Friend For Hire by Marulover

Chapter 1

I redid this chapter, after reading the reviews, I totally forgot how I put Naraku in two places. So, I decided to just change her boss to Hojo. Thanks for all of you who told me! I figured I would change her boss, since it was easier, and Naraku is worse than Hojo.

Chapter 1

"It's been a year, Sesshomaru. You need to get back into the dating scene," InuYasha said.

Sesshomaru looked up from his work at his brother, "InuYasha, you know how I feel about this topic. I'm not ready; I'm still in love with Kaguya."

InuYasha pounded his desk, "Wake up, Sesshomaru, she's dead. Rin needs a mother. You need someone. All you ever do is work. You're becoming a lonely cynical man."

"I'm fine with that," Sesshomaru said straightening his desk, from InuYasha's rampage.

InuYasha turned around and looked upset. Then an idea formulated in his head.

"What about Kagome?"

"What about her?" Sesshomaru asked confused.

"What about dating Kagome?"

"Are you serious?" Sesshomaru looked at him incredulously.

"Yes, what's wrong with her?"

Sesshomaru stopped what he was doing so he could pay his full attention to the conversation. "Kagome and I have been friends all of our lives. We don't think of each other in that way. There's no spark between us," InuYasha raised his eyebrow, and Sesshomaru saw it, "Besides, she's like a sister to me. That's all."

InuYasha shrugged his shoulders, "Fine, then. Well, then maybe she can set you up with some of her friends."

Sesshomaru glared at him, "Fine, InuYasha, to get you off of my back, I'll let you set me up with someone."

InuYasha smiled, "All right, you've got one Friday night."

"What?"

InuYasha raised his hands, "Hey, you said I could."

"Fine," Sesshomaru said returning to his work.

"I'll see you later, brother."

"Yeah, yeah," Sesshomaru waved him off. The door shut and Sesshomaru thought, 'Now I'm going to have to find a babysitter.'

Kagome Higurashi was sitting at her desk at work, thinking of how much she despised it and wished she could find another one. Yet, there was nothing open for an advertiser at the moment.

She'd wanted to start her own advertising firm, but didn't have enough money at the moment. She was barely scraping by as it was. She was two months behind on her rent. She was living by herself in a tiny apartment, with no life. She didn't have time, and for the most part, she didn't want one.

Her friend, Sango always tried to make her go out with someone, but she always had a good reason not to. Mainly the fact that she was in love with someone. The only problem was, he didn't even know, and had never thought of her as anymore than a friend.

Kagome's thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang. "Hello, Kagome Higurashi here, how may I help you?"

"Miss Higurashi, this is Sesshomaru Taisho's office, he would like to speak with you," the lady answered.

"All right," Kagome smiled, speak of the devil. Suddenly butterflies invaded her stomach; she always became nervous when she was going to speak to him. They hadn't spoken in a while and she wondered what he wanted.

"Kagome?" Sesshomaru's voice came over the phone.

"Hi, Sesshomaru," she said.

"How are you? It's been a while since we've talked."

"I'm doing well, yes, it has been, how are you?" She truly wanted to know. She knew he worked far too hard, and needed rest most of the time.

"I'm doing well."

"How is Rin? I miss her," Kagome smiled, thinking of the little girl.

"She's growing fast. I'm sorry to be so up front Kagome, but I was wondering what you are doing Friday," he said.

Kagome froze. Why did he want to know? Suddenly, Kagome was becoming very excited. Had he finally realized how she felt about him, and that she wanted to be more than friends? "I'm not doing anything Friday, why?"

"I was wondering if you could watch Rin for me, I have a date."

It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. He wanted her for a babysitter? After a year of not dating, he now was? Why wasn't it her? She put her hand to her forehead, and leaned against it.

"Kagome?"

She willed her voice to not show any emotion, as she always did when they would arise when she spoke to him, and only wanted to tell him how she felt about him. "I would love to baby sit Rin; I've missed her so much. What time on Friday?"

"If you could come over at seven; that would be wonderful."

"I will be there," Kagome hung up the phone.

Sesshomaru was standing in front of a mirror buttoning his shirt up. He rolled his eyes, how did he let himself get into this? He was perfectly happy where he was. He wanted to spend time with his little girl and watch her grow up. He wasn't ready for another relationship with a woman.

