A/N:

I am working on Chapter FIFTY TWO right now... T_T

I hope you aren't too mad… :)

Enjoy and Review.

~SMO

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that are in the manga/anime InuYasha. I only borrow them for my own personal amusement.

Chapter 38

We could kill him now, and then this whole thing would be settled.

Sesshoumaru contemplated the thought. He could kill Naraku, the demon who was most likely behind this, but it wouldn't settle it all. After killing him, he would have to come up with a plausible excuse, which because he was the Commissioner, would be easy. However, it wouldn't help Kagome's situation.

Thinking of the woman, he looked at her, gauging her reaction. The visitor who had interrupted his session had been rather surprising. The young stable boy had been breathing heavily, hair clinging to his sweaty forehead, and exhaustion plagued his features.

He was thoroughly impressed by the kid though. The young lad had been able to ride out here on a rather large horse for his size. He watched as Sango slid the glass of water in front of the boy.

"I'm sorry, can you say it again?" Kagome asked, feeling her pulse begin to rise from the news. Maybe, she hadn't heard him right. There was no way what he said made sense.

"They're kickin' you out of the house!" The boy exclaimed. "They told me to get the horses ready for auction. They told me they're taking the house in a week, posted signs on the gate too."

Kagome felt her entire body spasm. They can't do that, she'd just made a payment. There was no way she was behind, she should have caught up. There was still debt, but, she was fixing it.

"I-I don't understand," Kagome whispered defeated, ignoring the scared and worried glances Sango sent her way. She cleared her throat, "It has to be Naraku."

Sesshoumaru growled lowly. It had to be that bastard. He was the only one capable of such a thing. Naraku had the resources to take her home away. He only needed to rattle a few bank executives, who were all corrupted within the confines of the palm of Naraku's hands.

He stood up, calling for his driver to meet him in the front. He nodded his head to Kagome. "I will figure this out, Kagome," he promised, feeling his entire being tingle with an odd feeling. Something wasn't right. Why did Naraku suddenly care about the estate? Was it because Shippo had been found? He no longer had a reason to hide now that the case had been solved.

Sesshoumaru left the room, deep in thought. That had to be it. Naraku was showing his true colors now that Shippo had been found and the two thunder brothers had been dealt with.

The door opened behind him. A small, gentle hand cupped his arm, pulling him around to stare into Kagome's emerald eyes. "I'm coming with you," she declared. Before he could argue, she opened the front door and seated herself comfortably in the back of his car.

Sesshoumaru blinked at her. "I don't think that is a good idea," he admitted, even though he got into the seat next to her and encouraged his driver to begin the journey to her home.

"Nonsense," Kagome grumbled out. "It is my estate, and therefore it is my business." Sesshoumaru watched, trying not to swoon at how cute she looked. She sounded so serious, and yet, he knew that she had no idea what she was supposed to do. This was new territory to her.

"Alright," he relented when the car began to grind over the oh-so-familiar brick bridge. "However, let me confront Naraku," he proclaimed.

Kagome laughed. "Oh, yeah, you can have that monster," she promised. "He's all yours," she added as she looked out the window.

He turned to look at the skyline of the city. It was nothing like the Big Apple he had come from. It wasn't booming, there weren't clubs filled with orchestras playing music on the corner with multiple people enjoying each other's company. The town was still growing, still hadn't been funded. Sesshoumaru looked at a large area of construction along the large river that had been such a historical landmark in this country's history.

"Have you thought about her?"

The question startled him out of his trance. He looked at Kagome, but her stare was still fixed at the landscape outside the window of the automobile. Maybe, his mind had asked the question. Had she even spoken?

"She sounded desperate," Kagome added. Sesshoumaru sighed. Well, that answered his last question.

"She is desperate," Sesshoumaru returned. He looked at Kagome, but knew she wasn't going to return his gaze. "She wants to be in the spotlight again. She wants to be in the high-society."

A few more moments of silence passed. Sesshoumaru hoped the subject would change as the car approached her gates. "She didn't ask about Rin, she didn't even greet her," Kagome growled out. "Yet, she used Rin to get into your house."

Irritation overwhelmed Kagome at that. The mother had used her daughter as a stepping stone for her own personal gain. However, the gates of her home pulled her out of her thought process. She stared in horror at the large, red sign posted on her gate. The warning was clear. She had a week to get out.

"Bastards," she swore as anger filled her. What right did they have to kick her out simply because Naraku waved a magical wand?

