Chapter 4

Koga awoke to the blinding sunshine burning its way into his eyes.

Where am I? He thought to himself, as he rubbed his head.

Sharp pain ran through his temples.

As Koga sat up, he fought the nausea that threatened to overtake him as he looked around.

I'm in Kagome's office? He wondered, as took in his surroundings. What the hell happened? He thought, as he struggled to remember.

Luckily, all of yesterday's memories quickly came back to him… in great and shaming detail.

As he replayed the events that happened at home last night, he became absolutely horrified and scrambled to get to his feet.

There's no way that happened. That part has to be a nightmare. He mused, as he desperately made his way back home.

When he arrived, he immediately noticed that the apartment was empty. From the lack of scent, Kagome hadn't been there for at least a few hours.

This panicked him.

Koga took off to attempt to track her scent, finding that it led to Mystic's apartment.

He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door.

Please let that have been a fucking nightmare! His mind prayed to a higher power.

When the door opened, it was Quake, not Mystic, that stood before him.

As Quake noted Koga's appearance, he quickly scowled at him.

"She doesn't want to see you."

"Last night was a mistake. Please tell her." Koga begged. "I was drunk. I didn't mean any of that crap. I would never…"

"But you did." Quake said, quickly. "You. Did."

Koga didn't know what to say. He instead attempted to scan the room behind Quake hoping to catch sight of Kagome.

"You should leave now." Quake said, coldly.

"I need to talk to her. Please Quake, you of all people should understand that people sometimes do stupid things!"

Quake immediately slammed the door in Koga's face.

Wrong thing to say to Quake. Even though it IS true. Koga thought to himself.

Kagome sat at her desk willing herself to focus on her work, however her mind would not do as she requested. Since last night, she had been replaying Koga's horrible words over and over again in her head. As a result, she hadn't been able to get in one moment of sleep.

That's how he thinks of me. The truth comes out when you're drunk. Thanks a lot, asshole.

She was thankful that she was able to make it to the office without any incident. After Koga's visit to Mystic's apartment early this morning, she thought he would attempt to somehow bombard her on her way in, however he had wisely left her alone.

When the phone on her desk rang she immediately jolted and scrambled to push her morbid thoughts away.

"Agent Wraith speaking." She said into the phone, happy that her voice didn't betray her current state of inner turmoil.

"Agent Wraith, the General would like to see you." Umi said, in a cheerful voice.

"I'll be right there." Kagome grumbled, knowing that she would have to walk by Koga's desk in order to get to the elevator bank.

She took a deep breath and attempted to channel some semblance of calmness as she left her office and made a beeline for her floor's lobby. She kept her eyes straight ahead and did not spare one look in Koga's direction as she passed his work space. However, she did hear him scramble to get to his feet the moment that she walked by him.

Do not engage. Her mind commanded, as she cut through the lobby and hit the call button for the elevator.

As the elevator doors opened, she stepped in, noticing that Koga followed her.

Kagome sighed and pushed the button for the third floor. The moment the doors were about to close, she quickly left the elevator and reentered the lobby, smiling to herself when she heard the elevator doors close behind her, taking Koga to the Technology department's floor.

She could have laughed if she were in a better mood.

Kagome, now alone, quickly set off into the stairwell and began the trek up to the eighth floor.

When she finally got to Sesshomaru's lobby, she was slightly out of breath. She practically ran the entire way up the numerous flights of stairs.

Umi nodded the moment she met Kagome's eyes, signaling her approval to go into Sesshomaru's office.

When Kagome finally knocked on his door and he beckoned her to enter, she felt a much needed relief flood through her body.

Kagome quickly approached his desk and saluted.

Sesshomaru studied her for a moment, before returning the salute and waiting for her to sit down.

As usual he did not speak right away, so Kagome tried to wait patiently for him to tell her why she was there.

A few moments passed before he pushed an empty Tupperware in her direction.

"It was enjoyable." He said hesitantly, as he seriously studied her.

"You called me here… to return my container?" Kagome said, feeling herself become mentally exhausted by the ridiculousness of the meeting.

Sesshomaru ignored her question.

"You are not wearing your bonding scent today." He observed, his voice a low timbre.

Kagome frowned. "There's no need to!" She hissed, surprising both Sesshomaru and herself with the venom that was in her voice.

Sesshomaru's head tilted to the side. "What happened?" He whispered, his voice becoming dangerous.

