AUTHOR'S NOTE: Took a little longer this time due to the real world rearing its ugly head. Man, sometimes I wish life was more like anime...but then I'd probably be eaten by monsters or something. Anyway, here's Chapter Five, the beginning of the trial of Otomeinu Higurashi! Leave a review!

And by the way, I'm no lawyer, so if my knowledge of jurisprudence is off a little, guilty as charged.

TRANSLATION DEPARTMENT:

Kempeitai: Imperial Japan's secret police, similar to Nazi Germany's Gestapo.

Kitsune: fox demon, known for their trickery and shapeshifting. Shippo is, of course, a kitsune.

Aum Shinrikyo: apocalyptic cult active in Japan in the 1990s, who hoped to start a nuclear war between Russia and the US; responsible for the nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

M21: sniper-rifle version of the 1950s M14 assault rifle, used by the US Army. The M14 itself was a development of the World War II-era M1 Garand.

Youkai: demon; what Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and just about all the other bad people in Inu-Yasha are.

Hanyou: half-demon; what Inuyasha is.

Miko: shrine maiden; what Kikyo was and Kagome Higurashi is (in theory). Legend has it that miko were endowed with supernatural powers.

"Chan": diminutive address, used as a form of affection between adults and children, or close friends.

WAIT A MINUTE, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE DEPARTMENT:

I like to throw in characters from other anime for grins. Here's a quick rundown of the "guest stars" in this chapter who normally wouldn't be caught dead in the Inu-Yasha universe.

Koyomi Mizuhara, Ayumu Kasuga, Chiyo Mihama: in Azumanga Daioh, these are three of the main characters, all high school students. They're shown here in their grown-up form.

Hikaru Ichijo: In the Superdimensional Fortress Macross series, he's a fighter pilot and the main character, the love interest of Minmay and Misa Hayase. In the United States, he's known as Rick Hunter, and he's in love with Minmei and Lisa Hayes in Robotech. Apparently the SDF-1 never crashed on this version of Earth...

Harry Masato, Maki Kawasaki: characters in Burn-Up Warrior. In that series, they're cops, so it's not much of a stretch to see them as lawyers and judges.

Motoko Kusanagi: cyborg agent of Section Nine in Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Pretty much what she is here too, except she works for a hanyou instead of a little old guy.

Ritsuko Akagi: chief scientist of NERV in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Seems Second Impact didn't happen here, either.

CHAPTER FIVE: PROSECUTION

Men willingly believe what they want to.

–Julius Caesar

Tokyo Prefecture Court

Tokyo, Japan

18 October 2008

Sai Ikazuchi took a seat just behind the mahogany rail that separated the court's spectators from the defendant's table and looked around. As expected, the large court of the Prefecture of Tokyo was filled to capacity. Built along the classic lines of an Anglo-American courtroom, the only deference to the 21st Century was the large flatscreen television behind the judge's chair. Even the court recorder's machine was still analog, and had not been replaced by a computer.

As expected, the trial of Otomeinu Higurashi was well on the way to becoming a media circus, the trial of the century in Japan. No public official in Japan had been assassinated in over thirty years, and then by either the criminally insane or ultranationalist fanatics. This was the first time it had been done by someone inside the government itself. The impact of the accusation against Otomeinu was sending shockwaves throughout Japan. Section Nine was coming in for its share of abuse, with Haruko Ichinohe's party echoing the late representative's accusations of a resurgent Kempeitai secret police. It was gaining them much ground politically, as Chiyo Mihama's government was having trouble reconciling Otomeinu's superb field record with the sudden accusation of political murder. The only chance Mihama would have of preserving her shaky coalition in the Diet was to throw Section Nine in general and both Otomeinu and Inuyasha Higurashi to the wolves. So far, she had been reluctant to do that, but as Inuyasha had said, it was only a matter of time.

