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Alright, here we go again! The next installment. Questions are answered, pasts revealed, and a story, ten years in the making—okay never mind. On with the show.

Last Time:

"Okay, we need to clear the air. First the ten minute sniper training and now the professional interrogation techniques. What were you before you came to New York?"

She sighed. "If I tell you, would it change anything? Would you no longer want me?"

I grabbed her shoulders. "You're carrying my—our—child. And I'm going to marry you. I don't care if you were an assassin for the Russian mafia. I just want to know the full story."

She sighed, obviously relieved. "Then we need something to eat. It's a long story."

Now:

We entered the main dining hall, where there was a small congregation of Abel's faithful talking quietly amongst themselves. I recognized a few of them from the dorm hall we shared. This evening, however, they seemed anxious.

"I'm telling you I heard it." One said. His friend looked skeptical.

"We have just gathered new information on a case the Father has been working on for years, and all you can think of is this? How shameful Brother. How shameful indeed."

"Who's to say he wasn't actually lying." Said another, "This building dates back to the late 1800's. There could be the possibility of—"

"Don't act so foolish! We have our jobs. I suggest we get to them."

I spoke up. "Forgive me, but I couldn't help overhearing. What happened?"

The one who started it jerked his finger at me, "You! You share the same dorm hall as me right?"

I nodded.

"Then you heard it too. Last night?"

"What?"

"The ghost."

I stopped dead. "Ghost? Seriously? Are you crazy? We didn't hear anything."

"Then maybe you need to be reminded. There was a mumbling coming from the hall. Then there was a creaking sound."

A creaking sound? Wait a minute, he couldn't mean…

"And then there began this rhythmic thumping and moaning. The moaning got louder, I was sure it was the spirits of our past trying to communicate!"

I bit my lip and stared at my toes. I cast a glance at Kagome and saw she was having the same problem.

"There was a great shriek! Then it suddenly stopped! I began to prey for my safety. Then it started again! And the strange thing was, it didn't sound angry. It sounded almost, um…" He paused and blushed, "Pleasurable…"

I tried to come up with an explanation. But words escaped me.

"I'm sure it was nothing." Kagome told him, "Probably just the old rafters making noise."

He pondered it, "I suppose that would be a valid explanation."

The one in charge stood, "Come Brothers. Let us get back to work and leave these two to enjoy their meal in privacy."

Once we had sat down with dinner I chanced a few words.

"Well that was…terrifying."

"It didn't turn you on just a little bit to know there was somebody listening?"

"Not really, no."

"So you want to know about the real me huh?"

"Like I said, I really don't care about the past. I just want the truth."

"Well the truth begins some years back…"

Flashback to Kagome's POV

June 13, 2005

Near Pripyat, Ukraine

SPC FCS Team Bravo

13:00

It was a suicide mission, I knew it was. But it was our only window. And if we didn't take it, millions could have died. And standing between the western world and a radical Jihad, bent on detonating a nuclear device in every major U.S City, were four people. One team.

I was stationed in Pripyat. My team and I were assigned to do surveillance on Ukrainian science teams doing research on material recovered from Chernobyl in '86. We were supposed to relay any suspicion of an atomic creation. We had a small room overlooking the small make-shift lab that the Ukrainian team had constructed outside of town. Our monitoring had so far turned up nothing, and we were a week from extraction.

There were four of us. Me, squad leader. There was my handpicked scout, John. Codename Sierra. He could drive anything with wheels and shoot anything with a trigger.

Next was our scout sniper, the one who taught me everything I now know, Macmillan. He was a transfer from Her Majesty's Special Forces. He could shoot the wings off a butterfly at a thousand yards.

Finally there was our demolitions expert. Rico. He had an unusual…interest…with dynamite. But if it needed to explode, he was your man.

Anyway, we were on yet another long haul surveillance op, which is fancy words for sitting in the window with binoculars. And yet again it was all routine. They'd bring in material, do a few radiation and acid tests, and dispose of it.

"I don' know why they make us sit 'ere and watch these buggars. It's plain seein' they're no' a threat." Macmillan grouched in his thick highland accent. (A.N I love Scottish people!)

"Just wait it out for a few more days," John told him, "Then we can all go home."

"Well it can no' come soon enough!"

"I thought we'd be blowin' shit up by now! Instead all I get is a dingy hotel room and bad cable. They don't got nothin' on these damn TV stations! They don't even have Skinamax!" Rico whined.

"Your porn addiction aside, we have a job to do, and we have to make our daily report in about ten minutes." I told him, "So why don't you put the remote down and fire up our comms."

