Author's Note: Hi, everyone! I seriously haven't written a FanFic in God knows how long. And I haven't read a FanFic since I was 19 (now 26 so that's a butt load of time). Been going through a rough time in my life and decided that going I am going back to the basics – what used to make me happy? And guess what? FanFics were on my top five list. I really hope you guys enjoy! After all the growing up and maturing I had to do, this is really nice to just step back and do something that I really enjoyed while going through my middle school, high school, and college years. I really hope everyone enjoys reading this story – it's something that has been on the back of my mind for, Lord knows, 7 years (now you know too). From me to you, let's go on this epic journey together. Kisses and hugs, Angel B. Bee.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha – all rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
Ladies of the Night
Chapter One – Mission Statement
Rin rummaged through the refrigerator as she tried to find something to help sustain her growling stomach. It was one in the morning and she knew she'd regret this in the morning.
Carrot sticks…no. Celery and peanut butter…no. Kale and spinach salad from dinner earlier…no. Frozen pizza…yes.
It was a wonder she wasn't three hundred pounds from all of the late, one-in-the-morning, salt induced snacking she did when she was studying for mid-terms or had insomnia.
Rin pulled out the pizza from the freezer and started to pre-heat the oven at 350-degrees. She scrolled through her social media app on her iPhone while the clock ticked down from five minutes. That's when she heard a clatter coming from the dark living. The sound startled her so much she nearly dropped her phone on the marble floor.
"Hello…? Maya is that you?" Rin called from the kitchen to the head housemaid. 'I thought she left for the day…'
She heard the clatter again. "Maya, it's one in the morning. Daddy will be upset if you wake him…he's got some stupid annual conference meeting to attend to in the morning."
Rin slowly walked out of the kitchen and peaked around the corner. The dark living room had no one in sight. "Maya?"
She suddenly felt a heavy weight drop on her and screeched in alarm. The heavy weight flipped her over and she was face-to-face with a person whose face was half covered with a black cloth.
"DADDY!" Rin shrieked, trying to push the person off of her.
"Shut up!" the woman hissed, putting her hand over Rin's mouth.
As if on cue, a man and a woman in crisp black suits came running into the room.
"Miss Rin! Freeze – get your hands up where I can see them!" one of the body guards yelled, aiming a gun at the mercenary's head.
The woman slowly got off with her hands calmly going into the air.
Everyone heard the sound of glass breaking and banging upstairs and suddenly, the alarm went off, filling the whole house with echoes of a large siren shrieking repeatedly.
"Go upstairs! Make sure Mr. Satou is okay!" the female body ordered, eyes never leaving the female mercenary in front of her.
Rin was on the verge of having a panic attack. What the hell was going on? She looked from the body guard to the thief next to her. Then it happened so suddenly. Another mercenary, in all black, landed on top of the body guard, jumped from the second floor and landed on top of the body guard. She hit her head on the marble floor and was immediately unconscious, the black, hand gun flying from her hand.
"Come on, let's go! The mission was a bust!"
The female mercenary nodded and the two ran through the front door that was wide open.
"Where's Rin?!"
The familiar sound of her father's voice made her look up the spiraling, marble stairs.
"Daddy?"
"Oh, Rin! You're okay, thank God!"
Rin found the strength to finally get up and run into her father's arm. She saw the group of body guards close behind him.
"Eloise is unconscious. Quick, someone call 911," Mr. Satou ordered, finally noticing the unconscious body guard on the ground. "Rin, I'm so happy you're okay. They didn't hurt you, right?"
Rin shook her head into her father's shoulder as he continued to embrace her.
That night, Mr. Satou had one of his personal driver's take Rin to her friend's house to stay for the weekend. Rin felt uneasy leaving her father alone, but even she had to admit that she didn't want to sleep in her own house tonight.
One month later
Kagome played with her friend's demon cat, Kirara, rolling the ball of yarn around. Kirara purred as her wide eyes followed the ball and pawed at it playfully.
