Bitten

by Rio Grande

Kagome's a college sudent thrown into the world of demons after being called upon by the FBI for some of her more unusual talents. But even with her partner Inuyasha by her side, things are starting to look a bit dangerous for the miko in-training.

11. Exploding Hearts

Hey all! Thanks for reviewing – I told you I would do it! Your compliments and words of encouragement made me want to write this chapter. I don't own Inuyasha, please enjoy and review!

One note on continuity – in the beginning I had an identity crisis with Miroku. I kept saying he was a priest, and then a monk, and then nothing at all... well, as of now he's a reformed monk. Forget priest, that's just weird.

OOOO

Bitten

By Rio Grande

Chapter Eleven: Exploding Hearts

OOOO

TWO WEEKS AFTER CHAPTER TEN

OOOO

There was a loud slamming sound as Inuyasha enthusiastically kicked open the door to the large office just beyond the demon detaining cells, the office that had been especially set up to meet the needs of Naraku's investigation team. The hanyou confidently strutted into the room, glowing slightly with a chipper smile on his handsome features. He was sporting a pair of lose fitting slacks, a red button down shirt and his favorite, long leather jacket.

Behind him, a much more frazzled, morose looking Kagome slowly slunk into the office, her raven hair a tangled mess, her tight fitting denim jeans ripped at the shin, and her yellow cardigan smudged with unseemly dirt. Her expression was hollow and defeated and she quickly collapsed into a chair at the long conference table, shutting her eyes and resting her head on the cool surface presented to her. Inuyasha came to stand next to her, placing his hands proudly on his hips.

"I take it the mission went well?" Kaede asked dryly, from her position at the end of the long table where she was huddled over a stack of papers, an amused looking Miroku at her side. It seemed as though perhaps they had been in the room for a very long period of time.

"Another acolyte of Naraku – dusted!" Inuyasha enthused, confirming Kaede's guess.

"Are you all right Kagome?" Miroku asked kindly as he watched the young woman begin to drift off right in front of the assembled group.

"Oh... I'm good..." she croaked. "There've just been... a lot of ... assignments lately."

"Puny human – this is nothing!" Inuyasha snorted, looking at Kagome with no small degree of disdain.

"Nothing? This was our third potential victim in two and a half days!" she reminded him.

"And we saved each one, isn't that great?"

"Yes! Wonderful! But now I need some sleep!"

"Well, I am afraid that, while you have the rest of today off, tomorrow morning there is another assignment in store for you," Kaede admitted, leafing through a folder absently as she spoke.

"Oh God... I haven't had a day off in forever!" Kagome moaned piteously, while Inuyasha appeared slightly excited by the news. If there was one thing he enjoyed, it was kicking some Naraku ass – and if he couldn't get to Naraku personally, his little henchmen would have to do.

Ever since Kaede had started dolling out potential victims to agents, the flow of work had been virtually nonstop. While some seasoned professionals at the FBI might have been able to deal with this sort of stressful workload easily (a.ka Inuyasha.), other agents found the experience harrowing, to put it lightly (a.k.a Kagome).

Just this morning they had defeated a large monster calling himself the 'Peach Man', who had been sent after an old, powerful monk. Inuyasha had nearly been run through by the gluttonous demon's fist, and underneath his jacket his arm was severely sprained and slightly swollen. Although it had been hard for Kagome to see her partner tossed about like that, the past two weeks had taught her that Inuyasha's injuries would be a thing of the past by that evening. Not that it meant she couldn't dote on him a little bit until then.

However, the potential victim program that Kaede had concocted had been, all around, a great success. About 90 of all of the victims the FBI agents were assigned to who ended up being attacked were effectively protected and saved, and Inuyasha and Kagome personally had yet to lose a 'client'. Of course, this didn't account for victims the FBI hadn't thought to assign agents to, who were picked out by Naraku with no defenses at all – still, it was undeniable to see that the FBI was making a great dent in Naraku's plans for more tainted blood. He was becoming much more frequent and desperate with his attacks on innocents, and the percentage of blood he was receiving was substantially lower than what it had been a few weeks ago, thanks to the agency.

So the morale of the agents was up, even if, two weeks later, they had yet to actually catch the super villain. But pressure from the demon and connected human community was mounting as people began to notice that something was off in the natural order of the demon world. Naraku had been on the lose for too long, so now everyone was pulling twice their weight to speed up the incarceration process. Kagome wouldn't be surprised if Kaede and Miroku had been up all night reviewing Naraku's files, searching for clues for how to defeat him, and discover his whereabouts.

Glancing around the room, Kagome realized that someone was missing, and it wasn't Shippou, who was currently hanging around the cafeteria with some female agents who had officially dubbed him the 'most adorable and perfect little baby in the world.'

"Where's Sango?" the young miko asked before Inuyasha could launch into a story about he and Kagome's daring escapade that day.

"She's out, looking into a lead we received about a Kagura sighting," Miroku explained quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Another one?" Inuyasha asked, quirking an eyebrow. "She'll drive herself crazy if she keeps following every single tip she gets. They never pan out,"

"It's what she's been doing for three years..." Miroku explained with a heavy shrug of his shoulders. "Above her priority to the agency, Sango needs to avenge her family..."

"Conflict of interests," Inuyasha spat needlessly.

"Not really," Kaede pointed out. "We find Kagura, we are undoubtedly led to Naraku,"

"Yeah I still don't get that... did Naraku actually give birth to Kagura, or what?" Kagome asked, as she grabbed a random pile of files and started flipping through them herself. She paused when she came across a slew of particularly stomach churning pictures. These were of a few high ranking demons that had been murdered some months ago by Naraku himself, and the pictures were of their remains in their loft in downtown Tokyo.

One of the pictures gave Kagome a perfect view of a female demon with her jugular bared, a silent scream eternally etched onto her face, and, most disturbingly, a raw bite mark standing out profoundly against the skin of her collar bone. Naraku's trademark. She shuddered and put the file aside.

"Well, we don't have any actual proof of Kagura's origins since we've never had her in for questioning," Miroku explained, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands across his middle. "Although we're fairly certain that he never gave birth to her by any conventional means. More likely he created her in a very real sense – formed her with some sort of dark magic."

"That's bizarre," Kagome stated. "It sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick. How would he get the power to do that?"

"The shikon jewel," Kaede said derisively. "It all comes back to that damned jewel."

Kagome furrowed her brow, rolling over an idea in her mind.

The shikon jewel had become a point of interest for Kagome as of late, seeing as how she has been recruited to the FBI merely to act as a purifier for the terribly tainted talisman, were they ever to actually get a hold of the thing. The files on the jewel were vague and the writers were obviously frustrated about the lack of information that had been provided for them, but Kagome was able to get the general gist of the jewels origins and history. Shikon jewel – really powerful. Capable of great good when in the right hands, capable of all consuming, mind boggling evil when in the wrong hands.

Reading descriptions of what the jewel was rumored to do when it gave an evil entity all of its power made Kagome turn pale with fear, and wonder just how she was supposed to pull off cleansing the jewel. Sure, she had been regularly practicing refining her miko powers with Miroku and Kaede for the past two weeks of her winter vacation when she had off time, and had admittedly become a much better priestess for it.

She could call her purifying powers to help in her battle, giving bullets she shot an extra punch, and sometimes her pure aura even physically repelled demons who would try to harm her – but she still had a long way to go. At times she felt she could be more of a wild variable than any sort of dependable help in the field, which also made her feel extremely guilty as Inuyasha's only partner now. However, realizing what sort of a job she had ahead of her made Kagome that much more determined to master her miko abilities.

Historically, the files on the shikon jewel had been much more informative. Although the origins of the jewel were not absolutely clear since it had been formed long ago, during the earlier years of the Feudal Era, it was surmised that it was originally created by a very powerful miko of the time named Midoriko. The jewel was fabled to actually be her soul, crystalized after she was felled in battle by an uncountable amount of demons. And while this sort of tale was very interesting to Kagome, what happened to the jewel as it was handed down until the present day was much more gripping to her, personally.

Although Sango had failed to mention it, after living with a succession of monks and otherwise holy and incorruptible people throughout Japan, the jewel had eventually landed in the possession of the fabled demon bounty hunters – Sango's kin. It had remained with them until one day almost four years ago when, in a terrible turn of events, the entire community was brutally slaughtered. The next time the jewel was seen it was already in the possession of one criminal mastermind – Naraku.

Now, this part of the story had all seemed relatively clean cut to Kagome. The demon exterminators had the jewel in their possession, so Naraku had sent Kagura to steal it from them, viscously murdering the whole village in the process. But... if Naraku had only gained the power to create Kagura AFTER he got the jewel, how had Kagura been around to steal it? Did that mean that the exterminators lost the jewel, and then were killed? Why had they ever let go of it, in the first place?

