#SmileLoser This is going on Instagram.
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Fingers squeeze the dingy doorframe. Rin squints out at the hot bursts of white from camera flares, blurring her vision.
A riot of about one hundred rages several feet away, outside the student's apartment door.
Screaming women adorned in rich threads and gleaming jewelry madly fan their faces, demonic moans and wails screeching from their red lips. A few already succumbed to their demented emotions and fainted. Some men join in delirious declarations of love for the handsome man standing right outside Rin's door. Those particularly aggressive in displaying their affections, the especially bold and especially daring, thrust their clawed fingers out high, as though sheer will alone might have them rise above the mania and capture the prized man for themselves. Paparazzi punch fanatically at their cameras' shutter buttons, shoving, elbowing, clawing and crawling between one another's legs for that million dollar shot of the businessman and his new woman of the week. Dozens of outstretched arms with phones in hand wave in the air to record the scene, pushing against sturdy men clad in black. Bodyguards, no doubt, hired to keep the crowd at bay in this rare public appearance.
It was pandemonium at 9 o'clock in the morning. All for some rich, pompous heir.
"Join me for dinner tonight."
Rin wanted to shut the door to such ridiculousness, but she couldn't possibly show such blatant disrespect to the prominent CEO and heir, even if he bore down on her so disrespectfully, as though something to be eaten. Rin clicks her tongue. She was going to hear it from that old coot of a landlord later yet again today. And this time, his complaints would completely justified.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Taishou, I'm not interested."
"Beg your pardon?" Sesshoumaru stares at the woman as though she is out of her mind. Obviously she had to be unwell to reject him. Sesshoumaru Taishou, CEO, heir to his late parents' wealth, and hedonistic extraordinaire, didn't know the meaning of rejection. So he had made the drive in his limo–well, not he of course, but his hired driver (as if he would ever drive himself)–to the apartment complex overlooking the outskirts of the city, fully expecting submission from the woman. Dressed to the nines and with a beautiful bouquet stapled to his chest, even a hardened executive wouldn't be able to resist whatever Sesshoumaru wished.
His mental manual was as follows and carefully created after exactly 267 instances of the same scene:
1) Proclaim date and hand over bouquet.
2) Take the shrill screams and flailing of this week's lucky woman as confirmation of said date.
3) Did this woman faint? If yes, see step 4. If no, skip to step 5.
4) Call for a bodyguard to see her inside. (Later at dinner if she thanks you for taking her inside and compliments your strong physique and gentlemanly mannerisms, give a dashing smile and just go with it.)
5) Leave the establishment.
None of the above occurred, much to Sesshoumaru's utter disbelief.
Behind him, one particularly frenzied voice in the crowd screeches above the rest, sobbing for "Lord" Sesshoumaru to bear her children. Any other day he might have sized up the female just to humor her, but such was not the case today. His eyes scrutinize this one magnificently difficult woman, Rin. He will win her over, certainly, but he finds her behavior cumbersome.
Then again, she is the sister of the independent and spirited Kagome Higurashi. His little brother's woman. It was over dinner several days ago, when he first met Rin. When both Inuyasha and Kagome were in that awkward stage of transition from best friends to romantic interest, and too uncomfortable to admit they had become a "thing." To avoid awkwardness, Inuyasha and Kagome both agreed to drag their siblings along with them. If asked, Sesshoumaru honestly would not be able to recall the name of the restaurant. That entire night was a blur, with Rin being the focus of his every thought.
"Rin Higurashi, I am formally asking you to dinner with me." He says this again, as if his last attempt needed a bit of clarification. Where was the screaming? The flailing? The fainting? This is unfamiliar territory for Sesshoumaru, and he is eager to get back to familiar ground.
Rin mutely challenges Sesshoumaru's stare, and faintly muses that his golden gaze seems perpetually cut and hardened, adding an unnatural, intimidating air to this man.
Rin knows he's crumbled many before her under this very same stare. Well, she will not be so easy to reduce to her knees.
It was only by happenstance that she had a more intimate encounter with the heir, beyond coming across his smug mug donned in luxurious furs and suede suits on the front pages of business and celebrity magazines. It was by complete and total mistake that he actually knew her by name. She knew accompanying Kagome to that dinner was a bad idea. She never should have done it, but oh, but how could she have refused her sister? Though not biologically, a sisterly devotion exists between the pair, making their bloodless relation near impossible to suspect.
The crowd's noisy swell cools to a hush. Phones remain raised in documentation of this heart-stopping moment. Waiting for this mysterious woman's response. Her lips remained pressed in a thin, pale line. She remains silent.
"Rin." Sesshoumaru's articulate speech assumes slight annoyance as he announces his intentions to the woman, louder this time. One girl in the crowd whispers to her friend that she might even be able to capture the complete conversation now, and that this will get her so many views on her page. They giggle into their hands. "You will join me for dinner."
