This fic has been beta'd by my lovely friend Maq. Any remaining errors are all my fault.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. I do, however, have a Sesshomaru plushie.

Kagome was completely bewildered. Cheating? Her?! She had never even once turned in a paper she hadn't done herself! She certainly wouldn't cheat in a casino. The man in the black suit marched her towards the elevator, not saying a word. Beside her, the white-haired man was also beingpushed to the elevator. His face showed no emotion at all. He stared straight ahead, ignoring the looks and comments from the crowds. How could he not be mortified? Kagome knew she'd never be able to come here again.

The elevator doors opened and the group rode to the top floor. As they stepped off the elevator, Kagome was struck by the sheer feeling of the space. It was nothing like the casino with its bright lights and glitz. The energy here was focused, honed, and work took place with no wasted movement or energy. Noises seemed muted. The far wall glowed, covered entirely with screens that depicted every inch of the casino from multiple angles. Kagome saw Sango pacing back and forth, not far from the table that she had been playing at. She also thought she saw the two men who had been with the white-haired guy. She wasn't sure if it was them, as she hadn't paid too much attention to them before her memorable exit from the gaming floor.

"You, come with me. You, go with him." The guards split them up for the time being. Kagome was led into a small, sparsely furnished room. Even in here, there were screens showing shots from security cameras, with the views rotating. She was seated in a chair on one side of a desk, and a security person sat on the other side. The woman interviewing her was not one of the people who had escorted her from the floor.

"Kagome Higurashi, yes?"

"Um, yes. But how-?"

"The cameras. We can get identity matches quickly from a good shot of someone's face. Thanks for looking right at the camera, by the way." The guard smirked.

"I, uh, why.."

"You are here because once a certain Sesshomaru Taisho appeared in our casino and began playing near you; you both began to win," she grunted. "We're not certain what sort of computers you were using to do this, but don't worry. We'll know soon."

"Who?"

"Mr. Taisho. Don't tell me you didn't know his name. I know that's a lie."

"No." Kagome was deeply confused by this point. The man's name sounded familiar, but with the way thoughts were whirling in her mind, she couldn't have begun to say why or how she knew the name.

"The technique you used to win is not an unusual one. The only difference this time is that we can't figure out what clues or signals you were sending. You were appallingly obvious in that you kept looking at each other, by the way. It's rare for anyone to be that obvious. The only reason you lasted as long as you did is because we wanted to figure out the signals. Your winnings will be revoked."

The questioning began at that point. The 'hows', 'whos', and 'whys' came so fast and so often Kagome could barely think straight. She could only stammer through her answers and hope she didn't appear to be a total idiot, or worse, guilty of something.

Across the hall Sesshomaru's questioning was progressing in a very different fashion.

"Mr. Taisho. I'm surprised. We don't see many people who are so obvious with their cheating habits. Why did you do it? Debt? Woman issues? Were you and Ms. Higurashi involved? Is that why you wanted her to take a fall?"

Sesshomaru just stared at the man questioning him, his piercing amber eyes mildly disturbing the interviewer. His mind was working a mile a minute. Ms. Higurashi must have been the woman's name. He wasn't sure what it was about her that had aroused his curiosity so fiercely, but it wouldn't happen again. He would make sure of it. The woman was a ningen. Sesshomaru was above such a thing He also was above answering the man's questions, which was beginning to annoy the security personnel watching through a rather obvious two-way mirror. What he really couldn't figure out, though, was that while they knew his name, they didn't know who he was. It was only a matter of time until they did. With Miroku downstairs and his staff already alerted to the change in his location, someone would soon set this idiot straight. He found himself worrying about the woman before he stopped himself. She was ningen! Obviously, his brain was not working correctly. That potion his brother and the monk slipped him must have affected more than he realized.

SKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSK

"What do you mean it was all her fault? Your stupid friend shows up, my friend gets arrested, and it's her fault?! Get real!"

"Obviously it was her fault! If she hadn't kept looking at him, they never would have assumed Sesshomaru was trying to cheat them!"

Inuyasha looked on as Miroku and the woman argued. Sango, he corrected himself. Her name was Sango. She had introduced herself to him after they had realized their friends weren't about to reappear right away. They had hardly begun discussing ways to get Sesshomaru and Kagome released when Miroku accused Kagome of doing something illegal. A heated argument had begun and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.