Maybe it was the exhaustion or maybe it was the need for some form of comfort, but before she could stop herself, Kagome found herself paraphrasing most of the hateful words that Koga had said to her the night before. Obviously she skipped over the part about what she had been doing before that.

Sesshomaru made no attempt to repress the hard scowl that immediately distorted his features.

"Where. Is. He.?" He growled.

"Do not involve yourself. You have no right. You're only going to make things worse."

"Do not make me ask again."

"I'm talking to you as a friend. Do not involve yourself in this. Do not betray my trust!" Kagome spat.

"Do you think so lowly of me to believe that I would stand idly by while that filth defiles you in such a way?!" Sesshomaru growled. "While he… besmirches your very honor!"

"Oh for God's sakes." Kagome huffed.

Sesshomaru and his obsession with honor. Her mind thought.

"I think very highly of you. That's why I'm talking to you about this in first place, as a friend." She said, while trying to keep the edge out of her voice. "If you get involved it's only going to make things worse and you know that. Can't you just be supportive here?"

"I do not support him speaking to you in that way, Kagome."

"So what are you going to do? Try to kick his ass? What will that solve? If anyone is going to kick his ass, it's going to be me!" She shouted, angrily.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. "Are you going back to your apartment tonight?"

"Probably."

"You'll do no such thing. You will sleep in my suite this evening."

"Of course. That won't make things worse at all." Kagome said, completely out of patience. "He already thinks you want to steal me away from him. So, let me just go and sleep at your place while we're fighting. That'll go over really fucking well."

"You will leave work and head to the suites. I am on the top three floors. We will have dinner and you will stay in the guest bedroom. In the early morning, we will set off to the training center to work on your powers together." He ordered. "Let that imbecile that you call a mate use his newfound free time to reflect on his atrocious actions."

"Sesshomaru..."

"I'm asking you as a... friend." He said, trying out the word. "Trust me. I can keep you safe from that incorrigible miscreant." He commanded, leaving no room for argument.

"I'll think about it." Kagome said, feeling completely off center. "But, I don't need anyone to keep me safe. Koga would never hurt me. Plus, I'm fully capable of taking care of myself. I don't need anyone's protection. This isn't Feudal Japan."

Sesshomaru fought the urge to roll his eyes. "You are dismissed."

As Kagome stood and picked up her Tupperware, Sesshomaru also stood so that he could walk her to the door.

"You must ensure that you wear your bonding scent, Kagome." Sesshomaru said, as he once again noted her muted scent. "If you need to go home to do so, please do. Remember that it is the only thing that is keeping that barbarian sane. You must always wear it. Is that understood?"

Kagome nodded and made to speak before she was taken into a gentle and short embrace.

The hug was over before she even realized it had begun.

Kagome stared at Sesshomaru as he walked over to open the door for her.

"Thanks." She muttered, as she hurried back out into the hallway and immediately made her way to stop home.

Koga had given up on waiting for Kagome to return to their department's lobby after thirty minutes. He had numerous calls that he needed to take and he couldn't afford to miss them.

As he spoke on the phone in his noisy area, he constantly looked over his shoulder hoping to catch sight of her.

He had just hung up from his call when he was treated to her beautiful bonding scent signaling her return. As she walked towards her office, he noticed that she carried a small travel bag with her.

She's not coming home tonight.

The realization made him absolutely sick and he jumped up from his desk to try to intercept her.

"Can we please talk?" He begged in a low whisper, as he came up alongside her. "I need to talk to you. Please just listen to me and then you can be as angry as you want with me." He said desperately, as he took in deep draws of her calming scent.

When she did not respond, instead keeping her eyes focused ahead, he fought the urge to take her by the arm.

"Baby, please. I love you and I know I messed up. I didn't mean any of those things. I was jealous about ..." He flustered. "You gave Frisk… your virginity." He said in a low and barely audible whisper, praying that no one would hear.

Kagome stopped dead in her tracks for a moment to ponder this information, but instead of turning to face him, she immediately shot forth, resuming her pace.

"Please talk to me." Koga once again attempted, as he caught up to her. "I made a giant mistake and I regret it. Please don't leave me." He hissed.

Kagome marched into her office and slammed the door behind her, effectively halting Koga's bumbling speech and giving him the message.

Leave me alone!

A beautiful young woman awoke from her slumber to the sound of her security alarm going off.

In response to the noise, she immediately flew out of her bed and scrambled to look at her home's many security cameras, trying to identify the site of the problem.

Out of the twenty cameras that she had situated around the perimeter of her large estate, three had been taken down.

She quickly turned off the alarm and called the police.

