Inutori: Hey minna-san, welcome back for the next chapter, hope you have enjoyed the story thus far.
Inuyasha: No.
Inutori: What's your problem?
Inuyasha: Kagome. She-
Inutori: Nevermind. Well, hope you all will go read the story, and then be so generous as to review and pitch in some ideas to me. I'm open to suggestions for this story.
Sango: You heard her, go read the story. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5
New Country

"Ugh, and I thought it was crowded with one person in here." Kagome scowled in disgust and stood carefully over the toilet, not wanting to be pressed against Inuyasha's chest again.

"Deal." He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, his anger for Kagome just ready to boil over.

And then, to their misfortune, the plane took off…

Kagome found herself tangled with Inuyasha, his head pressed against her chest and their legs intertwined, with her above him. With a severe blush, Kagome attempted to remove herself from the awkward position, but to no avail.

"Get off of me, wench!"

"I'm trying, jerk face!" She clenched her teeth and used all of her strength to sit up, now straddling Inuyasha's stomach while he brought up his knees and kept his torso up with his elbows.

"You're still not off."

"Congratulations on making that brilliant assessment." Kagome rolled her eyes, but didn't move. "I happen to be wearing a skirt, so standing up while you're on the floor doesn't exactly sound too enticing."

"Keh." If she wasn't mistaken, Kagome could've sworn that Inuyasha's cheeks were slightly pink. "Listen wench, I didn't want you as a partner, and I don't need you, so I want you to stay out of my stuff and out of my way."

Kagome sighed; annoyed with the cocky American she sat on. "Just so you know, I didn't exactly leap for joy when you forced me to come. I happen to have a life in Japan, even if you're lacking in that area. I have a boyfriend and lots of friends. So don't you dare go telling me that I am a pain in the rear-end. Got that?"

Her eyes were hard and menacing as they glared at Inuyasha, just daring him to speak as she poked a finger into his chest. "This boyfriend of yours, does he know that you're a criminal?" Inuyasha's sneer made Kagome's eye twitch.

"Of course. Kouga-kun knows everything about me, and thanks to you, I won't be seeing him for quite awhile."

"Someone knows that you're a felon, and yet they still want you?" He scoffed at Kagome; though the joke in his tone was lost on her.

Without warning, she pulled out a knife and held it to his throat. "Don't insult me, or this knife may accidentally find itself imbedded in your esophagus."

"How…did you…?"

He was probably wondering how she got the knife on the plane, so she snorted. "I'm not renowned as the Snake for nothing, baka. You think a little airport security could stop me?" She laughed lightly and drew back her knife.

Kagome grabbed the front of Inuyasha's shirt and yanked him up to a standing position along with her own body.

"Now, if you'd please," she beckoned to the bathroom door. "This conversation has ended."

Inuyasha reluctantly left the small compartment, followed soon after by Kagome. They took their seats in silence and neither spoke a word for the rest of the flight.

Several hours later, Kagome and Inuyasha found themselves loading up their luggage into Inuyasha's car. Both were still giving the other the silent treatment. It might not have been this way, if Kagome hadn't woken up on the airplane sleeping on Inuyasha's shoulder with his head resting on hers…on top of the fact that he had been awake…

They got in the car and Inuyasha drove them to his apartment: a fifteen-minute drive from the airport.

"This is it." Inuyasha finally broke the silence that had been stretching since the airplane, gaining him a glare from his new partner.

She just snorted at him and pulled her belongings out of the trunk, heading up to the front door with Inuyasha close behind.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside, glancing back at Kagome for only a brief second.

"You can sleep on the couch."

Kagome looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. "I don't think so, boy. You can sleep on the couch. I'm sleeping in a bed." She brushed past him and quickly found his bedroom, dropping her stuff on the floor and falling back onto the bed.

Inuyasha watched her the entire time, a scowl plastering his face. "Get off of my bed, wench."

Kagome didn't answer him, merely climbing under the covers and cuddling into a small ball.

"I'm sleeping on my bed, if you don't move, you'll have to sleep with me." Inuyasha growled fiercely, attempting to get Kagome to just leave, but she gave no sign of hearing. Except that after a few moments she scooted to one side of the bed.

His eyes widened considerably, shocked at what the girl was offering. Normally seventeen-year-old tomboys like her would be appalled to share their bed with a boy. She obviously couldn't care less.

"Don't blame me if you get shoved off the bed then, I don't stay still in my sleep." And with his last warning, Inuyasha picked up the blankets and slid into the twin-sized bed next to the famous Japanese thief.

Kagome woke up feeling warmer than usual. Tired still, she brought up a hand and rubbed her eye. She opened her eyes and was met with an unfamiliar room. As Kagome became more aware of things, she felt the two strong arms wrapped around her waist, holding her back against a warm body.

