Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine, nor are the related characters. However, I DO own this plot!

Sometimes, life is a bitch. Sometimes, you need additional help. Sometimes, your own steam cannot get you up the hill. When those 'sometimes' strike, you need to find someone to confide in, someone who can help share your load for the time being.

Sango never did have that someone.

All her life, Sango was pushed back. Never really trusted. Her family died in a tragic accident, one the young Sango never quite got the whole story on. Since she was 7 or 8, she had stolen and pick-pocketed her way through life. She grew up on the streets, trusting no one and nothing. The only thing she knew and trusted were her hands- and they served her well.

By the time she was 13, she had committed enough crimes to land her permanently in jail.

She never was caught, though. Years and years had passed, yet she had never had a single dealing with someone that didn't involve a quick five-second trade on the street and no confidentiality. She had never said more then

"Here are my terms..."

"Deal."

"What do I get in return?"

"Thanks a bunch."

"Fuck you."

And most importantly:

"Never speak to me again. This was a one-time deal."

Sango never was that lovely, soft, perfect girl. She was lovely, carried an illegal gun, and had killed people through her own will. She was hardened, and because of that, she survived. She had always been like that imaginary perfect machine: it runs off of nothing. It needs no input, but only returns. She worked for herself, and never took a partner. She didn't have any friends, and she certainly had never had a boyfriend. She had never asked anything of anyone when she didn't have something they wanted in return, and she had never experienced a one-night stand. Like previously mentioned, she was a one-woman operation.

And that, dear reader, is EXACTLY what made her so damn susceptible.

~

Meet Miroku. All his life, he had been sick of the goodie-good crap. He was one of the wealthiest men in the area, and, even better, single. Every woman wanted him. Since he was little he had been the star of a bunch of TV shows, and his awing voice made him even more desirable. One could say he had it easy: even HE admitted to the fact that all he had to do was get up, sing a couple of lines that he didn't even WRITE, and he had wooing fan girls and paparazzi all over his "rock-solid" ass. He starred in a bunch of movies, all giving the wanna-be fans out there great shots of his muscles, perfectly proportionate face, the whole 9 yards. He was perfect.

Except for Koharu.

Koharu was this little fan girl that some jackass that USED to work for him had actually HIRED to be his groupie. She followed him around, lavished attention on him, and all the meanwhile gained popularity herself as his girlfriend. Miroku did not HAVE a girlfriend. He had some little sonovabitch that followed him around constantly and tried to get into his hotel room's bed like every night. And he was getting sick of it. True, she was nice, but she was there for the flashing cameras. She could have them, as far as he was concerned. He really, really, REALLY did not care.

So he ran away.

The first night he was spotted at a nice, expensive sushi and bathhouse restaurant. Hey, he was hungry and chilly!

He was brought back immediately.

The second night he steered clear of any places like that. He went straight to the streets and spent the night using his nice, firm muscles to run around. He basically jogged up and down streets, all the while trying to avoid the desperate cops. He finally ended up in what was basically downtown ghetto Tokyo. The poor man.

He had no idea who's side of the street he was standing on.

How COULD he know that it belonged to Sango Kodachi?

Sango... the Black Rose.

~

Sango was sitting on a windowsill of an abandoned courthouse.

'How ironic, ne? Me, Sango, on a courthouse's window. Keh.' She thought. Grinning in a rather sardonic fashion, she jingled the purse she had strapped to her belt. She opened it gently, lovingly, and pulled out a single blood red ruby. Twirling the fairly big jewel between her fingers, she tipped the long slate-like rarity along her fingers as one might a coin or a pencil. She showed no fear of dropping it: her well-worn, nimble fingers were used to dancing along that thin edge of "lost it all" and "made a million bucks". She deposited the jewel calmly into the leather pouch and settled more firmly against her current residence. She liked this "watchtower" of sorts- it gave her a good view of her "domain". Sango hated to sound like a gang member, but this was her territory. Kodachi, and ONLY Kodachi, committed crimes here. She was the only one who reaped the benefits from this side of town and the rich well-to-dos who lived near it. Anyone else who imposed upon her peace of mind was dead meat.