"Something on your mind?" Miroku asked Kagome, nudging her gently as he noticed that the woman seemed lost in deep thought. Across the table Inuyasha and Kaede were deeply involved in discussing the details of tomorrow's mission, something Kagome was far too willing to let her partner do alone because she simply found that sort of work dead boring. Hearing Miroku's voice pierce through her thick web of thoughts, she blinked and then shook her head after an extended pause.

"No... it's nothing," she replied airily, deciding she'd rather just ask Sango about it herself later than bring up a topic that might lead to a lengthy discussion when she was so damned tired.

As of late, Kagome and Sango's relationship, a bond that had been tentative at first, had blossomed into what looked to be a lasting friendship. At first Sango had been wary of Kagome's amicable advances and invitations for shopping and girl's nights out, to the point of extreme awkwardness. However, Kagome's perseveringly cheery nature and inherent kindness had opened Sango's heart up to the small girl. Sango could no more deny Kagome a chick flick movie night than she could kick a wildly affectionate kitten in the gut. And besides, why would she want to?

The woman had had virtually no friends for a very long time due to her all consuming vow to avenge her family's deaths, and now, finally, she was starting to relax and appreciate the fact that, while her relations may all be gone, she was alive and had the right to enjoy her own existence, just a bit.

Of course, this didn't mean Sango was ready to accept all of the luxuries that came with being a fully operating, healthy woman. She was still not prepared to involve herself in any romantic entanglements, especially ones that had ties to her painful past. So, her hesitant partnership with Miroku was still on the rocks every other day. Especially since it was more than obvious that Miroku would not be entirely satisfied with merely regaining a normal friendship with his ex-lover.

Shouting matches between the sexually and emotionally repressed couple had become background music for the FBI offices. Of course, due to Kagome's friendship and more exposure to the monk gone agent, Sango was getting better every day. It might not have been much, but for every time she didn't stomp off in a huff when Miroku attempted to edge closer to her seat at a status report meeting, the duo got that much closer to reconciling their differences.

For her part, Kagome thought Sango was wonderful. Sure, the girl didn't have the best sense of humor and wasn't really wise on the latest in pop culture, but she was smart and she was sensitive. Kagome valued these attributes in a friend greatly, and had thus dubbed Sango her new best friend at the FBI - a title which secretly irked Inuyasha, and at the same time made the hanyou what other title he could now run for at the loss of 'best friend'.

However, although Kagome was gaining a surplus of friends, her romantic life was still something of a running gag. She hadn't seen Hojo in some time, or any of her other friends for that matter, but the devoted blond still called her occasionally, sounding particularly distraught over the fact that she had no time for him now with her new job, and was in fact living with another man. (Kagome's mother had wasted no time in telling everyone Kagome even distantly knew of her new living situation, so the miko had received no shortage of embarrassingly curious calls from Keiko and Kiki on the matter. Mainly they wanted to know why she hadn't told them sooner, if she was screwing him, and, if not, could they get a piece of the action because her mother had said Inuyasha was hot.)

Of course, Kagome was NOT screwing Inuyasha, even a little, but at the same time she certainly didn't approve of letting Keiko or Kiki get to him, either. In fact, so defensive was Kagome of her admittedly dashing partner that the girl had yet to even introduce the agent to her two best friends. When she considered the fact that she was so insecure about her relationship with Inuyasha/so protective of him she wouldn't even allow another pair of relatively attractive females near him, she got all sick feeling inside and wanted to bang her head against a wall. To avoid this, she usually just made up semi-valid sounding excuses as to why that night was a bad night for she, Inuyasha and her gal pals to go out for dinner.

It wasn't as though she had even laid anything vaguely resembling a claim on Inuyasha. If anyone were to randomly walk up to her and accuse her of desiring the half dog demon in a sexual sense, she probably would have slapped them across the face and vehemently denied the notion. But no amount of heated denials could hide the fact that there WAS indeed sexual tension between Inuyasha and Kagome. Practically anybody could see it if they cared to look. Even Kagome herself.

Shy glances were shared often, unnecessary touches and caresses were even more common. Even though they were partners on the job and shared living quarters, they spent an unnecessary amount their days together outside of the allotted time they absolutely needed to be with each other. Inuyasha was always on the young miko's mind no matter what she was doing, much to her chagrin, and she had a feeling it was the same for Inuyasha because every time they were apart for more than a few hours he would come looking for her, seeming mildly distressed. All of this was incredibly adorable to Kagome, naturally, but at the same time unsettling. What did this mean for them? Exactly where was their relationship going?

And then of course there was Inuyasha's rather obvious reaction to the wolf prince, Kouga. Ever since the escapade at the wolf tribe's compound, the full blooded youkai had dubbed Kagome a 'fiery mortal temptress worthy of his heart', and called Kagome's cell phone incessantly, leaving her scandalously suggestive voice mails and steamy text messages. Once or twice he even showed up unannounced at the office to have a one on one chat with the raven haired college student. Kagome was mildly flattered – Inuyasha was furious.

Whenever he saw Kagome blushing while listening to her phone messages, or caught the scent of the 'wimpy wolf' in the office, his eyes nearly bled into red and his shackles immediately went up. There were some almost physical confrontations in the hallway of the office that annoyed the entirety of the agency with the sheer volume and testosterone levels involved, and it was when things escalated to that level that Kagome sort of wanted to die of embarrassment.

She had never had men fight over her before, and part of her wanted to tell Inuyasha of her suspicions that the only reason Kouga was 'interested' in her was because he wanted to use her to stay in the loop about developments at the agency, so that he could keep an eye on Kagura and avenge his fallen comrades.

Miroku, Shippou, Sango and Kaede had taken to leaving their respective offices to come and watch the festivities as if it was some sort of prescheduled show when the two males butted heads for Kagome's attention, making the whole thing that much worse for the poor girl. And of course, after a visit from Kouga, Inuyasha was nothing less than a pain in the ass for hours after, sometimes days.

Kagome wanted to tell the dog boy that he had nothing to worry about, she would never consider dating Kouga – but then, what would that mean she was suggesting? She knew Inuyasha was doing this because he didn't want her to go out with the wolf prince? That Kagome was waiting for him, Inuyasha, in actuality? The implications made her sweaty with apprehension, but every day that the two worked and lived together, becoming more and more intimate, Kagome knew they were one day closer to breaking down and giving in to their desires – the result of which she couldn't even begin to fathom.

She knew that sometimes when she looked at Inuyasha she wanted to run her fingers through his snow white hair and maybe lick the side of his neck slowly... but beyond that she couldn't imagine what she would do with the hanyou were he to express his interest in her candidly. Mostly she was thankful things were just staying the way they were for the time being. She only hoped Inuyasha felt the same. She would just die if he lost interest in her, when she was finally a bit secure with the idea that he actually had any interest in her at all.

"Kagome? Kagome. Wake up!" A loud clicking noise alerted Kagome to the fact that she had been staring off into space, lost in her thoughts for some time now. When she blinked herself into awareness, she noticed Inuyasha snapping his long claws in front of her face with a rather amused look on his well-chiseled features.

"Man, you really are tired," he pointed out with something akin to real concern seeping into his voice. "Maybe I should take you home,"

"I told you I was exhausted..." Kagome mumbled angrily to hide the fact that she loved it when Inuyasha referred to her apartment as 'home'.

"I agree. Go to your place and get some rest before your assignment tomorrow. It's not good for someone with your lack of training to be working this hard," Kaede admitted soberly.

"I can handle it," Kagome assured everyone, hating it when people pointed to her lack of experience as a weakness.

"Never the less," Kaede replied with a shrug, waving a hand that signaled the two could leave.

"We should pick Shippou up on our way out," Inuyasha commented as they began to exit the conference room, Kaede and Miroku quickly re-engrossing themselves with their work. Inuyasha opened the door and was almost barreled over by a harassed looking Sango who charged into the room, looking beyond frustrated with a sleepy looking Kirara wrapped around her shoulders.

"Sango, you're back!" Kagome chirped, putting a hand on the woman's arm.

"Any luck?" Kaede asked quickly, appraising Sango's appearance almost as critically as Miroku was.

"No," the woman sighed in a defeated manner, causing Kagome to squeeze said shoulder comfortingly. Sango nodded at her friend, then frowned and ran a hand through her bangs agitatedly before throwing herself in a chair surprisingly close to her partner's. "I was so close... again," she muttered despondently.

