Project 'K' by Kittenyoukai

Assignment #1

Miroku spun around in the chair to his office absentmindedly as three pictures were splayed across his desk. His fingers curled together resting beneath his chin as he continued spinning recalling his earlier phone conversation.

~*~

Miroku sat at his office desk when his secretary walked into the room, back turned to him as she held a large stack of folders in her arms. His eyes immediately traveled to the ample swelling along her backside. He pushed out a sigh of satisfaction and groaned appreciatively as he watched her hips sashay towards him. If only she was not so far away, he could reach out and touch her luscious bottom. “So Sango my dear, have I ever told you that you are an amazing looking woman?”

The woman snapped her head around quickly and glared at the man she knew as her boss. “Yes Mr. Houshi, plenty of times have I heard you and you don’t seem to miss a beat to tell me.” She growled through gritted teeth.

He grinned ear to ear placing his head in his chin to admire her figure beneath her clothing. “Well I do give credit to a beauty when I see one.”

Sango’s heels clicked against the tile floor of the office as she made her way to his desk and set the stack of papers own. “Are you referring to my actual looks or are you strictly admiring my behind again?”

“Dear Sango while you behind is divine, I was talking about you all the way from head to toe.”

Sango scrunched her face into a sneer before blowing out air in a small ‘humph’. “In other news you have a call from a Mr. Higurashi on the line and he wants to speak to you immediately.”

Miroku’s eyes went wide as he heard the name Higurashi, surely she was not talking about THE Higurashi, could she? “Did you by chance catch his first name?”

Sango presses her finger to her bottom lip in thought. “I believe it was Tanao Higurashi, he is still on the line if you wish to speak to him.”

Miroku nodded enthusiastically. “Please do Sango, right away.”

As soon as she left out the room his office phone rang. Breathing in deeply to calm himself and picked up the phone. “Hello Mr. Higurashi, this is Miroku Houshi speaking, how may I be of assistance to yoy?”

“Ah, Mr. Houshi so nice to talk to you, a couple of colleagues of mine have told me you are the dispatch of security along with personal body guards, and that the people you employ get the job done well in fact so I would like to ask for your services.”

Miroku could hardly contain his excitement inside. “Of course sir, do wish for one for you personally?”

The man let out booming laughter over the line. “No not for me son, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself, it’s for my three girls that I am worried about, I have already sent their pictures out to you to show you what they look like and also their names and birthdates as well.”

“Alright sir I will review them all and immediately and assign them personal bodyguards for each of them.”

“No, I only need one, if that’s not a problem?”

Miroku raised his eyebrows in thought, but did not question Higurashi’s motives. “Alright sir I will be right on it immediately. Have a nice afternoon.” He said then hung the phone as the line went dead.

~*~

 This could be it for him; the biggest turning point in his career now rode on this case. Being the head of security dispatch meant that he had a big role in finding the perfect security or body guard not for one, but three people, but who could he assign such an important.

Well the question of who was tough, because as he looked at the pictures he knew assigning a male could be a problem, the three girls in the picture were beautiful, and he knew for sure that if he assigned a male he would at least develop feelings for one of them, but at the same time he hesitated to assign a female as well because Higurashi wanted all three of the girls to be protected and there were no females on the force that could handle three girls at once.

This was indeed a problem for him and he needed some help. He reached over to press button to the intercom at the edge of his desk. “Sango could you come in my office please?” If anyone could help him figure it out, Sango could, she was the one person who he turned when he was stuck in a rut.

Sango pushed open the door to his office, and once again he could not stop himself from sighing. No matter how many times he saw her he could not stop himself from admiring her looks. “What is it this time?”

“I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place Sango and I need your help.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and his eyes traveled to the emphasis it put on her breast. “What’s your dilemma, and it better not be because you could not find a woman to bare you a child, because I swear…”

Miroku put his hands up in mock surprise. “Why Sango I would never think to ask such a thing, although if you are willing…” He trailed off and smiled in her direction again.

“I do not have time for games Mr. Houshi.” She let out in a growl.

He loved when she said his name it made him shiver. “Well you see the problem is I have to dispatch security guard to three girls.”

Sango’s eyes brightened immensely. “Really, does that mean I finally get to go out on an assignment?”

Miroku’s face changed to a serious expression. “Now Sango, you know there is no way I’m going to let you go out there to get yourself hurt.”

Her face immediately fell and her eyes dimmed. “Please, I really want to, I know I can do well, even better than some of the other demon women around here, and you know that yourself.”

He almost caved when he heard her plead to him, but he regained his composure. “Sango, I said no, I will not have you out there risking your life.”

Sango slammed her hands against the desk her eyes begging him to comply. “Please Miroku, I’ve been trained to fight all my life, you don’t understand how much I want this, and how badly I need to do this.”

Miroku knew he lost his composure when she said his name. He loved it when his name fell from her pouty pink lips, and the way she begged made his mind travel to other places that nearly had him salivating for her. If only he could have her beg like that for him. “Okay Sango you win.”

Her eyes danced in joy as she clasped her hands together. “Oh thank you Mr. Houshi, you don’t have a thing to worry about I promise--”

“But,” he held up his hands to silence her. “Not for this case.”

Sango was fuming inside her skin, how could he lead her on like that to make her think that he was going to let her go? She was more than qualified for this job, and yet he stuck her in the office all day to be his secretary. When she applied for this job she wanted the position of bodyguard and even went as far as fighting men and women, human and demon alike to prove her worth- that she could be better than any of them combined and all he could do was put her behind a desk and stare at her all day like a china doll!

Miroku could see the inner conflict inside her mind and stopped her before she could go into a rage. “Sango dear calm down and listen, this assignment is very important to me and as much as I trust you, believe me I do, I need you hear because you are excellent at your job, but also Higurashi is a man of serious business and wants one bodyguard for three girls.”

Sango became confused and tilted her head to the side. “Just one for three girls, does he not realized how unsafe that is; even a demon would have a hard time handling that type of mission.”

“My implications exactly, and believe me I have tried to reason with him about this, but he is not budging and inch, and I am all about customer satisfaction, but the problem now leads to who could I give to this assignment to?”

Sango sat on the edge of his desk and raised her eyes to the ceiling. “What about Bankotsu from the seven brothers, or Hiten maybe, they all seem well off to handle this problem.”

“As much as I would love to assign them, there is also the problem of them being womanizers as well, and though I have never had the problem with them guarding women before there are three all together to consider and being a man like myself I would know the temptation would be too much.” His eyes once again wandered to the sight of her bottom being enhanced by his desk.

Sango rolled her eyes. “Of course you would know are you talking for yourself from firsthand experience.”

Miroku gave her a mischievous grin. “Perhaps I am perhaps not, but back to the matter at hand.”

Sango shook off his smile and then continued to ponder. “So we need someone who is strong enough to handle three girls and will not let temptation come before his job unlike some people here.” Sarcasm laced her voice deeply. “Is there any man who does not seem as though he cares about women in general let alone anything regarding women in that matter? 

Both parties pondered the candidate they could choose for what seemed like hours until they light went off in Sango’s head. “I have just the person who could do this.”

“Do tell.”

A sly smirk curved on her lips. “How about we give an old friend of ours a call?” She hopped off the desk and went straight to the file cabinet.

He was nervous about the look she was giving almost as though she had gone mad. “Who, may I ask?” He watched as she reached in the back of the cabinet to pull out a manila folder and throw it on his desk. Miroku picked up the file hesitantly and opened it up. He looked at the name and back as Sango. “This is exactly why I keep you here in the office.” He laughed reaching out for his phone. Quickly he dialed the number on the paper. A few rings and the he finally heard the sound of the voice on the other line answer ‘Hello’. “Hello Sesshomaru, I have an assignment, that I think suits you perfectly.”

~*~

Tanao Higurashi stood on the balcony watching his three girls outside on the practice field. They were all part of his greatest creations of human, miko, and demon genetic manipulation he called ‘Project ‘K’’. Each girl was made with a combination of his genetic material and the sample of a female donor. For years he spent studying the chromosomal pairings of demons and humans and combining them together with appropriate amino sequences.

So many times had the paired sequences failed on him causing a multiple mutations of the form because if simple point mutations and deletions. It also did not help that the chromosomal alignment was a tedious task to do as well. Demons like humans possessed 23 chromosome pairs altogether, but at the same time the pairs had different arrangements which allowed them to possess their supernatural abilities. Miko’s on the other hand were not as complicated since they were the same as normal humans just blessed with holy powers in their hands.

After so many tries with demon genetics he was able to match and stabilize them to create his very first girl Kagura. Tanao eyes drifted over to Kikyo who practiced her archery. Her marksmanship was beyond compare like the woman she came from, but her eyes were still and cold with a complex mind. She was strong in her spiritual powers, but she lacked when it came to social standards. Finally his eyes moved to the youngest of the three girls, Kagome.