Literally.

Not to say that Sango ENJOYED killing- she did it sparingly and only in the greatest defense.

Of herself, naturally.

Sango liked to think of herself as a good person. At least, she HAD been a good person. If her family had not been killed, she would have gone to the rich prep school and been happy. But they had kicked her early application out when her parents died.

It had been her first full-scale operation.

She had plotted everything out, then destroyed the school inside-out. Nothing more then a burn mark and a few fluttering papers had been left. That, and a single black rose. Enter Sango's reign as the only thief in Tokyo to never be caught. Not once. Not even as a child or clumsy teenager.

And she planned to keep it that way.

*KLUMPF KLUMPF KLUMPF*

Sango's crime-hardened ears pricked up at the sound of someone approaching. A thin figure made it's way down the alley. Sango narrowed her eyes. Crouching, then leaping the 15-some feet to the ground, she forced the person to skid to a halt. Flipping her dark brown hair over her shoulder, she questioned the interfering bastard.

"And who the hell, may I ask, are you?" She calmly asked, pulling out her smallest gun and cocking the beautifully proportionate weapon. The person swallowed, but straightened. Good. Sango hated a coward.

"Higurashi, Kagome. And may I presume that you are Kodachi, Sango?"

"You may."

"Kodachi-sama..." Ah. So they had a sense of propriety. Good. Maybe Sango would let her out unharmed. Maybe. Sango wouldn't kill her... that was only for when she was in a corner and it was pretty damn desperate. Needless to say, Sango didn't have to kill very often.

"Kodachi-sama... there is an intruder on your territory..."

"No shit, Sherlock. You, you idiot!"

"Please... not me... a stranger... He crossed Inuyasha-kun's border minutes ago. He'll be here soon. It's just, you did Inuyasha-kun that favor once and he sent me ahead to warn you. The stranger is pretty slow, but he's not yet gone full-blown. We just thought that-"

"We? Are you his prozzie?"

"I-I beg your... what the HELL did you say!?"

"His ho. His whore. His bitch. Are you or are you not, eh?"

"NO! I am his girlfriend, thanks very much ya bastard!"

"Ah. Gomen, then. So. You are Kagome?"

"Kagome-san, if you don't mind, Kodachi-sama."

"Yes, Kagome-san. Now, get the hell offa my property. Inuyasha owes me nothing. I owe him nothing. We're square. Send that message to the ass. See if he can get it."

*Click click*

"Don't insult Inuyasha, you bitch." Kagome was pointing a gun at Sango's head. Sango smiled.

"Better not shoot."

"Watch me."

"How about we just shake? Neither of us is going to win- deal? You put down your gun and I put down mine. We're friendly, but that's it. I've already made this deal with Inuyasha. Now, get offa my territory before I blow your asshead off. Now." Sango pointed. Kagome growled and put her gun down. Smiling ruefully, she winked.

"Later, Sango-chan." With that, she was gone.

'Did she just call me Sango-CHAN!?'

~

Miroku slowed to a walk. 'Where the heck am I?' He wondered. 'This don't look like Kansas anymore, Toto...' (The movies were starting to go to his head.)

"Where are you going?" A cold, emotionless voice inquired. Miroku spun around. A female figure, dressed in black, slid off of the nearest wall. Miroku watched, enthralled, at the lack of gravity she seemed to possess. Her lithe, strong body slid up to his, and she grabbed his face. Pulling him close, she snarled.

"Do you know who's property you stand on?" She bared a set of white teeth.

"Do you know your breath smells like Wintergreen gum?"

*SMACK*

*CLICK CLICK*

"Answer me," Sango threatened. Her gun partially embedded in his forehead, she pressed him for information. She cocked it fully, letting him know she would shoot him by letting a random shot off into the sky.

^BANG^

^SHATTER^

The man winced slightly as the gunshot hit a bottle somewhere. He put up his hands silently.

"Ok. I confess. My name is Houshi, Miroku. Who are you, my lovely butterfly?"

"Call me a butterfly one more time and so help me KAMI I'll blow your brains out."

"Feisty."

"You're not the only one to say so. Unfortunately, those men didn't live long. So can the pickup lines or I'll be forced to help you." Sango said, narrowing her eyes. This one was a definite hentai.

"Help me, baby." Miroku said, cocking an eyebrow and showing her his full-blown melt-your-damn-legs smile. Laughing, he looked at Sango's confused face. "What's the matter? Ok, whom do you work for, eh? I mean, what company?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I mean your director. Producer. Lawyer. Agent, for crying out loud. Who? Do you model? Do you represent a business? Or are you a free enterprise entrepreneur?"

"Once again: what the hell are you talking about? You act like I'm an actress or celebrity or something." Sango looked at him closer. "Holy shit- are you that damn singing actor guy? The one from, oh, what the hell is it called-"

"Shikon: The Series?"

"That's it. Are you that-"

"Perverted ladies-man monk?"

"Yeah! Him!"

"Yup. That's me."

And then, at least in Miroku's perspective, the world went black.

Sango, however, could not believe her luck.

"Of all the people he runs into…" She chuckled, throwing the unconscious celebrity over her shoulder and sprinting off. "I wonder how much moo-la I can get for not slitting his throat?"

Just as Sango was running off, she was forced to stop. That, to say the least, pissed her off. Growling at the tall figure in front of her, she straightened. Long, silver hair floated in the moonlight, giving the impression of Inuyasha, but Sango wasn't fooled.

"Sesshomaru."

"Sango."

"Outta my way. Or I shall be forced to hurt you."

"Why, may I ask, do you have him slung over your shoulder?" Sesshomaru asked quietly, completely disregarding her previous order. "Listen. I am aware that you recently robbed a mansion here. In exchange for the ruby you were twirling earlier, I can get you to where you need to be faster. And set you up with new section of town. Namely… mine. A partnership. Sango, you cannot run forever. Your crimes are getting out of control. Let me help you. You know very well that Naraku is getting stronger, and he has something you don't."

"Henchmen."

"Exactly." Sesshomaru finished. Sango stood, pondering, then dropped the celebrity roughly to the ground.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru, for the kind offer. You know as well as I do, you bastard, that I don't accept help. I'm better then Naraku. You know that."

"But I also know that, due to the sudden loss of one of his henchmen, he has determined that it was YOU who stole them away and he has turned you in."

Sango choked.

"HE DID WHAT!?"

"My dearest Kodachi, my dearest rose… He turned you in to the authorities. Listen. Can you hear their sirens, or did all of your training to become as near to youkai as possible not help you?" Sesshomaru asked, cocking an elegant eyebrow. Sango listened. She, indeed, could hear the sirens.

"OH SHIT! DAMMIT! FUCK THAT BASTARD!" She screamed, banging her head with every vile word. Sesshomaru sighed.

"I suggest you run. Or take up my offer." Sango considered for a moment.

"My services and land are worth more then a fricking jewel, Sesshomaru. Listen, I get the ride and you save my ass. I get your territory. In return, you get my help in plans and my land as well. It can also be cancelled. How does that sound for now?" Sango spat out. The police were closing in- Sesshomaru couldn't fly- how was he expecting to get them out now? Sesshomaru nodded.

"Deal. We will discuss more later. Kagura?"

'Kagura?' Thought Sango. 'She was… she was the stolen henchman! Or henchwoman! Or whatever! That fricking bastard! SESSHOMARU!!

Nonetheless, Sango grabbed her breathing prize, hopped onto some stupid feather, and was transported to the section of town that Sesshomaru owned. The biggest part of rich idiots to ever exist.

The Western Lands, they were called.

^Whee! One chappie done! Wah-hoo! Yippee! Ok I'll stop.

Read 'n review, ppl! ^giggles^ Sango… you dirty thief you! Stealing Miroku like that… Jeez!

PS: I need 5 reviews to continue off of a first chapter. I leave it in your hands, readers.

~Lemonn