AN: Hey guys, sorry this took forever. Good news is, though, that I've been really insprired with this story lately, have written bunches and bunches, and will be submitting two chapters AT ONCE, tonight!!! Yaaaaay!
Notice: Warning for language. Like, right off the bat.
Please enjoy:
Kagome jumped to her feet.
"What the fuck?!"
Susan raised an eyebrow. "So it's perfectly plausible and acceptable for me to be a witch, for you to be a witch, for magic to exist at all, but it's blowing your mind away that Sesshoumaru is a demon?"
"Well," Kagome huffed defensively. "You know how everyone thinks their boss is the devil incarnate? Why do I have to be the only one whose boss actually is?"
"Sesshoumaru would love to hear that," Susan smirked. "Actually, I bet he can. Also: he's a demon, not a devil. The two are not synonymous."
"What?"
"A demon is essentially a being of immortality with specific abilities." Susan picked a piece of lint off of her jeans and flicked it into the air. "A devil is a fictional creature based off of demons. Goat demons, to be exact. Nasty buggers."
"What?"
"Ah, well, demons tend to have animal counterparts. The more powerful a demon, the more humanoid they appear, such as our favorite boss."
"No," Kagome held up a hand. "I mean, what?"
"Sesshoumaru is a dog demon."
Kagome shoved her fists to her hip and shifted her weight to one side. "And what does that mean, exactly? Are there more demons? Do they all look like humans? What the fuck!"
Susan laughed. "Of course not! Even Sesshoumaru doesn't look like a human, not in real life anyway. He has a spell that covers up his less than humanly traits."
"Less than humanly?" Kagome echoed. "Like what?"
Susan shrugged. "His ears, his hair color, stuff like that."
"So he can do magic too?"
"Of course not," Susan scoffed while flipping her hair back. It was finally trailing over her shoulder in a low wavy pony tail, lending visual credence to her habit. "I made the spell for him. It's a talisman he wears around his throat. A couple words in some ancient language and he looks normal. Well," Susan conceded. "Normal for him – strange for us."
"So you're a human?" Kagome pointed at Susan, the inside of her wrist facing up.
"Yes," Susan nodded. "As are you. The only difference between you and I is that you will be able to cast spells like glamours without using any sort of physical grounding, such as a talisman. You'll be able to – with some practice – to be able to cast the spell and sink it into his skin. Your spells will be what I guess you can call 'natural' and they'll act accordingly, meshing with their environment."
Kagome nodded slowly, mulling it over. "Cool."
Susan smirked. "Of course it is."
"So my boss isn't the only demon, right?"
"Yes."
"Who else is a demon?"
Kagome tried to think through all the people she knew. Who could be a demon? People she thought were completely normal, were completely human – something she had never even questioned before all this! – they could be demons! Whoda thunk?
Susan's smirk tugged at the edges of her mouth, climbing higher. "I think it would be a nice exercise for you to try to find out on your own. Try sensing at it. You'll notice a different… feel, I guess, around those who are human and those who aren't. Eventually you'll even begin to sense what species the non-humans are."
Kagome's fists dropped from her hips and slid up her sides until she stood with her arms crossed, thinking. "Sesshoumaru's a dog demon? Really?"
"Yes." Susan confirmed.
Our heroine's brows were knitted together, her mouth frowning as she tried to sort out all the new information. "Does that mean he has like… qualities of a dog? Like, does he have dog traits? Does he do stuff that's dog-like?"
"Kind of," Susan shrugged. "In a way."
She leaned back on the bed, her legs stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankles. Holding a hand before her and inspecting her red nails, she continued to answer Kagome's question.
"He doesn't start scratching himself with his hind leg if that's what you mean…"
"I knew that!" Kagome interjected hastily.
"But he does have some more… I guess you could call them personality traits?" Susan stuck a finger in her mouth and chewed at a hangnail. "He's got some personality traits like a dog. And heightened senses, though all demons have those. His tend to be a little bit better 'cause of the dog part – his hearing and smelling mostly."
"So his hearing's, like, really, really good?" Kagome's question was really more of a statement.
"Yeah?" Susan returned her attention from her skirt to the girl. "So?"
"So he can hear what we're saying right. now?"
"Yes," Sesshoumaru answered as he walked through the bedroom door.
Kagome smacked her palm against her forehead.
"Is it necessary for you to be in here right now?" she asked him.
Sesshoumaru's eyes scanned the small room, taking in the piles of rumpled clothes, both dirty and clean, the mattress with the sheets rumpled and the empty banana crate that served as a bookshelf un the window.
"I can honestly say I wish not."
"Hey," Kagome shook her finger at him. "None of this backwards progression in our relationship. We were just starting to get along so well, too."
Sesshoumaru's stoic face remained as always. "Our relationship?" he inquired as Susan snorted.
"Yeah," Kagome leaned back on one foot and crossed her arms. "You know, just the other day we were in the office, making jokes, laughing it up and working together pretty well."
"We were never making jokes together."
"Whatever," Kagome conceded. "I was making jokes."
"I do not remember such jokes."
"Okay, fine! I was making fun of Jaken!"
Sesshoumaru nodded. "And may you never forget."
Susan stood up. "Okay, time for me to take control of this situation. Sesshoumaru – you need to wait outside. Kagome? You need to get dressed."
Sesshoumaru left, the words of Kagome reaching his sensitive ears only moments before Kagura shut the bedroom door behind him.
"Okay, if what he just said wasn't a joke, then what is?"
The phone rang.
Sesshoumaru ignored it as he sat back on the cheap, burgundy couch. He supposed it was a fine enough couch for one such as the girl. And the building…
The phone rang.
The building was in a nice enough neighborhood for one such as she. As long as she avoided the streets at night, alone. But then, there was a company car that assisted her with such things.
The phone rang. Again.
And once this girl reached her full potential, she would be a formidable match against many who would attack her in the night, especially the humans.
The pho-
"Sesshoumaru!" Susan called from the bedroom. "Pick it up!"
Sesshoumaru gave a small snort of disdain and returned to his previous line of thinking.
But before she was a fully realized power, he would have to make sure she-
"Mr. Takamatsu…"
This time it was the girl's voice that filtered through the thin walls of the apartment. It was heavy and loose with pleading, falling pleasantly on his ears, without the least bit whine of those who normally seek favors and without the grating command of Susan's.
"Please, Mr. Takamatsu. Could you please pick up the phone?"
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and stood gracefully, bringing his lithe and powerful body over to the cheap plastic phone that hung on the wall near the kitchen. Sneering, he lifted the device from its hook and held it delicately a short way from his ear, fighting the desire to crush it in disdain.
"Yes?" he drawled.
"Who is this?" demanded a forceful voice.
"Is that not generally the question the person receiving the call should make?" Sesshoumaru looked out the window. Well, it was a nice view. Especially for what little she had to be paying for it.
"Yeah, but the person who should be answering this call is Kagome, so why don't you just tell me where she is before I come over there and exterminate you?"
Before Sesshoumaru could put the indignant female in her place, a smoother voice came in the background.
"Now now, Sango, my dear. Why don't you hand me the phone? There's no need to be upset, I'm sure Kagome merely has a companion over."
The woman's voice was pushed further into the background as she squawked, "What "companion" comes over this early in the morning?"
The man chuckled as he placed the phone near his mouth and spoke. "One would wonder if it were the sort of companion who would call at a similar hour. That is if one were brave enough to inquire such."
"The wrath of your woman is formidable, I assume," Sesshoumaru acknowledged solemnly. Human men were easily cowered.
The man's laugh chimed deeply. "Yes, my Sango is quite a woman."
Unintelligible and angry sounds were made on the other end.
"What is it that you need?" Sesshoumaru demanded, tiring of the prattle. "The one known as Kagome is busy now."
"Will she be free later?" the man asked politely.
"No." Sesshoumaru was beginning to dislike to smooth talker on the phone.
"May I ask why?"
"No," Sesshoumaru was finished with this conversation. "I have need of her presence."
And so he hung up.
"Who was it?"
Kagome walked out of the bedroom, followed by Susan.
"Inconsequential." Sesshoumaru turned away from them and walked to the door. "We will leave now."
"No, wait," Kagome walked to the phone and picked it up, hitting buttons. "I wanna see who called."
Sesshoumaru stopped at the door. Later on, historians will argue. There will be many debates on this moment and its significance – whether it even happened or not – but it is strongly believed that at this very instance… Sesshoumaru Takamatsu's eye twitched.
"Mr. Takamatsu!" Kagome screeched.
"Darling…" Susan cooed as she tugged at her own injured ear, wincing at the thought of how the shriek must have hurt the dog demon. "Sesshoumaru's a dog demon. He has somewhat sensitive hearing."
Kagome spun around angrily and thrust the phone at Sesshoumaru.
"Damn right he's a dog! These were my friends!"
Sesshoumaru growled and swiped the phone out of her hand. Kagome watched it crash to the floor, the little caller ID screen cracking. The growling continued and Kagome's vision was forced back to her employer as he completely disregarded her personal boundaries, stepping in so close that she could almost feel the vibrations of his chest as he continued the guttural, low-pitched growling.
That was strangely masculine for all it was animalistic.
The moment stretched out in a strange manner. It was almost as if that sliver of time had separated itself from the continuum it existed in and wrapped itself around the two of them.
His reaction was like none Kagome had expected. Any other person would have yelled or shouted. Maybe a person who cared about keeping a check on his temper would have gritted out biting words to leave an invisible mark.
But Sesshoumaru was different from anyone else or their reactions. (He would have said he was better than that.) He stood in front of Kagome, her nose level with the center of his chest, and he was silent. Kagome tried to glare up at him, tried to stand her ground, but it was hard. His eyes were both piercing and shuttered. Despite how obvious it was that he was angered, Kagome still questioned what he was thinking. Was he angry she had jabbed him with the phone or was he angry he had answered it and she hadn't "thanked" him "properly"?
Kagome felt her steadfastness waver. He was so scary looking right now – and he was her boss!
No. Kagome's chin rose again and she stiffened her spin. Sesshoumaru's right eyebrow lifted slightly and he looked somewhat amused for a moment, before returning to a blank slate. Kagome's own eyebrows drew together. Wasn't he angry anymore? Was he teasing her now?
"Okay, you guys, that's enough. I don't want to spend all day here, no offense, Kagome."
Kagome looked away without thinking, Susan's interruption breaking her concentration.
"Damnit!" Kagome cursed, her eyes snapping back to Sesshoumaru's. However, Sesshoumaru was looking smugly over at Susan, which was probably a good thing, as it kept Kagome from engaging him in another staring contest.
"Geeze," Susan muttered under her breath as they filed out the door. "If you were men, I would have told you both just to lay them out on the table and measure 'em."
Kagome spun around and stuck her tongue out at Susan who only grinned.
"Hey," she warned. "Don't go sticking that out at people if you don't plan on using it."
Sesshoumaru, who walked ahead of them both, rolled his eyes while Kagome laughed.
AN: Kagome has a weird sense of humor in this fic, doesn't she? Anyway, keep reading on because there are two chapters for you now, so go go go! (Review, too, please!)