The spectators allowed in the courtroom had divided themselves very quickly into factions. Those sitting behind the defendant's table were mostly members of Section Nine, with a few other people who knew Otomeinu and thought her innocent. All of the Section members were dressed in formal blue uniform, with the exception of Inuyasha, who defiantly wore his red hakama. Emotions ranged from the stoic, such as Major Motoko Kusanagi, to the icily angry, like Rin Sesshoumaru, to the terribly frightened, as Kagome Taijiya was. Of the Section Eight personnel, only Kilala was not present; Inuyasha was having enough trouble keeping the lid on the secret that a third of Section Eight's personnel were supernatural, and having an eight-foot catgirl present would not help matters at all. His own ears were covered in a incongrous ballcap.

Those sitting behind the prosecutor's table had but one emotion–hatred. Surrounded by politicians from Ichinohe's party and his own bodyguards, Naraku sat in the center, with only his "ward," Kanna, in attendance. His face was a mask, betraying neither pleasure nor pain. Aside from the occasional glance, he paid no attention to any of the members of Section Eight, who in turn studiously ignored them–already, there had been calls for a second trial after Otomeinu's, that of her father. Besides Ichinohe's friends, political friends, and Naraku's group, there were also several reporters there, mostly from the Tokyo Broadcasting Corporation. Though they were bound by a court-imposed gag order not to speak of what they saw except in broad terms, they were there because, in the course of her attack, Otomeinu was also being charged with assault on Ayumu Kasuga and Koyomi Mizuhara. The former was still in the hospital with a minor skull fracture and a severe concussion. The attack on one of their own had incensed the media, and they wanted blood for blood.

The baliff abruptly walked in from a side door and proclaimed loudly, "All rise for the Honorable Judge Maki Kawasaki of the Tokyo Prefectural Court!" All rose to their feet and bowed in respect as Maki Kawasaki followed her baliff into the courtroom. She wore the traditional black cloak of a judge, her hair tied back in a severe ponytail. Kawasaki, one of the few female judges in Japan, was known as a hard but fair judge, specializing in high-profile cases like this one. Behind her came the court recorder and then the twelve members of the jury. Once everyone had taken their places, Kawasaki sat, signaling everyone else in the court to return to their seats. She briefly looked over the crowd, took a breath, and picked up the wooden gavel. "The Court of the Prefecture of Tokyo, Japan, for the year 2008 is now in session, Judge Maki Kawasaki presiding. So enter it into the court records." The recorder nodded and began typing away. "Baliff, please bring in the defendant."

It took every bit of restraint in Inuyasha not to simply charge over the wooden barrier and physically take back his daughter as she was led in. Otomeinu Higurashi wore the bright orange jumpsuit of a prisoner, her wrists in plastic handcuffs; like her father, she wore a ballcap to cover her ears. Only Kawasaki and Otomeinu's defense lawyer were privy to the secret of her hanyou heritage. She was surrounded by no less than five guards, but she did not wear the look of someone who was beaten, even with the evidence against her. She returned the smiles of her friends, wishing she could embrace them. Sai winked at her with a confidence he did not feel, though looking at her lawyer buoyed his spirit.

Shippo Kitsune shuffled his papers and stood to let Otomeinu be led through. Though it was probably no secret to the likes of Naraku, Sai had taken the name of his mother, Souten Ikazuchi, to disguise his identity, though Naraku had never attempted to attack Shippo or Souten. Following his arrival in the present time, Shippo had set himself to what he thought was a goal worthy of Kagome Higurashi's trust–he attended Tokyo University and passed their rigorous law school with flying colors. He was now one of the best in the land; he had immediately stepped forward to defend Otomeinu when he had learned of her arrest, though his fellow lawyers warned it was professional suicide. He had not been able to save the life of his surrogate mother, but maybe he could save the life of Kagome's daughter. As he had told Inuyasha, Naraku would regret not seeing the adult kitsune as a threat. Still, to Inuyasha, it was hard to see the short, well-dressed man defending Otomeinu as the little kitsune he used to bash in the head when his mouth got too big for his bushy tail–which, incidentally, was hidden through a little bit of youkai magic.

