InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Can Only Wander For So Long ❯ Prologue: The Assault ( Prologue )

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters from the Inuyasha series that may or may not appear in this story. Thanks go to Rumiko Takahashi for their creation and development!

It's a NEW CHAPTER! okay happy dance over. Sango and Miroku-centric action.

Short AN to follow. Be warned, violence ahead!

PROLOGUE - The Assault

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Two years ago

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The water was icy cold around her face and fingers, the only skin left bare to the elements. *Two to the east of your position.* Miroku's voice crackled through the waterproofed earbud nestled in her left ear. She could make out the hazy outlines of two figures standing just out of her reach at the edge of the water, facing back toward the house.

She was going to kill every last one of those bastards.

*Thermals show a clear spot twenty yards south if you can make it.*

She eased her hand away from the knife strapped to her chest and searched for the next handhold. She had to focus to not clench her teeth around the tiny breathing apparatus feeding her miniscule amounts of oxygen. 'Discrete. Calm. Silent.' She focused on moving forward slowly in the water so as to not churn the surface. The night was young, and the moon peeking out from behind the looming rainclouds might still be enough illumination to give away her location.

She only had ten minutes of air available, and it wouldn't do to linger in the chilled creek for too long.

*Almost there. The patrols are moving away from your location.* She thanked everything holy for Miroku. They'd met only a few months prior. She had been out taking an evening run with Kagome when he'd driven by, rubbernecked like the pervert he is, and had promptly driven off the side of the road. He'd asked her out on a date as soon as they'd wrenched his mangled door open. Kagome had immediately taken a liking to him as they'd helped him from his ditched car, and because Sango had absolute faith in Kagome's uncanny intuition about people, she'd hesitantly agreed.

Every male in his family's lineage had studied the ways of the priest. At around the age of fifteen, though, Miroku became the first to diverge from his studies in faith. Where his predecessors had been taught how to safeguard people against the evils of the world and to provide healing guidance to lost souls, Miroku had instead spent the last ten years of his life learning how to safeguard people in a technologically advanced and digital world. Implementing impenetrable defenses into computer systems and designing unique digital security measures became his specialty, but with the knowledge of how to code those protections came the knowledge of how to break into others. He was a hacking former priest with a perverted streak a mile wide.

She'd broken his nose the first time he'd pinched her ass. Miroku swears that was the day he'd fallen in love.

The water didn't even ripple around her hair as her head broke the surface of the water. She blinked the liquid out of her eyes as she slowly glanced to the west, where the two nearest guards had stood a few moments before. As Miroku had said, they were heading back toward her house, sweeping their weapons in a wide arc as they searched for her. 'Persistent fools,' she thought. She crawled out of the water and deftly snapped the rebreather apparatus to her utility vest before swinging her TAR-21 into position and deactivating the weapon's safe mode. The ACOG red-dot sighting flashed on and she looked down her sights at the retreating figures.

"Update," she whispered. Her throat mike picked up the tiny vibrations of her voice, transmitting the request with crystal clarity to her partner still hidden within her home.

They had nearly been caught unaware by this raid. She had extensive security measures built into her home, with surveillance cameras, motion-triggered alarms, weight-triggered traps, and electric fencing designed to keep out all but the most skilled (or the invited). What was even more confusing was that she'd kept the location of her home a closely guarded secret. The only ones who knew where she'd moved had been Sesshoumaru, her employer, guardian, and long-time family friend; Rin, his wife; Miroku and Kagome. She'd met Kagome earlier in the year, when Rin had introduced the two women. Kagome lived a handful of miles away and was a recluse by necessity, but she was unbelievably kind and one of the most honest people Sango had ever met. They had become fast friends, and Kagome had been one of the few people she could relax around.

*Nothing near your location. There are eight sweeping the house. They just made it to the second floor. From one of the video feeds I've got it looks like one of them is using a thermal sensor.* She could hear the slight tremor in his voice.

