Snapshots of Life

Ch 10: All Hallows' Eve

Kagome zigzagged through the cubicles of the Touched by an Angel Photography office. Her forehead was lined with wrinkles as she scrutinized the paperwork given to her by her new intern. All Naomi had to do was go through and fill type the model portfolio paperwork out, but even that task seemed strenuous for the young girl, if not impossible. The paperwork, white and pristine on arrival was now riddled with deep red strokes of a red pen, making her errors loud and clear to her. At this rate she'd be here all night. She had a lot of work to do, and it was well into the evening.

Kagome sighed, and let her patience spread as thin as it could go, the girl had other great traits, she was well on her way to becoming a great designer, and her photography wasn't half bad either, so who was Kagome to stunt the growth of her dream at such a preliminary stage.

"Wrong…wrong, wrong, wrong! Naomi, how did you spell her name wrong? She has the same name as you!" She whispered to herself in a quite frenzy, her eyes attached to the document, no matter what crossed her path, or what happen to be different. She was so engrossed in the paper that she failed to notice how the usually bare cubicles of her co-workers were decorated with rich blacks, vibrant oranges, black bats and cats, tiny decorated pumpkins, demons, and other Halloween memorabilia, even the witch hats, painted on faces and fake fangs escaped her in her hurry to her own office. The holiday she hated most seemed to fall between the cracks this year, sneaking up on her, which she hated just as much.

She continued to her office just as oblivious at how the Halloween decorations around the cubicles doubled, then tripled in its gaudiness as she approached her office. She opened the door to her office, with her head down still buried in the paper, and sat in her chair, finally, the end of the documents and its mistakes we're in her grasp. Mid-stroke as she prepared to put the last red slash on the paper, someone knocked at her door. She sighed and put the pen down, a little irritated at the postponed end of the document. Standing, she walked to the door, opening it slowly to find no one there. She stood there, looking in front of her at the back of a cubicle, which provided no subtle hint to the festive time of month, only off white paint.

"Hello?" she shrugged and turned to leave, that is until a brown blur crossed her peripherals, making her double take at its mass. As she turned to find the "blur" she found it hidden as quickly as it was revealed. Just to be sure that it wasn't her mind playing tricks on her she looked around both the corners, and discovered it was. Shrugging once more, she went back into her office, taking a seat to finish the stroke her hand was in prior to her interruption.

Quiet shuffles of a pair of feet went unnoticed by her as she typed on her computer. The shuffles soon began to get faster, taking on a wide stepped creep, a hand stretched out into the open as it approached Kagome. It shook its head once, shaking wild brown hair, and fangs as it melted into character. It grabbed at Kagome's shoulder with such ferocity that upon contact she jammed her hands into her keys, creating new long words on the screen, like d-f-g-t-r-e-y-h and a-s-e-w-q-b-g-j-u-y-t-n-m-d-g. Kagome spun around, and stared into the face of a wolf like creature with long ivory fangs, brown stringy hair to its back, erratic yellowish eyes, and long talon like claws. She screamed and jumped up, her heart lodged in her throat. The creature let loose a ferocious…laugh?

She squinted her eyes as her heart attack subsided, and the long ivory fangs changed into sharp rubbery fangs inside a rubbery snout, the brown stringy hair melted into bleach blonde as it near it's…her back, the yellow eyes turned out to be a lot less real, and a little less yellow, and the long talon like claws proved to be black clip-ons as fake as the mask she had on.

Kagome's mouth was still open from her position on top of her desk. Her legs were up in the air in a defensive posture, along with her arms, as if someone was going to hit her. Slowly as her anger mounted, she closed her mouth, and lowered her legs and arms. Slowly her face contorted into a glare, then a deep heartfelt scowl, engulfing her whole face in anger.

"Hahaha!" she laughed as she pulled her mask off. The more Kagome got angry, the more distant her laugh became.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Kagome stood up and snatched the mask from her, throwing it to the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to scowl while Naomi proceeded to stop laughing. Her fit of laughter finally over, she leaned on a chair behind her, breathing laboriously to keep her laughter at ease, for her own sake. Kagome looked pretty pissed.

"I-I'm sorry Kag, I couldn't help it you know! You were just so unsuspecting, and Halloween's such a cool holiday, at school we always---"

"Yes well, is this what you were doing while you writing this paper? D-did you say Halloween?" she said, slowly walking to her desk and pulling up the calendar on her computer to see if there had been a mistake. She ran her hand across the screen, calculating from where she had lost track of time, and picked up on October 29th, which was indeed two days before Halloween. She closed her eyes and put her hand over her face. She really didn't need this, she was already swamped in work, and Kikyo would surly come and solicit… force her to help on their annual Halloween party, and then take all the credit like the bitch that she was.

"Ka-Kagome, I'm sorry I didn't know you hated Halloween so---" Naomi started, but Kagome held a hand up.

"It's okay, just retype that paper." She handed her the paper, and waited for her to leave, and then put her head down on her desk. Shortly after Naomi left, Sakiya entered, a knowing look on her face like she somehow knew about everything that happened, and she did, except for Kagome's distinct lack of humor.

"When I sent her in here to scare the hell out of you, I saw that going differently in my mind, starting with you not becoming extremely depressed afterwards." She said sitting on the desk, putting a hand on Kagome's black tresses, which was all she could see from Kagome's downtrodden position. Kagome mumbled something inaudible, and Sakiya leaned forward, only to hear louder muffled language.

"Uh, I really can't understand you." She said, Kagome rose up and brushed her hair out of her face, repeated her daunting statement of "That was you!" Sakiya stood up promptly and smiled sheepishly.

"Why, you didn't like it? I thought it was funny until you got all Grinch of October on me." She said. Kagome stood up, and approached Sakiya who took to backing up just as easily as Kagome took to lurking toward her. She was relieved when Kagome walked past her and looked around outside her door shadily, and then closed it.

"I am not the Grinch of October!" she said, scowling still.

"What's wrong then?" she asked, sitting down, prepared for something long and complicated.

"Okay, so every year Kikyo forces me to work through this damn holiday. She hasn't forced me yet, but I know that she will. She always makes me decorate the office by myself for the annual party, which leaves me exhausted, and usually sleeping through the whole damn holiday, so I deplore this time of month, and if that makes me the Grinch of Halloween, then bah humbug!" Sakiya looked around; containing fresh giggles, then cleared her throat, crossing her legs.

"That's uh Scrooge…" Kagome glared, and Sakiya held up her hands like a white flag, sensing that her friend's stress didn't include remembering memorable Christmas movie quotables. She stood up, and paced slowly, thinking of a solution, she always had the solution.

"You know we'll help you?" Sakiya asked, unsure if she knew.

"Yes, but that's still not enough, I'm not even sure I can pull it off this year…who knows what job threatening thing she'll do to me if I can't make this work." She said frowning.

"No one in the office helps?" she said, finding that hard to believe, seeing as how a lot of the girl's had opened up to them, breaking away from the pro-Kikyo regime.

"They wouldn't dare, not if they valued their job." She said taking a fancy to the scowl that upset her usually pretty features.

"Hmmm…looks like the bitch has this pretty damn tight, she's thought of everything huh…" Sakiya looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, then back at Kagome, a loving smile on her face. She brought her thoughtful hand down from her chin and grinned.

"Kag, stop stressing, seriously, were going to make this work if need be. With Sango and my decorating talents, your usual vigor, and Rin's unearthly energy we'll have this done before the night is over and still have to crash parties…or go to earth's version of hell, the office party." She said sure of herself. Kagome stopped and smiled.

"I guess you're right, but I still have a lot of work to do. I have pictures to develop, tons of papers to type, and I type like a three year old so---"

"I got you there, I'm a champion typist, you just develop that film, we should be ready to start decorating in an hour or so if need be."

"You're so smart!" she praised halfheartedly. Sakiya eyed her as she began to smirk and rolled her eyes. She sat a stack of papers down on the desk the size of a small textbook, and waited for Sakiya's self assured smile to dissipate, but it held strong, making Kagome feel at ease.

"Uh huh, well move over Grinch, I have work to do." She promptly began typing, and Kagome saw the foundation for her confidence, the way her fingers danced fluently across the keys was amazing, Kagome couldn't get that fast with her typing no matter how much she practiced.

"Are you gonna get that?" Sakiya asked, breaking through Kagome's awe with a quick glance toward the phone. She blinked slowly, swallowed, and then nodded even slower. She picked the phone up, and answered with a quiet hello.

"Hey Kagome." Kagome visibly jumped at the voice on the other line she smiled lightly, and took the usual anxiety that came along with Inuyasha in stride, swallowing it.

"Hmm, hi Inu." Sakiya said to herself, watching Kagome's body language change like it usually did when Inuyasha was involved.

"Inuyasha…"

"Let me talk to her!" a squeaky familiar voice shouted. She smiled at the thought of Shippo Jumping up and down to capture the phone from Inuyasha, who undoubtedly was not going to let him get it. She hadn't expected to talk to him in all honesty. Once you got Inuyasha started it was hard to stop him.

"Sit down you little brat before I flush you down the toilet."

"Shut up." He shouted, despite the shakiness in voice from the thought of Inuyasha following through with his threat.

"Ow!" Inuyasha shouted back, Kagome guessed that tiny fox teeth were attempting to do minimal damage to some available part of Inuyasha's body. The phone became staticy, and she could here the struggle going down between the two. She giggled.

"Hi Kagome, come Shippo, I think there's a bath tub full of chocolate ice cream just screaming your name."

"Bye Kagome!" she faintly heard Shippo's excited farewell.

'I feel loved…'

"Like I was saying before that pain in the ass---"

"Shippo." She said in a parental tone.

"Interrupted me, you sounded surprised to hear from me, you didn't think we we're done after one kiss did you." she could hear his grin over the phone, she didn't blame him, she was surprised…how did he get her work number.

"What!" she screeched, reaching past herself, her anger aroused with his last statement. He laughed a little, and smiled.

"Just playing Kag, I just wanted to get you out of that deer caught in the head lights faze, I know I'm amazing, but I'd like to hear your voice reach another register besides what you've been stuck at." He said.

"Amazing huh, I would think I was the amazing one." She grinned. It was a waste of time to act as if there wasn't something, some aspect, some spark between them. There was defiantly something there, and acknowledging it in the slightest manner possible was a way to avoid the tedium.

"Really, and what would bring this illusion on?" he asked leaning into the receiver with a small grin. He could feel her change in demeanor.

"I think I'm the one that's amazing, I'm not the one that kept coming back…" she said seriously at his chuckle.

"That is the case, but I know a great way to keep you coming back." He whispered low into the phone. She blushed, determined not to loose her cool, not that she didn't already feel out of control, as was habit when she was talking to Inuyasha. She blushed and laughed nervously.

"Your silence says it all. I knew it was just a matter of time." She could hear the lusty undertones in his playful laugh. She calmed herself and pressed forward with the conversation. Inuyasha could feel her timidity, it vaguely grabbed at him. He wanted her to feel comfortable, but he liked the power of her emotions as he controlled them.

"Missed me that much huh?" She giggled at herself, surprised at how light she could feel when she just let go of mostly self-inflicted uneasiness. She heard his chuckle fade, and gentle silence take over his end of the line. She frowned slightly, she couldn't even hear him breath, and it was slightly unnerving.

"Yeah, I did Kagome…" he whispered, lightly, lovingly. It was so airy with adoration, that she brushed it off as another pass at her. Though she couldn't hear it, the nights of wrestling thoughts of her, and eagerness to get back for her, was in his voice. He didn't even realize it himself, but that didn't diminish the fact. The thick adoration in his voice went undetected by him and her. The feeling he got as he told her that voice sparked something awkward in him, like an off key in a song, that made the song that much more beautiful. He got an odd pleasure from being able to tell her that in his truest and rarest form, composed of raw feelings and truths that he was okay with, or not okay with admitting. It was a sight to see, the sincerity of Inuyasha the model/bachelor.

"Yeah, I missed you too." She joked in the way that she figured he had. "See, I told you I was the amazing one." She said. He chuckled despite her affliction, enraptured by her cockiness, on her it was quite sexy, she wore it well.

"So, what's going on?" she said after a pregnant pause.

"A party." He said simply.

"A party?" she asked dumbfounded.

"Hell yeah a party." He said, his voice suddenly fired up with excitement for what Kagome had yet to experience, he slowly but surely wanted to bring her into his world, and what perfect way but a party.

"Halloween is the perfect night to throw the best damn party I've ever thrown in my life." He said grinning. Sakiya glanced at Kagome who seemed to be panicking, pacing as far as she could before the phone's coiled cord snag, and she had to come back. Kagome had never really been to a Halloween party, especially not one thrown by one of the hottest models out.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, a little worried by her hesitation. Sakiya pulled a sheet of printing paper from the printer and scribbled "yes !" on it, a simple message to jumpstart Kagome's obviously frozen mind. She was going to go to the party and was going like it damn it, Inuyasha and Kagome's sketchy relationship was hard on friendly bystanders. She looked at the yes scribbled on the paper and shook her head, the many hang-up's she usually had to face on her Halloween night, no not her Halloween night, but Touched by an Angel Photography agency's Halloween night, alerting her.

"So? I wanna give the first invitation to you." He said. She laughed nervously, then frowned.

"How…nice…could---could you just hold on a minute, thanks." She said, giving him no chance to manipulate her into an answer before she called her time out. She covered the receiver with a small hand.

"I can't!" she whispered.

"Why not?" Sakiya asked indifferently, typing steadily on the keyboard, her eyes trained on Kagome.

"Because!" she said as if that was an answer in itself. Sakiya rolled her eyes, not convinced by her one word answer.

"Because…"

"Because…I'm busy, I---"

"No, you're not. I told you already we've got this!" she said annoyed by the tedium Kagome put herself through.

"B-but I…" she went through her mind searching for another errand to do, then found her doing circles around her own mind. She laughed quietly, what the hell was she doing? She was sabotaging herself, and for what reason, Inuyasha was good enough, Kikyo really wasn't worth it. She sighed and smiled at Sakiya, taking her hand down from the receiver.

"Okay!" she said happily.

"Good, now let's discuss your costume, I was thinking a nice playboy bunny outfit, or a stripper, how about a---"

"Bye Inuyasha! I've got work to do." She cut him off, hanging up in his face.

"Thanks!" she moved to hug Sakiya, but she held a hand up, grinning playfully.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know I'm great, but you really should get around to developing those pictures if you want to make it to get everything done in time for that party, Cinderella." She said. She nodded and headed toward the door then stopped and smirked at Sakiya.

"You know, I can tell you grew up with Inuyasha." She said. Sakiya frowned.

"I tend to hear that a lot, but I can't figure out why everyone keeps saying it!" she said, the similarities between her Inuyasha oblivious to her. Kagome laughed, and through open the door with new found strength.

The door didn't open unhindered at first. As she swung, it collided with something on the other side, sticking, opening, and then stopping prematurely. She heard a small squeal then a thud. Alarmed, she rushed behind the door only to find Kikyo lying on the floor, red streaks of embarrassment on her cheeks.

"K-Kikyo…" she said, reaching out a hand of assistance to the girl. She waited for her to compose herself and except her help, but somewhere between her politeness, and the ample time to think about Kikyo's position on the floor, Kagome found herself giggling, humor claiming her instead of sympathy. She grasped Kagome's hand with a forceful warning, pulling herself up. Storming away, Kikyo also had time to think, and ruby red lips curled slowly in mild iniquity. She stopped and quarter turned toward Kagome.

"Thanks, and by the way Higurashi, your assistance with the decorations won't be needed. Erica will take of that this year." She said and continued to walk grinning evilly.

"Really…" Kagome blinded by her good fortune today smiled and thanked her seemingly aptly, unaware of the red vertical whelp adjacent to Kikyo's ear from the door.

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Kagome yawned, and rubbed at her eyes with the ball of her wrist, careful not to get any of the harmful chemicals in her eyes now that her goggles were around her neck, and not protecting her eyes like they should have been. She stared directly into the red bulb of the red light filling the whole room with a crimson glare. The only thing that was spared was tiny insignificant corners, and parts of the floor, shielded by tables, and predominating shadows. Kagome was bathed in the cherry light, her hair taking on a red sheen, and her skin a rose quality.

She glanced at her watch with a hard squint in the dramatically dimmed light, noting that she had been in the darkroom for a little over an hour. She looked up at the line of pictures in front of her, and touched the back of them, studying them for spots, or discoloration, and happily found nothing worth redoing. They were perfection, and she only had five more left to perfect, and she'd be done.

She began the process of slowly dipping the undeveloped picture in the different tanks, stopping periodically to let them sit. She looked up at the pictures again, and smiled at them, seeing more than whoever bought them would ever see. She saw memories and heard unheard words, she felt a love she couldn't deny. It made her smile to think just three months ago she was dreading her first day of work, and now she had grown to like it, sort of like Inuyasha.

She blushed, the rose over her skin swallowing the rosy discoloration of her cheeks. She suddenly found herself waylaid by things she couldn't understand.

The waves of her feelings confused her, but they came and passed too quickly for her to analyze, and just quickly enough for her to dismiss.

Kagome watched three images fizzle on their paper and burn into darkness as a bright light filled the room, defeating the red light completely. She gasped, and grabbed the pictures out of the third tank and stared at them with her mouth open. The images were just there, they were just there, now they were over exposed, and burning away like a dry leaf devoured by a candle flame. Who the hell looked at the do not enter sign, and walked right past it! Somebody was going feel her rage.

Frazzled by the fleeting images on the picture she turned around, squinting into a bright light, seeing blue splotches of images that were once in her point of view. She stared into the blinding light until the blue disappeared and the dumb ass that ruined her beautiful frames showed their face. She snatched the goggles off gripping them tightly, her strength growing with the sour mixture of irritation and anger inside her. The harsh scornful words charging from her brain to her tongue seemed to die and melt into a distinct feeling of anxiety when she beheld said dumb ass, and realized it was Hojo.

She dropped the goggles and let go of the strength and ill willed mixture brewing inside of her that had so easily turned her knuckles white. Like some animal protecting her young (Her photos) her fur had bristle in defense more than anything. Anybody that was stupid enough to open the darkroom door without warning undoubtedly had an aim to cause bad tension, but upon seeing his face she became more worried of the small space they were enclosed in. She was trapped with a stalker in a tiny darkroom. It was amazing how easily her defenses were knocked awry by the very sight of him, and even more ironic that it was all for Hojo. Her fear was irrational, but she didn't have the mind frame to determine that at the moment. She couldn't see poor little fawn eyed Hojo for what he was; all she could see was a maniac that wanted a lock of her hair to put next to some other personal item he had stolen from her.

He looked at her with innocent eyes, and gave her a small smile. His light brown hair jutting in different ways like it usually did. He continued to smile as her face changed to an expression of something gone horribly wrong. Hojo's usual thickness took over, and he assumed she was feeling a little queasy, as she always did…or that was what she told him when he asked her out on dates. The flu, Ebola, salmonella, food poisoning, she had used everything under the sun to avoid him, ironically except the common cold. He always accepted her excuses, the fact that her health was perfect any other time escaping him. He was indeed a dense one, but he meant well, even if unexplainable coincidences kept Kagome from seeing that.

"Kagome! I've been looking for you. It's kind of dark in here where's the light switch?" He looked around. Kagome felt her eye tick with irritation, and a very Inuyasha like growl begin to roar to life in her throat.

"It's the darkroom."

"Oh…" he said the underlying message of her anger going over his head. He stopped smiling and seriousness covered his face. As if he had a tendency to snap anytime she dared to stopped, and allowed her mood to switch with his, tiptoeing around him to keep him "stable."

"You've been doing really good work Kagome…" he said quietly, searching his head as if probing for some rehearsed line.

"…I hear you got a raise, you deserve it…I…" she looked at him, hanging onto his every word. When he paused she paused and gave him a nervous glance.

"Well you are head boss." She said.

"Yeah I am but…I…"

"You…" she started for him. He looked at her, and after a while smiled, as if he remembered his line.

"I was thinking you…we could celebrate. I know you were promoted a while ago, but I was wondering would you like to go to a party with me, or something." He said his blush disappearing, as hers had, in the red light. He looked upward and away from her, his eyes detained by his timidity. She caught this light of innocence that she had never seen before, and frowned, deciding against a lie this time. She almost felt bad…

"A-actually, I'm already going to a Halloween party…" she almost left it at that, but as she watched him come down from his happiness, she felt herself go with him.

"B-but thanks for the offer, and the congratulations…" She felt her self diminish again but she picked up despite the distinct warning in her gut.

"Maybe you'd like to come?" she asked him quietly, it was the least she could do for ostracizing him for a very strange coincidence, that she still had yet to prove.

"Sure! I'd love to go! You can call me later with the finer details! I'll see you there Kagome." With that he smiled and sped off leaving Kagome the mangled remains of an idea she thought was smart. Sure she wanted to start fresh with him but inviting him to Inuyasha's party was not the way to do that.

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Sango sat up straight; she laced her fingers together over her lap just because it made her feel professional. Crossing her legs, she patted at wrinkles in her denim jeans, waiting for Hisho to arrive. As if waiting for a cue Hisho entered, his face impassive, and his mind already made up against whatever it was she wanted to ask of him. Of course Sango didn't know this, and she was hopeful that he was a reasonable man and would see it her way.

He sat in his desk and laced his fingers in the way that she had, his face stony and apathetic, she noted this and cleared her throat of the greeting she was going to use as a temporary neutralizer of there bad terms. She had made up her mind that being mean was not her aim, only to be firm in her case.

"Sango." He said her name like it was just another name in a world of face-less people; he belittled it and sneered at the ability to do so. She brushed it off and looked straight forward at him with brazen eyes.

"Let's get right down to it shall we? While on your premises, I have been harassed. I have been unjustly handled, and molested, and I am requesting something be done." She said. He looked at her, his face still stoic, nodded, rubbing at the stubble on his face.

"And who, may I ask, is this person that has maltreated you?" he said humoring her.

"I believe it was your head of security that sexually assaulted me." She said, her voice becoming realer with the realization that he had indeed sexually harassed her. She had always known it, but she hadn't realized it with a clear head. His face wavered a little but not much to have just heard the news that his head of security had sexually harassed one of his company's guest, wanted or not.

"And on what basis do you make this very, very serious charge? With all do respect Sango, Travis has been working here for five years, and has kept this premises safe from the," he looked up at her. "psychos that tend to drift here.

She frowned, and felt anger grow in tiny fragments at being called a psycho, and a liar in pretty wrapping. She dragged her chair upwards a little so that it was close to his desk, and she could rest her hands on it.

"The basis is being roughly handled in the parking lot, and having his body smashed into mine, when I was clearly doing nothing wrong. I have witnesses. He's also forced himself, literally, on my friend too, maybe even in a worse way, and the whole parking lot thing was not under a working pretense! I know what sexual tension feels like." she said.

"Rin?"

"No, Kagome!" she said, as if it mattered. He shifted a bit and sighed.

"Ok Sango, let's say this is true, let me just call Travis in here." He said humoring her. They waited in tense silence until the giant himself sauntered in; dragging his feet like a bear. He seemed annoyed to be called into Hisho's office but upon seeing Sango he grinned, and leered at her. Sango didn't react but instead allowed it to continue so that Hisho could too see. He did see but chose to look away. Sango caught this and with a shocked expression shuffled between their faces with a scowl on her face. She stood, her contained anger leaking slowly outward.

"Sango says you sexually assaulted her and her friend… is this true?"

"…no, you said you didn't want her on the property right, I was just doing my job." He smiled sleazily, his eyes narrow with a predator's intuition.

"You have a point…"

"No, no he doesn't! That doesn't give anyone the right to pin me up against the wall with his hands twisting one hand, and the other touching god knows what, or forcefully try to jam his sick tongue down someone's throat. Is that what you tell your security guard to do Hisho, slap people who don't comply with his sexual man-handling? Fuck man handling, molestation." she growled, restraining the need to scream. Frankie grinned, getting off on her anger.

"You were resisting arrest, and your cute little friend was damaging Now property. I can't just let that happen can I. I wouldn't be doing my job now would I?" he said grinning. Hisho shrugged, that was enough for him. Though he was grinning he didn't seem happy to be accused, his smiled tapered off into a false one, dark and threatening. He was now in front of Sango, daring her to open her mouth again. She glared at him, hearing his challenge as clearly as if he were saying it.

"Sexually harassing women is not your job either pig!" She took a threatening posture toward him, leaning into him with aggressiveness as she upped the urgency of her accusation.

His sharp eyes dilated and she could feel his anger, he wasn't playing anymore. That was fine with her, because she hadn't been playing in the first place. She felt the ice between them as he silently threatened her.

He licked his lips and growled quietly. He wanted to slap her, punch her and watch her bleed, and he wanted to kiss her like she was his, make her submit to his fist and his lips and his body. He could see the bruises on her face and the look of terror as he crushed her beneath him.

"He has a point." Travis looked up, and his smile returned.

"The hell he does Hisho. You aren't that thick are you? Would you purposely put your female employees in danger! He's a predator Hisho! Ever wonder why Rin is so reluctant to work late nights? It's because she has an audience. This pervert looks in through the window! There's no telling how many female employees he's touched wrong…" He shrugged and grinned wider, impressed with himself and how he was getting away. Sango felt a need to hit him suddenly become first priority. Hisho was obviously bored of this, because he stood, and dismissed Travis. He grinned and licked his lips at her.

