Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter One: July 27th

Happy Birthday Tsujitani-sensei!

I chuckled to myself as I opened the door to my office. The brightly colored and slightly crooked sign hung proudly draped across the glass wall opposite of me, marring my top-floor view of the fountains and city blocks below. Even so, it was nice that my employees still valued me as a person despite me being their boss—and the recent pay cut Accounting had to take last month. With as unrelenting and stressful as work had been lately, it was nice that we had a chance to relax and celebrate as our hard work paid off. The fact that we'd managed to land a major settlement the day before my thirty-first birthday was pure coincidence.

Walking over to my desk, I loosened my tie and tossed my sports jacket on my chair carelessly. I hit the intercom button on the phone. The speaker buzzed with white noise for a moment before a female voice dutifully answered.

"Yes, Tsujitani-sensei?"

I furrowed my brow in confusion. That didn't sound like the voice of my faithful yet apathetic personal assistant. "Kagome-chan?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm sorry," the voice apologized modestly, "Higurashi-san is currently in Filing. Shall I have her paged for you, Sensei?"

I thought about it for a moment. If Kagome-chan was the filing room, she was probably too busy to be brought all the way up to the fifty-fourth floor. She would be undoubtedly very angry to be interrupted . . . but then again, what else were personal assistants for than to run to the beck and call of those whom they were assisting?

"Yes, thank you," I said into the speaker decisively. "And tell her it's urgent."

"Right away, sir." The phone clicked before returned to the white noise, signaling the disconnected line.

I smiled triumphantly to myself as I sat in my chair and folded my hands behind my head. Swiveling the chair around, I did my best to see around the flamboyant birthday sign to view the city lights of the fellow skyscrapers across the Tokyo skyline.

There wasn't a damn thing I would trade to be anywhere else in the world than in my office right now. As co-founder and CEO of Tsujitani-Yoshida Insurance Company life couldn't get much better. A successful business, bragging rights, and more money than a man of my age should legally have were only some of the perks, not to mention all of the all-too-willing women that those perks brought.

A brusque knock at my door jolted me from my extra-curricular thoughts. Without waiting for a welcome, Higurashi Kagome, my ever-punctual personal assistant entered the office in an impatient huff.

Kagome-chan was a very beautiful woman, and most unfortunately immune to my own devilishly handsome looks and overwhelming charm, no matter how hard I used them to my advantage. She was just too focused on the job, which is why I suppose my partner in business, Hachi, had hired her for me. He must've known I would've tried something with her, and was confident in her ability to turn me down flat. And after three years, I still haven't managed to crack her.

"What do you want, Miroku-sensei?" she asked, sounding bored and much too busy to be dealing with me at the same time. "Try to keep it short, will you? I have a lot of work to do since you so conveniently forget to turn your files in every month."

Oh that's right. Without Kagome-chan, I also would not get very much work done.

"Kagome-chan," I mocked pain, clapping a hand to my heart while giving her a cheeky smirk, "Can't you even manage one teeny birthday wish for your favorite boss?"

Her eyebrow twitched in ill-concealed anger. "Did you really call me all the way up here so urgently just for your stupid ego?"

I shook my head disapprovingly. "Now, now, Kagome-chan. You shouldn't talk like that. You're much too young to be that cynical."

"If I'm cynical it's only because three years of dealing with your sexual harassment and ridiculous management style have made me that way."

I laughed. Yes, Kagome-chan was certainly a breath of fresh air around this building and exactly what I needed. We'd learned to balance each other out perfectly: her playing the responsible, mature employee while I bid my time and simply did whatever I felt like doing for the day, only remembering to sign the dotted line after she'd highlighted it and circled it with a red pen.

"No," I responded lightly. "Believe it or not, I actually did have something for you to do."

Kagome-chan raised her eyebrows in slight surprise and—was it my imagination?—a small flicker of approval. She adjusted the thick stack of papers and the clipboard she hugged to her chest as I patted the top of my desk, inviting her closer. I produced a business card and a newspaper clipping as she approached and leaned down curiously to view what I'd displayed.

"What's this?" Kagome-chan asked, sitting down in the chair across the desk from me and unloading her arms in her lap.

"This," I said, sliding the business card over to her with two fingers, "Is the contact information for Kobayashi Hakudoshi. And this," I gestured to the newspaper clipping, "Is a recent article published about the Kumo conglomerate. He's the public figure apparently."

"Kumo?" Kagome-chan's nose crinkled at the name. "Weird thing to call a business, isn't it?"

"Names aside, it's the person who's important," I insisted. "Hachi informed me that I have a meeting with him tomorrow at ten."

Again, Kagome-chan's brow furrowed. "So? What's the big deal then?"

