AN: I know this is short. Sorry.

I

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IT's

NoT

SaNe ChAPter 3

I hadn't realized someone else was in Taisho's office. For a second I was worried that it was an unauthorized person or that I had forgotten to tell Taisho about an appointment, but as soon as I saw the guy, there was no mistake that he and Taisho were related. Their hair was amazingly similar, and the color of their eyes the same beautiful tint. Yes, I admitted that Taisho was not very...bad looking. Quite the opposite, but I wasn't about to tell him that. And this relation of his was most certainly not bad looking either. I should know. I dated him.

Amazingly, Inuyasha had played it pretty cool, and I was thankful to him. The last thing I wanted Sesshoumaru to know was that I had dated his relative. It hadn't gone very well to make matters even worse. Don't get me wrong, Inuyasha was a very hot-headed and overly-opinionated person, but he had these wonderfully sweet moments, too.

The problem was, at the time, he had been stuck on some witch that had dumped him for some creep. He was heartbroken and at that time he wasn't capable of another relationship and I wasn't capable of dealing with that.

He had left. Went to stay somewhere in Europe for an undetermined amount of time, more for my sake than his own. He had been a broken person when he left, but now, there was something different about him. A more easy-doing attitude hung about him that felt far more relaxed than he had ever been before. Had he finally accepted his rejection and got on with life like I had told him to a thousand times? Maybe, but for that moment, I wasn't going to make any presumptions.

The fact that he hadn't hinted at anything to Sesshoumaru and played it cooly made me wonder if perhaps he had grown up. Did he finally understand things more? Well, whatever caused him to acted the innocent part, I was unimaginably thankful. What would happen if Taisho knew? Would he fire me out of fear of employee/family relations? Would he be mad for me not telling him? What the hell did it matter? It was Taisho. He had no place in my personal dealings. I would just wait and see how things worked out.

I hurried out of Taisho's office with a queasy feeling and sat at my desk. I went through a couple of messages, sent an email, and with the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing, decided to take a small coffee break.

I wandered to the break room, my instincts guiding me now that I knew the way by heart. I wondered quietly of why Inuyasha had never mentioned an older brother or company before. Had he kept that many things from me? I wracked my brain and clips started gathering.

"It's beautiful! How did you get the money for this? You don't even work, Inuyasha…you're not spending saved money for me are you?"

"Family business…don't worry, I'm doing fine. I could buy you a house if you want it…"

Yeah, he had smiled at me at that time. I instinctually clutched at the bracelet underneath my suit jacket sleeve. How ironic that I chose today to wear it in such a long time. I loved the bracelet. It was white gold with a single, beautiful clear blue stone.

"I thought it looked like the same color of your eyes…I'm sorry, Kagome. Don't forget about me…I thought that maybe if things change…I could come back and…"

I shook my head. That was a long time ago.

"It's been a long time, Kagome."

I spun around, my coffee splashing onto my outfit. He stood, leaning against the doorway, but rushed forward to help me as I cursed.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Here…" he grabbed a wet paper towel and went to scrub the spot, but I took the towel and dabbed at the spot myself.

"Thanks, but I can do it."

"Oh. Ok," he said, almost sounding hurt. It made me uneasy.

"So, how have you been, Inuyasha? Was Europe nice?"

"Crowded, noisy, pushy people."

"You must have fit in well." I said, dabbing another spot.

"Yep," he said, grinning at me. I smiled back, the uncomfortable feeling between us ebbing away a bit.

Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and turned it over gently in his hand. I realized, a bit of panic rising, that he had recognized the bracelet.

"Kagome…," he looked into my eyes, a sadness rising in his, along with something else. Was is hope?

"Look, Inuyasha," I pulled my hand away and worked more on the coffee spot, for the point of having something to busy myself with. "I don't know what's happened to you in the last two years, but I'm not ready yet. For now, let's just wait. We can be friends while we do that, can't we?"

He looked at me, then the bracelet. I waited, suddenly feeling anxious.

"Yeah. I'll wait." He looked at me, his eyes full of something I hadn't seen before. "When I was in Europe, I realized the mistake I made. And I realized you had always been there to help me with my mistakes, but that time, I had made the worst mistake- not having you there to help me with it." He reached up and before I could stop him he kissed me on the cheek. He pulled away, gave me a smile and turned towards the door. "I'll wait for you, Kagome. Even if it's just as a friend, I'll wait for you, until I can fix the mistake and be something more."

With a small wave he was gone. I looked at the bracelet, running my fingers over the smooth gold. Inuyasha had gotten smarter. Or stupider.

Great. Just peachy. My life was just throwing one great wrench at a time, wasn't it? First, the job from hell (although, I had to admit it had good benefits), a boss whose crankiness outweighed that of a prepubescent teenage girl (though he was pretty good looking and I had seemed to find an eensy bit of humanity in him, mind you when he was drunk), and an emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend who is related to the prepubescent boss.

I looked at the big coffee mark on my suit. It was going to leave a huge stain, I could tell.

After trying, unsuccessfully to get rid of the stain and the queasy feeling in my stomach, I figured I had better get back to my desk before Taisho found out I had taken an unscheduled break. I could imagine it. 'Higurashi, bitch blah, blah, bitch, Higurashi.' I smiled to myself, but as I got closer to his office, the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grew…exponentially.

