An early update for ya'll!

Sesshoumaru noticed the minute she entered the anteroom. It was her scent as it flowed under the door and permeated his office. Now that he was allowing himself to smell everything he realized just how strong it was. It seemed to completely knock out all the other smells – the stench of over-perfumed humans attempting to cover up body odor, the smell of Jaken, etc.

He also could hear her politely asking Jaken how his morning had been so far and Jaken's terse and borderline insulting reply. Despite the somewhat discouraging answer, she continued to persist in making polite small talk, a feat Sesshoumaru was sure no one had ever attempted past the first five minutes of meeting Jaken.

When the girl knocked on his door, he called for her to enter and leaned forward in his seat.

She gave her greeting and patiently waited for his instructions. (It was obvious she learned fast.)

Sesshoumaru was not surprised to find himself somewhat eager to actually look at the girl. He was curious to see what a grown woman with such a pure soul actually looked like, and his curiosity was always a trait that had gotten him into trouble.

She was very pretty. Not beautiful, because that had an elegant feel to it, but she was attractive. Her eyes were indeed blue and round, belying some sort of recent European ancestor, but her skin was a pale, smooth olive like those of his homeland. Her name… her name was Higurashi so she was definitely Japanese on her father's side, a thought that made him proud. The little girl he had encountered who had also been of like soul as Higurashi was Japanese and despite his claim to have no attachment to anything, it caused him to feel a little smug, if not proud.

But she was young. Very early twenties, definitely. She had said she was in college? Her body was mature with hips and breasts, but her eyes seemed so wide and young, probably a result of her innocence. She's probably never suffered anything worse than a bad grade in middle school, or maybe a rough breakup with a boyfriend.

Definitely not like anything he'd seen (or caused) in his lifetime of pain and inflicting it.

He leaned back in his chair, satisfied he would always be able to recognize her by sight if not smell.

Kagome entered the office and greeted Mr. Takamatsu but he didn't respond right away. Instead, he stared at her, hard, looking at her but not really. She could feel his gaze move all over her body, but it felt more like a scanner committing her to memory than if he were checking her out.

She shivered. It was an intense feeling, like he was scrutinizing her under a microscope. She tried not to move at all, but when he remained silent she decided to look him back over.

Damn, but he was actually really good-looking. He didn't look much older than her but he acted old, like he'd been around for forever. His eyes were golden and sharp. The few times she'd seen them, they been filled with anger, mild interest and complete boredom. The man didn't seem to have a broad range of emotions in his eyes – even less so on his face. She had no clue what he was thinking and hadn't since those first few minutes when he'd been angry. She'd gotten the feeling he had even been somewhat disgusted by her.

But not now, definitely not now. Something made him very curious about her, she suspected, especially when he gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

She sat down warily, half expecting him to change his mind about the invitation.

Sesshoumaru watched her creep up to the chair and sit down slowly. She was watching him like a mouse watched a cat and he found that he was amused. Well, yes, normally he was amused when he found that people were wary or fearful of him, but this amused him in a different way. Like something was funny.

Of course, none of this showed on his face, so she had no clue what he was thinking.

"I heard you speaking with Jaken," he said. Higurashi jumped a little. Sesshoumaru allowed some of his mirth to show in his eyes and he saw her relax somewhat. Turning his attention to a pile of paper on his desk, he used one hand to spread them out in a fan as if this conversation weren't really worth any of his time and he had more important things to do.

"How very interesting you would persist in conversing with him when most others would have given up." Sesshoumaru looked back at her, his amusement gone and his blank face in place.

Kagome shifted her weight, her hands clasped between her thighs. "Well… I did say something rather mean to him earlier…"

Really? She did? What could she have said – now his curiosity really was piqued.

Mr. Takamatsu raised both his eyebrows in an astonishing show of emotion. "And what did you say?" he wanted to know.

Kagome looked away and muttered, "I called him a "munchkin"…"

"Really?"

Mr. Takamatsu sounded so surprised that Kagome had to look back up. He was studying her with an unreadable expression. His eyes looked right into hers, looking at her for the person she was, somehow different than the way he had been looking earlier.

Kagome couldn't look away. Her eyes felt like they were caught on his, like someone had hooked her gaze to his and there was an invisible string that connected them.

Sesshoumaru stared into this girl's eyes. She felt bad for that? It was hardly an insult; was that the best she could come up with? Jaken heard and said much worse and was most likely disrespecting this girl to the highest point, feeling no remorse all along, and she felt bad for calling him a munchkin?

Who was she…?

Sesshoumaru caught himself suddenly and looked back at his desk. Briskly gathering up the papers he had previously spread around, he dismissed her.

"You may go now. Bring the blue-marked files on your desk to room 1213 and follow the instructions written out for you on the yellow-marked folders. Do not get them mixed up."

He waited until the door closed behind her before he allowed his shoulder muscles to relax. This girl was definitely a curiosity.

Damn.

Kagome was glad Mr. Takamatsu hadn't looked back at her after the whole eye-gazing thing. That had been embarrassing enough once she realized what was happening but her face turning bright red immediately afterwards and worse!

I mean, who even blushes anymore? Kagome thought as she sat down at her desk. Studiously ignoring the blue-marked files until another hapless intern returned, she opened up the others and read the instructions. Tedious work involving highlighting specific words and terms. She peeled the post-it off the top of the folder papers and put it next to them so she could see all the terms as she went through.

Periodically highlighting, Kagome returned to thinking about the Eye Incident.

She wondered if he had been feeling the same… frisson.

Whatever. She shook her head and concentrated on her work.

"Oh, thank god!" Kagome exclaimed, jumping up from the desk. The poor intern who had just passed by (the same one from before) jerked in surprise and looked ready to head for the hills as Kagome grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to her desk.

"Here," she said, handing him the blue-marked files. "Take these to Mr. Okada in 1213, will ya?"

The intern, having recovered from his scare, slowly took the files and glared at Kagome suspiciously. "Why aren't you taking these to him?" he demanded.

Kagome sputtered. "Well, because, I- I –I don't have to tell you. Just-" she waved her hand imperiously. "- take them."

Oh dear lord, she hoped she sounded in charge enough for him to obey her. Somehow it didn't look as if the intern was fooled but he seemed willing to do what she asked anyway.

The intern rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered as he walked away.

"However much you refused to tell that boy why you refused to transport the files, I would like to know."

Kagome whirled around in surprise to find Mr. Takamatsu standing in the doorway of his office. When Kagome simply stared at him in shock, he continued.

"What if those file were important? Or secret?" Mr. Takamatsu began stalking towards Kagome like a hunter stalking his prey. "What if that boy were a spy from another corporation and you were inadvertently handing him information that was pertinent to the survival of this company?"

Kagome backed up as she held her hands out behind her. They thumped the edge of the desk only moments before her bottom did but Mr. Takamatsu kept walking forward.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Takamatsu," she sputtered. (Again.) "I didn't mean to – I'm sure he isn't –I just didn't want to…"

Mr. Takamatsu stopped only a foot and a half away from Kagome, obviously using his height to intimidate her. Kagome had a few significant thoughts in the seconds before he spoke once more. The first being: Wasn't this kinda, almost sexual harassment? Maybe? Not really? He wasn't touching her.

The second: He was really tall. Like, six foot three tall. Her head only came up to about his shoulder.

The third significant thought was: why was she so scared? He wasn't frowning at her, he was making fists or yelling. Yes, there was that quiet disapproval in his voice, and he had kinda stalked up to her, but really. That's not so bad.

However, something was sending little warning bells off in her head. She could feel her body's tension and couldn't get it to calm down.

Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl in front of him. She was obviously terrified (a reaction he faced most frequently) but there was no real reason for it. Sometimes, he found, people would be instinctively afraid of him, as if there was a fear encoded in their DNA to protect them from predators such as him.

Sesshoumaru took the moment to look the girl over once more. She didn't really dress to impress with a too large blazer and wide cut pants, but they really only seemed to encourage onlookers to return to her face which was really her best feature. Open and expressive, it was almost… fascinating to talk to her because everything she thought seemed to come out in her visage.

Kagome blinked. What was that? What was that sort of 'look up, look down' thing Mr. Takamatsu had been doing? Had he…

Had he just been checking her out?

No. No way. He wouldn't do that.

Kagome focused back on Mr. Takamatsu's face to find him staring intently into her eyes. Her stomach lurched and she felt her eyes widen considerably.

"What?" she demanded without thinking.

Mr. Takamatsu raised one eyebrow but said nothing. Standing up straighter (if such a thing were even possible) he took a step back and regarded Kagome like an emperor in his throne.

"Explain why you can't take files to room 1213."

His voice was strong but quiet, offering danger but not actually threatening. Kagome felt shivers race up her spine.

"Well, see…" Kagome had no idea what to say. She didn't want to get Kouga in trouble – Mr. Okada! – but she really didn't want to maybe get stuck alone in his office with him. She was so lucky Susan had been there the last time or she might have seriously been stuck fending Mr. Okada off forever.

"I kinda…"

"Kagome!"

Both Kagome and Sesshoumaru whirled around to face the interruption that just walked into the anteroom. One reaction was a suppressed slap to her own face and the other was a minute deepening of a frown.

"What is your business with my secretary, Okada?" Sesshoumaru asked. The wolfish fellow was a pain in his side, constantly cheerful and without a cell of self-preservation in his brain. It was only at the insistence of Susan Kriffold that Kouga Okada was of any actual use to his corporation that Sesshoumaru kept him on.

Oh great, Kagome groaned internally. The actual reason why I don't want to deliver those files.

"I'm here to see my Kagome!" Kouga cheerfully announced as he practically bounded over to Kagome's side and grinned down at her.

Kagome turned to Mr. Takamatsu and looked up at him with pleading eyes, praying that he understood her consternation.

Something in Sesshoumaru's brain clicked as he looked down into the stormy-blue eyes of the girl in front of him and he looked back up at Okada, his eyes narrowing.

The fool, of course, completely missed the threatening gaze. Instead, he was practically panting all over the poor female in question, who stood stiffly as if only just able to keep from taking many steps back.

"I believe," Sesshoumaru drawled. "That my secretary has business to attend to and I happen to know for a fact that you do as well, seeing as how I've just had an important set of files sent to your office for review."

Kouga snorted. "I'll get to them when I get to them, Takamatsu. Ain't no big deal. Life will go on."

Sesshoumaru heard the girl gasp at Kouga's rudeness, only serving to further his own anger.

"Others' lives might go on," he spoke in a low voice. "But if you continue in your disrespect, your own might not."

Kagome blinked. Had Mr. Takamatsu actually just threatened one of his employees? Wasn't that bad?

Kouga grabbed Kagome around the shoulders and tucked her into his body. "I can talk to my Kagome if I want to, Takamatsu," Kouga declared flippantly. "It's not like anyone else's touched her."

A strong hand with surprisingly long nails gripped Kagome's upper arm and pulled her away from Mr. Okada's grasp. She was pushed behind Mr. Takamatsu so quickly that she hardly had time to register what had happened. Blinking at his back, she found she couldn't see anything else.

Sesshoumaru lifted the corners of his upper lip as he stood off against Kouga. He made sure the points of his canine teeth were shown off the entire time he spoke.

"You will respect that which does not belong to you, Okada," Sesshoumaru practically spat the name.

Kagome shivers increased into full-fledged shudders at the obvious anger and threat in Mr. Takamatsu's voice. She'd never liked it when people got angry, but she'd never been so afraid like this, either.

Kouga gave what sounded like a snarl. "She ain't claimed, Takamatsu. I can do whatever I want with her."

Kagome's fear went on hiatus and indignation rose in her chest. Excuse me?

Sesshoumaru's vision turned red at Kouga's brash words. That little wolf thought he could do whatever he wanted with Sesshoumaru's female? She belonged to him, no matter how stretched that ownership might be.

"I claim her," Sesshoumaru snarled. He refrained from ripping the fellow's throat out, but just barely.

Kagome's jaw dropped. Excuse me!? Excuse me!?

Kouga glared at Sesshoumaru for a few minutes more before suddenly dropping his stance and looking away.

"Whatever," he sniffed. "It's not like you'll even ever do anything with her. And as soon as she gets tired of following you around, she'll come back to me."

With that said, he swiftly departed.

Kagome leapt around Sesshoumaru and stared off into the direction Mr. Okada had left. "I never was with you!"

Sesshoumaru turned away from Kagome when she stepped in front of him, keeping his back towards her before he calmed.

I can't let her see me like this.

When he felt his cool persona return and his eyesight lost that bloody-red hue, he turned back around to find the young woman glaring up at him. She positively crackled with energy as she glowered at him.

"What was that?" she demanded, taking a step towards him. Without thinking, Sesshoumaru took one back. "You claim me? What am I – meat? How dare you?"

No… Sesshoumaru thought to himself, ignoring her words. She couldn't be…

When the air practically sizzled as she fumed at his lack of attention, Sesshoumaru interrupted her before she could speak another word.

"You are dismissed, Higurashi. Go home. You're obviously overworked."

Kagome's mouth floundered for a moment as the words played over in her head. She could either berate him some more or leave. Which would she choose?

Deciding to go with the best option, Kagome grabbed her things and left before he could change his mind.

And that was how a lovely Sunday morning found Kagome skipping home, all anger forgotten as the pleasant September sun warmed her face as she stepped outside the building.

The door to Sesshoumaru's office opened and a well-dressed woman with a messy bun entered.

"You wanted to speak to me, Sesshoumaru?" Susan inquired.

"Yes, Susan," Sesshoumaru gazed at the woman with feigned boredom. "It's about my new secretary. I was wondering if you could… look into her background."

Susan's face lit up in a grin as she sauntered over to Sesshoumaru's desk and sat down on it. Sesshoumaru's lip curled.

"So you figured it out, huh?" she gloated. "Took you long enough. How you missed it in the first place is beyond me." She picked a pen off his desk and fiddled with it. "She positively glows with natural power."

Sesshoumaru snatched the pen away from her with inhuman speed and glared.

Susan shrugged. "Actually, my first thought was that you hired her for that very purpose. I thought you were going to set her to protecting and teaching Rin. She needs it."

"You will leave my ward out of this."

"But why did you want me to check into her?" Susan asked, her demeanor suddenly less teasing.

Sesshoumaru looked over the papers covering his desk. "There was an incident this morning and she reacted somewhat… powerfully."

"You were surprised?" Susan correctly interpreted his reaction with no little shock on her own part. There was silence in the room as Susan mulled this over for a minute, swishing it around her brain like a wine-taster with a good vintage.

"You're afraid of her…" Susan frowned into the distance, still trying out the idea. She slowly picked up enthusiasm. "You hadn't realized – you let your guard down!"

Sesshoumaru sniffed but did not deign to answer.

Susan cackled. "I'm right, aren't I? You thought she was just some human, but no. She's got power – magical power – and enough to set you on your heels!" Susan clapped her hands and bent forward in laughter. "Oh, Sesshoumaru, this is great. The day a little girl sets you off."

"She's untrained, Susan," Sesshoumaru told her. "That powerful and that old and she's untrained."

"And you're afraid of her," Susan confirmed. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "A great demon like you – hundreds of years old – killed more demons, humans and witches than years you've lived and you're scared of one little girl with a little flare of magic."

"Her little flair is much lager than yours, Susan," Sesshoumaru growled at the witch. "It's not something she's learned; it's who she is. Which is powerful. And I don't want someone like that running around my office."

"No," Susan agreed, finally understand the extent of the issue. "You wouldn't. Not with all the demons you've hired, posing as human. She'd be bound to at least set someone on fire just out of instinct."

"I will inform her tomorrow of her position and you will train her," he instructed. "I can't have her wandering around, ready to blow things up at the merest hint of danger."

Susan stood up and tugged at her skirt. "And danger does seem to follow you, Sesshoumaru. I'll get out all my old training books, but you better expect: I was only born with the most minimal amount of power. I won't be able to teach her much more than how to reign her powers in."

"That's all she needs," Sesshoumaru nodded.

After Susan left, Sesshoumaru leaned back in his chair and looked out of his window, over the city. This girl… she had powers and he hadn't noticed – hadn't even smelt them until she'd lost control today and he was supposed to be one of the most powerful demons that ever walked the earth. Even Susan had noticed before he had.

Sesshoumaru frowned. Were her powers that dormant or was he just getting old?

It better just be the dormant thing.

Hey guys! Just thought I'd update. Wanna know why? Because I was reading Sidhe's work, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dog Demons (or something very similar to that) and I was inspired. (Yes, by the lemon. Who wouldn't be?)

Just to let you know, there will be lemony goodness to this story. I just cannot imagine how a person would write a long-a$$ story with SESSHOUMARU and not put a gosh darned lemon in! So I will. I can't promise it'll be amazing, but I can promise no purple prose and I will have it edited by my lovely beta, who I'll just call L. (Hey, you!) So yeah.

Read and Review, mes petits!