Sango stared intently into her phone as her fingers moved rapidly around the screen, trying to beat her own high score on the app.
Kikyo hummed softly under her breath as she played chords on the piano, stopping every other minute to draw notes on the half blank script in front of her.
The strange machine sitting on the glass table in the living room rang softly. It worked like a phone, but could only be activated with one of the fingerprints from the three girls. The three immediately looked up and exchanged looks. They quickly walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Kikyo pressed her ring finger on a button on the machine.
"If you look at my face, you won't find thirteen anyplace," the woman on the machine stated.
"A clock," Kikyo instantly replied.
"Ladies, how is your night?"
"The same old, same old. What is our mission statement, Kaede?" Sango asked briskly.
"Come to the office tomorrow at noon. Oh, and pack your bags lady – you will be flying to America shortly afterwards. And do not pack lightly, ladies. You will not be coming home anytime soon," Kaede stated before hanging up on the other line.
Sango gently shook Kagome awake as the pilot announced that they will be landing within five minutes.
"Kagome, we're here."
She shook from her sleep and Kirara jumped from her lap onto the ground, stretching her legs outs. "14 hour flights SUCK. My back is killing me."
Sango nodded in agreement.
The private jet they were on rattled as it landed on the ground. The three slowly walked down from the exit and saw a private car waiting for them. The driver took their luggage and opened the door for them. Inside, there were three glasses of champagne poured for them.
"Mmm, are we on vacation or are we working?" Kagome asked, pleased with the sight.
"You could say that again," Kikyo said. She picked up her glass and eyed it.
Before Kagome and Sango could take a sip, she calmly held up a hand for them to wait. She pulled out a contraption from her purse and dipped it into her glass. She held the object up to eye-level and stared intently. After what felt like several minutes, she turned to the girls and gave them a reassuring look. Leave it up to Kikyo to be the party pooper. Then again, the two were happy she was the responsible one who was making sure they weren't going to foam at the mouth and go into cardiac arrest from being poisoned.
Downtown was busy with cars everywhere and people in their suits and ties crossing at the cross walk.
"Happy Monday," Kikyo stated, dully staring at the sullen faces passing them by. 'It must suck to have an office job…then again, who said my job was any better.'
The driver pulled into the VIP valet parking at the entrance to a large, hundred story, glass building. He got out and opened the door to let the girls out.
A young woman, she looked no older than 22 and probably fresh out of college, stood by the valet parking podium. When she spotted the girls, she immediately plastered a big smile and walked over to them, high heels clacking on the cement sidewalk.
"Kikyo, Kagome, and Sango. Mr. Satou has been patiently awaiting your arrival. I hope the flight and drive here was pleasant," she said overly cheerfully.
"It wasn't bad," Sango said, politely smiling.
"Wow, look at this building. I don't know who this Mr. Satou is, but he has good taste," Kagome said amazed.
They followed the young woman into the elevator and she pushed the top button that had a large 'P' on it. The elevator doors opened to reveal a large penthouse. It was illuminated with natural lighting as the sun shined through glass, window walls.
Mr. Satou casually sat on the black leather seat, sipping on a cup of tea while reading the daily paper.
"Mr. Satou, your guests have arrived."
He looked up over the top of his paper and immediately got up. "Ah, Susanne, thank you very much. Please, ladies, take a seat. Susanne, would you offer these wonderful young ladies something to drink?"
Susanne nodded. She turned to the girls and listed, "We have water, green tea, black tea, iced tea, coffee, and San Pellegrino – both in sparkling water and assorted fruit flavors."
Kikyo held up a hand as a silent, "No, thank you."
"I'll take a blood orange San Pellegrino."
"Make that two," Kagome said, beaming at Susanne.
She returned the smile and quickly left the room, elevator doors closing behind her.
"Come, have a seat, please."
The three girls sat on the black, leather sofa.
"How was the travel? Good, I hope."
"It was very generous of you to send your jet and a private car," Kikyo said politely. "Thank you."