"The security control room you're in has highly insulated walls. They shouldn't be able to see you, but they might be able to see the blank space. Bug out through the attic panel if they get too close."

*Roger that.*

She had a pretty good idea why these men would want to target her. She'd collected countless enemies over the years, but the problem was that most of them shouldn't have any idea as to her identity, and unless she could isolate one of the bastards on her property for an adequate interrogation, she wouldn't have a chance to find out. They weren't wearing any identifying markers or colors. Their uniforms were flat black underneath generic body armor.

Sesshoumaru had been careful to only assign her those missions requiring stealth and surprise. Only a handful of her targets even had a chance to see her face, and those individuals had all died within moments.

She was a ghost. An assassin with no identity.

She and her older brother Kohaku had been taught similar skills by their father, but their mother had insisted that she learn how to heal before she learn how to kill. Her parents had been killed by enemies of her brother when she was only 13 years old. Kohaku had killed their family's assailants and saved her life, but at the expense of his own. That was when Sesshoumaru, a close family friend and ally, had taken guardianship of her and continued the training she'd started with her father.

*They are sweeping in pairs over the grounds. Two near the corner of the southern fence and heading northeast. The two that were near your location are heading southwest, back in your direction. If you move south about three yards, they should miss you. I've got another six scattered in groups in the courtyard, with one pair heading east toward the main entrance of the complex.*

Sango's house was split into three separate buildings. One large structure served as a two-car garage, while another small building housed a kitchen and dining/entertaining area. The main living portion of her home was a longer building running parallel with the two previously mentioned, with the creek cutting through the courtyard between the buildings. Walkways connected the three structures, two of which were bridges spanning the creek at each end of the main house. A third small bridge had been built at an angle in the middle of the courtyard as a centerpiece to the usually peaceful garden.

"Picked up any comms yet?"

*Still working on that. I've almost scanned all the freqs so I should have ... oh wait, got something. One mike.*

She bent into a low crouch and moved a short distance south through the trees and shrubs dotting the wide yard. A few heavy drops of rain splashed across the skin of her face before a flash of lightning lit up the area and temporarily blinded her. She just managed to catch sight of the two intruders heading in her general direction, but they hadn't spotted her yet.

The sky above opened up and let loose a sudden deluge of rain.

Sango raised her assault rifle and aimed carefully at the two nearing her location. By the time her vision cleared completely, she had her finger on the trigger in anticipation. As the thunder crashed loudly overhead, she squeezed off two quick shots. Her bullets tore through her targets' temples and the men dropped like bricks.

They had been relaxing upstairs with a movie and a snack when her cell had vibrated with a shrill, unique tone. She'd picked it up, instantly alert.

It was Sesshoumaru, and his statement was very short and to the point. His system had been hacked a few hours prior and her location had been compromised.

"Understood," was her reply before she snapped the cell shut and all but dragged Miroku down the hall. She ushered him through a hidden door between the bedroom and bathroom doors and up a short flight of stairs.

He'd started to joke about being ready for any kinky toys she had tucked away in such a secret location, but the words died on his lips as he came face-to-face with the dozen security monitors and status panels lining the walls. "Uh, paranoid much?"

She'd turned to bolt the heavy door shut behind them before giving her attention to the screens. "We might be getting some unexpected company," Sango had muttered, examining the perimeter readings. She swore under her breath when she noted a section of fencing had lost power. "Why the fuck didn't the alarm go off?" She quickly typed in commands and they watched as two screens changed views in rapid succession.

She had pointed to a chair at the console. "Take a seat, make yourself familiar." He hadn't known very much about her life of the last ten years. A few years ago she'd taken a low-profile job in the tiny town to relax, and all he knew was that she had some passable veterinary skills and had previously worked with some sort of security firm.

"Of all that is holy - why do you have such a high-end setup? Most of this tech is really pricey." His fingers slid through his dark hair as his sharp violet gaze took in the familiar and unfamiliar devices lining the shelves.

