Okaa-san

A/N: I'm giving you all a present because I'm in a good mood after your amazing reviews. I really do appreciate it guys

Kudos to Sessdoll, Noacat, White Dire Wolf, and LoveIsAMovement for guessing correctly; indeed it is from Taming of the Shrew. Unfortunately, I was going to have you duke it out for your prize (a lovely little puppy who enjoys roast beef dinners, romps in the snow, chewing on socks, and running off with my clothes while I'm in the shower) but my mom couldn't part with the dear little devil. So, instead I offer you cyber hugs - just as cuddly, warm, and enjoyable as a puppy except a little less fuzzy.

Well, onto the story. Just a side note about Japanese schooling. In the manga/anime Kagome is in middle school which is what is also called junior high school; ages 12 to 15 are in junior high school. After that is senior high school which takes ages 15 to 18; this is the last schooling befoe college.

Note: 'means thoughts'


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Chapter 4
Murphy’s Law


Her life sucked – plain and simple.

It didn’t fully dawn on her just how awful her life truly was until the day after she quit her job. The high that she had from confronting Sesshomaru had completely worn off and in its place was the terrible feeling of failure. Not only had she failed in securing the job that she had ultimately dreamed of obtaining, but she also failed in the only meaningful relationship that promised to lead to more than just a simple grope fest.

A quick call to her best friend Sango and a trip to the grocery store for loads of ice cream led her to expose her bleeding heart and cracked pride. There had been a lot of crying and a lot of complaining – which normally made her feel much better – but in the end, she still felt just as depressed and alone as she had before she called Sango. Unfortunately, all her friend could suggest was to move on by getting a new job and find a rebound man. That didn’t exactly make Kagome feel much better. On the relationship front, Kagome wasn’t exactly the type to use a man and dump him just to boost her self-esteem, so finding another boyfriend was out of the question. However, she did agree that getting a new job was in order.

Which led her to where she was now and the conclusion that her life sucked.

Yup. Everything in her life was going down the drain. It couldn’t get much worse than this.

“I’m sorry Higurashi-san, but the position has just been filled,” her interviewer stated. “I’m afraid that you’ll have to leave now.”

Kagome nodded her head, knowing full well that the woman was lying to her but not calling her out on it. This was not the first time that this had happened and Kagome had the sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be the last. “I understand,” she said as she rose from her seat. Smiling despite the circumstances, Kagome bowed to the older woman. “I appreciate you taking the time to give me a chance.”

The other woman forced a contrite smile in response, but did not leave her seat. “Yes, well, it was necessary to interview all those who applied. Have a nice day, Higurashi-san.”

Without another word, the woman went back to her work in a quiet dismissal for Kagome to leave.

Ignoring her rudeness, Kagome left the small office then exited the large building that housed Takeda Industries. Kagome glanced down at her watch as she stood outside the building at the bus stop. She had an hour to kill until her next interview.

‘Why should I bother? Sesshomaru’s made good on his threat. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever get another job.’

Kagome exhaled, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Her quest for a job had so far been hopeless and she was seriously considering just going home and calling it a day. All of her interviews within the last two weeks had all ended the same way: she’d walk in to find her interviewer talking on the phone; she’d take her seat, wait patiently until the phone conversation was over, and then wait once again as the interviewer read over her résumé. When that was done with, the interviewer would tell her that the position had suddenly been filled or that she was over qualified – not under qualified but over qualified – for the job.

They couldn’t even come up with proper excuses.

She knew that Sesshomaru was the man on the other line talking to them. She knew that he was making good on his threat. She knew that he was calling all of her job opportunities and blackmailing them into not giving her the job.

He was an asshole - an asshole with power unfortunately.

Flashing her bus pass to the driver, Kagome climbed into the waiting vehicle and found a spot at the back of the bus. She was lucky she didn’t have to stand; unfortunately, a rather portly man with bad body odor decided to sit down next to her. Trying to overlook his rather strong stench, Kagome returned to her thoughts.

She didn’t have many options left. So far she had applied for ten different positions at corporations ranging from specialization in communications to waste management. And so far, Sesshomaru had beaten her to all of them. Her next interview was for a position as a floor manager at a developmental software company, but she knew that Sesshomaru was probably on the phone with the president of the company right now, giving him an ultimatum. She was as good as blacklisted.

Kagome didn’t know what to do. She considered the possibility of getting a job outside of the city, but she had the distinct feeling that Sesshomaru would use his connections to prevent her from getting any of those jobs either. Besides, she wasn’t too keen on the idea of moving away from home.

But she needed money fast. Sesshomaru had paid her well but not enough for her to go without work for several weeks while still trying to pay off student loans from college. She had no savings because all of her money went to either the bank or to her mother who needed it to sustain herself, her grandfather, and her little brother.