I leaned back in my chair, smiling haughtily. "The problem, Kagome-chan, is that beyond what's written in this article, I hardly know anything about him. And I'm sure you would know why that would be an issue."

Kagome-chan nodded understandingly. "Confidentiality and business trust." She waved away my praise modestly. "So what do you want me to do? Try and contact him? Do some extra, covert research on him? Because, I have to say, Sensei, I've never heard of this Kobayashi-san before. I doubt I'll be able to recover much."

I put my hand up, waving away her doubtful inquiries. "No, no. Nothing like that. It's all rather civil, actually. A simple preemptive meeting will suffice."

"Preemptive? How will that work? Ten o'clock tomorrow morning is the next available opening in your schedule; we can't afford to reschedule or cancel anyone's appointment with so little in advance."

"Well, I seem to recall a certain gathering going on around here tonight. A celebration of something rather important," I mused pointedly, directing her gaze to the birthday banner.

Kagome-chan blinked disbelievingly. "You want me to get him to come to your birthday party? Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," I responded gravely. "I think you'll find that I'm a rather important figure in Japan's economy, Kagome-chan. The birthday party of the youngest, most successful insurance guru is a party that one would not so carelessly miss."

"Fine," Kagome-chan sighed, gathering her papers to her chest again and standing to take her leave. "I'll give him a call." She accepted the business card.

"Thank you, Kagome-chan," I said genuinely. "What would I do without you?"

"Wither and die," she responded promptly. Opening the door, she turned back to me. "We've ordered rum cake and rocky road ice cream for your party tonight, as usual. Happy birthday, Miroku-sensei."

She'd barely closed the door behind her when the phone suddenly rang obnoxiously. I was sorely tempted to disconnect the call without even answering; I wasn't exactly keen on working on my birthday, but Kagome-chan was right. There were far too many influential clients on my schedule today to ignore.

I picked up the receiver, not bothering with the intercom. "Yes?"

"Tsujitani-sensei?" It was the same female voice that had answered in Kagome-chan's place before. I was a little baffled. Why hadn't I recognized her voice? Was she new? I didn't recall any recent applicants. The voice continued, "Your fiancé, Nanako-san called."

I winced. Ah yes, my fiancée. Nanako Koharu was seven years younger than me and very enthusiastic about our engagement. Honestly, I could've done without marriage, if only because I specifically did not want to marry Koharu-chan, but I was also aware that I was quickly approaching the age when prominent, bachelor businessmen were frowned upon. Koharu-chan just happened to be the girl I'd been most recently seeing when the decision was made to have me start looking to settle down. It was horrible, I knew, but I blamed the whole thing on business politics.

I floundered for an excuse. "Ah, actually, I think I'm too busy to see her at the moment, could you leave her a message for me?"

"Sorry, sir." This apology did not sound as sincere as her last one. "Nanako-san's already here. She's on her way up."

I cursed as I replaced the phone on the receiver. How much time did I have till Koharu-chan made her way up to the top floor? How long ago did she arrive here in the first place? I wondered if I had enough time to make an escape before she made it to my office.

The door opened and I jumped, nearly tumbling out of my chair as I whirled around to face the unknown visitor. My stomach dropped upon seeing Koharu-chan. Crap. Now how do I get rid of her?

"Miroku!" she called happily, spreading her arms and running towards me. I knew she was expecting me to meet her halfway, and reluctantly, I stood as well, stepping around the desk and catching her as she bulldozed into my chest. She nuzzled her head into my neck, saying something that was too muffled by the collar of my shirt.

"Yeah, yeah…" I muttered, rubbing her back and hoping that my response was appropriate enough.

"Miroku," Koharu-chan whined, pulling her face out of my neck and pouting up at me. "You didn't call me earlier like you promised!"

I grimaced. I'd conveniently forgotten. "Heh," I chuckled nervously, "Did I promise that? I'm sorry, Koharu-chan. It's been really busy around here." I looked around, still grasping for any chance to escape. "In fact," I hedged, glancing at the clock, "I'm headed out to a meeting right now!"

Koharu-chan's frown deepened. "Now?" she repeated doubtfully. "But it's the middle of lunch hour!"

"Exactly!" I insisted, dropping my hands from her waist and going back to my desk. I fumbled for any papers lying about and shoved them haphazardly into my briefcase. "It's a, uh, a lunch meeting. We're discussing our meeting over lunch." Smooth, Miroku.

Koharu-chan looked melodramatically upset. "So, you're leaving right this second?"

"Unfortunately," I shrugged apologetically. "Listen, Koharu-chan, I'm really sorry, but I've got to go." I kissed her quickly, eliciting a small noise of complaint from her when my lips didn't linger. "I'll see you later."

