I

If anyone was ever curious enough to ask, Sesshoumaru could pinpoint the exact moment his life changed with absolute clarity and without any hesitation. He knew exactly who was to blame for that change and he knew that he would forever be grateful for it. His life had fallen into a routine that he had followed for as long as he could remember. There was never any change to how he lived and what he did from day to day, but that was before the change, before the obstruction to his favoured routine and before his life was turned upside down.

It had all started the day his father had pestered him to get a new secretary and from then on, things had started to change subtly as his routine became disrupted and replaced by a new one.

'You need a new secretary, Sesshoumaru' Inutaisho said seriously, looking at his eldest son who sat on one side of the breakfast table beside his stepmother.

'I already have one, father,' Sesshoumaru deadpanned.

'She can barely type, Sesh,' Inuyasha exclaimed from across the table. 'She spends all her time looking after those red talons of hers and not enough doing work that actually helps you. I bet she doesn't even know what you do for a living.'

'What she cannot manage, I can do myself,' Sesshoumaru replied, trying hard to get out of having this conversation.

'You'll give yourself too much work if you do the work your secretary is supposed to do for you,' Inutaisho objected. 'You work too much as it is.'

'I work no more than you or Inuyasha.'

'You're covering for a useless woman!' Inuyasha said loudly, dropping his cutlery on the table as he focused on his brother. 'You probably only keep her around because she looks good.'

Sesshoumaru glared at his brother and carefully put his cutlery down on his empty plate. 'I couldn't care less if she's good to look at or not. I have no time to sit and go through piles of résumés just to find someone to replace something I already have.'

'What if someone else could find one for you?' his stepmother, Izayoi, asked from beside him. 'Surely your father and brother would be willing to help?'

'We should have just done that in the beginning,' Inuyasha muttered as he resumed his meal. 'You're a poor judge of character, Sesh.'

Sesshoumaru stood up and thanked his stepmother for the meal before departing without another word. As he slid into his car and set off for his office, he thought over the conversation again. He knew his father and brother were right, but he was too stubborn to admit that. His secretary was quite useless. Her nails were so long that she could barely hold a pen, let alone type the letters he gave her and she spent most of her day preening herself, which meant that even if she could type, she probably wouldn't anyway. It was frustrating, but knowing better than to argue with a woman after having to concede defeat in the arguments he had had with his stepmother and sister-in-law, he decided that it would be simpler and probably faster to do the work himself and leave her to simply sit outside his office to do whatever she felt would occupy her suitably.

His eye twitched slightly as he walked towards his office and found her lounging in her seat in an outfit that was utterly unsuitable for the office while she cracked her gum noisily as she flipped through the pages of a magazine. She didn't look up when he walked past and Sesshoumaru knew that she would not come in a short while later to bring him his mail and pass on messages as she was supposed to do. No, she would come in with a stupid grin on her face and try her hardest to flirt with him as she handed him his coffee. It was sickening, just like her coffee. Everything about her made his skin crawl and there was nothing appealing in the slightest. Her hair was dyed a stupid red colour that didn't look natural at all and her cheeks were bright pink in a failed attempt at using the blusher in her makeup palette. What was worse was the way her lips were always bright red and she would pout so outrageously that it always reminded him of a fish. Sesshoumaru knew nothing about makeup, but even he knew that she really ought to find someone to do her makeup for her. If the woman donned a brightly coloured costume and rather large shoes, she could easily pass for a clown missing from a circus.

Sure enough, no sooner had Sesshoumaru sat down in his chair, the door swung open and the woman he had just been mentally criticising sashayed into the room with a mug of coffee in one hand. Seeing her standing up made him decide that her outfit was even more inappropriate than he had first though. Her skirt reached mid thigh and the shirt she wore revealed far too much cleavage for polite society. Sighing to himself, he looked down at the paperwork he had left on his desk the day before lest the woman mistake his look of disgust for one of lust since she always gave the impression that she was lacking in the intelligence department.

'Any messages?' Sesshoumaru asked curtly, glancing at the coffee she placed on his desk and suppressed a shudder.

'Nope,' the woman said with a shrug.

'Thank you.'

Sesshoumaru was mildly amused to hear a disappointed huff before the woman stalked out of the office and slammed the door behind her. Once she had gone, he got to his feet and walked over to the window to pour the coffee out as he did every day. He was fairly sure that it was the coffee that was killing the plants just below since the grounds men frequently complained to his father about one section of shrubbery dying for no apparent reason, but he was also sure that he would die if he drank that evil looking drink the woman made him every morning. Sighing to himself, he picked up his pen and looked down at the papers before him. They weren't anything difficult and they didn't require anything other than a signature, but Sesshoumaru pushed them aside after a moment as he cast his pen aside to lean back in his chair and look thoughtfully out the window.

His father had worked hard all his life to become president of a publishing company and while he maintained his position at the top, he had delegated responsibilities to his sons. Half of the company and half of the responsibilities went to Inuyasha who managed the department where a popular magazine was printed while Sesshoumaru took the other half of the company which revolved around publishing novels he thought could fetch a decent sum of money. The difference between the two roles were rather large and there were times that Sesshoumaru was very glad that he had the quieter and less rushed job. In his department, there were three other editors and they had divided the clients between them all so the work was equally spread. Truth be told, Sesshoumaru was proud of his department. The other editors had become quite close friends of his and they all worked hard so there was never any reason to complain about them. In actual fact, the only person in the whole department who proved to be of no use in any way was his own secretary although this fact seemed to have escaped her notice.

A knock at the door brought him out of his reverie and moments later, the other three editors stepped into the room. They chatted amicably amongst themselves as they prepared themselves for the weekly meeting with their head of department and Sesshoumaru once again felt a swell of pride at how efficient his department was. He knew that everything that was supposed to be done over the past week had been done without even asking. The three people were at ease and there was nothing to suggest that any of them had had any difficulty in accomplishing their goals over the course of the week.

'Any new clients this week, Sesh?' one of them asked, his blue eyes twinkling excitedly at the prospect.

'None this week, Kouga,' Sesshoumaru replied. 'I have a couple of manuscripts I can pass on to you if you're that desperate for work.'

'You wouldn't give the work to him,' another man, Miroku, put in with a grin.

'He'd do something wrong,' a feminine voice said teasingly.

'Ayame! I'm offended that you doubt my abilities so much!' Kouga exclaimed in mock anger.

'I heard Inuyasha say something about you getting a new secretary,' Miroku said in an exaggerated whisper as he looked at Sesshoumaru with a grin.

'It's about time!' Ayame said in an exasperated voice and then grinned. 'Anyone is better than the one you have now. Maybe if you get someone new, you'll be able to stop killing your plants?'

Sesshoumaru smirked. 'At the very least, I hope that the coffee will be better.'

'You're not against getting a new one?' Kouga asked in surprise. 'You've always been adamant that the one you have is fine.'

'My father and Inuyasha are looking for her replacement, so I'm not going to complain if they're going to do the work for me.'

'You're letting your father choose your secretary?' Miroku demanded. 'Have you seen the kind of women he chooses?! You'll end up with a bad tempered old hag if you're not careful.'

'Inuyasha wouldn't let that happen,' Ayame stated.

'No,' Kouga agreed as he grinned wickedly at Sesshoumaru. 'If Inuyasha has anything to do with it, you'll have a temptress instead. You won't be getting any work done either way. You should've just chosen yourself.'

'Kagome would scalp him if he chose a woman based on her looks,' Miroku said with a laugh. 'You'll find that it's going to end up being Kagome and your father choosing her instead.'

'I don't care who it is,' Sesshoumaru said, shrugging nonchalantly. 'The whole business is tedious so if someone else wants to do it then they're welcome to it.'

'I hope you don't regret that decision,' Ayame said with a smile.

Rin Nakamura sighed to herself and took a deep breath as she gathered finally gathered enough courage to step out of her car. Leaning against it, she looked up at the enormous building before her and closed her eyes briefly. It looked like it was swaying in the breeze even though it wasn't anywhere near as tall as some of the other buildings she had seen. Trailing her gaze down the building, she counted ten floors before arriving at the ground floor. It was an inviting sort of place, she decided. Considering they printed their merchandise in the same building, she had been expecting a very old building that looked like it had been standing since the industrial revolution, but she was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely not new, but it was by no means outdated.

The building stood on the outskirts of the city centre and Rin was surprised by how peaceful the surroundings were despite being able to reach the ever-busy city centre in about five minutes. Lush green grass surrounded the building, well-kept flowerbeds lined the path she walked along, and neatly trimmed shrubbery sat against the walls beneath the ground floor windows. Rin smiled to herself as she approached the reception. She had been surprised to be selected for this job as most places deemed her over qualified, but she decided that she was definitely going to enjoy working here. She stepped through the door and glanced around before heading for the desk where a pretty woman was speaking to a tall man who seemed to be in some position of power in the company judging by the way they talked.

