Can it be? Yes! I updated. And I apologize. For those of you that happened to read the message in my profile, you understand my pain. For those that didn't, if I ever take longer than two weeks to update a story, check it. I usually have a reason (like a real, legitimate reason) for my lack of appearance. Beauty Killed the Beast is on its way. Still in the works but I'm hoping for Wednesday at the latest, and then Ordinary should be posted by Thursday. Don't hold me to it, but those are my goals.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Target Locked

Chapter Ten

To put it simply, the rest of that night had been awkward.

Especially when it was time to say goodnight.

"So, where are you going to sleep again?" Kagome asked; her voice still too high. She hadn't been able to lower it since the little "accident" from earlier. She was a nervous, breaking mess. Not only did her life include danger, bombs, guns, knives, death and so on, it also included a fucking tension between her and her hero.

All of them were bad.

Only the last one would probably kill her though.

Special Agent Inuyasha Taisho was gorgeous. She had thought it from the moment she laid eyes on his extremely sexy, taunting and yummy-delicious-scrumptious shirtless body. She felt like melting every time she thought of it. And what made it that much worse was the she almost had that body. What made it a million-billion-whatever-the-fuck-illion times worse than that was that she wanted that body.

And not just once.

But again and again.

Slowly, Kagome was starting to come to terms with the fact that she desperately wanted to have sex with him, and that it would be a very bad idea. She couldn't let something like what happened earlier in the kitchen ever happen again.

"Couch," Inuyasha answered simply, having chosen to stick to one-word answers since their little bout of fun.

Kagome started to feel a little guilty. "No, you can sleep in the guest bedroom. I'll go and sleep in the room you originally gave me."

Inuyasha spared a very slight glance her way before returning his attention to the papers in his hands. "No."

"Or I can take the couch?"

"No."

"Inuyasha–"

"What?"

Kagome closed her eyes, trying to control the temper that was brewing. It seemed to have gotten much worse since she came to terms with her adulterous problem. Yes, she wanted him. Yes, it would probably be a lot of fun and really good. But she didn't want him just once – something that he was probably only wanting – and things like this never ended well.

Let's be real. Everyone's read the stories where the woman falls for her hero who saved her from the bullet, or the knife or the fucking mouth of a whale, whatever, and it never ended well. Never.

Only in romance/erotica tales.

So far, they hadn't had sex and they had been with each other for three days. Usually, it only took about one and a half, thereby proving that this story was not a romance/erotica story. Also, it contained a lot of potential death, which again, was not a big fancy for pure romance novels.

Kagome sighed. "Seriously Inuyasha, just because of what happened earlier does not mean we can't be civil. I'll take the bedroom you originally gave me and you can have the spare bedroom. That way, we both have beds, everyone is comfortable and neither of us are sleeping in a room where there's blood on the carpet. Good?"

"No." Inuyasha sighed nonchalantly and shifted to another page.

Kagome felt the ropes holding on to her patience start to snap methodically. "Are you even listening?"

"No," was the famous reply.

"Inuyasha, I swear to God, I will kill you in about five seconds if you don't start trying to pay attention and–!"

"Shh!" Inuyasha huffed out, giving her a pointed look. "I'm trying to piece together all of the reports and it's really hard when you're a) talking and b) screaming. Can we do this another time?"

And Kagome's patience exploded like fireworks.

Before Inuyasha could even turn away, Kagome lunged at him, her hands grabbing his long fistfuls of hair and forcing him sideways on the couch. She let go and slapped him three times, over and over and over, until finally Inuyasha did some technique most likely learned from FBI training and grabbed her wrists, flipping her on to her back and against his chest.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Inuyasha yelled in her ear, making Kagome's temper flare even more.

"You were ignoring me!" Kagome shouted back. "I'm trying to be nice and civil so you don't have to sleep on the couch but all you do is push me away!"

"Godddammit, Kagome, I'm not sleeping on the couch for no good reason!" Inuyasha growled. "If I sleep in the guest bedroom and you're in the other room, I might not hear if anyone tries to pull anything on you again. This house is well insulated and pretty damn soundproof. If I sleep on the couch, I'll be able to hear everything that's going on."

Inuyasha spat out the last sentence in a huff, taking in deep breaths as he panted in her ear, "For fuck's sake."

Kagome's body stilled. "Oh," she murmured, thinking about it for a bit in peace. "You could've told me that instead always saying 'no', you dumbass." She didn't raise her voice this time, or sound defensive. She was just stating facts like it was no big deal.

"I didn't realize I had to put everything by you," Inuyasha retorted.

