J0rge: Where's LL?  She's supposed to be doing the A/N.

*Sesshy and Miroku are playing video games*

Sesshy: I ate her.  Dammit!

Miroku: *grin* Take that! *to J0rge* I think that she's off pouting about something or other… Shit!  You ran over me!

J0rge: *winces* Remind me never to let you two get behind the wheel of a car.

Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha and its affiliates do not, in any way, shape, or form, belong to Landlady and company.  Except for those two, temporarily at least. *J0rge points to Miroku and Sesshy*

Chapter 3: A Friendly Face

"How did you get Inu-Yasha to let you stay over the weekend?"  Sesshoumaru and Kagome were curled up on the large couch in the living room, watching a movie.  Kagome found it endlessly amusing that his furniture was so soft that you sank into it.  And bright blue.  Somehow, she would have thought that he would have gone for something dark and leather and none too comfortable.  But then again, Sesshoumaru wasn't one to deny himself any comforts, and he really wasn't into popular fashions either.

But still … "Whatever made you buy a blue couch anyway?"  Though she wasn't looking at him, she could feel him roll his eyes.

"Not this again," he sighed and shifted them slightly, so that she was lying up against his chest, with his arms wrapped around her just under her breasts.  "So what did you tell my brother?"

Kagome tilted her head back to rest on his shoulder so she could look up at him.  "Seriously.  Why blue?  I would have thought that you were more of a red person, Shin-chan."

His eyes narrowed playfully.  "I don't trust you when you call me that."

"That's only because I jumped you in public the last time I did."

"You jumped me last night too."  His amber eyes glinted smugly.

"No.  You jumped me.  There's a difference."

"Perhaps," he conceded.

"So answer my question."

"You first."

Kagome sighed, "Fine, you win.  I told him I had a test on Monday so I needed to stay home to study over the weekend.  And I bribed him with some ramen; he was still to stunned to resist much, so it was pretty easy."

"Do you have a test?"

"No.  Your turn."

It was Sesshoumaru's turn to sigh.  "The brat likes it."

Kagome sat up, interested.  "What brat?"

The phone rang.  Sesshoumaru disentangled himself from Kagome and stood.  Leaning down, he caged Kagome between his arms and kissed her lightly, eyes twinkling.  "I have to get that."  The he was gone, already in the next room before she realized it.

Kagome struggled to sit up, half-stuck in the couch.  "Dammit Sesshou, what brat?!"

***

A few hours later, Kagome was still trying to cajole Sesshoumaru into telling her what he was talking about.  Normally, it wouldn't have taken so long, either Kagome would get what she wanted or Sesshoumaru would have found a way to shut her up.  But her questioning had degenerated into a game of chase, and now Kagome had the demon pinned to the bed, which was quite a dangerous situation to be in.  But she wasn't about to back down now.

"Come on Sesshou, if you have a kid then you have to tell me."  His eyes glinted with a long suppressed thrill of the hunt, though Kagome knew that he would never hurt her.  With a sudden grin, he flipped her over, switching places and caging her with his arms and legs.

"Would it bother you if I did?"

"No.  It's not like I expected you to wait around for me or anything."  Suddenly she wiggled through his arms and skipped away.  "But I would like to know."

The demon flipped over and leaned back on his elbows, watching her intently.  Kagome watched back warily, ready to spring away if he so much as twitched.  After a moment, Sesshoumaru sighed and patted the bed next to him.  Reluctantly, the girl stepped forward and sat down, leaning up against him and closing her eyes.  He wrapped his arms around her and made himself comfortable.  It was about time for a nap anyway.

Kagome opened one eye and glared up at him.  "Well?"

He repressed a smile, keeping his eyes closed.  "Well what?"

With an exasperated sigh, she poked him in the ribs, hard.  Out of reflex, Sesshoumaru caught her hand before she could draw away and flipped them over, pinning her to the bed.  A flash of fear passed through her eyes before she ruthlessly squashed it.  "Do you have a kid or not?" she demanded, to cover for her lapse.

"No."  Ignoring Kagome's spluttering, he flipped back over, dragging her across his chest.  After a moment, she settled down and rearranged herself.  Definitely naptime now.

