Sesshomaru slammed the doors to Inuyasha's office open only 20 minutes later. "What in the hell were you thinking hiring a human?" he shouted at the not surprised half-demon sitting in front of him.
Inuyasha leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind the back of his head. "I guess you just read your memo." He smirked at his older half-brother knowing full well who the human was.
Sesshomaru's mind sputtered for a moment not realizing that Inuyasha had sent out a memo earlier since he hadn't been to his desk yet. He did not let his surprise show and quickly recovered. "I haven't been to my desk yet."
"Then you must have found out from Jaken then. Figures that good for nothing imp would have said something," he muttered.
"No, I met her at the shrine," Sesshomaru spouted. Now was Inuyasha's turn to be surprised and he fell backwards out of his chair and crashed onto the floor. The noise startled Kagome who was on her way into his office so she ran in to see if the brothers had started physically fitting in Inuyasha's office again to only find them verbally sparing.
Inuyasha picked himself up trying to regain his composure. He straightened his tie and held out his hand to motion to Kagome that he was fine. Kagome responded for him by saying, "I guess that spoils our surprise."
Sesshomaru turned his head to glare at her, a growl rumbling deep in his chest. "You should both be glad I gave you good jobs and protect you. Instead you ignore policies that were put into place to protect all of the demons and half-demons here. She could be the end of all of this if she finds out."
Kagome tried to hold back a laugh knowing full well what she was doing. She was quite certain that Sesshomaru's behavior was more of a surprised reaction than of his true feelings. They had seen too much of Sesshomaru over the centuries not understand what others could not about him.
After the jewel had been put back together after Naraku's destruction, Inuyasha had given it to Kagome so that she could make the wish. Inuyasha had known full well that only Kagome, the keeper of the Shikon no Tama, would be the only person to make a wish on it that would benefit the most people, and he had been right because she decided to wish that all humans that mated with demons or half-demons were immune to human illnesses and quicker aging process so that they could only die by the death of their mate or a brutal act upon themselves. This allowed her to age at Inuyasha's rate so that they could survive the centuries together instead of apart. More importantly, though, it allowed this to happen for more than just her.
When Sesshomaru had decided to take Rin as his mate he had called Inuyasha and Kagome to be there to witness the bonding ceremony just as they had done when they had become mates. The only problem was that when he was about to ask Rin she fell suddenly ill. Sesshomaru need not beg Kagome, but it was heavy in his voice and his movements that he wanted her to help his love recover. Instead she could do nothing and had been there at Rin's side up through her last minutes.
They had not truly understood until later that Sesshomaru had not actually given Rin any indication of his feelings towards her until he locked them all out of Rin's room for several days only to emerge only to bury the girl. Sesshomaru had tried to pretend that he was getting along fine without her, but he never was the same after her death, even 5 centuries later. That was why she was so bent on getting the reincarnated Rin's memories of her past life back so that the couple could be together now.
"You need to speak with my mate," Inuyasha whined putting the blame fully on Kagome. "She was the one who hired her."
"Oh thanks, Inuyasha," Kagome said sarcastically. "You certainly weren't objecting while you were sitting right next to me." They started arguing about whose fault it for the next minute until Sesshomaru lost his temper and both of Sesshomaru's hands hit both of them upside the back of their heads. Kagome groaned in pain louder as she held her hands over her head, and Inuyasha tried to start a fist fight with Sesshomaru who just wasn't interested and just held his hand up to blocks the pathetic blows.
"I have warned both of you about the policies in this office, and unless she remembers who she was or she mates with another demon, she is not to work here."
"It's too late now," Kagome said coming out of the fog of pain that was now settling into a dulling headache. "She's probably in the office right now, and we can't reasonably find something in a couple of seconds to give as a reason for firing her. Besides, you should be happy that she'll be close by again."
Sesshomaru turned his back on them and strode to the door only looking back over his right shoulder slightly to where Kagome was to remark, "She is a human, and you will both do your best not to reveal to her that demons still exist. Do you understand me?" He did not give her a chance to answer as he slammed the door behind himself.
Once inside his office he threw his briefcase onto his desk scattering a few papers about and collapsed into his desk chair. He could not get a moment of silence because he was immediately bombarded by Jaken and his many questions. Rin's appearance in his office was now a large issue for Jaken since he was the only demon in the company who could not be hidden due to his small size. He wasn't even allowed out of the building and lived within his office next to Sesshomaru's larger one.
"Jaken," he called out to the rambling demon silencing his rantings about Sesshomaru arriving late. "I am quite sure you are aware of the new employee Inuyasha and Kagome hired." Jaken gulped audibly confirming his positive response. Sesshomaru then continued on, "You are not to go far from this office or yours during normal working hours, and I will not be responsible for your demise should you allow yourself to be discovered. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, mi'lord," Jaken stuttered out.
"That is all," Sesshomaru stated as he turned his chair around to look at the corner windows. He gestured with his right hand for Jaken to dismiss himself. The door opened and closed and a new scent wafted into the room. "What do you want, Kouga?" he questioned the wolf demon now standing in his office.
"I am supposing that this human will result in all of us having to wear our concealment clothing," he commented distastefully. One of the greatest advantages to the demons to work at Taiyouki was being able to wear clothing inside of the building that did not hold their concealment spells.
A witch had found some centuries before that allowed them to put concealment spell slips within their clothes allowing them to take on a number of traits of their choosing when they were wearing the clothes. This had allowed him to change his hair color to black, his eye color to brown, and hid his many demon traits.
The concealment spells were so effective they could make a demon appear to age over time until they reached a look that suggested in human terms would lead to their "retirement". Once the demon retired they would change their concealment spells to change their appearance completely, and they could once again have their job back under a different identity. It allowed them to appear human in a world that was now almost entirely overrun by humans.
"You have Inuyasha and Kagome to thank for that," Sesshomaru stated blandly not even turning to face Kouga.
"Why in the hell would dog-face hire a human?" Kouga said with venom. While Kouga had gotten over his love for Kagome, he still could not get along with Inuyasha since their egos consistently collided.
"She is Rin's reincarnation," Sesshomaru informed him. This time he turned around and looked at the wolf demon to see the shocked look that now crossed his face. "I am working on a way to get her out of here."
Kouga chuckled slightly and flopped on the couch in the opposite corner of the room from Sesshomaru's desk. "So Rin's returned after all of these years. I guess you will finally be taking a mate."
"I will do no such thing," Sesshomaru growled as he leaned forward in his chair, his eyes would likely be glowing red if the concealment spell had not made them brown. "I will not take a human mate. I almost did once and was lucky that nature took her away from me. Now is not the time, not when our kind are dying out. I will mate with a demon and produce many demon heirs." His voice was cold and calculating as he spoke. "I will not also allow that human to reveal our secret to the world. We are too few in number to fight them, and I refuse to become some lab rat."
"Fine," Kouga said throwing his hands up in the air to show his surrender to Sesshomaru's logic. "Do as you see fit." He knew better to get in a fight with the dog demon sitting in front of him, not when he had a litter of cubs at home with his mate, Ayame. Knowing what was best for him, he got up and walked out of the room silently and swiftly.
Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair and remembered all too well everything about Rin from earlier that morning. Even after centuries he was still madly in love with her.