The car came to a complete stop and she jumped out, seeing two men nailing the same red sign to her front door. She grabbed onto the shoulders, pulling them off of her porch. "Who told you to do this?" She demanded. "I have paid in full the last three payments!" Kagome shouted angrily.

"We're just doing our job, Miss," the handymen mumbled. It didn't help that they actually looked sympathetic towards her situation. Kagome sighed. They were right. These were just the messengers.

Sesshoumaru came up beside her. She heard the familiar jingle of coins before he handed an entire pouch to the two workers. "Go and tell him your work is done," Sesshoumaru grouched out. "One of you send for Lord Naraku," he added as they began to make their way to the carriage they had arrived in.

Kagome stared at her orchards. The poor things looked like they were barely hanging on. Sango and Miroku had done her a great deed by harvesting what they could. "What do we do now?" She asked, tearing the sign off the door. She then opened the door to welcome Sesshoumaru into her home.

Thankfully, they hadn't touched anything inside. The stable boy had probably welcomed them inside in order to be polite, and then gotten scared when they began to look around uninvited. The poor boy had no idea what the men were really up to.

Kagome made her way into the closest room and collapsed on the couch, tossing her legs over the edge in a very unlady-like position. She rested her head on the other side, covering her eyes with her forearm. "This is a nightmare," she muttered.

Instantly, her mind was running for remedies. She needed something that could heal the situation take care of it completely. She had yet to find a job because of the abduction of Shippo. Sango had sold as much fruit as she could, which had been used to pay off the last payment. She had a few handfuls of money towards this month, but she would never survive to see the future months if they didn't give her a chance.

She also knew that she wouldn't survive a fight with Naraku. He had too many connections and resources on his side. There was nothing she could do. She wasn't the kind of person to beg for money.

Her eyes opened. Dread pulled into her stomach. The new idea that hit her didn't bring a sense of relief. Instead, it felt like a brick had just been slammed into her head.

Sesshoumaru was rich. He could pay for the home. In fact, that had been part of the agreement should she become his mistress. Her heart constricted. Guilt riddled her. He had so many things going on in his life right now.

"Do it," Kagome let out without thinking. No, she had thought. She was scared that if she thought anymore she wouldn't be able to get the words out.

"Do what?" Sesshoumaru asked. Kagome opened her eyes to peer out at him from beneath her arm. A blush stained her cheeks.

"I-I'll be your mistress, Sesshoumaru. If you'll promise to take care of Sango, an-and the house…" She trailed off, stopping when she saw a predatory gleam in his eyes. She had angered him, but hadn't her becoming his mistress been the deal since the beginning? Kagome understood that feelings had developed, but they had been good feelings, not negative ones.

He stared at her. Kagome unable to read the emotions that past through the golden gaze, he looked angry, conflicted, maybe even hurt at her plea. Then, he spoke. "I will take care of the house either way. It is an injustice that must be made right. Naraku should be put away for life," Sesshoumaru returned with a growl.

Kagome flushed. He had changed the subject from mistress quite well, turning the spotlight onto Naraku. Her heart began to speed up. Her thoughts went back to earlier in the day, when he had her pinned beneath him on the bed. Maybe he had changed his mind, maybe she had done something wrong. There had to be something. Usually, he embraced the topic, teased her over it.

Kagome's stomach did multiple flips. Sarah could have something to do with it. He was still hung up about her. Her throat clenched. Oxygen no longer made it freely down her passage and she gulped for air. The woman had come and changed everything.

A knock pulled her out of her thoughts. She jumped off the couch, following Sesshoumaru to the front door and watching as he pulled it open. The butler, the wordless butler, stood on her porch. In front of him stood Naraku, grinning.

"Good day, Lady Kagome," Naraku slurred out seductively. He tipped his top hat, exposing the wavy black locks surrounding his pale complexion. The red orbs seemed to fit him better now that Kagome knew he was a demon.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked bluntly.

Naraku's smirk wavered. It turned from the sexy, sultry look, to pure devious. "My lady… Your father stacked up quite a debt. He even made a deal that when he died and the debt was not paid, I could have the orchards. You know that he didn't like the trees very much. Too many scents, he said."

Kagome shivered. She knew that her father hadn't supported her side project. The small money on the side had been her own to spend willingly. Even though he had dug his hands into her pockets loads of times in order to come up with gambling entrees and fees.