In fact, Kagome was so desperate for money that she spent the previous night at her mother’s house-sitting because her mom had offered to pay her and give her dinner. It had only been three weeks and already Kagome was falling apart.

‘I could always get a minimum wage job until this whole thing blows over.’ She winced at the idea of working at her previous high school job at the shoe store. That had been the biggest mistake of her life. The very sight of bare feet thereafter wanted to make her puke.

No, she wouldn’t go back to working for the shoe store. If worse came to worse, she could always work at the shrine as a miko.

Sunset Shrine was Kagome’s childhood home. Ever since she was old enough to walk, her jii-chan and okaa-san had trained her to become a shrine priestess and to one day take over the tedious job of being the shrine’s caretaker. Kagome never particularly liked the idea of being a shrine-maiden and secretly hoped that her brother would eventually take over the shrine. However, she did enjoy her miko studies and always kept a soft spot for the shrine in her heart.

As much as she loved her home and the spiritual calm it offered, she was not willing to give up her aspiration of succeeding in the business world just yet. She was young and still had time to make a name for herself. There was no reason for her to admit defeat to a pompous ass and run back to the shrine with her tail in between her legs. She was Higurashi Kagome for crying out loud! She bowed down to no one!

“No one!” she cried nearly jumping out of her seat. Crimson covered her cheeks as she realized that she had said that last part out loud. She turned away from the curious eyes of her fellow bus patrons who openly stared at her abashed self. She tried to brush off Stinky’s indignant scowl, but it was more difficult to dismiss than his unpleasant aroma.

Shifting in her seat uncomfortably, Kagome began to stare out the window, hoping that Stinky would soon lose interest in her. Taking in the sights around her, Kagome realized that she was nearing her apartment. Thankful that she didn’t have to bare Stinky’s unnerving gaze or odor for much longer, she prepared herself to disembark. Quietly shifting past her malodorous counterpart, she made her way to the head of the bus and waited until it stopped.

Quickly jumping out once the bus doors had opened, Kagome practically ran from the bus stop in an attempt to get as far away as possible from Stinky.

As she neared her apartment complex, she couldn’t help but notice a moving van idling in front of it. ‘Huh, I wonder who’s moving.’ Hoping that nobody had died Kagome pulled out her keys and opened the entrance door to her complex. Ignoring her mail box for now, Kagome walked past it and up the stairs to her third floor apartment.

It was as she mounted the last steps did she discover exactly who was moving out.

“Hey! What are you doing with my couch?” She asked two burly men, carrying her flower-printed couch out her apartment door and towards the elevator. When they didn’t put down her couch or in the very least acknowledge her, Kagome sprinted towards them and leapt onto her couch. With a loud “oof” they put down the piece of furniture and angrily glared at her.

“What the hell do ya think you’re doin’, lady?” the bald one nearest to her door asked.

“I’m trying to prevent you from running off with my stuff,” she replied hotly. “Now, answer my question: what are you doing with my couch?”

“Well, lady, we’re movin’ it into our truck and hauling it back to our place until you pay the damages you did to your apartment.” He nodded to the other man and they picked the couch back up.

“Wait!” Kagome commanded. “What damages? Am I being evicted?”

The bald man sighed. “Lady, they don’t tell me what a person did to be evicted, they just tell me to take their stuff and hold on to it until they pay me to give it back. Now would you please get off the damn couch and let me do my job.”

“No! This is my stuff!” Kagome protested. “This has to be a mistake; I wasn’t even in my apartment last night.”

Finally pulling the last straw, Kagome was oblivious to the nod the bald man gave to his counterpart and shrieked in surprise as she was suddenly tossed to the floor. She “eeped” when she roughly landed on her bottom and scowled at the two unconcerned men currently manhandling her couch as they attempted to get it into the elevator.

As the doors closed on the two men, Kagome effectively pulled herself off the floor and hastily made her way to her apartment door. She put her keys away when she noticed that her door was slightly ajar which would allow her entrance. Temporarily pausing before she entered her apartment, Kagome took a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever had occurred to make her landlord evict her. Finally striking up enough nerve to confront the damages, she pushed the door open all the way, and with a creak it revealed to her just how bad things really were.

“In the name of Kami, what the hell happened here?!”

With mouth agape and eyes as wide as saucers, Kagome stepped into what was barely discernable as being her apartment living room.

Food splattered her pristine white walls and covered the hardwood floors that the landlord had just put in last spring. The ceiling fan hanging over the spot that once held her floral couch, looked as if it had been yanked out and left to cling by one thin electrical wire while one of the lights that had been attached to it, lay shattered in pieces on the floor. Directly in front of her was her brand new flat screen TV that she had bought for herself as a Christmas present with a large foot shaped hole placed directly in the center of it.

