Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
A/N: Well here's the next chapter guys. I did put in another motorcycle moment for those who asked for it, although what she does just kills me (it's soo bad for the tires and those things are stinking expensive to replace!). Hope you all like it.
Chapter 12 – Bad Dog, Very Bad Dog!
Three hours after his departure from the shrine it was Sesshoumaru's turn to be rudely awakened by a ringing phone in the middle of the night. "What?" he snarled into the phone. He was not prepared for the cacophony of the most degrading and foul swearing which barraged his ears. "Peters?"
"You bet your ass it's me you cruel and egotistical megalomaniac!" the other man raged. "How dare you! How dare you treat Kagome like that?"
"The girl was out of control Peters, she has no idea what is good for her," he growled in reply.
"Good for her? GOOD FOR HER! You effing idiot do you have any idea what you've done! You've only pushed away the person who you've spent your whole life waiting for!"
"I said nothing unreasonable."
"Unreasonable? Are you listening to yourself? Think about it you dumb friggin dog, you only ordered her to leave her home, leave her son, and surrender her freedom to your whims for an undefined period of time without ever gaining her trust or permission first. You had absolutely no right to try and force her! Do you think someone as powerful as her could take kindly to another trying to tie them down and take away their decisions like that? Did you even THINK about her feelings first?" He was so angry that he could find no other way to express himself than by screaming, "BAD DOG! VERY BAD DOG!"
What Peters was saying made sense to Sesshoumaru, and he began to partially understand the reasoning behind the other man's arguments. He wasn't quite ready to admit it yet though. "If she were smart she would come to the same conclusions I had and agreed."
"You never even gave her a chance!" Both men were silent for a minute, inwardly fuming at the other. Finally, Peters having recognized that his anger was not going to help the situation decided to be the bigger man and help the stupid dog demon out. "Taisho have you noticed the scar on Kagome's left ring finger?"
"Yes," he answered, registering the cold way Peters called him by his family name instead of his personal name. "I have often wondered about it, especially after seeing how it glows, yet I have not inquired as to its origins or properties."
"I suggest you find out what exactly that scar is before proceeding," Peters said flatly. "I also highly suggest an attitude adjustment on your part. If you go after Kagome like that again she might try and purify you, and on the very slim chance you survived she would never let you take her alive. Forcing her is not a good idea, and until you learn to act more civilized she will be wary of you to a degree that any stealth or trickery on your part will fail. I'm warning you, and if you're half as smart and you love to think yourself then you'll follow my advice."
"This Sesshoumaru does not need your advice on his affairs," he growled coldly. He knew he was lying but nobody talked to him like this, and he was still smarting over both Hando's remarks and the burn on his chest.
"If that's true then why is it Inuyasha who was at the shrine with Kagome balled up between him and Kikyou and not you? How is it that a mere hanyou has earned her respect and trust and not the taiyoukai of the west?"
His comments, as far as Sesshoumaru was considered, were way below the belt. "That half-breed embracing her in front of his intended?" he nearly gasped.
"I further advise you to learn about how friendship and romantic interest with women differs," came the cold response. "Picture it this way Taisho, if somebody came up to Rin when she's 21 and told her she had to leave you and come and live under his thumb, how do you think she'd react? How do you think you'd react?" The silence from the dog demon assured Peters he had just gotten his point across. "I thought so. Now don't forget what I said, learn about what that scar is before you go any further. You can ask Inuyasha if you like, he already knows." With that he hung up on the disgruntled taiyoukai. The fact that the hanyou knew something he didn't only made him more frustrated with the situation.
"Hn," Sesshoumaru muttered coldly. "I still think it should not be that difficult to get the girl to do things by my method. She may be powerful but she is still a human woman. How hard could it be?" Secure from his utter confidence in his abilities he went back to sleep, sure that it would be a matter of days before Hando was right where he wanted her.
-----
The next morning Sesshoumaru was quite pleased when he noted the arrival of Hando on the security monitors he happened to be watching. He thought she must have come to her senses and returned to beg his forgiveness. This impression lasted less than five minutes though when he realized she was wearing her black motorcycle leathers instead of work clothes and turning in her security badges. He watched in silent fury as she signed the necessary paperwork, surrendered her electronic keys and removed any of her information from the computer systems. Finally he watched as she was chatting with Jakotsu, who had been walking in, while she waited for her belongings to be brought up from the locker room and office below. Flipping a switch he decided to turn on the sound to listen in.
"My dear of course I understand!" the man said is an overly dramatic tone. "But what are you going to do now, work in some sort of security position?"
Sesshoumaru zoomed in the camera, intensely interested in the subject of their conversation.
"Well I thought about applying at the American, Canadian or British embassies, working as an air marshal, or even for the police. I don't know, there are lots of options. Heck, I could even apply for a researcher's position at Tokyo University in their psychology department, I'm qualified enough and I happened to know some of the projects they've got going on over there. Somebody will want me I'm sure," she replied cheerfully.
"Kagome, you are amazing. Of course they will all want you! I'm just so sad that you are leaving this place, I don't know what I'll do without out you," he nearly sobbed, though it was completely overdone.
"Jakotsu you loon," she laughed, "you'll be seeing me next Friday when we go to the DMB concert, as for what you will do I suggest that you try to stay clear of poor Hojo, the boy is as straight as an arrow."
"Are you sure?" the other man asked, wide eyed. "I thought I had him pegged for certain."
"Yes I'm sure, the guy has asked me out several times," here the camera zoomed in even more. "Besides which you know Taisho's opinion of dipping one's pen in company ink," she teased him back.
"Sigh, true! I guess I'll just have to search elsewhere for my fun. Hey, I hate to leave you Kagome but I must return to my work or else you know who will be after me and I don't need that right now," he said with mock seriousness, though he leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek.
"No Jakotsu, no one needs Taisho on their back. You go on now, and tell the rest of the boys I hope to see them sometime, we can all go out dancing or something like that," she called out as he made his way to the elevators.
"Will do!" he shouted in reply as the doors closed. At that moment the guard reappeared and handed Kagome her bag. She took it to a nearby table and inspected the contents carefully.
"Hn, she must think I have tampered with her belongings," Sesshoumaru said aloud as he angled the camera to follow her movement. He watched as she seemed satisfied and walked out of the building, but not before turning briefly at the door and flipping a bird at the camera he was using to observe her. "Vile wench!" he growled as he made to go after her, but he stopped himself realizing that to confront her would be an admission that he had been watching her. "Damn. Well, I'll just have to find another way of getting her in line," he mused as he walked back to his office. By the time he reached his secretary's desk outside he had formulated his plan. "Get me the number for the American, Canadian, and British embassies, as well as the air marshal's office, the Tokyo PD, and the head of the psychology department at Tokyo University." As he waited for his secretary to get someone on the phone for him the sound of a screeching tire was picked up by his demonic hearing. He walked to the window and nearly melted the glass in anger.
There in his own personal parking space, which was empty since he'd flown to work, was Hando. She was peeling out the back tire of Reiner, leaving a long black mark in the process. She paused briefly to look at her handiwork and then took off, seemingly satisfied. The symbolism was not lost on Sesshoumaru. She was playing on the tendency of dogs to scratch and rip at the ground in order to mark their territory. It was an insult, and a challenge.
His eyes were almost completely red with rage, but then an evil smirk played upon his features. "Oh how I am going to love putting that disrespectful, stubborn, smart-mouthed brat in her place!"
-----------
It was the final straw. Kagome had expected Sesshoumaru's interference with her job interviews and she had deliberately fed him a list of positions that would make sense, but she had no real intention of pursuing. Yes, she had still interviewed as if she was a truly serious applicant, but it was all just a test to see how far the taiyoukai would go to make her desperate to return. As she had expected the traces of the taiyoukai's aura were on each of the individuals she met with, and a few she had even heckled into admitting that though she was in truth exactly what they were looking for "Taisho-sama" had merely dropped by to mention how he planed on recruiting her soon and he did not wish to have her start somewhere only to leave a few weeks later. But this… this was playing dirty.
Jakotsu had just called to say he was desperately sorry but he'd gotten a last minute assignment that was a priority and he couldn't make it to the concert tonight. "That lily-assed, interfering mongrel!" she seethed. No one messed with her and her leisure time without retribution! She would go anyways, and have a blast simply meshing in with the rest of the crazed crowd in the mosh pit which typically formed at the foot of the stage where she would be. "But poor Jakotsu!" she sighed. She had been so excited to go with him and chill out with a friend, but alas! The cruel scheming of a power-mad demonic dog had foiled her well laid plans! "Revenge!" she howled as she dug out her cell phone to make a call.
"Erri? It's me Kags. Yeah I know, me too. Uh huh, uh huh yeah but listen to this okay? I have an extra ticket for a third row seat to the DMB concert tonight and it can be yours all yours for one small favor. How would you like to be served Taisho Sesshoumaru on a platter? Really? I thought so. Well come tonight and I'll tell you how. Right, see you then!" She hung up and grinned. "Oh how I am going to love putting that uptight, bullheaded elitist snot in his place!"
-----
After the concert Kagome sat in a bar talking with Erri, a high school friend who just so happened to write for the social column of the Sun Times, the leading newspaper in the Tokyo metro area.
"So," the vivacious young women asked with a glint in her eye, "just how are you going to deliver Seshy, Kags? I've been hunting him for months and the man, or demon, is impossible to get. His plans are never made public and he's a genius at evading cameras."
"We'll set him up," Kagome replied, a manic tint to her facial expression. "What if I can plot a course for an entire evening, getting you not only one, but several opportunities to get pictures and make all kinds of insinuations which, as long as you don't result to libel, he won't be able to fight?"
"If you can do that then you must be a gift from Kami-sama sent to lead me to a huge raise and a possible position on the editorial staff," she answered gleefully. "But I still don't see how you're going to pull it off."
"That is why you are the writer, and I the master planner!" she cooed in a mischievous voice. "Here's what we do. My 22 birthday is next weekend and I'm fairly positive…" her voice lowered and she began to plot her next move in the game of chess she was playing against Sesshoumaru.
Across town a certain inuyoukai let out not one, but five consecutive sneezes. "Someone is discussing this Sesshoumaru," he growled, "and I suspect it is nothing, ACHOO, flattering…"
----------
A/N: Hahahahaha, let the fun begin! They both are sooo dead in the next chapter. Here's some spoilers since you ardently angelic and aptly accommodatingreviewers said they appealed to you them last time:
-"Anyway, I think we should just humor Kagome and see what happens. Maybe if she gets tired out and drunk off her ass she'll tell us what's going on," Inuyasha said.
-"So since she hates me it will be easier to force her to let me accompany you rather than alter her plans completely?"Sesshoumaru asked, cutting her off. "Precisely," Kikyou breathed out.
-"Why are you still holding my hand?" she asked, her tone even. "Because it is your birthday and I have yet to dance with you," he replied.
