He was tailing her…

Again.

Grinding her teeth, she rounded the corner as if nothing were amiss, then ducked into the shadowy alcove of a closed storefront. Heavy rain fell, pattering on the curved slats of the awning, jostling the ribboned streamers which whipped and whistled in the snatches of gusty wind. Despite all this clamor, her keen ears picked up the sounds of his hounding footsteps with ease. 

Annoyed, she shook her head, sending the shivering droplets clinging to the tips of her dark bangs flying. She’d heard shambling poltergeists that were quieter than him—and far less of a menace. Any common mortal off the street could have heard him coming, yet he thought he was being stealthy, that was clear. 

Of course he passed right by her hiding spot without so much as a glance. She shook her head again. How could he be so oblivious and so tenacious at the same time? Even if it was all just a string of dumb luck on his part, it was still infuriating. 

Stepping out onto the flooded sidewalk, she fell into step behind him as he wandered forward with umbrella in hand. Her heeled bootsteps made not the slightest whisper of sound. She drew very close to his tall suited figure. Even if he couldn’t hear her, he should still be able to sense her, but he didn’t. In his distraction, he had the spiritual equivalent of blinders on, and it was one piece of proof among many that he was in way over his head with all this.

And now she was the one stalking him.

Releasing a breath of frustration, which of course he didn’t hear, she slipped casually behind a string of sidewalk newstands and overtook him unawares. In a small dark, deserted alleyway, she lay in wait. The moment he strode blithely past, still glancing about for her long-lost trail, she pounced on him from the shadows of the alley, grabbing him by the lapels of his suit jacket and slamming his unsuspecting self back against the wet brick wall of a foreclosed office building.

He stared down at her, stunned. “You!”

“Yes, me,” she said witheringly, glaring up into his bewildered face. “You passed right by me twice, you dolt.”

“Oh,” he said, his blue eyes wide with wonder. “That’s amazing.”

Heat rose to her cheeks. At the same time it seemed, they realized their proximity to one another. In fact, their faces were just a hairsbreadth apart. Up close like this she couldn’t help but breathe in the spice of his aftershave, take note of the strong fine lines of his jaw. He was a handsome man, she couldn’t deny it, much as he grated on her. His mussed blue-black bangs dripped icy water onto her brow, and it was like a spell breaking. She drew back from him with a huff, releasing him abruptly.

“I told you to leave me alone.”

“I know,” he said, frowning. “But I can’t.”

Tearing her eyes from his, she asked testily, “How did you find me, anyway?”

As if on cue, a tiny horned red head poked out of the breast pocket of his suit. The incognito little devil had pressed itself so flat to his chest she hadn’t even noticed it, though she should have known.

“Gepetto,” she bit out, as the demon attempted to flee with a panicky flare of jyaki—only for the man to grab it mid-spring. “You sneaky little snitch.”

The scavenger demon thrashed, grunting. It glared between her and the man, then cowered in his glowing hold.

“Dun kill me!”

“I told you I wouldn’t,” the man said, relaxing his grip. Sheepishly, he smiled at her. “But I did hold his feet to the fire a bit.”

She gave him a flat look. Damn reiki-users. They were too cocky for their own good.

“Just so you know,” she said tartly, “Gepetto and his ilk are born liars.”

“No lie, not never!”

“Well, there you have it.”

“He got me most of the way to finding you, at least,” the man said, as Gepetto nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “Why’s his name ‘Gepetto,’ anyway?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? Scavengers pick up names like they pick up everything else, haphazardly and indiscriminately. They’re little more than intelligent pests.”

“If they’re so pesky, why keep them around?” 

As Gepetto wilted at this, she said, “As a cleanup crew, they’re more useful than not. And more or less harmless, even to normal humans.”

“I see,” the blue-eyed man said, smiling. “I had a sense he wasn’t all that dangerous.”

Gepetto’s tiny red chest swelled with both pride and offense. “No eat mortals, not never! Taste bad.”

The man’s smile slipped as he scratched behind his ear. “Well, I guess that’s something.”

“Listen,” she said sternly, “just because you can bully a small-fry like Gepetto here”—the little demon scowled, his horn tips darkening—”doesn’t mean you should make a habit of it. Try a half-assed intimidation stunt like this with even a Class E youkai, and you’ll find yourself in hot water fast.”

“There’s different classes?” the man asked wonderingly.

Her chin slashed aside. “That’s not the point! The point is, an untrained person like you shouldn’t be meddling in the spirit world. Not never. And for fuck’s sake, will you mask your aura already? It’s beaming like a goddamn spotlight.”

His face blanked in shock, but he clamped down on his flaring reiki at once. He was good at suppressing his spiritual signature, at least. She eyed him over critically.

“You’re just a normal, everyday businessman, aren’t you?”

“A traveling salesman,” he said earnestly. “I like to ramble.” As if he’d bared his soul too much already, just with this, he blushed and went on, “My family owns a shinto shrine, a sort of tourist attraction. We live there, on that old ‘sacred’ ground, although I’ve never detected a whiff of anything magical from it. I come from a long line of priests and priestesses, or so I’ve been told. But I’ve only ever felt trapped there, to tell you the truth. All this superstition without substance. All these expectations to carry on ‘the family tradition’ from a man who wouldn’t know a real demon if it stared him in the face!

“Until the other night, I’d never met anyone who’d experienced the paranormal like I have. I thought I was alone in the world, now I know different. Can’t you imagine what that’s like? You say I’m ‘untrained’—well, that’s true. So then train me—please. That’s all that I ask. Teach me more about this spirit world of ours.”

She shook her head. “I’m not like you. I can’t teach you.”

“Then teach me what you can. Let me tag along with you, and learn from you.”

She advanced on him, glaring. “‘Tag along?’ Is that what you think this is? I’m a ghost-hunter, you could say. I was born with my own slate of supernatural abilities, it’s true, but even so, I’ve spent my entire life training to combat and exorcize malignant spirits. I was reared for it, do you understand? It’s my life, not just something I do now and then to escape my humdrum routine! What you did the other night, driving back that bloodsucking drone, was nothing short of beginner’s luck. If we hadn’t shown up when we did, things would have gotten ugly for you.”

He gave her a long, searching look. “I can appreciate that.”

Ruthlessly, her eyes pierced his. “Which part? I see that ring on your hand. You’re a married man, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“You have children?”

“I do. Two children—a girl and a boy.”

“Then go home to them,” she said, turning away from him. “That’s my advice to you. Focus on your family, and forget these things which should have nothing to do with you or them. Understand that to do otherwise is to place them in danger, as well as yourself.”

“And what if I can’t?” he said, taking her by the arm and pulling her back to him. “Forget?”

Her brown eyes searched his, a moment too long. 

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “It’s only that you remind me of someone.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She glanced away. “I can’t help you. Please understand that much, at least.”

“At least tell me your name, then,” he said, smiling. “Mine’s Higurashi. Higurashi Sato.”

“Nakamura,” she replied, knowing it was pointless to conceal what he could easily extract out of others like Gepetto. “Nakamura Reiko.”

“Nice to meet you, Nakamura-san.”

She glowered back at him. “No, it isn’t. Now go home like you promised.”

“Did I?” he murmured, but he turned from her anyway. “See you around.”

“…I hope not,” Reiko muttered, glaring after him until he rounded the street corner and disappeared from sight.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Series Navigation

The Pact Side-Stories: Ghost-Hunter Nakamura, Part 2 >>