um...if anyone here reads Forbidden I'm so so so so so so so so so soooooo sorry... I'm working on the update seriously!! For now, I'm back to Inuyasha on a new idea that I dunno if I'll finish, but I needed to write this. So here it is:

Partners

By

Leah

Chapter 1

Time for a Change

"Please, please! You-You don't want to do this!" The man sobbed out from his crouched position in the corner of the expensive office. His hands were clasped tightly as he looked into the brown eyes of his assailant.

"Oh no Mr. Tsumi," Cherry red lips curled upwards in a wicked smile. "I assure you, I do."

More tears rolled down the man's face and a child like whimper escaped his throat. The cool steel tip of the Sais blade pressed against his lips, silencing the sob that was about to escape.

The woman bent down, her brown eyes level with his, her lips holding onto its wicked grin. "Now, now," she began in a mockingly mothering tone, "big boys don't cry."

A loud wail filled the room as the second blade pierced Tsumi's chest. The assassin waited for the light to flicker out of the man's eyes before removing the dagger and strapping both blades to her hips and exited the room.

The assassin let out a deep breath and made her way out of the room, stuffing some folded papers into the pocket of her leather trench coat. She pressed the down button on the elevator when a crackle of static in her ear disrupted the silence of the hallway.

"Are you done yet?" A female voice came through the piece in her ear.

"Yeah," The elevator dinged and the door opened, the assassin stepped in. "I got all the info I needed, he was very easily "persuaded" to give it up." She pressed the red 1 button and the doors of the elevator closed. "How are things on your end?"

She heard a sigh over the earpiece. "I'm mostly done here, nothing to interesting in the security videos. I'll be done in ten; I'll meet you guys at the car."

"Gotcha." The elevator dinged again and the doors opened into the deserted lobby of the upscale apartment building.

She pulled her coat closer to cover up her very revealing red halter and tight leather pants and headed out the glass front door. Her eyes scanned up and down the street before settling on the black BMW that was parked two cars away. Grinning, she spotted a girl leaning on the car wearing a tight black corset and a very mini skirt.

The assassin walked to the car and leaned on it next to the girl. "So, how much for an hour with you, baby?"

"Oh, ha, ha Kagome." The younger girl grumbled dryly and attempted to pull down her skirt.

"Sorry Rin, couldn't resist," Kagome sent the girl a smirk and shoved her hand in her pocket to fish out the car keys. "How long were you waiting?"

Rin grimaced, "Long enough to want to establish that whoever has to be the hooker gets the car keys. I got hit on by three guys." The girl grouched, Rin looked to be about a year younger than Kagome, but her face had always held the look of childhood innocence. Her wide eyes and normally pigtailed hair made her look as if she was stuck at age twelve. Although anyone who knew her knew how wrong that was. However tonight, her mid-back length brown hair was out and curled and her make-up was caked on, making her look much older than she normally did.

Kagome chuckled, "How did that go?" The car let out a beep and the lights flashed as the doors unlocked and the engine started.

"Not too well, and of course I didn't hit them or anything," Rin began, opening the back door. "Don't wanna hear ba-baa going on about hurting civilians."

"Fist of all," Kagome began as she walked around and got into the drivers seat. "Her name is Kaede-sama, have some respect." Rin rolled her eyes and lay down across the backseat. Kagome ignored her and turned on the radio, "Second, what do you expect? You were the prostitute for the night, we've all been there. And lastly," She cast a harsh glare over her shoulder at the younger girl lounging on the leather seats. "Get those dirty heals off my car seat."

Rin grunted but dropped her feet to the floor of the car. "You're almost as bad as Sango." The girl muttered as she stretched as best she could in the limited space.

"No I'm not; Sango would have ripped your legs off by now if this was her car." Kagome stuck out her tongue at the girl and turned back to the radio. "How was your kill?"

Rin shrugged, "Well, the asshole was a little too touchy for my tastes, had to tie him up to get him to cooperate." Kagome quirked an eyebrow. "What? I was playing a hooker, getting him to agree to being tied up was easier done than I thought it would be. But most of his stuff was on his laptop so I sent it all to Intel. Don't worry I totally fried the computer afterwards." The younger girl let out a small sigh. "Out of what I saw though, none of it looked like anything new."

"That's to be ex-" A sharp knock from the passenger side window cut Kagome off mid-sentence. Both girls' attention jerked to the window where a grinning face framed by straight brown hair greeted them.

Rin pushed herself up, stretched to the front seat and rolled down the window. "Sorry ma'am, I think you have the wrong car."

"Rin, if you don't open this door right now…" The girl sent a glare at her friend who rolled her eyes and unlocked the door.