Sesshomaru finished buttoning his shirt and closed his eyes. His marriage wasn't the best at the end of it. Practically every day it would end in a fight. They were so happy at the beginning, where had it gone wrong?

His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. That would be Kagome. He rushed down the stairs. He hadn't seen Kagome in a while, and was somewhat excited to see her.

Sesshomaru opened the door, and Kagome looked up at him. She smiled the sweet smile that he knew so well. They had been friends since junior high. He was two years older than her, and InuYasha was her age. She'd bonded with both of them, but she had taken a liking to Sesshomaru. He was always so mean to everyone, but Kagome had seen something in him, that no one had seen.

She'd persisted in their friendship, and soon he had opened up to her. He'd learned to not be so cynical. Now, he was back to that point.

"Hello, Sesshomaru, how are you?" Kagome stepped up to him.

"I'm doing well, and I'm so glad to see you," he said hugging her. It was so comforting to him. He had forgotten the peace she always gave him.

He let her go, and lost the feeling. She walked by him, "Where is Rin?"

Sesshomaru followed her with his eyes, "She's around," he closed the door. "Thank you so much for coming and staying with her."

"Of course, I've missed my Rin. I mean Rin," she said correcting herself. She'd spent a lot of time with Rin over the past year and thought of Rin as her own at times. She glanced at Sesshomaru and wished that Rin was theirs.

Suddenly they heard the sound of pattering feet, "Aunt Kagome!" Rin yelled.

"Rin!" Kagome exclaimed, she caught the running girl in her arms, and swung her around. Sesshomaru watched, a smile appearing on his face. His little girl was always so happy when Kagome was around.

Sesshomaru looked down at his watch, he had to go. He rushed up the stairs, and back into his room. He took the tie and was attempting to tie it. He turned when he heard footsteps, Kagome came into view.

She smiled at him, "You never could tie a tie, could you?"

"Not very well, no," he smiled. She came up to him, and took the tie in her hands and started to tie it. Sesshomaru looked down at her, and watched how intent she was. Suddenly InuYasha's words came to his mind. 'Why not date Kagome?' Was it such a bad idea? Sesshomaru shook his head to get the thought out of his head. She was his friend; that was all. Kagome would be disgusted by his thoughts.

Kagome finished and patted his tie, "There you go," she looked at him with a proud smile on his face.

Sesshomaru smiled back, "Thanks so much." He grabbed his coat that was hanging lying on the end of the bed and put it on. He stood before her, "How do I look?"

"Very nice," Kagome smirked.

"All right, I'm off. I'll see you later," he said grabbing his wallet and keys and heading out of his room.

Kagome watched him go; she would always be there somehow when he'd go out on dates. She'd get him ready, and he'd always ask that question. Kagome sighed; she remembered all of the years that Sesshomaru was so popular with the women. She thought about it, and realized that she'd never dated much. After she'd found out that she was in love with Sesshomaru, she would always compare the guys she dated to him. It wasn't fair to them or her, and decided that if she couldn't have Sesshomaru she wouldn't date.

Kagome started walking down the stairs and heard Sesshomaru kiss Rin, and say good-bye, than heard the door close. When Sesshomaru had told her that he was getting married, her whole world crashed. She didn't eat for a week; finally, Sango had forced her way into Kagome's apartment, and took control.

She recovered, and was glad that Sesshomaru never knew about that point in her life. He'd wanted her to be at the wedding, but she purposefully took a business trip, and left the country so she wouldn't have to be there when he got married.

After that, they barely spoke. The only time they had any communication was when they'd send cards to each other for the holidays. Kagome started to bury herself in her work, not caring. Sesshomaru and Kaguya had moved away and that was fine for Kagome, she didn't want to see them together, and see what she'd missed, by being an idiot and not telling Sesshomaru her true feelings.

When Sango had told her that he and Kaguya were going to have a baby, she wore a happy face, but when she was alone, she'd cried her eyes out, wishing that it was their baby. Than, six years later, Kaguya had died. The two had been married for eight years, and Kagome was now twenty-nine, Sesshomaru thirty-one.

Everyone except Sesshomaru knew that she was in love with him. When he had moved back to Japan with Rin, Kagome was elated to see him. He was the same, only he seemed to be a bit more cynical than before. Over the past year they had started to build their friendship up again. It was wonderful and painful; she'd missed him for so long, that it was great to have her friend back. Yet, she'd been able to suppress her feelings for him, and started to date other guys, but now she knew she was still in love with him. She couldn't date anyone else.

