Chapter 11

He was left in a cafeteria with a shocked expression. Yes, it had been years since he'd flirted without the intention of being slapped. One of his many therapists had explained to him that, although he sought somebody to love, he respected his marriage and therefore spoke in such a way that the women would automatically reject him. Now, with the secretary he actually wanted to pursue as his marriage came to an end, he found himself a creature of habit.

"Sweetie, do you want another coffee or do you want me to close your tab?"

He switched his gaze to the waitress and blinked owlishly.

"Close it," he drawled.

Perhaps she had a boyfriend in the city that she was with now because of his lack of manners. He'd lost his swagger and the famous twinkle in his eyes that women swooned over during his college days. Ah, his college days in America, land of the free. He'd had so many friends and ridiculous trips, all of that was a beautiful memory in comparison to his days back in Japan. Now there he was, in a café when he should be contacting his acquaintances and getting the annulment underway. Perhaps once everything was said and done he'd regain his confidence and she would have no choice but to respond to his advances!

Sango, on the other hand, realized that fame and fortune could not be found on a swing in a park, but perhaps a little bit of comfort could be. She'd never had many friends when she was in college, she was very dedicated to her studies and had taught at her old karate school ever since she surpassed the competing age of her team. That school was how she'd met InuYasha and, in turn, Kikyou and Kagome. She'd gotten a job with them as soon as she'd graduated, a blessing that she still thanked the Gods for. Now she felt like a homewrecker, finding herself attracted to a married man for the very first time. Sure she'd had her small relationships here and there, none of which lasted once they found out that she could and would pin them to the ground if need be. She still remembered her last break-up; she'd kicked Jim's feet right out from underneath him. Their shame seemed to be elongated by their trip to the infirmary, where he refused to admit that she'd twisted his ankle.

She got up from the swing and started to walk back towards Time Square hoping to find the clueless man she'd been assigned to accompany. She had a couple of contacts that she knew could get into systems with a less than legal method or two, but she probably needed to find the man she'd been assigned to accompany. It was, after all, the job she'd been assigned and she would hate to disappoint the boss.

Rin and Kikyou were sitting in the living room late that night, after everybody had retreated to their respective rooms. They'd left a sole lamp to light the room, plunging the rest of the house into darkness. Rin opted to sneak glances at her sister-in-law every couple of seconds while Kikyou's attention remained on the local newscast.

Rin was captivated. She partially felt her need to reanalyze her animosity towards Kikyou was due to the knock on her head. The doctor hadn't wanted to release her the prior day because she refused to take back her previous commentary, which he insisted was pure delusion.

"No, I was serious. I want that park fucking paved with some nice, soft carpet. This is ridiculous, why do you need pavement? You have something against soft carpet doc? Get the scalpel out your ass and get them to put down some nice carpet!"

However, the poor doctor was also getting part of her confusion thrown in. Out of all the people that could've stayed overnight (like Kagome), they'd left Kikyou. Of course then Kikyou decided to read her mind and correct that thought.

"I offered to stay so that the others could go to work in the morning with no problem. I don't mind, even if you might."

She had to give her some props on that one. She'd gone out of her way to stand her ground, which to Rin was somewhat treading dangerous grounds. The reanalysis required another look at InuYasha as well. She'd accepted InuYasha's return easily because they were family and because it was obvious to her at first that he'd only left to traipse after the woman. Perhaps however she failed to see what her brothers had so easily caught on to. InuYasha had left their dysfunctional family to have a normal one of his own, to choose his own destiny rather than have their father lay it out for him. Freedom had truly come at a high price for him, to leave his family, however easily it may have seemed. If that was the truth that had escaped Rin's train of thought, then Kikyou was only caught in the aftermath of Rin's strong dislike. Grudgingly Rin decided to lay off Kikyou, if only because she was an upgrade compared to Miroku's wife. She couldn't in a million years wish Hime on InuYasha.

She took in a deep breath. She would do it, she would say something nice and Kikyou would smile and do whatever it was that nice people did.

"Nice weather huh?" Rin blurted out.