Kagome could just roll her eyes. Kikyo was pretty much dubbed as the "leader" of their group. She was the oldest and according to Kaede, the wisest. But good God, could she be such a drag. Would it kill her to smile and sound a bit more enthused?
They made small talk until Susanne brought their beverages and made a speedy exit. She was told when she first started to intern at Satou Corporation that if Mr. Satou has a meeting in the penthouse, it was an extremely important one so lingering around for long could get you in trouble.
As soon as Susanne was out of earshot, Mr. Satou got to business.
"I'm sure Kaede has given you a brief run through of your mission statement before flying you out here to the states from Tokyo."
"You wanted a private mercenary group to protect your daughter, Rin Satou, in close proximity. We are to disguise as exchange students from Japan."
"Yes, that is correct. But there is more to the story. Something I wanted Kaede from stating just in fear of anyone finding out."
Kagome raised an eyebrow at Mr. Satou in curiosity.
"There is an ancient artifact in my home called the Shikon no Tama. I had won it at a charity auction some years ago when Rin was very young. The story behind it –"
"Is that it was a very powerful jewel back in the feudal era of Japan. It is said that the jewel can grant powers to the one that wields it. The more evil the person, the darker the Shikon no Tama gets. The more pure the person, the Shikon no Tama emanates light and good. The Shikon no Tama usually was entrusted to powerful priestesses who would watch over it their whole lives before passing it onto the next priestess," Sango stated, cutting Mr. Satou short.
Kagome and Kikyo stared at Sango with their mouths half open.
"What? I come from a long line of 'demon hunters.' They were the ones who initially watched over the sacred Shikon no Tama," Sango said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"That is interesting and everything, but we didn't come halfway across the world to hear fairy tales," Kikyo said blankly, turning to Mr. Satou.
"You see, I thought it was all some sort of myth as well. But I want to say a couple of months ago, the Shikon no Tama started to act very strangely. At my home, I have a hall where I put a collection of historical and rare artifacts. The Shikon no Tama one night started to glow in its glass case. Our house maid Maya nearly had a heart attack when she saw the sacred jewel sparkling. Thought it was possessed by evil spirits. I've had historians, scientists, and even priests come inspect the jewel and none of them can explain the Shikon no Tama's strange behavior. One thing was sure though – ever since the jewel had been reacting, I've had multiple break-ins at my home putting my daughter and my life in danger."
"So get rid of it, problem solved," Sango stated. "Do what our ancestors did – entrust it to a powerful priestess."
Mr. Satou shook his head and Kikyo glared slightly when she noticed a strange glint in Mr. Satou's eyes – a mixture of excitement and madness.
"Satou Corporation is dedicated to coming out with the best and most innovative inventions. I have the greatest and smartest team of engineers and scientists on all one hundred floors of this glass building. They work diligently every day in coming out with the best medicines to cure even the most stubborn, incurable diseases; they also build anything from cars to weapons to children's toys. Satou Corporation has practically taken over the world and looking for any way possible way to always improve. A brilliant idea came to me one night – what if I can tap into the energy source for the Shikon no Tama and use that power to find a cleaner, more resourceful source of energy that this country can run on? Possibly even the world? We don't know the extent of the Shikon no Tama's power."
Kagome felt a chill go down her spine and her stomach churned a bit. Something about this didn't seem like such a great idea.
"So what are you proposing?" Kikyo asked suspiciously.
Kagome turned to her older sister and noticed the familiar look of apprehension on her face. Kikyo shared the same feelings of uneasiness as she did.
"Your first and foremost mission statement is to protect my daughter – keep her from any harm. But secondly, I would also like you guys to protect the Shikon no Tama from anyone who is trying to steal it."
"May I ask you a question? If you don't mind?" Sango asked.
"Anything. Anything at all," Mr. Satou urged.
