Disclaimer:

Defeated, I admit to the man in black, "I do not own Inuyasha." Secretly thinking, "But I do own Sesshoumaru—he's chained to my dungeon wall right now." I cackle evilly.

"Ahem," the man in black coughs as he fingers the arrest warrant again.

"Fine! I own nothing that you recognize!"

Chapter 2: Rin Dresses in Red

"Hi," Rin greeted the chique-looking woman sitting diagonally below a gold "ATTIRES" sign that was nailed on the wall as she flashed her employee card to get through the security system.

The woman shifted her head from the computer monitor and grimaced as she saw Rin, obviously affected by Rin's cheery "Frosty the Snowman" song.

Shrugging as she sensed the woman's disapproval, Rin continued, "Could you tell me where the Gucci section is?"

"Go straight down women's; turn left on the second complex to the right," the woman informed Rin laconically before turning back to her LCD monitor.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kagi Kaze swirled critically in front of the dressing mirror.

"Hmm…not enough cleavage," she though distastefully. She expertly adjusted the already lascivious neckline and smiled, satisfied with her handiwork. Kagi was a beautiful specimen of the female gender and she knew it. Her eyes were an exotic shade of brown that shone crimson, her bust was exceeding satisfactory by far, and she had more curves than an hourglass. Anyone who claimed that the voluptuous look was out of season and that the lean, athletic build was in would be soundly silenced by a nice stare at model Kagi Kaze. Despite her superior modeling attributes though, Kagi was hardly a good employee. Afterall, she had just snuck in here to 'borrow' a few brand name clothing articles. Once of said articles currently clung to her body like a second skin was worth a few hundred dollars but was only a few scraps of cloth and string meticulously pieced together by hand to create a final image of something akin to what the devil's sex toy would wear.

Happily examining the dark aura around herself, Kagi's eyes narrowed as the previously mentioned aura dissipated. Afterall, it was difficult to keep a sinister aura if "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" were being sung in the background. That, and the fact of Kagi's escalating anxiety of being caught err… borrowing company property.

"Kindly stop that…noise…before I see to it personally that you will receive your two front teeth for Christmas," the dark lady sneered with false bravado, hoping that whatever stupid girl beyond the room would get the hint and leave. She couldn't risk loosing this job because of something as trivial as greedily trying on off-limits clothes. The implications if she were to be fired… Kagi paled at the thought. Her real boss would kill her, literally.

Rin frowned. What was with all these people? The entire building was filled with the Scrooges and Grinches of the world. Well, except for her boss—he, at least, had smiled—and what a sexy smile that had been. Of the irony of the situation, that the probability of Sesshoumaru so much as tilting his mouth was smaller than that of the entire building's inhabitants bowing over in laughter, was lost on her. Quickly, Rin cleared her throat, forcefully compelling her mind to get off the dangerous track of thought.

"I didn't realize someone else was in here," Rin replied, with enough sugar in her voice to sink a ship. Inwardly, she seethed. "No one, and I mean no one, criticizes my singing, much less threaten me!"

Kagi sighed in relief. The kid was newcomer then, because those were the only ones who wouldn't know that nobody was supposed in the corner of the Gucci section she was currently standing in. That was good news. Newcomers could be tricked. But this newbie was quite annoying. The sweetness! She cringed. Then, she smirked as she finally saw her inadvertent antagonist. The girl was wearing "conservative".

"So it seems my little antagonist is unsure of her body," Kagi mused before smirking, "Getting her distracted from my questionable presence here will be easy."

"Proundly puffing her ample bosom, Kagi started, "Your new here, right? I'll help you choose some outfits."

Rin gawked. Here she was, fully expecting a fight from the scantily clad woman and said harlot was offering help? "Uh…Thanks…but don't you have a photo shoot soon?" Rin asked, wrongly guessing the reason why the woman was in here in the first place though she didn't recall a scheduled shoot that day.

"It's alright. Alfonzo's a patient photographer," Kagi lied easily.

Rin gulped as she saw Kagi dive into the sea of designer wear with the prowess of a hunting cat thinking to herself that she didn't like the gleam in the harlot's eyes.

It turned out, Kagura had chosen a scarlet silk skirt that clung to Rin's every curve like a lover's hands and showed enough leg and chest that the imagination was sorely disappointed. The thing came along with a scarf that had some very strategically placed holes in it to show off little flashes of shoulder, neck, and lower collarbone area. The skimpy little leather coat that came with it was barely covering two inches more of leg than the skirt and…Rin's eyes widened in horror…were those…they were…four inch heels.

"Two can play at this game," Rin thought determinedly. Resuming her sickening sweet persona, Rin thanked Kagi and adorned the outfit.