"I still don't understand why they'd send a wee lassie to doo a proper arse whoopin'." Macmillan said.

I pulled a combat knife from its sheath. "You want me to turn you into a 'wee lassie' there govna'?"

He only grumbled and fiddled with the radio. The usual beeps and static confirmed our connection with home base in Munich.

"Eagle six this is Razor Six-Four. Requesting communications relay with command over."

"Rodger Razor Six-Four we copy. Relay intel."

"It's the same as bloody yesterday. Nothin' new to report. Just a bunch o' techies playin' with radioactive metal."

"Rodger Bravo Team. Continue Surveillance. Eagle Six out."

The radio went dead.

"Lucky bastard. He gets to sit and watch computer screens and drink hot coffee all day, and I have to babysit a bunch o' scientists!"

John was at the window. He suddenly grabbed the scope and trained it on the building.

"Hey. Look here. We got some company."

We all looked through the scopes. Sure enough there was what looked to be a truck convoy headed into the main gates. Following it was a smaller luxury car.

"Are you daft? It's jus' a regular shipment!"

"No. this is different. There's usually just one truck."

The smaller car door opened and a man in a traditional middle-eastern garb stepped out. He shook hands with another man in a lab coat and they retreated inside.

"Keep an eye out. This could get interesting." I told them.

Twenty minutes later, the two men exited the building as one of the trucks backed up closer to the door .The door opened and a cart was wheeled outside.

"Get eyes on that cart!" I barked.

The cart was covered with a tarp, but you could tell there was something underneath it. The corner peeled back in the wind, and we all caught a glimpse of what looked to be an oblong, steel object.

I looked at my team. "You know what that is?"

"A bomb. A big bomb." Rico said.

"We need to warn command. Macmillan! Get on the radio and hail command! Tell them we have explosives in sight."

"Roger. Eagle Six this is Razor Six-Four copy? Eagle Six this is Razor Six-Four do you copy? Aww shit, they've shut down communications!"

"We need to do something quick! They're loading the trucks." John reported.

"Alright. We have no back-up, no communications, and no sufficient plan right?" I asked. They all nodded.

"Then here's what we do. Grab all your gear and get down to the car. We're gonna follow them down the road a bit and ambush them. If we take the trucks, we can hide them someplace safe until tomorrow when command reopens comms. Got it?"

I heard three distinct 'rogers'.

Ten minutes later we were on the road following after the two trucks and the car. Rico was gaining on them and the rest of us were checking ammunition.

"Alright, Rico you get ahead of them and cut them off. The rest of us will exit the vehicle and make contact."

"Yes maam."

We followed them for about a mile out of town before I gave Rico the signal. He punched the gas and accelerated ahead of the convoy. He veered to a stop about a hundred yards ahead of them. The convoy had no choice but to stop.

"Alright. Check supplies and get moving."

We exited the vehicle, guns raised. John barked words in Arabic and motioned for the driver of the car to get out. Rico and Macmillan secured the two trucks and restrained the drivers.

"Who's in back?" I asked the car driver.

The back door opened up and the man got out. He held up his hands.

"Peace. We are simple delivery men tasked with transferring the contents of these trucks to a secure facility."

"I doubt it. Rico, open the back."

The back was opened and the carts wheeled out. I pulled the tarp back and saw the cylinder. An old aircraft bomb with the universal symbol for radiation on the top.

"Secure facility huh? Like Iran?"

"You people have no right to detain us. You are not the police."

"We're United States Special Forces. I'd say that gives us jurisdiction."

The man only remained quiet. We then heard car noises. Two vehicles peeled around the corner, screeched to a stop and opened fire. Men piled out of the two trucks and opened up with automatic weapons.

"GET TO THE TREELINE! FIND COVER!" I yelled.

We raced to the cover of the foliage and returned fire. One went down from a burst from John's assault rifle. I dispatched two more with my pistol. Bullets whizzed overhead.

Macmillan screeched into the radio.

"All open channels, this is Razor Six-Four! We have encountered heavy resistance and are requesting immediate support, over! Does anybody copy? Damnit! It there anybody—Arrghh!" his shoulder welled blood as he fell.

"Aww bugger they got me! Goddammit!"

"Fall back," I screeched, "Get back to town!"

We ran as hard as we could, John and Rico supporting Macmillan between them. We made it about three hundred yards before Rico fell.

"Arrgh! FUCK!"

His back was covered in blood. Macmillan stumbled and fell. John saw to them while I tried the radio again.

"Anyone out there, please! We have two men down and we are in danger of being overrun! If anyone can provide support we need it now!"