Almost on the verge of tears, Kagome hesitantly stepped further inside and assessed the rest of the damage.

The photos of her family hung askew on her walls while books from her bookcase littered the floor in piles of ripped paper she could only assume came from the books themselves. One of her lamps, broken and damaged, decorated the floor in a puzzle of porcelain pieces. Various CD cases were scattered across her floor along with tidbits of clothes that did not appear to belong to her. A massive green splotch stained the wall directly next to head near the door leading to the kitchen. Upon a closer look, the splotch revealed to be the imprint of someone’s face.

Thoroughly disgusted with the state of her living room, Kagome refused to further investigate how widespread the damage was, afraid of what she might find in her bedroom.

The only conclusion that she could draw, was that someone had thrown a party while she was house-sitting for her okaa-san. And that meant that someone she knew who had a key to her apartment and was well aware of her temporary vacation of her home had taken advantage of the situation and had thrown a party.

“Souta!” Kagome yelled in aggravation. This had her brother written all over it. ‘Why couldn’t the runt stay little forever or at the very least not be the vagrant that he is right now?’ she thought to herself.

The sudden popularity that had overcome Souta when he first entered senior high school had undoubtedly gone to the boy’s head. The once sweet, overly concerned, shy, little boy had turned into a trash-talking, cigarette-smoking, perverted, man-whore. A transformation that left Kagome praying to the Kami for divine intervention in the area concerning her brother’s personal life. Unfortunately for her, the Kami refused to answer her prayer and had left her brother to his own devices.

Gazing dejectedly around her ruined apartment, Kagome entertained the various methods of torture she could employ upon her brother. At this point, she was leaning towards flogging him and burning him with cigarettes. She didn’t smoke, but she had no problem picking it up if meant that she could torture her little brother. Yeah, that sounded pretty good to her. But her sadistic musings came to a halt when her eyes landed on the small windowsill ledge next to her trashed TV.

“MoMo!” she cried. “What did they do to you?” Practically running to the windowsill, Kagome squealed in shock when she realized that her favorite miniature bonsai tree was now nothing more than mulch. “Oh, MoMo,” she lamented as she tenderly caressed a broken branch. “I took such good care of you too. Jii-san will be cross with me for allowing you to end up like this.”

Her Jii-san had given her the bonsai tree upon her graduation of high school as a means to teach her responsibility. Kagome didn’t exactly have a good track record when it came to having pets or any other living thing under her care. Most of them had a tendency to die on her – at no fault of her own, of course. So, for Kagome to have something living for more than a week was an accomplishment, which made MoMo her greatest.

“If you don’t pay me for the damages soon, you’ll end up like your stupid plant too,” a voice threatened from behind her.

Kagome pivoted to see her splotchy faced landlord thrusting a stubborn finger into her face. “What are you talking about? Me? I didn’t do any of this.”

He squinted at her behind his thickly framed glasses. “I don’t care if you personally did it or not. All I care about is getting my money to fix the damages caused by your hooligan friends.”

Kagome shook her head adamantly and obstinately crossed her arms across her chest in a sign of resistance. “I wasn’t even here last night and I know that it wasn’t my friends who were here either. If it had been my friends I could guarantee you that they would not have made such a mess as this.” Okay, so that was a lie. Kagome did have some very obnoxious friends who had a tendency to get a little wild when induced with alcohol, but her landlord didn’t need to know that.

“I don’t care. You will pay for this and you will leave the premises of my building immediately.” He shoved his stubby hand underneath her nose. “Now give me my money.”

That new twitch Kagome had been so sure was nothing more than a fluke, suddenly reared its ugly head once again. “YOU don’t get it. I’m not gonna pay for something I didn’t do. Besides I don’t have the money to cover all of this.” She made a gesture towards the rest of her once living room. “This isn’t my fault.”

Her landlord nodded his bald head and set a fierce grimace on his face. “All right then. If that’s how you’re going to be, then we’ll have the police settle it. I’m sure they will be more than happy to set things right.”

Kagome didn’t know what to say. She was torn between telling her landlord off and begging for him not to involve the police. The last thing she needed right now was a police record. Her résumé didn’t need the addition of destruction to private property as well as battery – well, the battery could be avoidable, but Kagome was in the mood to make her pot-bellied landlord squeal like the pig he was.

Somehow, she came to the conclusion that neither one were appropriate actions. Instead she went with what she hoped wouldn’t be the most regrettable thing she had ever done. Well, only second to pissing off Sesshomaru – that was probably her most regretted moment.