"How could you even think- did you just TOUCH MY ASS?!" Sango's anger about being groped pushed her from just wanting to yell into actually screaming- loudly enough to draw attention from the surrounding hotel guests.

Miroku at least bothered to look guilty for about half a second, before he resumed yelling at the petite, raven haired woman. "Why would I bother? It's not like you have much of anything to grope!"

"First you touch my ass, then you tell me I don't have one?" Sango caved to her desire and smacked him hard enough to leave a red hand print on his face. "Bastard!"

Inuyasha had to fight to keep himself from laughing. It appeared that Miroku and his wandering hands had finally met their match. He had a feeling, though, if he laughed, Sango just might try to kill him. Plus, he really wanted to know how his brother planned on getting out of his current predicament, which he would never know if Miroku was dead. Self control had never been his strong point, so he decided to remove himself from temptation.

"I'm going to go up to security and see if there's anything I can do."

"Fine, go, leave me with this heathen!"

"Heathen! Look who's talking, Hentai! You're the one who gropes random women."

"Arg! I give up! You are a shrill, irrational woman. Yasha, I'm coming with you."

"I'm coming, too." Sango looked determined and angry, so Inuyasha decided to allow it. Miroku, however, did not possess such logic.

"You are not coming with us. Sesshomaru is our friend, and we are going to help him."

"Did you forget that it's your friends fault that my best friend got arrested?"

Inuyasha turned and walked towards the elevator, figuring that if the bickering duo really wanted to come with him, they could follow. Sure enough, they fell in step, but never bothered to stop arguing. Insults flew fast and furious until the elevator stopped at the security floor.

The doors slid open silently and a member of the security staff was standing there, waiting for them. "You're with Mr. Taisho and Ms. Higurashi. They're busy at the moment."

What happened next surprised Sango. Inuyasha went from a slouching, bored looking young man to an important person to whom one listened in the blink of an eye.

"Are you aware of just who Mr. Taisho is? No? I can see that you do not. He is the owner of Taisho Corporation, the umbrella corporation that owns Traditional Construction, Taisho Investments, and many others, in addition to owning this casino."

The guard blanched. He left the group alone, while he headed off to verify the silver-haired mans statement.

Sango just stared at Inuyasha. "But... why… how… You're lying!"

"No, I'm not." Inuyasha looked downright cheerful, which irritated the heck out of Sango. "He's owned it for years. Dad passed it down to him when he wanted to retire, then spelled out what he wanted done in his will. Sesh owns it; I work for him as CFO. Been that way for years."

The same guard who had been talking to them opened a plain door on the far side of the room and slipped inside. The room he entered happened to be the one Sesshomaru was in. He quickly walked up the security guard questioning Sesshomaru and leaned down to whisper in his ear. The interviewer just gaped at him. Sesshomaru had to fight back a smirk as he heard the whole exchange.

"Are you sure it's him?"

"Damn sure. We triple checked."

"Why didn't it show up on the first security check we ran on him?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe he just wants privacy?"

"I don't care how much he hates the publicity. What are we supposed to do with him now?"

"Apologize and release him." With that, the guard left the room as quickly as he had come, leaving his comrade to face the apparently uncaring businessman.

"Sir, I am quite sorry. We didn't realize who you were. Of course, we will do whatever is necessary to make things right, Mr. Taisho."

"Oh? Wouldn't doing everything possible to make everything right include double checking before you accuse people of cheating and theft?"

The security guard had no clear way to respond without sounding like an utter idiot and simple looked down at his desk, staring sightlessly at the words on the papers littering the surface. "Once again, sir, we will do all we can to fix this error. Your room will be comped, as will your meals and bar tab during your stay."

"This Sesshomaru is still unsatisfied. Why should I not have everyone involved in this travesty fired? I could certainly comp my own room- it's easy enough considering I own the casino."

"Please, sir, -" The man stopped talking all together as Sesshomaru brushed past him and went into the main room. Spying Inuyasha and Miroku standing by the main doors, he stormed in that direction, stopping with a slight swirl of his perfect white hair. Sango's jaw dropped at the pure perfection standing in front of her.

"Inuyasha, find me the personnel records for this casino, with the security personnel files on top."

"No."

Sesshomaru turned from facing the elevator, which he had been waiting for with precisely concealed contempt, and pinned Inuyasha with an intense stare. "Excuse me?"

