You know the drill. (See chapter one for reference).

I took out my pocket watch to find that it was 1:35 A.M. I stopped to rest on a bench near the park. And though I had been in Tokyo for five years now, I had only recently realized that the streets were deserted during the nocturnal hours.

"Not much of a night-life, this city." I whispered to myself as I took a sip of hot chocolate from the silver flask I kept in my pocket. Suddenly a twig snapped behind me. I pulled my revolver and ducked behind a nearby trashcan. I watched closely as a trembling business man walked down the sidewalk. He was a small guy, about 5' 2 and looked under 150 pounds.

"Easy prey for a mugger," I thought to myself. "Better make sure he gets home alright." I began to follow him down the sidewalk. I stayed on the other side of the street to avoid detection. But the silence in the air wouldn't last long. For when the little man turned the corner, he was stopped by three teenagers.

"Howsit goin' pops? We saw you passin' by and figured you could spare us a few bits." said the obvious leader.

"Yea, 'bowtie', lend us a few bucks and there won't be no trouble." the tallest said through a snicker.

"I..I d-don't have any m-money! I just put it all in the b-bank....P-please let me go!" whimpered the business man as he held up his briefcase so as to guard himself. The rest was inaudible. I was to busy sneaking closer to the muggers. I was out-numbered. And since I wasn't to physically fit, surprise was my only option. But to my dismay, some moron left his bottle on the sidewalk.

CRUNCH!!

"What the fu..?!" The three turned around to be met by three bullets from my revolver. Being at point-blank range, they died instantly. The business man could only stare in disbelief of what he had just witnessed. I holstered my gun and held out a hand to help him up. He was hesitant at first, but soon took the hand and heaved himself up.

"You alright?" I asked while ignoring the bump on his head.

"Yes sir, Sheriff. I sure am glad you were around. I would have been dead otherwise. How could I possibly thank you?" He said, shaking slightly.

"None necessary." I replied.

I accompanied him on his way home. He invited me in for a drink. But I politely declined. As I walked off, I was randomly reminded of what had happened the day before.

The Day Before

"Bulls-eye." I whispered as I holstered my gun.

The applause from the people behind me was beyond measure. I was competing in the 32nd Annual Tokyo Shooting Contest. I had moved into first place in the standings. I had just acquired a perfect score and had broken my own record for 'fastest draw'. But I was still tied with Tokyo's Chief of Police, Tako Mokashi. He was a short man, about as tall as Danny Devito. He was in his mid fifties and weighed about 250 pounds. He was the champion until I was old enough to compete.

The next challenge would be the tie-breaker. The intercom soon buzzed to life to announce it.

"Well Travis," said the judge. "Since you placed first in the last event, you get to choose the tie-breaker. Accuracy, or Combat."

I only had to think for a second.

"Combat." I said with a strong sense of confidence.

"Whoo! Go Travis!! You can do it!!!" Yelled Sangwa and the girls over the crowd.

"Travis, you've been wavin' that cannon around for to long to lose now!" Yelled Inuyasha with his camera.

Miroku was to busy womanizing to even notice what was going on.

As I reloaded my .44 Magnum, I watched Tako go through the combat course. He favored automatic pistols and was using a Custom Colt 1911 .45. I watched as I realized that Tako just might beat me. When he finished, his time was 4: 32: 05. On top of that, he had a perfect score. The crowd applauded him as he walked back to the 'safe zone'.

"Fine shootin' Mr. Tako." I said as I held out my hand to congratulate him.

"Thanks. But I bet you can do better." He said as he shook my hand.

"It'll be tough, but I think I can manage it." I said through a slight chuckle. The Intercom buzzed to life.

"You're up, Travis." Said the judge. So I walked out onto the field and readied myself.

I almost started laughing when I unloaded my last shot into the target. The applause was immeasurable as I walked off of the field. Sangwa was waiting with a congratulatory hug in the safe zone. I gladly accepted it.

"Well Travis, it looks like you're the winner. You've beaten Tako's score by six and a half seconds."

At the reception, I was congratulated on my second victory in a row. My prize was a small silver .25 caliber Beretta. I gratefully accepted the award and held up my glass of punch.

"I would like to propose a toast....To good friends, and a damn good competitor!" The people applauded me and patted me on the back as I walked over to talk to my friends.

"Travis, I'm so proud of you!" Sangwa said as she embraced me again.

"Yea, dude. Those guy's didn't stand a chance." Inuyasha said as he roughly patted me on the back.