"Look, you obviously don't have enough evidence and---"

"What!" she shouted.

"That's not enough---"

"I heard you damnit, I just can't believe you said that!" She shouted, restrained, shut down by a couple of words from Hisho's mouth. Was this it, was she supposed to stand by while he molested other girls, and more of her friends. She wasn't going to let it reach Rin, she wouldn't.

"Hisho---"

"What is it that you propose I do? Fire him?"

"Yes!" she shouted. He scoffed at the sheer possibility of it. Fire him? That set him back at least a couple of thousand, and what, for some bitch whom he didn't even like? This would be the perfect retaliation for years of lost battles.

"Well, that's not going to happen. Do you know how much it would cost to fire him and hire a new head of security? You aren't even supposed to be on this property or, did you forget?" Sango bristled at the true reason behind his reasoning. Was he that corrupt? Would he actually throw his women employees into the mouth of a lion to save money?

"Is that what this is? You're basing your visitors and employees safety on a couple dollars? You can't be serious!" he motioned her out of his office.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Your business is done here, or should I have Travis escort you off the property?" he sneered, teasing her in her accusations. She was taken dismayed by him, her clashing emotions of frustration and helplessness brought heavy tears to her eyes. She snatched up her coat and glared a watery eyed glare. Travis grinned in delight at puppetry he had over her emotions.

"Yeah, I heard you loud and clear you cheap bastard!" she pushed past the little man, tears of anger threatening to spill over. She felt Frankie's tall form and looked away fighting his chance to see her cry religiously.

"What's wrong baby?" Frankie cooed, capturing her elbow in his massive hand, and squeezing harmfully. The vice grip he had her in made it impossible for her to pull away though she tried, she ended up making a semi circle back toward him with a vicious right hook. She clearly broke the skin, and he immediately tasted the metallic flavor of blood fill his mouth under his bloody jaw. His breathing became erratic with rage, as he beholds her strength that which still stood. He hadn't broken her spirit yet?

"Don't you ever put your filthy hands on me again you disgusting bastard!" she spat at him, taking the hallway by her fiery aura, disrupting the very atmosphere of the office. People looked out of their offices, merely feeling the callous feeling clouding the air.

"I'll be returning that favor soon enough bitch." He said sorely, spitting his bloodied spit on the floor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rin looked at her dismantled office and frowned with disgust. Sure, sometimes her office tended to get messy but this was scary. In the beginning the quest had been to find her keys, but all she seemed to accomplish was making a mess and loosing things that hadn't at first been lost. She stepped over her overturned chair, whose wheel still spun like a wheel of a car stuck in mud.

She sent busy fingers through numerous drawers, file cabinets, and client folders, mix and matching celebrity stories, insuring a painfully hard time organizing things later. She searched the trash can for the third time, her anxiousness eating at her, until she whimpered with each wrong hiding spot.

Her haste grew with each thought of the phone call she received that morning. That one phone call brought the best out of her, making her speed to finish her work with the utmost care as not to arouse suspicion from Hisho, the other reason for her haste. She knew from her spiteful escapades with the cab driver that Hisho would indeed receive a very upsetting call from the cab company, so she got Hisho's secretary (who shared Rin's opinion of Hisho) to forward the call to her first and give it to him later. She had to leave quickly, because it seemed the cabby had been working in haste too, and had acquired a two thousand dollar bill for Hisho to dissect with the frugalness of his own pocket.

That had in fact pleased Rin very much, but the thought of the aftermath crashing down on top of her left her uneasy, and rushing to hurry home, to give Hisho the weekend to simmer before he got his hands on her. With all this on her mind she plundered foolishly into one of her makeshift mountains bravely, only to be captured by the heel of her expensive stilettos. She screamed as she fell backwards. She pulled back her foot from the pile, pulling back one shoe, and another heelless one. She took her shoe off and cried, throwing it at the door.

"Where are they!" she cried. She sighed, tired from her endless search and the stress of her broken heel. Going to her mini fridge she looked in for water, or a comfort food of some sort.

"Yes!" she grinned pulling out a quiet frosty set of keys. Hopping up, she took her other shoe off, and ran out the door, barely locking it with her keycard. Dashing down the hall hallway, she ignored anyone that greeted her or questioned her god-like speed. Hisho's door opened as she approached, and the news of the cabby's bill was written all over his now scarlet face, as he opened his mouth to let loose her name, she u-turned and headed for the emergency exit. She only exhaled a trapped breath once she was outside, and greeting with a brisk fall chill. She jogged to her car, the cold ground burning her bare feet. She grinned as she knocked on the window, and it slowly came down. Sango's irritated face peered out at her.

"Three seconds Rin? Three seconds? Correct me if I'm wrong but that's how long I believe you told me you were going to be in there."

"Yeah I did but---"

"BUT you weren't in there three minutes were you? You Rin, were in there thirty minutes, how did you get three seconds and thirty minutes mixed up huh?" Sango growled, letting the full force of her glare go at the clock above the radio which read six forty-five as its only response. It was bad enough that she had actually felt a need to wait in the car with Rin to avoid a confrontation with Frankie, but Rin had made her wait past her patience point, and she was ready to go to war. She was tempted to find Frankie, just to have something to beat on.

"I couldn't find my keys and…" she looked to Sango whom was severely unimpressed by the story so far. She just wanted to go, she didn't feel safe anymore, and she didn't know how to make the feeling go away, it was like a premonition burned deep inside of her.

"Hisho he was mad so… I broke my heel!" she said. Sango unlocked the door, and marinated in anger at her the new restrictions forced on her. With quick nervous glances Rin stole a glance from Sango, whose arms were crossed over her chest stubbornly, and a scowl on her face to emphasize her discontentment. Rin sat in amazement; she hadn't angered Sango enough to arouse a silent treatment had she? She looked over, and then under at Sango's face that was downcast. Sango sniffed and looked out the window, but not quick enough for Rin to miss the angry tears that had finally broken the barrier of tenacity.

"Sango, what happened?" She asked quietly, almost darkly, for she knew she had not done this thing that made Sango cry. Sango always took to the intensity of the eyes when she talked to people, and the fact that she wasn't looking at Rin told her that she wasn't talking to her. She was just saying something in response to what she was really angry at, just in a different form. Sango looked at her with fiery brown eyes and put a clenched fist on the dashboard, her knuckles white with the fury she held in her palm.

"Why? Why do I have to hide around here like a criminal when he's the real criminal, stalking girl's, putting them in forced sexual situations, but I'm the criminal? I've felt it, Kagome's felt it, you've felt it…Rin he's a predator… there's no telling what he's done to some unsuspecting woman, and all because your boss is too cheap to get it done…"

"I didn't want to tell you… I uh tried to talk to Hisho about this but he…" The tension in the air wrapped around her tongue and proceeded to congeal in her throat.

"I know Rin, I went in to talk to the bastard myself, and he gave me the same bullshit, and called Frankie in to talk to me, and he loved it. He loved every minute of it and so did your boss. I won't let it end here Rin, I can't. It isn't even about me anymore." She said quietly, her voice hoarse with emotion. Her eyes were dewy with tears yet to fall and already gone, it spurred similar feelings in Rin.

"I didn't mean to get mad at you I---"

"I understand, Sango. You're my friend and I'll support you on everything, even on bringing down that sadistic bastard. I promise I will Sango even…even if it costs me my job. So please stop crying, none of those assholes at Now are worth any of your tears. Kay?" She handed Sango a tissue, and she wiped at her eyes with it, Rin's support healed enough to stop the fit of tears rooted from her frustration.

"We're okay now. I thought I was going to have to run down Miroku for a while there, glad you cleared that up." Sango giggled and sniffed.

"Okay, on a much lighter note, guess who just got invited to a Halloween party! Feel better yet?"

"I'm getting there." She sat up a little.

"Of course us, Inuyasha's throwing a party, and let me just help you vision the grandeur, every time he throws a party my phones blow up with exciting news of how he throws the best parties in the history of parties. If that didn't help you out of your hopefully former mood, Miroku invited us." Sango grinned involuntarily and Rin pointed at her excitedly.

"There we go!"

"What?"

"I saw that."

"I'm just happy we're going to Inuyasha Halloween party."

"Yeah, ok. It just so happens that among all those exciting words I just said, the only thing that was able to bring a small smile out of you was the word, excuse me name, Miroku. See!" She shouted, refraining from pointing as she drove. A small smile crept on Sango's face, and she let out a small gasp at the awareness of her smirking. She quickly put up a façade of indifference to overpower the small smile.

