"Now, as we see from the projections I've made, the fiscal earnings of this company should go up exponentially over the next year thanks to the new marketing techniques we've employed," Sesshomaru explained to the board members at Kaiba Corp. The big wigs nodded to one another, loving the sound of it.
"Mr. Sesshomaru, you've done an excellent job of consulting this company," said the company VP, Roland. "We had hoped that you would stay on with us now that the job is done. Your skill and abilities could be employed in some of our lower branches. We'd like for you to over see them."
"Does this meet with President Mokuba's current wishes?" Sesshomaru asked.
"I'm sure that once we've discussed this with him young Mr. Kaiba will be more than happy to keep you on."
"Thank you, but I must decline." Sesshomaru said.
"What? Why? You were terrific in our American branch this past summer. They expressed great interest in your ideas." Roland stammered as Sesshomaru quietly took his coat from the hanger next to the door.
"I have other obligations that must tended to," Sesshomaru said, "And after having seen more of the world, I am less inclined to travel outside the country. And I could never tear my young charge away from her friends here permanently. Good day, gentlemen," with that, he took his leave.
Outside, he was just about to climb into his new town car, when all of a sudden he sensed that he was being followed. He turned, and the disturbed dust on the ground. He sniffed the air, and took off after the spy. Soon he was on the heels of a figure dressed all in black, their head covered by a black hood. The walking shadow leaped up and climbed into the second level of a parking garage. Sesshomaru instantly followed suit and kept his prey in sight. Then, the dark figure turned, and started at Sesshomaru with dark blue eyes. Then, reached into a pocket, and in a blink came flying at Sesshomaru, a sword in hand, ready to thrust the blade into his heart. Seshomaru did a flip over his assailant, and ripped off the assassin's hood.
"D- you!" shouted the red haired woman as her mask was ripped off.
"A woman? Interesting." Sesshomaru said. "Why are following me?"
"Silence demon!" she spat, "Defend yourself or die!" she charged again, and Sesshomaru, with grace and silence, reached into his coat and pulled out the Tokijin. Before she was even in striking distance, Sesshomaru used his powerful sword to strike the sword from her hand, jumped, sliced through the sword in mid air, and landed behind the woman. When she turned to him again, they just stared at one another for several seconds until they heard a pair of hands clapping in a shadowed part of the garage.
"Well done," said a man's voice. "Well done indeed! Thank you, Felicia, you did very well in testing him for me." a tall man dressed in red velvet strode out of his hiding place.
"Who are you, and why did you send this common woman to assault me? I have not commited any grievance with anyone here," Sesshomare said.
"I'm from the fourth most powerful family on earth, thank you, demon!" shouted Felicia. "I;m far from common!"
"Settle down, my dear, he's simply stating the obvious. Compared to him, you are common. Albeit, you are the finest female assassin to be found."
"You have yet to answer my question," Sesshomaru said, sheathing Tokijin. "Who are you?"
"Forgive me," said the man, he did a sweeping bow and said, "You may have never heard of me, but I've heard plenty of you. Both your identities, in fact. I am Maximillion J. Pegasus. And I know your younger brother."
"Of course," Sesshomaru said, "Imbeciles seem to flock to my brother's side."
"Now hold on," Pegasus said, "I never said about being in league with Inu-yasha. I'm a business man after all, and owner of the second largest company in the world: Industrial Illusions."
"You still have a second question you have not answered," Sesshomaru said.
"Oh, forgive me. I've arranged this little interview to see of you are as good as they say you are," Pegasus said. "You see I want to hire you as a body guard."
"I am no minion," Sesshomaru said.
"Of course not," Pegasus said, "I need a business consultant. Someone who can assist me in feeling out the competition. As well as someone who can make sure I'm not stabbed in the back."
"I am inclined to do that myself… However it would not be an honorable gesture." Sesshomaru said. "Thank you, but I am currently protecting someone else. Someone with purer blood and higher standings than you, or any human, for that matter." Sesshomaru turned then to leave.
"Oh yes, the little Goddess- What do you call her, again? Rin?" Pegasus asked.
Seshsomaru stopped, then seemed to vanish to the humans' eyes, before he reappeared, grabbed Pegasus's collar, and held him up off the ground. Sesshomaru's eyes glowed bright red, as he extended his poison tipped claws. Felicia made to draw one of her hidden daggers, Pegasus held up a hand.
"Wait," he said, "If he wanted me dead, I'd have been in a pool of blood long ago. And so would you." She grunted and put up her dagger, but kept her eye on the dog demon.
"Tell me why I should make this true?" Sesshomaru growled.
"Oh, I'm so frightened," Pegasus said lightly, "Has that delightful child ever seen you this angry? I believe I heard once that you're true form is very terrifying. I've seen Inu-yasha's, and honestly I nearly died of fright!"
Sesshomaru's red eyes lightened, but he still held tight to Pegasus's collar. "What do you mean 'Inu-yasha's true form'?"
"Oh come now," Pegasus said, "You didn't know? He's huge! And his teeth could eat the city in one bite. If a half demon is that scary, what about a full one like you? And now you're the not answering questions. Has that child ever seen you so angry that you could kill? Has she ever seen the big bad nasty hound from Hell that was described to me? Or are you afraid to show her that?"
"I fear nothing!" hissed Sesshomaru.
"You fear scaring a the person you love," Pegasus said. "The one being on this entire earth who cares anything about you. You know that if she ever saw the beast you really are, instead of your charming disguise, then she would be too afraid of you to come near you. This is the same fear that makes you pray that she will never become the goddess, isn't it? You can't stand to be alone."
"WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME?" Sesshomaru snarled, bearing his fangs, his eyes glowing brighter than ever.
"That's enough!" shouted Felicia. She took out a dagger, and a camera. She shot the picture, and then said, "If you do anything else, I'll make sure this photo is leaked to the press. Scientists and paranormalists world wide would give millions for a real demon to study!"
"And I'm sure you'll enjoy that money when you're dead, seconds after he's eaten kidneys," Pegasus said to her. "But this is what I wanted to see. Now I know you're the man for the job."
Sesshomaru stopped his growling, then set Pegasus down. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again they were the ordinary golden color he usually had. "I will…consider your offer."
"Good. Now, before either of us makes a definite decision, Felicia, please go with Lord Sesshomaru. If it pleases you both, I'd like for my lovely informant to see your home life."
"What?" both asked.
"Yes, you see, Felicia doesn't believe that a cold, heartless demon can love a human child. So I'd like her to see how you are with your precious little orphan first hand. When she gives me her final opinion, I'll have a final decision. And I hope you will too." Then, Pegasus turned to a red car (which matched his clothes) got in, and sped out.
"Wait!" called Felicia. She tried to run after the car, but stopped and yelled, "Pegasus! This wasn't part of our deal!"
Transition
Yugi and Yami sat in their old room and picked through their many cards. Where once they had been quite content to share one deck, after all they had until recently shared one body, they now found that they were leading predominantly separate lives. Yami stayed home, and worked in the shop most of the time, while Yugi went out with his friends, and they soon began to realize that they were now two totally different people.
"You take the Dark Magician and the DMGirl Yami, they're your favorites."
"They're yours two though Yugi, don't you want them in your deck?"
"I think we've pretty much established ourselves as two different people, Yami, so it won't hurt for us to have two completely different decks." Yugi told his friend.
"As you wish then." Yami replied and put the two cards in his deck. Very little had changed in the makeup of his deck except that now he had fewer rare cards in his side deck. Those he had given to Yugi to make up the basic structure of his new deck. So far Yugi had come up with very little though in the way of a good strategy. As it was, he doubted that his puny little deck of nothing but spare cards could put up much of a fight against Ra, or anyone else for that matter. Right now he could sure use a pep talk from Tea or someone.
Transition
Tea was at the moment feeling just as helpless as Yugi and Yami were. Only her problem couldn't be solved by a mere card game. Her feelings were being messed with right now by Ra's trickery. Now she had Yugi and Yami there with her in two separate bodies where before she had them both rolled up in one. Before now she hadn't ever thought of choosing between them but the more she hung out with one the more she thought about the other. She found herself thinking of the two of them all the time. Even now as she showered in her apartment, the soap running down her back, she thought of the two of them and what it would be like to be with either one of them. She imagined the perfect evening. Sitting down to dinner in a nice restaurant, Yugi sitting one side, Yami on the other.
"Let me pour us a drink." Yami would say, then pop a cork on a bottle.
"We'll both be having the house special, and the lady will have a salad followed by a petite pepper steak with onion rings." Yugi would order for them. Afterwards they might go for a romantic stroll in the park, just the three of them, and sit down on a bench to look up at the stars. Then it would be time to go home and that's where things got a little jumbled up.
"Want to come in." Tea would say and reach her hand out to them but then Yugi and Yami started pushing each other over who would take her hand.
"She wants me!" Yugi insisted.
"NO me." Yami stated. "I'm the one who saved her life, remember?"
"I knew her first." Yugi argued.
"I've been through the worst of times by her side though." Yami would tell him.
"I love her!" Yugi would declare.
"Not as much as I love her!" Yami would shout and then Tea's fantasy bubble would burst.
"What am I going to do about those two?" She asked herself as she put a towel on and then stepped out of the shower. She put her hair up in a smaller towel then went to go lay down on her bed. She looked around the room. Most of her things were still in boxes, and it was even worse everywhere else in the apartment. Living along was expensive enough on just her savings, what with bills to pay, and everything. There were times that she wished that she had not gone to New York after school let out for the last time. She wondered what it would have been like if she had gone with Yugi to Egypt. They'd probably be married now with kids like Kaiba, and Serenity, or like Kagome and Inu-yasha. Then she wouldn't have to make such a terrible choose between the Yugi she had known since she was little and the one called Yami who she'd had a crush on since that fateful day at Burger World.
Tea thought it over and over and over again in her mind and in her heart. Which one did she truly love? The kind, caring, considerate Yugi, or dashing, charismatic Yami? Oh she wished with all her heart that there was a way to put them both back together so that she could go back to loving them both. Wait, did either of them even know that she was in love with them?
"Oh my gosh!" Tea cried out. "I never have really told either of them how I feel!"
Transition
Ra laughed wickedly as he sat on his thrown aboard his air ship. His plan was working perfectly. Now that Yugi and Yami were separated and vulnerable without the power of the Millennium Items, there was nothing that could stop him from picking their little band of pathetic friends apart.
"Bast, come to me." He said.
"Yes master?" She replied and sontered over to where Ra sat.
"I have another job for you my dear, I need for you go seduce the Pharaoh for me.
"Seduce him?" She asked.
"Yes, I must begin to break his friends away from him one at a time, and I want to start with the one called Tea. She is his lady love and a powerful friend. Her opinion would mean everything to him."
"Tea, you mean that sweet girl I met that day?" Bast asked. "I can't do that to her, she's my friend too."
"I command you, you foolish creature, or would you rather go back to being a stone statue?" Ra shouted at her. Bast cringed at the thought of returning to that state of existence and hung her head.
"Yes, sir." She finally sniffled. "I will seduce the Pharaoh, but just one question, do I have to do anything else?"
"Do as you please with him." Ra said. Bast transformed into her human form that Ra had recently given her then left the ship. "Excellent. Now come to me Apothus." He commanded. The Snake god appeared and bowed. "Go now to the Priestess Kagome's home and work your evil on her little family."
"No!" Souta cried coming in.
"You again Loki, you're becoming a bit bothersome."
"I won't let you hurt my family members anymore." Souta said.
"You don't have a choice in the matter. I need the Priestess to come to me and the only way to do that is to take her children."
"No!" Souta shouted again. "You don't need to hurt them. Not if you want the jewel. I know… I know another reason why she would come. She would come for me and she would bring the jewel with her, if she had it, but only if you use me as bate."
"Interesting concept. But would you be willing to fight your own sister when she comes with the jewel?
"To save her children, I would do anything." Souta said.
"So be it then Loki. Apothus, go to the Sunset Shrine and deliver a message to the Higurashis. Tell young Kagome that if she ever wants to see her brother again then she'll come to my air fortress with her deck and with the Jewel of Four Souls or else little Souta will never leave this place alive."