"I said no. It was a genuine mistake. You brought this on yourself, you know, with your obsessive desire for privacy. If you didn't cover nearly all mentions of you as the owner of the many corporations you're in charge of, things would be so much easier. Plus, you kept staring at the hot chick. You can't deny that." Everyone turned and glared at Miroku. "What? He did!"

"Speaking of the 'hot chick', would you guys mind getting Kagome out of there?" Sango motioned to the office where her friend was still being held.

Sesshomaru gestured to the man who had been questioning him earlier. The man hurried over so quickly that he stumbled over his feet, prompting the group, sans Sesshomaru, to chuckle.

"Y-yes, Mr. T-tashio?"

"Release the girl. If I am innocent, so is she. It is appalling you had not already done this. Then find me the manager- I will meet him in his office."

"Yes, sir!" After snapping to attention in an amusing parody of a soldier, he turned and ran from the small gathering. Within a minute of his disappearance, Kagome stumbled out from the small room, her eyes wide and dazed look on her face.

"Kags, honey, are you alright?"

Kagome just blinked at Sango. "Yeah, sure, I'm fine." She wavered a bit on her feet, then fainted dead away. Sesshomaru's quick reflexes were the only thing that kept her from becoming fast friends with the floor. He lifted the small woman in his arms bridal style, her long black hair caught between his arm and her back, some of it wispy over his hand and few feather light strands brushing his check. He had to fight a moment's impulse to lean down and inhale the scent of her hair, which was utterly ridiculous as he was a taiyoukai and she was a mere ningen. He promptly stiffened and turned to the two men who were staring at him with matching incredulous looks. He chose to ignore them and instead looked towards Sango.

"You. You were with this wench, yes?"

"You got her in trouble and now you call her a wench?! She's overworked, sleep deprived, and she needed was a few hours to unwind. Then YOU show up, she gets in trouble, and now you insult her? No. No way. I won't let you."

"I do not recall making it your choice as to what I referred to this... thing as. Now show me to your room so I may deposit her."

"She is not a thing! And we don't have a room."

"Then where are you staying?"

"We live here- in Las Vegas. We took a cab here tonight."

"You live here?" This interjection was from Miroku.

"Yeah. And now I need to get her home, which is going to be damned hard."

"You will be staying here for the next week."

"Huh?" Sango stared at Sesshomaru.

"I will not be held accountable should something happen to her on her way home. She is obviously a weak woman and prone to fainting spells."

"I. Am. Not. Talking. To. You."

Miroku leaned into towards Sesshomaru. "I think she's angry."

Sesshomaru just gave a cold stare in return. "Go get me a key card to a suite. Now!" Sesshomaru roared when Miroku hesitated. He turned and walked onto the waiting elevator, his lazy gait irritating the enraged inuyoukai further. He returned within a minute, holding a keycard, and motioned to everyone to follow him. The elevator took the odd group to the 42nd floor, and Miroku walked ahead to open to the door to a suite.

The suite was decorated in typical Vegas fashion- plush red carpet, heavy gold drapes, and oversized leather furniture that dominated the sitting area. Small flights of stairs went off from either back corner of the room, each one leading to a half open door. From the gaps in the doors, beds were visible inside. Sesshomaru picked one at random and marched in, pushing the door open with his shoulder as he went. He strolled straight to the bed and deposited the small woman there. As she slid from his arms to the lush surface of the comforter, he felt a sense of loss, which confused him. Why should he feel loss over such a tiny woman? One he didn't know, none the less. He would not pay this aberration any mind, for she was human and beneath him. A niggling thought crossed the back of his mind that he had had to remind himself of her human standing one too many times, but he brushed it off. Thoughts that were not conscious were not worth the time they took to think. He was in complete control of himself- all aspects of himself. He turned on his heel and left the room, determined to never see this odd woman again.

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter out! It is, essentially, finals season at work. XD No really, I'm pulling 60 hour work weeks and that means they be paying me a whole lot of over time- and I work for a government funded institution at the moment. They don't give overtime. o.O So, I'm taking it while I can. Hopefully chapter 4 shall take a bit less time to get out, but don't count on it. The next week is nonstop work as well. But after that is summer break- all 2 weeks of it. Then back to school for summer quarter. Anywho, over break, I should be able to get a back log of chapters set up.