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Of Butterfly Wings

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Search

Touya glowered at the pro hero standing before him. The guy was young, likely barely eighteen or nineteen based on his appearance alone. Yet he carried himself with an undue amount of confidence. With messy blond hair, peach fuzz beard and an annoying smirk, Touya found that he already disliked the guy.

"Tensei this is Hawks. He's the new pro hero that will be working these parts." His chief introduced them. "Now Hawks has asked to join you on your patrols as he wants a better feel for the city and its people. Show him around, if you would."

He felt his brow twitch in irritation. He had a feeling that the chief was only foisting this job onto him because he was the newest officer on the force. It was just a minor bit of hazing but he still found it annoying all the same.

Hawks struck his hand out towards him, "Nice to meet you."

Touya took it, "Tensei Touya."

He then turned on his heel and gestured for the man to follow him.

"Patrol starts in five so best hurry it up." He then cocked his head over his shoulder, "Oh and I prefer to walk."

He did have a cruiser but due to his motion sickness, it was easier for him to park at a public location and walk around his assigned areas. It gave him a better perspective of everything going on while helping him form bonds with the local population. By now he'd learned about the people and staff that worked each store in the mall. He was constantly getting called there for thefts and lost children.

Hawks tailed after him as they started their rounds.

"So, any weird disturbances lately? Like people claiming that they were being followed?" The hero inquired. His tone was jovial but Touya could tell that there was more to his question.

"Depends on who's calling." Touya gestured towards a squat building just to the left of the block they were currently on. "Suzumura from the Hinode Apartment Complex calls every three days and claims that a man is following her. I followed up on all of her calls and found out that she suffers from schizophrenia and manic episodes. The man she claims to be following her is one of her split personalities. She's got six total."

Touya then gestured towards the building on the opposite side of the street, "Then there's Rikida of the Sayuri Lofts. She called no less than twenty times in one night stating that someone had followed her home." He began walking across the cross walk when the pedestrian signal turned green. "When I checked it out, we found out that she had been followed and the guy stuck a tracker on her car. Turns out he was an old classmate obsessed with her and deluded himself into thinking that they were married. We were able to put a restraining order on him but those are only as effective as the paper they're printed on." His brows furrowed as he continued, "Guy came right back and we were barely able to get there in time to stop him from slashing her. He's been sent to a mental ward for the criminally insane but that's not much of a comfort to the girl he attacked."

It was honestly terrifying to him how often cases like these escalated. Most of his colleagues treated stalker situations like they were casual encounters between strangers. Yet the idea of someone targeting his wife, mother, sister or even soon-to-be daughters in such a way terrified him.

He then pinned the pro hero with a baleful look, "Why don't you stop beating around the bush and get to the point. If there's someone specific you want to investigate then you better tell me. I can't help you if you're being vague."

Hawks rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, "You got me. There's actually a case I was tasked with investigating but I keep turning up dead ends. I was hoping that by having a fresh set of eyes on the case it could give me a new perspective."

Touya pressed on as they rounded the next corner, watching as children played happily upon swing sets and plastic slides. Mothers gathered together in a small circle, laughing amongst each other. It was pleasant seeing the people so happy and relaxed. One day, he'd want to watch as Kagome and their children went to the same playground and enjoyed themselves. The boys were still too young, but he could only wait for the day to finally come.

"Well first things first, I'll need to know whatever details you can freely give me about the case. Who the suspect is, what they're accused of doing and how exactly you want to go about dealing with it." He stopped as they came upon the coffee shop Kagome told him that she'd be at.

When he glanced inside, he could see his wife speaking with her twin. Her expression was set into a hard line and he knew that things likely weren't going well.

Touya rested his back against the wall as he continued to observe.

"So out with it. I want to hear those details." He didn't bother to look back at Hawks. He could sense the man glancing between him and the coffee shop curiously.

The pro hero then began, "We've gotten a lot of reports about a hero demanding sexual favors from the female bystanders that he'd rescued." Hawks pushed on, "We discovered that there was legitimacy to the claims and one victim was even sexually assaulted. The hero has been put on unpaid leave while we conduct our investigation but he's managed to escape our custody and is currently on the run."

Touya watched as both women stood up, "So you're looking for an entitled bastard who thinks that he's owed sex in return for doing his job." He glanced over his shoulder at Hawks, "So why come here?"

A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He did not like where this was going.

"We have reason to believe that he's searching for an ex-girlfriend of his. Higurashi Kikyou. We believe that he's going to try to link up with her and use her connections to escape legal prosecution." The blond didn't miss the way he began walking as Kagome left the shop. "Her life could be in danger. She came here several months ago and we know that she's still here. So we want to intercept her and take her into protective custody before our suspect gets her."

Touya clicked his tongue, "You mean the same protective custody that your suspect managed to escape from the first time?" He watched as Kagome then made her way into another department store. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, sending her a quick text before continuing on with his patrol. "Take it from me, guys like that don't give a rat's ass who is there. If they've got their sights set on someone then they're going to find a way to get their hands on them. The only way to deal with a situation like this is to throw the bastard behind bars and destroy the key. He'll just keep doing shit like this again and again and again."

Touya then shot the hero a sharp look, "You also never gave me the suspect's name."

He needed to know who to look for and put some of his colleagues on the trail as well. Even if he disagreed with their views on stalkers, he could at least rely on them to track down a perp. They had years of experience under their belts and he was more than willing to use that to his advantage.

"Omoikiri Inuyasha," Hawks eventually spoke. "He's the one we're after."

Touya felt a slow coiling of ice form in the pit of his stomach.

She's not yours.

The man's words from the Sports Festival suddenly rang in his ears. Hawks claimed that he was after Kikyou, but Kagome also had powerful connections of her own. If Inuyasha discovered Kagome in his search for Kikyou then what was to stop him from shifting targets?

"New plan," Touya turned on his heel as he made a bee line for the Kagome had gone into earlier. "Just follow me and don't ask questions. I'll explain after we take care of something."

Touya quickened his pace as he searched for his wife.

He needed to find her fast. After that he would take her back home and triple their security measures.

Whatever Kikyou had gotten herself into, he would not risk his own family.

Touya hurried as he searched each aisle.

He had to find her.