Kagome rolled her eyes, sighing. She waited, taking in deep breaths and relaxing, feeling oddly comfortable on top of Inuyasha's body, although her arms were in a painful position behind her back. Expecting him to let go of her, Kagome lifted her body a little, only to realize he hadn't let her go. Um, hello?

She was about to say something when a very non-verbal saying made its way to her. Inuyasha was a little...turned on.

This put a couple things into perspective: a) he wanted her too; b) it was very obvious; c) if she turned around, he probably wouldn't stop her; and d) if she turned around, she probably wouldn't stop, in general.

All of which were bad things because she knew him for what, three days? With a sigh, she realized she had already gone through this in her head. So the big question was now what?

That's when she realized her arms were free. Kagome squirmed slightly, pulling her arms to the side from the back, accidentally (possibly) grinding against him as she moved. Had she done that on purpose, it would've been for experimental reasons only.

Kagome waited.

"You can go to bed, ya know," Inuyasha commented; his voice casual.

"Okay, then," Kagome said slowly, sitting up on top of him and then getting off completely. She pointedly avoided looking below his shoulders. "You sure about the couch?"

Inuyasha nodded, sitting up as well. "I have tons of shit to do, so I'll be up for a while."

"Sure, well come get me if you need anything," she said automatically, instantly regretting her words. Inuyasha could've totally taken what she said as another meaning – when it wasn't, by the way – but the look on his face said that he probably wasn't even paying attention to her. Kagome called out a goodnight as she walked into the guest bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Inuyasha waited for a couple minutes before he was sure she was in her room and then cursed. What the hell was he thinking, assuming practically every word that came from her mouth was an invitation? The whole writhing and grinding against his body hadn't helped him either and Inuyasha was sure that he was losing his mind.

"Fucking wench," he hissed and then looked back to the pile of papers he had been looking at before he had been attacked.

Pushing the sexy reporter out of his mind – and the fact that she was probably wearing nothing under the cotton sheets that he could so easily – he growled and grabbed the large pile.

In his hands he held several reports, all about the death of Gatenmaru Koyasu; the name Shippo had given him. First, he checked out the profile made by one of the FBI's profilers. It didn't really say much, other than it was most likely male in his mid-twenties to mid-thirties. They were most likely athletic or had a muscular build. Gatenmaru Koyasu hadn't been a small little boy. He had been huge, tall and extremely strong. He was an ex-cop for fuck's sake. He knew how to fight and disarm. It couldn't have been an armature that took care of him.

Looking at the TOX reports, Inuyasha looked at the drug charts, finding extreme levels of compounds that shouldn't be remotely extreme. Taking down notes, he studied the reports, looking at what was found in his stomach contents and his blood stream. All of it matched the disturbingly high levels from the chart.

It was Demon X, it had to be.

Inuyasha scowled. This case had evolved into so much more. A murder, to an act of terrorism, to a drug ring... This was getting really, really bad.

And he had to do this on his own.

Unconsciously, he turned to look at the closed door of the guest bedroom, wondering how hard it would be to sneak in.

Shaking his head, finally realizing what he was doing, Inuyasha turned back to his paper work.

Gatenmaru had been subdued by an injection of Demon X, most likely from a tranquilizer dart, like Jaken had said. Now he needed to find the weapon used to stab him with it.

He flipped through the forensic reports, looking for photos of the puncture wound. The diameter was clearly marked, giving him a rough size of the dart. He'd have to go out and figure out where he could find that kind of machine that shot that sized dart out. Another fun job.

This time, he'd have to bring Kagome. He was positive that she wouldn't fare well if he left. He didn't think he'd be able to get anything done if she wasn't with him either. There were too many possibilities.

Kagome had come up with a valid point. They must know where they were. They had to move on, and fairly quickly too. It was most likely the Mafia on that last attempt, and the bomb was most likely one of the gangs, but it would be only a matter of time before the FBI found them too.

Focusing back to the work at hand, Inuyasha thought back to what Shippo had said. Gatenmaru had been shot in the head execution-style. Originally, Gatenmaru went to jail for dealing drugs under the table... What if those drugs were Demon X? What if he owed money? Had he had clients that were a little pissed off and were now cutting their connections? Still, this was done professionally.

Speaking of professional, that's how he had to keep it with what's-her-face. He couldn't get close with her. Stupid wench. She really needed to stop lunging at him for no reason. Her attacks were getting feistier and wilder...

Bad.