Sai looked from his father to the prosecutor, and his heart sank. Harry Masato, a Japanese-American, was every bit Shippo's equal, and probably more. A former policeman who bore the scars of an assassination attempt, Masato was no one to fool with, as those who had faced him soon learned. He took special interest, if not pleasure, in prosecuting policemen. Inuyasha had wanted to argue against his selection, due to that prejudice, but his own connections to Shippo made him keep quiet.

"Will the defendant stand?" Kawasaki asked. Otomeinu did as ordered. "State your name for the court."

"Otomeinu Higurashi."

"Your age?"

"22." Otomeinu was actually a few days shy of her 17th birthday, but that was a secret.

"Your rank and standing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police?"

"Lieutenant, Special Assault Team, Section Nine, Counterterrorist Division."

"Your place of birth?"

"Tokyo, Japan."

"Thank you. Have you been advised of your rights under the Judicial Code of Japan?"

"I have."

"Do you understand those rights?"

"I do."

"Good. You may return to your seat." Kawazaki turned to Masato. "If you would read the charges."

Masato nodded and stood. "Your Honor, the charges arraigned against Otomeinu Higurashi by the Government of Japan are as follows: possession of an illegal firearm; inappropriate conduct by an officer of the law; misappropriation of state funds and equipment; inciting a panic; three counts of assault, namely on the persons of Ayumu Kasuga, Koyomi Mizuhara, and Officer Hikaru Ichijyo; evasion of arrest, namely by the aforementioned Officer Ichijyo; murder in the first degree, of the Honorable Representative Haruko Ichinohe; and terrorism. It is my duty to mention that the state recommends the maximum sentence for all charges."

Murmurs, one or two exclamations of triumph, and a very loud growl from Inuyasha came on the heels of Masato's statement. While most of the charges were lesser ones, with penalties ranging from heavy fines to 20 years in prison, the charge of first-degree murder, coupled with the charge of terrorism, was the one crime in Japan punishable by death. Capital punishment had been revived in Japan only on that basis, following Aum Shinrikyo's sarin gas attack on Tokyo in 1995, followed by an even deadlier attempt to use a radioactive dirty bomb on Osaka in 2006.

"That's ridiculous," Sai muttered to Kagome.

"Well, it could be construed as terrorism," she replied.

"Bull. I smell Naraku's hand in this."

Kagome glanced over her shoulder at Naraku, whose face was still carefully placid. The rip in her right hand itched and pulsed for her to use it on the one who had so cursed her family with it. "We all do, Sai."

Kawasaki gave Masato a nod, then looked over at Shippo. "Defense, how do you plead to these charges?"

The murmuring died as Shippo rose. It had been rumored that Prime Minister Mihama had offered Inuyasha a deal: if Otomeinu would plead guilty by reason of insanity, thereby taking responsibility for the crime, Section Nine would not be held accountable. Moreover, she would avoid the death penalty.

"Your Honor, the defense would like to enter a plea of..." Shippo paused for dramatic effect. "...not guilty to all charges."

The courtroom exploded in a sea of yells–Naraku and Ichinohe's supporters shouting cries of anger, while the Section Nine people, as one, stood and applauded. As Kawasaki slammed her gavel down on the bench and shouted for order, Otomeinu turned and looked at her father. Inuyasha smiled and nodded: Section Nine would not abandon her; their fates were tied to her.

Finally, the court quieted. Kawasaki's face was red with anger at the outburst, but she kept control. "Very well, so entered in the records–a plea of not guilty on all counts." She smiled slightly at Shippo, impressed. "Would you like to make a statement on the case?"

"I would, Your Honor." He bowed slightly to her, then continued, not using notes. "I am not only short in stature, but I'm short on words." This brought chuckles from the audience; Shippo had never gotten much past five feet. "I believe this case was brought too quickly to court. I understand the nature of the crime, and the desire of the state to see that justice is done. Defendants have the right to a speedy trial, of course, but a month and a half is a bit quick, neh?

"In any case, I have heard some very awful things about Otomeinu Higurashi, and what's going to be done to her if she's guilty–or even if she's innocent. None of them are permitted under law, except maybe that of Adolf Hitler. She's been convicted before the trial has even started.