Kikyou gave her a strange look as the news anchor droned on about closed streets due to the continued snowfall, "I guess so."

Rin felt stupid and flew up off her seat, muttered a 'never mind' followed by a hesitant 'good night' and made for the stairs. Kikyou stared after her with sheer confusion written on her face. The forecast said that the following evening had a blizzard well on its way. It was nice weather alright, if you liked that sort of thing.

The next morning at breakfast was awkward. Sesshomaru and Kagome were shooting each other glares across the dining table, Kikyou was outright staring at Rin, and InuYasha was sneaking glances at everybody. Even Touga, who was normally immersed in his family, was thoroughly concentrated on his PDA, his Bluetooth flashing from beneath his hair every so often. Shippou's chin was resting on his left palm, his right hand pushing fruit around his plate, blowing air through his bangs every so often. The only thing that disrupted the silence amongst them lately was the continuous chatter of plates as they were jostled by the nervous maids. Pottery had been dropped and lost to pieces as one of the maids fainted from the sheer sight of a drenched Sesshomaru so close to his room, naked. His corresponding trick had done nothing to assuage their battle as she woke up to cups upon cups filled with water surrounding her bed.

"No, no, no. Everything will be fine," Touga spoke, his eyes staring into nothingness. "That situation is being taken care of already."

"Situation?"

Everybody but Shippou turned to look at Hime. The youngest son chose to stare at his father instead as they all shuffled off and away from the breakfast table. Upon realizing that Hime had turned to him he shrunk into his chair and slipped away, leaving her to the eldest male of the household.

"So I've heard the snow is absolutely gorgeous in these parts after it has fallen," she commented with a bright smile.

"The snow is an abomination and keeps us from our work, our mission to create that which will advance the technology at the reach of our consumers, girl."

Hime frowned, he hadn't even caught her eyes and continued his breakfast with no willingness to acknowledge her. She had sought her husband and the protection of her right at his side. They were, all too soon, separated and she feared it was his own doing. There had never been any delusions of love between the two, yet she feared for her livelihood. There had never been any proven infidelity between the two, but perhaps if she could change that… Then at least she would have a compensatory, lump-sum alimony from her estranged husband and his chosen lover. They had no children to be spoken of, no hint of consummation. She blinked away her thoughts and found herself alone in the house she had been destined to call home.

Sango found her temporary boss at the same café she'd seen him disappear into hours before. He seemed withdrawn, but was not short of attention as the waitresses giggled behind the counter. They attempted to snatch his bill from one girl's hands as she held it close to her chest with an impish smile. She raised an eyebrow and realized that the rest of the world saw what she did – he was handsome. She walked in and the lone jingling of the bell lost itself in the chatter between the winner and her intended prize. Sango walked to them and stared down at him. The shadow she cast caught his eyes and he seemed to take his time taking her in completely. It was unnerving and she faltered in her aggressive stance.

"It seems I have been found by my enchanting guide to the city," he smirked.

"You don't seem to recall our purpose here sir. Should I remind you now?"

His eyes widened, "Surely our sexual escapades can wait?"

She stood stunned at the sheer audacity and didn't notice the poor waitress next to her sputtering as she tripped in an attempt to leave the conversation. Miroku continued to smile and pushed her lower back. He left the girl a bill on the table and waved. After a safe distance she rounded on him, furious with her wits about her.

"Your improper implications are absolutely lewd and blatantly disrespectful!"

His expression changed and she couldn't form another word, "Perhaps it would do well to remember that the walls have ears no matter how large the space or how insignificant the location."

For once, the reality of what they were investigating caught on to her attention and she wondered just what they'd truly stepped into. Shady dealings meant underhanded maneuvers and human pawns. She ran to keep up with him and felt the hands of fear smooth over her ankles.

InuYasha dared a look at his wife, whose wrath he'd recently undertaken. Their mutual integration into his childhood home bore a weight upon their relationship and shook their foundation. The tragic outing that involved his oldest and youngest brother had caught the household eye when they'd been returned by the authorities. It had been strangely comical then, but a harsh introduction to the reality that he'd escaped. Japan was a far cry from the home they'd left behind for a project. It seemed that he'd placed his new family in quicksand and they were quickly sinking into matters that were not of their caliber.

"What could the three of you possibly have done that you were escorted home?"

He reached out for her and she evaded him. The look on his face prompted her to sit down with a troubled expression.

"It wasn't your typical 'we fell into a fountain' type of story, is it?" she prodded.

InuYasha shook his head, "I left the country and traveled across the world for more than just the ability to love and be loved. I did it for safety, though the reaches of man cannot be limited by too much distance in this day and age."

"Just what are we involved with here?"

InuYasha choked out a laugh, "You know how you always wondered about the mob wives and the guard with the eye patch?"

"This is hardly the time for you to attempt to divert my attention."

"That's Tetsuou, he got a harpoon to the face when he didn't hold up his end of the deal."

"Excuse me?"

Kikyou blanched. There was absolutely no way that her husband was attempting to tell her she'd married into a mob. They didn't even look the part of a mob, much less killers.

"Hime was a deal."

It had come, the moment he'd been dreading all year long. Another gala event hosted by a company wanting to ensure they were viewed well in the public eye, raising funds for the community. He skimmed the letter over his newly acquired glasses and realized that their competition sought, once again, to ridicule him. A fundraising event in the name of blind and deaf children in Somalia. He was neither of those, yet he knew that his adversary sought to ridicule him. He only hoped he could evade the event or its host at best.

Miroku stared at the e-mail invitation to one of the multiple fundraising events back home. With a crooked smile he clicked delete, not this year. He had more pressing matters that occupied his attention. Like his companion, furiously waving her arms back and forth trying to hail a cab. The years she'd lived in New York, she'd explained, had taken place in a loft down the street from her job and a small food market. She needed nothing else. She turned to look at him in what he imagined was the most brilliant display of desire.

"Fucking help me you asshole!"

She turned back to her frantic waving, a step from a hospital bed. He took pity upon her and grasped both her arms and brought them down. A taxi cab that had begun to slow down peeked at them from underneath his rear view mirror and sped away. She looked like she was about to lose her mind.

"I've got keys to a car in the garage next door," he shrugged.

She looked flustered and he realized just how badly she must love her job. She'd been stifling her anger towards his actions all day. Her left eye had begun to twitch and her hands flexed of their own volition. He smiled and pulled her along.

"Come. It's beginning to snow and we have a meeting with that information in an hour across town."

"A fundraising event?"

Kikyou grimaced from her place next to Kagome as they both attempted to process the information that InuYasha was bestowing upon them for the first time. Neither female was a stranger to fundraising events, but the news of one being hosted by a company within their recent contract's industry was a shock nevertheless.

"My father would like for us to show up together, more so as a family. It would be seen as a bit of an insult to not go. It'll be a masquerade ball, something to go along with the winter season."

Kagome shifted in her seat, "We have a little over a month to find appropriate attire in a city otherwise unknown to us. Lovely."

"I know you hate these types of things," InuYasha mumbled, "but it's the cost of doing business wherever you go. People want to know that you're contributing to the community in some way or another."

Rin, silent in the background interjected, "Sesshomaru despises these things. It's a pain dragging him every year."

Kagome's forehead creased, confusion clouding her mind. The fundraising events always seemed to be a ridiculous show of affluent people comparing their riches amongst each other. The only good that came from such events were the donations made from deep pockets, all attempting to outdo each other in their shows of charity.

"I don't blame him," Kikyou interjected, "they're absolute shows of arrogance, influence, and money."

Sesshomaru leaned against the wall outside of the office with a frown upon his face. Complete shows of arrogance and money, each company with their own hidden agendas. Every year it was some new form of mockery and this year would be no different.

Sango glared over the rim of her glasses at the man that sat across from her in one of the company conference rooms. Souta had been kind enough to allow her the use of some company resources on her elongated research project. Miroku simply walked after her while she dug for information across the state. Currently, three weeks had passed and she'd learned quite a few things. Such as: When Miroku was staring at her and not drinking his coffee, he was thinking about some quirky thing to say.

"You couldn't possibly have anything to say, we're going over legal documents Miroku-san."

Miroku smirked at her angry expression, "Why, I would be liable for negligence if I neglected my eyes from taking in your beauty. That's a legal conundrum, isn't it?"

Sango once again found heat spreading from her cheeks down to her neck, a regular occurrence around the man she'd been assigned to assist.

"You try my patience," she managed through gritted teeth.

"I would love to," he continued.

He should've seen it coming. The flying object caught his forehead and he fell backwards in surprise. The steel pen he'd gifted her rolled away innocently. Perhaps he'd finally cracked the patient exterior of the ever graceful Sango. He rubbed his forehead and made out the shape of the secretary's figure above him through the office lights.

"I will continue the analysis of the initial contract in my office and will contact you tomorrow to let you know of my progress. Perhaps you would be more useful doing your own investigation outside of the company walls."

He groaned as he heard her heels clicking away from him. All he could think was that she'd left behind her pen.

Kagome managed to acquire a beautiful white evening gown with a peacock feather pattern on the train. She pushed up her mask self-consciously behind InuYasha and Kikyou. Men always had it easy when it came to such events, donning black tuxedos straight across the board. Truly, the women were the target of attention and criticism that night. Kagome sighed, content to know that she would at least have her coworkers amongst her to keep her from dealing with unwanted attention. Or at least she'd thought so until she looked up and found that she was standing by the staircase into the ballroom on her own. She cursed.

"Where is the bar?"

Kagome whirled around and noticed two women pressing their shoulders together. One seemed determined to drag a more shy partner towards what looked to be an open bar. Kagome followed shortly behind, not wanting to catch attention with her lack of motion. The girls suddenly stopped and giggled.

"So he came anyway," the more bold of the two grinned. "The oldest Takahashi brother remains one of the most attractive men in this world."

"Yet useless he remains," the since silent partner quipped. "What use is he if he can't speak?"

Kagome almost dropped the stiff drink she'd managed to order at their side. She felt some sort of rage at their words, the emotion it seemed the man had long lost. Where had the man that hid her shoes throughout the mansion grounds gone?

"I heard his tongue was lost in an accident long ago."

Kagome reddened as she took a sip of her drink, surely the last thing that man had lost was his tongue. She'd heard his voice as smooth as the cognac that slid down her throat and warmed her insides. She'd become slightly obsessed, she could admit to that. There was just something about that which one could not have that brought about the allure of desire. Or she was tipsy.

"Perhaps. I've never seen him so much as yawn, he could have any manner of things inside of his mouth."

"It's hardly a shame," a male voice whispered next to her. "Your denying me of your company for a traditional dance would be, however."

The world spun for Kagome in the arms of a stranger. His dark hair and blood red tie were an interesting change of pace from the white hair that seemed to swim in and out of her vision day after day. He was a good dancer, at the very least.

She licked her lips, "Your name?"

"Surely you haven't decided to attend a ball and neglected to at least become acquainted with its host? You must make it up to me."

Kagome didn't know whether to laugh or be angry as she allowed the alleged host of the event to drag her along.

"If anything, I saved you from the presence of the estranged man that the ladies speculate."

Her curiosity spiked and she hoped that it overrode the slight need to defend her coworker (yes, coworker, that sounded appropriate), "Oh?"

His laugh was rich next to her ear, which she was now starting to think was his greatest flirting tactic.

"Certainly. Every year we wonder how far we can push the envelope as far as the themes for these fundraisers."

She never responded. Surely the whole point of the fundraiser should be to raise funds for some needy people? This, she quickly realized, circus of presumptuous people found amusement in the tragedy of others. Truly, even the streets of New York hadn't prepared her for how far the evil of a man's heart could reach.

"I would think that the point of these events would be to raise awareness and funds for those in tragic conditions, not the ridicule of one man."

