Chapter 6: - A Refreshing Thought

Koga drummed his fingers on his desk, slouched in his office chair, with a sulky expression. Married. The girl he'd hit on was married to the mute son of one of the richest men in Japan. Where was the sense in that? Women like Higurashi needed to be told of their great beauty at every turn. He thought back and realized he didn't know her name. With a smile he realized she must've done it so that he'd be curious, she wanted him.

"Hiroshi-san?"

He looked up, "Yeah?"

"Takahashi-san wishes to speak to you."

His secretary, a red-head named Ayame, stared at him with wide green eyes. Kouga knew the girl wanted him, but he'd never taken advantage of her. She had pulled some sort of grudging respect from him and he refused to touch her (to her disappointment). He pulled himself up, nodded, and she left the room. Miroku walked in with a serious expression and Kouga pulled himself up. When it came down to it all, Miroku Takahashi was still boss in the company.

"I came to clear up a rumor you've begun to spread around Hiroshi."

Kouga stared at his friend confused beyond comprehension. He was known for chasing skirts, not for gossiping with his girlfriends in the break room.

"Excuse me?"

"Takahashi Sesshomaru and Higurashi Kagome are not married. I'm afraid you misunderstood my statement to you earlier."

Kouga leaned back in his chair, content to finally know his future wife's name.

"So she ain't married," he stated with a smile.

"No," Miroku relented, "but she's still family Kouga. I'd watch myself if I were you."

Kouga chuckled, "I was just about to tell you how I thought a married woman only meant a challenge. Your father is only the ultimate challenge and Hiroshi Kouga likes challenges."

Miroku buried his face in his hands, "Do what you will with your life. I'd stay away from her during hours though; I think Sesshomaru would kill you if you tried to touch her again."

Kouga looked at him curiously, "Why's that?"

Miroku shrugged with an equally pensive look, "Don't know, but he took her straight to InuYasha, who I can tell you would definitely kick your ass until you spoke Spanish. She's related to us through his wife and he's taken to her as a brother. I'm not quite sure you want to see just how much InuYasha's grown."

Kouga didn't care for InuYasha or anything involving him. He held some small amount of resentment towards him for leaving his brother to deal with his burden, but the greed for freedom was justified. He'd have to play nice with the guy; he could just be the ticket to Higurashi Kagome.

"Hiroshi."

"She's mine Takahashi," Kouga grinned. "She'll fall for my wit and charm and by the end of the next year she'll be my wife."

"Right," Miroku mocked. "Let me bet you how many children Sesshomaru will have given her by then."

***

Good God he had to avoid the woman. He'd caught sight of the memos that had circulated through the offices and was appalled that they should think that because he'd defended the female she was his wife. In a normal life he'd marry some girl he deemed worthy, but not even the gold diggers wanted to marry a rich and intelligent mute. Instead he got stuck with a persistent female from the States. He knew what she wanted: To know why exactly he spoke to her when his family hadn't heard his voice in years. Surely she thought herself special and wanted to boost her ego by hearing it from his mouth. He still questioned his sanity in that one moment he decided to let his vocal chords stretch.

Asuna Takahashi had been Touga's first wife. They'd had two children together, InuYasha and Sesshomaru. On the night of her murder, Touga and InuYasha had been away. Sesshomaru had been home with his mother, on a rare occurrence since his brother had been born, and they hadn't paid much attention to an oncoming storm. The wind blew outside with a great intensity and the lights flickered every few minutes. Sesshomaru paid them no mind as he concentrated on Asuna and the game they played. The servants milled around the household, unable to leave due to the weather. Unfortunately, just as they could not leave nobody could arrive. Touga and InuYasha were stuck at the office (Touga had taken InuYasha to meet his godfather). Asuna hadn't approved of the outing in the least. A rival of the company had recently made threats to the family and InuYasha was too young to protect himself, but Touga had ignored her.

"Sesshou, leave those cards alone. Cheating is never allowed, remember?"

