Undone

Chapter 1 – Propriety

Kagome Higurashi tucked a minute strand of dark hair behind one ear, and then frowned at her reflection. Sighing, she removed the pins that held her hair in a tight French twist, and redid it. Today, she must look her part, more than ever. Her grandfather was having her meet with a very important man. Negotiating a merger.

I wonder what he looks like. She thought idly, and then pursed her lips. She looked down at her bureau, where a frame held a photograph of Hojo, her longtime boyfriend. His slightly bemused smile did not even elicit the smallest of smiles from her. She turned back to her reflection.

The woman in the mirror looked back, a confident expression on her pale, flawless face. The makeup around her eyes was dignified and natural-looking. Her pale red lips did not hint at any unprofessional emotion. Her rich brown eyes were distant but polite. The skirt-suit she wore was dark but not black, tight but not indecent. Not a single wrinkle marred its freshly-pressed appearance, she noted, pleased. But the woman who looked back at her was unfamiliar. The years may have been kind to her face, but Kagome could not remember when her life stopped being about living and started being about perfection. Starting being about what she was expected to be.

She walked to the bed and put her stocking feet in a pair of elegant black heels. Squaring her shoulders, she made to leave.


Sesshoumaru Taishou appraised the young woman entering the restaurant, his features schooled. She was very beautiful, but this just worried him. It was not usually a trait found in skilled businesswomen, in his experience. A slight wrinkle appeared on his forehead, a sign of extreme annoyance, as he looked inconspicuously at his Rolex. While the women approaching had been quite punctual, it was more than he could say for his hooligan brother.

InuYasha, in his opinion, was nothing but a liability to their company. But regardless of his drunken forays and disdain for even a guise of politeness, Sesshoumaru considered it his duty to honor his father's dying wish and co-run his company with InuYasha. Even if it meant doing all of the work himself.

The woman had inquired with the host as to the location of his table, and now she made her way toward him. He noted, with approval, her reserved but tasteful approach to makeup and attire. She was carefully professional but not unappealing. Smiling politely, she greeted him.

"Mr. Taishou. How pleased I am to meet you in person." She bowed slightly, then took a seat. He could tell she was slightly overwhelmed by the restaurant he had chosen. It was one of the most expensive in New York, but he liked to make an impression.

"Ms. Higurashi. I trust your trip here was pleasant."

"Indeed, Mr. Taishou, but the Limo was hardly necessary." She replied meekly. He just smiled, a rare occurrence.


Kagome let her eyes sweep the elegant décor for a moment before coming to rest again on the man in front of her. She couldn't help but notice the empty seat next to him, where she assumed his business partner should be sitting. She wondered what held him, but did not ask.

She assumed the man in front of her was Sesshoumaru, the older of the two brothers who ran Youkan Inc. She had not completely avoided news of the younger one's exploits, and wondered if that had anything to do with his absence.

Sesshoumaru wore a grey suit, perfectly pressed, that went well with his long silver hair. Tied in a neat ponytail behind him, it didn't look strange on the otherwise conventional businessman, oddly enough. Once they were through pleasantries and ordering, he began preliminary talk of the merger, to which she nodded affably, speaking when appropriate. The details weren't hard to follow. She was here to provide a pleasant, professional image of her grandfather's company to encourage Youkan to go through with the merger.

A loud slam jarred her out of autopilot. The doors through which she had entered had opened again, less quietly and with more speed. A man who was both similar and altogether different from the one sitting with her strode imperiously into the dining area, a flushed host following him, inquiring as to his business. He pointed to their table and the host immediately quieted, bowing slightly before returning to his post.

The man, Inuyasha she presumed, had the same silver hair and fine features as his brother, but exuded a completely different attitude. While he had put in a suit, the jacket was undone and the first two buttons of his shirt open. His hair, also long and silver, streamed out behind him, slightly unkempt. His face held an expression of annoyed boredom as he draped himself across the remaining chair and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu from a passing waitress.

Sesshoumaru frowned slightly, the first real emotion that had graced his expressionless visage since Kagome had seen him.