'Well, that'd explain why I feel so hot.' She took in a deep breath gaining her bearings and assessing the situation in her head. 'Okay, Inuyasha is hugging me around the waist, and judging by his breathing he's still asleep. I won't kill him just yet. Just rub this into his face later. Not like I don't mind the contact.' Kagome blinked her eyes.

"Where'd that thought come from? I have a boyfriend already." Her whispered reassurance to herself caused Inuyasha to stir, so Kagome quickly maneuvered out of the agent's grasp and left the room.

She found her way to the kitchen and began scrounging for something to eat. Ramen, ramen, and more ramen. "Oh goody, I'm living with a ramen freak." Kagome sighed and resigned herself to making a bowl of instant ramen.

Clothes shuffling in the other room alerted Kagome to Inuyasha's conscious state and she felt her cheeks heat slightly. What would her mother say to her for sleeping in the same bed as her kidnapper? Probably tell her to use protection.

"Mornin'." Inuyasha stumbled into the kitchen his eyes barely open in his tired state.

"You're quite the beauty queen in the morning, you know." Kagome refrained from bursting out into laughter at Inuyasha's disheveled state; when she had left the room he didn't look tousled like this at all.

Apparently he must have had a heyday after she left and then woken up. There was no other explanation.

"Keh." Inuyasha reached over Kagome's shoulder and grabbed the bowl of ramen she had just made.

"Hey, that's mine!" Kagome made an attempt to grab it back, but Inuyasha lifted the bowl out of her reach and turned his back to her.

"And I paid for it." Inuyasha smirked gleefully in amusement as Kagome tried to jump up on his back and steal back her breakfast.

She finally gave up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Jerk."

"Wench."

Kagome clenched her fists angrily, fighting back the tears that promised to come. Everything that had been happening in the last 24 hours was too much for her to handle. "I'm calling Sango-chan."

"Sango?" Inuyasha turned to look at her as he opened the silverware drawer and pulled out a fork.

"You know, back in Japan?" Kagome looked at him like he was an idiot and picked up his phone.

"The agent?"

"Yeah." She dialed the operator and then was transferred to the overseas operator.

Inuyasha was still in his own little world. "That's something that baffles me. How did you manage to elude the Japanese agents so easily?"

Kagome just looked at him, but didn't answer. "Sango Taijiya. Kagome Higurashi."

"Wait! You're making an overseas call on my phone?!" Inuyasha leaped forward, seeming to have just realized what she was doing.

Kagome dodged his attack, and laughed softly as he fell over with the momentum. Before he could stand back up, Kagome sat down on his back and held the phone to her ear.

"Hey Sango." Her misery was obvious from her tone as she slipped back into her native tongue to talk to her Japanese friend.

"You sound terrible."

"I know. Remember that Inuyasha Jidai guy? The FBI agent?" Inuyasha drummed his sharp nails on the linoleum, signifying his annoyance.

"Yeah…what about him?"

"He forced me to come to America. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I was hoping I could make him give up if I dilly-dallied long enough." Kagome watched as Inuyasha's mouth dropped open and then closed like a fish out of water. Finally, his eyes narrowed to glare at her.

"Is that why it's been so quiet lately?"

"No joke, Sango, why do you think I made such a weird call? I'm sitting in this freak's apartment in LA." She could have sworn the room just got colder as Inuyasha's eyes narrowed even more, if possible, his head craning at a strange angle to try and look at her.

"Kagome, what did he do? You know he can't blackmail you."

"He tried, trust me. In the end he threatened to kill me. Can you believe that?"

"I'll kill him. I'm coming there and I'll kill him." Sango's angry voice raised a decibel or two as she growled into the receiver, forcing Kagome to pull the earpiece away from her head.

"That'll blow your cover, girl. Just get your butt over here for now."

"And how do you expect me to do that?"

"Tell Miroku-sama that you heard rumor that the Snake has left the country and is now in America. If you do it right, he'll follow you here like a lost puppy." Kagome giggled softly at the image of Miroku on a leash.

"You mean you want me to seduce the furyou houshi?" Sango's voice was monotone as she spoke, obviously not wanting to do anything of the sort.

"Not seduce, exactly. Just flaunt a little. That pervert will loose his mind."

"Too true, too true." Kagome could hear Sango's cheerful laughter on the other end of the phone.

"Are you done talking on the phone, wench?" Kagome cuffed the back of Inuyasha's head with her hand to get him to shut up, paying no heed to his interruption.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you soon. Until then, sayanora."

"Hai, sayanora." Kagome pulled the phone away from her ear and pushed the off button, ending the call.

