Chapter I: Fate's Hand Lays Upon Us All

Kagome Higurashi knew that she was safe the moment she woke up. It wasn't that something always went wrong when she was asleep, but that if the government wanted or tried to catch her, it would have to be while she was out cold. The young woman smiled coyly to herself. It was certainly good to be alive.

She shifted off of the bed and grabbed the kimono that served as her make-shift robe. It was good to be a thief too, what with all of these perfect things helping preserve her luxurious lifestyle. A silken kimono, said to be an heirloom, serving as her house robe. Who'dathunkit? She tied the sash on and stared at herself in her full-length mirror before grinning widely.

Who do I play today? She thought as she scanned her closet. There were outfits galore; a preppie girl's paradise, full of gowns worth thousands, and outfits like a woman's police suit. Forget dress up. I want a normal day, she thought glumly. Not many of those normal days were gift-wrapped for her.

When the young woman snapped out of her daze, she moved onto her armoire. It had piles and piles of 'normal' clothes. Every month she added at least one new piece of clothing to its contents just for kicks. It was the luxury she carried with her multiple jobs. Kagome grabbed her favorite pair of blue jeans, a long sleeved white T-shirt and a black spaghetti-strapped shirt, and undergarments before trotting off to the bathroom. Maybe today will be normal...

As the steaming water rushed across her skin, she gasped in surprise. It was always refreshing to have her skin purged of dirt and grime and today was no exception. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the tiled wall of the shower, letting the water hit her back and turn the pale flesh pink. She knew her body was tired still even though it was already around one o'clock.

After shampooing and conditioning her black hair, the woman turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. She was thinking on how to apologize to Miroku and Sango for ditching them. The excuses that she knew she could play off well had already been used too many times. They would not be happy with her, and because of that, she was sorry.

The twenty-three year-old slipped on her clothes and walked out of the bathroom, ignoring her disheveled hair in favor of making a cup of tea and eating some leftover oden. She smiled and danced giddily, swishing her messy hair as she spun in a circle. It was good to be alive.Just then the land phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered breathless from running into the living room from the kitchen. "Hey Miro-kun."

"Hey Kags. Are you coming to the club tonight. My opening act is great," Miroku replied in a dazed tone.

"Yeah, I am. I'm not busy tonight, so- "

"InuYasha said that you were at the Elite last night doing it with some guy. Now, I'm not saying anything since I know you're not like that, but he seems hell-bent on the idea." He listened as she groaned into the phone.

"That's just wrong Miroku. Tell Inu that he needs to do something more productive with his life than guard me like the "Inu-chan" he is. He's warding off all potential boyfriends..."

"Oh, I know. And it's so funny to watch. Like the time Inu waited for you at your door and saw you come back with that Kouga guy. Man, that kicked ass, " he laughed into the phone. Kagome growled in response.

"Well yeah. Anyway, I'll be there. Are you opening the place early? I can get there early and hold down the front if you want," she sighed. Bar work was always tough.

One time a guy had gotten so drunk without Kagome's notice that he came around to the other side of the counter and groped her. It wasn't too pleasant, and she ended up whacking the guy on the head and having Alex and Aaron throw him out. Alex and Aaron were the 'guard dogs'. He was banned, she recalled pleasantly, with a small smile.

"If you want. No one ever makes you, and yet you're the one that always gets the most tips... and the biggest, might I add," he sighed. His workers didn't get paid as much daily as she got in tips in one hour- and his workers got paid a lot daily. How pathetic...

"Well then I'll come in just for the fun of it. My special will be Three Wise Men tonight, so you can write that on the chalkboard." Kagome giggled. The name of the drink was just so funny sometimes.

"Didn't you do that last month? Please do something new... and if you could add in some of your tricks?" Miroku pleaded.

The young woman just laughed. "You should be really thankful I found that How To Be A Bartender book, Miro-kun. I'll tell you what I've decided when I get there. Now I have some work to do, so I've got to go. Tell Sango to meet me at the mall for so friend time at 2 PM."