I decided to ignore it, and sat down at my desk. I hadn't sat down for more than one minute when I realized I had left one of the important files for Taisho on my desk. I wondered if Inuyasha might be in his office, but decided to take the chance. I knocked once and entered, hoping Taisho might be too busy to notice me. Boy was I wrong. Instead, his attention turned straight towards me, along with that of the other person in the room.

He was very handsome. Very. Dark, wavy hair, beautiful skin, and dark eyes. Tall, dark, and handsome. And yet, there was something a bit unsettling about him. Like a vampire from old Europe. Beautiful, but with a deadly, hungry glimmer in his eye. He seemed like the kind of man that could get anything he wanted, and was well aware of that fact.

He stared at me and I ducked away, hurrying over to Taisho's desk to deliver the file.

"Are you sure, Sesshoumaru? I would be most honored," He spoke to Taisho in a suave, silky tone, but I could feel his eyes follow me across the room.

"Do not refer to me on such familiar terms, Onigumo. And I am painfully positive about my decision."

I could sense a rigidness about Taisho, a quality of caution in each of his words, and of a deep anger, that was not hidden in the least bit. I set the file on his desk and quickly turned around to head for the door. Instead, I was caught by the dark eyes. I stared at the man's face in poorly hidden wonder for a second, but fought it, ducking my head and walking past him. The said 'Onigumo' reached out his arm, a barrier in front of me.

"Ah, but it would be a most splendid occasion for you. And think, you could take a beautiful young woman for a lovely time. In fact, why not her? She would look splendid by your side, do you not think?"

I sensed Taisho stiffen at his desk behind me.

"My answer was and is no, Onigumo."

"Ah, Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru. But she's such a pretty thing! A companies' gala really could not be without the owners of Taisho Inc. but I can understand you must be very busy at this time, what with those precariously balanced deals you have right now. But if you can not attend, may I take this lovely young woman as my date? What do you think? Would you like to attend a companies' ball with me?" he turned fully to me and smiled, his eyes dark and rich. "I would be most honored to be accompanied by such a beautiful woman. What do you say, Miss….."

"She will not be attending," it was more of a growl than a statement. Taisho was directly behind me now. I stood, panicking, not knowing what to do. There was obviously something else going on beneath this. I started panicking, looking between the two men, Taisho, handsome and deadly mad, Onigumo handsome and deadly calm.

"Oh, come now, Sesshoumaru, I'm not going to steal her, I merely wish to be accompanied by a woman so beautiful. I think it only fair that, after degradingly refusing to accept my generous invitation, you let me borrow her for one night only. After all, hostile companies are not looked well upon. Don't you think so, beauty?"

His, the beautiful vampire's attention, was back on me, and this time I realized what I should say.

"I-"

"She will go."

I was furious. Who was he to say whether I went somewhere or not?! I glared at him. Naraku smirked.

"But not with you." Taisho finished with finality. "She will accompany myself. You will gain the extra recognition for my appearance, and you will leave my current clients and deals-in-progress alone."

Onigumo's smirk faded, but only momentarily.

"As you wish, Taisho Sesshoumaru. I am most honored that you accept the invitation."

Onigumo bowed, and turned to leave.

"As for you, my nameless beauty, I will await the night with the highest anticipation." He bowed before me and I saw the gleam in his eyes flash. I gasped silently. They were black, his eyes.

In a second, the man named Onigumo was gone, hopefully for a very, very long time.

A heavy sighed landed on my ears and I tuned to look at Taisho, who was staring at me like a foreign thing. And all the anger came in one flow.

"You…you…ASS!" I yelled, my fingernails digging into my palms. His eyes narrowed, but I wasn't done yet. "How could you talk about me like I'm just someone's property?!" I fumed, my chest rising in heaves. "I may work for you, but I am in no means anybody's, let alone your, property! I'm a person!!! And if you think-"

"Higurashi, it was for your safety." he rubbed his nose, as if warding of a headache. A headache that I was also feeling. "Onigumo Naraku is a man with ambitions even exceeding my, workaholic, hypocritical-stiff ambitions. He will not be easily deterred when he sees something he wants," Taisho looked up at me, pointedly, and I realized what he was implying. He had done that for me? This…ass…had done that for me? No way, he probably just didn't want to lose face in front of a rival, which those two, undoubtedly were.

I had no idea what I had just been volunteered for, but for some reason, I wasn't mad anymore. It was just the was Taisho was, and I'd have to get used to it.

"Still, I would really like it if you didn't do that. Somehow though, I think you're lying."

He looked at me, a questioning expression on his face.

"And why is that?"

I smiled. "You make this guy sound like he's even a bigger hypocritical stiff than you. That's not possible."

A strange expression flashed across his face. Was it humor? He did have a sense of humor, no matter how small, I knew that. I went to return to my desk but he stopped me.

"Higurashi, do you have something nice to wear…a very formal dress?"

"Um….no…." I said unsurely.

He smirked at me.

"Then I suggest you get one."

"Yeah, whatever."

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AN: Ok, I accidentally made a mistake on this story, thus it is 5 pages shorter this chapter than I had planned. Those 5 pages will show up later though..

Thanks for the reviews! Please repeat! Send suggestions if you have them.

cloverx