"I believe that no case is impossible to defend, and I believe that we have yet to overturn a great deal of stones. Officer Higurashi's record in the defense of Japan and Japan's interests–most recently in Iraq–is impeccable. Her family's record in defending what's right is likewise so. I propose to you, the court, that Otomeinu Higurashi is not only innocent of these heinous accusations, but could never find it in her to raise her hand against the land of her birth. Thank you." He bowed, then sat.

"Thank you, Mr. Kitsune. Mr. Masato, your opening statement."

Masato rose and walked out from behind his table, addressing the court in a more direct fashion than Shippo had. "I agree in some respects with my colleague, Mr. Kitsune," he began. "This case has been rushed. The verdict has been prematurely passed. There is far too much tabloid journalism involved in this. However, he and I disagree on one important thing." He slammed a fist into an open hand. "Unlike Mr. Kitsune, I believe, as does the state, that Otomeinu Higurashi is guilty of all charges brought against her. The evidence is overwhelming. It is as close to an open and shut case as I have ever seen in my years before the bench. Why she did it will come out in these proceedings–suffice to say for now that it is the opinion of the state, as well as myself, that she did kill Haruko Ichinohe and assault three other people in her haste to escape, including a fellow officer of the law. Thank you." He too bowed and returned to his seat, though he did not sit.

Kawasaki gave a brief nod. "Very well. Mr. Masato, you may call your first witness."

Masato's opening gambit was a good one, at least in Shippo's opinion. He called in five witnesses, all of whom had been in the gallery. Masato had made sure that only two of the five were members of the press, who would be expected to be somewhat prejudiced against Otomeinu; two were employees of the convention center, while the third was Officer Hikaru Ichijyo. His testimony was not as important as originally thought: he claimed to have tried to stop Otomeinu in the emergency stairwell leading out of the center, but it was dark, and her first swipe had taken his flashlight out of his hands. The second had sent him crashing into a wall, so his recollections were slightly hazy. The employees and a news reporter, who made up the second through fourth witnesses, also gave roughly the same description: they had seen someone who bore a remarkable resemblance to Otomeinu with a rifle, which she had used to shatter Ayumu Kasuga's camera and then knock out Koyomi Mizuhara.

Shippo had not bothered to cross-examine Ichijyo, but he did with the other witnesses, doing an excellent job of discrediting them. No, each one said, they had not seen Otomeinu actually shoot anything but Kasuga's camera. No, each one admitted, they had never gotten a good look at the sniper's face, only that she had long black hair. As Shippo pointed out, having long black hair made half the courtroom guilty, from Kagome Taijiya to Naraku Onigumo. The latter had stared daggers at Shippo, who had not reacted outwardly, though inside he was laughing at being able to taunt the murderer of Kagome Higurashi. Masato, somewhat irritated at how well Shippo was handling his witnesses, called the fifth person who had been in the gallery: Koyomi Mizuhara herself.

The reporter looked a little worse for the wear: she still wore a small bandage across her nose, and her face was still a little puffy. She nervously adjusted her glasses and answered the one question Masato posed to her, namely that it had been Otomeinu who had nearly caved her face in with the butt of a heavy sniper rifle.

"No further questions at this time," Masato said with a note of triumph, and sat down.

"Would Defense like to cross-examine?"

"I would," Shippo replied, fairly leaping across the table in his eagerness, seeing an opening. "Miss Mizuhara, refresh my memory–describe to me what happened on the night of 13 September 2008." Somewhat mystified, Koyomi told him, in words almost identical to the statements she had given her fellow reporters. "I see," Shippo said when she had finished. He pointed to Otomeinu. "And, as you've just testified, this is the woman you saw with the rifle." His gesture made Koyomi, for the first time since taking the stand, look directly at Otomeinu, who looked back placidly. There was a huge difference between the almost Zen-like calm of the woman who sat in the court and the wild-eyed, demonic one who had tried to kill her. Koyomi hesitated: now she wasn't sure. "Um...yes. Yes, I think it is."