"Well, if it's any consolation, we've been at these files for like, five hours and we haven't found any leads," Miroku said in a chipper tone. Sango smiled weakly.

"It's not, really," she admitted with a dark chuckle.

"Jeez, you're all depressing," Inuyasha commented archly. "Take some happy pills or something. God. See you all tomorrow," he said his last statement as though the collective group's negative mentality was a personal offense that was spurring him to leave their presence, when really he just wanted an excuse to make a swift exit because he was becoming increasingly worried about Kagome. He really wanted to see her in bed. Well, in bed alone, sleeping, is what he meant...

"Have a nice night," Miroku called gaily after the rapidly retreating agent.

OOO

Although Kagome was tired, she insisted on a healthy dinner of frozen shrimp dumplings and burnt rice before lights out. Accordingly, that evening found the twenty-year-old history major, the sword wielding FBI agent and their red haired surrogate demon child huddled around the kitchen counter grimacing into their meals. Even Shippou was having a hard time pretending the food was any good, for Kagome's sake.

"Jesus woman, you just can't cook," Inuyasha stated plainly.

"Well, why don't you give it a try some time if you hate my food so much? What, do you think preparing meals is a woman's responsibility, or something?" Kagome asked, pinning Inuyasha to the spot with a withering glare as she sucked on her dumpling until it was chewable.

"No. You just never asked me to help out,"

"Oh. Well... tomorrow night then. It's your turn,"

"Okay. Even though, you know, cooking is sort of a woman's responsibility... Ow! That kind of hurt," Inuyasha accused, nursing his pinched ear.

"Don't mock me," Kagome explained while Shippou chuckled around his crunchy rice. Then Inuyasha bopped him roughly on the head, and Shippou winced in pain. It was a viscous cycle.

The act of coming back to her home for a meal with her temporary family had revitalized Kagome to the point where, after she put a contented Shippou to sleep with an affectionate peck on the head, as was their nightly tradition, accompanied occasionally by a goodnight phone call from Mrs. Higurashi who had a soft spot for the kitsune, she felt the need to watch a bit of television in bed. With Inuyasha, of course. They had been sort of... sharing a bed ever since that night she had invited him in to watch the Discovery Channel with her.

Some nights they used the excuse of falling asleep together with the television on as a reason for why Inuyasha had stopped sleeping on the pullout couch with Shippou, but recently the hanyou had just been blatantly crawling into bed with Kagome. Had she ever voiced any distaste for this development he would have immediately given her space, however the man was sharp enough to tell that Kagome rather liked the new sleeping arrangements. Especially when he woke up after that first morning with Kagome's legs literally twined around his own, her head resting comfortably on his hard chest.

To say he had enjoyed the experience of waking up with a slumbering Kagome would be a gross understatement. Opening his eyes, only to have the first thing to greet him be her glossy mane of hair and adorable features, that looked all that much more innocent in sleep, had felt wonderful and, frighteningly enough, entirely right. He hadn't been surprised or apprehensive when he registered her warm breath fanning across his collarbone, he had felt at home. He was also incredibly turned on, but that was an emotion he felt needed more time to properly develop before he could act upon it, and he wasn't sure Kagome would have appreciated him making a move on her at six in the morning without her consent.

They had never spoken of the change in their system, perhaps they were too shy, or, more likely, they were too afraid the other would stop doing what they were doing if they vocalized the shift in pattern. In any case, things hadn't moved beyond that point, and if either of them felt it odd that they were sleeping together before their first kiss, once again, both parties were mute on the subject.

The evening seemed to be going on in what passed as normality for the two adults as they snuggled into bed around ten to watch the news before sleep. Kagome was propped up against her pillows wearing a baggy tank top and flannel bottoms, and Inuyasha had his arms stretched out behind his head, sporting a pair of forest green boxers and not much else. As they listened to a reporter relay details of a crime scene that had been discovered in downtown Tokyo that night – something new happened.

Inuyasha's arm, that had been safely living by his head until then, slowly shifted down to wrap around Kagome's shoulders and draw her noticeably closer to him. This was not new – usually by the end of the night the two were wrapped in some sort of embrace, intentionally or instinctively. Kagome complied to his not so subtle demands and leaned her body against him so that both could feel their self generated heat radiating off each other in waves.

Then, Inuyasha leaned down and rested his face on the top of Kagome's head, nuzzling it slightly and causing Kagome to acquire a rather silly smile she was glad Inuyasha couldn't see from his position. She discreetly craned her head upwards to signal to Inuyasha that she liked this motion, and at this Inuyasha became a bit braver. Brave enough to move his lips across the crown of her head in what was, undeniably, a soft kiss.

This was new.

As was aforementioned, the two had yet to kiss. Spooning and sleeping near each other was all well and good – but kissing. Kissing was another matter. Kissing meant they had forever crossed the line between being partners at the agency and moved on to the deliciously scandalous and highly delicate realm of lovers. It would be impossible to deny, it would open up a whole other world of possibilities, and would, more than likely, lead to other kissing related activities...

Sucking in a breath, Kagome continuing to move encouragingly, slowly but surely tipping her head up so that Inuyasha's softly applied kisses were forced to move down her head, towards her temple... her cheek... she was trying to make her movement look as natural as possible for a number of reasons. Firstly, she didn't want to just give in to abandon, grab his face and bring it down to hers, because this way there would be no denying she was extremely attracted to him. Also because she wasn't even entirely sure of what she wanted. Oh, sure, her body knew exactly what she craved from her unofficial protector and friend, but her mind was still quivering in fear at the complications that would follow her actions, even as she leaned into Inuyasha so far that their chins bumped together, and she felt his heated breath slip between her teeth.

And then it happened. Their lips made the briefest amount of contact, barely brushing against each other and pressing together with only a slight amount of force, as though the movement had been purely experimental. Inuyasha's eyes widened and Kagome gasped, and both agents drew far enough apart to look each other in the eye briefly, heated gold meeting dazed chocolate, before they violently moved towards each other again. This time their mouths slanted over one another with a significantly larger amount of passion, Kagome winding her arms around Inuyasha's neck while the hanyou plundered her mouth with his roaming tongue.

It was as though a dam had finally broken, and the couple's hormones were buzzing and dancing with joy. Inuyasha roughly flipped Kagome over and pinned her to the bed, his hands freely roaming all over her lithe form while never pulling his face away from hers. The girl briefly reflected how disturbing it was that they had both been repressing THIS much emotion in the past couple weeks. To be sure, she knew she had been holding back some physical desires – but this! She had never felt this way in her entire life. Her whole body was on fire and her legs were fairly shaking even though she was laying on her back. Her stomach was quivering with anticipation for something, and she couldn't seem to get enough of touching Inuyasha. Her hands were roaming places she had been dreaming of caressing for as long as she could remember.

Recalling her earlier desires at this extremely opportune moment, Kagome ran her tongue up along Inuyasha's neck in a sensual motion that made the hanyou moan rather loudly, a sound that broke the silence that had been tensely occupying the duo's first sexual encounter.

"I-Inuyasha..." Kagome rasped, kissing every part of his face she could reach.

"Yeah?..." Inuyasha replied softly, pushing Kagome's shirt up and making the girl shudder unconsciously.

"A-are you sure?..." She had to ask.

"Yes!" Inuyasha replied, almost too quickly. "I think I've wanted nothing but what we're doing right now since the second I saw you. If I'm positive about anything in my crazy life it's that I really, really want this."

"...Oh. Well, all right then,"

"And you?" he croaked a bit desperately as he finally managed to throw Kagome's tank top off the bed. He, too, had to ask.

"Oh, yes. Definitely. I... I really..." Her pupils dilated as she also managed to get Inuyasha topless. "... really want this."

"Good," he growled, smiling rakishly.

Then their lips were seared together once more, their passionate mewls and moans only slightly muffled for Shippou's benefit. In celebration of their lust for one another finally being realized, and for the fact that they now got to do more than just sleep near each other when they crawled into the same bed each night, they kept up their current activities long into the evening.

OOO

The next morning Kagome was the first to awake, a rare occurrence. 'Maybe I tired him out...' she considered a bit bashfully. Said man was laying practically on top of Kagome's small form, arms wrapped possessively around her and face positioned strategically in her soft chest as she considered these thoughts.

Sunlight filtered unobtrusively through the window and illuminated the couple, showing off their contented expressions and relaxed positions. Kagome couldn't remember being this at ease with the world in some time, and she had to admit it felt almost sinfully good. Part of her mind was still arguing that it was a bad idea to get involved with a dangerous man like Inuyasha, while the rest of her was sticking her tongue out and tauntingly pointing out that, well, it was far too late now.

