Bang Bang: Part One ------ Kirei Kitty, Bounty Hunter Extraordinaire ------ by Sweet and Sour Suki

Chapter 1 --- Codename: Kirei Kitty. Meow!

Are you guys scared yet?

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

By, Nancy Sinatra

I was five and he was six

We rode on horses made of sticks

He wore black and I wore white

He would always win the fight

Bang bang, he shot me down

Bang bang, I hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, my baby shot me down

Seasons came and changed the time

When I grew up, I called him mine

He would always laugh and say

"Remember when we used to play?"

Bang bang, I shot you down

Bang bang, you hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, I used to shoot you down

Music played and people sang

Just for me the church bells rang

Now he's gone. I don't know why

And till this day, sometimes I cry

He didn't even say goodbye

He didn't take the time to lie

Bang bang, he shot me down

Bang bang, I hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, my baby shot me down

Story coming soon!

Chapter One

"...Kitty!?"

"Bunny!?"

"Foxy!?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MIROKU!?" All three bounty hunters screamed at their boss's face, holding up small square pieces of plastic in their hands: the business cards they had been dreading. Miroku's idea of course. The young man sighed behind his desk, and folded his hands behind his head, watching the ceiling fan whirl around and around and around... it was making him dizzy. But so was the heat.

"I just thought it would be easier for everyone to have codenames." He exclaimed innocently, not making eye contact with any of his employees.

"Black Panther is a code name, Miroku. Not Snickerdoodle and Fluff ball." Kagome Higurashi snarled, looking down at her plastic business card with utter loathing. She pulled away her face before she threw up on it. For God sake's, hers was a bright pink with little anime cats prancing around on it that were singing, 'Kirei Kitty, Kirei Kitty'! (pretty kitty, pretty kitty) At least Sango got a normal color like yellow! This was ridiculous! She was at team member of the seek out and retrieval squad, not a teenage version of cat woman!

"I don't recall giving any of you the names Snickerdoodle or Fluff Ball. As for Black Panther, that's a cop codename. We're not cops." Miroku pointed out, playing with the small black ponytail that resided behind his head.

"They're code names! What's the difference!?" A young man on Kagome's left huffed. His name was Shippou, and he was new at the agency. But that didn't mean he didn't know what was idiotic or not. His card was a dark orange, and a very similar version of Wylie E. Coyote (only fox-style) was panting at the bottom from what seemed like lack of water, since he was crossing a bare desert. The cartoon fox was trying to reach a cactus...

"Why do we even need code names? Isn't that a little childish? Aren't these a little childish?" Kagome's best friend and fellow bounty hunter questioned softly. She wouldn't admit it, but she kind of liked her name: Bunny. Very cute. And her business card wasn't quite as vibrant as Kagome's, with a soft yellow background sporting carrots and little white rabbit heads floating about. It wasn't something to hand out at business parties, but then again, how many of those had she attended in the past month? Bounty hunters weren't the most huggable people of the justice bunch. Respected, definitely, but not loved. They didn't obey the rules. There aren't any guidelines in their profession, just big guns and bigger bounty heads.

"I think if you give them a chance, they'll grow on you." Miroku smiled brightly at Sango, who he had taken an interest to in the past few months she and Kagome had been working for him. He was known for his perverted ness and asserting actions, and the word 'hentai' was associated with his name quite often. The girls knew this all too well.

"I doubt it." Kagome muttered under her breath, tucking her business card into the back pocket of her levis. She gave an exasperated look at Sango, who shrugged and tossed her card into her purse. Shippou looked like he was about to rip his up.

"Be careful with those. I got them laminated so they won't be destroyed so easily, because I only ordered one set. So don't lose them!" Their boss warned, settling back into his black leather chair and looking over at the three from behind his big oak desk.

The three perked at the news that he only had one set. If they 'lost' them, he couldn't give them more!

"I know what you're all thinking, so I've told Koharu at the front desk to check for your business cards every morning, since they double as your I.D.'s. Don't got a card, you don't come in for work. Don't come in for work, you don't get your papers. Don't get your papers, can't get your bounty head. Catch my drift?" Miroku grinned at them evilly. They all swallowed and double-checked their cards were close by.

"Good. Now that that's done with... Sango, Kagome, congrats on bringing that Jaken kid in. Did you two deposit your money yet?"

"Hell yeah!" Kagome clapped her hands in excitement, a dreamy look coming to her eyes. "And I'm gonna go hit the sushi bar after work!"

"I'm going to the pet store!" Sango cried out unexpectedly. Kagome quit daydreaming about sushi and brought her head around to Sango.

"You're going to the what!?"

"I'm going to buy a cat with my half of the money!" The taller, and slightly older girl winked. "You don't mind do you?"

"No, I'm just surprised I guess... What about Buyo? What if he doesn't like your cat?" Kagome blinked. Her very fat, very lazy calico cat's name was Buyo, and he had been in Kagome's family for years. She had grown up with Buyo, and had brought him along when she and Sango had moved into a small apartment in the middle of downtown around a year ago, before they had become bounty hunters for Miroku. Then, they were collage students working as bounty hunters on their spare time for the brothers Bankotsu and Jakotsu... but that's a completely different story to be revealed at a later time (hint: Look for a new part in Kagome's and Sango's lives I'm revealing after the Dinky Playmates/Kinky Bedmates Quartet, what happened to the girls after highschool, during collage, and before they met Miroku (ages 19-21) coming as soon as I'm done with the Quartet!).

"Buyo likes everyone."