"You think?" Shippo sounded incredulous. "Miss Mizuhara, this woman's life hangs in the balance here."

"Objection." Masato raised a chewed-on pencil. "Leading the witness."

Shippo turned to the judge. "If Miss Mizuhara didn't see the defendant, then the prosecution doesn't have much of a case."

Kawasaki looked from one lawyer to another. "Overruled. Proceed, Mr. Kitsune."

Shippo turned back to Koyomi. "Are you sure that you saw Officer Higurashi there?"

Having had a moment to collect herself, this time Koyomi nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Hmm." Shippo turned a small circle, letting that hang in the air a moment. "If I recall from the camera tape we've all seen, Miss Mizuhara, the lighting was not very good–Miss Kasuga was moving around and the spotlight jumped a lot, understandably so. There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on, too. Now I'm not discounting a reporter's memory for facts, but isn't there a good possibility that you saw someone who looked like Otomeinu Higurashi, but not necessarily her?"

"She shot at my friend," Koyomi protested.

"Well, someone did, for certain," Shippo agreed. "But are you absolutely positive it was her?"

"I can't be absolutely positive about...anything..." Koyomi's voice trailed off.

Shippo spread his hands in a 'there you have it' gesture. "No further questions, Your Honor."

Shippo half-expected Masato to ask for a brief recess, but the other lawyer was not going to be defeated so easily. He shrugged off Shippo's dismantling of Koyomi Mizuhara and called in his next witness, one of Section Nine's doctors. It was quick: Masato asked only a few questions regarding Otomeinu's physical prowess, merely to confirm that not only could she easily lift a sniper rifle, she also was quite capable of escaping the convention center's security guards. Shippo saw no point in cross-examining the doctor.

Next, Masato had the World Trade Conference's head organizer take the stand. Again, he was brief, only asking two questions: was an invitation extended to any member of Section Nine, and if so, was Otomeinu Higurashi's name on the invitation? The staffer replied yes to the first question, and no to the second: the invitation had been intended for Inuyasha Higurashi, but it was an open invitation that anyone from Section Nine could use. Inuyasha himself had an ironclad alibi–he had gone to dinner at an okonomiyaki place near the Higurashi Shrine, where dozens of people had seen him–but he had already admitted that the invitation had gone missing, though there was no record of it at the convention center. Shippo had cross-examined on that, but the organizer had replied that in the case of an open invitation, all Otomeinu would have had to do was show her identification.

Having established that Otomeinu was physically capable of using a sniper rifle, and that she had access to the gallery, Masato moved on to Major Matoko Kusanagi. Kusanagi frostily admitted to the prosecutor that, while she didn't normally use rifles, Otomeinu was rated as a sharpshooter in her last shooting trials. She also admitted that Section Nine had a number of the type of rifle used in the assassination–an American M21. The actual rifle had also not been found, but disposal of something like that was a relatively simple task in the urban sprawl of Tokyo. Kusanagi also testified that Otomeinu had signed out and back in at Section Nine headquarters with a large suitcase–which could contain an M21, if the rifle was broken down into its components. Shippo declined to cross-examine Kusanagi.

It was by now early afternoon, but there would be no lunch break. Kawasaki had been told to finish the trial as soon as possible, to show that Japan would not tolerate terror from its own police. Having established that Otomeinu was capable of killing Ichinohe, Masato now moved to nail her coffin shut by proving that she had. Masato's next witness was Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, a forensics and computer expert attached to the Metropolitan Police. The large viewscreen behind Kawasaki was switched on and the room darkened. On the screen was projected the final image from Ayumu Kasuga's camera, at the exact moment that the assassin had fired. Spliced next to it was Otomeinu's identification card snapshot.

The two were exactly alike.