"For someone as wealthy as you, Mr. Satou, you are renowned for having one of the best team of body guards. Some would even say they're almost better and more efficient than the Secret Service who protect the President. Why do you need us? We are three young mercenaries. Surely, even we can't stand up against your body guards."
Kikyo smirked and let out a soft laugh. Sango was being modest. Kikyo, Kagome, and Sango all knew that anyone who knew of them knew that they were the most cunning, strongest group of women and they were a force to be reckoned with. Sure, their mission statements usually consisted of assassinating political leaders or stealing large red rubies from white marble mansions, so they weren't really all that keen on babysitting some 22-year-old girl.
"I've known Kaede for a very long time. As a matter of fact, I owe her a life-time of gratitude for what she has done for Rin and me in the past. It was just a matter of time before I sent a private investigator to find her so that I could get in contact with her."
Now it was Kagome's turn to snicker. "You owe her and yet, here we are doing the dirty work."
Mr. Satou chuckled at Kagome's comment. He leaned forward and pushed a button on the black telephone sitting on the shiny, black, marble, coffee table.
"Yes, Mr. Satou?"
"Susanne, please bring in the contract."
Within minutes, Susanne walked through the elevator holding a long, legal sized contract with small, fine print.
"Thank you, that'll be all," Mr. Satou stated, taking the contract and sliding it towards the girls.
Kikyo picked it up and all three girls read through each and every line. At the end, a short paragraph was written stating how payment would be arranged.
Kagome and Sango gasped when they saw how much they were being paid for the mission. That was a lot of zeros. A whole lot of zeros.
Mr. Satou smiled. "I hope you ladies are more than satisfied with my proposal?"
"Is that really the total amount we're receiving?" Sango asked in awe.
"Each of you will be receiving that amount. And after the mission, there will be a bonus," Mr. Satou stated. "The bonus we can discuss towards the end. I'm sure we can come to a reasonable agreement."
Kikyo put the contract down. "But why?"
"Like I said, Ms. Kikyo – I owe Kaede a life-time of gratitude. When I used to live in Tokyo, my wife was extremely ill with stage-four pancreatic cancer. Rin was only six at the time, but I'm positive she remembers vividly what her mother had to go through. Kaede was the lead oncologist at the time in the Tokyo Hospital. She really fought and tried her best to save Rumiko's life. Unfortunately, after all the chemo and surgery, Rumiko passed away after battling the cancer for a year and a half. Though Kaede wasn't able to save her life, I vowed to thank her someway, somehow, someday. Then one day, when Satou Corporations was really starting to launch, I looked for Kaede to hire her as the head of my medical department, but I was disappointed when I found out that she had quit shortly after Rumiko's death."
"Mr. Satou, how did you hear of us? How did you know Kaede was the leader of our mercenary group? Doing work for the Black Market? It's not easy to track her down."
"Several years ago, an old friend of mine mentioned to me how he hired a group of three mercenary women to assassinate his business partner so that he can take over the whole company."
"Naraku," Sango stated darkly, a dark flashback of her slitting the throats of his body guards so that Kikyo could do the final kill. The sound of his screams and pleads for mercy echoed in their minds before they were gargled as he started to choke on his own blood.
"Yes and what sparked my interest even more was when he told me it took him almost a year to track down their leader Kaede."
"We stay under the radar," Kagome stated proudly. "We don't even know where Kaede is 99.9% of the time."
"So, ladies, what do you say? Do you accept my proposal?" Mr. Satou asked.
Kagome and Sango looked to Kikyo. It was usually her call when it came down to things like this. Kikyo stared at the contract silently. With this kind of money, she might be able to quit the mercenary group. Live a normal life. Finally open up that floral shop she's always dreamed of starting. She could make Kagome and Sango quit too. Get away from this dark, hellish world full of secrets, evil deeds, and sadness.
Kikyo looked up and nodded. "Where do we sign?"
Author's Note: And everyone, that's a wrap! There is chapter one. I really hope everyone enjoys. Please, send me reviews, favorite, and follow! Until next time, ciao.