“Go ahead and call the police,” she commanded in what she assumed was an intimidating tone. “Maybe they’ll apprehend the people who did this.”

When her landlord smiled that shit-eating grin she hated so much, Kagome knew that she was an idiot for attempting to push him into a corner.

“Oh, but they have, Higurashi,” he inflected in a voice that sent chills down Kagome’s spine. Her landlord had always been a creep, but this was the culmination of his uncanny ways. “In fact, I called them earlier this morning when your bathtub fell through not only Sasaki obaa-chan’s ceiling, but also through that of her downstairs neighbor, Yoshida-san.”

Kagome’s face paled. “Are they alright? Was anyone hurt?” If anything else, all she needed was someone’s death on her hands and she could officially say that this was the worst day of her life. ‘That’s a sad thought. I’ve actually have had worse days than this. It must be from hanging out with Miroku too much.’

“Only startled,” he replied, quickly dismissing her concern. “But the point is that I know exactly who threw the tub down two floors. And that is why I’m holding you responsible.” He paused dramatically, hoping that she would take the bait.

Kagome did. “And just who would that be?”

“Why that would be your brother, Higurashi. In fact, he’s at this very moment being held in a cell down at the 52nd precinct.” Her landlord tilted his head in such a way that the reflection of his glasses appeared to give his beady eyes a menacing glow. “Which leads me to believe that you allowed your brother to throw a party here last night. And now that your brother has been caught you’re acting as if you have no idea what occurred.”

Kagome’s eye twitched again. “Now, you listen here: I had no idea that it was my brother who threw this party and I in no way gave him the permission to do so. I guarantee you that after I’m through with him, he’s going to wish that he was still in prison.” Glancing at the damage around her apartment, she continued. “And I would in no way allow my brother to wreck all of my things. I’ve already lost my job this month so I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize losing this apartment either.”

When her landlord’s eyebrows rose to his absent hairline in what appeared to be surprise, the following contemplating look that graced his face made Kagome worry all the more. And apparently, she had the well-founded reason to.

“Well, Higurashi, unfortunately for you, this changes absolutely nothing concerning your eviction.” He glanced at her it with what appeared to be a much more subdued manner. “When you signed the lease to this apartment, I made it clear at the signing that you must be fully employed to keep your apartment. All tenants must have a job or else they are immediately evicted upon my knowledge of their unemployment.” A small smile graced his thin lips. “This is of course only a measure to make sure that all of the tenants give me their money on time. I can’t run a successful apartment complex without the necessary money to fund it now can I? You understand, don’t you, Higurashi?”

Kagome didn’t remember that little detail concerning her occupation of the building. But then again, at the signing of her lease, she had been so excited at the prospect of her first apartment that she hadn’t heard a single thing her landlord had said.

“So as you can see,” her landlord went on after he realized that she was not going to deign him with a response, “you still must vacate the premises, but however, I will cut you a break.”

That caught Kagome’s attention. “And what would that be exactly?”

“Well, you won’t have to pay for the damages to the apartment right away. I’ll give you a month.” He grinned at her then and all she wanted to do was puke at the sight of his yellow teeth. “I’m in a very generous mood right now, Higurashi.”

‘Okay, I can do this. A month is plenty of time to find a job and get the money to pay for all of this.’ It was then Kagome mentally slapped herself with a healthy dose of reality. ‘Who am I kidding? There’s no way I’ll be able to pay for everything. I freakin’ house-sat for my own mother last night because I’m so desperate for money. How the hell am I going to come up with the money to pay for this trashed apartment?’

Kagome was brought out of her musings when she heard her cell phone begin to ring. Ignoring her landlord, she searched her oversized purse for her phone. After several seconds of scavenging she found it in one of the pockets and pulled it out. Glancing at the caller ID and not recognizing the number, she answered anyway.

“Moshi moshi, Higurashi Kagome speaking,” she greeted.

“Oh, Kami, Kagome,” a breathless voice replied, “I didn’t think you were going to answer.”

She instantly recognized the voice on the other line. “Souta, you’ve got a lot of nerve calling me.”

“I know, sis, and I’m sorry. I owe you big time for the mess that I made but-“

Kagome cut him off vehemently before he could continue. “No, you owe me new apartment. I got kicked out because of you.” Well, technically she got herself kicked out, but if it weren’t Souta, her landlord would have never found out that she was unemployed. “You are going to pay for the damage you caused to my apartment and you are going to pay for the first month’s lease on the next apartment I get. You got that?”

“Look, I understand. I just don’t have the money to pay you right now. I have bigger problems than that.”

“Oh and what could possibly be bigger than this, huh, Souta?” Kagome asked bitingly. “Because the way I see it, this can’t get any worse.”