Otomeinu glanced back at her father, who was visibly horrified, and heard the shocked curses and mutterings from the Section Nine people behind her, none of whom had even remotely believed the charges against her–until now. The room swam for a moment before her eyes, and Otomeinu blinked to bring it back into focus and retain a grip on her sanity. What's happening to me? she asked herself. Are my memories of that night a sham? Did I black out? Have I lost my mind? I'm a hanyou–sort of–but if I was like Dad, I would just become human during the new moon, not go on a killing spree! Unless...there's some weird mix of Mom's miko blood and Dad's youkai blood that's suddenly come to the fore that I would give into an idle thought, commit murder, and blank it out? She looked at herself and the other picture that looked like herself. No, dammit, that's impossible. I wouldn't do something like that. I'm not a wild animal. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she couldn't resist a quick look over her shoulder, at Naraku, almost invisible in the darkness. He disguised himself as my father and killed Kikyo, then disguised himself as Kikyo and pinned Dad to a tree, where Mom found him fifty years later. Could he have done the same thing again, disguised himself as me?

Akagi was engaged in a brief discussion on ballistics–that the bullets that killed Ichinohe were definitely those that came from a M21. Masato only briefly touched on the pictures, letting them speak for themselves. He finished and sat, throwing a brief look of triumph in Shippo's direction.

"Would Defense like to cross-examine?" Kawasaki asked.

"I sure as hell would," Shippo growled, not quite under his breath. He stood and practically stalked over to stand in front of Akagi, who steepled her fingers on the witness stand and returned Shippo's glare without a trace of nervousness.

"Doctor Akagi," Shippo said, "have your forensics team come up with the same theory I have?"

"And what would that be, Mr. Kitsune?"

"Could the assassin have somehow disguised his or her features?"

"Oh, certainly. It would not be the first time such a thing has happened."

Shippo's eyebrows went up. "Really."

"Yes. In late 2005, a man attempted to murder the Japanese ambassador to South Korea, who matched the description of someone on the staff of the South Korean embassy. The attempt failed, but the assassin made a clean getaway. Seoul police picked up the staffer, who was quite shocked to be arrested. When tests were run using computer enhancement on the photo, we learned that the assassin had used a meticulously made prosthetic mask–not even a hint of makeup. We in the business refer to it as the 'elastic face.' When Kim Jong-il fell from power in 2006, North Korean records revealed that the attempted assassination had been done by North Korean intelligence in the hopes of sparking a split between Japan and South Korea." Akagi leaned back in her seat. "I would be remiss if I did not mention that even the assassin's gender could be faked with the right prosthetics."

"Was the assassin a fake then?" Shippo asked directly.

"No, I'm afraid not. A frame-up was one of the first theories we considered, given Officer Higurashi's remarkable career. Next screenshot, please." The image on the screen changed, this time to a computer enhanced version of the Kasuga still. "Thank you. We have the technology to literally strip a person down to the bare bone using computer imagery. If the assassin had been wearing any prosthetics, it would have been found. It was not. Next image." These were a series of extreme close-ups. "As the text attached to these images shows, the assassin used no makeup or physical alterations. And except for minor details–which I cannot reveal because of their highly personal nature–everything about the assassin's physical details matches those of Officer Higurashi."

Shippo sadly nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. No further questions." He walked dejectedly back to the defendant's table.

"Prosecution, do you have any further witnesses?" Kawasaki asked.

Masato shook his head. "No, Your Honor. We're done here."

Kawasaki looked briefly over the courtroom, then at Otomeinu with pity. "Very well. This trial is adjourned until tomorrow at 8 AM." She banged her gavel on the bench.

The court broke up silently after her departure. Inuyasha nodded to his daughter, mouthing the words I believe in you before walking out. He wanted to make sure he was a good distance away, lest he rend Naraku apart with his bare claws. Kagome Taijiya grasped Otomeinu's hands for a moment, then left as well. Naraku, for his part, paid her not the slightest heed at all.

Otomeinu slumped in her chair and smiled wryly at Shippo. "I'm innocent, Shippo."

He winked back at her. "I know, O-chan."

"Not that it matters." She motioned at where Masato was cleaning up his notes. "I'm a walking dead woman."

"No, you're not." Shippo grinned toothily, showing his fangs. "We're not done yet. You've still got one hell of an alibi. Tomorrow, it's our turn to fight."