Kagome sat on the stairs for a moment, thinking about all of this, she'd tried to turn Sesshomaru's head when they were in high school. She'd started wearing make-up, and did her hair, bought a whole new wardrobe, but nothing worked. It obviously still hadn't, if tonight was any proof. He was getting his feet wet in the dating world. Kagome sighed again, unrequited love was the worst. It would just eat at you, and consume you. There were so many times that her love for Sesshomaru would overwhelm her, and she'd start to cry, and wouldn't always know why.

Rin's voice suddenly penetrated Kagome's thoughts, and she was back in the present. She wiped away a small tear, and decided no more pity party. She got up and headed down the stairs to Rin.

Sesshomaru was sitting with InuYasha, Kikyo, and his date Kagura, at dinner. Sesshomaru glared over at his brother, whom he wanted to strangle. Why had he let his brother get him into this?

He'd gone to pick up Kagura, and knew it was going to be a bust, when he saw what she was wearing. She was wearing a very tight blouse, that was almost transparent, and a black bra underneath, with a tight, very short black shirt. Sesshomaru had almost gagged when he'd seen her.

Now sitting at the table, it wasn't much better, her personality demanded so much attention, and she knew nothing about anything interesting to him. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, as she sat there talking about how long it took her to do her hair and make-up.

He looked at InuYasha again, InuYasha shrugged his shoulders. This night could not be over soon enough. While they were eating, InuYasha briefly mentioned Kagome's name, and suddenly Sesshomaru wondered what she was doing with Rin right now. He would probably be having a better time with those two, than being here.

He always got along so well with Kagome. They had so much in common, and she always seemed to know him better than himself. He smiled at the thought.

InuYasha saw, "What are you smiling at, Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru straightened in his chair and cleared his throat, "Nothing."

Kagura looked over at him, and started to talk about nothing interesting to Sesshomaru.

Finally the date was over, and he took Kagura home. He drove back in silence, which was a blessing, since the whole way to Kagura's place she didn't shut up once. He'd started to get a migraine.

Again, his thoughts were pulled back to his daughter and Kagome. He wondered if they'd had fun tonight, and what they'd done. He tried to think of something special to do for Kagome, since she'd babysat Rin. He didn't want to just pay her, he wanted to do more. He wasn't sure what though.

He parked his car in the garage, and entered through there. The house was dark and quiet. He went through the kitchen, and found it all clean. He went upstairs to check on Rin, and found her asleep in her bed. Where was Kagome? He went back downstairs to the living room, and found her sleeping on the couch.

Sesshomaru watched her for a moment; her black hair was strewn across the pillow she was sleeping on. Her dark lashes lying across her white skin. She looked so peaceful; he didn't want to disturb her. Sesshomaru took the blanket off of the couch, and covered her with it. She moved a little, and a piece of her hair fell across her face. Sesshomaru bent to move it. He lightly kissed her forehead. She was such a wonderful friend to him. Sesshomaru left and turned off the lights heading to his room.

Light was pouring in the living room onto Kagome, and she woke up. She stretched and looked around her. Everything flooded back; she was at Sesshomaru's house. Wait, Sesshomaru's house? What time was it? She looked at the clock on the wall, nine o'clock. Oh, no, she had a business meeting right now she was supposed to be at. Why hadn't Sesshomaru woken her up last night, so she could go home?

She scurried around, getting her shoes on, and grabbing her stuff, before running out the door. She didn't live too far away from Sesshomaru so she quickly went home, and changed than headed to the office. She tried not to run, but walked quickly.

She came into the business room where the meeting was being held, and found people picking up everything. Oh, no, it was already over? She held her briefcase with her presentation in it. She was supposed to have given it. She quickly went to her boss's office.

"I'm so very sorry, Mr. Hojo. I overslept and couldn't get here soon enough," Kagome hung her head.

Naraku looked up at her, from his desk, "You obviously didn't get the memo about the other meeting last night, either Kagome."

Kagome's eyes widened, no she hadn't.

"I see this job isn't important enough to you, Kagome."

Kagome stepped closer, "Of course it is, Mr. Hojo."

"Well, I can't stand for this, you're fired, Kagome."

Okay I fixed it, and thanks everyone for letting me know!