"Are you going to be able to control everything in here?" she'd asked.

He had nodded without hesitation. "Baby, I can handle anything you can throw at me," he'd added with a smirk.

She had rolled her eyes and turned to punch in a quick series of numbers on a panel to the right of the security screens. When the wall flipped open to reveal a small armory, Sango was pretty sure Miroku's jaw had unhinged. She retrieved a comm setup and handed him a small piece. "Here's a headset. I'm on channel... seven." She flicked a switch and strapped the device to her neck. Within two minutes she'd donned most of the equipment she'd need.

A quick glance at one of the upper monitors gave her an idea of their current situation. "We're lucky they aren't on the roof. We've got approximately five minutes before they arrive, so listen up." Miroku had been surprisingly calm to find out that no less than a dozen highly trained individuals had infiltrated her property with the intent to kill her.

She pointed at the attic panel above them to the left, near the far wall. "It's dark, so I'm going outside to try and take them out before they get to the house. My floor plan is too open for a firefight with those numbers. Stay here, monitor their locations, and give me updates."

The attic panel opened up to a small passageway that led to a sloping chute. It exited her house at a small underwater grate that opened beneath the southern walkway bridge. The creek ran ten feet deep along the entire length of her property for just this purpose. Where the central area around her house was mostly free of thick or tall foliage to improve the immediate visibility, Sango had kept much of the trees and shrubs on her land intact so that the grounds could meld easily into the forest. The perimeter defenses kept her home safe without the need to be able to see every angle. At the end of the chute, she had splashed quietly into the chilled water at cellar level before swimming carefully out through the grate and into the slowly-churning creek.

*They're sticking to radio silence for the most part, but I'm getting a few bursts of sound as they finish clearing each room.* After making sure the first two kills had been clean, she took off in a crouched sprint, heading south.

"Southern location update?" she whispered, dodging trees along the way.

*They're at your two. Fifty yards and closing. Comms still running silent.*

Sango slowed and crouched next to a thick tree trunk. She looked down her sights at the next two men walking at an angle to her location. She couldn't rely on the sporadic thunder to hide all of her shots. She considered themselves to be very lucky; these men weren't as on guard as they should be, considering they had a mission to take out a very skilled assassin. Either they thought they'd caught her completely by surprise or they didn't even think she was at home.

From all outward appearances, her home looked to be currently unoccupied. Their cars were in the garage, which had been closed in anticipation of the rain. The lights had been off all afternoon, and the only evidence that she'd been home at all was the movie still playing on the second floor with their snacks scattered on the floor from when she'd suddenly dragged Miroku from the room. They would be put on high alert the moment those men came across -

*Shit - one of them just walked in on our movie, and comms are going crazy now.*

The patrolling men froze in alarm just then, and whipped their weapons to the ready as Sango's finger depressed the trigger. Shots rang out across the yard and one man flew backwards as he was struck twice in the chest. Her next three shots sprayed across and up the second man's chest, causing him to jerk back and forth from the side impacts before he fell to the ground in shock.

It was highly unlikely those shots had killed either man if their body armor was any good. She sprinted toward the bodies and shot each downed infiltrator in the head before moving again. She hustled across the grass and slid into the chilled water again.

"Need another update." She swam quickly through the dark water, knowing the driving rain would help hide the motion of her passage to anyone not right next to her location. She slowed as she neared the house once more, stopping beside a heavy rock so she could peer at the lit house with her right eye shut tight. She nearly snorted in disbelief at the sight; the men had turned on lights in half the rooms of her home, clearly illuminating the interior spaces.

*Four in the courtyard still - but they've split up. One near the middle bridge, two by the kitchen, and another looks like he might be considering coming inside... he's near the front door. The other two that left the courtyard earlier are almost back to the east side of the garage.*

She quickly considered her best avenue of approach. "Which side of the middle bridge?"

