"You are Higurashi Kagome, dog groomer," the short green demon standing before her stated. Kagome blinked and nodded, "I am, how can I help you?"
The demon fidgeted and said, "Is there somewhere more private we can speak?" Kagome looked around the nearly deserted grooming salon. Business was
slow in the early months. Absently she nodded, "Yes, we can go to the office." She led the demon to their office. "I am Jaken. My lord sent me on a very
important mission. He is in need of a groomer, but it must be someone who will visit milord's home to do the job. There will be offered a very large sum of
money and it will also require complete confidentiality on your part." Kagome blinked, "Does your…erm Lord have some sort of prize-winning show dog or
something?" Jaken snorted, "That is confidential." Kagome huffed, "And I suppose I will have to pay for the gas to get there." Jaken shook his head, "You
are to come with me immediately. We will be driven." Kagome scowled, "I am working right now, and I can't just leave to do a job on my own." Jaken
frowned, "Then you will leave work and come with me. What you are being paid to work here today will be nothing compared to the pay you will receive for
this job." Kagome pondered this, and then said, "How much are we talking?" Jaken pulled out a briefcase and poured out the neatly clipped money. "Each
of those stacks is one hundred dollars." Kagome balked, "I can't accept that much for one dog!" There were easily one hundred stacks. "He is a very large
canine I can assure you; this is a very good price for the size. Milord insists you take this and come immediately. If you require more, he will not refuse."
Kagome thought about it for a moment. On one hand, she was sure it was way too much money, but on the other hand, her family really could use the
money. People just did not visit the shrines anymore. Her grandfather and mother ran the Higurashi shrine that had been in her family for generations. Her
younger brother, Souta helped whenever he could. Finally she nodded, "Let me clock out and let mama know I might be a little late for dinner." Jaken
nodded, "I will wait in the limo. You will be out in precisely fifteen minutes." With that, Jaken left. Kagome eyed the money, and then scooped it up. After
putting most of it in her locker, she told one of the girls she was leaving, and then she clocked out, grabbed her grooming equipment, and called her
mother. "Hi mama. I will probably be late for that dinner tonight. I'm being paid to do a special job." Her mother chuckled, "All right, but be careful dear."
Kagome smiled, "I will Mama." By the time Kagome got outside, Jaken had been waiting for almost thirty minutes. "You are late girl." Kagome winced as
she climbed in the limo and dropped her bag at her feet, "Sorry, it took a bit longer than I thought." Jaken harrumphed and motioned for the driver to go.
Kagome tried repeatedly to find out what kind of dog she was going to be grooming, but all Jaken would say was that it was a very large Inu. Kagome had
no idea what that was and Jaken said Inu was not short for Shiba Inu, so she finally quit asking.
After an hour of driving through dense forests with only the road as a breaker, they came to a clearing. After another fifteen minutes, they arrived at an
enormous estate. Kagome was expecting something grand after the amount of money she had received, but it was nothing like she had imagined. The
main house was literally a castle. Kagome stepped out and tilted her head back to look up the face of the building. "This way," Jaken said as he marched
off. Kagome hurried to keep up with the fast-paced short-legged demon. He led her through a maze of hallways before finally coming to a massive door
with a crescent moon carved into it. Jaken knocked, and then slipped inside, shutting Kagome out. She stood there fidgeting with her bag until the door
opened again and Jaken poked his head out. "You may now enter. Do not be startled by his size, I did warn you he was large." Kagome nodded resolutely
and entered the room. She looked around, and then had to look again. She finally noticed that there were not four large white furry pillars in the room,
those were the rather large legs of the dog she was to groom. She blinked a few times to understand what she was seeing, but every time she refocused,
the image was the same. She didn't notice that Jaken had left until the door clicked shut behind her. Kagome was thinking that this was some grand joke
and a hoax until the dog moved. She gasped at how quickly and fluidly it moved. One moment it was standing there on the other side of the room, the next
moment it was in front of her. She looked up at it and had to nearly bend backwards to see the entire great beast. "No way," she whispered. She finally
took a good look at the dog and saw that its coat was horribly matted and she grimaced, "Well I guess I don't have to ask what kind of cut to do." She
looked at the size of the dog, then mournfully at her bag. "I'll need an extension cord," she murmured. The dog cocked its head then let out a massive bark
that scared Kagome into falling on her butt. "Don't do that! Bad dog, you scared me!" The dog glanced at her from the corner of its eye and raised a brow.
Kagome got up and started pulling things out of her bag. There was a knock at the door and a young demon brought in a bright orange cord. "Thank you I
was just saying I needed one of those." The demon bowed low and left. "Hmm, odd that one, Jaken didn't see fit to bow to me." The dog huffed and
Kagome set up. Kagome looked up at the daunting task before her, "Can you lie down?" When the dog complied Kagome exclaimed, "What a good boy you
are! So smart!" The dog narrowed its eyes at her, but did nothing else. Kagome felt the mats, "Hmm, probably going to have to shave all the way down."
She was right; eventually she was able to get under the mats with her shortest blade. She was able to brush out his ears and tail, though that took a lot of
work. "Okay now I need to shave your sanitary." The dog growled at her and she blinked up at it. "Now what's this? You were fine for everything else and
now you decide you don't like me? I have to get the mats out of there too or else that is just going to have worse ones after the bath." The dog lowered its
head and growled directly in her face. Kagome bopped it on the nose with her brush, "Bad dog, no growl!" The dog looked at her in surprise, and then she
said, "Now sit so I can get to your sani." The dog pulled up the front half if its body and sat, staring at her the entire time as she clipped. Finally she
nodded, "Good now lie down and lift that tail all the way up for me." He did as asked, then jumped and put his tail down as soon as Kagome tried to clipper
the backside of the sani. Kagome shook her head, "I have to shave there too. You just have to trust me boy." He stared at her for a moment, and then he
finally lifted his tail again. When she was finally finished she nodded, "Great, the next step is the bath." He cocked his head. "Do you like the bath boy?
Huh? You wanna get all wet and clean?" She used a baby voice as she reached over and scratched his side. The dog looked at her in surprise, then his lids
sagged and his tongue lolled out. She giggled when his foot twitched, but he did not actually start scratching. When Kagome stopped the dog shook his
head and glared at her, then he rose and walked over to another door, just as big as the one she came in. She followed him, not really noticing the sky that
was slowly turning pink, "Where are you going boy?" She walked out behind him to find a large garden. It was surrounded by walls taller than she had ever
seen, as they were tall enough to tower over the dog.