"You're no fun Sango." Rin pouted and went back to laying in the backseat.

Kagome looked over the girl next to her and started the engine before pulling the car out of its parking spot. "So unfair that you get to dress normally." She said, speaking of her friend's plain blue jeans, pink tank top and black biker jacket with a black book bag hanging on one shoulder.

Sango shrugged, "Well my job for the night required me to be as surreptitious as possible."

"Should have been my job." Rin mumbled from the backseat.

Sango looked back at the girl and sent her a gentle smile. "Sorry, but you're still considered a green horn here Rin, you may be well versed in a lot of things, but you know hand to hand is not your specialty." Rin pouted but had to agree.

It was true that Rin was the best in the field with anything involving electronics; the girl could probably hack into the most secure information before anyone in Intel. But she much rather work as an assassin than a hacker, although her skills with the computer had come in handy more than once. So had her skills with the gun, explosives and damn near all projectiles.

But Sango was right, she was good at hand to hand, but to take on the few dozen guards that had been in the hotel for the past few days. Rin surely would have been caught. Everyone knew that was where Sango would be best. She was by far the best hand to hand combat assassin out there; after all she was bred to be a demon slayer. She alone was the only one who could wield the giant bone boomerang that hung in the weapons room at their home, and her skills with the blade were exemplary, with Kagome coming in a close second.

"I just want to know why both men decided to increase their personal security. Was there a leak or something, I was sure we were being discrete." Kagome muttered.

"The security wasn't for us," The eldest girl began, Kagome pulled off the main road drove towards a large clump of trees, surely about to crash, however the cars passed through them as if they weren't real. The car headed underground into a brightly lit tunnel.

"Who then?" Rin asked, sitting up to lean between the driver and passenger seats, her hand going to the radio only to be slapped away by Kagome.

"My car, my music." The car jerked to a stop in front of a stone wall, Kagome placed her hand on the touch pad in the wall, which slid away instantly.

"I don't know who it was exactly." Sango began again, her voice low. "But they both asked for cameras in their rooms, to ensure their safety. I found some tapes-"

"Oh, what kind of tapes?" Rin called from the backseat in an insinuating voice, she received a threatening look from Sango and that was all the warning she needed.

"You're very childish for your age Rin, do you know that?" Rin shrugged.

"I like holding on to my youth you know."

"You should try and loosen your grip. But anyway, in both security tapes, there was a man talking to them both on multiple occasions."

"So?" Kagome interjected, "That doesn't mean much, they were both business men, he could have been a buyer or whatever."

Sango shook her head. "No, he was threatening them. You can't hear it all on the tapes, but he definitely said enough to scare both of them shitless. And I'm positive I've seen him somewhere before."

"Excellent," Rin chimed in. "Something new for the first time. You did take the tapes right?"

Sango grinned and pulled out for videos from her bag. "Of course."

"Well ladies," Kagome began as they once reached another stone wall and she placed her hand on the wall and muttered something for voice recognition. "We are home." The wall slid by once more revealing a brightly lit expansive underground garage that held 50 or more cars, motorcycles and jeeps.

"Finally! I need a shower, I still smell like that mans sweat." Rin squealed and practically jumped out of the car when Kagome pulled it into its spot between a Ferrari and a Corvette. The girls made their way to the elevator where Kagome pegged the key onto the wall that held the keys for all the vehicles.

The elevator opened as soon as Sango pressed the button, which was no surprise. They were the only ones with access to this elevator and it only went to two floors of the seemingly 23 story posh hotel. Their private basement and the 24th floor that was meant only for them, that was concealed by immeasurable amounts of old magic.

In seconds the elevator came to a stop and the doors slip open to reveal a large pent house living that was only lit by the lights coming from the full length windows on one side of the room. It was outfitted with white furniture and plush dark blue carpeting and a widescreen plasma television took up the front wall. Rin bolted out of the elevator once the doors opened.

"Hey! Wash my blades!" Kagome cried holding up the two blades that still held traces of blood on them.

"Oh sorry, can't hear you!" Rin called behind her with a smile before shutting her bedroom door behind her.

Kagome scowled and was about to stomp out of the elevator but instead stomped right into Sango's arm, which was currently blocking her from exiting the elevator. "Nah uh, you are not walking all over that newly cleaned carpet with those dirty shoes." She jerked her head to the carpet. Kagome groaned before kicking her shoes off.

"Happy mother?" She muttered only to receive a bright smile from her friend.

"Very much. Now call Kaede, I'm gonna make dinner." Sango said before exiting the elevator, hitting the light switch on her way to the open kitchen in the corner of the enormous living room.

"You didn't take off your shoes!" Kagome called as she walked around the glass table fit for four set a few feet from the kitchen.

"That's because I'm older!" Sango yelled back. "How does linguini and chicken parmesan sound?"

"Amazing." The other girl replied and entered her room. She shrugged off her coat and dropped it onto the green comforter on her bed. She snatched the phone out of its cradle on her table and hit the first speed dial number.

She grabbed a brush off her vanity and raked it through her hair as she waited for someone to answer the phone.

"Bureau of Demon Human Cooperation and Law Enforcement, Kaede's office. How may I help you?"

"Hey Shiori, it's Kagome, can you put me through to Kaede?"

"Sure thing Kagome, hold on a sec." Kagome groaned to herself when the annoying hold music came on and took the time to pull her hair up into a ponytail and pull her Sais blades from their place on her thigh.

She grabbed the blades and walked out of her room and into Rin's, she crept into the girl's bathroom as stealthily as possible.

"Kagome!" Rin's wet head poked out from behind the shower curtain. "What are you-" Kagome dropped the blades on the ground in front of the shower and stuck out her tongue at the younger girl before running out the room

"Kagome you suck!"

"Love you too Rin!" Kagome called back to the girl.

"Ahem," An old voice on the other end of the line cleared her throat. "Are you and Rin quite done Kagome?" A beet red blush spread across the girl's face and she bowed her head in embarrassment. Despite the fact that she knew Kaede could not see her, the old woman was just such a grandmotherly figure that any form of scolding made Kagome - and she was sure all of her coworkers- feel very small.

"Gomen nasai, Kaede-sama." Kagome began in a much softer, more humble voice. "I didn't know you were on the line." The old woman chuckled lightly.

"It's quite alright Kagome," She began; Kagome could practically hear the motherly smile in her voice. "I understand how you children are." Kagome let out a small laugh.

"Now then," Kaede's voice turned serious, "I supposed this call means that you three have accomplished your objective."

"Hai, we just returned, both Rin and I have sent in what we found out from the men to Intel. I also have some papers I retrieved and Sango found something in the security tapes that she believes is important. We'll have everything ready for the debriefing tomorrow."

"Very good child."

"Arigato Kaede-sama."

"Kagome," Kaede paused for a moment and seemed to be thinking of how she would say something, she let out a sigh before continuing. "Kagome, Sango and yourself have been partners for over thirty years now, and Rin has been with you two for nearly a decade now." Kagome found herself nodding even though she knew she couldn't be seen by the woman.

"I'm sure you all know that we do not recruit humans or demons into the Bureau, and we mainly rely on children following in their parents' footsteps and becoming agents."

"Kaede, what are you trying to say?" Kagome cut in. She knew how someone became an agent, you either had to be born into it, or there were extenuating circumstances. She was a member of the latter group, as was Rin.

Kaede let out another weary sigh. "Kagome, what I'm saying is," She paused for a moment and Kagome felt her stomach twist into a knot. "We are going to split up Sango, Rin and yourself, and give you each a male partner." Kagome felt her stomach drop to the floor, the old woman couldn't do this to them.

"But-but Kaede! We're the best team you have working! You can't split us up just because you want us to-to reproduce! We're practically family Kaede! You can't do this to us! Those two are like my sisters!"

"Kagome, you must calm down." Kaede began in a pacifying tone. "I know how close you three are, do not worry, this does not mean that you will never see each other again. Most likely you three will remain working together on some cases. But Kagome, you all need to start finding demon mates or human partners that work here. You know it is not an option for you to find someone from the outside."

Kagome gritted her teeth, that was true. She was a phantom in the real world. Her name would not be found in any government record , neither would those of Sango or Rin, or anyone who worked in the Bureau. They were practically ghosts, having a relationship with a civilian would be virtually impossible.

"We are also aware that we are breaking up our strongest assassin team, however we believe the men we have picked for you three are your equals," Kaede paused and Kagome heard her chucked quietly. "In fact they might even have a little more skill than you three."

The girl's eyebrow twitched. First Kaede tore out her heart and then she dared to say that someone could be better than she was. How dare that old woman!

"They just arrived back from an extended covert mission in London; they've been there for nearly 8 years now." If possible Kagome felt her stomach drop further.

It just couldn't be.

She swallowed thickly and managed out one word. "Who?"

"You all know them, except maybe Rin. Miroku Kazanna and the Taisho brothers –Sesshomaru and Inuyasha."

Sango nearly dropped the plate she held in her hand when a loud shout from Kagome's room broke the silence of the kitchen.

"FUCK!"