*Northwest end, closer to the house but across from the water to the garage.*

"There's a control panel for the breaker system along the southern wall. On my mark I need you to kill all the outdoor power - it'll take out the flood lights for the courtyard and should also kill the electricity on the fence so we can make our escape if need be. But I need the indoor power left on so I can see inside."

*Copy.*

She popped her rebreather back between her lips and slipped beneath the water once more, hugging the bottom of the creek as she headed slowly to the central bridge. When she surfaced again, she was hidden in the dark recess beneath the slightly weathered red wood. She could hear the voice of a male speaking quietly into his comm unit mere feet from her location.

Her voice was the barest whisper this time, "On your count of ten. One. two. three..." she trailed off and dipped below the surface of the water again. Her hand came up to the knife strapped to her chest and she squinted up through the water at the man crouched in front of her next to the bridge. She still had her right eye shut as she braced herself to strike. The lights were bright in the courtyard, and she knew the moment the lights cut she'd be unable to see out of her left eye. She'd kept her right eye unexposed to the bright illumination to preserve what little nightvision she'd gotten from running around in the dark to take out the other four intruders.

The moment the lights went out, she snapped her right eye open and her hands shot out of the water. One fisted in the front of the man's uniform while the other stabbed the sharp blade up through the soft flesh beneath his jaw and into his skull. He fell easily into the water beside her.

Before anyone could cry out a warning, she brought her rifle up to sight in on the temporarily blinded duo next to the garage. They were crouched barely twenty feet away against a wall, and two clean head shots brought them down quickly. She twisted around in the water and ducked beneath the bridge. In another ten seconds she was at the edge of the bridge and able to aim in at the two standing next to the kitchen. They had attempted to take cover at the sound of gunfire, but they hadn't expected the shots to come from within the compound so soon after hearing the other shots ring out to the south. They'd left themselves completely exposed to her next rounds, and one of them fell with a huge spray of blood on the outdoor wall of her kitchen. 'Damn, must have hit an artery.'

She turned quickly in an attempt to locate the last outdoor assailant and found nothing but the front door swinging open. She heard the 'pa-ta-pop' of someone's weapon discharging three rounds in rapid succession, followed by the sound of a man screaming.

*You have them SO confused. I'm tempted to laugh out loud but I don't want them to find me.* His voice was barely audible over the sound of the rain and muffled shouts. *They're not sure how many people they're up against, and your sixth just burst in through the front door to escape the gunfire and got himself shot in the leg by one of his teammates.*

Sango's lip twisted into an amused smirk before she ducked beneath the water once more to get a better position at the north side of the house. She pulled herself out of the water and moved behind a tree to conceal herself in the darkness. She brought her rifle's scope to her eye to take visual stock of the house. She could clearly see through the windows of the first floor. There was a man hunched over in the middle of the main hallway, probably trying to tend to the poor fool who'd gotten shot. 'Who hired these idiots?' She could see another one attempting to discreetly look out one of the side windows from a position hidden mostly behind a wall, but she knew that with the few indoor lights on and the outdoor illumination killed, they wouldn't be able to see her.

*Hey - they just called out some weird codeword, and someone's voice I haven't heard before responded. They might have just called in either a retreat or backup.*

"With our luck and their apparent stupidity, I think they called backup. Stay put a while longer. I'm going to take out the two I can see."

He made a noise in affirmative as she squeezed the trigger, firing three rounds at the wall next to the window where the peeking male had taken cover. The man had been standing so close to where Miroku was hiding that she could actually hear the scream echo in her earpiece. She then quickly aimed through the glass and killed the man by the front door that had been tending to his fallen comrade. 'Like shooting fish in a barrel...' she smirked.

*Oh man, the second floor guy you just shot is crawling back this way. He's trailing blood everywhere!*

"Miroku," she muttered as she darted to the west to come alongside the wide length of the house with more windows visible to the outside. "Please try to keep the chatter to just important info."