"Hope you're happy, jerkasaurous." She stood up, allowing Inuyasha to get up as well.

Inuyasha stood up quickly, trying to be dignified. "Keh." He folded his arms and looked away from her. "We're going to headquarters in fifteen minutes. Be ready."

"Nani?!" Kagome's eye's widened with horror. "A girl my age needs more than fifteen minutes to get ready! Are you a retard?"

"Fifteen minutes." Inuyasha turned and went into the living room, ignoring the frustrated screams of the Japanese schoolgirl in the kitchen.

"Oi, Hobo, where's Sutruss?" Inuyasha leaned into one of the many cubicles, causing the young man inside to jump. The name on his desk was Jack Hojou. Kagome's eyebrow lifted from behind Inuyasha with this observation and how Inuyasha mispronounced it.

The gears in Kagome's head started to turn on an impulse. Hojou. Where had she heard that name before? She recognized it, but only vaguely.

"Sutruss hasn't come in yet today, I don't think."

Kagome heard a low growl escape Inuyasha's chest and listened to his muttering.

"Stupid old crone. Lazy, no good-"

Kagome elbowed Inuyasha and motioned for him to follow her. With a huff, he did so.

"Inuyasha, you're looking for Naraku, right?"

Inuyasha nodded his head.

"Well I think you've been looking in all the wrong places."

"What?" Inuyasha brought his head up, a questioning look covering his expression.

The raven-haired girl sighed. "Look, when you want to find a spider, you look for its web."

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"The point is that you're not even close to doing that."

"If we weren't close, then why would…" Inuyasha paused waiting for a passerby to get out of earshot.

"You're an idiot. Let's go back to your place. I don't like being spied on." Kagome brushed passed Inuyasha and into the hall, watching angrily as a man hustled away from them.

Inuyasha followed, none-too-pleased with Kagome's bossy attitude.

Kagome closed the door to the apartment, making sure to lock it behind her. Inuyasha was already in the living room on the couch, watching her intently as she casually made her way to a reclining chair in the corner.

"Well, are you going to tell me what's going on in that puny brain of yours or not?"

"If you'd stop insulting me, maybe I would." Kagome just shook her head at Inuyasha, appalled by his rude behavior.

"Keh."

"Well, what I'm thinking is that there is another reason why Kikyou's dead."

"What?" Inuyasha looked to Kagome, his face scrunched in confusion.

Kagome sighed tiredly. "I'm saying that I don't think Kikyou was killed because you two were getting too close to the truth. Maybe it wasn't even Naraku that killed her."

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Just hear me out." Kagome put up her hand, signaling for Inuyasha to keep his mouth shut. "The way Naraku works, he wouldn't have done her in like that; it was too messy. Not his style in the least. Unless, of course, he's changed since he was in Japan."

"He was in Japan?!" Inuyasha stood up, towering over Kagome in an instant, surprised and almost angry at this new revelation.

"Why do you think Kikyou quit being a Higurashi theif? Because she wanted to repent?" Kagome scoffed, unfazed by Inuyasha's tall figure above her.

Inuyasha didn't say anything. He just continued staring at Kagome in shock.

"My family runs a clean operation, no outsiders, no drugs, no prostitutes. Kikyou got involved with a drug dealer, Onigumo, who paid her to be 'his girl.' The slut." Kagome folded her arms and looked away from Inuyasha angrily, malice clearly written on her face.

"Are you saying that Kikyou was a felon and a whore?"

"Duh, Einstein. Felony is a family business; only Kikyou took it up a level or two more. When she got pregnant she disappeared entirely, I haven't seen or heard from her since." Kagome looked back at Inuyasha, her eyes slightly watering for some unknown reason.

"But…"

Kagome found herself sighing again and rolling her eyes. "I'm going to go lie down, I have a headache. Later."

I
Do
Not
Sleep

Inutori: This chapter is a lot longer than normal, hope that makes you all happy.
Kagome: Inuyasha lost his manhood.
Inutori: What?
Kagome: He lost his manhood last chapter while you were ranting about how you're laptop still isn't working.
Inutori: How?
Kagome: I shot it off with an arrow.
Inutori: Why?
Kagome: Because he made out with Kikyou, threw Shippou into a tree, set Miroku's ofudas on fire, poked Kirara with a stick, stole Sango's demon poison, stuck a tree in the well, stepped on Buyo's tail, and he kidnapped me in the story.
Inutori: Does that really merit getting that chopped off?
Kagome: Probably not, but he'll live.

BTW, special thanks to the reader that gave me the idea for Sango to be in on the 'Kagome is the Snake' thing. I hadn't really thought of that before, originally Sango was going to be left in the dark, but I think it works out better this way.