The young man laughed and conceded defeat before saying goodbye and hanging up. She sighed. Her life was full of twists and turns. Why couldn't she have chosen a single, well- paid, legal job? Instead, she had two illegal jobs, three under-paid legal ones, and one sufficient-paying legal job. She walked away from the phone to move over toward one of the living room walls lined with large paintings. She gave a small smirk to herself- this was her game. Laid out right in front of her and easy to only the trained.

Only once had someone tried to break into her penthouse. They succeeded but when they went to go for her valuables, no one had told them about her game. Apparently, their sources had been misinformed of her home's layout. What a shame, no? So she had woken up, beat the crap out of them and called the cops saying the men had been intent on taking everything valuable in the penthouse including her beautiful and pure body. And, oh boy, she let the tears fall, playing off of the police's sympathy for innocent young women. They got ten years in prison, and the press had a field day.

She shook her head to dispel the memories. No need to dwell, right? The past was the past. She walked over to a large painting of colourful amaryllises- red and white petalled, purple, pink and yellow petalled. This was her favourite. Mother's favourite too... She bent down and pressed a small clear and almost invisible circle residing in the wall in the center between the frame corners.

My game...

A smile flitted across her features when an almost non-existent click was heard. She stood up and moved to the next painting of various-coloured calla lilies. She repeated the same action with the first painting and waited for the soft click before moving on. The next painting in her game was her father's favourite. Daddy...

As she stared at the hibiscus in the painting, she remembered her one favourite moment with him. Delicate Beauty- that's what he always called Momma. They were meant for each other. I hope they're okay in Heaven...

C&M

"Daddy?" A six-year-old Kagome looked up at the tall intimidating figure of her father.

"Yes, angel?"

They were walking through the park and he was taking her to his favorite place. Rikou hadn't been home much in the past two years and today he was making it up to her. Momma was at home caring for baby Souta while they had Father-Daughter day.

"What's your favourite flower?"

"Mine?" He asked shocked. "My favorite flower? Well... it's the hibiscus. It's really pretty. Have you ever seen those Hawaiian flowers?" The little girl nodded vigorously with a wide smile. "Well that's a hibiscus. The meaning of them is 'Delicate Beauty'. Your Mom was called that in highschool..."

Kagome looked up, curiosity shining in her eyes. "Why does the flower have a meaning?"

Mr. Higurashi gave her a small smile and didn't say anything for a few minutes. He held her hand tighter when she tripped and almost fell. "Well... It's called the Language of Flowers and- "

"Flowers can talk?" She started jumping up and down. "I knew they could, I knew they could!"

"No, no. Not really. But that's what we call their meanings," he looked down at her confused face. "I'll explain it when you're older. In about three years. You're so smart, you'll probably be in college by then, won't you?" The black-haired girl shook her head 'no'. " Look, Kagome, we're here."

She swivelled her head in the direction he was pointing, and not but seven feet away was a beautiful little pond in a clearing surrounded by trees. Park benches lined the concrete path surrounding the pond edges and ducks and lilies floated on the surface while a small silver and orange koi jumped out of the water. Kagome gasped in awe and covered her mouth with her fingers.

"Daddy it's so pretty!" She gushed out happily.

"Well I'm glad you like it. It's ours- your mom's and my- favourite spot. We wouldn't trade it for the world..." He sighed happily and let go of her hand. "Go look at the fish. Then we'll go get ice cream and go to the fairgrounds."

She ran off to circle the pond after leaving an 'okay!' to carry back to her father on the wind. He watched on as a little boy with blackish-brown hair and brown eyes walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. Mr. Higurashi always knew boys would go after her. She'd be the best catch of all, since her mother was already taken, of course. He chuckled before his pager beeped at him. He sighed and grabbed his cell phone, speed dialing.

"I'm on my day off and I'm with my daughter for the first time in two years. Don't page me anymore today!" He hissed before waiting for the response.