"Whatever." She said. After a few minutes of silence, she smiled again Rin's "other words" settling into her mind.

"What's wrong with you, thinking about Miroku?" Rin grinned.

"No, a Halloween party means shopping!" she said happily. Rin laughed.

"I've been looking for an excuse to go shopping. Looks like I found it! Let's go to your apartment and wait on Sakiya and Kagome to get home." Rin took her hands off the wheel and gave a small dance, of excitement, or victory at having the money to splurge on her costume.

"Hands on the wheel…" Sango's light hearted beginning of her sentence faded into something distant, and unsure. Rin stole a quick glance as she switched lanes, and glared wearily at a swerving driver. She sighed and fought back the thought that Sango's mind had drifted back to her boss's insensitivity and idiocy. If that wasn't the reason for Sango's absentmindedness she didn't want to scratch at the wound.

"I hope Kagome comes home…she's usually decorating the office because of that bitch Kikyo, leaving no hope for her to even think about her Halloween plans." Rin sighed relived.

"You shouldn't worry about that. Inuyasha will have a fit if Kagome doesn't come. Sakiya's there to protect her from the wicked witch. Her bullying is almost dead to Kagome, all we need is the house." Sango laughed as the image of a house falling on Kikyo entered her mind. Rin turned on the radio, already preset for her favorite station, and immediately began singing. Sango joined along in Rin's singing, but took the moment for herself as Rin's watchful eye over her was temporarily detained. She let her mind painfully explore the matter of Hisho, piecing together her plan of retaliation to the situation. Her face remained jubilant like the song suggested, but her mind churned in dark matter. She kept her thoughts of the matter from reaching her face almost as well as Rin was.

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Sakiya looked at the watch on her wrist. She sighed heavily, and yawned, then glared at Kagome which she had been doing every five minutes for the past two hours. She and Sakiya had finally finished her workload when Kikyo came in with a burden six times Kagome's, asking for Kagome's help. She hadn't known, and still didn't know what was going through Kagome's mind when she said yes, but whatever it was had Sakiya pissed. She watched people began to leave for the weekend and fidgeted. She looked at Kagome who was typing at the computer, keeping a steady pace to maintain the peace within Sakiya. She had to, or Sakiya would begin her lecture on not helping the enemy. She looked at Kagome and said her name with a whiney drawl.

"I know, I know, and I'm so sorry." She said. Sakiya sat up, her head pounding from her stomach's protest to not eating all day. She had reassured Kagome everything would be all right, and she wanted to follow through, even if it meant involuntary fasting.

"But why are you helping her. Look at all this work! You aren't her damn secretary. Ask her, no tell her---"

"You do realize I can hear you." Erica stepped out of her office, her hands on her hips, and her eyes glaring. Sakiya covered her mouth as if she had made a grave mistake, and stood to meet Kikyo's sidekick at the door. Erica grinned and hoped her submission would be as enjoyable as Kagome's. Erica hadn't exactly gone up against Sakiya before, and didn't know the full extent of the heat she could bring.

Sakiya glared at the girl frigidly, and put her hand on the door. With her free hand she gave her the finger, and held it for a while, ignoring the girl's shocked expression. She slammed the door giving her no time to show her own claws, and louder than before she started her sentence again.

"Ask her no tell her to take her small favor and shove it up her ass!" she shouted to Kagome, overpowering Erica's swear of vengeance, and then turned to Kagome, who was laughing, with a glare. Kagome promptly stopped laughing, and cleared her throat. Sakiya plopped down in her seat, her leg slung over the arm in a very rude way, almost hostile; in fact her whole aura was intimidating.

"I'm just doing this to make sure that nothing jeopardizes this weekend. If I had of said no there's no telling what she would have forced on me to ensure I was busy this weekend." Kagome actually felt a little relieved by Sakiya's indignation. She hadn't seen this part of Sakiya in a long time which provoked suspicion in her. She wasn't used to this reserved part of her, and it wasn't even reservation. It was like she was in a daze, like her mind was always preoccupied. She saw the way her eyes drifted away in sadness, it was subtle but it was there, and her declines on girl's nights out, and other friendly outings were becoming more frequent. Honestly it had her worried, and every time she asked was something bothering, she reassured Kagome that nothing was wrong. Personally she thought it was her ex-boyfriend who was still calling her. Kagome smiled, Sakiya's true quick-tempered self peaked out in all its fury.

"What?" she snapped.

"Nothing, come on, it's your turn." She said standing up and letting Sakiya take her turn at shortening the seemingly growing stack of papers, which was actually pretty close to being finished.

"Please don't be mad at me, I mean how can you be mad at me?" Kagome squeaked with innocence. Sakiya looked at her with resentment, and agitatedly felt her scowl break like the toughest storm clearing with the coming of the sun.

"If I get carpal tunnel, I'm suing you and that bitch in there. And I want dinner, an expensive one!" She sighed angrily, trying desperately to hang on to the shambles of her anger.

"Sure." Sakiya hadn't meant it, she looked up surprised.

"Really?" she said incredulously.

"I promise."

"In that case stand right there, and watch me work." For the first time as she began typing faster than she ever had before she saw the pile of papers that weren't that tall began to disappear, and the mountain of papers slowly turned into a hill, a mound, and then nothing.

"Where was all that vigor in the beginning?" Kagome said in amazement.

"The incentive wasn't there, now I know I'll go home fed, so let's not waste anymore time, and just go." Sakiya looked around the office. A small lamp with a dim reach was the only thing keeping the room from being completely dark, that and the computer screen. Everything was trying to detain Kagome and her from making it home; Kikyo, Erica, Hojo, the phone. Kagome answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" Kagome said, just as anxious as Sakiya was to leave. She felt something bad was growing and she wasn't able to stop it, it washed over her completely, leaving no room for doubt. She felt relief in hearing Sango's voice.

"Yeah, were actually on our way home right now. Stay here and work over the Halloween weekend, why would I do that? I have people to see, things to do, parties to go to." She looked at Sakiya and smiled. Sakiya grinned, as she put Kikyo's freshly printed papers in five assorted envelopes.

"Ok, bye. Come on let's go." She said her premonition of "evil" getting to her. She tiptoed out the door, Sakiya not too far behind, and quietly she pulled the key card from her purse and swiped it. They walked to Kikyo's office door and tapped lightly, alerting an empty room that they were there. They quietly opened her door and put the envelopes on her desk, touching nothing in the process. They exited, and closed the door softly. Sakiya looked around warily, and together they began to walk, creeping unintentionally into the dark, looking harder than they ever had before, tiptoeing around the corner.

"Let's go." Kagome semi whispered happily, turning to Sakiya with a smile. Her smile slowly faded into a frown as she took in Sakiya demeanor. Sakiya's arms were folded across her chest; she was glaring crossly, and held a gaze of conviction. Instinct telling her the change of edginess was not for her she slowly turned around, a grinning Kikyo and an equally amused Erica at her side.

"Kagome!" Kikyo said in a voice that suggested that she wasn't waiting at the door just so she could delay Kagome even further.

"Kikyo…?" she said, a little flustered at the surprise of Kikyo waiting by the door, and the thrill of almost escaping from her burden of a job with the Halloween weekend in her reach.

"I assume you finished the papers?"

"Yeah." She said a little anxious as Sakiya agitation grew, and Kikyo's grin grew too.

"Good." She said, making to leave much to Kagome's relief, only to turn back to them again.

"Actually, I have one more small favor to ask you." She said grinning with joy. Kagome frowned, not daring to ask what this favor was.

"You know how I said Erica would be taking care of the decorations this year?" she still didn't answer, Kikyo's jubilance telling her that she didn't care.

"Well, turns out something came up, so you're back on for decoration duty." She said happily.

"But I-I have plans!"

"I heard, and that's really too bad Higurashi." She said, and Erica giggled a little at the fire raging in Sakiya's eyes. Kagome just stood there, her mouth slightly open like she was going to say something else. That bitch eavesdropped on them just so she could figure out a way to ruin Kagome's weekend even more? She could see Kikyo at the door, smiling and calculating something to pull Kagome back into her grasp, and bring her back into her old self, the one who succumbed so easily it was delicious to watch.

She just knew she wasn't going to leave like Sakiya had convinced her she would, she had been working here for three years, she was the one that had endured, this was the way things worked around here, nothing ever tipped in her favor, why would it when Kikyo who wasn't even the boss was the queen of the whole damn place. Kagome could feel herself slipping into that world of cantankerous emotions that Sakiya seemed to visit quite frequently.

