Check and Checkmate

*Bang*. Black King down. Check.
How quickly everything changes. How quickly one moment, one bullet can take take the world as you know it and turn it upside down. Kingpin Hiragushi's funeral was beautiful, Miroku's bandaged arm, Kagome's tears and Carine's proud, sad eyes, were a fitting tribute and the talk of the society for days. But vultures do not wait long before attacking the carrion. The other families still saw Carine as weak, incapable of leading a family, more suited to wearing cocktail dresses and breeding a litter of brats. Rumour was, that was why he was killed after all, there was no strong male Hiragushi heir, and some abitious family decided not wait for Carine or Kagome to have a son. They began to close in, waiting for the fall.

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Carine flattened her palms against the cool surface of the desk behind her, and arched her back, stretching out the kinks and cramps caused by stress and long hours on her her feet. That little trick also provided for an interesting site for a certain demon who happened to be standing outside her glass office door. Sesshoumaru waited until she turned her attention back to the papers on her desk before letting himself in.

"Ahem." His clearing of his throat was unnecessisary, as she had heard the whisper of the door opening, and he knew that but he did it anyway.

"Whatever brings you here Sesshou?" She flicked her cool green eyes up from the papers to regard him calmly. She looked every inch the powerful professional woman, from her calm expression to her fitted black pantsuit. But he knew her too well to miss the tiredness in her voice and eyes. This hadn't been easy on her.

"I have a business proposition."

"Isn't it odd that you've never before had business with my family?" Carine countered cooly as she set the papers down.

"I have need of your particular talents." He knew his grin was lecherous, but he couldn't resist.

"You'll have to be more specific than that. I have many talents. Not all of which are available to you." She remarked dryly.

Touché. He set his black briefcase on her desk beside the corner where she was leaning and opened it. He had purposely positioned himself so he was disconertingly close to her, but he knew she wouldn't move because it would be a sign of weakness to consede ground in her own office. "As you well know, while the Hiragushi family controls the trade of precious metals and gems, the Youkai family controls the diamond black market, conflict diamonds mostly. I have recently had reason to believe that man I had running our diamond operations is less than trust worthy." As he spoke he opened a small black box with several sparkling gems, a few already in settings.

"Mm. And I suppose you want me to appraise these for you, make sure the gems are worthwhile?"

"I bow to your superior knowledge of the stones, madame." She rolled her eyes and moved around the desk, extracting a jeweler's glass form her desk, and began to examine the stones.
After a few minutes of muttering to herself and moving the stones round she looked up. "This one here is about five carats, good color, the cutting is poor but salvageable, it's the best of the lot, these, are slightly smaller between 4 and 1 carat, but equally high in quality. These tiny ones you'd best sell to a jeweler to make cutting blades or to frame a larger stone. I haven't looked at the set pieces yet."

She fumbled in her desk for a different tool, trying not to look at Sesshoumaru who was eyeing her intently. " I have a proposition for you.." he mummered in a soft low voice as he moved around the desk and behind her. "How would you like to control all the the gem trade in the ring of Fire?"

"I already head everything but diamonds.."

"The most lucrative and prestigious market. If you joined with Youkai.."

"The necklace is rather valuable, 10 carats total, but not all high quality diamonds..."

" Think of it, you're talented enough.."

"This ring is the real prize however," Carine continued, ignoring the very sexy voice in her ear that insisted on making her spin tingle, "beautifully cut and set, the color is very unique, and the stone is proabably 4.5 carats."

"What do you say?" Sesshoumaru spun her around by the shoulders and pressed is body against hers, pinning her against the desk.

"Like I said, I already control everything but diamond trade, there really is nothing for me to gain.."

"Not even this prize?" He held up the hand in which she held the diamond ring she had been appraising and looked deep into her eyes. She steeled herself to look right back at him. "I'll not be your underling Sesshou."

"I know, I'm asking you to be my wife."

She laughed derisively. "Aren't they the same thing?"

"Only in some thi" " The lecherous grin conquered his features once again as she leaned in, forcing her to bend back over the desk, his arm behind her head to hold he to him. "So what'll it be?" be whispered close enough that she felt it more than heard it.

"No." she breathed against his lips.

"Pity". he muttered before capturing her lips in a short but thorough kiss, that conveyed quite clearly exactly how displeased he was with her decision. The next instant he was sweeping out the door, leaving her a bit breathless and still leaning against her desk.

He stopped at the door, and half turned back to her. " You're a fool Carine. You should have said yes. I'll get you in the end, I was just trying to keep you from getting broken first."

"I'm not so easily broken, Sesshou."

"I'll remember that. Being gentle in bed can be tiresome." Before she could fire back a retort he was gone. With a sigh she sank into her chair. He was right, things were gonna get messy, very fast, if she had said yes she would have easily secured herself and Kagome along with most of the family assests, but they'd all be under the control of the Yukai family. She didn't want that, not when there was a fighting chance for her to pull through on her own. She was no one's underling. No matter how nice it would be to actually be under Sesshoumaru for an hour. Or two. She groaned. Powerful men should all be ugly so there was no temptation to give into them. Being that strong and that sexy simply shouldn't be allowed. She shivered when she rememberd his arms around her, and that searing kiss. Ooh. Good thing it's time to go home. The nice thing about living in a mansion is that there are lots of bathrooms, and you never run out of hot w. . Mmmmm. Now if only she could remember which one was soundproof....