*Heh, sorry...*

As she aimed in at another man who'd attempted to take cover in the wrong direction, she noticed the rain had begun to let up. Her eyes widened as she suddenly recognized the muffled thumping sound of a rotary blade. If she were running solo, she had a few options: she could easily slip into the woods undetected and escape to regroup, or she could try and pick off these bastards with the surrounding woods to help conceal her from the helicopter above, but it was very dark outside and she knew the heavy rain would do little to disguise the bright flashes with each shot she fired, making her an easy target once the helo caught sight of her weapon's discharge.

But with Miroku still in the house and what could be an assault helicopter en route, she had to get him to safety before she could even consider leaving, and that required some hasty action.

"Miroku, the storm covered up its approach, and only a suicidal bastard flies a helo in nasty weather like this. Get out of there RIGHT NOW."

She heard a crash and cursing as Miroku vacated his seat. The wireless comms relayed the sounds of him scrambling up the recessed ladder and into the short passageway. "Head forward until you reach the ledge, then put your feet first and cross your ankles before you slide down."

*Got it - am I swimming up shit creek without my paddle?* he joked.

"Head south to the fenceline. I'm going to try and draw its fire. Please for the love of everything holy don't get yourself killed. I don't think they know you're here, so you should be in the clear. When you get to the fence, stay in the water and keep your head down."

She crouched low and sprinted to the house. It was difficult to tell which direction the helicopter was approaching from, but she had to be cautious. If she were still out in the woods when it came within range, it might have advanced sensors built in that would be able to spot her instantly in the rainy night. She'd be a huge white blip on a dark screen... easy pickings. If she could keep her body heat behind a building and out of its direct line of sight, she might be able to avoid immediate detection.

*That's cold!*Miroku's voice was barely discernible through poor reception before his microphone shorted out in the water with a crackling burst of static.

Her heart leapt into her throat when she realized that Miroku would be a sitting duck in the waterway. No matter which direction the helo approached from, it could potentially spot him within a moment and he wouldn't have a chance of survival. She sent a prayer up to the heavens above and held her rifle to her chest in a moment of utter calm as she flicked the weapon into fully automatic mode. She had maybe one chance to stop this before everything went to shit, and only eleven rounds left in her magazine.

The sound of the helo was very close now, and she had luckily picked the correct side of the house to duck behind. She snuck a glance around the corner and nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Whoever had thought to attack her home early evening and sent such a poor excuse for an assault team to their death had also failed to send proper backup. The chopper was nothing more than civilian grade with a pair of fully automatic machine guns mounted to the fuselage. She rolled her eyes and aimed in with her rifle's scope. The pilot quickly came into view, illuminated by his control panel. The distance wasn't too far, and the poor fool was flying right to her. She took a breath and exhaled slowly, squeezing the trigger as soon as her aim was true.

The weapon recoiled from her merciless spray of bullets and she momentarily lost sight of her target. When the cockpit came back into view through her scope, the pilot was obscured by spider web cracks around the bullet holes through the windshield. The helicopter was still approaching, but it had pitched forward dangerously and was now coming straight for the building she hid behind.

Her eyes widened in panic and she took off in a dead sprint along the house away from the incoming chopper. 'Unbelievably incompetent fools!' her mind screamed. The helicopter crashed into the side of her house, taking out most of the southern wing (to include her bedroom). The collision shook the ground, and the following explosion knocked her off her feet. She rolled with the impact and came up in a crouch to look back at the flames rapidly consuming the main building of her home.

She sighed in irritation and felt a serious pang of loss. She didn't have much in the way of memories tucked away in that home, but what little she did have would likely be destroyed. She quickly moved herself to the treeline and stalked back toward the south, keeping a close eye on her burning home. There were still a handful of assailants still potentially alive in the area (if they hadn't tripped over their own feet and died in the fire by now, which, based on their previous display of expertise, was entirely likely). She clicked a button as she moved, ejecting the emptied magazine to replace it with a full one from the pouch at her thigh.

