Chapter 8: First Day on the Job
"Morning, Un!" chirped Kagome.
"Glad to see you happy this morning."
Kagome nodded her head happily. "Yup, I had about 3 cups of coffee!"
Un's eyes widened marginally. Sesshomaru wasn't going to like this; she was a little too hyperactive. "Is there a reason for the coffee?"
"Hale yeah! I had this BIG English assignment due today. I was planning to finish it yesterday, but I had to start working here right away. So… I pulled an all-nighter. But this morning I found out that I couldn't really get up, so I made a pot, and I finished it up!"
Un blinked. She sure hadn't acted like that yesterday. He was waiting to see what she would say next.
"Oh! Did you know that that was my first taste of coffee?" Kagome continued while Un gave her a deadpanned look. "I don't know why people drink the stuff, its nasty! Don't you agree?"
He absently nodded his head as he grabbed her shoulder and steered her to the nearest couch. "Sit," he commanded. Kagome obediently sat and stared up at him.
"Look, I have some bad news." Kagome lost her crazed look immediately. "Masaharu isn't allowing yesterday to slide. He wants you to make up the work that you skipped."
"I guess that's okay," she replied. "It's not too much, right?"
Un shook his head. "Wrong. The first thing you have to know about Masaharu is that he is a tyrant when it comes to getting the job done. He is a workaholic to the highest degree. And I'm not joking there."
"Oh."
"So that means you have to go see Masaharu. And he is grumpy in the morning."
"You mean he wasn't grumpy yesterday?"
Un put on a mournful face. "Alas, that was his good side." He then grinned roguishly. "Good luck!"
Kagome wearily got out her chair. "Jeez, thanks for helping me get out of this mess."
"You're welcome!"
It was spring. And he had been camped out in a meadow full of flowers. Normally, he wouldn't have even considered staying here for more than one split second; it was too vulnerable to attack and it offered no means of protection. But… she liked places like this. Wide, open, and full of the flowers and weeds that she so loved. It was her favorite place in the whole world. And so he stopped there whenever he could. It was his one way of showing affection. For he, a person with one of the noblest bearing, would never stoop as low as to openly give presents or show emotions. Those were weaknesses, and he didn't have any weaknesses that could be exploited and used against him and his own. And yet, he camped in this vulnerable area with an insignificant human girl-child.
Sesshomaru blinked. He was remembering her again. She never really left his thoughts. Her bright twinkling eyes and her sunny, innocent smiles would never leave his head. He sighed. Fate was as cruel as she was kind.
He could still see her sitting before him, in her coveted field of flowers. Her gap-toothed smile was full of happiness and peace. Her cheeks were a rosy color from all of the running she had done earlier.
"I don't want it," Sesshomaru muttered. "Go… you're gone. I have no need for memories." Her bright smile was taunting him, making him feel a hollow in his chest. That feeling always happened when he thought about her.
He swallowed hard. "I wish…" he didn't finish. Pride would not let him. It was a weakness to admit such a thing as a desire. His desire was to see her again. To make up for his neglect in the past. I wish I could find you and keep you safe.
Then there was a hesitant knocking at the door. Sesshomaru ignored it. He didn't want to be bothered. He was too busy struggling with himself.
Minutes passed. He thought the caller was gone. Unfortunately, it started up again. The person would knock for a few seconds, stop, and then take up the slack. The knocking was doing something to him that wasn't acceptable. It was driving him insane!
"Come in," he snapped.
The door cracked open and Sesshomaru was bombarded with the scent of the human female that he so recently hired. The woman walked in.
"What do you want?" he hissed.
"Well… um…" she hesitated, "didn't you say that you wanted to talk to me?"
"No. But I did need to set you to work."
"Oh! That's great!" She said this with too much cheeriness. Was that coffee he could detect on her breath?
"Great for me, but not for you. I want my employee's at top efficiency, no slack is allowed. That means being punctual and proficient, which you are not. So far you have neglected your duties on your first day, gotten lost, assaulted one of my assistants," he saw her mouth open in protest on that part but continued ranting, "coerced another into covering for you, and then walked in my office about an hour late. Does that make a very good impression? I think not." He got a meek "yes Mr. Masaharu" in response. He continued. "You must never be late, never be absent, never slack, and always obey. The people working here understand this quite well, so if you have questions on anything don't talk to me. Is this understood?"
The human female nodded her head, though it was quite submissive. What he didn't notice was the fact that Kagome was grinding her teeth. "I understand, Mr. Masaharu. What type of work will I be doing?"
Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair. "Hm… since you are new and I haven't come to trust you yet…" he drifted off. Let the suspense gnaw at her. "I've decided to test you out on some minor jobs that need some help. Today you will help the Janitor in emptying the garbage and cleaning the toilets."
The female gaped at him. He found that such expressions of outrage or disbelief gave him a sense of perverse amusement, one that he severely held in check. But today he felt like provoking his new secretary. He had to be sure that she could handle anything.
"Now, the Janitor should be on the 27th floor right now. Now leave." He made the dismissal absolute. As much as he had enjoyed that brief sense of wicked humor, he wasn't going to let it continue any farther. After all, he had Masaharu Hyouga's reputation to maintain.