Noticing the digital clock next to the bed, Kagome cursed as she realized she and Inuyasha sort of had to get up immediately if they didn't want to be late for their appointment with the newest potential victim that day. Kagome hadn't even remembered to look over the briefing for the new victim, and right now couldn't even conceive ever working up the interest to do so. She would much rather lay as she was with Inuyasha, feeling his smooth, toned skin all along her body.

But it was almost eight and they had to run by the agency and get suited up before they made it to the potential victim's home, not to mention drop Shippou off, so Kagome found herself regretfully blowing into Inuyasha's face in an effort to awake her lover and let him know he, unfortunately, had to roll off of her.

"Wazz goin' on...?" Inuyasha grumbled in a scratchy morning voice, blinking all around as Kagome giggled at him, still captured in his embrace.

"Hello..." she mumbled, suddenly overcome with an unexpected wave of shyness now that she was actually looking Inuyasha in the eye and memories of everything they had done last night were resurfacing rapidly.

"Hello to you, too," And by the tone in which he replied, Kagome had a feeling he was thinking of last night as well, although he sounded a bit more excited than apprehensive.

"Inuyasha... I'm not so sure this is a good idea..." Kagome admitted as he started kissing his way down her neck while simultaneously trying to wake himself up.

"What's not?" he asked quickly from his place at her collarbone, his snowy ears perking forward urgently.

"Doing... this, right now. We have a potential victim to get to!" she reminded him playfully.

"Oh," he said, his shoulders relaxing at her words. Clearly he had thought she was referring to something else, and Kagome almost rolled her eyes at the thought. As though she could ever leave him now. "Umm... I don't want to," he decided firmly.

"Well, I don't either, but -"

"Come on, just a few more minutes," he pleaded, kissing her slowly on the lips, his tongue moving as though it were trying to lull her into submission and forgetfulness. But Kagome would not be fooled.

"Nope," she chirped brightly, finding an opening as Inuyasha braced himself over her so he could more effectively taste her mouth, rolling smoothly to the side and slipping out of bed. "We've got places to be... besides, we'll have time for that, tonight, when my breath doesn't smell so bad."

At Kagome's proclamation that they would be once again participating in their previous activities that night, Inuyasha got such a gleeful look on his face Kagome almost burst into laughter outright before heading towards the bathroom. He could be such a child sometimes.

Standing under the hot spray of her shower, Kagome inspected her body for signs of Inuyasha – bite marks, bruises, scratches etc... in truth, the couple hadn't actually gone all the way, for a few reasons. One being that it was their first time ever even kissing, and Kagome privately felt that rushing things at this point wasn't a very smart idea. Mostly, however, it was because Kagome hadn't had any condoms in her house, and Inuyasha hadn't brought any over, surprisingly.

The girl had no doubt that if they started something again that night, Inuyasha would be more than prepared, and she would be quite eager. However, that didn't mean they hadn't done everything else they possibly could have last night, which would account for the small claw marks on her thighs and the bruises on her chest. At least they were all easily concealed...

"Morning Kagome!" Shippou crowed as Kagome exited the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel and padding slowly into the kitchen. She smiled weakly at Shippou, feeling slightly disgusted with herself when she looked at him as she thought of how she had done all of those things with poor innocent Shippou just a few feet away.

"Morning..."

Inuyasha was lounging on a stool at her kitchen counter, looking unbearably sexy in his boxers. He was reading the paper when he glanced back at Kagome as she walked by him, a small smirk curving his lips as he spotted her.

"Sleep well?" he asked tauntingly. Kagome blushed and frowned.

"Pretty well," she replied casually. Inuyasha winced and then gracefully got to his feet, sliding by her on his way to the bathroom.

"Touche. I guess I'll just have to make tonight a bit more exciting then, hm?" he whispered in her ear so that only she could hear. She giggled quietly at his retreating figure and shook her head, trying to ignore the way she trembled at his promise. She would not act like a love struck school girl – she was an adult! Adult women didn't get all breathless at a few hushed, dirty words, so she wouldn't either. Besides, she didn't want to see Inuyasha's reaction when she referred to herself as being in love. He didn't strike her as the type who liked talking about such personal aspects of a relationship, especially one as new and tender as theirs.

'But I won't just let things sit,' Kagome promised herself. 'We'll have a serious talk about our relationship, soon. Maybe tonight, before bed. Just to know where we stand. It doesn't have to be love... yet,' she told herself, while a small part of her mind, she knew, was hoping desperately that it was love for him, because she had a terrible feeling it was for her.

It was crazy, three weeks with Inuyasha and she thought she was in love. She had never been in love with anyone in her life, and had thought it was something that only happened to other people until recently.

"Do you know who your potential victim is today?" Shippou asked from across the counter, messily slurping away at his cheerios and looking absolutely adorable, as usual. Kagome hoped if she ever had a child of her own it would be as cute as the tiny kitsune, because it certainly made children much easier to care for.

"Um... let me see," she mumbled, flipping through a file Inuyasha had left out. "It looks like it's a young woman named -"

OOO

"- Rin Hayaka. Pleased to meet you!" a girl of around seventeen sang, bowing her head low for the two agents standing in front of her.

Rin Hayaka was of the Hayaka clan, a group of powerful mortal politicians who had been demon activists for as long as anyone could remember. However, in a terrible turn of events Rin's parents and siblings had all been killed in a terrorist attack by demon extremists who were part of an anti-human movement that alienated the two races, some years ago. Rin was the only remaining member of the once illustrious clan, and had thus been dubbed a prime target for Naraku. She had already been watched over by other agents at different points in the investigation, and so far there had been no attempts on her life, but Kaede considered the girl important enough to send Inuyasha and Kagome over to guard her.

Rin lived in a penthouse apartment in Tokyo with only the family servants. Her home was impressive. Expensive, spotless, and large. Kagome didn't know how she would feel, being the only resident besides servants in a house like this, especially as a teenager growing up - but the girl seemed to be getting along just fine. At least, she seemed chipper enough.

Rin was a slip of a girl, with an attractive face splashed with freckles. Her wild black hair was pinned cutely on the side of her head by a flower beret, and she wore a billowy yellow sun dress and orange flip flops. There was a wide smile spread across her face, and when Kagome and Inuyasha had first entered the apartment she had been humming contentedly to herself.

That day both agents had arrived dressed as lawyers come to address Rin's inheritance from her deceased family, despite the fact that Rin's parents had died when she was ten. Kagome was wearing a purple skirt suit and felt quite professional and adult looking. On the way over, in fact, she thought she and Inuyasha somewhat resembled an older married couple, what with his briefcase and two piece suit to match. The improbable idea had made her smile all through the elevator ride up, and had caused Inuyasha to stare at her in curiosity for equally as long.

"I'm Kagome Umeshi and this is Inuyasha Takeru," Kagome replied evenly, unable to resist smiling back at the contagiously happy girl. Jeez, for an orphan under the protection of the FBI she certainly was cheerful! "We're so glad you could meet with us,"

"Oh, yes!" Rin said, looking momentarily abashed. She had forgotten Kagome and Inuyasha were supposed to be acting as lawyers, and not the FBI agents she knew them to be. "Could I offer you something to drink?"

"Some water would be nice," Kagome admitted, while Inuyasha stayed mute, his golden eyes appraising the interior of Rin's apartment carefully, as though searching for spies. Kagome let him do so without comment – she couldn't feel any mystical disturbances, but his nose had proven to be quite useful on more than one occasion.

At Kagome's request, a servant standing behind Rin quickly hurried off to fetch her something, and Rin let both agents over to the living room where they all sank into cushy green couches. Except for Inuyasha, of course, who set about to pacing the length of the room, glaring out the large windows that lined the walls. Kagome mentally winced; she wished he wouldn't do that, he was probably making poor Rin nervous!

"So Rin, how have things been going for you?" Kagome asked kindly, opening up an easy conversation while simultaneously gaining the ability to innocently question Rin about her recent activities. "Has anything particularly interesting happened lately?" Rin beamed at Kagome and quickly replied with an answer that seemed to go on forever, impressing Kagome with her lung capacity.

"Oh, things have been great! I just got into the play at my school! I'm Helena in a Midsummer Night's dream and I've been practicing my lines like crazy, for all the good it will do me. Do you know how many lines Helena has in a Midsummer Night's dream? I mean, geez! And, I'm interning at the museum of Japanese Modern Art and I go there on weekends and it's soo cool and now I want to be a curator when I get older, even if it's totally hard work. And of course I've been going crazy over all of my college applications but that's just inevitable for senior year, isn't it? Still, I didn't think it was going to be this hard..." At the thought of her troublesome college process Rin forced herself to take a thoughtful pause where the first frown Kagome had ever seen the girl wear flashed across her face briefly. The miko took the moment of distraction to break into the conversation.

