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Finding Kagome	By : MetsukiKaraTen Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 8806 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
DISCLAIMER: I do not own InuYasha and company, however I
DO own an overactive imagination...

FINDING KAGOME

Chapter Twenty Five

There
was definitely trouble in paradise.

Miranda grimaced as she looked around at the mess Kouga had made of
her kitchen while searching for what he had referred to as 'proper
victuals'. He had rummaged and slammed around every cupboard. The
refrigerator, and even the microwave had suffered abuse during his
rampage, all the while swearing and accusing her of believing herself
to be some kind of fowl or rodent. She thought he had known she was
vegan, she had certainly told him so . . . perhaps he hadn't fully
understood what that meant.

She
sighed as she reached for a broom to sweep up the lentils he had so
unceremoniously dumped all over the kitchen floor, just as that
freaky punked out sidekick of his, Ginta had shown up on her back
deck. She had seen the guy a couple of times before, but he had
never come inside, and she quite honestly hadn't wanted him to.
There was just something off about him, with his multi hued hair
and weirdly twitchy, subservient attitude

But
then again, there was something off about Kouga too, wasn't there?
Just Kouga hadn't put her
off. No, something about him had intrigued her from the start. She
wondered if Ginta was one too . . . a youkai. The whole idea still
seemed too fantastic to her, but she had to admit there were too many
oddities about Kouga to dismiss it completely. One thing was
certain, he was most definitely male, and a dominating one to boot.

'Men
. . . you can't live with 'em and you can't shoot 'em . . .'
she mused. Not that she would ever use a firearm, but she liked the
saying. It reminded her why she had chosen to stay single for so
long. Well, at least until now. Had she really allowed that to
happen? The sensation of her multiple abrasions confirmed for her
that she really had. And he had made it clear that it was more than
a one time deal. He had called her his 'mate'. She wondered how
long that would last.

Men were such fickle creatures.

The way Kouga had just taken off so quickly after
talking to Ginta had left her head spinning. Hardly a word, just a
head back in the door with an order for her to eat something, and
then gone in a flash. Damn, but he could move fast.

Then
Ginta had looked at her strangely. Not that that was so unusual from
him, but this time there was an air of shock in his too pale tweaker
eyes . . . 'and what was up with that weird little bow
before dashing off after Kouga?'
She shook her head.

Biting at her still slightly swollen lower lip, she set
the broom aside and went to shut each of the cupboard doors, reaching
to grab a half-empty bag of rice cakes as she went.

Curious as to how her refrigerator had fared with the
Ookami's thrashing, she opened the door to pull out a pitcher of
organic apple juice. As she did she noticed the holes neatly punched
by Kouga's claws in the plastic bottle of pomegranate juice. It had
spilled all over the floor of the refrigerator, still dripping
maliciously from the metal grate. She sighed in resignation, opening
up the drawers to find it pooled on the bottom around the raw
vegetables.

Shutting
the door, she thought about how she really should make him
clean it up, since he
made the mess. But no, he's run off leaving it for her to do.
Typical. She knew it shouldn't surprise her.

Pouring her juice into a small glass, she shuffled with
it to the table where she sat, to pull open the newspaper she had
retrieved during Kouga's rant.

She refused to let him get to her. Well, maybe a
little late for that.

She'd clean it up in a little while.

Same
news different day . . . another Redwood Mangler report. It had
been a few days since the last one, this one seemed exceptionally
gruesome, and closer, near the Lake County Line. They were moving
south, closer to more populated areas. She shuddered, then frowned
suddenly feeling very alone. Looking out the window at the surf
crashing on the beach but not really seeing it, she wondered just
where Kouga had run off to. Damn him. He said he'd be here
if I wanted him . . . needed him . . .

She
shook herself. Being alone never bothered her before, why should it
now? She was having trouble ignoring that knot that was forming in
her stomach and had been ever since he left. He'll be back,
if for nothing else to retrieve this stupid headband . . .

She
reached to pull it off, then hesitated. What if what he said was
true? Everything else he said was so wildly fantastic,
was it such a stretch to think that the pelt could have some kind of
spell on it? She gingerly ran
fingers along her abused neck, noticing that it was much less tender
than it had been just a short time ago, and decided it couldn't hurt
to keep the thing on a little while longer.

Glancing
back at the newspaper, she found an
article about the gala planned for the opening of the new production
of 'Don Giovanni' at the opera house. Now here was something more
upbeat. She could use some lighter fare right now. A champagne
reception was planned to celebrate the recently completed renovation
of the ancient building. They were calling in extra police to patrol
the area for the event, there was something about the city council's
refusal to increase the law enforcement budget to the requested
amount. So much for lighter . . .

She
wondered how that was affecting her cousin. She had heard that she
had been promoted, so she would probably not be involved with opening
night, though knowing Selene she might just volunteer. Wait
. . . Selene has a friend that's into Japanese history, mythology
stuff. Maybe she could shed some light on this 'youkai' business . .
.

The
knot in her gut grew tighter. Her world had begun careening out of
balance, and she was at a loss as to what to do to stop it. I
haven't talked to her in while, maybe she can give me a reality check
in the process . . .

Of all the people in Miranda's life, Selene was the
most realistic. She had a no nonsense way about her that made law
enforcement a perfect career choice for her. Not that she was always
serious, far from it . . . but if anyone could put Miranda back on
track, it would be Selene.

Reaching for the phone, she pressed the numbers for her
cousin's cell phone. It rang several times and just as she was
expecting it to kick over to voice mail, there came a whispered
answer.

“Rodriguez”

“Selene?
Did I catch you at a bad time?” she must be with Michael. I
suppose it's still early for some
people . . . she
mused.

“Hey Randy! How's the crystal ball business?”
her tone still hushed, Miranda heard her moving around, then a door
close.

“Other than feeling like a vampire? I'm getting
tired of the night work . . . can you tell?” she grinned.

“I know what you mean, I hated night shift . .
. oh!” her voice rose to normal conversation level, “did
you hear about my promotion?”

“Yeah, I did . . . way to go!”

“So, what's up cuz?”

Miranda hesitated, it was a basic question. Simple
really. She didn't want to sound like a total idiot. She doubted that
was possible.

“I
wanted to ask you something . . .” she began. “Your
friend . . . the one that introduced you to what's his name . . .”
This was a running theme between them, since Miranda's first meeting
with the man, who had known nothing about her profession. He had made
an offhanded comment about people seeking psychics instead of
professional therapy, which most of them really needed,
rather than bogus fortune tellers.

“Oh
no you don't!” Sally laughed on the other end. “His
name is Michael and you know it!”

“Right . . . well, your friend . . . the
teacher, didn't you tell me she was into Japanese mythology and the
like?”

“Yeah, she is. Why do you ask?” Was
that a guarded sound coming from her?

“I was wondering, has she ever talked about any
kind of . . .” how to word this, “I dunno... supernatural
beings?” Her query was met with silence. She decided to try a
different angle. “There's this guy . . .” she realized
her error before she finished her sentence, but it was too late.
“He's really special to me, Sally.”

“What has that got to do with supernatural
beings?”

“Well . . . he seems to be kind of an . . .
expert . . . and I just wanted to check out some of the stuff he's
said.”

“What
kind of . . . 'stuff' . . . has he said?” her cousin
asked. Yes , that definitely was a guarded tone. Miranda suddenly
felt as though she were jabbing a stick at a hornets nest. But she'd
come this far, she might as well take the plunge.

“He told me about a kind of . . . being . . .
called a youkai. He's from Japan, and he told me that long ago they
were worshiped there . . . like gods, but now they have to hide to
survive.” There, it was out. She worried for a moment about
having worded it exactly the way she had while she waited for Selene
to respond.

“Gods, huh?” came the reply,
finally.

“That's the word he used . . . so . . . you're
a cop, have you ever encountered anyone that seemed . . . I dunno .
. . a little odd?”

“I work in San Francisco, for crying out
loud!” Selene chuckled. “What does that tell you?”

“Touche`. . . ok, so has your friend ever said
anything about it?”There was another moment of silence. Miranda
began to rethink her decision to make the call in the first place.
She feared she was beginning to sound like a total fool. “I
mean legends . . . myths about them . . .” she explained.

“Sure,” Selene replied hesitantly,
then added, “She's from a long line of practitioners.”

“Oh, really . . .” a small light was
dawning on Miranda.

“Yeah,
she's put together a thing for the cultural fair in a few weeks, a
story told in her family about the Shikon no Tama, a sacred jewel.”

Miranda
took a moment to absorb this information. Jewel? Practitioner? BINGO?

“Hm
. . . he talked about a jewel too, actually . . .” could it
actually be the same one? oh that would just be too easy.

“Well,
there are a million stories out there about ancient, magical
artifacts . . . Seems to keep Hollywood busy, anyway . . . hers is
just one of them,” Selene chuckled again, then got very
quiet for a moment as though she were thinking. . “Miranda,”
her cousin's voice took a deathly serious tone, “in
her stories the youkai are not gods, they're monsters . . .
demons.”

Miranda
stiffened. Demon would
equal evil. Not good.

“Huh?” she responded stupidly, her tone did
nothing to disguise her shock. She shook her head, thoughts racing,
'Kouga is many things but he certainly is not evil . . .'

