Summary: With no family left after a strangely tragic accident, Kagome is sent to live in a huge mansion while the preliminaries of a new temple home for herself are completed. What she doesn't realize is the man that lives there, isn't entirely a man. Dreams mix with reality, and tragedies blend into something better as Kagome learns to live with the horrors of her life and move onto something better. But when Kagome finds out that her family's fire accident isn't so much of an accident, she becomes hell bent on making right the wrong done to her, even if it means permanently pushing away the man of this mansion she had begun to love.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters. I do however own this story line and the created characters in here. Please don't plagiarize and this is a blanket disclaimer.

Chapter 1
The Phoenix That Did Not Rise

"For the Phoenix fell one day,
such a brilliant death in all the colors of life herself,
but she, for all her myths and claims.
Did not rise again as all had hoped.
For it wasn't was a physical nature that she died.
But of a broken heart."

By: LadyA.R.R.O.

~The call by some strange anonymous man who had requested Kagome Higurashi's presence only a week after the fire that ravaged her temple home was, at best, eerily strange. She knew her family home and the plot of land it had occupied was owned by some big shot multimillionaire somewhere in the US, but for as long as the young eighteen year could remember, she'd never met the owner.

~That was why the barely out of high school teenager with striking black hair and tempest blue-gray eyes rode the bullet train to a sky scraping business building in downtown Tokyo early that morning. Before the sun had even rose, Kagome had packed together the remaining belongings she'd owned and boarded the train at the small depot just outside of an outlying Tokyo prefecture. As she took her seat she thrummed her untrimmed fingernails on the white, medium-sized box of her salvaged belongings, really the only things left to remind her of her now deceased family. There were a few charred photographs, some saved heirlooms, some salvaged documents, and a pearl necklace dirtied by smoke and ash that her mother had been meaning to give to her when she got married. But none of that mattered now, these trinkets, pictures, and papers were simply small remembrances of a life she'd lived before everything was stripped from her.

~As the train came to a screeching halt in Tokyo's Bushido District, Kagome gathered her bright yellow school backpack that carried what was left of her clothing, and her box of reminders, disembarking with an expression of dulled numbness.

~She pulled out a piece of scratch paper from the pocket of her blue jeans, and while balancing her armload of on her knee, she looked up her destination's address before hailing a cab. She climbed into the first dark green with splashes of yellow vehicle that pulled up and mumbled the destination to the driver. As the car began to move, Kagome leaned back against the head rest and stared mutely out the window at the brightly lit, neon lights of darkening Tokyo. Night was coming on fast as the sun fell behind Mt. Fuji and emblazoned the mountains outline in a brilliance of golds and reds.

~Tokyo was as much of a bustling city during the later night hours as it was during the day, and the thousands of sights to see would have normally intrigued the young woman. But Kagome could seem to muster up the interest it took to even pay attention. She dully watched signs and store fronts blur by, not really registering anything or comprehending the people or places that came into view.

~Somewhere in her empty mind, she heard the cab driver attempt to start a cordial conversation. He was nice enough, but Kagome didn't feel the moral obligation to answer as she would have more than a week ago. All of his questions, his civil comments, or stuttered compliments about her eyes or clothes went on deaf ears and the man finally fell quiet, grumbling about the rudeness of kids now days.

~Vaguely Kagome told herself to keep calm and smother the rising feelings of depression and sadness that threatened to come pouring down her cheeks. She had realized only a day after the fire, upon returning to her burned down home and seeing the useless firefighters trampling through what remained of her life, and the police officers who could do nothing but talk about the Yomiuri Giants' next game, that though her own life had come to a screeching halt, everyone else's kept going. At times, the callous disregard by everyone around her, including her friends who tried their hardest to be obliging to a broken down Kagome, was infuriating, at others it was only depressing. The only way Kagome had found so far to cope was to cry in silence and numb herself to the pain by retreating inside her mind to block out that everyone else was fine while she was tearing apart at the seams and spiraling out of control.

~The taxi stopped at the front of Inu Taisho Inc. and Kagome climbed out without the help of her now muted driver. When she'd paid, plus a small tip, the muttering man sped off in search of a more friendly fair, leaving the young woman in the quiet of a seemingly closed down for the day business district.

~Kagome wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting when she arrived here, but it most definitely wasn't this. The Inu Taisho Inc. building itself climbed higher and higher into the low hanging clouds above, towering many stories over other buildings that neighbored it. Most of the surface was covered in sun reflecting glass, which while the light was low seemed to only reflect the last rays of pretty sunlight at the top as the shadow of night swiftly crawled up its windows and towards the summit top, snuffing out the last bit of daylight.

~Night had settled all over Japan and a touch of the cold weather forced an unprepared Kagome to shiver, her teeth chattering almost violently. She looked towards the building's entrance as a wave of floundering confusion triggered in her bogged down brain. The entrance looked dimly lit, and the windowed forum gave a clear viewed indication of an empty lobby.

