Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, hold the surprised gasps. I also know that this idea isn't original at all, it's something that has been done a thousand times over and a thousand times again, but it's something I've always wanted to do, so here we have it!

Rating: M just to be safe, mostly for violence but also saucy language and adult situations. Take that as you will.

Another One Bites The Dust

Sango Himura inhaled deeply, pressing herself further back against the cold concrete wall, letting the cool that crept through her shirt ground her. Any moment, now, the man she was waiting for would turn around the corner, and she would have to kick herself into high gear. It wasn't as if she weren't used to taking missions such as these, in fact, she'd been taking jobs on her own since the day she turned sixteen. The big difference with this particular mission, however, was that she didn't normally get hired to take out humans, and it wasn't often that she worked in a team.

As a freelancer, she was usually hired to get rid of pesky, persistent demons who threatened the natural state of the world order. Humans and demons could coexist just fine, side by side. In fact, it had taken hundreds of years for humans and demons to get to the relatively peaceful place they were at. So, whenever someone started to rock the boat, they had to be dealt with. That's where Sango came in. Typically, ruckus was caused by lesser demons who wanted to make something of themselves, although the occasional higher powered demon would start rocking the boat, thirsty for power and prestige. In all honesty, she didn't find demons challenging. What was a challenge were the humans who though they had something to prove, the ones who wanted to eradicate demons from the planet entirely. That wasn't possible without sparking an entire, world-wide war, which was why they had to keep the peace.

At least, that's what she told herself so that she could sleep at night.

Still, she tried to do research enough into the jobs she took, so that she knew she actually was helping to keep the peace, instead of blindly taking any job she was offered. But Lord only knew she could use the money.

Her line of work may not have been conventional, but Sango was proud of what she did. In fact, it was a family legacy; her father had been an assassin – she loathed the term 'hitman' – and his father before him. In feudal times, they had called themselves demon slayers, but in more modern times, demons weren't the only ones who could radiate evil and that needed to be dealt with. She and her brother had been trained to carry on the family legacy, and with each passing day, the need for freelancers became greater and greater. Not to mention, she was good at what she did, operating quietly, efficiently and, thus far, without incident.

She could work with others, certainly, but she hadn't taken a mission with a group in ages, and she felt a little strange knowing that there were others in the alleyway, hidden just as she was, watching. Waiting.

Strangers, all united for the same cause.

Within a few moments of her stakeout, Sango heard the telltale sound of footsteps on pavement, and she tensed, leaning forward into a half crouch, so she could survey the alleyway without being seen by her target. It was a deserted, dodgy neighborhood, and she figured that no one would bat an eyelash at the sound of a gunshot, which gave her the luxury to use one of her guns as opposed to other measures, though one could still never be too careful. Get in, get out, as quickly, efficiently, and silently as possible.

Tightening her grip on her handgun, she leaned around the corner, just a hair, clicking the safety off as inaudibly as possible, and as soon as her target was in view, she aimed, exhaled, and pulled the trigger. She had spent years perfecting her aim, and she was nothing short of a perfect shot. The gunshot echoed off the brick walls, one loud crack, and she stilled, holding her breath, preparing for the worst if she were to hear footsteps, or worse, police sirens. It was a perfect shot, of course, right through the heart, and the man had slumped to the ground without making a sound.

When no sounds of help came, she slid out of her hiding spot, and as silently as she could, crept over to the man. At once, she was joined by three other men, two who had essentially been the lookouts, and one who had been charged with herding the man to where Sango had been waiting. At a close distance, she could see that the mans hair was black, and flecked with speckles of grey. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, and they might have been lovely if they still had life in them. Leaning down, she closed them, feeling a quick pang of guilt before she reminded herself that it was for the greater good. The cleanup was her least favourite part of the job, but it had to be done.

"We still clear?" Sango muttered under her breath to the man on her left, Big Al, and he nodded. She doubted that 'Al' was actually his real name, but even she had been known to use an alias. Sometimes, it was just safer that way.

"Probably have about five minutes until someone shows up."

"He has the microchip on him, right?"

Big Al grunted, and Sango took that as a yes as he leaned over, patting the man down. He continued to rifle through the man's pockets until he produced a small rectangular object, and shoved it into his own pocket. "One rebel down..."

Sango pulled a small bottle of gasoline out of her belt, and a Zippo lighter out of her pocket. Covering a much of the man as she could in the liquid, she took a few steps back, flicked the lighter until the flame caught, and tossed it at the man. The fire caught immediately, and she took another step back. Quickly, she pulled off her gloves, tossed them into the inferno, and then turned away so she could get out of there as quickly as possible. She made she that the bullet was untraceable, no fingerprints left, so if anything did go awry, it would be very, very difficult to link her to this.

"You made real quick work of that." One of the other men, Masaru commented, flanking her left, and Sango turned to give him a wry look at the undertone of admiration in his voice.

"She's a perfect shot, too." The third man, E piped in from behind them.

"Thanks, guys."

Looking at her watch as she turned around the corner, out of the alley and into the street, her eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. "God, I'm so late."

"Dad", Sango laughed, rolling her eyes at her brother, Kohaku, to let him know that their father's latest joke wasn't anything but lame.

After a quick stop in the hospital bathroom to clean the grime from herself, touch up her eyeliner, and change from her all black attire to her favourite pink dress, Sango found herself sitting in her father's room in the cancer wing of the hospital.

"Come on, you two. That was funny! Alright, how about this one? I had a dream I was a muffler last night. I woke up exhausted." Akio Himura grinned at his children, who both groaned.

"Dad", Kohaku shook his head, lowering his face into his hands as he tried to hide his grin.

Despite his lame attempt at 'Dad humor', Sango knew that these family visits were the highlight of both her and Kohaku's days.

Their mother had passed away years ago, so long ago that Sango could barely remember her, and she knew for Kohaku, it was even worse. She kept a picture of her mother somewhere with her at all times, but of course, that was never the same. Forgetting what your mothers laugh sounded like, forgetting what she smelled like, what her cooking tasted like was hard. Not that she ever showed it, she had to be strong, for her father, for her brother … but some days she still felt overwhelming grief, even all those years later.

It had only been six months since her father had been diagnosed with sarcoma, an aggressive, rapidly spreading cancer, and it had only taken three to incapacitate him, putting him in the hospital where he'd been ever since. Not exactly a cheap bill. Being unable to do the job that he had been conditioned to do since he was younger than Kohaku, his eighteen year old son, put him on edge, and apparently, he had turned his attentions to writing his own comedy. Not that he was doing it well. He had always been a kind man, with a sense of humor, but the sharp side he reserved for his job and training his children had since been brushed under the rug. Sango knew that he missed it but - there was only so much they could do.

If she were being honest - he was rapidly deteriorating, and it was nice to see that he still had life in him.

"Dad. Just – stop. Please, I don't think either of us can take it." Sango shook her head. He had been through two different bouts of radiation, and now he was on a medical trial for a drug that was supposedly supposed to slow down the growth of the tumours. Sango was sceptical, but her father had told her that even if the trial didn't help him, maybe it could help someone down the line. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him being a human lab rat, but she understood that he felt so useless otherwise, this was the one thing that he could still actively do. Hell, she probably would have done the same if she were in the same position.

"I've been meaning to ask, did you get your loans sorted out, Sango?" Her father turned stern, and Sango sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"Not – exactly." The brunette still cursed herself for thinking that four years tottering away at a degree would actually help anything, especially when she knew that she would be spending her life slaying demons and corrupt humans anyway. Still, the allure of college drew her in; she had wanted to make her father proud. Now, she was left with a whack load of student debt, and having her father in the hospital quickly accumulating a mountain of bills didn't make that any easier. Times had been alright when her father was working too, but the job didn't exactly have security or sick leave, and with him down for the count, she was struggling trying to make ends meet.

"I'll figure it out; you don't have to worry Dad. I actually just finished a job this morning. It paid pretty well."

"I can seriously help get a job-" Kohaku started, but Sango turned a stern eye on him.

"Don't, not until you finish high school. You'll have lots of time to work after then." Sango paused, turning to their father. "Back me up on this one, Dad."

Akio pasued for a long moment, before he agreed. "Your sister is right, Kohaku."

It wasn't so much that Kohaku wasn't capable of balancing the two, after all, Sango had been doing solo missions since she was sixteen, but his heart wasn't in it, and she didn't want him to feel pressured. She liked to think of herself as a kind soul, despite what she did for a living, but her brother was even more gentled hearted than she was.

Sango knew that it killed her father that he couldn't be providing for his children, but this was the mess life had handed to them. There was no sense moping about it, that wouldn't do any good.

Reaching out to grab Kohaku's hand, Sango gave it a squeeze.

"We'll pull through this, you two. We're a family of fighters, after all."

They visited for a little while longer, until Kohaku and Sango both agreed they should let their father rest. After promising to visit again the next day, the two Himuras packed up their belongings, and made for the elevators.

The ride was silent for a moment, before Sango reached out and grabbed her brother's hand. Despite the fact that he was nearly a foot taller than her, he was still six years her junior, and she felt a fierce protective instinct over him. He would always be her little brother, and she hated to see him in pain. Their fathers fate was getting to him more than he wanted to let on, and above anything else, she wanted to do what she could to make sure he was okay.

Kohaku squeezed her hand back, and attempted to smile. "What do you think is going to happen, sis?"

Sango sighed. Honestly, she would have liked to know the answer to that question herself.

A/N: So! Chapter one! I honestly have been working on this fic/outline for a month and a half, and I finally decided if I didn't just start posting I might never do it, and I really wanted to because I'm actually pretty excited about this. So welcome to this wild ride/crazy journey, if you happen to give this a read, thank you very much, and I hope you'll get as excited as I am about this. My ultimate goal is to work this out in a way that is 1) not super cliche 2) somewhat realistic, while still being 3) adventurous and exciting so stay tuned, pals.

I hope this isn't coming across as too out of character for Sango, but in order to set up for the main plot, it was something that needed to be done.

Anyway, if you happen to leave a review, thank you very much! I bless you with good parking karma and I hope you find a lucky penny.