Sakiya looked to the side, feeling Kagome slip away from her cheeriness. She watched the transformation of her face from her wide surprised eyes to narrowed ones, and a small growl to match as she bored into Kikyo with dark thoughts. Hell she couldn't blame her; she had never had a boss that eavesdropped on you. It was so noticeable how much Kagome wanted to strangle her now that she could barely feel Erica's annoyance at being ignored.

"Bitch!" she glared.

"What!" she said averse to taking this from Kagome. Kagome shrugged and took on a care free glare. She let something from the inside penetrate her perfectly constructed walls that she used to keep her resentment pent up, and this was a rare occasion where it wouldn't stop there.

"Oh please, like you don't hear that every damn day of your life you power hungry slut." She said quickly, and swiftly, unaware of the ice she was spitting at her boss, the woman that could fire her. She slowly came back into her good judgment, and the fire slowly diminished. Though it was dieing something in her was still said she was willing to fight. This was something that had been progressing since high school; her job had little to do with it. Kikyo had no business being in a superior position where she had the opportunity to work with others, but this grudge ran deeper than that. Her arms were crossed over her chest in a defensive posture.

"Don't say something you might regret Higurashi. We wouldn't want to find a new job would we?" Kikyo said incredulously, trying to instill her usual threat through her surprise. She couldn't even think of a proper comeback. Kagome stood up straighter and more confidently now that her true feelings had made an appearance.

Kikyo was taken aback, she hadn't heard Kagome speak like that to her since they were in high school, it was surprising enough to make her pause, and the look on her face was enough to get the warning across that Kagome was not to be tempted. Tonight, she would go unkempt and be allowed to vent, this was overdue and owed to her, plus it was insurance that her outburst wouldn't wind up all over Kikyo's face, like it would sometimes in their days of adolescence. Everyone watched Kagome as she seethed, and locked eyes with Kikyo, wrestling with the decision to slap her, but she held her tongue reluctant to letting her job go.

Erica frowned, and turned to Sakiya, it was her turn to gain a slave, her turn to match Kikyo's meanness, but only on a different target.

"You're not going to leave your friend to do this all alone are you?" she grinned, as she let Sakiya in on her part of the perfectly calculated plan. Sakiya had never intended on being treated any different than she was used to, and wasn't going to except anything less. She turned from Kagome to Erica, surveying her, her face so annoyingly bland that it was angering Erica that she wasn't pissed, unlike Kikyo she wanted to see Sakiya mad; in their little wars she seemed to be the only one that so openly felt that emotion.

"What? I don't speak lapdog." She said grinning as the girl bristled. She instantly began to guess what Sakiya buttons were, throwing random things out, testing Sakiya to see how all the things she said fazed her, but all her efforts amounted to nothing, as her smirk still remained. She was so predictable and shallow that Sakiya could see what she was thinking and knew exactly what buttons to push.

Kikyo was pissed that she couldn't intimidate Kagome like she so loved to, she felt a righteous sense of indignation at Kagome's new found strength. She couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Erica gave a small frustrated scream, and Kikyo whose eyes were still locked onto a very pissed Kagome took her friend by the elbow and dragged away. That was the first time she had ever felt her hold on Kagome wane.

"Whatever, Higurashi just have it done by tomorrow." Yes, that was still reality, "have it done tomorrow" that was her reality. No matter how many times she mouthed off, it still amounted to the shambles she called a job. No matter what she said, this grudge would always hang over her, she couldn't win, and now she was dragging Sakiya into this. She turned to her still fairly new friend, her face painfully apologetic. Sakiya was stuck in her grin, proud of Kagome for standing up to her bully. She felt Kagome's puppy dog eyes whimper for attention, and she turned to her.

"Hey, what's wrong? I told you if this happened we'd make this work." she said wondering why she was the only one reveling in Kagome's triumph.

"I don't want you to ruin your holiday weekend Sakiya it's not fair for both of us to suffer because of her grudge against me." She said, looking as if she was about to cry. Sakiya continued to grin.

"Finally, you stood up to that bitch; I thought you were going to punch her." Kagome's frown lines deepened, and the look of melancholy on her face increased, Sakiya's angle wasn't selling. Sighing she placed a very light comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Kagome, I'm not going to leave you to do this alone. I told you I'd help, and when I say I'm going to do something you can trust that I'm going to do it. Besides you've been way more than a friend to me. You helped…you're helping me get through my drama with Akira with a smile on your face. As long as I'm here I'll help you Kagome and…it's the least I can do…" Kagome slowly felt a smile at the emotion Sakiya was trying so hard to get out. She knew dealing with Akira Sakiya had to keep a strict lease on her sadness, or any sympathetic emotion like that or they would go unkempt, and in some cases she would be worse off. She could see the best of it in her eyes though she tried to advert them.

"So good job Kagome. I think I'll buy you dinner…breakfast!" she said smiling, this time making sure Kagome's privacy was secured by slamming the door shut. Kagome sat down, and put her feet up on the table, her hand over her face. Sakiya showed similar dreariness, laying her head down in an overly-exaggerated manner, putting forth the illusion she hadn't slept in years. The thought of how much work they had to do was a heavy burden; it weighed heavily physically and emotionally.

"I…we have a lot of work to do." She said quietly.

"Yeah, we do." She yawned. Silence passed for long years between the two, and things seemed to age around them, depression filling the air like a toxic gas, both of them causing the thickness in the air, though their reasons were different.

"Its eleven o'clock." She merely stated, giving time a physical form; that of a road block that grew as the clock ticked.

"I'm not going to make it." she said quietly, giving no clue as to what she was talking about. To an outsider the comment would have been random, but Sakiya understood.

"Why?" Sakiya asked, even though she knew Kagome would not be going as soon as she saw Kikyo and Erica sitting by the door. She just had to hear the limitations so she could envision them.

"Of course I have to decorate the whole damn office, which insures that we won't leave until about five or six. She won't accept anything less than that to call her own."

"Five or six? But why can't we just---" She started hopefully, but Kagome cut her off.

"It's against the rules for this office building to stay open past twelve thirty, it doesn't open until twelve on the weekends…" she said solemnly, depressed that this was happening again. She had gone so long without Kikyo bringing her down, it was like rehab, and now she was hooked again, forced to depend on her enemy, an enemy that would unquestionably always let her down whenever it was convenient.

"I have no costume," she continued "and by the time we finish this, I won't have time to get one. I've been so busy in the past that I've neglected family traditions, last year and the year before last I didn't take my little brother trick or treating like I always did, and I can't miss it this year Sakiya I just can't do that to him again. It will have gotten dark by six, so I'd have to take him right after work." She said. She looked at Sakiya, extra years etched into her forehead. Sakiya frowned, and felt her heart cry out for her friend.

"Well I guess you better call Inuyasha and tell him we aren't going…" Sakiya said. Kagome looked slightly alarmed, and looked up her eyes wide with surprise.

"I'm not going without my friends. You know if you don't go Sango and Rin aren't going. Besides, he'll have plenty more parties for us to go to, trust me, so don't try to talk me into going." She said defiantly standing up. Kagome smiled, Sakiya friendship based devotion to her clearing the murkiness in her mood. She hugged her, Sakiya's arms hanging limbo in the air like she could find no place to put them. She blushed and awkwardly patted Kagome on her back. Kagome let her go before her comfort zone completely collapsed on her.

"Thanks, but I'll manage. I want you to go to that party and have fun. Go dry hump some guy and get you a new boyfriend. Better yet why don't you invite Kouga and dry hump him. It's always more fun to hump someone you know. It's a good conversation starter." Sakiya laughed, still intent on not going. She tinged red as her laughing became more of a nervous gesture instead of an appreciative laugh.

"Hey, not my style, especially not on that wolf." She laughed her resolve not as strong as it had been in the past. Kagome grinned, it sound like more of a maybe to her.

"I guess since we're not going, we can rent scary movies, and scare the kids who come to get candy." Sango said from the door, dropping six sacks of decorations which she had divided three to each hand, onto the floor. Rin stood next to her, four in each of her hands.

"Yeah that'll be fun, I could buy silly string. Watching a kid scream is always a funny thing." Rin said grinning. Kagome jumped.

"What're you two doing here?"

"Oh, well we got worried when you and Sakiya didn't come home, so we figured Kikyo made you stay and decorate, so here we are to help. This time I didn't waiting for you to ask me." Kagome frowned; she would not drag them down with her.

"I want you guys to go to Inuyasha's party, I'll be fine!" she said.

"I swear you're so stubborn, you never want us to help you, thinking we'll think of you as some sort of burden." She said giving Kagome a watered down glare of some sort.