"This is Mei Ishii. I live at 131 South Temple Street here in Tokyo and someone is trying to break into my house." She said calmly, as she quickly got dressed.

She nodded a few times as the dispatcher provided her with instructions before she curtly hung up the phone.

"Stay in a safe place my ass." She muttered, as she walked over to her living room and pulled forth her katana, easing the heavy and familiar sword out of its sheath and into the palm of her hand.

She calmed her breathing and closed her eyes, trying to focus on her surroundings in the dark as a breeze of air circled around her.

She heard the ground slightly crunching as someone crept along outside.

Mei had been expecting this.

Over the past month, she felt as though she was being watched. With no evidence and nothing to go on other than a hunch, she was never able to report it to the police. She had prepared herself for the day when her stalkers would finally confront her.

Lucky for her, she was no ordinary woman and she would certainly never become a victim.

That's right. Come to me. If I cut you to pieces in here, it will be listed with the police as self-defense. She thought to herself happily, as she crouched down near the couch and focused her golden eyes on the window.

She watched on as the person outside slowly cut through her window using a small glass cutter. The person, who appeared to be a man based upon his build, slowly and quietly, made his way through the hole he had cut through her window.

Appearing to gather his bearings, the person scanned around the living room before sneaking off in the direction of her bedroom.

He didn't foresee Mei's ninja like reflexes before her sword expertly pierced through his back and through his heart.

Mei immediately flew to him, covering his mouth with her palm.

"Hush baby. It's time to go to sleep." She said softly, watching as the life faded from the man's eyes.

The man's death gave her an absolute thrill, however she didn't allow herself the time to revel in it. She moved away from the body and prepared herself just in case another attacker came her way.

She felt herself ease for a moment when a police car parked in her driveway and she quietly stalked her way around the house until she was able to get to her front door.

Mei took a deep breath and quickly put her acting skills to work. When she heard a knock on the door, she immediately began crying and shaking.

Poor weak me. She thought to herself, thoroughly enjoying her performance. I was almost attacked. A feeble woman such as myself, just had to protect herself.

She opened the door and the two officers immediately noted her frantic hysterics before they ran into her home to investigate, calling for backup.

Kagome spent the rest of the day in her office with the door closed.

She tried not to count the number of times Koga circled by to check on her throughout the day.

Through sheer force of will, she finished her outstanding mission report and dedicated the remainder of her time into researching cleansing rituals and other material that was related to the most recent attacks on the gifted.

As she was about to get up and take a break, she heard a soft knock and noticed that Frisk was standing outside, requesting permission to enter.

She immediately signaled him in.

"Close the door behind you." She ordered as he entered, watching as Frisk immediately did so.

"Here are the team's mission reports." He said softly, as he threw a stack of papers on her desk.

"Thanks." She muttered, as she quickly set to work in neatening the stack.

"Hey Rai, is everything okay?" He asked, curiously. "You've been barred up in here all day."

"Everything's fine." She grumbled, as she met his eyes.

Frisk hesitated, obviously not believing her. "Inspect caused you some trouble didn't she? She feels really bad about it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kagome said, angrily.

Frisk sighed. "Fang went through my phone yesterday. Inspect sent me a message and he saw it. The message had to do with… us." He grumbled, as he took a seat.

"He went through your fucking phone?!" She shouted. "What a God damn psycho!"

"No, it wasn't like that!" Frisk replied, frantically attempting to soothe her. "Inspect needed the video that I took of you back in Japan. I was busy, so I asked Fang to send it to her. He did, and he happened to see Inspect's message… congratulating me… for…." He trailed off, not sure how to continue. "This is all my fault and I'm sorry."

Congratulating him? She thought, exasperated. Of course, she did. Of course, Inspect would send him a message congratulating him about something like that. She thought, remembering the conversation she shared with the woman in her office yesterday. These two are made for each other. They're both absolutely nuts!

It was at this point that she noticed Koga slowly passing by her door once again, this time peeking in through the glass that served as a window into her office.

She quickly diverted her eyes and focused all of her attention on Frisk.

"It was an accident. Don't worry about it." She said, feeling depleted. "I'm more concerned with the fact that your woman would send you a message congratulating you for something like that." She huffed, as she rubbed her temples.

"She's crazy." Frisk admitted.

"That's what you love about her, isn't it? That she's crazier than you are? Which, if I may add, is a major feat within itself." Kagome spat.

"Hey now! Don't go throwing around the "L" word. It makes me feel itchy."