I left my office hastily, ignoring the strange looks from employees as they watched their boss walk out for an ordinary lunch with his briefcase in tow. Koharu-chan followed me out, sticking close to my side; going on about all the things we were going to do after my birthday party tonight. I had to admit some of the innuendos she mentioned did sound exciting, but then again I was only a man. Besides, my greater focus was dedicated to the fact that my excuse of a lunch meeting was going to quickly blow up in my face if Koharu-chan didn't back off soon.

Blessedly, I spotted my business partner, Yoshida Hachi walking towards us, his hand raised in a friendly gesture as he approached.

"Hey, Miroku-sama," he greeted humbly. I wasn't quite sure why he felt the need to address me so respectfully, seeing as how he was sixteen years my senior. He was the junior partner in the company, as the idea of launching a global insurance company directly centered in the busy hub of Tokyo had been mine originally, but still.

"Are you going to lunch?" Hachi clarified, giving my briefcase a confused glance.

"Of course, Hachi," I said pointedly, trying to enlighten him to my plight without blowing my cover with Koharu-chan. "Don't you remember that meeting, with that client?"

His brow furrowed. "I don't think so, Miroku-sama. I don't remember a lunch meeting scheduled for—ahh!"

He was interrupted by the point of my elbow digging sharply, yet indiscreetly into his side. I raised my eyebrows, looking from him to Koharu-chan and back to him again emphatically. He looked stymied for a moment longer, but he quickly saved face and smiled weakly at Koharu-chan, who observed us with a blank, naïve smile.

"Oh," Hachi stumbled to sound convincing. "Oh yes, that meeting. Yes. Well, we should definitely be heading out then, Miroku-sama; we wouldn't want to be late."

I grinned at Koharu-chan widely. "You heard the man. That's my cue."

She pouted cutely again, a move that made her appear several years younger than she actually was. Puckering her lips, she pointed a slim and perfectly manicured finger at them, blatantly hinting at what she was after. I licked my lips, a pitiful effort to hide the wince that momentarily flashed across my face. She wasn't a terrible kisser or anything. Her lips were just . . . really small. Alarmingly so, and it was slightly awkward to kiss her. I dreaded my married life.

I kissed her, groaning inwardly as she latched her hands behind my neck and forced me to linger this time. Her tongue lapped at my bottom lip greedily, and I reluctantly opened my mouth to her overenthusiastic exploring. Finally, I put my hand on her collarbone firmly, giving her a slight push backwards and ripping our mouths apart with a sloppy sounding pop!

I ignored Hachi's amused smiled as we headed to the elevators, intentionally waiting on one to arrive from the twenty-third floor to avoid having to spend more time with Koharu-chan and the possibility of enduring another mismatched goodbye kiss. He was gracious enough to wait until we'd entered the elevator to allow his chuckles to escape, though this did little to lighten my mood. I normally didn't have a problem with public displays of affection, especially when I was a part of them, but ever since Koharu-chan had made that dreaded leap from casual girlfriend to legitimate fiancée, I preferred to keep everything on the back burner.

"You have to feel somewhat bad for her," Hachi chided lightly as his chuckling abated. "I think she's the only one unaware of how one-sided your relationship is."

"Don't start with me, Hachi," I warned tiredly, holding my arm in front of the open elevator doors and letting him pass through first. "Let's not forget who sat in on that stockholders meeting that decided this whole engagement mess I'm in."

"Come on, Miroku-sama," he said, his voice sounding much more genial, "I'm your oldest friend and you know I only want what's best for you."

I nodded, waving to the entrance guard as we stepped out of the building. Hachi hailed us a cab. "The time frame could've been a little looser, though," I said lowly, the corners of my mouth edging towards a smile as I allowed myself to joke.

"Yes well," Hachi said dismissively, bowing slightly as he held the door of the cab open for me. "Consider it advance payback for forcing me to play along with this cruel trick on Nanako-san."

I laughed out loud, enjoying the rare moment Hachi took to kid around with me. "Of course, Hachi," I agreed. "Shall I pay for the cab fare as well?"

Hachi chuckled again. "You'll be covering lunch too, I'm afraid. You insisted we leave so quickly that my jacket and wallet are still on the top floor of the building." His chuckles grew into full-out laughter as he clapped a hand to his rotund belly. "And don't be stingy. I think I'll be craving the steak this afternoon."

Koharu-chan clung to my arm like deadweight. There wasn't any shaking her, and flirting with some of the more attractive single women attending my birthday party was impossible to get away with. This fiancée business was seriously hampering my hard-earned reputation as a womanizer, a label I'd come to terms with and accepted long ago. There wasn't much denying to be done when faced with the truth, after all.

Notwithstanding, the party as a whole wasn't a bust. Kagome-chan, in her usual fashion, had blown everyone away with the aesthetics and spared no expense when celebrating yours truly. I was touched. Even if the effort was more for the stockholders and potential clients, a show to impress them with the obvious amount of money we made, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little self-centered about the affair.

I did my best as host and honoree, floating from group to group with Koharu-chan, chatting amiably and thanking several men for their business and their time. The haze of the alcohol was barely getting to me as I joined another group, myself conversing lightly with a gentleman maybe five or six years older than me and his wife, who was flighty enough to keep Koharu-chan entertained as well.

There was a slight tug at my elbow and I politely excused myself, turning to see who was trying to grab my attention.

"Miroku-sama," Hachi said, gesturing with his wine-laden hand to the unknown man at his side, "This is Kobayashi Hakudoshi, the PR for the Kumo conglomerate." He then gestured to me with the same hand, turning to address Kobayashi-san, "This is Tsujitani-shachō, the CEO of our company."

Kobayashi-san bowed his head deeply in respect. He was a very striking looking man, with long, shaggy hair and narrow, lavender colored eyes. Despite his young looking face—he looked younger than me, even—his hair was a silvery gray, though this did little to age him.

"It's an honor to finally meet you, Tsujitani-shachō," Kobayashi-san said, his head still bowed and his eyes lowered respectfully. "I'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow morning."

"Likewise, Kobayashi-san." I bowed my own head slightly, feeling a little awkward at the formalities during such a relaxed party.

Kobayashi-san shook his head modestly, "Please, call me Hakudoshi. After all, I hope we'll be doing quite a lot of business together in the near future."

This man was certainly confident. There was still a chance the company could decline the Kumo application; after all, as Kagome-chan and I discussed earlier today, there was still too much we didn't know about Hakudoshi-san or the company he represented. I stared at him with interest, not quite sure what heavy pit developing in my stomach at the moment meant.

Luckily, Hachi broke the tense air with a light-hearted laugh. "Yes, well," he chuckled flippantly, "There's still much to be done concerning that matter, isn't there?"

Hakudoshi-san cut Hachi a contemptuous glare, unnoticed by anyone else other than myself as he quickly regained his composure. Choosing not to address Hachi, he turned back to me. He seemed to think that I was going to be his "in" with my own company.

"I'm sure we won't have any trouble," he nodded at me assumingly. There was something about his tone and behavior that I didn't like, even though all in all there was little he gave me little to complain about. I was suddenly very glad that I had talked Kagome-chan into getting him to come tonight; this preemptive meeting was proving to already be a very good judgment call.

"Anyway," I finally cut in lamely, "Is now really the time to be discussing business?" Koharu-chan seemed to have finished her conversation with the woman from before and appeared at my side, leaning into my arm. I'd never been so glad to see her in my life. I looked back to Hakudoshi-san and gestured to the bar. "Have a drink, Hakudoshi-san," I invited, "Enjoy your time here tonight. We'll talk tomorrow." I nodded as a way to excuse myself, once again noting his less-than-pleased face at being dismissed so glibly.

My brief meeting with Hakudoshi-san weighed down my mind for a substantial amount of time afterwards, though between the continual amount of alcohol I poured into my system and Koharu-chan leaning up to whisper pointedly in my ear something about wanting to go back to my place, the previously overwhelming dread at the prospect of our formal appointment tomorrow lightened some. I took Koharu-chan home sometime after midnight, embarrassing our cab driver as I allowed her to undo the first few buttons on my shirt and pepper kisses along my neck and collarbone. I was drunk enough to want it, and my haze was strong enough to completely rid myself of any second thoughts.

Drunk or not, I figured I had worried too much over my appointment with Hakudoshi-san in the morning. Why worry about something that hadn't happened yet? If we approved him, great; if not, it wasn't our problem. More importantly, it wasn't my problem.

By the time the back of my knees hit my bed and I toppled backwards, taking Koharu-chan with me, all thoughts regarding Hakudoshi-san, his peculiar and suspicious behavior, and our appointment tomorrow had left me entirely.

AN: "Kumo" means "spider" in Japanese.

"Sensei" is an honorific usually given to someone who holds greater knowledge than the speaker. People inside Miroku's company call him "Sensei," whereas clients or applicants would address him as "Shachō" a title given to business CEOs.

All last names (besides Kagome's) have been made up... Although I do believe Tsujitani is the last name of Miroku's seiyuu, so there's that. Also, I'll be holding to Japanese custom that dictates addressing someone by their last name, unless otherwise told or the relationship allows familiarity.