"Wow Rin, it certainly sounds like you've got your hands full. When do you have time to hang out with your friends? Where do you like to hang out most?" Kagome knew she sounded like a stupid questionnaire, but she really wanted to get a sense of Rin's daily schedule in order to better monitor her.

"Oh... I don't have that many friends," Rin said nonchalantly with an affable shrug.

"Why not?" Kagome asked in a more confused tone that she had intended. It was just astonishing to her that a pretty, nice girl like Rin would have no friends. Even Kagome had come out of high school with a close coterie of buddies, and she was the queen of disfunction.

"I don't know... I guess... ever since the I lost my family, it seems like other kids my age just don't get it," Rin explained vaguely, keeping her smile firmly in place even as she lost the ability to look Kagome in the eye. "I've just got different priorities, and everyone at school pities me. Because, you know, I go to this prestigious demon and human school where everyone knows everyone's business. It's a bummer,"

"Sounds that way," Kagome agreed emotively. "What sort of priorities do you have that other kids don't?" Kagome realized now that she was merely asking Rin this question for the sake of asking it rather than for informative purposes, but she couldn't help it.

"Well, I want to go into demon politics," Rin said with such a fire behind her voice that Kagome instantly nodded in agreement. "I want to be a representative for humans in the demon government, like my parents. It's important that mortals keep up a strong political relationship with demons,"

"For sure," Kagome said, although she had only gained knowledge of the demon world at all a few weeks ago, and knew next to nothing about the intricacies of demon politics.

"Say, how did you get into this unit of the FBI anyway?" Rin asked curiously. "You're awfully young looking to be an agent, not to mention mortal,"

"Well, it's a bit of a long story..." Kagome admitted with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh! I didn't mean to be rude! I mean, mortals can be great agents, too!" Rin explained quickly, blushing.

"Don't worry, you're not being rude," Kagome assured her. "It's just, I've sort of come into the job rather recently. See, I'm a miko, and they have a dearth of mikos at the agency, and the world, currently, so my employment was a bit rushed,"

"I see," Rin said, nodding her head seriously. "Well, it's quite an honor to meet you in that case. I've never seen a real live miko in this day and age. You're rarer than demons!"

"Thanks?" Kagome offered.

"Hey, what's your partner doing?" Rin asked abruptly, turning around in her seat and staring pointedly at the dog demon who was hanging half out of her window, sniffing the air.

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome balked, blinking in confusion. One of Inuyasha's ears flicked backwards to address Kagome, but he did not withdraw his head.

"I smell Kagura on the wind," he explained flatly. Kagome gasped and extended her miko senses so that they reached beyond the building, briefly shutting her eyes. Sure enough, the corrupted energy of Kagura penetrated her mind quickly. The wind witch couldn't be more than a few yards off.

'I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings and less attention to Rin's conversation...' Kagome berated herself as she quickly got to her feet, pulling a gun out of her holster and trying not to frighten poor Rin too much. The girl clenched her fists and stood as well, her bright brown eyes shining worriedly.

"What's going on? Who is Kagura?" she asked edgily.

"A demon acolyte of Naraku's, and one hell of a fighter," Inuyasha answered, backing away and whipping out his sword, clenching it until it transformed into the full Tetsusaia. Rin gulped and stood warily behind Kagome.

"Maybe you should wait in another room," Kagome suggested as Kagura flew into sight on her peculiar feather. Rin saw her, as well.

"No, I want to be here for this. I want to see the face of the woman who wants to kill me," Rin answered bravely. Inuyasha rolled his eyes heavenwards.

"Now is no time for righteousness! It will be harder to protect you if you don't -"

SMASH!

"Eeek!" Rin cried as Kagura crashed noisily through her window, wasting no time in flicking some wind blades at Inuyasha with her fan as she passed. Inuyasha growled and deflected them all.

"Kagura you coward! Get off that feather and fight me!" Inuyasha roared as Kagura continued to fly about the room like a happy child. She swooped low around Kagome and Rin's heads threateningly, only changing course when Kagome let off a few rounds at her.

No bullets made the mark, but enough began to eat away at Kagura's feather with pure magic that the witch backed off momentarily. Kagome frowned and made sure the slightly trembling Rin was safely behind her.

Kagura made another trip towards Inuyasha, where the hanyou made a comical show of leaping wildly around trying to catch her, before zooming back towards the window, knocking over bookcases and furniture as she did so.

"Catch me if you can, Inuyasha!" Kagura taunted, zipping back out the way she came and upwards towards the roof.

"Damn that bitch!" Inuyasha cried, utterly frustrated with Kagura's uncharacteristic antics. "I'm going after her!" he called back brusquely to Kagome.

"Not without me you're not!" the raven haired girl replied, latching firmly on to him as he attempted to hurl himself out the window. "I'm going to help,"

"Fine," Inuyasha sighed, lifting her up gently.

"What about me?" Rin asked inquiringly.

"Stay here!" both agents chorused before disappearing out the glass opening, leaving a slightly stunned looking teenager standing alone in her now wrecked living room.

Kagome quickly blinked the tears out of her eyes as the wind whipped past her face while Inuyasha got her to the roof in record time. Adroitly he flipped onto the top of the twenty story building, letting Kagome slide off of him easily before straightening his posture and leveling Tetsusaiga at the lithe form of Kagura. The demon woman stood across the roof, smirking at the two agents with one hand on her hip, and her fan splayed open.

"That was fast," she complimented.

"Are you read you to die?" Inuyasha countered, cocking an eyebrow.

"Not really," Kagura admitted with a sigh, flicking some stray locks of hair out of her eyes. "Hey – have you met my elder sister yet?"

"Elder sister?" Kagome echoed, confused.

"What are you playing at?" Inuyasha rumbled threateningly. Kagura said nothing this time, merely smiled disturbingly once more and shifted slightly to the side. From behind her, a tiny girl came into view. She was an albino with eyes as dark as black holes, and a stark white dress that matched the color of her hair. A colorless flower was perched on her impressive mane, and, most interestingly, in her hands she clutched a round mirror.

"This is Kanna," Kagura said, introducing the demon child formally. "She will be taking care of you today," It occurred to both agents at once that Kagura's earlier act had been a ploy to lead them up to this place, but for what purpose they could only guess.

"What, not up to the task, witch?" Inuyasha asked cruelly. Kagura merely sneered at him.

"But... she's just a little girl," Kagome pointed out, lost. "What can she do?"

"I think the question is, what can't she do?" Kagura rejoined, backing up and letting Kanna slowly approach the uneasy duo. Inuyasha let a warning growl seep from between clenched jaws for every step Kanna took.

"Inuyasha, don't hurt her," Kagome whispered fervently to the half demon. "She's so young!"

"There ain't nothing young about that 'girl', Kagome. She's a demon spawn of Naraku's, and don't you forget it," Inuyasha said gruffly.

"But..."

"Are you looking for a fight, Kanna? 'Cause I'm ready for you!" Inuyasha declared, starting forward with his sword raised above his head. He swooped down on the girl, bringing the Tetsusaiga towards her miniature form swiftly. Kagome shrieked and covered her eyes.

"Inuyasha – NO!"

And then, almost as though her prayers had been answered, Inuyasha bolted awkwardly backwards, cursing loudly and stumbling onto his butt as an arc of light reached out from Kanna's mirror and struck him.

"Inuyasha...?" Kagome asked uncertainly, quietly.

"She... she deflected my blade," Inuyasha observed in awe, touching his stomach with cautious hands and coming away with blood dripping down his fingers. Kagome gasped and ran up to him, quickly trying to get a better look at his wound.

"Oh God, it's her mirror!" Kagome cried, looking back at Kanna in a new light. How could someone so small have such power?

"..." Kanna remained eerily silent, no longer moving and merely staring at Kagome with disturbingly vacant eyes.

"Now do you think she's a pushover?" Kagura called annoyingly from the other side of the roof. Inuyasha did not reply, he seemed to be in too much pain to do much of anything. He had never felt the sting of his own attack – it hurt. A lot.

Slowly Kanna began to approach the two agents once more, carefully placing one pale foot in front of the other. Kagome frowned and hugged Inuyasha closer to herself.

"Stay away! Don't make me hurt you!" she cried, still not quite sure she could bring herself to attack someone with such a young, innocent face.

"Dammit Kagome, get over it. Just kill her!" Inuyasha gasped, trying to ease himself to his feet. Kagome frowned at him and then rose herself, cocking her gun once more. She could do this.

"Inu...yasha..." Kanna murmered softly, the first words she had spoken thus far. She raised her mirror higher in front of herself and it began to glow brightly. Something in Kagome began screaming an urgent warning – she did NOT want that mirror to finish doing whatever it was trying to do.

"NO!" she yelled, wildly shooting two bullets at the mirror itself instead of Kagura. Maybe her bullets, with their miko powers, would be able to stop the horrible talisman...

But alas. As soon as the speedy bullets made contact with the mirror, a white hot burst of light shot them back out at the stunned miko. Kagome could do nothing but stand in place, slack jawed, as she watched her own attack be hurled back at her. She wasn't fast enough to dodge bullets.

"KAGOME!"

But Inuyasha was.

At least, he was strong enough to roughly shove Kagome out of harms way. Unfortunately, this action caused one of the bullets to rip through Inuyasha's shoulder, disturbingly close to his heart. He let out a choked grunt and collapsed onto the roof, shuddering violently. His vision started to go black, and he couldn't raise his head to see Kagome as she started calling his name shrilly in fear. Damn. Kagome packed more of a punch than he had anticipated...

Kagome looked to be in shock from her sprawled out position on the ground, a few feet away from Inuyasha's body. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Inuyasha had just been shot by HER bullet! It was like some sort of twisted nightmare. Off to the side, she distantly registered Kagura laughing maliciously.

"Hahaha... oh, this is just too good," she commented gaily. Kanna continued to look at Inuyasha's now still form in utter indifference, apparently unimpressed with her own handiwork. Kagome swung her gaze around abruptly to the two demonesses, practically oscillating with anger.

"You... YOU!" she accused angrily.

"Yes? What? You want to get revenge for your boyfriend, miko? I dare you," Kagura urged lowly as Kanna faced Kagome, raising her mirror once more. Kagome's brave facade quickly crumbled under the threat of the mirror, once again getting the strong feeling that she should be avoiding the power of that object at all costs. Her eyes flicked back over to Inuyasha who was laying face down, a stream of blood pooling around his side. She bit her lip.

And then there was an explosion.

A sharp projectile landed right in front of the a rather perplexed looking Kanna. The small girl stared at the thing for a beat before the ground blew up in front of her, hurling the demon back into her younger sister forcefully, and barely giving Kagome time to cover her face before waves of heat rolled over her in the after shock.

As soon as the dust began to settle and Kagome could hear again she immediately sought out Inuyasha, rushing to his side and flipping him over, brushing dust and pebbles off of him and making sure the blast hadn't caught him at all. However, except the fact that he no longer had color in his face and was breathing shallowly, he seemed pretty much all right.

Across the roof Kagura struggled to her feet while Kanna remained down, inspecting her mirror carefully. There didn't seem to be any cracks in it, but a thin blue line of what constituted as blood for Kanna was running down the albino's blank face.

"YOU..." Kagura accused spitefully, urging Kagome to look at the beautiful demon. But Kagura wasn't addressing her, her crimson gaze was locked onto a figure now standing at the entrance to the roof. It was a woman! Kagome hadn't even sensed her approach.

The mysterious female seemed to be around Kagome's height, only she looked older. Perhaps in her late twenties. She was wearing black slacks with a matching blazer, and a deep purple button down shirt underneath. Her sleek raven hair that had achieved the sort of combed perfection Kagome's never could was held back in a low pony tail. Her angled, beautiful features were cold and expressionless and there seemed to be no color in her face at all. Her brown eyes were severe and intimidating as they met Kagura's gaze squarely. Something in Kagome's heart sped up when she got a good look at the woman, and it wasn't just because she was emanating mystical energy like a nuclear reactor. There was something disturbingly familiar about her.

"Kagura," the woman replied evenly, lowering the bow and arrow she had been holding aloft just a minute ago. It took Kagome some time to realize that it had been the woman's arrow that had caused the ground to explode in front of Kanna, but when she did she merely gained a new degree of intense confusion. Just what was going on?

"Kikyo... what are you... never mind," Kagura hissed agitatedly, quickly backing away and pulling a feather out of her hair. "I do not wish to tangle with you today. Kanna – let's go!"

Kanna obeyed mutely, swiftly hopping onto her sister's feather as the two rose into the sky and out of sight just as quickly as they had appeared. Kagome barely noticed them leave. All of her attention was now completely focused on the miko who was gravely appraising the afternoon sky, her hair flying dramatically around her.

"Kikyo..." she repeated dumbly, the hand that had been supporting Inuyasha's head in her lap clutching his silver locks tighter. At the sound of her name, Kikyo turned to cooly address Kagome for the first time. The two stared each other in the eye for a tense moment where Kagome swore her heart stopped beating, and then Kikyo broke the contact to look at Inuyasha.

"We need to get him back to headquarters," she stated plainly.

"What? Oh. Yes," Kagome said, a panicked look washing over her features quickly. "He's very hurt. I..."

"Help me carry him down," Kikyo said, briskly approaching Inuyasha and lifting him up from Kagome's lap so that she had one of his arms slung over her shoulder. Kagome barely had time to blink before Kikyo was urging her to do the same, and soon both women were awkwardly hobbling towards the exit, an unconscious Inuyasha hanging between them.

"You... you were Inuyasha's partner," Kagome pointed out, torn between being intensely worried about her hanyou lover and incredibly interested about his ex-lover. What was she doing there? How had she known where she and Inuyasha were? Wasn't she supposed to be living in America, sick?

In the back of her mind Kagome was dimly registering just how bizarre this entire situation really was, and was also having a minor breakdown. However, her overpowering fear for Inuyasha's health was proving to be a good dam for that particular panic attack, and so she found herself focusing on the present issues fairly well.

"Yes," Kikyo confirmed, not even glancing Kagome's way.

"Have you returned to the FBI?" the girl pressed.

"For now," the older woman conceded cryptically.

"Thank you so much for saving us. I'm Kagome. I work with him now. Obviously..."

"Yes, I've heard of you," Kikyo admitted as she forced the door open and the two began the laborious and difficult process of walking Inuyasha down the stairs to the elevator. For a long time there was no conversing at all, merely the sound of heavy breathing and light grunts. Then, "Do you thin he'll be all right?" Kagome asked tentatively as she glanced at Inuyasha's shut eyes worriedly. "I've never seen him out for this long... and he was hit with one of my purified bullets. His half demon blood -"

"Inuyasha is a hanyou, he is stronger than you think," Kikyo explained, her voice confident and breathy. "But in the future, I would advise you to try and not shoot at your own partners. It causes unnecessary risks." Kagome blinked. Oh, boy.

It was going to be a long ride back to the agency.

OOO

Back in her apartment, Rin was fretfully wringing her hands and pacing back and forth around the rubble of what used to be her living room. The two elderly servants she had been living with for some time now were hurrying about assuring neighbors that they weren't experiencing the apocalypse, and trying to repair the damage that had been done, while Rin was listened in on the carnage taking place above her. Carnage that was shaking the foundations of her building. What could be happening? Were the agents winning? And if they weren't, what was going to happen to her?

"I hate this waiting!" she muttered angrily.

"Miss Rin, should we call the police?..." one maid, a geriatric woman with kind eyes, inquired.

"No, no. No humans. Please just phone the FBI like I said and let them know what's happening. Mortal police would probably just get themselves killed," Rin explained honestly.

"Yes, of course," the maid replied, scurrying off and looking not very assured.

Suddenly there came a loud knocking at the door, and Rin gasped, spinning on her heal to stare at the portal accusingly. Should she answer it? What if it was another demon, come to kill her? She hadn't quite believed the FBI when they had first told her that she was a prime target for a mass murdering super demon, but recent events had sufficiently lain all of her doubts to rest, permanently. In fact, now she was hyper paranoid, and was starting to take shallow breaths as the loud knocking continued.

'Get real, Rin,' the girl told herself firmly. 'If it was someone coming to assassinate you, why would they knock? Maybe it's Kagome and Inuyasha, and they're here to tell me everything is okay now!' Steeling herself, Rin took in a deep breath and flung open the door.

What greeted her was certainly NOT her two knights in shining armor, however she wasn't entirely certain it was an assassin, either. In fact, the figure standing on the other side of Rin's door created possibly the oddest image she had ever seen.

The first thing she noted was that he was a demon, which of course started alarm bells in her head considering the situation. The second thing she noticed was that he was badly wounded, dripping with blood and panting slightly. This caught her off guard, and stopped her from immediately slamming the door in his face and screaming for help. The third thing she noticed was that... he was beautiful. The tall, pale man was the most singularly gorgeous figure she had ever laid eyes upon. At first he somewhat reminded her of that agent Inuyasha she had just met, what with his silver hair and smoldering golden eyes, but then she blinked and realized that they were not alike at all.

