Kagome sat at the table, fidgeting with her pen as she scanned the newspaper in front of her. Her grandfather always said that there was nothing like searching the classifieds when you were desperate for money. 'It's a show of innovation and traditionalism all in once,' he'd told her.
When she'd been young she hadn't cared to listen.
Now, when her counters were filled with late notices and pink slips, she was willing to do anything. Anything, but let her mother know she needed help.
She already couldn't pay her back- she couldn't ask her for anything else.
"There's an opening at Old Lady Kaede's herb shop," even as the words left Sango's mouth they were both grimacing. She was a good natured old woman, but the pay bordered on slave wages and slave wages didn't pay the rent on a high rise.
They kept looking, tossing options between one another as they flipped through mediums.
Nothing.
"I could maybe ask my dad for the rent?" Sango sighed finally. "If I ask him now he'll probably have it by the first." She looked miserable suggesting it, but their options seemed to be few and far between.
"Let's hit the streets again." Kagome insisted, "new opportunities pop up every day and we're due for a bit of luck."
It was a last ditch effort to maintain their dignity and Sango was content to bask in the shared delusion with her for a few moments longer.
Kagome ducked into her bedroom, trying to ignore the weird ripping noise of the brush catching on oily snares and fairy knots. She'd been putting off washing her hair ever since she'd had to fill her shampoo bottle with water, so the strands were starting to clump near the ends.
Her clothes hung in the bathroom, drying using the current from a series of cleverly opened windows and doors. The skirt closest to the door was the only one no longer dripping and wrinkled so she shimmied into it and went searching for a pair of stockings to go with it.
"Never say I don't love you," Sango sprayed and brushed at Kagome's hair until her can of dry shampoo hissed in defeat.
When leaving their apartment, they took the stairs. While their landlord -an elderly, flea hearted man with a weakness for beautiful women- first heard about their company burning to the ground in a freak fire, he'd been sympathetic.
All of that went out the window when his hand found itself somewhere it didn't belong and Sango's foot found itself somewhere else it didn't belong. Ever since that day he'd been aggressively sticking pale pink warnings on their door.
He wanted two months of rent in two weeks or they were as good as homeless. So, instead of facing him and his scathing comments, they took the stairs during daylight hours and slipped out the back.
"Ideally," Sango held her phone up high, stretching to catch the fading rays of WiFi from their elderly neighbor, "we should have some kind of plan. We only have so many CV's and we can't exactly afford to make more."
"We also can't afford to be picky," Kagome insisted, "a coffee shop paycheck is better than no paycheck."
"A coffee shop isn't going to keep Old Myoga from sticking those stupid notices on our door."
She seemed to come to a decision because she started leading them in a direction that seemed arbitrary. "There's nothing for animation or design that's hiring nearby, but there's a law firm nearby looking for 'punctual, detail-oriented, thick skinned' assistants."
Thick skinned? She'd never seen that on a wanted ad anywhere.
"The pay is double what we made at the Studio and the ad was posted," she shoved the phone into Kagome's face, "five minutes ago."
It was sounding less and less like she'd have to beg her mother for favors she couldn't repay.
They rushed down the street, following the screenshotted directions to the best of their abilities.
Mikadzuki Law was a grand building that stretched to meet the burning July sun. Dozens upon dozens of large, brilliant windows lined the structure beautifully and she felt crumpled and thrown away in the face of it all.
The screaming -however- didn't match the scene the building set.
"I quit!" A woman's voice had gone so shrill that it was difficult to make out her words, "do you hear me? You self absorbed bastard. I will not keep working beneath a man who treats people this way!"
They crept inside, watching as some poor woman shrieked and ranted at a pale haired man. He looked bored.
"I assume you both are here to take her place?"
Kagome stammered something she herself didn't understand, but Sango surged forward not sparing the victim of his calm disinterest a moment's attention.
"We saw the listing," she explained, handing over both of their resumes in one quick movement. "We can start immediately and-."
He held his hand up, rude as he was pretty, and read over the paper in his hands.
"You have no experience as an assistant."
"Both of us interned as assistants before we were given positions as animators. Our references are listed here and should you give Hayato a call he will surely tell you that we were phenomenal."
"We, our, us," he spared Kagome's resume a moment's glance before returning to the first, "you speak for the both of you, but I nor my brother have a need for a mute assistant." He paused, rethinking his words, "although… no. The disability tax credit wouldn't be worth it."
"I'm not mute," Kagome said finally, "I'm organized, patient, and detail oriented." She wracked her mind for anything else that could push her into his good graces.
Sango had paved the way, but if she couldn't sell herself then she could kiss her independence goodbye.
"As Sango stated, we can start immediately and -additionally- we both work well under pressure." Whatever other nonsense she planned to spew was cut off by another man tearing through the lobby with his briefcase half latched.
