We're going to back pedal a little bit this chapter and a little of the next. Yes, yes, the writing is somewhat sloppy. I'm just as disappointed as you are.

Chapter 4

"Hello?"

"You survived."

"Yeah, killer headache though. So did she drop you off at your place and then split?"

"No, she stayed but nothing happened…"

"I see… too drunk to get it up, huh?"

"I was nottoo drunk."

"Yeah, yeah. So then what happened this morning?"

"I made us some breakfast and then she left… I gave her tomorrow off."

"Booooring."

"She knows you're an accomplice so I suggest you watch your back."

"Aw man! Thanks a lot! At least she won't be at work when I come by in the afternoon tomorrow. I guess I'll see you then, Sesshomaru."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Inuyasha tossed his phone aside and sighed. Trying to get his brother together with his secretary was going to be a full time job. Ever since Sesshomaru separated from his wife a year and a half ago he's been moping around like a grounded child. At work he turned hard and cold. The company couldn't keep a secretary on staff more than 5 hours before she ran or stomped out of the building with Sesshomaru-induced tears running down her face.

A little History…

Sesshomaru married at a young age to a girl he met while on vacation in Hawaii. Her name was Nina and they were deeply in love. Inuyasha remembered the wedding fondly as he and Kikyo were newly engaged and were looking forward to their own wedding. Six months later Sesshomaru announced that Nina was pregnant and 9 months later little Rin was born. She was the cutest baby around and Sesshomaru was incredibly proud of his daughter. After Rin's first year things began to fall apart between Sesshomaru and Nina. Nina fell into a deep post partum depression after Rin was born. Sesshomaru didn't quite understand how she could be so depressed when they had a beautiful new daughter to love and care for. He thought that perhaps Nina was jealous that he paid so much attention to their daughter. Slowly, they began to resent one another – Sesshomaru resented Nina because of her depression that he thought she was faking for attention and for the time she spent with Rin while he was at work. Nina resented Sesshomaru because he was able to leave to go to work on days where Rin was screaming her head off (which, in her opinion, was every day). After 3 years of marriage, they decided to separate. Rin spent her time split between staying with Nina and staying with Sesshomaru. Nina, for the sake of their daughter, settled down in Japan instead of going back to Hawaii. It would be difficult enough only seeing her daughter every other week but to have an infant travel that much was ridiculous.

So there Sesshomaru was, 1 ½ years post-separation and moping but not moping like most people. Sesshomaru moped by being fierce, angry, and cold. Frankly Inuyasha was sick of it. Right when he had gotten used to his brother lightening up and relaxing, he clammed up and turned a cold shoulder to everyone. He stopped caring for anything other than his business conquests in the board room. He worked 12-15 hour days and never took vacation days. It was time to bring some happiness back into his brother's life and Inuyasha knew just how to do it.

It took some crafty shuffling of certain staff but eventually Inuyasha hired Kagome to be Sesshomaru's secretary. She was a petite young woman who was smart, motivated, and wouldn't take crap from anyone (this Inuyasha knew since she was his wife's best friend). He had known Kagome for probably 5 years. When he started dating Kikyo he had to pass the "best friend test" as they called it. It was the roughest night out he had ever had but he passed. However, it was not without Kagome threatening to slice off his dick and feed it to a sewer rat should he ever hurt 'her Kikyo'. Man, women could be scary! Either way, she had been looking for a new job and secretary was a position she was qualified to fulfill.

(**flashback**)

Knocking on the doorframe to Sesshomaru's office, Inuyasha cleared his throat and crossed the threshold with Kagome following him in. Sesshomaru glanced up as Inuyasha entered and stood near the corner of his desk.

"Good morning Inuyasha. What do you want?" he asked, his eyes flicking back to his computer monitor as he typed away at a report. Inuyasha simply stood in the same place but a smile melted onto his face.

"Well, I wanted to introduce a new staff member to you," he said cheerfully. Sesshomaru sighed and pulled his hands away from his keyboard to fold and rest them on his abdomen. He leaned back slightly in his chair. He expected to meet yet another analyst or another member for their research and development team. This one must be good since Inuyasha only introduced the 'big shots' to him when they were hired. When Inuyasha stepped aside, Sesshomaru blinked twice rapidly, his chair creaking ever so slightly as he leaned back a little.