She stealthily approached the dark, quietly sloshing creek. "Miroku," she whispered. She heard a gasp, a splash, and a brief moment of Miroku's choking cough.

"Oh goodness gracious, you scared the crap out of me." Sango smiled in relief at the sound of his voice. "But I'm bleeding. Cut my arm on something between the control room and here."

Sango rolled her eyes and turned to examine the property. "How bad is it?" she asked, scanning the burning wreckage for any sign of movement.

"Not bad. It can wait till you can find me a bandaid." She could hear the smirk in his reply.

"I need to clear the grounds and make sure they're all dead before we attempt to leave. We might be able to use a vehicle to get out of here. Is your cell in your car?"

"My dearest Sango," he splashed, "when I am with you, I wish for nothing to distract my attention from your beauty."

"Is that a yes or no?"

"In the glovebox for afterhours emergencies."

"And your clients just have to do without you when you're with me?"

"My devotion knows no bounds." She knew, if he weren't clinging to a fence to stay afloat in a ten-foot-deep creek, he would have groped her twice by now. In the little time she'd known him, his smooth lines rarely came without his hands in sneaky succession.

"Stay hidden and quiet. I'll be right back," she ordered, turning to slip through the darkness. The fire was burning even brighter as the flames consumed more of the main building.

She crouched next to a trunk and scanned the wreckage for any sign of life, then repeated the cautious forward motion in a wide circle around the burning home. She was unable to spot anyone moving in the area, so she did a quick sweep of the courtyard and attempted to see if any portion of the main house had been spared from the fire. Every room was ablaze, but the flames were slow to travel along the wooden walkways that connected the three parts of her home. If the rain continued its heavy, drenching fall, the two outlying buildings might be spared from the fires. She couldn't get her hopes up though, not until their lives were safe from the more immediate threat.

She keyed in the number to unlock the garage door and checked the two vehicles parked inside. The light from the fire filtered through the windows, and both cars appeared unharmed. She opened his car door first to retrieve his cell and checked for a signal, then pulled a set of spare keys from the wall and climbed in her open-top jeep. She was sure that, even with the heavy rain, she'd be able to easily drive close to the creek and pick up Miroku for a quick escape from the grounds. The garage door opened as she turned on the vehicle. They could head to Kagome's house to bandage Miroku's silly scratch —

Miroku was walking awkwardly toward the garage, and there was someone right behind him.

Sango gripped the steering wheel in quiet fury and turned off the vehicle.

"Keep your hands where I can see 'em, bitch, an' step outta the car."

"Why don't you just shoot me from where I'm sitting?" she growled in response.

"I'd rather make sure I do the job right the first time, ya know? You've caused me a whole lotta problems tonight." She couldn't see the man's face; he was smart to keep much of himself tucked behind Miroku's body. Miroku grimaced suddenly as the man jerked his head backwards. "Ya might wanna hurry before I decide ta shoot ya through your little boyfriend here."

While she was pretty sure the man wouldn't be able to actually kill her by shooting through his body AND her vehicle, she didn't really want to stake Miroku's life on it. Keeping her hands in sight, she stepped out of the jeep. "Are you going to let him go?" she asked. No matter his response, though, she knew Miroku's life would be forfeit if she couldn't kill this man.

"Maybe. We were only paid ta take you out, but then ya had ta go and kill my whole team."

"Who hired your team for this mission?"

The man was mostly hidden behind Miroku, but she could see part of his expression as it curled up in a sneer. "Mr. Nakamura was very distraught by the early loss of his father. He offered us a hefty fee ta deliver retribution."She remembered the elder Nakamura. He was the head of an export company that had been involved in continued dealings with confirmed terrorist organizations. She'd completed that mission four months ago while the man had visited a winter spa. Poison.