"Hai okaa-san."

The room turned pitch black. Asuna's fear coursed through her veins. The generator should've kicked in; the lights shouldn't have been off for more than a few seconds. She grabbed Sesshomaru's hand and pulled him towards the stairs. The maids were scurrying around looking for candles and matches, confused.

"What happened to the generator? Go get Iyoshi to check it out."

"I don't know, hold on."

Asuna grabbed one of the lit candles and tipped it forward, the wax dripping onto the floor. She pulled on her son's hand and walked up the stairs, aiming for her bedroom. Sesshomaru had begun to whine in complaint and she had silenced him with a few harsh words. She felt panic, senseless fear. The storm had knocked the lights out but she felt that there was more to it. She opened her door and shoved her son inside.

"Go open the door your otou showed you the other day."

He walked towards the closet and shoved clothes out of the way and unlatched a hook and opened a small door. Meanwhile, Asuna locked her bedroom door and prayed to the Gods that her husband would be home soon, regardless of the weather. Her feet padded across the room to her son and she felt the sting of wax against her skin. She hissed and kept going. Sesshomaru stepped into the small room inside of the closet. A bang startled his mother and she blew out the candle for added protection, the smell of smoke quickly spreading. She pressed her body onto the small concealed door and Sesshomaru cried out as his fingers got caught. Her breath caught and she eased off the door, her heart beat pulsing in her ears. She could faintly hear the screams of her employees; she hoped she might've been delusional. The door knob jangled and she hoped it was her husband or an employee, anybody with good intention.

When a single gun shot rang in the room and the bedroom door swung open, Asuna trembled in fear. She couldn't bring herself to step out of the closet, but she realized her son was in danger. Somehow she stumbled out and met the crazed eyes of a murderer. There was no other explanation and her imagination was working overtime. The second gunshot shocked her. Looking around she couldn't see where it hit and when she looked back at the door frame the man was gone. Perhaps she had imagined it all.

"Okaa-san?"

She turned to the closet and felt dizzy. She was coming off her adrenaline rush. Her son rushed to her side and she couldn't bring herself to tell him to stay where it was safe. He touched her stomach and she winced. Looking down she saw her soaked clothes.

"Oh baby," she whispered as she crumpled to her knees.

Her son was crying his little heart out, and pushing his little hands against her stomach. She almost smiled at his naïveté; nothing short of a miracle could hope to staunch the flow of her blood. Her fingers tingled as the blood began to rush towards her wound and she didn't have the energy to move towards the phone. She heard footsteps running towards them and she lifted her hand to move her son behind her, but that small amount of movement caused her pain. She winced and was relieved to see her husband at her side.

"Touga…"

Sesshomaru watched the scene through blurry eyes. That man had found them because he'd whined and cried at his crushed fingers. His crushed fingers meant nothing to him now, his mother was slipping away. He could feel it in his bones, in his heart. He met his father's eyes and he could see his lips moving.

"Son, are you alright?"

Sesshomaru shook his head. He refused to speak, he refused to cry out. There was no way he would kill any more of his family by letting a sound escape his cursed lips. He looked at his mother's half lidded eyes as she tried to keep her eyes open. He moved his eyes to his father's stricken face, with the imprint of his mother's hands as she left bloody trails as her hands fell to her side, immobile.

I promise okaa-san…

***

InuYasha and Kouga were locked in a staring match. They hadn't seen each other in years and for Kouga to show up trying to hook up with his sister-in-law did nothing for they're past dislike of each other. InuYasha hated womanizers with a passion, as one had made it hard for him to get close to Kikyou in the first place.

"Higurashi-san," Kouga started with a smile, leaning against the door frame to InuYasha's office, "I was hoping to have a quick word with you."

Kagome looked at him with an estranged smile. He looked good, he knew he did, but he wasn't used to that sort of smile. She gave him the look that he was used to seeing on women when his friends flirted with them. The pitying look that she gave him then was the one his friends got right before…

"I'm sorry Hiroshi-san, I wasn't aware that we had any business with each other. I don't think that our departments overlap in any way."