Souta sighed. “Kagome, I’m in jail and when the cops came to your place last night to arrest me, they frisked me and they found my stash in my back pocket.”

Kagome rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to prevent the headache she knew was to come. “Kami, Souta: you are an idiot. Why would you keep pot in your pocket?”

“I don’t know,” he returned carelessly. “I guess because it was a party and I just wanted to have a good time.”

“Souta, I seriously hope that you grow up soon. You’re gonna break mom’s heart if you keep the behavior up.” A sudden thought struck Kagome. “Does mom know that you got arrested last night?”

He paused for several seconds before answering her question. “Well, that’s why I was kind of calling you. I was hoping that you could pay my bail and we could keep this a secret from mom.”

When all Souta received was silence he tried again. “Kagome, please. I really need you to come down to the station and get me out of here. There’s this really creepy guy in the cell with me and I think he might have murdered someone. I really don’t want to be his next victim.”

“Was this your one call?” she surprisingly inquired with a calm that she most assuredly was not feeling.

“Well, yeah. I didn’t want to call mom because I don’t want her know about my little indiscretion and I thought that you might be able to help. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason in particular.” Kagome didn’t elaborate any further.

“So, are you gonna try to get me out of here?” Souta appealed somewhat hesitantly.

“No, I don’t think I will.” And with that said, Kagome hung up on her brother.


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He hated her. He hated her so much that he wanted to search her out and personally make her life a living hell. Because Kami knows, she had made his life such.

Sesshomaru came to the conclusion about a week after Kagome had walked out on her job, that she was correct in her declaration that he would be unable to find another personal assistant like her. He had hired a young flighty woman upon his return from Hong Kong, but when the girl had spilled scalding tea into his lap, she had quickly been let go. Thereafter he had hired a man, who had seemed more than qualified for the position, but when the man had unnecessarily touched Sesshomaru’s hair, he too had been fired; it was Sesshomaru’s personal belief that the man had not been of the heterosexual persuasion. The third person he had hired had been a stocky, ugly, little, woman with a strict work ethic and the uncanny ability to be everywhere Sesshomaru was. Sesshomaru had no problem with her being at his side, because that was what he expected of a personal assistant, but what he didn’t intend was for the woman to appear in his kitchen the first Saturday after he had hired her. She too had been fired once it became clear that she had no intention of leaving his home.

He could not afford to give up any more time to the interview process of another assistant; his time was much too important for such a menial task. However, he still found every work day dedicated to the search of Kagome’s replacement.

“And I promise to be the most diligent worker, Taisho-sama. I’ll get you your coffee every morning, answer your calls whenever you need me to, entertain business executives, and if you ever need me, I’ll always just be a phone call away.”

Sesshomaru blankly stared at the babbling girl sitting before him. He had not been paying attention to her in the very least. The moment she had walked into his office, he knew that he was not going to hire her. There was something in her aura that was off; it wasn’t anything malignant but it boded ill for him. The more he listened to her speak, the more he began to think that the girl was unstable.

“I will be dedicated to you and only you, Taisho-sama,” she passionately declared. Admittedly, the glint in her eyes caused Sesshomaru to worry. “Nothing else matters to me except this job, Taisho-sama. Nothing else matters, except you.”

Okay, that was it. The interview was officially over.

“Well, I appreciate you coming in today and I will call you when I have made my decision.” He rose with a flourish and the young woman followed him with a wide-eyed gaze. Sesshomaru gestured to the door with one hand and with the other, none too gently, pushed the girl out of his office. “I will contact you shortly.”

He made to close the door on the girl, but she latched onto his arm before he could do so. “I thank you so much, Taisho-sama. If you hire me I promise I will make you proud.” She gently caressed his arm with red painted nails while sensuously proclaiming, “In more ways than one.”

Sesshomaru’s thinly spread patience was finally at a breaking point. “Kindly remove yourself from This Sesshomaru’s person before I forcefully do so myself,” he gritted out between bared teeth. “I have little tolerance for those who believe that they will get into my good graces through the use of their body.”

She gaped at him as she brought her hand back to her side. “I never meant for . . . well I mean . . . I would never. . .”

Sesshomaru stopped her before she could continue her mindless excuses. “I do not care what you did or did not think. All I care about is you vacating my office.” When she continued to stare at him with mouth agape and a slack-jawed expression, he growled, jolting her out of her temporary paralysis. “Now,” he snarled.

With a squeak and a quick twirl, the girl hastily left his sight. Not wasting any time in assuring that she did indeed leave the building, Sesshomaru turned back into his office and slammed the door shut. Sitting back at his desk, he reflected on how exactly he had put himself in this position.

One would probably say that it was his ever need to control those around him that led to Kagome leaving him to crash and burn. She was right when she accused him of knowing that Kouga was going to propose to her; what she didn’t know was that he did call Le Trianon with every intention to break them up. Indeed it was a dirty trick on his part, but he knew that the wolf would do everything in his power to force Kagome to become dependent on him. Sesshomaru was not willing to lose Kagome to some stupid ookami who reeked of old leather and castor oil and thought it witty to break into a building to install porn on his girlfriend’s computer. No one ever left Taisho Sesshomaru and he would do everything in his power to keep it that way. Unfortunately for him, a slip of a girl by the name of Higurashi Kagome had ruined his plans.

That was reason number one as to why he hated her.

No woman had ever left Sesshomaru – well, no woman of their own right mind and free will had ever left him – and Sesshomaru enjoyed that power he had. He used woman and tossed them aside when he was done. They were the ones that begged to be in his presence and only he would decide which ones met his standards and which ones did not. And no matter what, once he was done with them, he would leave them begging for more. Not once in his life had Taisho Sesshomaru been cast away by a woman.

Kagome was the first woman not to be dazzled by all that was Sesshomaru which was why he hired her. But from the very start she had been a thorn in his side and the fact that she had dumped him so to speak, aggravated him to no end. Every woman Sesshomaru had kept company with had given themselves willingly, body and soul, and because Sesshomaru had never possessed Kagome in such away, it caused something within him to snap the moment she walked out on him. He knew it was the animal within him that had cried out that night at her loss, but it wasn’t because he had an emotional attachment to her; no, it was because he had never truly held power over her. It caused him to question his dominance over those around him, which was not a pleasant thing for those who worked for him. He had contacted all of his networks to stop Kagome from getting any job within Japan in the hopes that she would come back to him like the subservient bitch he had wished her to be.

That was reason number two.

As much as Sesshomaru wished to dominate Kagome, he never wished to break her spirit. It was a paradox that often confused him. He wanted Kagome to respect him as alpha, but he never truly wanted her to be dependent on him. Independent inu bitches were hard to come by; once they found a master, most often their mate, they lost all of their wild nature. It was one of the reasons Sesshomaru so easily discarded women. As a rule, he would only sleep with youkai and once they became accustomed to his attentions, they would suddenly become meek and mindless, expecting him to do all the work. Sesshomaru was under the distinct impression that Kagome would never be like that; she would never let any man rule her in the bedroom or out. A theory he often wished that he could test if not for her humanity.

Although Sesshomaru claimed to hate the woman because she was so infernally mystifying, he would only admit to himself, that he held an inkling of respect for her.

He liked the profound spirit in Kagome and enjoyed her fiery attitude towards everything she did. She was not afraid to stand up to him when she felt that he was being unfair and she never allowed anything to distract her from doing the best job that she could. Kagome was probably the best assistant that Sesshomaru had ever had and regrettably, he was fairly lost without her capable hands.

Even though Sesshomaru allowed her independence, it did not mean that he hadn’t found other means to feel dominant.

Sesshomaru often found an overwhelming sense of satisfaction every time he was able to exert any sense of influence over the young woman; it wasn’t a matter of control over the things she did, but more of the reactions he could rise out of her, that made him feel empowered. Her blushes and witless stuttering caused something deep within him to stir and he took great pleasure in making that feeling occur as much as possible. Sesshomaru knew that Kagome held an attraction towards him but didn’t act on her baser instincts. He commended her on her ability to withhold herself from him and found it admirable that she stayed true to the ookami throughout the entirety of their relationship – even though he found Kouga to be a bothersome lowlife. The attraction was there and because Sesshomaru himself would never be lowered to mate with a ningen, he found alternative gratification in testing her limitations.

Aside from the little teasing remarks here and there, they had kept a fairly professional relationship. She worked quite diligently for him in the two years that she had served under him, and he in no way had abused that power in an attempt to seduce her into his bed. He had, however, abused his power in other ways; there were many nights she had been called out of bed to meet him at the office for mindless tasks that easily could have waited until the morning. Many times Kagome was forced to run errands for him that he had no need for to be done. He knew he was an asshole for doing it, but the results were well worth it.

He thought back to the night she had quit. The way her angered eyes had met his, unabashed and fuming, in a battle of dominance; her heavy breathing that drew further attention to her sizeable breasts had been the only sound she made and the heated blush that had consumed her cheeks had made him wondering just how far it extended. Sesshomaru often told himself that he would never bed a ningen, but there were some days when she tested his capability to stand true to that principle.

“Taisho-sama,” a voice called. “Your next appointment is here.”

Sesshomaru reached across his desk and pressed the intercom button then spoke into it. “Send them home. I’m finished with interviews today.”

“But, sir,” his secretary interjected, “there are at least ten people waiting to see you. I can’t send all of them home.”

“Yes, you can and will. Send them home,” he commanded in a low tone.

“Would you like me to reschedule them for another date, sir?” she timidly asked.

“Do as you like.” He retracted his finger from the button and turned off the intercom system. There was no need for distractions at the moment.

He reclined in his seat and gently began to rub his temples with the tips of his fingers in an attempt to calm himself down. Sesshomaru entertained the idea of calling it a day and going home early. It had been almost five years since he had last been out of the office for any part of the day without it being work related. He had a vengeful redhead to thank for that as well as the damage to his car that she felt the need to inflict with a baseball bat.

No, he would not surrender to the weakness within him that wanted to run and hide from this mess he had inadvertently caused and now he was going to solve it – even if that meant him crawling on his hands and knees and begging for Higurashi to come back to him.

He growled at the idea. ‘Preposterous. This Sesshomaru would do no such thing. I can manage without her. She was not so important that her departure has left me lost within my own company. I will find her replacement and until then, I will just have to her job myself.’

That meant he would have to make his own tea.

He inconspicuously glanced at the electric water boiler on the small table next to his desk. She had always been the one to make his tea for him; he had never done it himself. Even when he was at home, his retainer Jaken usually made it for him. In fact, the last time he had made tea was for his okaa-san on her birthday when he was nothing more than a pup. That was a good century ago and he knew that the process of tea-making had drastically changed.

Technology and Sesshomaru had a silent agreement between them. Sesshomaru would continue to buy the ever changing electronic products of the modern world, as long as the technology that evolved with them refused to bite Sesshomaru in the ass. This basically meant that Sesshomaru would grudgingly buy updated versions of useless electronics while they agreed to cooperate with him in every way. Malfunctions of any sort were considered a breach in contract and Sesshomaru had every right to thereby destroy the offending object. It was a simple truce that had resulted from a mishap with the first electric razor Sesshomaru had ever purchased and so far it had proved to be quite practical.

However, placing his person anywhere near an object whose sole purpose was to boil water, was taking that truce to an entirely different level. Sesshomaru was not so sure that the boiler was covered within their agreement and he was apprehensive to find out.

“Listen to yourself,” he grunted. “Taisho Sesshomaru does not have doubts about whether or not he can make himself a simple cup of tea. You are bigger than this. If you can run a multibillion dollar company, then you should have no difficulty with operating a simple electric water boiler.”

Plucked at his own words, Sesshomaru rose from his seat and gracefully strode towards his opposition. With great confidence he pulled out his favorite cup, dropped a green tea bag into it, and then slid it underneath the dispenser. Searching the buttons, he found a red one that was marked “boil” and pressed it.

He waited for the gadget to make some whirling and bubbling sounds or at the very least have steam rise from it, but when nothing happened, Sesshomaru became agitated. He pressed the button again and was met with absolutely nothing. Again and again he pressed the button only to result in an empty cup and an irate inu-youkai. He stepped back to eye the white contraption carefully.

“You have negated on our compromise,” he declared with a voice that belied his distemper. Sesshomaru leaned forward with his right claw extended, acid whip at the ready. “For that, your death is mine.”

“It’s not healthy to wage battles with inanimate objects, Sesshomaru,” came the warning from within the doorway.

Sesshomaru raised his head to meet the glowing amber eyes of a man who for all appearances, looked as if to be his brother.

The man seemed amused at his son’s antics but said nothing more on the topic. He grinned at his son’s consternation; Inu no Taisho took great pleasure in unsettling his son. It was difficult to get any sort of rise out of Sesshomaru because of that stick up his frozen ass, but when he did, it was very entertaining. He was glad that he could still sneak into his son’s office without his notice; Sesshomaru had bested him years ago in battle, but there were some things he would never be able to outdo his old man in.

Sesshomaru promptly righted himself at his father’s materialization and picked off the invisible lint that graced his tie before he made any movement to greet the man. Finally satisfied that his semblance was in order, Sesshomaru stepped forward and merely nodded his head as a form of acknowledgement of his sire.

Inu no Taisho heartily laughed at his son’s aloof manner. “No need to be so cold, Sesshomaru. Now come here and give your father a hug.”

Sesshomaru reluctantly stepped into his father’s embrace but made no attempt at reciprocating the gesture. Just when he thought that his father was about to pop a lung, Sesshomaru was let go and he hastily retreated back to the safety of his desk.

“What brings you here today, Father?” Sesshomaru finally inquired once he and his sire were circumspectly situated in their rightful seats. “I was not expecting a visit from you.”

