Chapter I

Sesshoumaru Taisho had always considered himself ordinary. In his opinion, every aspect of his life and personality was just as ordinary as any other person, but if one were to ask anyone else, they would say that Sesshoumaru Taisho was anything but ordinary. At the age of 26 he was married and had been for two years. He had a step daughter from his wife's previous marriage who suffered from cerebral palsy and despite the child's disability; he still considered the life ordinary. Anyone else would think of him as the eldest son of one of the wealthiest men in the city and married to one of the most beautiful women in the city. From the outside looking in, Sesshoumaru Taisho had the perfect life. But that was only the spectator's view.

In reality, although he liked to tell himself that his life was normal, Sesshoumaru knew that if was definitely not. Having been unhappily married to Kagura Nakamura for going on three years, he was beginning to understand why his father mother had divorced. Had it not been for Kagura's daughter, Yuri, he would have probably filed for divorce after only a few months. He didn't want to admit it, but he had grown quite attached to the five year old child and discovered that he spent more time with her than her own mother did. Sesshoumaru got the distinct impression that Kagura could not see past the child's disability and come to care for her, but he secretly doubted that she could care about anyone other than herself.

Yuri was what Kagura called a troublesome child. She had a very weak immune system and was prone to becoming very ill even if she caught something as simple as a cold. Sesshoumaru pitied the child he had come to see as his own. In the time he had known her, life had consisted of rather too many visits to the hospital for his liking and the number of times the poor child had nearly died was frightening. More often than not, when the child had been fighting for her life in the hospital, it had been he, Sesshoumaru, who sat by her bedside while her mother was out gallivanting about the town, spending as much money as possible. Many times he had wondered if he could file divorce and get custody of a child who had clearly been rejected by her mother, knowing what life was like growing up without a mother, he had decided against it.

In fact, he disliked his lifestyle so much that he had almost considered taking up residence in his office in the tall building that was Taisho Technologies. Knowing it was a foolish idea, Sesshoumaru had taken to spending long hours in his office instead, only going home when he was sure Kagura would be out on the town or fast asleep so he didn't have to listen to her incessant bickering. All the hours spent in his office were not spent working though, contrary to what his family thought. When it became apparent that the office would become his sanctuary, Sesshoumaru had taken steps to ensure it was not simply a standard office. He had replaced the dull and dusty carpet with a new one, stripped the walls of their plain wallpaper in favour of polish wooden panels and removed the blinds that hung in front of the enormous windows, replacing them with dark red drapes. The uncomfortable seating that was used for meetings had been thrown out and replaced with a comfortable sofa and a couple of armchairs and a large wooden cabinet had been strategically positioned between the armchairs to house the television he had kept secret from his colleagues. Overall, he felt more at home in his office than his home did.

It was that very office that was the very cause of his current problems and as much as he hated to admit it, what had started out as a vague interest became part of an everyday routine and eventually an obsession. One night when he was the last person around save the security guards, he had tired of working and chose instead to watch the television which had been his first mistake. Upon turning it on, he found himself watching the news and had noted how attractive the female newsreader was. Although Sesshoumaru didn't watch the news on a regular basis, he watched it enough to know that she was a relatively new presenter of the programme. As boredom began to take its toll in his homely office, he started to turn to the television for relief more often than before and found himself watching the new presenter on nearly every news broadcast. As time drew on, he found himself turning on the television simply to see her face and then eventually, he would stop what he was doing just so he could watch the news, although he never paid any attention to it.

The younger Taisho son, Inuyasha, had been the first to notice his brother's obvious crush on the female newsreader. Inuyasha was not as polite and calm as his brother by any stretch of the imagination, but even he knew it was probably better not to speak of his observations to anyone other than the man himself. The man had vehemently denied the accusation when Inuyasha had eventually had enough courage to approach his brother about it. Smirking to himself, Inuyasha decided that he could have a little bit of fun with the interesting piece of information his brother had unwittingly given him.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Sesh, would you like to come over for dinner tonight?" Inuyasha asked one afternoon as he sat in his brother's office.

"Very well."

"Good, we'll see you tonight then!"

As Inuyasha strode out of his brother's office, he fished his phone out his pocket and dialled a number, a grin on his face as he waited for the answer.

"Dinner tonight?" he asked casually, not giving the other person a chance to speak. "Is 7 alright for you? Good. See you then."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

That evening, Sesshoumaru stood on the doorstep of his brother's home, waiting patiently for someone to come to the door. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he fidgeted with his tie in a rare display of anxiety. A bad feeling was building in the pit of his stomach and something told him that Inuyasha's sudden interest in his choice of television programmes did not end in the office that afternoon.

"You came!" Inuyasha said exuberantly as he let his brother in, ushering him through to the living room.

"Hello Sesshoumaru," Kagome said with a smile from her seat behind the living room door.

"I see you've grown," he said expressionlessly, nodding at her round stomach as he bent to peck her on the cheek.