Right before they got rejected. He wasn't sure if his mouth was open, although he could bet his life that his eyes were wide as saucers. He couldn't remember a time when he'd been rejected twice by the same woman. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been rejected!

"Hiroshi-san? Hiroshi-san."

Kouga blinked twice, "Hai Higurashi-san?"

"Did you need some water, you're looking a little sick?"

"Iie, I just remembered that I have a project meeting to attend to. I will speak to you later."

He left quickly and InuYasha smiled. Kagome turned to him and glared.

"And just what is so funny?"

"That rejection was. Hiroshi Kouga's ego is as big as the earth and the surrounding planets. For a beautiful woman such as yourself to reject him twice in one day.."

Kagome huffed and walked away. It was time for her to move on anyway; soon enough Hojo would return and begin his incessant staring. She didn't feel like pretending to not notice. If she stayed to direct an office in Japan, she swore she would send Hojo back to her brother, for her own peace of mind. She peeked into many rooms and in the end she hated to admit to herself that she was looking for the oldest Takahashi. She knew that he'd avoid her, as if he hadn't slipped enough with a stranger already. Who was she to think that he'd open up to her and, by some miracle act of the Kami, speak forever after? She stopped in the middle of the hallway and berated herself. She was being curious and nosy where she should be professional.

She stopped the first person she saw and asked for directions, "Could you direct me to Takahashi Miroku-san, please?"

***

That morning Sango awoke to find herself utterly alone in the overly large Takahashi mansion. She could've almost sworn that when she'd returned to her room Kagome had been stepping into hers with the intention of sleeping. It was quite obvious to her now that Kagome had fooled her and tagged along with one of the Takahashi men. She dressed herself casually and prepared to get lost in the huge Takahashi home. If by luck she found a servant, perhaps they'd be kind enough to entertain her until the return of her dearly departed friend. Once she reached the end of the stairs she was startled to see an equally lost Kikyou.

"They leave you too?"

Kikyou nodded, "Apparently not even my husband decided to let me in on the plan for today. I woke up alone and utterly lost in this maze."

"I'm sure the sleep was wonderful for the jet lag though," Sango giggled.

Kikyou nodded with a smile and looked away from Sango, scoping out her surroundings. Somewhere from deep inside the house the chimes of a grandfather clock reverberated down the halls. The four distinct chimes let the women know just how much later in the day it actually was. They heard the hustle and bustle of the maids towards the front of the house. Rin appeared around the corner with a look of determination. She paused before Kikyou on her way to the stairs.

"I may not like you, but the other hussy in this house has done more wrong to this family than you have. Take a break sweetheart."

Just as swiftly as her words bit into Kikyou, she weaved between the two women and ran up the stairs.

Kikyou turned to Sango, "I think I've just been likened to a hussy."

Sango's wide eyes gave away her consternation and she lifted her hands palms up as a show of her speechless state. What could one say in such a situation? Rin was not young enough to say that her thoughtless speech was due to her inability to judge right from wrong. No, Rin was just a strong, straightforward character that seemed to have taken a bit of a shine to Kikyou in a rather different way.

***

Sesshomaru stood stiff in the elevator with the one woman he'd sworn to avoid for the rest of his life just earlier. He'd actually felt at ease when he realized that she'd stopped looking not too long after he'd deduced that she was searching him out. After an hour, he'd felt safe once again and had completely forgotten about her. Miroku had dropped a report off in his office that had taken up his entire time and concentration. The elevator had stopped a floor below his and she'd stepped on, deeply immersed in her phone conversation. She'd obviously come from InuYasha's office and was in an argument with somebody about transportation. Obviously, Rin hadn't gone through the trouble of lifting the citywide ban on any sales being made to one Kagome Higurashi and so she was still having trouble. Miroku would surely be staying later and InuYasha with him. Somehow it fell to him to safely get her back to the Takahashi home. She'd slammed her phone shut and thrown it at the elevator wall with great force. The elevator jerked to a harsh stop and she fell backwards.