His father lazily eyed Sesshomaru’s office, ignoring his son’s query. “You know, you could really use an interior decorator in here.” He swept his hand out in a vague gesture. “This is just depressing. You need some color. All this gray and black is probably what is making you so grouchy. Some yellow and blue would do you good: raise your disposition. And maybe a few pictures; bare walls do nobody any good.”

Sesshomaru let out an uncharacteristic sigh. His father’s visits always vexed him; most likely due to the fact that they were never welcomed. A visit on his father’s part mean that he had done something that somehow involved Sesshomaru and it would in no way benefit Sesshomaru. Inu no Taisho’s previous visit had marked a blind date between Sesshomaru and the Northern Lord’s daughter, Kasumi; Kasumi’s relation to a boar youkai had assisted the date in its downward spiral into the Pit of Doom and Sesshomaru was not willing to let his father meddle in his affairs from that point on.

Hence his anxiety over his father’s sudden arrival.

“Father, please answer the question,” Sesshomaru restrained himself from growling. “I do not have the patience necessary to listen to your ramblings today. I am in a foul enough mood as it is.”

“Clearly,” Inu no Taisho huffed, wounded by his son’s wish to be out of his company. “Well, since you are in such a rush to have me out of your office I guess I’ll get onto business then.” He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper then placed it on Sesshomaru’s desk. “Sign it.”

Sesshomaru arched an elegant brow. “What exactly am I signing?”

“No need to read. It’s about your inheritance. I just need you to sign it.” Inu no Taisho pulled a hand through his high-held ponytail as he waited for his son to make his mark on the paper.

Sesshomaru kept his eyes on his father for any sign of deception. Satisfied that his father for once seemed to be telling the truth, Sesshomaru did as he was told and endorsed his signature at the bottom of the page without reading the document. The moment he finished the last character, Inu no Taisho yanked the document away from him and shoved it back into his pocket.

Warily eyeing him, Sesshomaru felt the need to declare, “I signed that document solely on the belief that it dealt with my inheritance. If you have deceived me father, I have every right to exact revenge.”

Inu no Taisho raised his hands in a placating gesture. “No, no, no, Sesshomaru. I didn’t lie to you. This has everything to do with your inheritance.” He rose from his seat. “Here, let me go get it and you’ll see.”

Sesshomaru’s father offered a small smile then swiftly exited the office. As Sesshomaru waited, he could hear the hushed whispers of his father and secretary outside of his office but could not make the words out.

Soon growing tired of his father’s antics he called to him. “I do not have all day, Father. I have a meeting very shortly and this is . . .” he trailed off the moment his father reentered his office carrying what looked to be a baby carrier. “What is that?”
Sesshomaru pointed to the object his father was carrying.

Inu no Taisho smirked and placed the baby carrier on top of Sesshomaru’s desk. Gently pulling the blanket away from the carrier, he revealed a small baby girl to Sesshomaru’s eyes. “This, Sesshomaru,” Inu no Taisho enunciated, “is your inheritance.”

“What?” was the only word Sesshomaru was able to articulate.

The baby gurgled from within the carrier and reached up to yank one of Sesshomaru’s loose locks. When he pulled his silver hair out of the tiny child’s grasp, she began to cry.

“Make it stop,” he ordered his father when the girl’s screams reached a deafening scale.

Inu no Taisho merely shook his head and began to head for the door. “No, son, I’m afraid you’ll have to do that.”

Sesshomaru, ignorant to the ways of babes, could only yell at the child to stop. “Cease this infernal crying now or you shall face this Sesshomaru’s wrath.” He glowered at his father when he heard snickering from the doorway. Sesshomaru then addressed him. “Where do you think you are going? You are not leaving this thing with This Sesshomaru. You must make it stop.”

The child, now realizing it was being ignored, began to wail even louder.

“No, Sesshomaru. It’s up to you to make her stop. She is your inheritance after all.” Inu no Taisho, believing that he had answered all of his son’s questions began to exit the office.

“Wait, old man,” came the shout from behind him. “What do you mean she’s my inheritance?”

Inu no Taisho turned around to face the livid gaze of his son. He merely chuckled and responded to his question. “Well, you did just adopt her. So, I guess that would make you her father, Sesshomaru.” He turned to leave and called over his shoulder, “And by the way: her name is Rin.”

And with all inquiries supposedly acknowledged, Inu no Taisho left his son to wonder over the sanity of his father.


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A/N: There you have it. Rin has appeared and now we can really get to the good stuff.


I just started the next chapter and unfortunately for you, that means probably another week without updates. But I'll try my best.

I posted this pretty hastily, so if there are any errors please let me know.

Don't forget to rate and review.

Much love,

Moriyo