'Can I help you, Miss?' the woman asked, seeing Rin and smiling cheerfully.

'I was supposed to meet Mr. Takahashi this morning,' Rin explained, returning the smile and hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

'Which are you to meet?'

'There's more than one?' Rin asked in surprise before turning to look to her left when the man who the receptionist had been talking to chuckled lightly.

'There are three,' he said with a grin as he glanced at his watch. 'You must be Rin Nakamura.'

'Yes, sir. How did you know?'

'Don't worry, Makoto,' the man said as he grinned at the receptionist. 'I'll take it from here.'

The tall man led her away from the reception area and towards the elevator. Rin stood silently beside him as they ascended and wondered why it wasn't confusing to have three different people with the same name in the company. A flicker of irritation coursed through her as she wondered why they didn't tell her that little detail. If that man hadn't been present, she would have been stumped. She didn't know which Takahashi she was supposed to speak to since the letter she had received gave no first names. Grinning down at her, the man led the way out of the elevator when it came to a stop and Rin soon found herself seated in an enormous office.

'I apologise,' the man said as he sat down. 'I thought my son had made it clear in the letter who you were supposed to ask for when you arrived. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked him to take care of the details and done it myself.'

'It's not a problem!' Rin said quickly, smiling slightly as she wondered what to do. 'I was merely surprised. Does it not cause confusion?'

The man laughed. 'No. It's not confusing at all. I'm Inutaisho and I am the president of this company. The other two who go by the same name are the heads of the two departments that we have here and they are both my sons.'

'I see.' Rin looked thoughtful as she went over that information in her head before smiling at the president. 'So which was I supposed to see this morning?'

'That would be me,' Inutaisho replied with another grin. 'I delegate most of the work to my boys, but when I have a free moment, I like to greet our newest employees to make sure that they settle in well. One cannot be productive if one is uncomfortable.'

Rin nodded in agreement. 'It is an honour to meet you, sir. I had not expected to meet the president quite so soon.'

'We'll become good friends in no time. I will probably be seeing a lot of you since you will be replacing my son's secretary.'

'Replacing?'

'Indeed. Suffice it to say that his last secretary was not very suitable for the office environment,' Inutaisho said with a grimace as he remembered the woman. He lifted a hand to his face and shook his head as though remembering something unpleasant before looking at Rin plaintively. 'She could barely type. You can do that, can't you? Even if that's all you can do, it'll be a major improvement.'

'Of course, sir. I'm quite proficient with secretarial duties,' Rin said quietly, wondering why such a woman would have been employed in the first place.

'And that's why I chose you!' Inutaisho declared triumphantly. 'I have a meeting in a few minutes so I'll take you to meet your boss. I'll check back with you at the end of the day to find out how your first day went.'

The pair exited the office and Rin found herself in the elevator once again, but going down this time. When they reached the ground floor, she wondered where she would be working, but soon found herself being led through a door she had not noticed before. They passed through an empty seating area where a desk stood abandoned and Rin assumed that that would be her post. Beyond the waiting area was a set of enormous wooden double doors flanked by tall pot plants. Glancing around the room, she could see other varieties of flora in different places and looked questioning up at Inutaisho.

'My wife put those there. She said it would be too bare otherwise,' he said with a crooked grin before knocking sharply on the door and stepping inside without waiting for a response.

Rin stepped into the room behind Inutaisho and closed the door quietly behind her before looking around what she assumed was her employer's office. It was a big room, not quite as big as Inutaisho's, but still very large. The wall behind the desk was lined with windows that overlooked the front gardens and let the sunlight in to naturally light up the room. She glanced around surreptitiously and saw a sofa and two leather armchairs sitting in one corner of the room, which was where she supposed he met with his clients and various pictures hung from the wood panelled walls. Overall, she decided that the room seemed more like someone's study at home rather than an office. It was cosy and designed for comfort which was a good point as it would put aspiring writers who met this man more at ease when they met. She smiled to herself. This man was obviously very clever. Unfortunately, while the room was designed for comfort, she noted that it was not tidy. She glanced around and saw that nearly every available space had stacks of papers, manuscripts and books piled high on them.

Inutaisho whistled as he looked around before echoing Rin's thoughts about the state of the room. 'What happened here? It was fine when I was here last and now it looks like a bomb's hit it.'