“You
heard me . . . whoever this guy is, just . . . be careful . . .”
her warning was low, and serious as a subway derailment. Miranda was
frozen for a moment, uncertain about how to proceed. One thing was
blatantly obvious to her, Selene had not denied their existence. She
hadn't said that youkai are a myth. A blatant denial of their
existence was what she had been expecting. But evil?? Kouga
is not evil!

“It's
a little late for that . . .” she reached up and touched the
headband, her fingers then drifting to the place where he had marked
her. As she touched it, she felt an unmistakable warmth, a sense of
reassurance.

“What
do you mean?” Selene's voice was bordering on sharp.

“He
. . . he . . . spent the night with me . . .” she stammered.
“Well, more like morning, but I guess you get the idea.”

“Is
this Miranda Rodriguez?? The one who swore off men forever . . .
after . . .” Here came her reality check, but
she wasn't so sure she wanted it after all.

“I know,” she interrupted, not wishing to
dig up past mistakes. “I told you, there's something special
about him.” She touched his mark again, and the knot that had
been plaguing her began to recede. “I think he might be . . .
the one, Sally.”

Her
cousin was silent on the other end. Miranda knew there were things
she wasn't being told, but she didn't know how to ask about them. She
wasn't sure she wanted to know. Kouga is not evil!

“It
sounds like you have already decided about him.” Selene's
tone sounded resigned, and concerned all at once. “Do
we get to meet him?”

“I would like that,” Miranda said
hopefully. Even if it did mean that headshrinker boyfriend of
Selene's would have to be involved. “What are you doing
Saturday night?”

“Making a trip out to your beach house I think
. . . oh! Wait . . . can Kagome come along?”

“Kagome . . .”

“She's had a rough week, and I don't want to
leave her alone. And who knows, maybe she and your boyfriend can
debate the divinity of youkai or lack of it, and compare stories
about magical gems.”

This was going to be very interesting, provided she
could get Kouga to stay around long enough. And maybe the
headshrinker would butt out if the two of them got to talking about
supernatural and superstitious folklore. That would be worth seeing
just by itself.

“It sounds like a date then, what time should we
expect you?”

“Let me get back to you, I need to confirm
with Mikey and 'Gome,” why did Selene sound worried?

“Okay, well leave a message on my voice mail if I
am not around, I might go shopping . . . or something,” she
looked at the rice cakes in front of her and frowned. “Hey!
Weather permitting we can do a bonfire, like the old days . . . why
don't you bring that old acoustic of yours?”

“I can do that, you supplying the tequila?”
her cousin countered.

“I can do that . . . just . . . no naked
dancing this time, agreed?” Miranda chuckled. Tequila and
bonfires had inspired some interesting behavior when they were
younger.

“Only if you promise to keep the gas can AWAY
from the fire . . .” Selene warned.

“Oh ouch . . . you KNOW I didn't do that on
purpose . . .” It had been a wonder how no one had been
seriously injured when it caught fire. It had been open, so it hadn't
exploded, thank the stars. “Okay it's a deal . . . no gas cans
at all.”

“Miranda . . .” Selene pulled her
back to the present. “What ever you do, just know I love
you. I really do want you to be happy.”

“Thanks,” she was caught off guard. “Let
me know what time.”

“Will do.”

She pressed the end call button and returned the phone
to it's charger. Kagome, huh? This should be a very interesting
weekend.

She
took another bite of the bland rice cake, and had the thought that
this must be what eating cardboard was like. Where did that
come from?? Must be stale . . .

Chewing laboriously, she bit her tongue. Once she got
past the pain and the tang of her own blood in her mouth, she ran her
tongue along her tooth line to discover that something had changed.
Her own mouth somehow felt foreign to her. Sticking out her tongue,
she crossed her eyes trying to examine the damage she had wrought on
it. Frowning with her lack of success, she ran to the bathroom to
look into the mirror, and at first didn't recognize her own
reflection.

There were subtle changes. Her eyes were what stood
out the most. Normally a dark hazel green, they had lightened,
seemed to almost shimmer and stood out more than they ever had
before. Sticking out her tongue to examine the damage, like a poorly
placed piercing, was a very neat puncture mark to the side of the
tip. She raised her upper lip in a grimace into the glass and found
that her eye teeth had . . . elongated. She had fangs.

“Well,
I'll be damned . . .” she wondered out loud, then smirked.
“With these I could bite him back!!” She stood there
grinning like a fool at the thought. Turning and lifting her hair,
she found the bruising on her neck had become only light yellow
swatches. Even the most significant mark left by her lover had nearly
healed.

Her overall appearance had not really changed, but the
subtle changes that had occurred lent her an almost feline
appearance. All this from a love bite?

She
wondered what else she might have to look forward to, and her smile
slipped as she realized that everything had changed now.

Everything.

88*88*88*88*88
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Finding Kagome