Getting up from the couch, Inuyasha made his way to the front door, checking every window down the hall. Kagome was probably sleeping, and he needed to make sure that everything was one-hundred percent safe. At the front door, Inuyasha looked out the screen, barely able to see Kagome's two-door in the driveway since it was so dark.

Slamming the heavy wood door to cover the screen, Inuyasha shook his head and locked it.

Fucking car. He shouldn't have had to park it.

When Kagome woke up the next morning, she felt extremely refreshed.

Her night's sleep had been satisfying and she stretched lazily across the bed, taking up every inch. She relaxed for a moment afterwards, soaking up the feeling of complete warmth. She hadn't felt this content for a long time, her lazing around on the soft sheets blocking out all of the memories of her terrible situation.

A loud, obnoxious knocking on the door disturbed all of that.

"Kagome, wake up!"

Kagome growled slightly, frowning while she stretched on the mattress. "Why?"

"Because we have to go. I need to check out a lead and I'm not leaving you alone again, so hurry your ass up."

"Chill out," Kagome muttered, rolling from the bed sheets and grabbing some clothes she had picked out for herself the night before. She did her morning face wash routine in the bathroom and then met Inuyasha in the kitchen, where he sipped coffee.

"Took you long enough," Inuyasha mumbled. "Ready princess?"

Kagome bit her lip and ignored him, trying to figure out if this was another reaction to the previous day. Was he just being a dick to cover up the several things that happened yesterday? "Do you have any more coffee?"

He merely nodded to the coffee pot on the counter that was breathing the gorgeous smell. Kagome quickly poured herself a cup, adding milk and sugar and grimacing at the taste. She never really liked coffee but it was better than nothing in the morning.

"So where are we going?"

"A ways out," Inuyasha replied. "I need to go to a store that sells some stuff."

Kagome raised a brow. "And by stuff you mean...?"

"Tranquillizer guns."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Kagome asked, taking another sip of coffee.

Inuyasha sighed. "I wasn't always here just to take care of you. It's out of courtesy that I'm saving your walking ass, considering you're as safe as a bomb. I was originally here with my partner about a murder that was possibly linked to a hire-for-kill. A man was executed in his home."

Kagome shook her head, obviously thinking about something. She followed him to her car, glaring at him when he walked over to the driver's side door. "This is my car, you know."

"But I want to drive," he complained, frowning at her. "Women don't drive men."

"You chauvinist pig," Kagome commented. "Give me the keys, please."

"And if I don't?" Inuyasha pressed, opening the door.

"Just give me the fucking keys."

Inuyasha smirked, waved her keys in the air and then sat down in the car, igniting the engine to the life. "Buckle in, it's a long drive."

Kagome took a long swig of coffee and sighed, forcing the hot brew down her throat. Today was going to be amazing. Not.

"Hurry up and get your ass in the car!" Inuyasha yelled, revving the engine.

Kagome took a deep breath in and then let it out, casually sliding into the car and doing her seatbelt. "You're an arrogant bastard."

"And a chauvinist pig?" Inuyasha asked, mocking surprise.

She rolled her eyes and looked out the window while he pulled out of the driveway. It was silent for a long while, the heat blasting from the car the only noise. Finally, it was too much for Kagome to take.

"So, what do you know about the case?"

Inuyasha gave her a jilted look, his eyes peering at her before returning to the road. "You're not going to pull some stupid reporter stunt on me, will you?"

Kagome stared at him hard and long. "Dumb question."

"So I'm a chauvinist pig slash arrogant bastard who asks stupid questions?" Inuyasha smirked, having fun. "I don't know much," he admitted. "The only information I was able to get for myself was what I determined at the scene, the preliminary and the reports I managed to snag before the FBI – and look how that turned out. The rest I know from Shippo, who's calling me secretly with as much as he can give me. The man shot was an ex-cop named Gatenmaru Koyasu. He wasn't legally hired which means that he's still as dirty as he was before jail."

"Dirty, how?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha sighed, merging into traffic and mumbling his answer. "Dealing under the table," he said.

Kagome didn't know what it was about law enforcement officers who hated to admit the fault of one person in a group. One dirty cop didn't mean that all cops were dirty, unlike they made it seem. "You think someone killed him because of what he did 'under the table', so to speak?"

"Maybe. But this was a bit personal."

"The tranquillizer gun," Kagome responded.

Inuyasha nodded. "He was subdued with a lethal dose of Demon X. It just so happened that the bullet to his brain killed him first."

"Do you know anything about the gun?"

"The tranquillizer gun? No. That's why we're on this road trip," Inuyasha answered.