"You're so stupid Kagome. Nothing you do can be considered a burden to us. Excuse me for sounding corny, but it's in a friends contract to do something like this for each other. You make us look bad when you're stuck doing things like this by yourself." Rin said disappointed in Kagome's lack faith of in them.

"See? I told you we'd help you, look they even brought decorations!" Sakiya said going through them. Kagome looked at them apologetically. She hadn't asked for their help, because she thought that would be the thing that pushed them over the edge. For the three years that she worked under Kikyo, she had exposed them to a lot of Kikyo's abuse, and they had taken it just like she had. She thought they would have dropped her load by now…

"I'm sorry." She said, in an almost tearful voice.

"We forgive you, now let's get started!" Rin smiled, pulling Kagome by the hand.

"But the building will close in about an hour."

"We'll deal with it when that time comes. Until then let's get started." She still frowned, despite the relief.

"I have to call Inuyasha and tell him I'm not coming…"

"He's going to be pissed." Sango said. Rin nodded. Sakiya frowned. She had more insight into the true Inuyasha; she had basically lived with him during her childhood. His true self tended to surface from time to time in the long years that past, and even more now than ever now that Kagome was in the picture. Though neither him, nor Kagome noticed it, at times he glowed when she was around, he'd be more than pissed, he'd be hurt. By the time Sakiya had stopped reviewing her thoughts, Kagome had the phone on speaker, Inuyasha's answering service had picked up, and a beep had soon followed.

"Inuyasha…I was really looking forward to coming to your party…" her friends watched as she barely got the words out of her mouth about her situation and Kikyo. It was deep despite the few words she was saying, her emotions said mountains more.

"I want to say I'm sorry, and if there was anyway I could make it there I would…I-I just can't…" she said, penetrating into the beginning of a thick silence as she realized she was dragging him down too just as she was her friends and family.

"Me neither." Rin said.

"Sorry Inu." Sakiya frowned.

"Yeah, Inuyasha. We know it's gonna be a hellova party you don't need us to make it the party of the year." She said repentantly. The message beeped, reaching its limit.

"Thank you guys, I really mean it." She said standing up her sincerity highly appreciated by her friends.

"Yes, we know, and you're sorry. Now that that's out of the way lets get to decorating this place." Sango said, throwing bags to everyone who hadn't yet grabbed one, which was everyone.

"You won't believe what Kagome did." Sakiya grunted from under her heavy bag.

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"Miroku, you're a genius." Inuyasha said, looking around the giant mansion they had rented out.

"No, you came up with the theme which is perfect I might add." He grinned, toasting Inuyasha with a cup filled with a dark liquid.

"Yeah I know." He smirked back at his friend who in turn yawned putting his cup down.

"I actually don't think I'm much of a genius, because I some how got tricked into staying up until ten til five, to help decorate. I don't think that's the work of a genius."

"Yeah, it is me." He laughed at Miroku who sauntered off in a sleepy daze to a chair, and closed his eyes. Inuyasha let his friend sleep, and walked around the room surveying his work.

Tapestries of black velvet hung over the ceiling horizontally, and down the walls, a rich scarlet in the folds of it. An old chandelier hung from the middle of the room, hanging about eight feet from the floor by a long black chain. It swung on purpose of course, but posed an unnecessary threat that it would fall upon the occupant's heads, but it was very secure, and Inuyasha made sure of that. The chandelier had thick holders that held fat blood red candles. The wall fixtures were similar to the chandelier, a steel black base reaching out into the room, and then a chain holding a lantern with a red flame. The tall gothic style windows were dressed with thin, almost transparent blood curtains. Each window opened to a balcony type place where one could go to be alone, or die. At least that is what Inuyasha would tell his guest to add to the haunted effect of the house.

A grand stairwell with creaky old steps, covered in cobwebs, started about twenty feet from the door, disappearing into some dark compartment into the heaven, until you reached the end, which was straight ahead as you entered the house. There, the d.j. was busy testing his equipment to see if anything had managed to become damaged on the ride over.

Upon entering, if you paid attention you would notice the dead red roses lying lethargically to one side in beautiful pots. Between the door, and the main room (which is where the party was) was a long corridor, all black to keep with the theme, but there was no light, only one at the end of the tunnel, the windows were covered to keep the room as dark as a tomb. The only light was a small candle, dim and barely enough to lead the guest to the party. All and all, Inuyasha was pretty happy with his work, and the theme which happened to be Edger Allen Poe's story, The Masque of Red Death. He could vaguely remember the story which he had been forced to read in the tenth grade. He had even managed to get a clock of Ebony whose appearance, in the absence of party goers was as daunting as it was in the story.

The main room had exactly six doors, making seven rooms including the party room. All the rooms though not as magnificent in size, were rooms that could be entered, in fact he wanted everyone to enter them, he worked too hard helping the decorators for them not to. The first door was a brilliant blue, its tapestries also the electric color, along with everything inside. The second room was a deep purple, its color even deeper in the articles that sat in the room. The third was a true green, vivid like poison, but dark to keep with the Halloween theme. The fourth was orange, the fifth white, and the sixth violet, keeping with the idea of the story. Though the rooms were donned with vivacious colors, it was still something sinister about them, the matching of the tapestries, and the articles inside also the same color if stared at too long and if one was familiar with the story it was truly eerie, in that it didn't keep with the usual theme of Halloween. It was so meticulously coordinated with the story that it made one look about warily and wait for the red deaths embodiment. It made the main party room that more forbidding. In realizing that these rooms were actually starting to creep him out Inuyasha felt his job was nearly done. He grinned upward at the old wooden roof and it's shady rafters that could hide anything mortal or immortal, as things often did on October thirty-first.

He was so wrapped up in the grandeur of his party that he only just missed the buzzing on a little wooden table next to him that held his cell phone. He smiled as he received all the back messages of the many guest telling him how they wouldn't miss his party for anything. By the time he got to his sixteenth message he felt himself growing weary with the praising and almost put the phone down, that is until he heard Kagome's voice.

He listened to her message once apathetically, each word just one of many, making up sentence after sentence. Again the message played again, as he did not give his voicemail the consent to continue foreword with his other messages. This time, he listened, hearing more than what was said to him. Her voice riddled with torture lacked those different flavors of amiabilities she often carried with her, whether she was mad, happy, but from what he could hear, not sad.

This was a pitch he had never heard her reach before, one that was too low for, one that was so painful, and as he took on a stony face waiting for the culprit that weakened her spirit to the extreme of nearly broken, he realized that this was not a new found emotion. No this was something that had been with her for a long time. This was something he had not sensed, but instead allowed to grow inside her; he had allowed this…

He growled, suddenly enraged. Who the hell did this wench think she was? She had in fact called to cancel, but not of her own will. Did this bitch have so much power over Kagome that she was now unreachable to him? When the fuck had he allowed something other than Kagome herself to come between them! She was just another rule that would put limitations on them, and he barely could stand the ones Kagome put up. He didn't play seconds to anyone.

He sneered standing, if this bitch thought Kagome was going to be hanging on the end of her leash, she was very confused. Not that this party was any real big deal, but he would not be second place to some bitch, she was too good to hang on her word. He pulled his keys from his pocket, and threw open the large double oak doors, and sprinted down the dark hall way. He opened the primary doors to the house, and found the outside which he had been sheltered from sound and all was wet, rainy and miserable. It was a fitting mood for his suddenly dark one. He didn't mind though, apparently he'd just have to give out the invitation in person.

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Sango sat atop a latter, swirling wine in a paper cup. She savored the sweet taste before swallowing, the mixture giving her a warm filling as it traveled down her throat. This wine, which Sakiya had kindly stolen from Kikyo's office, was a celebration for the time, which was three o'clock, past twelve thirty. The security guard had kindly let them stay inside to decorate. Just to spite them Kikyo stayed too, but Kagome didn't care, she was actually quite content. With their decorating skills, and Sango's expert directions they had converted the majority of the large office. They divided the office into smaller sections, making it easier for them to envision the amount of undecorated office space come to be swallowed by the orange and black colors of the festive time. They weren't that far from being finished, and could actually see Inuyasha's party as an attainable goal. As they began to realize that they might actually make it they began to rush, their speed not taking away from the quality of the decorating.

"Where'd you get these decorations from?" Kagome said from behind a banner, one of the few things she had left to do.

"Last year I made up my mind that I'd help even if you didn't ask me so that you wouldn't have to spend the whole day at your job decorating. So when you came home last year, the next day I went straight to the party store and bought tons of decorations." She said, taping a black bat to the ceiling by the clear string that it suspended from. She sat down, on the latter, and leaned backwards, using the wall behind her for support.