"I wish I could've seen for myself. But this big guy was standing right in front of me." said Miroku as he cleared his throat.

"You could see fine. You were just too busy staring at those sluts with the mini skirts." Sango answered back as she stamped on his foot.

"Ow, ow, OWW!!" Miroku screamed as he stepped to the other side of my tall figure.

"Now, now...Take it easy, love-birds. This is neither the time or the place for that." Said Kagome as she pulled her raven hair out of her face.

We went on talking until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see Father Francis K. Moss, the priest at the Catholic Church in Tokyo.

"A glorious prize, my son. Truly, The LORD has blessed you with the talent of a marksman." He said as he smiled.

"Why, thank you Father Francis." I said as I shook his hand.

"How have you been, Father?" Sangwa asked as she also shook his hand.(Sangwa and I go to Church together every Sunday, so naturally, we both know Father Moss.).

"I can't complain Miss Sangwa." He said as he scratched his ear. "I was wondering If you and Mr. Travis would do the readings for Mass this Sunday?" Father Moss asked politely.

"We'd love to." Sangwa and I said in unison.

"Goodness. Ya'll are very enthusiastic. I wish all of the younger generation were like you two." He said as he began to walk away. "I'll see you at Mass."

"Good-bye Father Francis." We all said in unison.

I soon broke away from my friends to get some food from the table. While I was eating, Tako walked up to me.

"Good game, Travis." He said as he shook my hand.

"Thanks," I said as I swallowed my mouthful. "You're not so bad yourself." I replied as I took another bite.

"Hey, Travis. I need to ask you something. You proved yourself out there today. And since you graduated Valedictorian of my criminal justice course, I was wondering.....Would you consider being.....The Sheriff?" he asked through a whisper.

I nearly choked on my Raspberry Tart. "..Cough..eh..e-excuse me?" I asked through a sputter.

"The last sheriff we had whited out on us, and crime is higher than its ever been. You name it, we got it. Please...for the sake of all these people....think of you're friends....think of Sangwa (and for the record, it's pronounced Song-wa..not San-gwa)....Cause no one is safe..." Tako said with a noticeable amount of concern in his voice.

I didn't know what to say... I looked at Sangwa, Kagome, and my other friends...and did what I thought was best.

"...........I'll do it."

Tako smiled. "Good. Follow me and I'll give you you're badge and your papers. You start tonight."

____________

That's why I was out at 2:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Tako keeps me on duty 24/7. I have permission to carry an unconcealed firearm( which is, obviously, my .44 Magnum) Unless I am at school, in which case it stays concealed. And (as I noted) I wear a badge. Unlikely? Well, I thought the same thing. But here I am, and here is quite possibly where I'll stay. I mean, I'm qualified for the job. I did, as Tako stated earlier, graduate Valedictorian of the criminal justice class. It's just the fact that I'm only nineteen. So people were a little skeptical at first. But they came to trust my skills after a while (and after I bagged a few muggers).

The sun was coming up, and I started towards Sangwa's house for breakfast and our daily walk through Griffith Woods (hehehehehehehehe). (Coincidentally, there were stories about a retarded fat guy haunting those woods looking for the Twinkey he dropped.) And about halfway there, I looked into the window of a jewelry shop. I spotted a twenty-four karat gold necklace with a small diamond cross on it. And at that moment, I thought of Sangwa wearing it. Her eyes twinkling, and her lips shining...but my thoughts were interrupted when I was nearly knocked over by some moron running to catch the bus.

"Watch where you're goin' you jackass!" he yelled back at me.

Obviously, I was pissed to a royal extent. But instead of but instead of taking advantage of my position in society, I decided to let him get away. After all, the Bible does say to 'turn the other cheek'. And being as religious as I am, I put extra emphasis on that. So I started off towards Sangwa's house again. When I got there, I knocked on the door and her grandmother(who was hopelessly confused) answered.

"Hi. We don't want to go to Japan, thanks." she said in a frail voice. I tried my hardest to conceal my laughter.

"No, Miss Sashi. I'm Travis, remember?" I said to her as clearly as I could.

"Yes I know who you are, Frederick. Now come in here before you catch your death in cold." she replied. I started laughing. Because it was August and actually quite warm.

Sorry it took so long for me to get this here chapter in. I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. So I had to make sure there were absolutely no mistakes. I'm also extremely lazy. Hope you enjoyed it. The next one should be longer. Until then, Good Luck and GOD BLESS!