Okay, so I'm revising Bad Medicine. I hit a roadblock in Chapter 13 partly due to a review that got me thinking and partly due to my own muses, who refuse to help me translate my ideas into an update, even if they do provide inspiration. Perhaps it's because my writing style has changed since I started writing this, so for the sake of progress I'm doing revisions on every chapter. I still appreciate feedback very much, and I'm saving the original copies of the chapters in case you prefer the old one, but it's pretty much a whole lot of revisions right now. Some scenes have to go (as well as some characters), but it's still basically the story I had planned out in my mind, so don't worry.

Thank you for your support, and please bear with me. Muses can be unreasonable beings.

Author's Note: There's sex in this chapter and some others, foul language later on as well as violence. :D I really would appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. Nobody likes flames, right:D

Chapter 1

You Make Me Sick

Irritably, Kagome Higurashi tapped a newly-manicured finger on the meticulously polished surface of her father's desk. It was past ten o'clock in the evening already and she had a class at seven thirty sharp. If she was going to do the damn report, she needed the data he had promised he was going to let his staff collect in about—oh—nine hours. That included sleeping, eating, and shower time.

The number you have dialed is either unattended or out of coverage area. Please try your call later.

Gritting her teeth, she slammed the cordless back into its holder and leaned back into the plush leather chair, considering her options. She could write the report without the quantitative data and make it completely thematic—more of a concept paper. Their professor would probably skin her hide about taking the class for granted, not listening to instructions, and being a terrible student, but at least she would pass. She had a lot of faith in her capacity as a student, and regardless of the beating her ego would take, at least she'd pass.

That lazy pig of a hanyou that she just had to end up being partners with could do whatever he pleased. After all, what could you expect from Inuyasha Takahashi anyway? He was the spare of the affluent Takahashi family—a family that already had ties deep in the financial and political world when Inuyasha's father inherited. At present, thanks to his efforts and that of Inuyasha's older brother, the family's influence was now reaching into the media and arts, and Kagome would not be surprised if the rumors about the family buying up the local steel industries proved to be true. With achievers and go-getters like that taking care of all the work, who needed Inuyasha to be serious in his Business Administration course anyway?

Hmmm...let's see...um...me?

She sighed, telling herself to be calm and reasonable. Maybe he wasn't picking up because he was too busy skinning hides himself. She'd caught him giving someone a talking-to on his cell phone more than once since she'd met him. Maybe his staff hadn't acquired the information they needed yet. She just had to reach him somehow, tell him very rationally that she needed the data as soon as possible if she was going to write a decent report for tomorrow. No matter that she was probably going to have to jump on the caffeine circuit she'd worked so hard to avoid since sophomore year of high school.

Never mind that, Kagome, she told herself soothingly. After all, she was Kagome Higurashi. She was smart and well-respected in her year for being responsible and level-headed. She had a temper, yes, but nobody really got it to come out. The last time she'd yelled at someone had been in her third year of high school. She was grown up and self-possessed now, and she was not going to scream at Inuyasha because he wasn't taking her calls.

Nickleback blasted into her ears and she held the phone a few inches away from her ear. Damn him and his ring-back selections. He couldn't be content with the classic dial-tone and opted to deafen his callers with—

"Ah!"

She froze. That definitely wasn't part of How You Remind Me. She heard the clatter of something hitting a solid surface—the cell phone falling to the floor?—and other sounds that were all too clear despite—

"Inuya—" A shrill scream ripped through from the other line and Kagome swallowed, horrified and more than a great deal embarrassed by what she was unintentionally privy to. If she thought the girl was in any sort of pain or was being harmed in any way, she'd probably have been punching the emergency numbers just then. But as it was—

A male voice she knew all too well hummed through the receiver.

"Slow down...we've got all night..."

"Please...I..."

Kagome flushed a shade of scarlet that was deeper than the turtleneck she wore. The girl was begging him! It was awful and embarrassing and degrading to beg for something like that, especially if you begged a hanyou like Inuyasha! She refused to acknowledge the appalling urge to press her ear closer to the phone and at least get an idea as to why the girl would beg.

Or scream the way that she was doing now—shrieking her heart out so much that it pierced Kagome's ears painfully despite the distance.

Disgust roiled up in her stomach and she slammed the phone down, feeling a surge of anger not only with herself but with the bastard she'd just eavesdropped on.