The red outfit brought out the redness of her lips and accented her generous curves and lean body. Rin had put her hair in a loose, stylish twist and a few silken tendrils teasingly brushed against the ivory skin that the scarf did not cover. The heels, well, they were painful, but Rin had abnormally good balance and they did wonders to Rin's already long, toned legs.

Cheekily, Rin skipped out of the dress room, thanked Kagi with all the honey her voice could muster, commented on how well the color suited her Christmas songs, and couldn't help but laugh at the envious, then furious expression on Kagi's face before the angered lady stormed out of "Attires".

Now that her fun was over, Rin became slightly conscientious of how she looked. Deciding that a change of clothes was necessary, something vibrated in her handbag before she could pick out more formal attire. Seeing that it was Sesshoumaru calling her, Rin answered.

"Miss Raesessaki, do you know what time it is?" The cool voice at the other end of the line asked.

"Rin's eyes widened as she saw the display on her cell phone: quarter past noon. In all her excitement and the incident with the unknown harlot, Rin had forgotten to check the time.

"Oh fu--! I'm so sorry! You're at the restaurant already right? Where is it? I'll be there in five minutes, I wager my job on it!"

Somewhat amused by both her expletives and her promise, Sesshoumaru suppressed another chuckle. "Damn! Half a day with her and I'm going soft!" He chastised himself. Apparently, the two other occupants of the table had heard her outburst too and were quietly laughing at her antics.

"Kobe's; ask for the Koro reservation."

"Damn! That's practically the other side of the city! I could get there in no traffic but…now?" Rin muttered to herself.

"You wagered," Sesshoumaru replied coolly, though he had no intention of letting the little nymph go anytime soon.

Like a madwoman, Rin dashed through the revolving front door, jabbed down her accelerator and was exercising her usage of florid language while fighting against the noon hour traffic. Thankfully, Rin had grown up in Paris so handling tough traffic was her specialty, that, and people didn't want to deal with a madwoman racing beside their own car.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Well, gentlemen, shall we commence?" Sesshoumaru incited, faintly amused that the two grown men, one of which had graying and white hair, were furtively stealing glances at their watches. They sighed. Ten more seconds to 12:20! Even as he laid out photos of his shows, Sesshoumaru could hear the soft "one Mississippi, two Mississippi…" counting the two men were muttering under their breaths.

"Ten Mississippi," the two Gucci executives counted in unison. Just then, a loud click could be heard from the elevator entrance way and all three men turned their heads to see a flushed, skirt clad girl walking briskly to the table.

"Good to see you decided to join us," Sesshoumaru pieced together with a bit of difficulty as he took in what she was wearing: Rin looked like…well…a tease! No, somehow, all skimpy outfits aside, she'd managed to pull off a serious, professional composure. He growled as he saw the two other men ogle Rin. No one eyed his woman like that! To frustrate the demon lord even more, Rin had removed the jacket to reveal a good deal of shoulder and her loose hair just happened to brush against the swell of her bosom. To his relief, she left the scarf on.

Having regained her breath, Rin apologized to the three men, only to blush harder when she realized tow strangers were eyeing her…quite…lustfully. "Here are the papers I was to bring," Rin announced, relieved, if not a bit disappointed, that Sesshoumaru wasn't staring at her and opted to sit beside the one sane man in the room.

Sesshoumaru quickly introduced her to the CEO and senior executive.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLater…

"Well, I'd agree, but put frankly, the general audience has seen so many shows of that set up that I think we should alter it a bit. Your models, as I can tell by their profiles, are too tall and too exotic for the Japanese buyers to believe they will look the same as the models do when they wear the outfits. Perhaps we could accrue some oriental models for you? I've heard your company's trying to expand throughout Asia, so wouldn't the first step be to advertise? What better way is there to do that than to hold auditions for Japan's teens and young adults to actively participate in your company? Also, new models won't have the traditional training so your new modeling scheme wouldn't call for extra pay raises and additional training for the new type of presentation you plan to use. Afterall, you're planning to use a Japanese teahouse theme in which the models dance, perform, and do the catwalk as opposed to just stalking on the runway." Rin finished.

Silence.

Rin fiddled with the hem of her skirt, feeling foolish for voicing her thoughts.

"Well, Mr. Koro, looks like you just got yourself a new client. This young lady is surely a godsend for you."

"She surely is," Sesshoumaru thought. Outwardly, he replied rather coolly, "Sign here then."

"Not so fast, though," the older of the two interjected, "we have one stipulation—Miss Raesessaki will model for us during the first show, that's all."

Seeing Sesshoumaru's eyes narrow by less than a picometer, Rin quickly answered before Sesshoumaru rebuffed the proposition, "I'd love to. I'll be ready in a month."

"Good, good," the representatives left, shaking hands with Sesshoumaru and Rin after giving Sesshoumaru the signed contract.

"You know how to model?" Sesshoumaru asked as he leaned back and poured himself some of Mission Hill's "Painted Turtle" wine that he had ordered.

"No."

The wine pouring stopped. "What! You said you'd be ready in a month!"

"I learn fast."

Sesshoumaru sighed. He put down the wine and reached for the vodka.

"Have some faith, would you?"

Only Rin. Only Rin could say things to him so flippantly to him and not be torn to bits.

"Good job with the idea and the graphs you made this morning were quite concise…but pink?" Sesshoumaru changed the topic.

Rin started. Sesshoumaru had complimented her? He hardly seemed the type to give out praise easily. She grinned and then giggled at the cringe that marred the handsome face at the mention of the color.

"It adds some character to the thing, don't you think? I mean, all the old ones your PA left were so mundane—not to mention disorganized—I just couldn't help myself. Besides, you seem like you need a little more color in your life."

Sesshoumaru lifted his eyebrow at the pun. "Speaking of character, what is that…dress…all about? Workplace modesty was one of the topics you had to read through this morning and I'm sure it was mentioned somewhere that unless on the runway, it was to be maintained." He asked, pausing for a word to describe the scanty thing.

At this, Rin burst out laughing, obviously bending and therefore, showing Sesshoumaru some of her bust line that the scarf had previously covered.

In between enjoying his new…scenery and listening to her melodious, twinkling laughter, Sesshoumaru managed to decipher what had happened.

Sesshoumaru had, in fact, known for a while now that Kagi Kaze, or rather, Kagura, as she was really called, was taking company clothes. However, he'd been curious as to what she was doing back in Japan since Naraku and his spawn had fled the country five hundred years ago and never set foot on it until now. Although he knew that getting in trouble with the wind sorceress who was doing a very poor job of disguising herself as one of the top models was not a good idea, Sesshoumaru couldn't bring himself to rebuke Rin and soon found that her laughter was contagious. Rin stopped laughing when she heard a deep, rich vibration from beside her and she lifted her face to see Sesshoumaru…laughing? His laugh was so…surprisingly warm and inviting. She stared, awed. She'd always though of the man as handsome, but she had never truly gathered the courage to examine him more closely.

His hair had a silverfish glow about it, probably due to the lighting, his eyes were perfectly shaped but seemed so distant, except at this moment, his nose was a bit pointed, but it, along with his high cheekbones and sharp features, made him appear wild, as if he echoed of the knowledge and the unconquerable spirit of nature and time. His body, she felt a tremor through her own form as she scrutinized it, was enough to put any Roman sculpture to shame.

Sesshoumaru had long ceased laughing. He curiously watched the girl examine him. He smiled. Five centuries ago, a little girl had found him wounded in a forest and had looked at him the same way. Then, she followed him all over the land, without a word of complaint when her frail human body ached from the harsh climates their journeys inevitably trespassed and the merciless physical trials. She'd blossomed with the flowers of spring and grew beautiful, later…he stopped. He remembered what had happened later. He stared at the girl, no, woman, in front of him and felt himself shocked by how well she had been reincarnated: even the light, almost imperceptible freckles sprinkled across her nose were the same—now to the last one! Her eyes were so warm…He knew he was getting drawn into their warm chocolate depths but he couldn't help but loose himself in the rich swirls of cinnamon and cocoa. Unconsciously, he closed the distance between them and breathed in her light arousal—most likely from examining my body—he thought arrogantly, and her own scent or honeysuckle and well…Rin. His suit-clad arm snaked around her trim waist and…he remembered the last time he'd hugged her this close—dear Kami, her body even felt the same in his arms! Brusquely, Sesshoumaru distanced himself from her, stood up, straightened his jacket and left.

Rin stared at his retreating figured, already missing his warmth. It had been so close. Closing her eyes, she savored his lingering scent, a musky, earthy, dewy pine that was interlaced with a spicy bit of masculinity, at least, it she had to name the last one, she'd call it that. She could feel his warm breath fanning her face and all she could do was close her eyes and think—in a very suspiciously excited and happy voice—"He was going to kiss me!" Then, he'd left before his full, soft-looking lips could even brush her own. Was it a flash of guilt and regret in his golden eyes? Golden?! Rin shook her head. She must've been seeing things, but she could've sworn his eyes were the prettiest shade of molten gold she had ever seen.

"Why do I have to work for him?" She pondered silently, cursing her bad luck.

Note: I'm not a commerce student so I made up her speech to the execs. If there's something logically wrong with the entire thing, please don't flame me for it. Constructive critisism with comments like, that's wrong, its supposed to be this way would be way better.

Hope you enjoyed!