His laugh was rich, "You are correct, it is certainly not the point. More of an added thrill."

The echo of silence at the end of the musical piece playing gave her the perfect opportunity to escape the man's embrace. She barely escaped his reach as his hand shot out to halt her quick steps. Part of her was afraid that her mouth would shoot off as the cognac killed off the last vestige of her filter. She wove in and out of the throngs of people, found her way to a glass of cognac at the four strategically placed open bars. By the time InuYasha found her, Kagome was, by definition, trashed. She had her heels in her hands and had long abandoned her collection of glasses. She watched him turn wildly and she took the opportunity. She clutched her shoes tightly to her chest and slipped through the front door. The gust of cold air sobered her up slightly, cleared her eyes to the groups of people lounging around outside. She caught sight of the silvery hair that seemed to be a belligerent trait of the first two children. More so, the red tie that had graced her vision earlier swam across it once again.

"You can't leave Sesshomaru," a voice laughed. "We haven't even started the fundraising event itself; you're one of the biggest contributors we have. It would look absolutely awful to the other companies."

"They all want to hear about how you've contributed to the community this year," another voice taunted.

"Tell you what," Kagome's eyes sharpened onto her earlier dancing partner. "Just say a couple of words and we'll never speak of this again."

The group of men chuckled, punching shoulders in a show of comradery. She squared her shoulders and gave herself a quick pep talk. Do like Jamie girl, blame it on the alcohol. She sauntered her way down the steps, ignoring the snow crunching underneath her feet. She quickly pressed herself into the oldest brother's side and ignored the other men, choosing instead to stare up into his large, golden (rather surprised) eyes.

"I think you should escort me home."

He stared at her like she'd grown an additional head or two.

"I would be more than happy to drive you home myself, surely that would be a more favorable option."

Kagome turned to look at the self-named host of the event they were currently standing outside of. He was, as she'd originally decided, handsome. His dark eyes shone in the night, a dark contrast to the white snow that had begun to fall and coat the streets. She watched his arm reach out to her and raised her eyebrow as she watched a pale hand move her out of the way. The same hand applied pressure to her back and moved her towards the parking lot.

"I saved you," she whispered up at him.

His expression seemed to be set in stone.

"They're all assholes too," she chattered. "I'm sure you know what they were up to."

The cognac seemed to have left her system in the past fifteen minutes, replaced by some sort of bubbling anger at being ignored. She stopped in the beginnings of a tipsy tantrum. What she hadn't expected was for her anger to be quickly met and overshadowed. His eyes were positively on fire as he whirled around and proceeded to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, her shoes beating against his lower back.

"Well, that's a change of scenery."

She almost couldn't be mad at him as he, once again, slammed the door shut on the edge of her new dress.

Sango should have known that things would escalate when she agreed to go to a meeting with Miroku. However, she hadn't thought to delve into her companion's past as much as the targets of information they sought. When their appointment seemed to prove fruitless, she shifted in her seat in a move to get up from the leather seat. Instead the glint of a heavy nine made its weight known on the hardwood desk in front of her. Miroku's eyes took on a completely different glint, one she didn't recognize and sent a shiver straight down her spine.

"Now, I would like to ask you again just how much you know about the business here in the states. It impacts me," he paused in consideration, a slight smile teasing the edges of his lips, "rather greatly."

"Fuck Takahashi," he the man groaned. "You know how delicate this shit is, if I say anything to you I will be strung up by the family jewels. You know full well how that goes!"

Sango's hands began to sweat.

Miroku sighed, "You know how to communicate with me Shore. Just like the old days. I'll find you if you don't deliver."

The other man squeaked, "Just like the old days?"

"Of course," Miroku ventured a look at his pale companion. "We'll have a nice cup of tea at a nice café."

He yanked her up by her arm, a move rather atypical to his persona. He slid his arm around her waist and smirked, "Until then, my lovely companion and I have other people to see."

He slowly moved her towards the door, moving his weapon back into its holster.

"Remember Shore," he smiled as he pushed Sango through the door, "snitches get stitches."