"Do you have proof?" Sesshoumaru demanded from beside her. Kagome pushed the door wider open. The two unwelcomed men stepped inside, the butler taking Naraku's hat and jacket off quickly and draping them along his arm.

Naraku held a rolled up scroll in his gloved hands, holding it out to Sesshoumaru. "As a matter of fact I do." He turned his eyes to Kagome, "You see, in my line of business, it is always good to keep written contracts…. Just in case."

Sesshoumaru sighed as he looked over the paper. Kagome's father had been an idiot, that was for sure. "Yes, it does say that you could claim the orchards, but that does not include the estate, and because the orchard is on the property, they will not go to you," Sesshoumaru returned, quite impressed he had caught the slight loophole.

Naraku nodded. His butler spoke then. "Below, it gives over a small portion of the land to Lord Naraku, which includes the small orchard, and the house. The property behind the house, however, will stay with Lady Higurashi."

The impression Sesshoumaru had felt was wiped clean from his system as he looked the paper over again. The damned butler had been right. However, his eyes went over another line. He smirked. "You can only reclaim the land if the debt hasn't been paid within a year of his death."

"The anniversary will be this weekend," Kagome whispered, shock pouring over her being. Her father had written that. He had sold her orchards and their home for what? One last hand at cards had been the same worth as her precious orchards?

"Yes," Naraku added, a sudden cautiousness coming into his reddened orbs. "However, realistically, I don't see Lady Kagome pulling together the required sum."

Sesshoumaru's eyes scanned to the bottom of the page, where the large number seemed to cackle at him at the bottom of the page. Yes, that sum was quite large for a gambling man. Kagome's house wasn't even worth this much. In fact, he could probably buy her three separate houses with this sum.

He looked to her. The desperation was clearly written in her eyes. She had even begged him right there on the couch to withhold his bargain, to promise her that he would take care of her as his mistress if he would just keep her childhood home.

"It will be settled before the weekend," Sesshoumaru declared sharply, handing the rolled up letter back to the butler. "I will go to the bank and write you a check by the end of the night," Sesshoumaru announced.

The smirk that laced Naraku's lips didn't make Sesshoumaru feel any better. No, this spider knew he would do it. In a way, he had just told Naraku his weakness, being the girl standing next to him with a look of astonishment on her face.

The demon was up to something again. Sesshoumaru was trapped. He couldn't let her house go, even though she was in over her head. It meant too much to her. He would have to pay the debt off and figure out what Naraku was up to.

"Take the sign off the gate on your way out," Sesshoumaru dismissed them with a flick of his wrist.

Naraku tipped his hat off to them again. The butler followed his master like a small puppy out the door and into their carriage. The door clicked closed, Sesshoumaru wasn't quite ready for the explosion of emotion that came from Kagome.

"You can't do such a thing! That debt is-is hideous!" Kagome shouted. "You have lost your marbles! You can't pay off such a thing, I-I don't care if that is part of the deal."

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat. Obviously, he had gotten missed signals from earlier. "I-I thought you wanted it to be saved!" He shouted in his defense, pointing a finger accusingly in her direction.

Kagome huffed, crossing her arms over her breasts. The position caused them to strain against her dress and it took everything within him not to grab her, bend her over the nearest piece of furniture, and mark her as his right then and there. "W-Well I did," she allowed. Then, she added, "But I changed my mind."

"You cannot just change your mind about a house!" Sesshoumaru yelled. His voice wasn't rising from anger though. No, it was more out of sexual frustration. Staring at her hand, which was settled on her hip now, while she pouted her lips, was really almost too much to handle. The worst part of it, he knew that she had no idea just how sexy she looked right now or just how dangerous she was.

"It's not nearly worth as much as what is on that parcel…" Kagome trailed off. She then smiled innocently, "Plus, why save a catastrophe when I could start new?" He saw her bat her pretty little eyelashes.

"Oh? And who is going to pay for the new house?"

Kagome only blinked up at him once more and he sighed. "Alright, so you're handing the house to Naraku, what are you going to do with your portion of the land?" He asked.

The smirk that came over her face was only unholy with its sudden deviousness. She looked as if she had concocted the perfect plan. "I'll auction it without Naraku knowing. When he grabs it this weekend, he'll find out that I'm not here."

Sesshoumaru actually liked that plan.

A lot.

Still, he couldn't help but worry about what Naraku's plan was.