"Ooof!"

When she recovered enough to open her eyes properly, they were wide as saucers.

"Oh my god, I didn't mean to break it!"

He remained silent and she oblivious to his presence. She couldn't possibly believe that she'd broken the contraption by throwing her useless phone at one of the four walls?

"Well it's obviously a poor piece of crap engineering if it can't take a cell phone to the wall!"

***

Kouga Hiroshi had run up the stairs in an attempt to be sneaky and catch Kagome alone. He'd gotten to InuYasha's floor just in time to see the doors to the elevator close. He ran to her and was disappointed to have them close in his face rather quickly. Unhappy and faced with his failed endeavor, he jammed the down button repeatedly. When that didn't seem to make her magically appear, he jammed the up button just as much. He growled and made his way back to the stairs. When he got to the floor below he did the same thing: jammed the up and down buttons incessantly. He did this all the way to the first floor. Somebody tapped his shoulder and he turned around and glared at the man.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to cease and desist."

"What the bloody hell are you on about? Can't you see I'm quite obviously busy?" he gestured at the button.

"Sir, I'm with maintenance and that," he gestured with exaggeration, "is obviously broken."

Kouga stepped back and looked up and felt the dread sink well into the pit of his stomach. He'd gone and broken the elevator and instead of catching his dream girl, he'd gone and isolated her in an unreachable box. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the black jacket he knew all too well by the two stupid, useless buttons it had in the back.

***

His tiny fingers worked to rewire the box he'd obviously messed up. That's what he got for messing around with all the electronics downstairs after Touga had specifically told him not to. After so many years of his father's warnings proving to be true, he still hadn't learned. He should've known that not all of the things he was rewiring were useless! The stupid box had been attached the wall to begin with, but the stack of the other treasure-like junk he'd found had bumped into it and caught his attention. The different colored wires, the bright little green lights going crazy, he couldn't stop his curiosity from expanding and taking hold of his little mind. His bright green eyes had zigzagged from wire to wire. His fingers yanked wires, touched them to each other (dropped them when he fried his fingers, again), switched them from outlet to outlet.

"Gahh, why is this piece of crap not color coordinated like every other electronic in existence!"

He glared at the box full of blues, reds, yellows, and whites and suddenly likened himself to the men in action movies. This was his bomb ticking towards his doom and he had minutes before certain death. He narrowed his eyes and cracked his fingers. Granted, his certain doom would come in the form of his retainer Jaken, who's hobbled steps he could already hear coming closer.

***

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Only I go to different countries and realize that they are underdeveloped technologically or know just where to hit to make it all break apart."

She held her head in her hands, obviously having a mental breakdown. Sesshomaru felt no remorse in letting her sit there and wallow in her self pity. That is, until his phone went off in his pocket. She whirled around and glared at him. Almost in slow motion, he watched her stand, yank his phone from his phone, and throw that one at the wall as well.

"You've been there the entire time and didn't say anything!"

His eyes widened sarcastically, unsure if she wanted an answer still or if she'd stutter an apology in a second when she realized she'd been uncallous. The seconds ticked by ever so slowly as he waited for the break down and, as disappointing as it would be, the barrage of pity and apologies.

She glared him down, "What?"

He cocked his head to the side, almost confused. He'd been almost positive, close to swearing, betting his life, on the fact that they'd told her about his, uh, problem.

"Oh I know buddy," she responded quickly.

Jabbing a finger into his chest, she continued her rant, "And I don't give a damn if you can't say a damn word or, should I say, don't choose to say a damn word. That just means you take what I want to say and you can't be a smart ass back!"

Well, Sesshomaru thought, that was a refreshing change of thought.

***

I'd thought for sure that this bit was up, but I guess not. A sudden bit of motivation and BAM there goes the relentless typing again. Enjoy (: