Inutori: I'm baack ::cough, finally, cough::
Kagome: Took you long enough.
Inuyasha: You're telling me. Good grief, you haven't updated this since last April!
Inutori: ::cries:: I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to slack for so long! Please forgive me? I'm trying to improve my track record!
Sagi: You don't own Inuyasha and I'll never forgive you.
Inutori: ::cries in corner::

Chapter 7
Criminal Night Life

"Oh! You're the girl the wolf told me about!" Shippou smiled brightly, his composure changing drastically from what it was before. In a lower whisper, he added, "You're the infamous Snake, huh?"

Kagome glanced around them to make sure no one was listening before she nodded her confirmation. "Kouga-kun said you were the best computer hacker around and you could access anything. I need your help."

Kagome followed Shippou up the stairs at the back of the club. They weren't speaking and the noises of the partying behind them were quickly dying with each step.

Upstairs it was dark and menacing but Kagome was accustomed to this when associating with other criminals. Shippou beckoned her into a room and she followed confidently, keeping her guard up for any sign of danger.

The door was shut and locked; Shippou let out a sigh. "I'm glad the Thunder Brothers aren't here, they're such a pain."

Kagome looked at Shippou curiously, wondering what he was talking about.

"Don't worry about eavesdroppers, this room is sound proof, bullet proof, and protected by fox magic. No one will bother us." Shippou gave her a toothy grin and pulled down one of the walls.

Four computers and a printer were bolted to the table that had just been pulled down. Shippou pulled an extra chair over so they could both sit.

He turned on each of the computers and looked at Kagome while they waited for them to boot up.

"Well, first I need to get all the information I can on Naraku's syndicate, and then if we have time there's something else I'd like to do. But first let's find stuff on this Naraku guy."

Shippou smiled, then suddenly popped into his true form: a small boy with a bushy tail that was no bigger than a toddler. "You got it, Kagome-chan!"

Kagome smiled at the little devil-child. He reminded her a lot of Souta. The children were so eager to please the more experienced criminals and it was so adorable how hard they tried.

All of the computers fully booted, Shippou got to work. His little body bounded here and there on the desk, punching keys on one keyboard, then jumping to another to download some document or the likes.

He continued like this for a few minutes, and pretty soon he stopped and looked proudly at Kagome. "Done!"

"Already?" Kagome was surprised. Kouga-kun had told her that the kid was good, but even Kikyou took a couple of hours to hack into every file possible.

"Hai! Now do you want me to print it or burn you a couple CDs?"

The Snake stared at the little fox demon for a moment before replying. "If you printed it, how many pages would it take?"

"A lot. I'd say 4 to 5 hundred at the least."

She almost let her jaw drop, but she tensed her muscles to prevent herself from looking like a fish out of water like Inuyasha had earlier that day. "And how many CDs?"

"Maybe 20 at the most. I can give you more with the CDs since there are a few programs and whatnot that can't be printed."

"CDs it is then. And I'd like two copies if possible. In case one is lost or stolen or something. Back up, you know?" Kagome found herself grinning broadly. This was going a lot faster than she thought it would.

"Of course. And I'll even make a third copy to put in a secret place where only I'll find it. If it comes to that, just come to me again."

"And how much will this all cost?" Kagome smiled pleasantly and reached for her purse.

"For you, Kagome-chan, it's free. But it'll cost anyone else at least 500 grand, so don't tell anyone how much you paid, okay?"

"I couldn't do that, Shippou. I'd feel awful for taking advantage of you or something."

"You just have to promise to come and visit with me. Besides, the Wolf told me to be nice to you since you were kidnapped by that jerk Inuyasha."

Kagome's smile faltered, realizing just then how fast it had circulated that the Snake had been kidnapped since she had told her family and mentioned to Kouga she was hunting down Naraku. "Thanks, Shippou-chan. But can you promise not to tell anyone that I'm not in Japan?"

"Hai!" Shippou smiled and pulled out a stack of CD-RWs from who-knows-where. He stuck a CD into each of the drives and began burning away. It went quickly enough, and after the first copy was made, Shippou put them in a stack and began just copying those on one computer to free up the other three computers. "So what was the other thing you wanted to look up, Kagome-chan?"

Kagome smiled. "Inuyasha Jidai."

Sango twiddled her thumbs in her lap, waiting for Miroku to return with their airline tickets. She had never been to America before, but she would go for the sake of her young friend. Even if that friend wasn't a law-abiding citizen.

It didn't take too long for Miroku to get back, though it seemed like an eternity for Sango. "Took you long enough."

"I'm so sorry, Sango-sama. The airline personnel wanted to have a private chat with me in-"

Sango stopped Miroku with her hand. "I don't need to hear it Houshi-sama. You got us seats away from each other, ne?"

Miroku bowed his head sadly. "Hai, Sango-sama. But I got a third one next to mine in case you decided to change your mind about sitting next to me." He looked back up and smiled, apparently trying to charm his partner.

"I won't, Houshi-sama." Sango grabbed the tickets out of Miroku's hands and quickly retrieved hers, stuffing the rest in the young Japanese man's hands before he could say anything.

She quickly walked away from him and to airport security so she could get to her gate and catch her flight. It was one of her paranoia to be late for anything or to miss anything. She would not miss this flight for anything.