~The young woman scrounged around again in her pocket for the scratch paper and in a near panic, glanced at the time written down by her friend, Yuka's mother. The pretty, neatly written handwriting read for six, but gave no determination as to morning or evening time. Yuka's mother, Rukia had sworn it was at night. That was why Kagome had spent nearly all day traveling to get here. She almost smacked herself for not having been the one to take the call, but with how depressed she'd been the day before, clutching almost frantically to a scorched family picture taken two years prior on a family vacation, Kagome just didn't have the wherewithal to take down the message.

~But just as the young woman felt the rising panic begin to drown her, "Miss Higurashi?"

~The teenager spun on heel and dropped her belongings in startled terror. Papers, pictures, and things all tumbled out and in that moment… that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Kagome slipped to the sidewalk as tears filler her eyes and she broke down into a bawling mess.

~"I'm glad you found the office without any difficulties," the white haired young man said, handing Kagome a cup of ginseng tea to calm her battled nerves. "When you did not arrive this morning, I had a feeling the times had gotten mixed up and that you were simply, abhorrently late." He approved her mumbled appreciation with a light nod and took a seat directly across from her behind the red oak desk. He carefully looked through some paperwork to his left, fanning out the pages in front of the woman, each one looking more formal than the next.

~"W-what are these?" She whispered, setting her cup down beside her hand and pulling a sheet of paper closer to her for better inspection. There were long words and terms that progressively became more and more complicated as the seemingly legal document continued on, and in the end Kagome pushed it away to clear her jumbled thoughts.

~"They are legal documents pertaining to your grandfather's and mother's last wills and testaments." The man who had formally addressed himself as Mr. Tama Bakeneko, receiving a sideways glance from Kagome, who quickly brushed it off, felt a small stab of pain go through her heart at the thought of her mother's and grandfather's wills being read to her. This was like the last proverbial nail being driven into their coffins, solidifying the fact that they were no longer around or there for her and she wouldn't be able to ever call on them again for help.

~Kagome's eyes teared up, glistening in the light from Mr. Tama's overhead lamps. "What do they say?" She asked, steeling herself for the answer.

~"Everything they owned was to be passed down to the remaining living relation. Which is this sad case, is you Miss Higurashi."

~A tear leaked out from the corner of her left eye and dribbled down her cheek and settled itself on her jawline, "b-b-but there's n-n-nothing left." She whispered, wiping the wetness away.

~Mr. Tama wasn't in the least bit phased by her emotional state and continued on, his deep brown eyes glancing back and forth between the different pieces of paperwork. "This, I understand. The insurance on the temple and home give no monetary payout, but it does have a rebuild clause. But…" He pulled out another piece of paper and passed it across the desk in front of her, "it appears that your family did not own the land it was sitting on."

~"No," Kagome sniffled and brushed away more tears, "our landlord, a Mr. Inuyasha Taisho did. Isn't that why I'm here? He's evicting me and my family's rights to the temple since the temple's now gone?"

~"No, Miss Higurashi. Your presence here today was for my employer, your landlord to come to a consensus." More paper shuffling was heard while Kagome pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe away her tears. "He has insisted upon rebuilding the temple. Something, I myself, happen to agree with. Although, there are several stipulations to the temple's reconstruction."

~"I-I have no money, Mr. Bakeneko. –"

~"You may call me, Tama-san."

~"Tama-san, I don't have any money to rebuild my home."

~"No, I do not suspect someone of your youth and lineage to have the funds readily available for that kind of an undertaking." He seemed to have insulted her, but Kagome couldn't see I Mr. Tama's eyes that his words were said in a malicious way and so she brushed off the comment. "But my employer, however, does." He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a pen.

~"Miss Higurashi, I realize how difficult a time you must be in currently. With your family gone and yourself experiencing this kind of a tragedy, I understand you must feel lost and alone, but there is light at the end of this dreary tunnel…"

~The more this man spoke, the less Kagome liked him. He was as emotionally inept as a dead corpse, though he looked like some movie star with his breathtaking appeal, glittering brown eyes with flecks of gold at the center, and his unnatural, perfectly straight, shimmering white hair. For all intensive purposes, Mr. Tama Bakeneko was perfect; tall and muscular in all the right spots and had an aura about him that just sucked an onlooker in. It was too bad Kagome didn't find herself as encumbered.

~"…Taisho has agreed to it, if you'll only sign this contract."

~Kagome came back to reality and realized she'd missed Mr. Tama's entire conversation. She didn't have any idea what he was talking about or to what end she would go towards now, but the handsome man was holding out the pen and expectantly waiting for her to take it. He almost seemed bored with this turn of events and was ready to make his leave of this place and Kagome's presence.