Unlike Inuyasha who was clearly a hanyou, this demon was full blooded, as was evident from the dark purple stripes across his cheeks and the moon on his forehead. A pure white tail was wrapped casually around his shoulders. He was sporting the remains of what might once have been a wildly expensive business suit.

Blinking herself out of her stupor, Rin registered that the foreign demon was trying to say something to her.

"Excuse me?" she asked quietly, timidly.

"Inuyasha..." the demon gasped, clutching one bloody shoulder and wincing in pain, all while trying to stand upright as though attempting to prove he wasn't half as injured as she thought he was. "I need to see... Inuyasha."

"Are you from the agency? What happened to you? We need to get you medical attention!" Rin gushed, her maternal instincts kicking in as she quickly led the man into her house, seating him on her white couch and not even minding that he immediately got bloodstains all over it.

"I'm not from the agency. I need to see Inuyasha, he's my half brother," the demon repeated, bite to his tone now. He was getting agitated – it had been a bad day.

"He's indisposed right now. A demon just broke into my house and he's fighting her on the roof, I think..." Rin said, a slight wobble to her tone. "Please, what's your name? Why do you need Inuyasha?" The demon looked her right in the eye for a moment, as though judging her, wondering if she was worthy to even speak with at all. After a beat, he decided that maybe she was.

"I am Sesshomaru, and I have important information for Inuyasha. I smelt his blood coming from this apartment, and..." the Great Sesshomaru interrupted himself with a violent bout of hacking coughs that brought blood to his mouth, and Rin winced in sympathy.

"Nina, Tai – please get me some water and a wash cloth, and call an ambulance! No – call the FBI! Tell them to have their people pick Sesshomaru up," Rin called back to the two servants that had come to stand behind her nervously, staring at Sesshomaru as though he were a rare specimen in a zoo. They hesitantly obeyed Rin's requests, unsure about leaving their young mistress with such a creature.

"Wonderful..." Sesshomaru chuckled dourly, leaning his head back. Kaede was going to love that.

"What happened to you?" Rin repeated again, scanning his body for all of his wounds. There were quite a few.

"There was an attack... it was Naraku," Sesshomaru admitted, unsure why he was telling this young mortal girl anything at all. She just seemed so eager to hear everything he had to say, he couldn't help it.

"Naraku! But, he's after me, too!" Rin gasped, comprehension dawning on her features. "You must be another potential victim, like me," she said almost cheerily, smiling at Sesshomaru as though rejoicing over the fact that they now had something to bond over – they were both targets of a madman! Sesshomaru stared at her for a moment, trying to make sure she wasn't poking fun at him in some way, before relaxing and shrugging.

"I suppose..." he conceded.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you're taken care of. We victims have to stick together," she told him seriously. So taken a back by her act of random kindness was Sesshomaru, he was almost relieved when a demon burst through the front door screaming with rage, so he wouldn't have to reply at all.

"AHH!" Rin cried, covering her face as what looked to be a wild harpy demon of some sort barreled towards her. A lesser demon of Naraku, there to off her while her assigned agents were being kept busy.

Unthinkingly, Rin threw herself in front of Sesshomaru, positive he would not be able to defend himself were that thing to get at him in his condition. She shut her eyes tight and waited for the inevitable blow from the screeching demon coming up behind her, only to feel herself be bodily whisked out of the way and tossed onto her own couch. She landed there precariously and stared in awe as the demon she had just been nursing rose to his feet and rushed forward with his formidable claws bared.

A few well placed slashes later the lesser demon was nothing more than a pile of bloody meat, and Rin was staring with an open mouth at Sesshomaru. He stood upright for a minute, his nails dripping with sticky red blood, before he abruptly slumped over and collapsed to the floor. Apparently, that had been the very last of his strength, and he no longer had the power to even stand.

"Sesshomaru!" Rin cried, distressed. She sprang up and propped reached Sesshomaru quickly. "Why did you do that? You're in no condition to fight!"

"What do you know, mortal?" Sesshomaru asked archly, even as his body shuddered in pain. Rin blinked back tears, shaking her head.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Thank you for saving my life."

"It was nothing..." Sesshomaru muttered, taken off guard. Actually, it had been something. That had been the last of his reserved power, and he had used it on a tiny human girl he knew virtually nothing about, not even her name. Why had he done that?

"Who are you?" he asked, throwing her earlier question back at her.

"Oh, I didn't say? How odd... I'm Rin Hayaka," she said, attempting to smile for him once more. Sesshomaru was surprised to find that Rin looked beautiful when she smiled.

"Rin..." he said, rolling the one syllable word off of his tongue experimentally. It sounded like a single bell.

"Sesshomaru, stay awake! Sesshomaru!"

OOO

Because Kagome had been able to use Kikyo's car phone, there was a gaggle of medics ready at the doors of the FBI by the time the two women pulled in. Kagome had held Inuyasha's hand in the back seat the whole way there despite the fact that he had yet to come around, and she and Kikyo had said next to nothing to one another. The doctors quickly whisked the hanyou away, leaving Kagome stumbling around like a chicken without its head in the hallway of the medical floor.

Everything that happened after that was a bit of a blur. Kagome dimly recalled Miroku following after the medics with a concerted look on his features, and Kaede coming over to speak in hushed tones with Kikyo. The two women wandered away after a bit for no reason Kagome could discern, and that left the younger miko standing alone with Sango who, the girl realized after an extended pause, was shaking her shoulders and ordering her to snap out of it.

At her friend's insistence Kagome promptly burst into tears, throwing herself into Sango's arms and bawling unintelligibly about how it was all her fault and that if Inuyasha died she would never forgive herself. Sango had patted her head comfortingly and assured her that not only was it absolutely not her fault, but Inuyasha was going to be entirely fine. They just needed to flush the purified bullet out of his system because he was clearly having a bad reaction to it.

Some hours and a few cups of tea later Sango led Kagome to Inuyasha's room. The hanyou was asleep on a bed of crisp white sheets with a serene expression on his usually harsh features, and a chair positioned strategically by his bedside. Kagome did not hesitate to throw herself into the seat and vowed not to move from that position until Inuyasha opened his eyes. Watching her worriedly, Miroku and Sango floundered to find something to say.

"Kagome... he's going to be okay now, really," Sango repeated once more, not liking the look of utter despondence Kagome had been sporting ever since she had arrived at the agency, looking quiet shell shocked. Kagome was never supposed to be depressed – that was her forte, entirely.

"And look on the bright side," Miroku pointed out in a chipper tone of voice, much more at ease now that he had been assured by various medical professionals that his best friend was on the mend. "This clearly means that your miko powers are really evolved now - Ow! Sango!"

"That was NOT a nice thing to say," the youkai hunter pointed out, removing her elbow slowly from her partner's ribs.

"It's okay guys, I'm not going to kill myself or anything," Kagome sighed, leaning back in the chair and looking exhausted. She was only glad that the other agents had managed to keep Shippou away through out all of this. She didn't think she could handle the talkative kitsune just then, as much as she loved him. "I just want to stay here until he wakes up,"

"Well, okay... but get some rest at least," Sango insisted firmly.

"I'll stay with you Kagome," Miroku offered, taking a seat across from the younger girl with a firm smile plastered across his face.

"Thanks..." Kagome murmured, touched. After a moment of silence where Sango debated whether or not it would be prudent for her to remain as well, Kagome spoke again, her tone flat. "The little girl just came out of no where. Kanna... she would have killed us both, I'm certain, if it wasn't for..."

"Kikyo," Miroku supplied, frowning. "Yes, Kikyo seems to have regained her edge in her extended absence, that's for sure."

"I had no idea she was coming back at all, did you guys?" Sango asked the room.

"Nope," Miroku replied honestly, as Kagome shook her head. "And I've been working with Kaede a lot as well. From what I can tell, her arrival was rather a surprise for everyone. But the first thing she asked for when she arrived this morning was Inuyasha's whereabouts,"

"How odd..." Sango commented, stroking her chin. "Still, I suppose we can use all the help we can get,"

"Yes," Kagome agreed softly.

"Well, I think I'm going to go and see if there were any witnesses at the scene who spotted Kagura's exit path," Sango said, waving to the couple. "Please don't worry so much, Kagome. It's not like you, and I'm sure it would make Inuyasha upset as well," the woman added as an afterthought, kissing Kagome on the forehead and then quietly leaving. She might not have known what Kagome and Inuyasha had shared that previous night, but the fighter knew enough to know that the two had something together, and she wanted to make sure that Kagome made it through this rather traumatizing experience all right. Miroku frowned after Sango, perhaps wishing for a goodbye kiss himself.

