There could only be one winner. Throughout the entire world, there could only be one Golden Ticket. But this time Mr. Inuyasha Akurei wasn't searching for an heir to his pocky empire. This time he was looking for a wife.

Rated for language and insinuation.

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Whee! And now that all of the needed stuff is through with, I'm BACK! I know you all missed me and everything and all of you were so heartbroken over the ending of CS...

But I'm going to write a happy ficlet now, oh yes. There will be drama, of course, but it will be happy drama. ::grins::

So this idea was ironically inspired by Benny & Joon, even though I'm mostly ripping Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. ::shrugs:: oh well.

Pairings...no, you get none.

And so, on with the fic!

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Chapter One: The Pocky Factory

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Kagome Hiragushi. Average High School student, with an average lifestyle, and an average family, living in an average town.

She, of course, did not expect this Monday morning to be different in any way from the rest.

But it was—remarkably so. Not only was this Monday morning significantly more important than the rest, but it was a day that would shape the rest of her life, the rest of her career, and the rest of her existence in her small little town.

She did, of course, know about the pocky factory. But it was an old legend, long gone. Nothing ever went in and nothing ever came out of the old rusted gates of the Akurei Factory. Yet there was still pocky being produced and sold—she, for instance, consumed exactly two packages every three days. She would carefully divide them into thirds and pack them into her school lunches, believing that two packages of pocky would be less fattening than three.

Kagome was average.

On her way to school, her average Monday morning...changed.

It wasn't anything that she was really aware of, either. Walking along her route, minding her own business, she simply read the back of the pocky box.

And blinked.

It read, in curvaceous elegant script, that the gates were being opened once again. Mr. Akurei was allowing two women to enter the factory. The women would have to have—

A Golden Ticket. Kagome blinked a few more times and stared at it. Hadn't that kid, a few years before, gotten one of those? It seemed cheap to be repeating the same trick now. And what would become of the girls? The wrapper didn't say.

Yes, now that she was thinking about it, there had been a kid that disappeared into the factory. Sean...Simon...Shippou, that was his name. Shippou Koji.

And now Kagome was intrigued. What had become of that little boy? She had heard about him on the news—he had been an average person like herself, suddenly named heir to the Akurei empire.

Kagome understood the need for an heir. She knew that the child was most likely learning everything there was to know about the pocky industry.

...So what were women needed for?

Maybe three packages a day couldn't hurt her much after all...

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Inuyasha Akurei. Eccentric hanyou, abnormal owner of a multi-million dollar industry, with an abnormal 'family', living in an abnormal world.

He knew that Monday morning was different. Why? Because he was the one that decided it was time for a change. He was tired of Shippou's incessant whining and the bickering of his closest employees, Sango and Miroku. His 'family'.

And, of course, he knew about the pocky factory like everyone else. He knew considerably more than the rest of the world, since he lived in the place, but that was given.

He held a peculiar love for noodle-flavored candies, trying to see how closely he could match the flavor of a coating of pocky to a flavor of ramen noodles. Had he been the one to decide that it was time for a female change?

Not really.

At a regular breakfast picnic in the Candy Courtyard next to the chocolate river, Sango had informed him that his life was going to change. Miroku had then explained how, in less-than-lecherous terms, earning a smack in the face and a bop over the head. Inuyasha was still pondering how to trip the monk into the river, although there were more pressing matters on his mind.

Such as the girls.

What was he going to do with two women? He would have to think of some sort of clever task for them to complete, decide which one he could live with, and dispose of the other.

Or he could just let Shippou choose.

Any way that he looked at it, there was going to be an addition to his little family, and that didn't make Inuyasha happy. He was a creature of habit, as eccentric as he was, and although he indulged in the occasional creative moment of pure insanity, he tried to stick as close as he could to some form of a routine. Such as waking, brushing his teeth, and beating up Miroku. The rest of the day was still apt to change, but he was trying to solidify his schedule.

A female couldn't do that. No creature on earth would be able to give his life order other than himself. And Inuyasha craved order, because if he didn't have it, he started to produce things like chocolate-covered ramen sticks.

A female wouldn't be able to change a thing. That was the truth of the matter.

Inuyasha paused as he watched Sango smack Miroku across the face. He looked down at his watch, and then back up at Sango.

He pulled a battered notepad out of his pocket.

Yesterday. 9:43, Sango smacks Miroku's left cheek.

Inuyasha looked up at Sango, and then at Miroku, and then at his watch.

Female punctuation was uncanny.

He would have to find one for himself, to give his life order and meaning.

That was the truth of the matter...

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chap one done! Whatdja think?

It's this button...

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