Suddenly, Kagome pushed herself up slightly so she could look at him.  "So who's 'the brat'?"

Sesshoumaru growled slightly and pushed her back down.  "You'll find out soon enough.  He'll be here later."

***

Sesshoumaru lie awake long after Kagome had dropped off, exhausted from their game of tag.  For some reason, he couldn't forget the split-second flash of fear that she had emitted when he had pinned her down.  Not too long ago, he wouldn't have given it a second thought.  But now … it bothered him, and he couldn't quite figure out why.

In this time, it had always seemed that Kagome trusted him, once she had realized that he was a different person from the one she knew in the past.  But the things that he had done do her, and would do to her had to be hard to forget.  Despite all their time together, she couldn't quite banish her early image of him.

Where is she now, he wondered, in her journey through the past?  Sesshoumaru had never bothered to ask, knowing that it would only lead to questions about the future that he wasn't willing to answer.  It might not be a good idea to inform Kagome of what she would do, for fear of changing the past, and thus, the future.

Perhaps it was time to ask.  It was obvious that their relationship wasn't as stable as he'd thought.  And he wanted to know what else it would have to stand.

But would it survive such a trial?

***

Kagome woke suddenly, apparently for no reason at all.  For a moment, she had to wonder where she was, and why there was a real roof over her head, not the thatched kind of the feudal era.  Feeling a little silly when she figured it out, the girl half sat up, shaking off the groggy feeling from sleeping in the middle of the day.

"Sleep well?"  With a start, Kagome turned in the direction of the voice.  Sesshoumaru was sitting on a chair in the corner, watching her with a blank expression on his face.

She held a hand to her pounding heart.  "Shit, Sesshou, you scared me!  Don't do that!"

Before she realized what was going on, the demon was beside her.  Kagome jumped.  He didn't use his speed very often, but when he did it unnerved her.  Yet she didn't have much time to think of that as he leaned forward, catching her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes.  "Am I that frightening?" he asked her softly.

Kagome blinked, "Umm, is that a trick question?"

Something unusual flashed in his eyes before he pulled away.  "Never mind."  He rose swiftly and began to walk off.

Kagome was very confused.

Nevertheless, she scrambled up and, patting herself to make sure she was fully clothed, ran after him.  "Hey, Sesshou, wait up!"  He stopped, and she nearly ran into him, but settled for flinging her arms around his waist.  Looking up, their eyes met.  Kagome righted herself without taking her eyes from his and grabbed his hand.  "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

For a moment, he said nothing, simply looked down at her with his trademark blank expression.  Then her smiled softly – which really scared Kagome – and brushed her cheek.  "It's nothing," he said.

"But…"  He cut her off with a finger to her lips.

"He's here."  Another grin.  Kagome was beginning to get nervous.

"Who?"

Sesshoumaru leaned down and kissed her on the cheek before whispering conspiratorially.  "The brat."

The doorbell rang.

Kagome jumped, clutching Sesshoumaru's arm.  "How did you … wait … never mind."  She sighed; it was easy to forget that he was a demon, sometimes anyway.  "I'm gonna go brush my hair.  I'll be right back."  He nodded and headed to let their guest up.

Kagome ran her fingers through her black locks while she searched for her hairbrush.  Sesshoumaru was really acting odd.  It wasn't like him to ask questions that he didn't want the answer to.  Finding the brush, she shrugged it off.  They had a guest now, so she would have to wonder about it later.

Hearing voices in the living room, Kagome headed in that direction.  There was no sense in wondering whom this mysterious person who had picked out Sesshoumaru's couch was, but she couldn't help herself.  He must have been someone to have an effect on the demon.  Someone said her name, and she stopped just outside the door leading to the living room, listening.

"Stop fidgeting," Sesshoumaru was saying.  He sounded somewhat amused, though partially annoyed.  "She'll be here in a moment."

A new voice sighed, and said, "I really don't think she's going to recognize me."

Recognize? Kagome thought.  Why would Sesshoumaru know someone that I would recognize?  Unless…

Kagome ticked off the people she knew from the feudal era.  It couldn't be Miroku or Sango.  Inu-Yasha had lived through old age and died long ago.  He didn't sound anything like Kouga.  So, that only left…

Kagome flung open the door.  Sure enough, their visitor had a bright shock of red-orange hair.