For the next few hours Miroku and Kagome talked quietly amongst themselves, had sparse dinners supplied to them by nurses of the agency, and played a few half hearted games of cards. The monk could tell Kagome wasn't really interested in anything but watching the falling and rising of Inuyasha's chest after a while, however, and mercifully decided to leave her at it around nine.

"I'm going to head out now Kagome, and I'd say you should do the same..." Miroku began, despite Kagome's blossoming protest. "... but I won't because I know you won't listen. At least promise me that if it gets much later you'll ask to have a cot brought in or something,"

"Of course," Kagome replied, grateful for Miroku's understanding. "And if I could just ask you for one favor. You see, Shippou..."

"Say no more," Miroku said, waving his hands in front of him. "Consider the runt taken care of."

"Thank you so much," Kagome sighed, meaning every word she said. "You're a great friend Miroku," she added after a moment, getting a little misty eyed at the thought of just how supportive the man had been of her since Inuyasha's accident, and Sango as well. "I'm so glad I've met you!" Abruptly she threw her arms around Miroku's neck, surprising him, but not necessarily in a bad way. He smiled and embraced Kagome back, understanding her sudden outflow of excess emotions, and the two shared a relatively nice moment together until, inevitably, Miroku's hands began to wander - despite his best efforts.

SLAP.

"I thought you had the hots for Sango!"

"I do, I do!"

The hours dragged on more slowly without Miroku around to distract her with playful antics and jokes, but Kagome passed the time in Inuyasha's hospital room by staring at his face and taking some time for deep introspection.

She hadn't really known just how much she had cared for Inuyasha until she had seen him gunned down by her own bullets, she decided. Sure, she had thought she was possibly in love with him this morning, but now ... now there was no doubting it. Kagome Higurashi was in love with her partner.

Sighing and laying her head on the bit of bed next to Inuyasha's chest so that her raven hair was splayed out on the white sheets, Kagome smiled a little. It was totally insane, she hadn't even been aware that his species existed in real life up until a little while ago, and now she was prepared to to stay by his side forever. She wanted to spend all of her time with him, and she vowed that when he woke up she would tell him so. So far she hadn't really confessed anything that important to her hanyou, and it was high time she got around to that. She didn't want there to be any misconceptions anymore. It didn't even matter if he didn't love her back, not really anyway. She just wanted him to know that there was someone out there who loved him with all of her heart.

Of course, if they ended up being a real couple, their lives would be crazy. These past three weeks had been especially hard on her, she couldn't imagine a lifetime of it. And he was a hanyou with a taste for adventure and a temper like an explosive volcano, so even if they weren't working on a case their lives would never be normal. And children – what would their children be like?

'I'm getting ahead of myself,' Kagome admitted wryly. 'But I just can't help thinking about it. And I can't help the fact that I don't care about the impossibility of our relationship ever working in the real world. Nothing like that matters anymore. I don't even care what my friends say,'

'Wow. I should really have more near death experiences. They're really good eye openers.'

An odd feeling tickled the back of Kagome's mind, and she quickly sat up in her seat just as someone opened the door to Inuyasha's room, slowly strolling in.

"Kikyo," Kagome greeted, nodding her head. Oh God – she hadn't even thought of this woman since she was brought back to the hospital. Kikyo had her hair down now, and was only wearing her collared shirt. She looked much better in her professional clothing than Kagome did in her own suit, the girl decided. She felt much more like a child masquerading as an adult, where as Kikyo looked naturally elegant.

It occurred to Kagome that this woman was gorgeous, and despite the fact that it was entirely inappropriate for the moment she was currently experiencing (boyfriend – half dead in bed next to her, atmosphere – solemn.) Kagome felt the beginnings of what was undoubtedly jealously bubbling in her stomach. This was what she had to compete with? This graceful swan of a female? Great.

'Not compete with,' Kagome reminded herself. 'They broke up, remember? There's nothing to worry about,'

"He's still not awake," Kikyo observed, walking around the bed to stand on Inuyasha's other side. She looked down at his face intently. "That's surprising... you must really have hit him hard, " Kagome lowered her head guiltily - how was it that this woman made her feel like shit every time she talked to her?

"Actually, it was Kanna who really hit him..." Kagome said, her voice not really holding any conviction since she was merely repeating what Sango had told her over and over.

"Hm," Kikyo agreed in a way that suggested she didn't actually agree at all. A dead silence fell upon the room, a silence Kagome was really too exhausted to fill. She sat back in her seat, content to watch Kikyo watch Inuyasha and concentrate on remembering that there was nothing between the two of them anymore, until the woman spoke up again,

"I spoke to Kaede about you, today," Kikyo confessed, finally looking up to meet Kagome's eyes.

"Oh, what about?"

"Your miko abilities, mostly. She says you have made great improvements for someone so green in the field. I have to say, it is impressive you have been able to get along so well considering how utterly unrefined your powers are," Kikyo explained. Perhaps from another person this statement could have been borderline complimentary, but Kikyo's voice was monotonous and frank, and reminded Kagome of her ninth grade math teacher. Always judging her, always looking for flaws. Kagome inwardly flinched, but put up a brave mask anyway. She would NOT let this woman see her crack.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Everyone is really shocked I've been able to harness my mystical abilities at all," she admitted. "Of course, I did have a little helpful boost from Kaede when I first met her..."

"It's quite a risk, going out and fighting on the field with so little experience," Kikyo pointed out, ignoring Kagome's statement and going on as though this bit of information might have eluded the girl. Kagome shrugged nonchalantly.

"I get by. And Inuyasha's around to help me when I..." she trailed off uneasily, realizing how bad that sounded considering the shape Inuyasha was in just then. Oh, God, this really was all her fault, wasn't it? Kikyo cocked a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Yes, well, it looks like Inuyasha tried his hardest this time, but sometimes it's just not enough," Kikyo said, folding her arms and leaning back against the wall.

"Kagome, you are in college. You're twenty years old – you have your whole life ahead of you, and up until recently it had nothing to do with fighting demons. Your assistance in this case was imperative when there were no mikos on the force, but now that I have returned from my hiatus I beseech you to take my advice.

"Leave the FBI. Get out of this case while you can. It was poor judgment on Kaede's part to ever hire a young girl like you for such a dangerous job, and she's admitted that now,"

"K-Kaede said that..?" Kagome asked tremulously, a cold hand gripping her heart. What was going on? Why was Kikyo saying these things?

"Yes. Look, obviously this case is getting out of hand. You can't possibly keep up under conditions such as these, and whatsmore, no one expects you to. You're not a real agent, and now there is no need at all to put yourself at unnecessary risk. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"I... yes, I do," Kagome whispered, staring wide eyed at her hands in her lap. It was so odd – she was being, essentially, relieved of her duties. At one time she would have rejoiced over this. An easy way out! Her real life back! Everything she had wanted. But now...

Now it was as though someone was slapping her in the face. She hadn't realized just how much she hadn't wanted to leave this job until she felt it being forcibly taken away from her. She hadn't understood how attached she had become to the agency until she was, essentially, laid off. She wanted to defeat Naraku, it was important to her, too! And she wanted to fight with her friends – especially Inuyasha. This was their battle. Wasn't it?

"You can think over what I said, but just know that no one is expecting you to come back after this. They'll understand," Kikyo said, her own voice anything but understanding. In fact, she hadn't even made one facial expression since the conversation started. Kagome shook her head, feeling an abundance of tears well in her eyes despite her best intentions. She quickly rose from her seat.

"O-okay..." she gasped, attempting to grin, as though everything Kikyo had said was fine by her. "I have to go now... excuse me,"

Kikyo watched Kagome with eyes as cold as ice as the young woman stumbled from the room and out into the hall, breaking into a run and not stopping until she had made it all the way to the bus stop that would take her back to her now empty apartment.

OOO

Author's Notes:

Ohhh... I pulled the Kikyo card. Sorry everyone, it had to be done. This was the longest chapter yet though, I believe. 32 pages! And I hope the amount of romance/action in the chapter made up for the lack of interesting stuff going on last time And what about the chapter title, hu? Exploding Hearts? Hehehehe, well, it made me laugh. Anyway, keep an eye peeled for the new chapter. I have nooo idea when it will be ready, but it's going to be called 'The First Thing You See'.

Xoxo

Rio Grande

P.S – I find it a bit odd that I ended the chapter with both Inuyasha AND Sesshomaru unconscious – but whatever. That's just how it goes.