Chapter 3

AN: *I do not own Inuyasha*

Jaken had been yapping at Sesshomaru since they stepped foot into the building. Sesshomaru could feel his original headache getting much worse. He was about to show the toad why he was the boss and master when he caught a familiar but still unfamiliar scent. Impossible, Sesshomaru thought. This scent was just like that human female that was with Inuyasha at the wedding.

Kagome. That was her name.

"Mr. President! You need to take a look at these!" yelled Jaken.

"Jaken. I do not have time to-"

Suddenly distracted by the scent and Jaken's shrill voice Sesshomaru did not notice the female in front of him.

"Ow," she mumbled. "Oh! I'm sorry sir," she bowed.

When she looked up Sesshomaru was surprised to be staring down at the human female Kagome even though he had smelled her scent.

"Oh! Sesshomaru!" Kagome said wide eyed. "What are you doing here?"

"Rather I should be asking you the same question," he replied coolly.

"Foolish human! How dare you stand in the way of my Lord Sesshomaru! I shall get rid of her for you my-" Jaken was quieted as Sesshomaru let go of his grip on the heavy suitcase he had been carrying, making sure it landed forcibly on Jaken's head. The spell on the imp that was making him look human, an extremely short one, wavered for just a moment.

One of his employees, Sango, looked worried and stood next to Kagome and bowed. "President. This is Kagome Higarushi; owner of Blooms a Dozen, a flower shop. she was just delivering the roses you requested for Rioko."

The old woman looked at Sesshomaru. "Thank you for the roses Sessomaru. I guess you're not such an ungrateful pup after all," Rioko said aloud.

"I am no longer a pup old woman," Sesshomaru replied.

"May I remind you that this "old woman" changed your diapers and changed your wetted sheets." Rioko gave a malicious smile.

"I assure you my sheets were always dry. But I am still surprised you live to see another birthday with a mouth such as yours."

With a final Hmph! from Rioko the semi-friendly staps ended. It was true the old Inuyoukai had raised him. In fact she was family in Sesshomaru's mind. But family often got very annoying. Sesshomaru turned back to Sango and Kagome. Sango was desperately trying not to be amused while Kagome giggled a bit and smiled.

"Soo I guess this is your business huh?" Kagome stated. "Big place. I'd probably be in the best shape of my life if I took the stairs up here."

"Indeed," was all Sesshomaru offered, remembering that he had a meeting in less than a minute. "I have a meeting to attend if you will excuse me ladies. Nice seeing you again Kagome." With that he walked steadily away to his meeting.

He would have liked to talk to Kagome more to find out more details about her relationship with his half-breed brother and maybe find why something about her was...off.

"Wait for me Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken yelled grabbing the heavy suitcase that had fallen on his head glaring at the two female humans as he ran after Sesshomaru.

...

'Indeed'? Kagome quoted Sesshomaru.

Was he agreeing with her on him working here, the building, or the kinda shape she was in? She was no athletic trainer but she was healthy for her age and at the right weight. Kagome didn't like the thought of being super skinny, she was comfortable in her own skin. Her tirade of thoughts were interrupted.

"Soo how do you know the President?" Sango asked when they were riding back down in the elevator, a good distance out of Sesshomaru's hearing range.

"Oh. Well... I'm very good friends with his half-brother Inuyasha and I recently encountered him at a wedding this past weekend," Kagome explained.

Sango's eyes grew with surprise and understanding and she pointed at Kagome. "I knew the name Inuyasha sounded familiar! But what a one in a million chances you're friends with him." Although Sango wondered how this came to be and if Kagome's intentions were pure. It was well known many females-human and demons alike-would jump at any opportunity to meet Shessomaru.

"Yep," Kagome smiled. Her phone buzzed with a text making her look down at her pocket. She skimmed over the text quickly. "Sorry work," she apologized to Sango and pulled out her business card. "The store's number and my cell are on there. Call or text me with the definite time and place about going out."

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Sango held out her hand. "It was nice meeting you Kagome. I'll make sure to contact you."

"You too Sango!" Kagome gave a short wave and walked towards the buildings front doors.

When Kagome arrived back at the shop it was opened so she Inuyasha was there. "I'm back!" she announced as she walked to the front desk. Inuyasha came from upstairs carrying some orange, clay pots for planting a few minutes later.

"Hey," he said and put down the pots gently in the supplies section of the store. He walked over to where Kagome was and his demeanor changed. His ears flattened and a slight growl excited his throat. Inuyasha was suddenly all over Kagome sniffing.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked puzzled. "Hey what's wrong?"

"That bastard's scent is own you," he growled. "It's barely there but I can still smell it."

Kagome hadn't particular planned to tell Inuyasha about her bump in with Sesshomaru but she had forgotten about Inuyasha's heightened sense of smell-even as a half-demon. It was hard to cook-especially Ramen- without this guy barging in less than a minute later. Kagome swore his stomach was a black hole of some sort since he was always hungry.

"You call a lot of men "bastard" Inuyasha-in fact I wonder if you think that's their actual name the way you use it so much. But this time you'll have to be more clear on which one you're specifically talking about since the world is full of males," Kagome replied dodging his question in the statement.

"Cut the crap. You know which one I'm talking about," Inuyasha said getting more irritated with Kagome's act.