"That tends to happen during pregnancy," she said with a teasing smile before gesturing to the sofa sitting in front of the windows. "This is our friend, Rin. Rin, this is my brother-in-law, Sesshoumaru."

Not really feeling overly excited about meeting new people without prior warning, Sesshoumaru suppressed a sigh before turning to look at the sofa and from his seat on the arm of his wife's chair, Inuyasha watched his brother carefully, trying very hard to mask his amusement. As Sesshoumaru's eyes fell on the sofa, his jaw would have dropped in surprise but his impressive self control saved him from possibly making a fool of himself. Instead, his eyes narrowed slightly as he vowed to throttle his brother as soon as he had the chance. The cause of his sudden ire was sitting sedately on the sofa, a polite smile on her angelic face. As it turned out, Kagome's friend Rin was the very same Rin who presented the news that he watched almost religiously.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said with a smile. "I've heard so much about you."

Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise for a moment. Her voice was so soft and it was so different from the way she sounded while she was on the television. Perplexed, he pushed the thought aside for further consideration later as he realised that she was waiting for a response. "The pleasure is mine," he said in his deep voice.

After a moment, Kagome struggled to her feet and waddled into the kitchen, pulling Inuyasha along with her, saying something about drinks. Sesshoumaru watched her leave and noticed with chagrin that the only free seat was on the sofa beside Rin. With a silent sigh, he sat down and carefully put as much distance as possible between them.

"How's Yuri?" Kagome asked as she returned and handed a drink to both Sesshoumaru and Rin before returning to her seat.

"Not well," Sesshoumaru said with a barely concealed grimace. "I suspect we shall be in the hospital within a few days."

Inuyasha frowned sadly. "Poor girl. What is it this time?"

"With her it could be anything."

As the trio discussed the child's ill health, Rin sat quietly in her seat beside Sesshoumaru. She didn't know that Kagome and Inuyasha had been expecting someone else for dinner. Her breath had caught in her throat when he turned and fixed his amber eyes on her. The man looked so much like Inuyasha it was unbelievable that they were not twins, but there was something about the elder brother that sent chills down her spine. Many times she had heard Kagome speaking of how he frequently had women attempting to flirt with him, but now that she saw him, she wasn't surprised why women would throw themselves at him. The man was a god in human form.

"How's work, Rin?" Inuyasha asked, discreetly throwing a smirk in his brother's direction as he spoke. "Rin's a newsreader, you know, Sesh."

"I'm aware of this," Sesshoumaru said, resisting the urge to cross the room and strangle his brother regardless of the two women present.

"It's alright," Rin said quietly with a thoughtful expression. "I think they're cutting my hours down soon though."

Sesshoumaru listened carefully and thought over the implications of her hours being cut. At the moment, she worked for one channel and presented all the news broadcasts through the day along with her co-presenter and somehow, he managed to catch every single one of those broadcasts even during a working day.

"You'll be on TV less?" Inuyasha asked in surprise. "I thought they had just hired you?"

"They have, but they've hired someone new who'll take my place."

"Which broadcasts will you be presenting?"

"Just the evening ones."

"Is that all?" Kagome asked in disappointment. "That means I'll only get to see you once a day!"

"I can't believe you watch the news just to see me," Rin said with a fond smile at her friend.

Inuyasha's eyebrow rose at that statement, he looked directly at his brother and grinned. Frowning, Sesshoumaru sent Inuyasha a venomous glare that clearly promised pain later. But he was glad that he was not the only person who watched the news just to see Rin. In fact, he still found it hard to believe that he was sitting on the same sofa as the very woman he watched on television every day. Sesshoumaru shifted slightly in his seat to get a better look at the woman beside him as she conversed with his family. Her brown eyes were framed by the thickest lashes he had ever seen and her smile seemed even more entrancing in real life than it did on the television. Normally, she was hidden behind a desk, but today Sesshoumaru could see all of her and she looked even better than he imagined. Her skirt revealed smooth legs, tucked beneath her on the sofa and a very dainty pair of feet encased in black stockings. Allowing himself to look her over, his eyes travelled up from her legs up her body. A white blouse gave the hint of voluptuous cleavage and he suddenly felt the desire to more than look.

"So how did you like my surprise?" Inuyasha asked later that evening while he and Sesshoumaru were packing the dirty cutlery into the dishwasher.

"If your wife wasn't in the next room, I would strangle you," Sesshoumaru said coolly.

Inuyasha laughed. "You can't say you weren't just a little bit happy. I know you've been lusting after her."

With a sigh, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes for a moment, realising his brother wasn't going to let this drop. "Even if I have been lusting after her as you so nicely phrase it, I can do nothing about it." Inuyasha looked perplexed for a moment. "Have you forgotten that I am married?"

"Ah yes. That's a shame."

"Isn't it just?" Sesshoumaru said sarcastically.