"No. Fine, report me. I don't care. My family's more important to me. Goodbye." With that he hung up not waiting.

"Daddy, that boy, Kohaku, said he loves me. What do I do?" Kagome asked when she ran over to him.

"Tell him he can't marry you until you're older. And he can date you in third grade."

"Okay!" And she ran off to tell the little boy. He smiled sadly. With his job, who knew if he'd still be alive to see his little girl's wedding...

When they left the park, they headed to the fairgrounds and ate ice cream while he tried to win her stuffed animals. Everyone cooed in delight seeing the six-year-old girl with pigtails running around happily with her dad while holding a large stuffed giraffe as well as a black and white cow and a little yellow duck.

At home during dinner, they related the tale to Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome handed the duck to Souta who was in his baby seat.

"Say 'ducky', Souta. Say 'ducky'," Kagome insisted.

Souta gurgled back and a few seconds later, a sloppy-sounding 'ducky' came forth. Everyone cheered in response, then cleared up the dishes.

When Kagome was tucked in by her father, she tugged on his dress shirt sleeve. "Thank you for today, Daddy. It was really fun."

"No problem, angel. We'll do it again soon, I promise." He bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead and walked quietly out of the room, closing the door and encasing the room in darkness.

It brought a comfort that she would come to love...

C&M

Kagome continued to press theinvisible buttons beneath the paintings and stood up slowly when she had pressed the last one. She had forgotten to stuff the Hope Diamond and the Star of the East into their respected cases in the vault last night. She was too tired.She swung the middle most painting to the side and typed in her code on the pad before having her hand scanned for fingerprints.

This machine was the most high-tech thing she knew how to work and it was built by her best friend's younger brother, Kohaku. He was a technical whiz-kid and prodigy, and had declared he loved her that day at the pond. He was her favorite person in the whole world- not counting her parents- and he was only nine months older than her. Yet younger than his sister, who's my best friend... she grumbled mentally. Sango didn't know that he had built this, full-well knowing what was encased inside. She would have slaughtered them both, but that was part of their jobs. They had agreed to that when they saw each other in the preschool room less than two weeks later for the start of the school year.

I started early...

When the jewels were safely stored away she swung the vault door closed and replaced the painting against the wall. She leaned against the space of wall between the paintings and closed her eyes. Now all she had to do was check out that file she had picked up in the database room and scan through those websites listed on the first page she had seen. They looked suspicious; and as all suspicious things turn out bad, she knew she'd need to figure them out. That date... at the top of the page... It had something to do with it, she knew. Not now though... It couldn't be that important, could it? It wasn't part of her job, so she didn't give a flip.

"Time for best friend bondage! Shopping!" Kagome sang out in her best voice- alto soprano. She grabbed her purse and hat and raced out to the car, ready to get her shop on.

C&M

In a dark room of a skyscraper, behind a marble desk, sat a long-haired figure, waiting for the latest reports of his minions. He smirked in delight when his most trusted- No.. important- worker pushed open the office door. He looked to be about twenty-five with dark hair and mischievous near- emerald eyes, broad shoulders and in fit-condition if he ever needed to fight.

"What have you got for me today, Izuchi?" The shadowed figured purred out, opening one eye to peer questioningly at his employee.

"Well, sir... Um... Last night... at the warehouse that was mentioned in the last de-briefing was broken into. I posed as an investigator and took a look at the scene. The jewels are gone and in it's place was this..." The young man with black hair and ocean-coloured eyes walked forward slowly as he pulled out a slightly wilted rose in full bloom. He set the rose on the desk. "You know who this is, right, sir?"

"Yes, I do, Izuchi. You're dismissed for now. I'll call you in if I want you to do something."

The young man nodded and backed away, slipping quietly out of the room.

The figure at the desk chuckled darkly sneering and closing his eyes, leaning back in the plush office chair. "You... my little cat. I'll find you. The past always meets present..."

A/N: Review and my bunny named Momiji will be happy.