoke in private; discretion was of the absolute importance."
"Yet Naraku was the furthest thing from discreet, though," Sango stated, her tone laced with confusion. "How could Naraku so blatantly and shamelessly put himself in those public situations, like being seen on CCTV or photographed at a band event? I don't get it."
"Trafficking has such a rising prevalence due to the illusive nature of the crime, Sango, and the difficulty in prosecuting such cases," Miroku answered. "Unless we had irrefutable proof that Naraku was the sole mastermind behind the illegal transport and sales of weapons, drugs, and people, we can only continue to follow him hoping he'll eventually screw up. It was for this reason the Director wanted me to stay on top of Inuyasha. He was certain that at some point Naraku would make contact with Bankotsu once more."
"But, Inuyasha, I thought you told me that you had the reporting relationship with Naraku?" Kagome inquired. "When did he replace you with Bankotsu?"
Inuyasha snorted indignantly. "The argument at the time was that I was more famous than Bankotsu, and easier to pick out of a crowd. Naraku was convinced that his meeting with me would be more obvious than him meeting with Bankotsu."
"In retrospect, Inuyasha," Miroku stated thoughtfully, "it turns out that worked out better for your claiming wilful ignorance once you came under our protection."
Inuyasha merely nodded in response.
"So back up a second, Inuyasha," Sango called sitting forward in her chair. "Where did this comradery between you and Miroku come from? He asked you if the band was involved with the Kuzawari, and then—"
"—And I told Miroku that if he could help me escape the Family, I would personally deliver him Naraku with a pretty little bow. So long as he kept his nose out of my business and kept his head low, I said I would help him. The Kuzawari has a strict code on betrayal; if anyone had the smallest suspicion of what we were doing, it would have meant a Burning Ritual."
"Burning Rit—?" Sango began to question, but Inuyasha cut her off and disregarded her question entirely. Sango tried to share a inquiring glance with Kagome, but Kagome kept her eyes firmly glued on her clasped hands in front of her.
"I was fucking done with them," Inuyasha bellowed, his eyes dark, "and it was either die a kobun or aid Naichō and get rid of Naraku. The choice seemed kinda obvious."
"So you willingly became his informant," Sango synopsized.
"Yes."
"And you didn't see the harm in trusting another kobun given what happened with your last informant, Miroku?"
"Sango!" Kagome gasped, shocked with the lack of candor her friend used to speak her mind. Kagome, too, realized that it didn't reflect well on Miroku's character that he so blindingly trusted Inuyasha, but she didn't think Sango needed to voice that so bluntly.
"No, Kagome, Sango has a valid point. It was foolish of me to brashly put my faith in Inuyasha when he was so open with me about his history with Naraku. But, once again, I was a desperate young man presented with a carrot on a stick. My new Director wanted my constant surveillance on Inuyasha, and the more I remained around the band members, the more likely I was to know when Naraku contacted them. The Director didn't trust Inuyasha, and ordered me to give him a very short leash. Pardon the pun, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha merely rolled his eyes.
"The situation couldn't have arranged itself more perfectly," Miroku continued. "I had the Director's leave, his orders really, to supervise Inuyasha while he helped me bring down Naraku. It was an obvious quid pro quo: Inuyasha wanted away from Naraku and would have done anything to escape the Kuzawari, and I wanted Naraku and would have done anything to capture him."
"So what was your plan? I don't mean to sound negative," Kagome began, licking her lips, "but I'm guessing you weren't successful since I overheard the two of you after dinner. I—" Kagome paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears in embarrassment. "—I heard Inuyasha say that Naraku has re-emerged and is now looking for revenge against him."
Miroku shot Inuyasha an unimpressed glance. "I told you it was reckless having that conversation so openly!"
"Oh, get down off your high horse, Miroku," Inuyasha sneered. "But yeah, the plan was fucking compromised because Naraku recognized Miroku before we could action anything."
"You make it sound like it was so blatantly my fault, Inuyasha. I clearly recall—"
"—You second-guessed me at that deal with Kyokotsu, Miroku! Your precious Director panicked and freaked at you for letting me go alone, and you felt obligated to check up on me. Do us all a favour and call a spade a fucking spade. You didn't trust me to go with Kyokotsu to collect the goods, but your showing up fucked the whole thing up."
"Hold on," Kagome cried out, gesturing with her hands, "so you're saying that Inuyasha went with Kyokotsu to meet with Naraku, and Miroku just showed up?"
"Pretty much," Inuyasha snorted.
Miroku rolled his eyes. "I didn't just walk in through the front door, Inuyasha. I had all the key players in one room together with unquestionable proof that Naraku was handing off trafficked goods to Kyokotsu to distribute. The Director ordered we move, and we did."
"So what was your plan if Miroku didn't show up, Inuyasha?" Sango asked. "Kill Naraku yourself?"
Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "It wouldn't have been the first time it was three on one. I could have taken them all out."
"Three on one?" Kagome questioned.
Inuyasha nodded. "Naraku hadn't told me he planned on having Bankotsu present. I think it was primarily because Kyokotsu was a gargantuan fucking idiot, and Naraku wanted him babysat so the deal didn't go sideways."
Kagome covered her face with her hand and shook her head. This was all too much.
"Anyway, I will continue, shall I?" Miroku inquired, receiving nods from both females.
"The Director's new task force arrived on the scene, and somehow our positioning was discovered by one of Naraku's security details." Miroku sighed, "The entire situation was a calamity. We hadn't known ahead of time that Bankotsu would be present for this exchange as well. Despite our best efforts, when Naraku was informed that Naichō was there, he and Bankotsu both escaped. The only silver lining at the time was that Kyokotsu had been taken down because he was caught red-handed with the merchandise."
"So, that's how he was caught with the heroin," Sango remarked thoughtfully. "Slightly more dramatic than the trial made it seem."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the comment.
"It was a sloppy execution of a mission," Miroku sighed after a moment, flexing his one hand. "But having been so close to my revenge, I simply wouldn't let Naraku get away without a chase, so I followed him. Blinded by the desire for vengeance, I failed to read the situation, and I walked right into trouble. You see, Bankotsu had been waiting for me with two kobun at his side. Two officers later found the four of us, the two kobuns dead at our feet. Thanks to Bankotsu's exhaustion, my team was successful in apprehending Bankotsu. I was airlifted to hospital due to my wounds."
Inuyasha sighed aggressively. "I doubt you girls ever noticed the problems Miroku has with his right hand. It's 'cause Bankotsu almost fully cut this idiot's hand clean off."
Miroku flexed his hand again. Kagome's eyes scoured his wrist to find scar tissue she had never before had grounds to notice. Was it because she never paid attention or because Miroku had had years of experience drawing attention away from it?
"There's considerable nerve damage," Miroku sighed, "and most days I can't feel my fingertips, and my strength will never fully return to it, but at least I didn't lose the hand."
"I can't believe this," Sango cried, a hand to her mouth.
"Once Bankotsu and Kyokotsu were behind bars," Miroku continued, "it was only a matter of time before the other members followed."
"Except for Inuyasha."
Miroku nodded at Sango. "Except for Inuyasha. As the Director promised, Inuyasha was granted legal immunity for his help in bringing down the Kuzawari oyabun."
"What? Wait a second," Kagome called. "I thought Naraku got away?"
"He did," Miroku agreed. "You see—"
"—That fucking idiot of a Director," Inuyasha interrupted, "decided there was enough proof that incriminated Bankotsu as the oyabun. Calls were traced to Bankotsu; orders were signed by him. It was fucking negligence."
Miroku leaned forward to address the confused looks on the girls' faces. "From a government securities perspective, the Director was content. Naraku was disregarded as a tool of Bankotsu's, the incriminating parties were in prison, and the public had accepted the cover story that the members of the Band distributed drugs because Bankotsu had a history of gang involvement."
"But where was Inuyasha in the mix?"
Sango turned to Kagome. "At no point during the investigation or the trial did anyone address Inuyasha's involvement. It was a question mark throughout the whole trial."
"Ah, yes," Miroku nodded, crossing his arms, "the no comment campaign."
Kagome blinked her eyes in confusion. "The what?"
"The only statement Inuyasha, or anyone on behalf of Inuyasha, was ever allowed to make when asked anything about the case was 'no comment'. It was Naichō's way of ensuring Inuyasha didn't reveal something he wasn't supposed to."
"Like legal immunity."
Miroku nodded at Kagome. "Like legal immunity."