"Why do you want to buy a cat with the bounty money?" Shippou asked innocently. Sango shot him the death look and snubbed him.

"For your information, cats are very loyal and precious creatures. And they always land on their feet, just like me."

"Maybe your name should've been Kitty..." Kagome sighed, tipping back onto two legs of the hard wooden chair she was on. Miroku liked to make his chairs uncomfortable in his office. That way, when a costumer came in, he could rush him or her and persuade them for more dough than they should be giving while they became frustrated with back pains. Worked miracles. He was quite the negotiator.

"Enough about the cat. All's I wanted to do was congratulate you on a job well done, not hear what you were going to do with every cent." Miroku stated firmly but kindly, quieting Sango. "Now, since this will be Shippou's first assignment, I'm going to give you three an easy one. I want you to give him the ropes, show him what to do, and make sure he doesn't have the lines tattooed too bad in his brain." The twenty-something year old tapped his forehead and winked at Kagome and Sango. In other words, he wanted to make sure Shippou didn't obey the rules of the police. Once again, there weren't any rules in this profession, except for three. But they would get to that later.

Kagome and Sango scooted their chairs forward, their faces now set into serious expressions as they began to direct their brains to the work ahead of them. Shippou looked at them, and mimicked their action. He didn't want to do anything wrong in his first week on the job!

Miroku bent down and opened a cabinet in his desk. Fumbling around for a bit, he finally came up with a tan folder that was almost empty, and plopped it onto the wooden surface.

"That's all the information you've got on this guy?" Shippou's mouth dropped disbelievingly. Wouldn't they need more to find whoever it was?

"Correction, this is all of the information I've got on this girl. And small fries come with small info. This girl had a minor DUI, and failed to show up for court day. Probably just blew it off for a shopping trip to the mall." Miroku shrugged and flipped open the file. Two sheets of white paper stared back at all of them.

"Rin Matsumoto. Age, 22. So she's in your guys' age group," Miroku raised an eyebrow at Kagome and Sango, who nodded vigorously. Kagome scrunched up her face.

"Rin Matsumoto... I know that name from somewhere..." She murmured, then shook her head and directed her attention back to Miroku. Sango also had a strange look on her face.

"Occupation, she's a waitress down at the local Bar and Grill. Known for her reputation with the men... Hey, I think I've dated her once..." The black haired man before them squinted down at the candid shot of Rin Matsumoto paper clipped to the edge of the folder.

"You've dated everyone. Big surprise." Kagome urged him on. Miroku shrugged again and continued.

"Anyways... She was pulled over on June 15th for going 75 in a 55 county road. They took one look at her pupils and asked her to step out of the car. Seems like she was around twelve points over the usual safe drinking level... not totally drunk, but around the might-run-over-your-grandma drunk. So they gave her a ticket and drove Rin home. Towed her car... an 04 brand spanking new Jeep, if it makes any difference. Gave her the court date and left. Turns out Miss Matsumoto's daddy is a major business executive for a large electronics company, and is completely loaded. Rin probably thought her dad would get her out of the date and just went on with her life."

"Bounty?" Sango asked seriously, a notepad already out and taking notes with her favorite gel pin. Sparkly purple ink. It was a weird quirk.

"Ahh... 250. Not much. But a start."

Kagome groaned.

"Aw man. I just remembered how I knew her! She was that bitch SesshoMaru ran off with six years ago!"

Sango gasped.

"No way!"

"Yeah, I would never forget that face. I used to dream about punching it in."

"Hee hee... revenge for Kagome!"

"Let's get her!"

"Now now, girls. This is more Shippou's assignment then it is yours." Miroku stopped them, closing the file and handing it to Shippou, who reopened it and glanced at the girl's picture.

"But Miroku..." Kagome pouted, standing up to look over Shippou's shoulder. "Look at her. She's just asking for a good ol' smack down from Kagome Higurashi, code name: Kirei Kitty. Meow."

"Charming." Her boss grinned, but his word was final. "Bring her in by day three, starting now. Or no bounty. You know the song."

"And I sing it every damn day." Kagome smiled back. Sango stood and gripped the neck of Shippou's shirt.

"Come on, Foxy. Time to jet! Tell you what, since this is your first assignment, and since I'm such a nice person, you can have 50% of the 250 and Kagome and I will split the other half." Sango smirked at Shippou who didn't have a chance to say anything since he was pulled up and out the door before he could open his mouth.

"Hey, wait Bunny, I need that money! The rent isn't cheap on our place, you know!" Kagome ran after the two, then came back to grab Sango's forgotten purse. Miroku stopped her from leaving again.

"Hey, before you go anywhere..." He dug around in the top drawer of his desk, looking for something. He finally retracted his hand, holding up a dark blue card.

"If you see Kouga around, be sure to give him this." He winked. It was another business card, only this one was a deep blue, with a cartoon wolf on the front being pinned to the bottom of the plastic by a large yellow moon. In the middle of the card, it read, 'Kouga Tao Young' and then in finer print, 'Code name: Wolfie'.

"Oh, he'll love that." Kagome grinned. Kouga was another bounty hunter that chose to have a solo career, while Kagome worked with Sango and at the moment, Shippou too. He was tough and experienced, and was known to have a huge thing for Higurashi. Kagome waved goodbye, sticking Kouga's new card into her other pocket, and ran off. Miroku sighed and leaned back in his chair, turning to look out the window and watch the three of them race out of the parking lot in Sango's red convertible mini (a present from a previous bounty head's major moolah).

"I have the feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship."