A/N: okay, I know that this has taken FOREVER, and you've probably all given up on me, I know what I'm going to do next, and WILL have it up by at LEAST next saturday. You see, I've started babysitting, so I'll be busy most of the week, but if I bring a notepad with me, I might be able to get some of it done during the week. This wasn't as long as I hoped it would be, but at least it's an update, right? Feel free to comment, nice or not, I don't really care, and if you'd like to voice any opinions, or give me your LOVELY ideas, feel free to e-mail me I check it constantly, so you'll get a reply within the day. Enjoy.

Doing his best not to waste any of the cleaning agent as he generally applied it to each of his wounds, the frustrated teen let a small sigh out between his chapped lips. He despised days like today.

The life-supporting sun shown mock-cheerfully through the miniscule gaps in between the blinds, only making the free world not two feet away seem oh so much farther. Not to mention that even with the nuisance of glass omitted, the twenty-foot drop from the window ledge to the dense foliage of manicured shrubs and hedges below did not sound appealing. Not that Inuyasha hadn't tried on occasion.

Putting away the salve, the teen walked on rough and calloused feet to the attic stairs, his sanctuary and only alcove where he truly felt safe in the large manor he'd been held captive in for several years. The room above was neither large nor elegant, but held a homey feeling the rest of the house was devoid of. It felt like his old home. On merciless days where his weekly "lessons" with his older half-brother decided to disclose upon the fact that he was a freak with his leather belt or worse, he could retreat to his private milieu to shut everything out. Here he wasn't the freak or loser everyone said he was, he was just his momma's boy. Her Yasha.

Taking the rope pull in his also calloused hands, Inuyasha pulled the folding stairs down to enter the hidden room. With one last look around the room to assure that everything incriminating was hidden from sight, he disappeared into the dark abyss of the room. No one must ever know he lived here. No one but Sesshomaru that is. Jaken and Rin had known as well, but Rin had gone away to a private boarding school paid for by Sesshomaru, and Jaken had never cared enough to visit. To the maids that cleaned this room as part of their routine maintenance, it had to appear as though the room below was a spare room for company, and hadn't been touched in months.

Creeping carefully as though afraid the floor would cave in, which was a true danger, Inuyasha made his way across the terrazzo-like wood as impossible as it sounds, to the bay window that led entrance to the street out front. Trying desperately to not make any noticeable sounds to the maids that would soon be cleaning the room below him, Inuyasha pulled open the thick mahogany hangings so as he wouldn't be seen by any passerby's, and scrutinized the front yard for any suspicious persons.

The yard was as usual immaculate, the large presages willow looking just the perfect amount laissez-faire, letting the world go about it's business as usual. The grass had never looked so lush. It was in speculating who the gardener might be that he saw her. The beautiful young woman of his dreams, with sinuous ebony hair, strolling up the walk. As if a messenger from the gods, the golden sun shone on her giving her a look of pure, ethereal beauty.

His gaping was cut short however, when the mysterious young woman entered the manor, and could no longer be seen from the window above. Cursing vehemently for accidentally opening to drapes too wide, and fogging up the window by leaning on it to see her better, Inuyasha turned swiftly from the window that just recently held his fascination and back into the hidden attic room.

She honestly had no idea why she was here. It had started out simply enough, go see the guy, get the job, earn the money, and finally get to go see Miyavi live in concert. It shouldn't have even been this hard, this guy was famous for dealing out the big wages. He was a multi-billionaire for Christ's sake! But that was what made the man so scary. Not to mention the fact that if she made it, he'd be her new boss. Oh well, it was too late to back out now. And Kagome Higurashi wasn't usually one to back out easily.

Kagome pulled the small Geo to a stop with a slight screech. So it wasn't the most impressive car she'd ever owned, but it was easy to pay for, and with the increase in gas prices, was pretty cheap too. The house itself was beautiful, everything the ad said it would be with it's tall marble pillars and abundancy of shrubbery out front. But it was also big. Which meant that it would take her hours to clean it.

Climbing out of the car, she grabbed her resume and purse, thankful for her mother's help in putting the dratted thing together the night before, and began walking to the front door. Passing a rather large geranium, she looked up when the light from the sun caught off of something from an upstairs window. Framed in reddish-brown drapes was a boy, probably about her age looking down at her from what appeared to be the attic. Stepping onto the first step she lost her view of the boy, but was immediately overcome with a strong feeling of dread, much like a mouse right before it steps into it's trap in the board games she used to play with her younger brother as a child.

Kagome raised her hand to knock on the door but it was left hanging in air as the door swung open to reveal a small bald man with a face like a toad's holding the door open. When the man bowed she cautiously entered the house, almost tripping over the threshold in the process.

"Do watch where you're going, miss, I'd hate to have to clean these floors after you've touched them," the short man remarked, without pausing in his stride for her to catch up. "The master's in the room ahead; I trust you can find it yourself without my aid?" Not giving her the time to respond, the small man turned and disappeared through one of the side mahogany doors lining the cooridor.

"Well I'll be," Kagome huffed, following the midget's orders none the less. "Stupid little blidger."

Opening the next set of doors, Kagome found herself in what looked like someone's private study. The black leather chair seated impressively in front of a mahogany desk lined with awards and papers turned to face her. Standing regally, Lord Sesshomaru strode forward in three long steps to shake her hand.

"Good afternoon, miss…." he began in a fluid baritone.

"Kagome Higurashi," she explained, catching onto his embarrasment.

"Yes, Miss Higurashi. You applied for my ad in the papers about the housecleaning, am I correct?" At this he sat back down gracefully and offered her a seat in front of him.

"Yes, sir."

"Well I assure you that I will handle no tardiness on your part; this will be your first warning. Fifteen minutes late on a job interview? You're lucky I'm swamped until next week or I would've seen you out of my house this instant." Immediantly his tone turned harsh to implicate the seriousness of his request.

Kagome's face turned as red as the blazer she was wearing. It wasn't her fault the power had gone out, rendering her alarm clock useless. "I'm sorry, sir, it won't happen again."

"Let's hope not. Your first assignment will be to clean the third room on the right, upstairs. CLEAN. Top to bottom. I WILL check. That will be all." With that final statement, the lord turned his chair back around to continue his work. Having nothing else to do, Kagome turned as well, and began the trek to the third room on the right upstairs.

Unfortunatly, the lord forgot to mention which floor, and with six of them, she was confused as to which floor to begin with. After checking the first two floors, which consisted mainly of ballrooms and deluxe offices, which were immaculate, and in no need of cleaning, she decided to just start with the top and work her way down.

"God, it's like a hotel….who needs THIS many rooms?" she asked the crown molding, exasperated A thump from a room off to her right startled her, making her drop her broom.

"WHAT THE?"

THUMP

"…hello?" she asked timidly.

THUMP

With cautious steps, she crept towards the sound. The "thump" sounded as though someone was banging their head against the wall, or the likes. As she walked, it seemed the scorn-filled eyes of the portraits on the walls were fallowing her every step…

At the sound of the old codger's voice downstairs whom resembled a toad, Inuyasha leapt back away from the curtains, and rushed down the attic stairs into the room he resided in. The lady in the driveway could only mean one thing: a new maid. And all the new maid's first tasks were to clean THIS room. The room the "nobody lived in." Therefore, it had to look as though " nobody lived here."

In about three minutes, the time Sesshomaru USUALLY took to question the new employees, all that was left on the worn carpeted floor was a small layer of dust and old stains. Sighing in relief, he turned to grab the rope-pull to the attic stairs … which he just remembered he had thrown up into the molding to stay out of his way in the cleaning.

Positioning himself directly underneath the lowest portion of the rope, he jumped up to grab it…and missed, landing on his feet with a hearty THUMP that was probably heard all the way downstairs. Cringing, he leapt again for it, almost grabbed it, missed, and fell down once more. By now he was getting aggravated with the rope, and as he was about to reach again, he heard the incisive sound of the bedroom door begin to open…

A/N: Okay, erm...feel free to comment, there's the little box-e thing there... I don't mind people ushering me to update soon, in fact, I enjoy them because it keeps me on track.