The tone of his voice made her defensive. "Maybe I actually don't. Would you like a list of all the guys that have been around me today? It's hard to keep track since I have sooo many suitors who bump into me on the street," she said dully.

"Sesshomaru. His scent," Inuyasha barely got those words out.

Kagome sighed heavily. "I ran into him-well actually he ran into me- on the delivery I just went on. The flowers happened to be to one of his employees at his company. Happy?"

"He didn't harass you did he?"

"Nope, way too many witnesses around for him to attack me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. "He's bad news Kagome. I'm just concerned he'll pull something funny with you to fuck with me."

Kagome's expression softened. "I know, but you have to understand that I can hold my own."

The shop's phone rang. "It was a total coincidence Inuyasha. Truce on the matter?"

"Truce," Inuyasha said as Kagome answered the phone.

He walked to the stairs to go up and get more clay pots but turned around and said, "Oh and make sure to give that list you were mentioning before the end of the day will ya?" He smirked at Kagome when she stuck her tongue out at him as he went upstairs.

...

"Kagome! Over here!" yelled Sango from across the crowded bar.

Kagome smiled and took a seat across from Sango in the booth. "I'm glad I wasn't late," she said relieved. "It was hard to find a parking spot. I had to go all the way across the street near that gas station"

"Yeah I'm sorry. I didn't know it would be this crowded. But then again it is a Friday," said Sango.

Kagome waved her hand. "It's fine."

"Hello ladies. My name's Jinko and I'll be your waiter tonight." He handed us some menu's. "What can i get you ladies to drink?"

"I'll have a margarita."

"Make that two," chimed in Sango.

"Alright. I'll be back shortly." He flashed the women a smile.

"Now why can't I get a good looking guy like that?" Sango asked examining the waiter's rear as he walked away.

"I know. You see good looking men everywhere but never a chance to have one. Its rather a cruel reality."

"Tell me about it! I'm stuck with that lecher Miroku at work! You know he used to be a monk?"

"Whaaaat?" Kagome said in a disbelieving tone. "No way."

"He showed the whole office pictures since known of us believed him. In one of the pictures he was feeling up one of camera women taking the pictures so we knew it was Miroku."

Kagome laughed.

The waiter dropped off our drinks and took our order before leaving again.

"So Miroku's a real player huh? He must be one huge jerk."

"Player, yes. Jerk, no. That's why its so hard to hate him." Sango looked a little sad when she said this.

"I'm gonna go on a limb here and say you have feeling other than hate, disgust, and irritation towards Miroko."

"What? No. No. Kagome don't look at me like that. Seriously no. I mean...you've seen what he's like! He's a lecher! A pervert! A...a...a...a um..."

"Manwhore?" Kagome offered.

"Yes! That too!"

"But," Kagome urged.

"But...he's nice. Good looking and funny. He helped me through a rough time."

"Well, like my mom says, it only takes one good woman to change a man. Maybe you'll be that woman for him." She sipped her drink.

"If I don't kill him with more office supplies." They both laughed.

Later when the check was paid Kagome and Sango parted ways saying their goodbyes. She made it across the street to her car before she felt like she was being watched. Her pace quickened under the creepy feeling and she peered over her shoulder put didn't see anyone. To make things worse the parking lot she was in only had a couple of cars scattered around and it was dark. The only light around was coming from the bars she had just come from or the gas station that was at least 5 blocks away. Kagome scolded herself on this. She thought she was fine when she had her keys in the car door to unlock it but she suddenly felt someone's presence behind her. She was shoved up against her car before she sensed it was a demon.

She hissed in pain as the demon bent and held her arm behind her back. there was another hiss but this time it was not from her but from the demon.

"The bossss will pay me a lot of money for you human. But not before I have my fun with you." His forked tongue flicked out to lick the side of her neck.

"Then you better be ready for a fight," she sneered at the snake demon. She slammed back her head making contact with his face. He released her arm which she then used to elbow him in between his ribs.

"Bitch!" he yelled and swung at her.

She dodged his fist but in doing so didn't notice his tail that he had grown. It swept her legs out from under her making her fall onto her back on asphalt. She could already feel that she possibly had a concussion from the impact. The snake demon hauled her against her own car making her head hurt worse. He had a hand around her throat and she planned to attack with her powers when she saw the cloth he had in the other hand. Kagome hoped that wasn't what she thought it was. As he brought it towards her face she let out a deafening scream that was half smothered as she inhaled what she knew was chloroform from the cloth. Kagome scratched hard at the demon's scaly hands and kicked at him. Making contact once in a while which earned her another slam against the car. She was losing consciousness and the snake knew so. He released his hold on her throat and she slid down the car onto the ground.

Damn... she thought.

"Sssso much trouble for a sssstupid ningen bitch," he hissed at her. "I'm not ssssure why the bossss wantssss you." His tongue flicked out a few times and he grabbed her around the waist and hoistered her up. She noticed through slitted eyes he had but his spell back on so that he looked human.

"Be careful honey. You've had too much to drink tonight," he said in an endearing voice as if he cared.

"Wha?" her mouth could barely form words. Kagome saw a figure coming near and she heard a deep voice but she couldn't recognize words as the two talked. One word came to mind as she put all her strength into saying it. "He...lp..."

She hoped this stranger would do just that. She hoped that Sango had made it home safe. Kagome thought of her family and then finally went limp.

...

A/N: R&R please :P