~Without thinking about it, and honestly forgetting to care, Kagome snatched up the pen and signed on the dotted line, tossing the pen across the desk and getting to her feet. She needed to catch the last train to the Nara Prefecture before eight thirty, and by the illuminated clock on the wall just behind the well dressed, business suited man, she noticed it was all ready eight o'five.

~Mr. Tama rose with her, gathering up his papers and setting them neatly into his briefcase, taking a much slower pace than he had when he'd pulled them out. In his pocket, both people heard a phone go off. It wasn't some musical tone like what Kagome had heard from most of her high school friends, or even the one her little brother Sota had on his. This call was a series of three beeps, that repeat only twice before the call was answered.

~"Mr. Taisho, how are you this evening?" He picked up his briefcase and signaled for Kagome to head towards the door. "I will meet you outside in four minutes," he deduced and shooed her off before she could answer.

~It wasn't that Kagome needed him to lead her to the entrance, she knew how to get there. It was a simple almost endless elevator trip to the ground floor to which she would then hail another cab and use the remaining money she had left to her name to hail a cab and get on the last train. It was the almost rude indifference this man had towards her, that disallowed her from actually liking this man. From the second she met him less than an hour and a half prior, she didn't like him.

~"She signed the contract, Mr. Taisho." There was a pause as Kagome reached for the door knob and opened it slowly, balancing her backpack on her shoulders and struggled only for a moment with her box. "I will call the limo now, sir, and she will be headed to—" it was all she heard before the door closed. She didn't care about the conversation or that she had hastily just signed a contract she hadn't fully comprehended. She just wanted to get out of here and to get to Yuka's house before morning. Exhaustion was traipsing around her mind and dulling her all ready numbed senses, to a point of making her seem mentally slow and the last thing she wanted was to deal with anymore paperwork tonight.

~The air outside was harsh and crisp on her face as she came to stand on the side walk outside. She breathed in deep, feeling the air chill her lungs and cause a shiver to crawl up her spine. The street outside seemed eerily quiet, even as earlier it was still bustling with those trying to get home after a long day at work. There weren't any passing taxis that she could see, and she assumed she would have to walk a few blocks to find someone who would pick her up.

~Steeling herself against the cold that felt chillier by the second Kagome start traipsing her way up the street, looking more like a well done up bum, or a just fire secretary than a young woman without a clear way to go in life.

~She hazily heard a car come to stop some paces off behind her, but she ignored it, thinking it to be the "limo" of which Mr. Tama had been speaking to Mr. Taisho about on the phone. But when someone called out to her, she turned to look at who knew her name.

~The man was obviously the limo driver, a small framed man with a gentle smile and pleasant demeanor about him. He was someone Kagome instantly knew she would like. He seemed plain, with short black hair that was hidden beneath a black driver's hat, and a pair of smiling eyes the color of wood. Everything about him was inviting and warm and he came striding rather quickly around the front of the limo to the back passenger side and beckoned to the young woman happily.

~"Please, Miss Higurashi. It's rather cold outside and I have been informed to take you to your home." The man wore a black suit and matching colored, black leather gloves. He was shorter than Tama was, but had almost the same underlying muscular build and a stark difference in quiet mannerisms than Tama. Kagome couldn't help but be drawn in and she cautiously went over to the man.

~"You're taking me home?" She asked and the man nodded, reaching for her box to gently take it from her, but Kagome jerked and pulled back. "I-I'm sorry. I don't want anyone to touch this but me," she apologized quickly and looked towards the asphalt.

~"It's all right, Miss Higurashi. I completely understand." He helped her in, even though she said she could do it herself and told her his name was Ako, which she could just call him Ko for short. He waited beside the closed limo door for about another minute when Kagome saw Mr. Tama come out of the office building as well and opened the door for the man as well.

~Mr. Tama didn't feel the same apprehension of climbing into the limo that his female counterpart had, promptly as the car door was closed, Ko swiftly went to the driver's side and climbed in himself, moving the limo into gear and pulling away from the sidewalk.

~There was a long few moments where neither Kagome nor Tama spoke, her fidgeting with the yellow strap of her backpack on the seat beside her, while Tama was texting something on his expensive looking phone. When he finished he put the phone back into his white slack suit pocket and looked up at the young woman.

~"You're taking me to the train station right?" Kagome asked, slightly hesitant.

~"Why would you take the train? It's far longer a trip," Tama replied.

~"It's the only way I know of to get home," she answered, getting the feeling that this man was beginning to think she was stupid.

~"There are many ways to travel, Miss Higurashi. The train is simply one of them." They again fell into disquieted silence and Kagome, unsure of what was going to happen next leaned back into the comfortable, warmed limo seats and felt her eye lids begin to droop. In the next moment she was asleep and amidst her sleep she began to dream…

Author's Note: R&R. Thank you!