The Hunt for the Perfect Man: Chapter 6 - Sesshoumaru (part one)

This is still a tag-team performance brought to you by CharmedReality and BelleDayNight.

Disclaimer: We didn't create the characters. We just put them in compromising situations for our amusement.

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

"Ah ha! Take that! Oh yeah, you're mine, Inuyasha! Eat it!"

Snickering, Inuyasha calmly replied, "You do know that isn't your character who is winning, right?"

"Huh? Oh...damn. Well, that wouldn't happen if you hadn't have picked the girl!"

"I can't help it. Peach just kicks ass. I respect a girl who can beat up on anyone with just a little pink parasol." He smiled, thinking she reminded him of someone he knew. "Besides, you are the one who wanted to play Super Mario Bros Smash Melee. My vote was for Balls of Fury."

"I still say that sounds like something you'd find in the back room of a video store."

"I'm not sure you should really be bringing up scandalous back rooms," he said, just as he directed Peach to whack her Donkey Kong right off the screen.

Kagome's cheeks turned a ruddy hue, remembering the gift Jakotsu had purchased for her from Hentai's Pleasure Palace. She really wished Inuyasha hadn't seen that.

"Uh, as long as I'm dead I think I'll get a refill. Want another cookie?"

"Do you really need to ask?" He flipped through the menus to adjust the difficulty level, so Kagome would have a better chance against him on their next round.

Kagome poured more milk into her glass and gathered up the plate to bring back to her coffee table. Inuyasha paid for the cookie mix and the milk so it had seemed only right to invite him over for an evening snack. After all, she didn't have any dates scheduled that day. A night off sounded just about perfect even if she was electing to spend part of it with her nuisance of a neighbor.

Hearing that tell-tale jingle on her laptop, she changed gears to check her e-mail. It was from the dating service.

"Look at you, Miss Social Butterfly. Is that one of your admirers?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she replied absently, waiting for the page to load. And load it did. "Oh, wow..." Her jaw dropped a little at the profile and picture on the screen.

Inuyasha was quite sure he had never heard her voice do that before, and he wasn't sitting on the couch when he could be seeing what caused it instead.

If Kagome's reaction could be considered one of delighted shock, then Inuyasha's was one of irritated shock. His jaw was firmly set and his amber eyes narrowed dangerously. The cookie he was holding crumbled in his fist and scattered across the floor.

"Huh?" Kagome hadn't even noticed him getting up or looking over her shoulder as she read the most impressive profile yet, but she did notice the cookie pieces hitting the hard wood and looked down. "Hey, you better clean that up."

"Why don't you have your next date clean it up?" he practically growled, eyes still focused on the picture of a tall man with long, silky hair tied neatly back in a ponytail and eyes that looked very much like his own.

"What?" Kagome said, tearing herself away from words like, 'wealthy business man and investment genius and prince of a small, prospering island nation' to really notice her neighbor's expression. Her normal retorts died on her tongue as she wondered what had caused this reaction. "Come on, let's get back to the game. You can clean it up later."

"I have things to do, Kagome. I can't sit around playing video games all night." He turned sharply and strode to the door.

Blinking quickly, trying to figure out what knot got tied in his panties, she called after him, "What about this mess?" But the only reply was the sound of her door slamming shut. A moment later she pressed the accept button for her date with the mysterious man named, Sesshoumaru.

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

The front door to a very large estate was slammed open and a cowering butler hurried out of harm's way.

"Mother! What have you done?" came the angry voice of a certain wealthy businessman and prince.

Sesshoumaru's mother came breezily down the spiral staircase. "Sesshoumaru, darling, what has you so uptight? Did a competitor try to sue you for monopolizing the market again?"

"No," he ground out gripping the stairs' banister, cracking the wood in his tight fist. "You put up a profile on one of those abysmal dating service websites—without my permission. I only discovered it after a 'match' was found. I've deleted the profile and canceled the membership."

"Oh, honey, but you're always so busy working." She rested her hand lightly on his shoulder but he shrugged it off and continued to glower down at her. "You really do need to get out and live a little."

"If I want to find a woman, trust me mother, it's not hard," Sesshoumaru scoffed turning away. "And now I am honor bound to take out this pathetic woman."

"How do you know she's pathetic? Maybe her mother put her profile on the site."

He threw his hands into the air. "Oh yes, that's much better." He turned towards the door. "I'll not be here for dinner Friday night."

"Oh, honey, you're not going to be cruel to the poor woman, are you?" his mother asked worriedly.

"No. I'll give her the best night of her lonely, pathetic, miserable life." Sesshoumaru slammed the door behind him and went to his Porsche Turbo. He pulled out his iPhone from the console and dialed his assistant's number.

"Jaken, I have an assignment."

"Yes, my lord, what would you have me do? Anything you could possibly want, I'll see that it's supplied promptly and without delay."

"Silence. If I wanted to hear you talk—I never want to hear you talk. Listen. I want you to go to the diner that my date works at. Have a complete evaluation written up about her on my desk tomorrow."

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

It had been nearly four days since she'd seen Inuyasha. She might not have thought that to be too unusual since she'd been busy with projects at school and work. However, she'd not even seen a light turned on in his apartment—not that she was looking of course.

Why would he leave without telling her? Not for the first time she wondered what it was exactly that he did for a living.

Straightening her name badge she cast one last look in the break room's mirror. Yep. She looked like a waitress, so it was time to start waiting and brave the happy hour pandemonium. Karan was already there waiting; Shunran would clock in right before the dinner rush-hour; Shuuran, the cook, was slaving away in the back; and Touran, the manager, was no doubt running every which where.

"Finally, you're here," Touran said pushing Kagome towards the front of the diner.

"But I'm twenty minutes early," Kagome protested.

Her pale haired boss didn't seem to hear her. "You've got the front, Karan's got the back. Shunran won't be coming in today so it's just us."

"Right," Kagome agreed surveying her customers including one very squat looking man with an almost shriveled face and a head slightly too large for his small frame. Still, a customer was only as good or as bad as how they tipped! At least that is what Karan always said on bad nights.

"Hello, my name is Kagome, and I will be helping you tonight. Can I get you started with a beverage? We have a strawberry-banana smoothie on special tonight."

Jaken's face contorted further as he recoiled at the idea of consuming such low-class food. He had become quite accustomed to the life style afforded the assistant of a great man like Sesshoumaru. Still, if he only ordered water, he would have less interaction with the woman, and that wouldn't do. "Ginger tea and a spinach and portobello panini grilled in extra virgin olive oil and basil," he said succinctly, not wishing to spare extra words on the working class. It disgusted him to think of the great Sesshoumaru, prince of Tensaiga, associating with such peasantry.

Kagome looked up from her notepad at the quirky, little man. She managed a friendly smile, "My, that does sound good. I'm afraid this is more of a burger and fries kind of place though. Our mushroom and swiss burger is really good though or I could recommend a place a few blocks away that I'm sure has something similar to that at least."

Sending customers away wasn't typically the game plan of someone seeking tips, but this guy just seemed too out of place. And what was with his twisted cane anyway? Did he have a limp? Somehow, she doubted it was an old sports injury. He didn't really seem the linebacker type.

"I already gave you my order!" he snarled, before a mental image of Sesshoumaru's disappointment and ire came to him. "Oh, fine. I'll have this mushroom and swiss burger of yours. See to it there are no vermin in the kitchen...please."

Oh, she was going to work hard for the money tonight.

Her teeth always showed prominently when her smiles were forced. And at the moment her teeth were very visible. "I will put your order right in, sir. And would regular iced tea be okay? Or we have raspberry."

"Iced," he growled, already starting to jot down notes as she turned to go. "Wait!"

"Yes, sir? Is there something else I can get you?"

He looked up at her with his large, insect-like eyes. "Yes, would you describe your nose as pug-like or pudgy?"

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

Kagome fumed all the way home that night, occasionally cursing her first customer under her breath and sometimes not so under. As if he hadn't been horrible enough, he had also insisted on remaining at that table for her entire shift, ordering one thing he left untouched, except maybe to poke at it, after another!

At one point she had managed to convince Karan to switch sections with her, but the little man had actually become irate and demanded Kagome. Touran was about to throw him out when Kagome intervened. She didn't want the diner to get a hostile reputation with its customers, and she figured she only had another hour or so to endure, but he did not make it easy.

And then, to make matters worse, NO TIP!

"Arrogant, pompous, pain-in-the-ass!" She spit out as she stomped up the steps to her door.

"What did I do this time?"

Kagome practically stumbled back down the stairs as Inuyasha's voice caught her off guard. He was sitting on his porch in the darkness, and all she could do was make out his silhouette.

"Hey, hey," he chided, getting to his feet quickly in case she needed to be physically steadied. "No trips to the emergency room tonight, okay?"

Her speechlessness left a vacuum of silence that hung between them thickly in the cool, night air. Finally, it was replaced with the kind of venom one can only develop from having some creepy little man ask inappropriate questions all night. "No, we wouldn't want that, would we? I'd hate to inconvenience you! Why don't you just go back to your disappearing act? I liked it a lot better!"

Seconds later her door was slammed in Inuyasha's face and she was making a beeline to her bathroom. A hot bubble bath was clearly in order.

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

Sesshoumaru read over the fifteen paged, double spaced, size ten Times New Roman font report. "What does this mean?" he asked.

"Sir?" Jaken asked.

"You're faulting her for the restaurant's menu? Are you a complete fool? You were supposed to be inconspicuous." He ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance. "You weren't thrown out. That says something for her patience," he muttered.

He flipped through the next few pages until he fell upon a photograph of her outside her home. "You followed her?"

"Of course, I wanted you to have the most accurate report," Jaken said quickly.

Sesshoumaru noted the address and then scrolled through his telephone's contact list, coming across the name of his half-brother. "That's interesting," he said.

"What, sir? What is of interest? Did you enjoy how I described her grimace on page eight? I think her teeth are a bit too straight. I'd wager she once wore braces, you certainly wouldn't want to sully your genes with horrible teeth."

"I'm going on a date with her, not having her bear my children," Sesshoumaru answered absently. He flipped the next page and saw a second photograph, this time of Kagome's door slammed into the face of his long lost—more like forgotten—estranged half-brother.

"So, sir, shall I call in your body double to take her out? Surely you don't want to contaminate your greatness with her lowly peasant filth," Jaken said.

"No. I want you to have the jet prepared for tomorrow night. Make the arrangements and leave me in peace." Sesshoumaru shooed his subordinate away. He then turned to his laptop and signed onto his e-mail.

Kagome,

I look forward to our outing tomorrow night. You have my apologies for not responding sooner with details on our date. As you have surmised from my profile I am a rather busy man. Be ready at 6:00 p.m., and pack your swimsuit and something nice for a casual dinner.

Sesshoumaru

He hit the send button and then leaned back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head with a smug expression. Won't tomorrow night be a fun family reunion?

-ooo-oooooo-ooo-

Authors' Note: Yes, it was a bit of a tease, but we felt like Sesshoumaru deserved his own two chapter arc.