"So I heard you promised your kids you'd go on a date. Come on let's go find you a smoking hot man!" Chika trilled grabbing my arm and shoving me into a bedroom and preparing for my makeover.

"Chika," I growled, "this is unnecessary. I'm fine the way I am."

"You may be fine, but you're supposed to look will get a date. Now if you don't sit down right now, so help me I will tie you to the chair."

"Why do you care so much?"

"You should smile. Five years is a long time to go without a smile every single day. That's what best friends are for."

"Thank you. Especially for putting up with me," I smiled, "your energy is contagious."

Once she was done, Chika whisked me out of the house. I nearly fell down the stairs a couple times when my heel got stuck in a crack. I counted my blessings when I made it past the Stairway to Death. She lead me to a bustling cafe and told me to sit there and order some coffee. When I returned to the table she was gone. She ditched me! Now what do I do? I guess I'll sit here and wait. Hopefully Chika knows best. She could've told me this was her plan. I started to zone out while I sipped my coffee.

"Mind if I sit here?" a deep voice asked.

"What? Oh sure! My friend stood me up." I hope she's listening. This is what she gets for not telling me.

"What a nice friend. My name's Arata. What's the name of such a beautiful woman?"

"Sayuri."

Arata had chocolate brown hair, and similarly colored eyes. He had a darker complexion than Him. Fire to Ice. He was also shorter, and was human. We made a lot of small talk, learning about each other, and he was nice. I would consider seeing him again. But I kept comparing him to the one whose name brought up painful was haunting me; my dreams made it even worse by showing me what I wanted and what I could've had.

"So, why did you decide to come to this cafe? There's a couple options," he asked after some time. Now I guess we'd be moving into the deeper stuff.

"My friend Chika brought me here...she wanted me to find a date, and I promised my kids I'd try to find someone."

"Kids?"

"I have twins. A boy and a girl, Touga and Tsuki. They're my pride and joy. They need a father, especially since we split up."

"Ah, I see. The classic emotional baggage with kids. You are in luck, I don't mind and I can help you if you want."

I smiled in thanks. "I appreciate it."

"Sayuri, my dad is forcing me to go to a business party in the hopes of making me follow in his steps, which I have no intention of. I'd much rather be a professor. Would you like to accompany me as my date? It's next Friday at 7."

"I'd be honored to accompany you." And with that we exchanged contact info and he told me he'd pick me up at six thirty on Friday. Then he had to leave because his dad called to tell him to stop shirking his responsibilities as heir to the company.

I met Chika back at the shrine and she squealed when I told her I successfully met someone and got a second date. I told her everything that happened in between. She had the funniest expression when I mentioned to Arata that I had kids. Apparently that was a first date no-no. Well too late to go back. My kids, well only Touga, looked thrilled. Tsuki had a small smile on her face, so I knew she was happy for me.

The week flew by and with the help of Chika and the twins, I had a dress picked out and complementing makeup. An hour before Arata was due to arrive, Chika seemed to flit around the room putting my makeup on. When she finished, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked amazing! Goes to show what a little makeup can do. The pale golden eyeshadow would create a lovely contrast to my silver dress. I quickly donned on my dress and looked at myself again, I couldn't resist. It looked like a silver toga, and it had pieces of chiffon that started at my shoulders and looped to my mid-back. I loved it. It made me look like Artemis, the goddess of the moon and of the hunt.

"My, my, you look stunning."

Arata was so polite. When I got in and out of his car, he opened the door for me. Then he looped my arm through his as we walked up the stairs to the party. The women all wore dresses and all men all wore suits or tuxes. I didn't think a business party would be this formal; although, I should've suspected it when Arata told me to wear a nice dress.

He introduced me to many of his colleagues and friends. To be quite honest, in spite of glitz and glamour, it was dull. I'd wager that a morgue would have more life than this party. Don't get me wrong, everybody else seemed to be having fun. The only high point was the dancing. Until I saw a flash of flash of white.

I turned my full attention to the white flash and realized it was hair. It was Him and he had his arm around the waist of beautiful woman. Arata followed my gaze and said, "don't get tangled up with him. That's Sesshomaru Taisho. He's a ruthless man and a formidable businessman, or so my dad says."

Oh, if only he knew how already tangled up I was. My chest squeezed when I saw Him with that woman. I didn't expect him to be alive five hundred years later. But if he did survive, should I really expect him to not have found someone to love? Of course not. He was too alluring, too handsome to not be able to find some woman. But this didn't help ease the pain. It made it worse.

If I went up to him, would he recognize me? Did he even remember me? Well, I suppose he did. After all, there was The Taiyoukai and His Mate. However uncreative the title was, it showed he remembered me, at least enough for the story to be passed down. I debated going over to him. Was I willing to take a risk? I might never get another chance. It would be best to do this before I get tied down to Arata. I hate being a plaything of the Kamis. Sesshomaru decided he needed to talk to Arata.

"Sato-san, I see you're here in your father's stead," he said smoothly. When he turned to me his golden eyes widened and he discreetly sniffed the air, trying to confirm the truth. "And who might you be?"

He doesn't remember? "Sayuri Nakamura, and I know that you're Sesshomaru Taisho."

"I hope I'm not being too rude, but may I have this dance with you Nakamura-san?"

"Y-yes," I stuttered. As he led me to the dancefloor, I glanced over my shoulder at Arata Sato. He looked wary.

AN: So the introduction of Sesshomaru. What will happen? Does he remember? Will sparks fly? Who is that woman with Sesshomaru?

Please review and tell me how to improve my story!