"I promise I'll make it up to you guys for this!" she said in a lighter tone, different from the apologetic one she had used only hours before.

"You can buy our costumes, because were going to that party. I believe we're finished." Rin said excitedly, her energy still not fully spent, due to her naturally energetic nature. Sakiya listened quietly from the window, watching lightening strike brilliantly in the storm brewing outside. Every since it had gotten into the later hours of the early morning she had remained silent, not sure if her mouth could move now that it was stricken with fatigue and starvation.

"I'm sorry sir! But its after hours, the building doesn't open for another six hours! I---" They turned at the alarmed voice of the man as he fought gallantly to his job. As the noise ensued they became worried, even Kikyo rounded the corner, standing rather close to a cubical as if that would save her if somebody was trying to break in. Erica soon followed, uneasiness claiming her too.

"What the hell is that?" Sango asked, setting artificial cobweb on the top step of a ladder. She carefully came down the steps looking back every so often to observe exactly what step was next, and how far it was until her foot reached it.

"Blah, blah, blah is that all you do? I told you I'm not leaving until I talk to Kagome!" Inuyasha said, his words rumbling through his chest in a definite manner, like law. He grinned as the man took a very erroneous swing at him. He countered, much to the security guard's dismay, by capturing the man by his face. His open hand covered his whole face like his head was a baseball and Inuyasha's hand was a catcher's mitt. His claws sat at the outer perimeters of the man's head, careful not to puncture the skin. He sneered at the man as he flailed around, half his movement either random, or trying to pry Inuyasha's iron grip from his face. Inuyasha was quite entertained, like a cat playing with anything that happened to move in its perimeter. He snickered as the man unsuccessfully tried to remove his hand.

They watched for a while, merely observing Inuyasha's immaturity as he continued to tease the man, oblivious to their eyes. Kikyo and Erica watched too star struck to have an opinion on Inuyasha's stupidity. They watched, struck dumb, by the presence of the model with flowing silver hair, and the looks of a god in their midst. Having to never do work outside the building, they rarely caught stars at such a close proximity. Kagome sighed, growing annoyed with the game he was playing with the poor man. His ear flickered quickly, and swiveled over to where he heard the sound. Kagome, whom had quickly found herself irritated, felt her heart melt at the silver triangles on his head. The man had grown dependent on Inuyasha's hard grasp to keep his balance since he couldn't see, but when Inuyasha let him go, he floundered forward, and fell to the floor.

She opened her mouth to complain about his idiocy, but as he approached every word in every sentence she had in her head began to disappear from her vocabulary. She was lost in the dazzling absorption of that magnificently ocher gaze that only one other person had, and even that wasn't the same thing, not by a long shot. His eyes were almost as dithering as hers, he didn't know what to say either, which was unusual for the playboy of the century, as many magazines put it. She noticed this, but she didn't take in how he left without his words, believing there was something more to say in silence, in actions.

"Two weeks and three days…" she whispered quietly to herself, and reveled in something obtained once again. She couldn't deny it or say with a joke like air as she had done before, she had missed him.

He drew her into him, his arms encircled around her mid back. His movements weren't wolfish, or hungry for skin, he remained respectable to her person, because on their last embrace she had made her choice, he never went backwards, progression was his nature. He paused a while, and waited for her rejection, not that he expected one.

When she said nothing, he continued with the capture of her mouth, a soft embrace for her hello. Her lips were so soft she felt as though she was barely there. He increased the pressure as she leaned into him and her mouth opened to explore that mouth she had only written memories in once once. Their tongues gave a soft embrace too, though the soothing of the fire was quicker this time, their discovery of each other was cut short. Kagome was still lost in the pleasant darkness while the real world filtered back in for Inuyasha.

He growled into her mouth sending pleasure vibrating through Kagome's tongue unintentionally. As he started on this endeavor, he had realized that exactly three pairs of eyes would be watching them, not five. The two added pairs of eyes weren't just glancing; they were gawking, glaring at them hard enough to make a man who had risen the temperature of public displays of affection past what him and Kagome were currently engaged in. Kagome slowly found herself falling from the high, her fall turning into a crash once she locked eyes with the two extra audience members.

Kikyo, who was happy now that she had successfully broken the couple up grinned as she approached them. She stepped between Inuyasha, and Kagome, whom he still wasn't done greeting. Kagome could feel the initial stages of a very specialized form of jealousy directed solely toward her boss, whom had really been working on her patience. Inuyasha glared at her, patience that for Kagome had taken nearly three years to grow thin, already coming to a very quick end for him.

"Kagome didn't tell me that she knew Inuyasha Takahashi!" she grinned invading his space even more than his tolerance would allow. He growled running his eyes down her form. He was much more partial to the silence than her voice.

"You must be Kikyo."

"In the flesh." She said, as though she really made an impact on the world.

"So you're the wench. What the hell are you on that makes you think so highly of yourself. Maybe I should invite you to my party it might entice you to get a life outside of torturing people who work for you. On second thought I don't want you anywhere near me my friends, or Kagome for that matter. You do know that blackmail is against the law, and with my pull I could get the best damn lawyer there is on this case." He said to her, glaring darkly making her back away from the dark turn his attitude was taking. His voice remained controlled for the most part, as he tried to tame the spikes in his volume.

He had allowed himself to brood over this situation during his thirty minute drive to Kagome's job, and had found at least seven more things about this woman, he had yet to meet until today, that he hated. She stood up erect as the conversation started to turn into an area that was beginning to dawn on her. He actually didn't find her attractive, by the look on his face he found her…annoying? It shocked her, had he just threatened her.

"Lawyer?" she stuttered overwhelmed by his less than hospitable greeting.

"Yes bitch, a lawyer. I don't make idle threats, and yes this is a threat so I suggest you listen." He motioned threateningly with clawed hands. His protectiveness was intrepid, it reached out to everyone.

"If you ever fuck with her, or anyone else that has to do with her, I will make sure I find the best fucking lawyer to take you for all you're worth and leave you so far in debt that you'll be paying for this mistake three generations over, if you don't believe me just try me bitch." He said so quickly and crisply that everyone in the room felt his seriousness, Kagome if possible, more than Kikyo.

Everyone in the room felt minutely threatened by the fervency of Inuyasha's anger. She didn't know how to respond, she didn't want to respond. Her heart paused at the insight to her future as she gazed at Kagome and Inuyasha. She swallowed nothing, her throat dry and sticky. As the red on her face subsided, a spell of paleness washed over, and she was rendered mute. Her eyes were wide with his threat still in mind, and without any words, that her reaction didn't relay she left, Erica quickly following to no doubt pick up the pieces of her face that had be shattered by Inuyasha.

"Damn…" The security guard commented quietly, just now getting up. He had been afraid that if he had of risen too soon Inuyasha would have found his face interesting again.

"Thank you." She said quietly. She was slightly dazed, had he really just closed this ongoing chapter in life for good, that easily? His protectiveness, even concerning a situation as small as this one, was so fervent that she felt bigger feelings at play here, ones recoiling from both sides of the playing field. She gazed into his eyes once more while he was still minutely open and felt something she couldn't explain. It was like a transition into a new phase. This was different from any awkwardness, timidity, or anxiety she had ever felt around him. For the first time she felt as though everything that they did wasn't completely out of control. He was now apart of her comfort zone and it made it a lot easier to feel him out. Any coyness she still harbored at this stage lessened, into a comfortable stability. He pulled her back into their original position, leaning downward into her mouth. She turned quickly, and kissed him on the cheek, or as close she could get to his mouth without actually touching it.

"Wait, we didn't, I…" he stumbled out dumbly. She gave him one final hug, and grinned, turning to leave. He was floored by her control over the situation.

'The hero always wins at the end damn it, where is she going!'

"Maybe later, like at your party Inu. We'll see you there." She said cattily. She grinned lingering around him, to have just denied him of something he wanted. He watched her walk away, teasing him all the while in the softness of her skin, the fire in her eyes, the switch of her walk, and the lingering taste of her in his mouth. He felt used damnit, and with a grin and a small surge of adrenaline, or testosterone, he knew as well as she did that he loved it.

"Bye." They all said as they took the back entrance, fully aware of Kagome's bantering of Inuyasha.

Inuyasha sighed as a feeling similar to the one he had acquired the night Kagome prank called him washed over him. He threw an arm over the shoulders of the man whose face had previously been in his hand. He felt the man jump but chose to ignore it. The man watched Inuyasha, his movements jittery at every movement Inuyasha made.

"That woman's going to be the death of me man…" He chuckled. He stuck his hands into his pocket and sauntered uncaringly into the light drizzle and grinned, he was looking forward to it.

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Happy New Year People!