"Shippou!"  He grinned, and Kagome flung herself at the kitsune, hugging him tightly.  When she released him she asked, "How long have you been here?"

He shrugged, "Umm, five hundred years?  Give or take."  Kagome blinked, only now taking the time to look him over.  Instead of the child that he had been, Shippou had grown up, and looked to be in his mid twenties.  His hair had been cut short, and he wore a pair of baggy jeans and a tee shirt.

Upon registering what he had said, Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru with her hands on her hips.  "And what do you have to say for yourself, huh?"

The dog demon smirked at her.  "Surprise?"

"Ohh!  You!"  Sesshoumaru caught Kagome's hands before they could swing his way and turned her around so that her back was pressed to his chest and her arms were crossed in front of her, their hands still entwined.  Shippou grinned at them as Kagome looked up and stuck out her tongue at Sesshoumaru.

Faking a mock sigh of despair, Shippou said, "You two…"  Kagome blushed slightly, but didn't look overly ashamed.

"I'm hungry," she announced suddenly.

"You're always hungry," Sesshoumaru noted.  Kagome kicked him.  "How about we all go out to dinner, so you two can catch up?" he continued without blinking.  "We can even bring that odd family of yours."

Her eyes lit up and she turned towards Shippou.  "That would be great!  Mom would just love to meet you Shippou!"  Try as she might, Kagome couldn't really argue with Sesshoumaru's description of her family.  He had met them after all, so he would know.  And it looked like Shippou would find out soon.

***

Hi Rin-Chan!

Would you believe that little Shippou is all grown up and living in my time?  I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, after all, he is a demon and younger than Sesshoumaru, not to mention that his kitsune skills would help him blend in a lot better.  But I guess I never really thought that I would run into anyone else that I knew here.

So Mom finally got to meet Shippou.  Fortunately for him, he doesn't have a tail anymore for her to mess with.  Souta was a little upset that Shippou isn't his age.  Called me a liar.  Little twit.  Grandpa liked him though, but I think that he wants us to get married or something, he used to get the same look when he saw Houjo and me together.  And, granted, Shippou is cute and all, but he's not Sesshoumaru.

Oh yea, Shippou works for Sesshou.  If that isn't irony, then I don't know what is.  Even weirder, is that they actually get along.  Sesshou treats him like a little brother.  I'm still trying to figure out what exactly Shippou does.  When I asked, he said he was a 'special investigator', so I'm not sure I really want to know.

Speaking of the business, I said that I would talk about how Sesshou got it.  I think I mentioned that he's the CEO of Nippon Electronics, which has been around for a while.  As it turns out, Sesshou saw the money in emerging technology, and started the company sometime after WWI.  Apparently, he's been pretending to be his son for three generations, and 'inheriting' the business each time the previous owner dies.  Not surprisingly, he makes as little public appearances as possible, and when he does have to, Shippou can put an illusion spell on him to make him look just a little different from his previous incarnation, or older, or whatever is necessary.  This is also why his name has changed; he told me that he takes on a new name every 50 years, since he doesn't like pretending to be old.

Right now, his story is that his father is very sick, so Matsuda Shinzui is in the process of taking over the business.  Needless to say, the process is going very smoothly.

So there it is, Sesshou's business history.  And you have to admit that he's done quite well; after all, he is one of the richest men in Japan.

Well, that's about it for me tonight, Rin-Chan.  I'm off to jump Sesshou since I have to go back to the feudal era in a few days.

Ja!

LL: *sniffles*

B0b: Where the hell have you been?  J0rge's been looking for you since this chapter started.

LL: *sob*

B0b: *sighs* Fine, I'll bite.  What's the matter?

LL: It's official.  I've lost complete control of my stories!  I didn't mean for this chapter to be so depressing; it was supposed to be all happy and mostly pointless and now it's not!

B0b: That's not my fault.

LL: I know it's not your fault because you never do anything.  *stands up*  But I'm going to find out just what the hell is going on!  And you're coming with me! *grabs B0b and runs off*

B0b: Ack!

Promises Fans: I got nominated for Best AU and Best Angst/Drama on A Single Spark, so go vote for me, please!