Kagome shook her head. "No, I mean the pistol. The bullet-to-the-brain gun."

"Oh," he said simply. "It's a G21 Glock. Standard, .45 calibre."

Kagome frowned. "Cops use those."

"Not all of them," Inuyasha argued, then hesitated. "But enough to look into it."

"What are you even hoping to learn from this tranquiller gun expedition? The type of gun used?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah. If it's a fairly rare model I might be able to get a list of buyers from the past year and cross-reference a couple things. It will give me some names at least, though it's pretty far-fetched."

"If anyone were to do something far-fetched, it would be you," Kagome said firmly.

Inuyasha whipped his head to face her. "What does that mean, wench?"

"Oh, cut the crap about the 'wench' business, please," she muttered. "I just meant that if any cop was to go out on a limb to try and solve a case, you would."

"I'm not a cop."

"Federal agent, my apologies."

"They're two totally different things."

"I realize."

"Well?"

Kagome frowned. "Well what?"

"Why are you being difficult?" Inuyasha asked.

"How am I being difficult? I just made a statement and you totally blew it out of proportion!"

"Everything is a fight with you," he retorted, rolling his eyes. "Do you hear yourself yelling? Name calling?"

"I'm frustrated by you!"

"Right back at ya, wench."

"Shut up." Kagome reclined her seat and closed her eyes. "I'm going to sleep since you woke me up this morning, so shh."

"Now that's my fault too, isn't it?"

"Stop talking Inuyasha..."

"Do you just love blaming me for everything?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome said, firmly and calmly. "If you don't be quiet, so help me God, I will shoot you."

"And you're very violent, by the way. Shooting me? Lunging at my throat? None of those are good things."

Now – imagine that for the next hour, and you have their car ride.

"You can't be serious," Kagome moaned. "Will you ever stop talking?"

"Am I pissing you off?" Inuyasha put on the brakes and shifted the car into Park.

"Are we there finally?" she asked, more hopeful than she had ever been.

"No, I just like parking in random parking lots for fun," Inuyasha sneered.

Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Now I'm just going to be right in there," he pointed, grabbing a couple papers. "Don't do anything stupid, will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine, just let me sleep," Kagome whined, sitting up and looking around at the parking lot. "It's so deserted here that nothing can happen. Where are we anyways?"

"Far away. I'm going to leave the car running, just in case. Don't move." Inuyasha got out of the car and made his way to the building directly in front of the car several car-lengths away. Kagome watched him for a long while as his figure vanished behind tinted glass. She looked at all the signs, none of which helped her to determine where she was. Sighing, Kagome went to lie back down, hoping to get the sleep that she had wanted at the beginning of the car ride.

She hadn't even fully rested her body or closed her eyes before the cracking of glass startled her, forcing her to turn as shards of splintered crystals splashed around her face. "Oh my god," Kagome panicked, realizing instantly what was happening. Her eyes focused on the small hole at the driver's side door. A bullet hole. She was being shot at! "Oh my fucking god."

Kagome tumbled to the driver's side, hiding her body in the small hole for the feet. "What do I do? What do I do?" she screamed, wondering where in the hell Inuyasha was. Was he shot at too? Was he dead? Were they both going to die?

Kagome screamed as another bullet came through the passenger window, completely shattering the glass. Another followed, this one cracking into the console right beside Kagome's face. There was little time to think. Grabbing the gear shift, she yanked at it until it was in Drive, taking her hand and working its way through behind her body to press down on the accelerator with all her might.

Her body was lurched forwards painfully as the car jumped to life, the engine loud and roaring in her ears as she waited for impact, for something other than a bullet to the head. The car hit something, hard and a crashing sound could be heard on the windshield, along with an extensive string of curses.

"God fucking dammit Kagome! Fucking wench and I'm going to fucking kill this entire mother–"

Kagome felt the hole she was in crunch around her as the car adjusted to whatever she hit. Her head pounded and her vision blurred momentarily, shocking her system. Suddenly, the driver's side door was opened, and a bleeding Inuyasha glared at her. "Get out of the fucking car now!"

Kagome stared at him in horror, his face tainted with blood and his clothing soaked in it. "Oh my god, Inuyasha you're bleeding!"

"No fucking duh, Sherlock. That's what happens when you get fucking hit by the fucking car."

And then a bullet sliced through the air and Inuyasha spoke no more.

Okay, so it was pretty much a cliffhanger. Well, I have to do that sometimes, don't I?

If I ever take forever to update, another good thing to do is review. They pop up on my computer so I'll be reminded. And I always love to know what you're thinking.

Please review!