A/N: A bit of a cold has taken over...so needless to say I'm not in the chipperest of moods. Maybe some reviews would liven things up. Oh and if you haven't figured it out by now...I don't do disclaimers...I am obviously too cool for that!

Rumiko Takahasi sends her lawyers over

Heh...Did I say that? I meant...I don't own Inuyasha! heh...heh...

In any case...here ya go!

Sesshomaru inwardly shuddered as the black haired woman clung onto his arm. She stared up at him dreamily and purred,

"You know I would do anything for you, Sesshomaru."

"Then would you please face forward so that I may trim your hair?"

"Mmm, don't tease me, my love."

Sesshomaru didn't respond. He simply turned the chair so that the woman was facing the mirror. Although her arm was still latched onto his, he was now able to cut the woman's hair.

"What are you doing tonight, Sesshomaru?" The woman asked seductively.

At this exact moment, Jakotsu was walking by, actually more like skipping by.

"Hello Sara! Wow. That skirt is fabulous on you!"

"Thanks." Sara murmured absently, still expectantly waiting for Sesshomaru's answer.

"Oh, by the way Sesshomaru, we have a meeting after work, Kaede's holding it. Don't be late!" And with that, Jakotsu went off, and Sesshomaru internally leapt for joy.

"It seems as though my presence is needed elsewhere."

Sara pouted and let of Sesshomaru's arm. "Just hurry up. I'm already running late."

"Do you know what this meeting is all about?" Sango asked Kagome. The two of them were outside of the nearly empty salon. Sango was smoking a cigarette, while Kagome just stood next to her, keeping her company.

"Not really." Kagome picked at a hangnail, trying to ignore the state of her chipped and broken cuticles.

"Jeez, Kagome, you need a manicure bad." Grabbing one of the younger girl's hands, Sango grimaced at the poor shape they were in.

Kagome snatched her hand back quickly. "Nah. I get really squeamish when it comes to people touching my nails," she lied.

"Are you sure? Because I could always give you a discount..."

"No, I'm sure."

Sango smoked her cigarette, and Kagome tried to stop an embarrassed flush from creeping into her cheeks. Of course she needed a manicure. But what was she going to do? It's not like she could afford one. And she would never ask Sango to give her one for less. She was not going to become some charity case.

"Hey. We better get inside." Sango commented.

"Yeah." Kagome absently nodded in agreement.

Every employee of the Shikon Salon was waiting for Kaede to begin speaking. She sat at her usual place, in front of the giant wooden desk, with everyone else seated on the many couches and chairs around her. The silence was unnerving; it was never quiet in the constantly busy salon. Yet nobody spoke. After what seemed like an eternity, Kaede cleared her throat and began to talk.

"Does anyone here read the newspaper?"

Puzzled by the strange question, nobody said anything, save for Jakotsu.

"I do!" He nearly shouted.

"I'm sure there are more of you. Raise your hands if you read the newspaper."

Hesitantly, the employees of the Shikon Salon raised their hands.

"Now, then can anyone tell me what was today's largest advertisement for?"

Again, the question caught everyone off guard, this time even Jakotsu. Kaede waited a few moments before tossing a newspaper onto the ground.

"Kagome, come up here and read this page." Kaede instructed.

Timidly, Kagome stood up and walked to where the paper lay on the ground.

Picking it up, she began to read the huge advertisement that covered an entire page.

"'Naraku's Beauty Spa...grand opening in three days.' " Kagome paused, looking up at Kaede to make sure she was reading the appropriate advertisement.

"Keep going." Kaede commanded.

"The address is...oh my God." Kagome gasped putting her hand against her mouth. She couldn't speak anymore, her voice had given out.

"Naraku's Beauty Spa is opening one street away from our salon." Kaede announced to everyone in the room.

"No! That's not possible." Sango argued. "They just opened another one a couple of towns away from here."

"And they put a nearby salon out of business there too." Ayame added.

For awhile no one said anything, the reality beginning to sink in. The newest, hottest, and most popular chain of beauty spas was opening right next to their small salon. And so far, every time that a new one opened, it put a smaller weaker competitor out of business. This was every salon owner's worst nightmare.

"And now you see why I called this meeting." Kaede paused, as if waiting for someone to say something. When she was greeted with nothing but silence, she cleared her throat and continued talking.

"I understand that some of you are very worried right now. And I want you to understand that yes, I am too. But I think we can win this. We have a lot of loyal customers whom I know will stay with us because they know us better."

"Yeah I bet that's what all the other salon owners said...right before they went outta business," Ayame muttered.

"Plus you have to admit, Kaede, we're not the most functional group of workers either." Sango chimed in.

"That's one of the reasons I called this meeting. I want to know if you would all prefer to give up now. Those of you who choose to leave, you will receive this month's pay. Anyone who would like to give up, please come forward now to receive your check."

Nobody spoke as the employee's of the salon watched to see who would claim their money first. Seconds turned into minutes, and still nobody had stood up.

"Then it's settled. If we go down, we go down fighting." And with that, Kaede stood up and hobbled out of her chair, signaling that everyone was free to leave.

The meeting had thoroughly depressed Ayame and Sango. Deciding that they needed a bit of cheering up, the two women agreed to meet later for a night on the town, hopefully a perfect solution to raise their dampened spirits. They had asked Kagome to join them, but she had turned down the offer.

After Sango finished teaching her self defense class, she picked up Ayame at her house, and the two headed off to a local bar. Instead of sitting down, the two headed off towards the billiard tables, figuring a little friendly competition would cheer them up.

"I think Kagome's in trouble." Sango commented, chalking up her pool stick.

"What makes you say that?" Asked Ayame. Her one eye was closed as she tried to line up her short perfectly.

"She hasn't showered in a week."

"Really? Why not?"

"Her shower stopped working I guess. Hasn't been able to afford to get it repaired." Sango cursed as she sunk one of the wrong balls into a pocket.

"Can't she ask her mom for some money?"

"No. Her mom is almost as broke as she is." Sango responded.

Ayame scowled as she accidentally sunk the 8 ball. "Oh that's right. Doesn't she have a younger brother?"

"Mhmm," Sango racked up the pool balls to begin another game, "I guess she left home so that her mother wouldn't have another mouth to feed. Her brother is too young to get a job and then they also have her grandfather living with them."

"Jeez. So when did she leave?"

"When she was 18. Couldn't even afford to go to a beauty school to learn how to be a hairdresser. Luckily Kaede needed an extra hand around to do the odd jobs, so she let her work at the salon anyway."

"Isn't her mother upset?" Ayame stopped playing for a moment to look at Sango.

"She has no idea. Kagome lies to her mom, says she has some other kind of job. Sends her money too. Money she can't afford to give away."

"Damn." Ayame said sympathetically.

"I know. I offered to let her assist me in self defense classes...but she feels that it makes her a charity case and she won't do it." Sango shook her head and went back to playing pool. "If we go out of business, she's going to have a lot more problems."

"This is too depressing, let's get a drink."

And with that the two women abandoned the billiard tables and headed towards the bartender.

"Hah! You're delirious man."

"Ginta I swear, it was her." Kouga insisted to the other man.

The two friends were driving home from a party they had attended. Ginta was completely smashed, so Kouga had offered to drive him home.

"Even if it was her, why do you care? You broke up with her when you had a crush on that other girl."

"So? That was ages ago, I'm sure she's forgiven me by now." Kouga insisted.

"Yeah right. She was so pissed off at you that night, she tried to kill you. Remember when she grabbed that butcher knife and came after you?" Ginta hiccupped and laughed, finding the memory to be very amusing.

"Shut up, idiot. Besides, it's not like I'm ever going to see her again."

"I can't believe she didn't recognize you." Ginta pointed out.

"She was in a hurry. Didn't even look up when I said her name." Kouga sighed and looked over at his drunk companion.

"Why did you drink half of a keg, Ginta?"

"Because I can." He hiccupped again before squinting ahead. "Hey, is that a squirrel?"

"Huh, where?" Kouga looked back at the road to see to women in front of him, running across the road.

"Shit!" Kouga cursed as he slammed on the breaks. The two women ahead of him had just noticed Kouga's car and screamed loudly, apparently too panicked to move. Luckily the car skidded and lurched to an abrupt halt inches away from the women ahead of him.

"You alright?" Kouga yelled as he opened the car door. Looking over at Ginta he muttered, "Stay here," before getting out and approaching the two pedestrians.

"Are either of you ladies hurt?" He asked, trying to get a better look at the two females. There were no streetlights around, and the only light was coming from his headlights, which kept flickering on and off. Ginta was finding it amusing to start the ignition and turn it off over and over again.

"We're fine." A calm voice replied. Kouga didn't recognize it at all, but the next one he heard, was very familiar.

"Eh...watch where you're going next time...asshole." A slurred voice shouted. Kouga knew that voice anywhere, slurred or not.

"Ayame?" He questioned, trying to get a better look at her.

"You know this guy?" The other woman questioned Kouga's ex girlfriend.

"Huh? I dun know nobody. Nuh uh."

"I'm her ex, Kouga."

"Sango." The other woman introduced herself. "Now if you'll excuse us." Sango was about to put Ayame's arm back over her shoulder so that she could better get her to the car when she went rigid against her.

"Ayame? What's wrong?"

Ayame said nothing but instead pulled away from Sango.

"You sonuvabitch!" And without further warning, she had hurled herself at the unsuspecting man.

Sesshomaru was completely focused on the television. His eyes never once left the screen. There were two men, sweating profusely and their breathing was labored and heavy.

"Ok, just relax." One of the men on the television said. "Everything's going to be alright."

"Are you sure?" A younger and much more innocent looking man asked. "I've never done this sort of thing before."

Sesshomaru slowly closed his eyes and let his head tilt back.

"Well, there's a first time for everything." The elder man encouraged.

"If you say so," came the nervous response.

Sesshomaru let his hand stroke the white fur in his lap. It sent shivers of pleasure running down his spine.

"Just put it all the way in there. Mmm...that's good. Little more, got to make sure it's in good and deep."

Nearly purring, Sesshomaru began rubbing faster as a light sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I think it's all the way in."

"It seems like it's in there good. Sometimes you have to wiggle a little to be sure."

"Like this?"

"Yeah...just like that."

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Horrified, Sesshomaru did his best

to keep his face unemotional as he stuffed the large white teddy bear he had been holding under his pillow and out of sight. He reached for the remote control and switched off the home improvement channel. The younger boy was still trying to replace a new doorknob as Sesshomaru clicked the 'off' button, and the screen went blank. Before drawing himself out of his bed, he made sure the white stuffed bear was completely out of sight.

Without bothering to see who it was, Sesshomaru opened the door, and immediately gave a slight frown when he saw who was at his entrance.

"P-please...help." The little girl barely managed to choke out before collapsing against the man's legs.