I suddenly felt a stinging pain in my leg. I screamed and looked down. I had been hit.

"John! I'm hit!"

"Damn! Get over here! I'll cover you!"

"I can still shoot! I'm staying here!"

He grabbed the radio.

"IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE LISTEN! THIS IS SIERRA 117 REQUESTING IMMEDIATE SUPPORT! I HAVE THREE OF MY SQUAD DOWN! I NEED SUPPORT!"

Then we heard it. The small, crackling sound of a reply.

"Roger Sierra 117, this Charlie seven. We have your position. Apache support ETA thirty seconds."

Thank God!

Then we heard another sound. The heavy "whup, whup, whup" of chopper blades.

"Sierra 117 this is Echo 419. Take cover, this is gonna get bumpy."

The signature sound of .50 caliber hollow points being fired from the nose of the chopper cut through the air. The "woosh" of a hellfire screeched and there was an explosion from the trees. Many agonized cries ripped through the trees as our attackers were literally ripped to shreds.

After a few minutes, all was still.

"Sierra 117 this is Echo 419. All tangos are Oscar Mike. Medevac in twenty seconds."

Another chopper came over the trees. A Blackhawk. She touched down in a clearing not far from us. Four airmen came running through the trees bearing stretchers and IVs. We were quickly loaded onto the chopper and flown from the scene.

I was sitting in a small office, looking at the man behind the desk. He was taking my testimony.

"I guess someone must have warned them we were there. How else could they have known to send an attack team?"

"Thanks to you and your team, we now have positive ID on Omar Aided. A well-known Al-Qaida operative. The devices in those trucks were most likely on a course for Iran or Pakistan. You've saved the lives of probably millions."

"At what cost? Rico's dead."

"He gave his life protecting a fellow soldier. One from another nationality. That's cause for commendation in my book. For all of you. I'm putting you in for medals. Macmillan has already received the Victoria Cross for Valor. Rico was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor posthumously. You all have your countries' thanks."

I nodded.

"Is there anything you request of a different matter?"

"Actually, there is."

"Go on."

"This past experience has made me realize how precious life is. And why I want to live mine to is fullest. I'm requesting a discharge. I want to go home. I'm done with watching my friends die."

"A noble request. I should let you know that John has profusely recommended you for an extended leave for R&R."

I smiled. "Tell him I said thanks. And about my request?"

"You have done more than what your country has asked. I foresee no problems. But what will you do when you return? It is very hard for career soldiers to settle back in to normal society."

"I'm not done carrying a weapon. I still want to serve. I have a friend in the states who runs a repossession business. I can find quick work."

He smiled. Three days later I was on a plane headed for JFK with my discharge papers in my hands.

Back to normal Inu POV

I stared, open mouthed. I couldn't believe it. She was Special Forces a career soldier. A total badass, kickass, and deadly soldier! And a decorated hero! And she was going to marry me? And have my child? Because she picked me? A common civilian? A part of me was honored to watery eyes and another, lower part was turned on immensely. There was just something about a woman who could kick ass and take names one moment, and be a passionate and seductive lover the next.

She grimaced. "So that's it. That's my story."

She pulled a small leather box from her bag and opened it. Inside was a Silver Star pin.

"I got this two days after I hit the shore. Miroku hired me a week later."

"I thought you were a cop."

"I was, technically. I didn't always take cars. Sometimes I just did notice deliveries or recon."

I took her hand.

"This is what I'd wanted to hear. Now I can say that I actually know you."

"You don't think I'm a military freak?" she looked skeptical.

"Absolutely not! Babe you're pregnant with our baby. How could you be a freak if you're capable of such compassion and caring? Hell you chose to marry me for God sakes. I still find that one a bit hard to stomach. Why didn't you want some other badass, handsome, muscled, huge guy?"

"I was tired of tough guys that tried to impress me. I wanted someone more stable mentally. Besides," she added with a coy wink, "You're pretty hot stuff if I do say so myself. And to your credit, you are pretty huge."

I blushed, "I meant in stature."

"That too."

I turned pink.

"So you really don't care?"

"Nope. I just wanted to know who you are is all. I didn't want to live with someone who has more secrets than our government."

"Well anytime you want to know something ask okay? I don't want secrets either."

"I promise not to pry."

She grabbed my hand. "Now that that's settled, what do you say we do the good brother a favor and bring his ghosts back?"

I smirked. "We'll have the Discovery Channel here by next week."

And there it is! The official story! I hope you found it entertaining! Next chapter we find Kikyo! Then we get our lovebirds married, have their kid and end things once and for all. We're almost there!