Un heard pounding and scrubbing noises coming from the bathroom. He sighed, it seemed that Yoshiro, the Janitor, had another fight with his wife and was now taking his frustration out on the sinks. Un sighed once more and quickly walked to the bathroom.
Outside the door, Un could hear Yoshiro muttering. Wasn't his voice a bit too low to be hitting those shrill notes? Did something happen to his voice box or… Un shook his head violently. He would not go to that subject. He decided to listen in a bit before opening the door and therefore leading to his doom.
Kagome was scowling at the toilet bowl. It was smiling at her. How dare it! It was all squeaky clean and it had the guts to taunt her with its evil smirk! After all that time she spent cleaning it! "Why I ought to…" she growled. The bowl kept on smiling. That was too much for poor Kagome. She attacked!
"Die, die, die…!" she screamed while hitting the porcelain top with her scrub. It wasn't dieing. In fact, it didn't look harmed in the least. She was about to throw another tantrum when Un walked in.
"Ok, Yoshiro, what's happened now?"
Kagome blinked. "Huh?"
Un took moment to register Kagome sitting there. "Huh?" he repeated. "Why are you in the bathroom?" He didn't give her a moment to answer. "Let me rephrase that, why are you in the Men's Bathroom and where's Yoshiro?"
Kagome turned a nice cherry color. "Um…"
"Um…?" Un prompted.
"Yoshiro left."
"I've noticed that."
"Um…" Kagome ducked her head. "Um…"
"There you go with the ums again. Tell me straight out, I promise I won't inform anyone else."
"Mr. Masaharu forced me to work here," she blurted and ducked her head lower as she did. She fully expected an outburst of laughter.
Un, instead, frowned. Sesshomaru wasn't that type of person. What would possess him to subject Kagome to torture… well, this much torture, in one day!
"Hello? Aren't you supposed to be laughing?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, I'm supposed to be Masaharu's Secretary, and here I am scrubbing toilet bowls in the Men's room. Isn't that Ha-ha-let's-laugh-at-her-misfortune funny?"
"No. It's just inhumane. You're not even dressed properly for this type of work!" Un took Kagome by the elbow and hoisted her up. "What the heck was he thinking!?"
"I don't believe that he was thinking, Un. After all, he has a lot on his mind."
Un blinked. And then he grinned. "Look at you! You've been given the worst job in the whole building, which you weren't prepared for either, and you're defending the person who did this to you! Incredible!" Un was beaming in pride. Sesshomaru could not get rid of this one! She was a keeper!
Japanese words
Youkai- Japanese Demon; doesn't translate correctly
Gaki- Those things that bring your soul to the underworld.
Jaken- hard heartedcruelunkind; Evil point of view
Youki- youkai aura
Hyouga- Glacier; It fits Sessho's personality, no?
Miko- Priestess of the Shinto Religion, has magical powers; sometimes called a sorceress; doesn't translate properly
Taiyoukai- supposedly meaning "Demon Lord" in Japanese. I'm not quite sure that is the real definition. Yowai also means "Demon Lord".
Reviews!
Akumariver- these are great ideas! I might use some… but I wasn't planning on using the Shikon as a focus in the story. The original plan was to show how Kagome got on with her life after the assembly of the Shikon. I don't want it to kinder her in her life… Maybe later though. I'll take you up on that Soul thing!
aslanbrooke- I'm so glad you liked it! I love these types of stories too… except I don't hear about them as often as I used to…
DemonWicca- Inspiration comes from the weirdest of places. If you get an idea, write it down. It might come in handy later on!
Kagedfox- good question. I know that Kagome got bad grades because of her trips to Sengoku Jidai, I really do, but I had to make Kagome a very smart person so she could get in that trip. So basically, she retook old classes to bring up her GPA. Maybe Night classes or something. I hope that makes sense. I'm not going to quit! I just needed to get over my writers block! And I think that strangling time with Jaken is an excellent idea!
M- laughs great idea! I'll have Ah just flirt with Kagome like crazy! Let's raise Sessho's hackles! "the Nile" is actually "de-nile" get it? It's just a saying
Midnight Lady- "it'll be great, i can see it already." Thanks! Thanks so much!
mkh2- Um… thanks for the Gaki info… though I'm not sure I liked the Kappa part… that's an interesting name you have mkh2. I really like it! Though I thought that Kagome meant "Woven bamboo pattern" and Kikyo meant "Chinese bellflower", "Christianity" or "Eccentric"
Paige89- Thanks for the extreme compliment! I hope I haven't driven you away with my inactivity!
Sesshomaru13: there, there. Don't' worry… I didn't look at you! Well… I did… but not like you were crazy!
Stormy Nights Rainy Days- I'm so sorry! My sports thin never really happened so I never actually got myself started!
Trina3- Yes, Ah-un is Sessho's two-headed dragon
Thanks to: PegasusRider, Tsuki Yume, I, corinnetkn24, NightOwl, NIGHTINGAIL OF THE FOREST, Dah88,