Newsroom

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my dignity and I may not even have that within the next two seconds. That is all. Please enjoy.

Chapter 7

"Miroku, you female-chasing idiot!" Inuyasha roared two hours later. The day was almost over and he hadn't seen Kagome since she'd fled from his office. His brother had left the office without a word and personally Inuyasha hoped he got hit by a semi truck…carrying other semi trucks. That way it would hurt more.

However, he had managed to hear about Miroku asking Sango out. It had quickly become the central gossip of the newsroom and it annoyed the hell out of Inuyasha. You'd think a newsroom would have something more pressing to talk about other than who asked who out.

Miroku looked up at Inuyasha's outburst in surprise. He was sitting behind the desk, his feet propped up comfortably, studying Sango's photos.

"Inuyasha, is something wrong?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and brandished his claws in a threatening manner as he approached Miroku's desk. Miroku merely watched his friend with a bemused expression. He was use to Inuyasha threatening him with bodily harm. It was part of their relationship. Inuyasha never made good on his promises to hurt Miroku and Miroku never cared to probe into why.

"Is…something…wrong?" Inuyasha said slowly as he finally reached the desk. He placed his hands onto the desk and leaned across it towards Miroku. "You asked out the photographer! What in the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted angrily. "Our whole plot could go up in smoke if you're too distracted to pay attention to the important things."

"Oh Inuyasha, quit being so dramatic," Miroku told his friend casually as he closed Sango's portfolio. He put his feet back on the ground and sat up straight in his chair, meeting his friend's glare without a flinch. "Trust me; Sango wants nothing to do with me so it's very likely that not even my best work will be able to break down her defenses. Although she did get rather flustered once I suggested that we had a blossoming relationship."

Inuyasha's face twisted as he began to take in Miroku's words. If Miroku was right, Sango was attracted to him and would probably fall right into Miroku's hands over time. As much as Inuyasha hated to be like Sesshomaru…he knew that relationship would be "unacceptable".

"Miroku," Inuyasha began lowly. He breathed deeply to calm himself. "I want you to think long and hard about this before you go any further. You could endanger everything we've worked for by showing a weakness in this woman. Don't do it." That being said, Inuyasha turned and walked silently out of the office.

Kagome sat down in her office chair content in the thought that she was safe for the moment. Tomorrow she would have to go and meet her new boss and spend even more time around Naraku. 'Naraku,' she thought with a shiver. The man was elegant in looks and had more than enough charm but something about him seemed to ooze slime right out of his pores and onto her being.

'Naraku's the reason Inuyasha is so callous,' she mused silently. 'Without him taking Kikyo, Inuyasha may have been a more tolerable boss instead of the short tempered fury that he is.'

Kagome jumped from her thoughts at the sound of her door being shut. Looking up, she saw Sango, Rin, and Kohaku moving to sit on the couch placed against the wall facing her.

"Um, can I help you?" Kagome asked in confusion. Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the sudden intrusion of her privacy.

"We need details," Rin ordered, reaching over to Kagome's desk and grabbing a notepad and pen. She opened the notepad and poised her pen for notes before looking up to Kagome expectantly.

"Details?"

"Yes. Tell us everything that happened at Onigumo Incorporated." Kagome sighed.

"Do I really have to?" she whined. Rin glared at her.

"Kagome Higurashi, if you don't spill right now, I'm going to tell Inuyasha everything you've been up today." Kagome gasped.

"You wouldn't."

"Wanna take that chance?" Kagome frowned.

"Fine." She opened her mouth to begin but froze once she realized that Kohaku was still there. "Why is Kohaku listening in?" Rin smiled bashfully.

"Well, Sango told me about Naraku mauling you so I thought it would be a good idea for Kohaku to come and pick you up and drop you off every now and then. You know, take you to lunch and stuff so that Naraku thinks you have a boyfriend." Kagome's eyes widened.

"That didn't stop him from taking Kikyo from Inuyasha!" whispered feverishly. Rin glared.

"Just work with me girl. Now finish your story."

"Alright, fine. I went to the front desk and there was a girl there with dark hair and red eyes."

"Red eyes?" Sango interrupted skeptically.

"Yes. Anyway, she didn't even let me finish my sentence before she told me to go to Naraku's office because he was waiting for me. I thought this was weird because since when does the big boss interview file clerks instead of the general manager or something. Before I could say anything to the girl, she left."

"Red eyes?" Sango repeated, still skeptical. Kagome glared at Sango, annoyed at the recurring interruption.

"Yes. Two of our bosses have golden eyes and Naraku's was some funky color that I should remember but can't because I'm too traumatized," Kagome ranted in one breath. Sango blinked in the silence that ensued.

"Red eyes?" she repeated into the silence.

Kagome sighed heavily, the day was finally over and she could go home and get some rest. After sharing her information with Rin, the other girl had deemed her day 'interesting' to say the least and had run off to her office to jot down some ideas. Kohaku had left soon after, promising to take Kagome to work at Onigumo Incorporated the next morning. Then Sango had also run from Kaogme's office, citing an ice cream break.

Kagome, finally at peace in her newly emptied surroundings, had merely closed her door and began working on her column for the next day. She would probably have Rin turning in her columns for her for a while. She wouldn't even have to call in sick as she was allowed to work out of her home most of the time anyway. This made it easy for her to be able to do her undercover work as well as continue her column.

Sighing heavily Kagome chanced a glance at her clock. It was only 3:30.

'To hell with it,' Kagome sighed. 'I'm not even supposed to be in here today anyway.' With that thought, she grabbed her things, including, a few envelopes from the next day's column, and left.

Naraku Onigumo frowned in boredom as his 'pet' Kikyo pouted prettily at him. She had been trying for the past ten minutes to get him to buy her another boutique. He'd countered her request with the reminder that he'd just bought her a boutique a day ago. She just sighed and fluttered her eyelashes at him in response.

It was weird. Not a day ago that same response would have made him grin and pull her to him with promises of getting her anything she wanted. Instead, it only made him wish that he had left her with Inuyasha. It made him wish that he was looking at Kagome's face instead of Kikyo's.

"Please?" Kikyo's voice broke through Naraku's thoughts and he nodded absentmindedly.

"Very well," he agreed. Kagome would be at work the next day…she'd be ripe for the picking and he could rid himself of Kikyo.

The next morning Kagome stepped into the massive building that was Onigumo Incorporated with timid steps. This time, she'd opted for a black pantsuit with matching flats that would allow her to actually be able to run in if she had to.

She saw the same woman at the front desk who had been there the day before. She smiled at Kagome wanly and immediately returned to whatever she was doing. Kagome shrugged it off and made her way to her new boss' office. Kouga Wolfe.

She knew nothing about him but was sure to hate him if he worked for Naraku. She groaned inwardly.

'I work for Naraku,' she thought. She sighed heavily as she reached Kouga's door and walked in. 'I hate Rin.'