"Whatever. Are we good now? Do you feel better?" Kagome asked.

"Rai…" Frisk started, as she met her eyes. "I really am sorry about this. I don't know what's going on, but it's obvious that you and Fang are fighting. Fang's been a mess all day and you've been shut up in here. Inspect already tried apologizing to him yesterday and he completely blew her off. If it helps, I could try to talk to him. Maybe if I try, it would help. I am his best friend."

Kagome openly gaped at him.

"I don't think he returns your feelings, Frisk." Kagome said, noting that Koga once again passed her door, this time approaching from the opposite direction.

He's trying to eavesdrop. She thought, as she fought the urge to strangle someone.

"He doesn't want to admit it, but we're bros!"

"Right. Honestly, I would drop it. Every time you meddle you make things a million times worse. You're probably the last person on earth he wants to talk to about that." She admitted, as she watched Koga walk passed her door once again from the corner of her eye. "He apparently has a major issue with you just sitting in here talking to me."

"It makes sense. I am the guy who made you a woman." He said, smirking.

"Get the fuck out!"

Frisk erupted into a roar of laughter. "Lighten up would ya?"

Kagome immediately threw the stack of her team's reports at his head.

"GET OUT!"

Frisk shrugged and quickly stood to leave. As he did so, he noticed Koga's face pressed against the glass of Kagome's office window.

"Oh, for Christ's sake." He muttered as he opened the door and pushed his way passed Koga, before closing Kagome's door promptly behind him.

"What the fuck happened in there?" Koga growled, as he followed Frisk back to his office.

"Mind your business."

"I heard what you said in there, asshole. I'm glad this is all some kind of giant joke to you." Koga spat.

"If you heard everything, then why are you asking me what happened in there?" Frisk asked, curiously.

"Shut up!" Koga said, completely out of patience.

"You have to stop poking your nose into other people's business." Frisk chided, beginning to lose his patience now as well. "I don't think any of this is funny. I don't know what happened, but it's obvious that you did something stupid. Rai's pretty angry. That's your fault, not mine."

Koga crossed his arms against his chest and pouted.

"Do you want to talk about it? I am the Employee Morale Ambassador."

"No! I don't want to talk about anything with you!" Koga roared.

"Then why are you following me?"

Koga seemed to ponder this for a second before he immediately stormed off. When he finally got back to his desk, he noticed that his computer was being moved.

"What the hell is going on?" He grumbled, as he watched the techies get to work.

"You're being moved."

"What? To where?" He spat.

"To an office. There's too much chaos going on in the background when you're on your calls. So, the General has decided to move you."

Sesshomaru is giving me an office? Sounds like some sort of trap!

"Where is my office going to be?" He asked, suspiciously.

"You'll be right next to department head, Inspect." The techie advised him, as he packed away Koga's electronics onto his cart.

All the way on the far end of this floor. Koga realized. Far away from everyone else.

"I thought only those with leadership roles got offices." Koga said, angrily.

"Talk to H.R. or Inspect about that. I think your title has been changed."

"What?" Koga stammered, before he quickly sped off to Inspect's office.

When he got to the door, the woman scowled at him before waving him in.

"What's this about a new title?" Koga grumbled, as he made his way over to her seat.

"I emailed you about it an hour ago. Weren't you at your seat?" She asked, innocently. "Or were you too busy stalking your boss?"

Koga growled and Inspect crossed her arms and met his eyes.

"Cat got your tongue?" She asked, her voice harsh. "I'd be careful how you address your department's leader."

Koga took a deep breath and lowered his voice.

"What's the new title?" He pushed.

"Much better, agent Fang." She said, smiling. "You're now officially the organization's Lead Operative Strategist. This role is in addition to your Alpha Team responsibilities, just as it always has been, only now it is official. You'll be sitting in the office right next to mine."

Koga sighed. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, get the hell out of here." She grumbled, waving her hand dismissively.

When the sun lowered in the sky, Kagome took her cue to leave. Outside of a few bathroom breaks and some time that she had used to heat up her lunch, she had been stuck in her office all day.

Now was her chance to try to make a break for it.

She stood up and braced herself for her walk to the elevator bank.

She did a double take when she passed Koga's vacant desk. All his stuff had been moved.

Did he move desks? She wondered to herself, as she approached the elevator.

When she exited the building she noticed that Koga was sitting outside on the grass facing the entranceway of the building, obviously taking note of the people who were exiting.

Kagome sighed and kept her eyes focused ahead of her as she set off in the direction of the Master Suites, a building that was reserved only for her South Korean base's top brass.