"So," Sango began, "Bankotsu took the brunt of the blame; was that staged by Naraku, do you think?"
"We don't know," Miroku replied earnestly. "It may be logical to presume so. For ten years he hadn't been seen or heard from. Even the Kuzawari seemed to go underground."
"So, what changed?"
"Naraku is a symbolic bastard," Inuyasha spat. "Milestones are important to him. That asshole was probably spending the last ten years working on his revenge plan for the tenth anniversary of when all this shit went down."
"Do you know Naraku has resurfaced because you still work for Naichō, Miroku?"
Miroku laughed. "Not even remotely, Kagome. I resigned from Naichō immediately once the trial ended. Fortunately for me, Inuyasha took pity on this poor cripple and offered me a job. I can't say I've ever really relied too much on my Statistics or Computer Science degrees, but I'm quite thankful for his friendship and this gallant opportunity."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at how prestigious Miroku made his role sound. "You're a PA, Miroku, not the president."
"As it turned out, despite the fact I was no longer employed by Naichō, the Director was pleased with this arrangement as well because they felt that someone who knew was keeping an eye on Inuyasha. However, now that Naichō has reassembled their task force, they seem to have forgotten I want nothing to do with this case. The death of my father and almost losing an appendage, not to mention my life almost, was more than enough for me."
"I guess even the Director of Naichō can't ignore the public media about the band members coming after Inuyasha and Kagome," Sango sighed.
Miroku nodded. "That, and the algorithms I created as an Analyst for tracking Kuzawari activities have revealed movement again."
"You said Naichō reassembled their task force?"
"Yes," Miroku concurred. "They've reached out to Inuyasha and myself to get an understanding of what's happening, if it could really be Naraku."
"But why me?" Kagome asked after a short lull in the conversation. "I can understand someone justifying revenge for betrayal, but I haven't done anything to Naraku or any of those guys in jail. Why have I been roped into this?"
Inuyasha released a heavy exhale and sat back in his chair. "Not wanting to give the bastard any credit, but Naraku's greatest skill was being able to manipulate a person based on their weaknesses. It's," Inuyasha paused to take a breath, "it's one of the key things I had been taught growing up. You extort someone to discover their weakness and then you fuck with them long enough until you slowly break them down until they're pathetic enough it's not much of a fight."
"What Inuyasha means, Kagome," Miroku jumped in, "is that we believe Naraku has identified you as Inuyasha's weakness, and they are using you to get to him."
"I guess that makes sense," Sango sighed ruefully. "I mean, the media has obsessed over a potential love interest for months now. Naraku would just be going off of public knowledge."
"And putting your life in immediate danger, like a car chase, is just the type of test Naraku would use to bait Inuyasha."
Kagome's shoulders slumped. "So, you're saying Inuyasha's coming after me that time was the nail in the coffin for him."
"Maybe not the final nail per se, but they certainly would feel that their suspicions were confirmed that if they go after you, Kagome, Inuyasha will come to your aid."
Kagome's cheeks felt hot.
"Regardless of what they intend to do with Kagome, it won't fucking happen," Inuyasha snapped. "Naraku won't rest until he personally builds my pyre or I put the bastard six feet underground. I don't expect he'll live long enough to make another attempt to hurt Kagome."
"But what—"
Kagome couldn't help the scream that left her lips at the sound of something large and heavy crashing to the floor upstairs, shaking the ceiling above their heads.
Sango instinctively reached for Kagome. Inuyasha sprung to his feet and raced out of the room, lunging towards the staircase, taking the steps two or three at a time. Catching his breath on the landing of the fourth floor, Inuyasha heard curt swear words, and a flurry of shuffling paper, beckoning him down the hall. Inuyasha didn't waste any time.
Running down the hallway, Inuyasha used the palm of his hand to push open the door to his father's office, the room from where the crash had come.
The wall-mounted floating cabinet that Inuyasha's father had used to store his paperwork was on the floor. The drywall revealed hefty cracks, holes, and chipped paint from where the cabinet had fallen.
Souta was on his hands and knees, scurrying to gather the hundreds of papers that had flown out of the cabinet as it fell, once it had fallen.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?"
Souta didn't have an opportunity to even mouth an apology or an explanation before Inuyasha grabbed him from the collar of his shirt and hoisted him to his feet.