The man who was to be her employer had yet to reveal himself and for a moment, Rin assumed that he wasn't present, but Inutaisho seemed to know better. The large chair that sat behind the equally large mahogany desk turned sharply when the older man spoke to reveal a younger man who bore a striking resemblance to Inutaisho. Rin saw briefly that there was yet another table behind the desk, which was where he had been working since his own desk was completely covered with papers. The man rose to his feet and stepped out from behind the desk to greet his father and Rin could marvel how similar the two were. She imagined that if the second son were present she would be looking at three versions of the same person.

'It is organised chaos,' the man said, his voice deep and gravelly as he shook his father's hand.

'I'm not sure how organised it is,' Inutaisho said quietly as he looked doubtfully at a pile of papers that were obviously mixed up. 'It certainly is chaos.'

'Since Akemi left, it was easier to have all the paperwork in one room. It wastes time running from one room to another.'

Inutaisho shook his head and turned to grin at Rin as he gestured to his son. 'This is my eldest son, Sesshoumaru. As you can see, he's in desperate need of some help. Sesh, this is Rin. She's your new secretary.'

'A pleasure to meet you,' Sesshoumaru murmured, shaking her hand as he looked her over critically. 'I look forward to working with you.'

'The pleasure is mine, sir,' Rin replied, smiling uncertainly. 'I will aid you to the best of my abilities.'

'Well, that's the introductions over with!' Inutaisho exclaimed cheerfully, clapping his hands together gleefully. 'I've got a meeting to get to so I'll be off. I'll come back later!'

The pair stood still and silent in the office as they watched Inutaisho wave at them over his shoulder before the door closed behind him, plunging the room into an awkward silence. Rin wondered what she was supposed to do now. Did she excuse herself and go set her equipment up at her desk or did she stay where she was to be told her duties? Her gaze lifted slightly and she looked over her employer as critically as he had looked her over. He certainly wasn't the type of person you would expect to find in an office. If she had seen him in a street, she would have assumed that he had a very exciting job instead of something as mundane as a desk job. He was as tall as his father which made her feel somewhat insignificant and his long silver hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. The sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up past his elbows and she could see strong arms which, when coupled with his broad shoulders and his lean frame, suggested that he was quite strong.

Sesshoumaru began speaking in that deep, gravelly voice as he explained what was required of her. Rin nodded as she took in his words, but mused that his voice sounded like he had been smoking for quite some time, but she saw no traces of anything that would suggest he smoked. She followed as he led her out to the area she had seen before and showed her the desk which she had already seen, but she didn't say anything. After a short while, he left her to organise her desk and while Rin put her stationary in the order she liked, she glanced into her employer's office briefly and found him pacing the room as he spoke into the telephone. While Sesshoumaru and his father looked very much alike, Rin could see that there was one major difference between the two of them. It was so obvious that even if they had been identical twins instead of father and son, she could have easily told them apart. Inutaisho was warm and friendly, he took charge of social situations and spoke enough to cover any awkwardness, but his son was different. Sesshoumaru didn't exude the same aura of warmth as his father did; he had an air of apathy about him that suggested very little in life actually interested him. He was polite but aloof and even his eyes, which were a warm amber colour, seemed to lack the life she had seen in Inutaisho's eyes. They were simply cold and blank which left one with the distinct impression that they were looking straight through you.

'Is there anything I can do to help?' Rin asked as she stepped into the office and waited patiently for the response.

'I suppose the paperwork should be put in order again,' Sesshoumaru murmured, almost as though he was talking to himself before making her jump slightly when he looked directly at her with his cold gaze. 'It wasn't supposed to get so mixed up, I apologise if this makes the job any harder.'

Rin shook her head. 'It's no trouble. It may take some time, but it should be fairly easy to put back in order. Is there a specific filing method you wish me to use?'

'As long as there will be no difficulties locating files I need, I have no preferences.'

Nodding, Rin moved over to the nearest stack of papers and began to slowly sift through her, her eyes scanning each sheet quickly for information that would help her categorize it. She was aware that Sesshoumaru had remained in place for a moment and simple stared at her back before he turned away and went back to the work he had been doing before the interruption. She sighed to herself as she wondered what kind of environment this would be to work in.

Initially, she thought it might be awkward, but as the hours passed and the pair worked silently, Rin discovered that it wasn't awkward at all. It became a comfortable silence and she decided that she was going to enjoy working here.