How dare he cavort with another girl—no, she thought with another hot flush that made her itch to take her sweater off—how dare he cavort with a girl on the eve of the deadline for their report and leave her to work on it by herself! He had been the one to insist that she leave the quantitative data problem to him. She had suggested visiting a few companies and doing some new surveys as well as looking up old studies, but no, she had relied on him to get it done! She had believed him that afternoon when he'd assured her that he would have what they needed done before the deadline!

Fine, she thought as her anger hardened into resolve and she picked up the abused phone once more. I'll do my damn report, but let's see if you'll get away with being worthless this time, Inuyasha!

The pleasant dial-tone filled her ears for a few brief moments before it cut abruptly and a smooth, deep male voice filled her ear.

"Takahashi, Sesshoumaru speaking," came the immediate introduction. "May I inquire as to the nature of this call?"

Kagome felt her heart skip an apprehensive beat. She had never met Inuyasha's brother Sesshoumaru before, but she had heard as much gossip about him as she had Inuyasha. Not to mention he appeared now and then on the society pages with this or that singer or actress and he had graduated from their university at the top of his class a few years ago. She had not expected him to be the one to pick up—weren't calls screened before being directed to the members of the family? And wouldn't he be embroiled in some late-night-top-secret-business/political meeting with the Prime Minister or some other big-shot? What the hell happened to secretaries, receptionists, personal assistants, chiefs-of-staff—

Right. Get a hold of yourself, Kagome.

Sesshomaru glanced idly at the Ormolu clock sitting impressively on the mantelpiece of his study. The phone had rung three times already, telling him that all the staff was either asleep or otherwise occupied. He had been anticipating a call from his father and some friends and had instructed the secretaries not to screen after nine. It was a private line, in any case, and only people that he and Inuyasha knew were aware of it, so there was no chance of him speaking to anyone that had no business to deal with them personally.

"Good evening," she said hesitantly—then more firmly, reminding herself that she could be professional, grown-up, and mature about this—"please excuse me for disturbing you at so late an hour. My name is Kagome Higurashi and I would like to speak with Inuyasha Takahashi, if it were possible."

Sesshomaru had straightened in his seat at the meek girl's voice and had been prepared to redirect the call to one of the secretaries, expecting to hear another lovesick, stammered inquiry as to Inuyasha's whereabouts/welfare/whatever. But at the suddenly composed words that had followed the timid greeting, he had paused.

And been intrigued. Girls who sounded like that did not call up and ask for Inuyasha. They were either overly friendly or overly shy and they went around a lot of bushes before getting to the point. They did not call up at quarter to eleven at night and sound as though they were calling to remind Inuyasha that yet another one of his checks had bounced for this or that account or that he was scheduled to meet with the university's guidance counselor regarding his "excessively deviant" behavior.

But to bluntly ask, "Why?" was not Sesshoumaru's style. As was interfering in his younger brother's affairs—particularly those that did not have to do with business and the family.

"I'm afraid Inuyasha is not available right now, Miss Higurashi." His reply was automatic and his stature lessened in her eyes somewhat. He probably knew what Inuyasha was up to and didn't mind it in the least. That soured her opinion of him for some strange reason, but she listened in polite silence as he continued with a pointed, "If you would call in the morning...?"

"Of course," she said coolly, trying to keep the snap out of her voice. If his brother was sticking up for his awful conduct, she wasn't going to say anything about it. Except perhaps—

"I'm sorry to press you, Mr. Takahashi, but could I leave a message?"

Though he was pleased that she was giving him a little more insight as to her business with his brother—and as to who she was, for that matter—he murmured a carefully noncommittal assent—"Certainly."

Bracing herself for a little daring—a lot of it, actually, considering who she was talking to—she opened herself up to her anger and let it drown out the intimidation.

"Please tell your brother that if they have all night to take care of business," she said with as much icy contempt as she could muster, "I don't. I'm writing the report without him and I wish him luck in coming up with his own by tomorrow morning. Good night."

And with as much dignity as she could, the coward in her hung up.

The line went dead and Sesshomaru stifled his initial annoyance. There had been a lot behind what she had just said, and he wasn't simply referring to her displeasure with his brother. He put down the phone and stood up, a small, rare smile tugging at his mouth as he envisioned this Kagome Higurashi and her connection to his brother.

He checked the clock again and walked out of the study, still smiling.

Not much was changed in this chapter, so I'm posting it up quickly. I'm going over Chapter 2 and 3 (again) and considering condensing them. I'm still consulting my betas on that score, so wait a little while longer, yes?

And thank you very much.