As if on cue, she felt Koga spring up behind her on her walk.

"Can you please talk to me?" He whispered shakily, obviously picking up on where he had left off with her earlier in the day.

"Agent Fang." Came a low authoritative voice, from behind him.

It was Sesshomaru.

"Do you not have a conference call with Sage in fifteen minutes?" He said, in a low voice of warning.

Kagome felt Koga halt in his tracks and she used the opportunity to push forward.

"I have plenty of time." Koga grumbled, as he turned to address the organization's infamous leader.

Koga's instincts kicked up in warning before he was even able to meet Sesshomaru's eyes. When he finally looked upon him, Sesshomaru's glowing red eyes furiously seethed into his.

"Get back to your office and get on that call. Now." Sesshomaru warned, as a blast of hot air wrapped around them.

Koga's eyes narrowed.

He's looking for a fight. He thought, as he sized Sesshomaru up and thought upon how much he would welcome the opportunity to beat the ever loving shit out of him.

Koga instead turned around and set back off in the direction of the office building, not saying a word.

Kagome entered the extravagant lobby to the Master Suite building without any trouble. The security detail that was posted outside had obviously been expecting her.

She took in her surroundings as she made her way over to the elevators, pushing the button that would take her to the top floor.

Sesshomaru had messaged her that he would meet her there and that she was to make herself comfortable. As soon as she entered onto his floor, she did just that, immediately setting out to investigate every minute detail in the place.

Sesshomaru's floor was actually three. There were large oak stairwells that descended between them. The entire place was decorated in what seemed to be priceless artwork. Everything about the place screamed luxury and money.

As she spiraled her way around the massive home, she quickly came upon what looked to be his study. She noticed three swords were on display on the wall there. All were intimately familiar to her.

He has the Tessaiga. She thought to herself, remembering that he wasn't able to hold it. Did Inuyasha will it to him after he passed? She wondered, as her hands traced over the sheath of the sword.

Touching the sword wasn't enough. So, she compulsively removed it from its place on the wall and removed it from its sheath, now running her hand over the dulled blade. She stayed this way for several moments, lost in sad memories of the hanyou that had once wielded it.

Now massively depressed, she replaced the sword in its sheath and returned it to its place on the wall.

Where to next? She wondered, as she left the study, taking note of the many rooms that littered the halls on this particular floor.

She set off to the door at the end of the hall, immediately entering it.

Her eyes immediately flew to the oversized painting that hung over the large intimidating bed in the center of the room.

It was a painting of her.

She was wearing a beautiful pink kimono and her hair was wrapped decoratively around her head into a large bun that was embellished with twinkling jewels and flowers. She was smiling sincerely and her face looked playful and somewhat coy. The painter was able to capture a look of absolute admiration in her eyes. She looked elegantly serene and very much in love.

What the hell?! She thought, attempting to back away from the painting and out of the room.

"What are you doing in here?" Sesshomaru's angry voice gruffed out behind her.

Kagome immediately spun around, shocked.

"I was just looking around." She muttered, her eyes once again flicking over to the painting that hung over the bed.

It's not of you. Her mind chided as she once again glanced at it. It's of Rin.

"You are in my bedroom." Sesshomaru grumbled.

He's pissed!

"I'm so sorry. You told me to make myself comfortable, so I helped myself to a tour." She admitted.

Sesshomaru's eyes scanned her face before flicking over to the bedroom's painting. He said nothing as he turned and left the room, expecting her to follow.

She happily did so.

"She looked just like that on the other side." Kagome admitted, attempting to make conversation. She knew from experience that the best way to get Sesshomaru into a good mood was to remind him of Rin.

Sesshomaru said nothing as he led her to his expansive kitchen on the lowest floor.

"I have taken the initiative to order us dinner." He said lowly, as he poured out two glasses of wine, quickly handing her one.

"Uh. Thank you." She said, as she studied the kitchen that looked like it had never once been used.

"You've been in the study." Sesshomaru said, lowly.

"Yes."

"What did you touch?" He asked, angrily.

Kagome sighed. "The Tessaiga." She admitted. "I put it back though." She said, meeting his eyes.

Sesshomaru's eyebrow rose for a moment in silent question.

"I didn't touch anything else." She huffed, amazed by her ability to pick up on his nonverbal cues.

Sesshomaru briefly smiled before he set off to his apartment's A.I. system to put low classical music on in the background. Once he did so, he motioned for her to follow him to his dining room.