AN: I'm apologizing ahead of time, because a lot of grammar stuff has been messed up in formatting, and I'm tired of going back and re-inserting every comma and apostrophe by hand.

Now, According to , its been two years since this story was updated. I still receive comments and favorites on it, however, and I thought I owed it to you guys to see if I could push out some more of it, since it seems I was close to the end when I stopped. I'm going to update in much smaller chapters, as its much less daunting to me. I wont promise anything good, though, as its been years since I wrote anything to do with this story. (Also, man has changed format since I was last around. I feel so old.) With that said, if anyone still remembers this story, here is.

:edit: Edited because I realized, commas or no commas, you can't read a story that has dialog without quotation marks.

chAPter

12

It'S noT saNE

Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.

-Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

I had to admit, after leading the luxurious, high-class life of the unemployed for a few weeks, getting up at six a.m. was painful. Also, it appeared that my appetite of potato chips and diet coke followed with a work out regime of flipping TV channels hadn't been kind to me. My suit skirt was just a tad bit tighter than I would have liked, which made my thighs look fat, but my butt look awesome. Guess that's what happens when you don't spend every day stressed out and running around the office of an arrogant prick. I smiled just a little in the mirror. My hair actually looked better from being saved two weeks of scorching via blow dryer and I had put on makeup for the first time in days which gave a better effect than I remembered. All of this was nice, except I wasn't fully conscious of it. Actually, I just wasn't fully conscious, period. It took until I was collecting my purse and keys to realize the alarm was still ringing full-force. I threw a book at it and it stopped upon impact with my floor. My neighbors must have loved me.

I gave myself a once-over in the mirror in the entrance by the door. I really did look awesome in a skirt suit, even if my thighs were a little more substantial than before. My eyes looked like shit though. Or, I was having a shit time looking out of them. Everything still had the six a.m. sleep-blur to it.

When I walked into the lobby of Taisho Inc., I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I didn't look as good as I thought I did, and maybe my sleep-blur had just softened the newly softer parts of me a l black and white movie love scenes. Or maybe the incredulous holy hell, you're back looks I was getting were in response to me just being there. In that building. Which I had pretty much stormed the hell out of a few weeks prior like a water bison on a warpath. A mad, war-like water bison. What, I had spent a lot of time watching the Discovery Channel during my unemployment period, so sue me. And water bison are scary.

There were workers staring at me from everywhere as I plodded to the elevator, while I was waiting for the elevator, and while I was in the elevator. Naturally, there was only one thing to do. If I were Taisho, there was only one thing I would do. Act like I owned the whole damned place, even if it werent worth owning. So I did. Couldn't bring myself to impersonate having a stick up my ass, though. Had to give credit to Taisho, its harder than it looks.

By the time the elevator was getting towards the top, most of the workers had scuttled out sideways on lower floors, giving me weird looks. Thus I was surprised when the doors opened one floor beneath the top level, going up. I was more surprised as I watched a walking pile of folders and books attempt to get into the elevator without toppling over. I smirked and grabbed the top half of the pile of books.

"Hello, Jaken."

A small, putrid chicken face gawked at me, eyes bulging in their sockets.

"Miss- Miss Higurashi. What are you-"

"Helping you, so can it."

Jaken shut his sqawking mouth immediately, to my immense pleasure. Being the closest thing to a secretary for Taisho must have enlightened him as to how much less his life sucked when I was around.

The door opened and I took the rest of the books from Jakens arms and walked out. Ill take these, so head back downstairs, Jaken. Im sure Taisho will bitch at you when he needs you.

"But-but, he stammered nobly, and I pressed the down button on the elevator, Jaken still stuttering inside it."

This was either going to be fun, or the worst day of my life. So far I had shocked the entire building and flustered Jaken. So far, so good.

......

Though it was considerably less prominent than the near-blinding headaches I had been blessed with the prior week and a half, a headache I still had. I opened up my leather satchel and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, only to find several pink and purple My Little Pony brushes stashed in the bottom of it, accompanied by a white pony with unbraided hair. I made a mental note to tell Rin stealing was not good. But seeing as how it was Higurashi's plastic pony stash she'd plundered, I didn't think a severe berating would be necessary. A grown woman should not own so many plastic animals. It was unsettling. The glitter had taken multiple washes to get out from under my fingernails. I had still found some on my pillow from the night before when Id woken up in the morning.

There was a small knock on my office door.

"Come in, Jaken." I rubbed the bridge of my nose lightly.

"Still popping pills, I see. I knew you needed help."

My eyes would have opened in surprise if they hadn't been screwed shut by pain. But nothing was a better distraction from pain like more pain. I opened my eyes slowly and couldn't help smirking. The snappy princess brought it out as a natural reaction.

"Higurashi. I trust the mess Rin left with all of your ponies and barbies wasn't too hard to clean up."

"Oh, not at all. It was quite worth getting to witness your unchallengeable French braiding skills. I can only hope to master the art as well as you. Then again, you've had many more years to practice, haven't you?"

"It is a skill I developed upon reaching adulthood. You'll learn, I'm sure, once you reach the same mental age. Until then, you have plenty of years to practice, I should think. But, enough of this. I am being rude to a guest. How nice it is of you to visit Taisho Inc."

I waved a hand in the direction of one of the chairs across from my desk. She remained standing, despite my once-in-a-lifetime invitation to sit. Shed regret it if our argument went on as long as some had before. I did not, however, regret it. She looked good. Shed filled out a bit, and her bre- well, I had forgotten how good she looked in a skirt suit. Ill leave it at that.

"Oh, Im not visiting, Taisho."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh? Then what, pray tell, are you doing here?"

She sached over, all hips, and picked up the platinum stapler from my desk, fiddling with it. Then she smiled. An evil smile that reached her eyes, making them glimmer.

"I'm being paid, she said off-hand, as if it were of no consequence, and wasn't the exact reason she was in my office."

Ah, there she was. Miss Thang. Miss 'Tude. The disturbing lack of her usual self when I had brought Rin over to her apartment had been nearly disorienting, but for all I knew, she had planned it that way.

"May I ask exactly by whom you are being paid?"

"My employer, of course. Sharp as always, Taisho. Your observational prowess is astounding."

The little minx raised the shining stapler up and checked her lips stick in the reflection, her finger sliding around the edges to remove invisible excesses of the pink color. It would have been ridiculous and outrageous if she hadn't made it look so good. What had two weeks of no work and one night of Barbies and ponies done to the woman? I made a mental note to never let Rin play ponies with Higurashi again, less I had to fend off elementary school-aged suitors wanting to trade cute Pokemon cards for a date at the park sand box.

"You sounded remarkably like me just now, Higurashi. Was that meant as an insult?"

"Why, are you insulted?" She smiled coyly.

"Hardly." I smirked and leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. "I can't think of a sexier sound."

"Well then," she fingered the stapler smoothly and put it back down on my desk. It was painful to watch. In a very different way than the pain she had caused me before. "I have an outstanding offer from another employer, so why don't you tell me exactly how hard its been without me."

"Higurashi, everything is harder you're around."

"I didn't know you were that big of a pervert, Taisho. Or is that a trait only I bring out in you?"

"You bring many things out of me, Higurashi, and not one of them is something to be desired. Do not think I will give in to your whims."

"Indeed, there is nothing desirable about you, Taishou." She turned around and started back toward my office doors.

"I don't need a raise. But I want my two weeks of paid vacation promised to me along with an annual three weeks. And I want a company car. Ill get your schedule from Jaken."

"And what makes you think Ill accept your conditions?"

She opened a door and peered back over her shoulder.

"You need me. Oh, and Taisho, you might want to spend another hour every morning straightening that stick up your ass. If you're not careful, it might come out. We wouldn't want that, now, would we? It'd be impossible to find another one big enough to replace it."

With that, she waltzed out of the office like she was the only female on the face of the earth, the door clicking shut behind her. I leaned back in my leather chair and smirked. She may have won that round, but she was back (point for me) and I'd have plenty of time to show her she couldn't do just as she pleased in my company, just because I'd asked for her to come back personally (point for her). Let her have her small battle victory. The war was mine. After all, she was back.

But good lord, her ass had looked good on the way out.

AN: So Kagome is back. And it only took a sleepover with a young adopted daughter and 8 repeated viewings of the Kiss the Girl clip in the Little Mermaid to do it. If only life were that easy. Heh. Ill try to slowly eek out some more for this. Going back and reading it all again, I realized how many mistakes I made, but I also realized Ive lost a little of my full-out comedic wit since then. My type of humor is much more subtle and mean now, (or maybe I just like to think that) but I will try to match what I had written for this story before. Thanks to everyone thats read this story over the years!