Standing behind Inuyasha was a petite young woman with black hair and fair skin. She wore a grey tweed skirt and matching jacket over a maroon blouse. She bowed politely then extended her hand for him to shake.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Takeshi. My name is Kagome Higurashi." Being cordial, Sesshomaru stood and shook her hand.

"Likewise, Ms. Higurashi; welcome to the company. Which department will you be working in?" he asked. When she smiled and laughed softly, Sesshomaru turned his head to look at Inuyasha with a questioning stare.

"She's your new secretary, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha offered with a grin. Sesshomaru looked back and forth between the two.

"Hn. I didn't realize we were hiring for that position," he said while trying to hide his confusion. Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders.

"You spend way too much of your time typing up your reports and sending files so I hired Kagome here to help you out in that department," he explained. "Besides, the turnover of secretaries for you is ridiculously high so you're not allowed to fire Kagome; she's a friend of mine."

Sesshomaru almost rolled his eyes at Inuyasha. It's not my fault they were all incompetent he thought to himself. Inuyasha looked back and forth between the two. Kagome politely kept her eyes lowered while Sesshomaru stared at her with a look of boredom.

"Your desk is outside the door. I expect these meeting minutes typed, collated, and distributed to the attendees," he said while handing her a thin stack of papers. "I have meetings at 10, 2, and 4 and I expect the minutes from those meetings typed, collated, and distributed to the attendees… before you leave today, Miss Higurashi," Sesshomaru stated as he sat back down and returned to his report. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha who huffed quietly and lead her out of the office, closing the door behind him.

"Well, he's friendly," she said while standing next to what was to become her desk. Inuyasha scratched behind his neck and shrugged.

"He's going through some tough shit right now, don't mind him. He can be kind of an asshole but don't worry. He can't fire you; only I can do that," he explained. Kagome gave him a pointed look and he continued quickly, "and Kikyo would kill me if I even tried to fire you so, again, don't worry. Just don't quit, alright?"

"Alright, if you say so," Kagome said with a sigh, "I better get to work on these minutes and get organized for the day."

(**end Flashback**)

Sesshomaru worked Kagome hard in the office. He gave ridiculous deadlines for documents, made her make copies of reports on five different types of paper, and demanded ludicrous items at the drop of a hat. A lot of the time she felt like she was Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada and Sesshomaru was Miranda Priestly. Just as beautiful but 10 times worse to work for.

Sure, she thought her boss was beautiful but that's about where it ends. His outside might have been model worthy but his insides were cold and hollow. She had heard from other employees in the building that he had been divorced for a year and a half and had a nearly 4 year old daughter but she never saw photos of the girl in his office. She felt sorry for the little girl. Her father was a workaholic who never took a vacation. She couldn't imagine if her own father had been like Sesshomaru – mean, cold, and waaaay too formal. The man needed to loosen up.

***000***

Inuyasha tapped his pen against the desk in front of him. Kagome had been working as Sesshomaru's secretary for a month before Inuyasha changed her job title to Administrative Assistant. She definitely deserved a more prominent title than secretary with the amount of work she handled not to mention a raise for dealing with him. Sesshomaru worked her ragged, sometimes insisting she come in on a Saturday to reorganize the files. But over the last 6 months Sesshomaru had at least stopped being such a hard ass in the board room and began to lighten up. He had even agreed to allow karaoke at this year's company Christmas party.

Kagome was excited for the Christmas party. She had the pleasure of hand addressing all of the invites to the employees, scheduling the location, caterers, decorators, DJ, and cleanup crew. Honestly, she couldn't wait until the holidays were over so that she could get a break from all the running around Sesshomaru made her do for this god-forsaken party. She planned to get pretty drunk and enjoy herself.

***Author Notes***

(married January 2004. Rin conceived june 2004. Rin born march 2005. In 2006 Nina and Sesshomaru start to have problems – Rin is 1 yr old. In 2007 they separate and in 2008 their divorce is finalized. Story is in present time so Rin is almost 5 years old.)