"You should consider yourself lucky to have made it this far yourself. Why didn't you just leave while you had the chance?" she asked, waiting for him to make himself visible.

"An' give up on all sixteen shares of the profit we've- no... I've earned? I'll leave just as soon as ya die." His weapon poked out from under Miroku's left arm and Sango felt the jarring impact of rounds hitting her chest before she'd even registered the flashes from the weapon's muzzle.

She became hyper-aware of time. Her body fell backwards slowly, as though she'd been submerged in syrup. Pain lanced across her chest like lightning and she could see the horror on Miroku's face as he cried out her name. In that moment of heightened awareness, her left hand found the grip of the pistol holstered at her back and ripped it free.

The moment her body hit the ground in a wet heap, the man stepped out from behind Miroku to put a round between her eyes, but she'd already thrust her weapon forward and squeezed the trigger four times.

Her aim was off - she saw Miroku stagger, clutching his side - but more importantly she could see their final assailant falling as well. Without a doubt he'd been wearing ballistics armor, and the force of her bullets wouldn't have done much more than stun him and maybe break a rib or two.

She coughed and tasted blood as she hauled herself to her knees to fire more rounds into the prone body, hitting anything in sight that might be unprotected. She stood shakily a moment later and shot the man twice in the head to ensure his death. It had been his mistake to shoot her in the chest. Her armor wasn't infallible, but Sesshoumaru made sure his employees had the best equipment available, and hers had saved her life more than once.

"Ow ow ow! I've been shot!"

Sango frowned at the man sitting nearby. 'Civilians...' Her expression softened a moment later. It had probably scared him half to death when the man had shot her at such close range.

"Let me see it..." she murmured, stepping closer. She clenched her teeth to hide the wince as she knelt to take a look at the wound surrounded by a slowly blooming red stain. "It's just a graze. You were lucky." She grinned at his pale expression and held a hand out to him. "Let's get the hell out of here before we get any more surprises."

.

Fifteen minutes later, a sleepy dark-haired girl hit the button to open her front driveway gate and yawned behind a cupped hand. Sango had called and apologized for needing to come over at such a late hour, but she'd needed help with something and Kagome would never say no to her best friend. She opened her front door to come face-to-face with her two friends and blinked in surprise, her previous fatigue forgotten instantly. They were rain-soaked and liberally splattered with mud, ash, and blood. "What in the world?" she exclaimed in surprise.

Sango grinned crookedly at her friend before the two shuffled inside. "I'll explain later. Got a first aid kit?"

.

It was nearing midnight in another part of the country when a certain young Mr. Nakamura received a visitor he was notexpecting. This visitor had a delivery for the young businessman, and he was probably disappointed to discover it wasn't the good news he'd hoped to hear of his team's success.

A few moments later, Kagome's home phone rang and Sango picked up the handset. "Yes?"

"Your retribution has been delivered. There are no loose ends."

Her lips curled into a smile. They were safe once more. "My home?" she asked.

"A team is already on the way to assess damages."

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru."

"Good night, Sango."

.

AN - OH OH so you see what I did there? I replaced my old "This is what I wanted to write so here's my notes so you understand the silly back story a little better!" bit with this piece of action. Bam bam! Alright. Now I feel much better about my story's opening.

THIS chapter might be a tad misleading, because there (probably) won't be any more Sango-centric stealthy/sneaky maneuvers with assault rifles tearing up the place. (Unless I can convince Sango that it's a good idea to accompany Kagome and Inuyasha on their hunt for the rest of the relics POST chapter 23. yeah, I said it... there might be more adventures tacked on!) Geez... I started this fic in 03 and "finished it" in 05. You'd think after that long one wouldn't come back and add MORE. Okay - so, revisions MIGHT come soonish. I'm writing them. Adding scenes (two new ones already written and added in to the revisions on my HD so far!). Changing order. Cutting some unnecessary stuff. Don't know when the rest of the fic will be updated. You know my track record with updates lately lol...