"I beg your pardon? I said I'm not interested, Mr. Taishou. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She attempts to close the door. The crowd, a sentient single existence, gives a collective gasp at the brazenness. One even boos the retreating woman.
How dare she? How dare she!
Sesshoumaru's hand lashes out, catching the door and eliciting from Rin a squeak of surprise. Despite the accident those many years ago that left him with only one arm, the man is still quite powerful, capable as he was in his youth. No one dares question this fact. Not even Rin, who fights to shut the door using her entire body for added support.
The heir leans forward, effectively stalling the student's effort. "Rin." The name leaves his lips in a breathy demand, hints of seduction threaded within the purr. He glowers over the woman, precisely articulating his demand at length. "You will join me for-"
"Are you insane? Did you not hear me before? What the hell is wrong with you? "
With that cry alone, Rin Higurashi, struggling college student and part-time laundry worker, brings the entire world to a halt. The crowd freezes. Jaws drop. The flares cease instantaneously, save for one lone click and flash that breaks through the stillness. The jittery intern responsible squeaks out a faint and frantic, 'Sorry! Sorry…' (What the intern didn't know is that tomorrow this lone photo of the heir's initial reaction following Rin's outburst will sell for millions to news publishers. Intern? Not for long.)
Rin is positive she's never seen the heir's eyes so wide, his face so pale, his mouth so limp in an inaudible gasp.
Rin doesn't enjoy being the one to provoke such a horrified look. Truly, she doesn't. She doesn't enjoy being the first woman to show Sesshoumaru the meaning of rejection. She also doesn't enjoy yelling, and seethes her next words to avoid raising her voice. (Unbeknownst to her, it manages to make her physique all the more intimidating.) "I know you, Mr. Taishou. I know all about you. I know you are a playboy. I know you throw money at women to wrap them around your finger. But I am not one of those women. I am not to be won over. Sorry, but I am not interested. Move the hand, Sesshoumaru." Her brown eyes narrowed to slits. "Or lose it."
He snatches it away. Quickly.
The tension in Rin's locked jaw releases, and all at once the formidable woman's face smoothes and melts to an amiable smile. "Thank you. Please leave, and take your entourage with you. Kagome's still sleeping, and I have work tonight."
The door slams shut on Sesshoumaru's stunned face, which remains unchanged, perpetually frozen in his humiliation.
Behind him, Rin Higurashi resumes the world, and the crowd roars to life.
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"So." A Cheshire grin slithers onto Inuyasha's lips. Folding his arms, he leans against the doorframe leading to the brothers' grand living room. Sesshoumaru has yet to move from the couch since that morning. A stone statue, staring out at nothing. Very unlike his brother. "How'd it go?"
Inuyasha is being a dick, as usual.
Of course he knew how it went. Hell, the whole damn world knew how it went. Sesshoumaru's humiliation is trending faster than the Taishou brothers' rising wealth. A shaky twenty-two second cellphone video of the entire scene broke through a million views less than thirty minutes after being uploaded. Sesshoumaru's 1080p priceless face makes it a truly majestic watch. Inuyasha himself had seen it about twenty times since this morning, and after about an hour he felt a strong desire to personally drive to Kagome's place and shake her sister's hand for accomplishing a feat even he has never succeeded in doing. (This thought is a joke, of course. Since the day of the accident, he and his elder brother both had an aversion to driving and avoided it at all costs.)
It will be headline news tomorrow, if not tonight. Celebrity gossip stations will pounce all over it. God, Inuyasha can see the headlines now: "Multi Millionaire CEO Sesshomaru Taishou? 'Sorry, I'm Not Interested.'" He fought not to snicker, and easily succumbed to that battle.
Sesshoumaru didn't move from his spot, but growled as his brother slid casually to a seat next to him.
"Oh, come on. What was that bullshit you said before? 'No one rejects This Sesshoumaru. No one.' Am I right?"
"Be silent, little brother." Sesshoumaru continues to stare numbly ahead. The flowers in his grasp have long keeled over from the elder brother's strangling grasp.
Inuyasha's resolve collapses right then. He roars with laughter, slapping his brother hard on the back. "Oh my god! Kagome, your sister, that woman, is a fucking national treasure!"
He shudders and howls at Sesshoumaru. The Sesshoumaru Taishou! The CEO growls darkly. Hell would freeze over before he is made to look like a fool from his very own half-brother! Sesshoumaru curses the younger in self-defense, wringing the crushed bouquet before Inuyasha in an emotional and rare outburst.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up!" spits Inuyasha as he digs into his pocket. Sesshoumaru's rage dissolves to horror when his brother's cell slides into view.
"Do not." Sesshoumaru is loath to admit that the sadistic gleam in Inuyasha's eye devils him. "Do not. Inuyasha, I will kill you if-" Sesshoumaru's dark threat sputters and dies on his tongue when he is pulled tight by the forearm, his shoulder smashing with Inuyasha's.
"Smile, loser. This is going on Instagram."
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