It took awhile before boarding began, but when it did, she discovered Miroku had put her in first class. That was certainly unexpected.

She just shrugged it off and took her seat, settling in and preparing to read the popular American literature Lord of the Rings translated into Japanese. Never having taken the time to get through the first 150 pages, Sango figured the long and boring plane ride would be a perfect opportunity to see exactly why so many Americans held it in such high revere.

The pre-flight movie played about safety-procedures and whatnot, but Sango didn't really care and so opened up the book to the bookmark she had left in it so many years ago.

"What business do you have in the U.S.?" Sango looked up from her book to let her eyes fall upon a strange man with deep amber eyes that bore into her very soul. He seemed to be sizing her up.

"Stuff: friends having troubles, you know…stuff." Sango shrugged, trying to evade answering the man's question too truthfully. "How about you?"

"Killing my younger brother."

The Japanese agent sat in a mild stupor, blinking her eyes rapidly and staring in disbelief at this stranger. He just proclaimed to a government employee that he was planning to kill someone else. "Excuse me?" And when she thought about it, he sounded smug about it, too. The only reason you ask a complete stranger why they're doing the same thing you are is to gloat.

"I do not repeat myself, human."

With a closer look, Sango realized that this man was a demon. He had long silver hair braided and hanging over one shoulder. His clothes consisted of a button-up black shirt and soft-gray slacks. For a demon he was pretty hot. The purple stripes on either side of his face accentuated his masculine jaw and his pointy ears and cold eyes gave him a dark look.

Sango reprimanded herself for checking out a demon and felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "Why do you want to kill your brother?" This was the strangest conversation she had ever had in her life. Well…maybe she had had stranger when she was with Miroku…

"He came to Japan." His cold, smooth voice chilled her bones, but she really wanted to know more about this strange demon.

"What does that matter?"

"He is a hanyou and a disgrace to the family name and so was banished from my lands. He trespassed and now he will die."

"Kind of harsh if you ask me." Sango looked out the window next to her and watched as the plane zipped down the runway and began to lift up off of the ground.

"I didn't." His voice was final and curt, leaving no room for rebuttal. Even so, he sounded so confident about it, like a kid on Christmas Eve. She wondered how long he had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill this 'disgraceful brother' of his.

They were both silent after that, Sango attempting to read the dullest book ever written for the purpose of enjoyment and the demon just staring at the back of the seat in front of him.

When drinks were offered, both declined and continued with what they were doing.

"The elves in that book are like the more powerful demons in real-life."

Sango looked up at the demon, which was still looking straight ahead. She was still trying to figure out why he kept on talking to her. He didn't seem like a guy who liked to make light conversation with random people.

"Immortals with incomprehensible powers and abilities as far as humans are concerned. Above the humans in all ways."

The demon's way of looking at it was interesting…too bad that the elves were peaceful and demons are the opposite. Demons were more like the orcs: violent and bloodthirsty.

While Sango was contemplating this fact, the demon gave her a stern look and spoke again, much more quietly. "But you're different than most humans, are you not, Taijiya?"

After awhile, Sango gave up on the reading and just watched out the window, her heart pounding in her chest while trying to figure out just who this youkai next to her was. He knew about her, it seemed. All she could see was the rich blue ocean and some wispy clouds; not much of a distraction from the demon's words echoing in her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forgetting she wasn't actually outside and was still in the confinements of the first-class cabin.

Her head lay back against her seat and Sango thought about life in general. When people were really bored, life was what always seemed to come to mind, for some unexplainable reason.

Inuyasha felt like an impatient father waiting for his girl to return home from her date. It was almost midnight and still there was no sign of Kagome. There was indications littering his front room of where she had been: a queen sized bed, a couch, a chair, a loveseat, a coffee table, an entertainment center, a large flat-screen TV, a game cube with several games, bags and boxes that contained who-knows-what…

Things had been showing up at his door all day for a Kagome Higurashi. She was buying a whole bunch of junk and now there wasn't even walking space for himself. Inuyasha had to jump over a couch, squeeze around a mattress, push aside the table and the likes just to get anywhere in the apartment. But still there was no sign of Kagome.

It was really beginning to worry him that she was out so late. She was only seventeen. What if some thugs had cornered her? Or she had gotten lost while on her shopping spree? Or what if she was injured, lying somewhere where no one could find and help her?

The hanyou continued to pace the limited space in front of his door. Midnight ticked ever closer. What was that wench thinking?

At the stroke of midnight, Inuyasha heard the window in his bedroom squeak open, and he weaved as quickly as he could through all of the junk to get to there. He slammed the door open just in time to see Kagome pulling off her shirt.

"HENTAI!!!" Kagome pulled her shirt back on and rushed at the door, shoving it into Inuyasha's face and hearing the satisfying click of it locking.

I
Do
Not
Sleep

Inutori: I made the chapter extra long in an attempt to suck up to those of you who read this and are mad at me for being so much of a slacker in the update department.
Sagi: Sorry, Inutori, it didn't work. Go update everything now.
Inutori: I appreciate those of you who have had patience with me. I'm attempting to update all of my pathetically behind stories right now. I'm hoping to get to the point where I'm posting 1-2 chapters for any one of my stories per week. I'm really trying to make it up to all of you, and I'm so sorry I wasn't posting things all summer. Please review so I'll know you actually want more.