"Megumi-," the woman they'd interrupted threw her head back and stormed off. "Honestly, Sesshomaru. You can't keep chasing everyone off." He snatched one of the papers, leaning to read the other over the other man's shoulder.
"It's not my fault. We knew she was sensitive when we hired her."
The second man -the hot mess with a briefcase- extended his hand to them both. His hand was warm in her grasp, like he was feverish, but he was gone before she could question it.
"I'm InuYasha and this is Sesshomaru," he burned with impatience, glancing between the two of them with obvious irritation. "Which of you is the most organized?"
Kagome thought back to the color coded ribbons on her desk and raised her hand a bit, "I am, sir."
"When can you start?" He switched papers with Sesshomaru, beckoning her forwards.
"Whenever you'd like." She seemed to have a real chance with this one and -in the back of her mind- she could hear Sango still insisting that she would be a great assistant.
Their voices were fading away and she assumed that Sango would kick in the other man's door if need be. Which meant Kagome only needed to worry about herself.
"Good, let's go." He was fast. "Hold the elevator you dirty fucking dog!" It was all she could do to chase after him and dive into the elevator before the Dirty Dog in question watched it close in their faces. "He's a dick." InuYasha told her quickly. "And he scared off all of my assistants, so stay away from him. Run if you have to."
She couldn't quite muster a laugh at the idea of being chased down by one of her bosses and -apparently- she wasn't supposed to.
"I'm not kidding," InuYasha told her firmly, "run to the women's room. He won't chase you there."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, "I've got the superior assistant, so there's no need for theatrics."
The elevator tolled and he was leading her down the hall long before the doors fully opened. Following him around was dizzying, but there was no amount of marathon sprinting that could make her back out now.
"I've got to find the paperwork," he dropped his briefcase on a desk piled high with thick, loosely bound reams of paper and ink. There was no discernible way to tell what was notes and what was cases and she supposed that was where she came in.
"What would my duties be?" She peered into the office that connected to the entry area she waited in.
His office was all window and overlooked Tokyo with a view that rivaled that of Tokyo Tower. She could see the world from an entirely new perspective and she couldn't help wanting to snap a photo.
"Everything has a place," he yelped when he slammed his head against the underside of his desk, "I've no idea where that place may be. I have a tendency to make a bit of a mess. You are to clean that mess, take calls, make appointments, and -most importantly- keep Master Micromanager far away from me."
He handed her the on boarding paperwork, "lock the door, make up appointments, smoke bombs… I don't really give a shit."
"Sesshomaru is your brother, isn't he?" She pulled her hanko from her bag with a flourish, pressing the design to the boxes that required her attention.
With a bit of a grunt he climbed off of the floor, pulling two golden pins from the top of his head.
"He's a controlling egomaniac that refuses to acknowledge that I'm just as good of a lawyer as he is. The result is that he shows up at inopportune moments and terrorizes the holy fuck out of me." He paused when he realized that she'd accepted the printed terms without reading over them. "Ideally an assistant at a law firm would know they should read paperwork before they sign it, but- whatever."
"Doesn't matter what it says," she admitted, already she was crafting a plan for his shelves, "so long as I do my job and outrun your brother, there's nothing for either of us to worry about."
InuYasha pulled another set of pins from his hair, releasing two, furry, twitchy puppy ears.
And -like an idiot- she couldn't help the ridiculous, "ears," that slipped past her lips like a fart.
"I'm a hanyou," he told her shortly, "if that's a problem then feel free-."
"It's not." She said quickly, "they're cute-." Goddamn it all. Cute. Her boss gave her one of those long, incredulous looks before he went into his drawer for an envelope.
"Workplace harassment aside, you'll need to visit a tailor," he hesitated before heading back into his desk for another envelope, "and maybe a salon. We have an image to uphold. Consider it a signing bonus that will be recollected if you quit within ninety days. I charge twenty thousand yen an hour -including prep time- and so I wouldn't suggest you quit before those ninety days."
Keep Sesshomaru at bay. Organize the hurricane. Survive ninety days. Don't get sued for workplace harassment. She was sure she could manage that much -even if it wasn't forever. InuYasha seemed nice enough and the heavy envelopes in her hands guaranteed that she and Sango would feast that night.
No more instant ramen or ignoring the expiration date on oat milk. A split second decision had quickly become the break they needed.
"I will see you Monday. Leave your bank details with Mari at the front. And if you see Sesshomaru tell him to fuck off."
She bowed on her way out, not sure if it was a wasted pleasantry at that point, and headed back into the hall.
Monday would be exceptional, but their weekend? She peered into the envelopes, trying not to choke when she saw the surplus of one man notes stuffed inside.
Their weekend would be unforgettable.