"You're late." He commented without inflection.

"Keh. You seem to have gotten along fine without me." Inuyasha replied. He examined his long, sharp fingernails with pointed disregard for his brother. His eyes, a deep molten gold, then swept Kagome, lecherously traveling down her figure. Noticing her looking back at him, he winked. Kagome felt herself flush, and looked away, angry that her composure had been ruffled. Sesshoumaru's voice brought her attention back to him.

"Ms. Higurashi, you must forgive my brother. While it was our father's dying wish that we co-run our company, he is uninterested in business and rarely involves himself. I thought it important for him to be present at the deciding of our merger, however."

"Of course." She replied primly, avoiding Inuyasha's gaze. She found it hard, however, through the rest of the meal, to prevent her eyes from flitting nervously towards his face. Every time he almost caught her looking, her heart rate sped up, and soon a thin sheen of sweat covered the back of her neck.

Who does this man think he is? She wondered. He doesn't care what I think of him. His collar is rumpled. His face betrays everything.

He perplexed her. It was over too fast.

"And so, Ms. Higurashi, I believe things will work out quite nicely between us." Sesshoumaru was looking at her in a way that made her think there was more than business to his words, though it was hard to tell with him. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. The meals had come and gone, and now champagne bubbled before them. She sipped it delicately, but with more abandon than usual, trying to take the edge off of her anxiety.

She nodded to him as she had been doing through much of the meeting, keeping her face positive but carefully neutral. She couldn't help but admire Sesshoumaru's collected exterior, and a fleeting thought of him as an ideal partner flitted through her mind. How long she had been alone, not without a lack of enthusiastic advances, but slowly whittled down to resignation of her single state by messy, chaotic losers to whom she felt no attraction. She was known around the office for being friendly, but cold. Her mother kept trying to set her up.

"If I may escort you out then, Ms. Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru held out a polite hand in request of hers. She made a decision.

"Kagome." She smiled slightly and took it, not sparing his brother another glance, though she could feel his golden eyes burning into her back. What a terrible man, lacking the slightest regard for social mores and her own status as a human being worthy of respect.

The street outside was dark, glowing in the luminous cast of the streetlights above. Sesshoumaru turned to face her.

"Kagome," He began tentatively. "Perhaps we could meet again, unconfined by the strictures of business. I enjoyed your company tonight." His voice was monotone, but she dimly registered that he was asking her on a date. Why not? A tired voice prompted in her head.

"It would be my pleasure." She said thickly, her head slightly dizzy, the champagne turning the street into difficult standing ground.

"I will contact you soon, then. I regret that I must leave. I've called the limo for you, it should arrive soon." He inclined his head at her, and then disappeared into the darkness.

She almost felt tears behind her eyes at his absence, not at the absence of him as a person, but in the utter isolation he left behind. How long had her life been empty, filled with days of work and sleepless nights of sadness. Filled with white walls and white sheets, makeup and suits, paperwork and organized office supplies. Her head spun. She lifted a hand to her hair and spontaneously pulled out the pins and ties that held it in a rigid up do.

Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders, and the ornaments fell from her fingers. It was too hot out here! She ripped her suit jacket off, tossing it into a nearby trash bin. A cough from behind her made her start. She turned.

Inuyasha stood, bemused. His eyes almost looked concerned, which made the tears rear again, glossing her eyes over, making his face blurry and angelic, his eyes two beacons of copper on an indistinct face. She smiled to reassure him, and stumbled as she walked politely forward, to show him what manners were. The ground suddenly seemed to accelerate, approaching rapidly, but strong arms encircled her and she felt them hold her steady as her legs could not.

"Not much of a drinker, eh?" A sarcastic voice said. She tried to push herself back into a standing position, but when she looked up… his face was closer than she had anticipated. She was drowning in a lake of gold, breathing gasoline. She was Tangling her hands in silver silk, her lips crashing messily to his, fire in her stomach. And then, abruptly, everything was over. Awareness, the kiss…. Mercifully, all that remained was restful darkness.