The sound of the door bell ringing alerted him that his company had arrived. He waited with baited breath as the servant answered the door and their footsteps echoed against the plush carpet until they reached him on the balcony. “Sir Mr. Taisho has arrived.” The woman bowed her head to the man in front of her.

“Thank you Kimi,” Tanao nodded his head in the direction of the woman, but he never took his eyes off his girls. “Mr. Taisho, I’m glad you could make it. Come on over here.”

Sesshomaru studied the man in front of him a while longer then sauntered his way over to the edge of the balcony. Over the edge he saw the three young women. His nose twitched slightly as he scented the air. His mind memorized their scents, indenting them into his memory. They were who he was supposed to protect. He watched them with practiced ease show off their skills, each one’s powers flaring, all except one. His eyes shifted to girl who flipped through the pages of her book. He could tell just by the way she looked that what she was reading was enticing to her. Every so often her features would shift from delight, to anxiousness, before changing once again. He let his eyes roam over them one last time making sure that he remembered their features and scents down to the last detail.

He turned back towards Tanao. “As you know my name is Sesshomaru Taisho, and it is to my understanding that I am to care for you three girls, correct?”

Tanao nodded his head. His eyes were soft and warm when he looked at his three girls, but Sesshomaru saw different when those eyes turned towards him. He moved from the balcony hands situated behind his back. This was about business and from the look he held it was serious. They walked in silence, the scrunching of carpet beneath their feet. “I have some important things to talk to you about Sesshomaru.” Tanao finally spoke and settled down on a plush chair near a chimney. “I called your agency in order to protect my girls, in that you are correct, but more importantly I only you want there to aid them when the situation becomes too dire.” He paused, waiting for any questions that may have come from Sesshomaru. “Also I have not too much concern for Kagura and Kikyo, as you saw the can hold well off on their own, but Kagome, she is the one I am most concerned about.”

If the others are well off then, why does the one need to be safe guarded? Sesshomaru mused to himself.

“I know what you are thinking Sesshomaru, ‘why does the girl need special attention?’ I would assume. What do you know about my company and what we do, Sesshomaru?”

“It is to my understanding that you have set out to do the recombination of human, demon, and priestess genetics, but that is all that I know.”

Tanao nodded his head in agreement. “You would be correct in saying so, but there is so much more than that Sesshomaru. As you know this day in age, priestesses, demons, and humans live among one another, and the time of war has long been over. There are even those who have reconciled their differences with one another from simple mutual agreements and some to bonding to one another forever in marriage or mating, in demon terms. Have you ever thought of such Taisho?”

Sesshomaru’s face remained impassive, but had he been outside of his work he would have sneered at the thought of mating. Women were such shallow creatures, that he could hardly stand the thought of bonding to one for all eternity. Most women were out for money looks or in some cases a good rut. His thoughts flashed back to the one woman he had known, but chased the thoughts away. No, he preferred to live his life in the solitude he had come to enjoy. “I prefer to live my life alone.”

Tanao shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Well it does happen and eventually demons may want to have children with their human mates, but only few embryos survive the developmental process whether the woman carrying the unborn child human or demon. I know your brother for example is a half-demon.”

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in distaste, knowing that someone else knew the shame that his father had brought upon his lineage, by coupling with a human woman. The main question was how did Higurashi about the past he kept buried deep underground, behind him.

Tanao only smirked. “I am a scientist, and with the title entails that I do various and thorough research on anything, and that includes people, especially when it concerns the safety of my three girls. I know enough about you Sesshomaru to deem you trustworthy enough to protect my girls you need not worry I have no use for the other information I found.”

How far back had this man dug into his past, and how much did Tanao find about. If anything his private life was his own and no one else needed to pry, but if Tanao did know anything else he did not say anything about it.

“I do not know why, but there is something about the alignment of your chromosomes that disrupts the growth of the embryo, where it starts to accelerate the developmental process so that demon pregnancies last about six month’s maximum. I am unsure why, but my guess is that because demons are always fighting for whatever reason so the developmental phase of your children has to go by quickly, but it is just a speculation on my part.”

Sesshomaru nodded his head in agreement. “It is true that back in the feudal era having a pregnant mate was dangerous because the females bodies spent so much time catering to the needs to their children they leave themselves open for attack.”

Tanao considered this new information and was pleased with the new information. “You must tell me more on demon behaviors I must say that I am quite interested and want to further my studies so that I can know more.”

A tremor went down Sesshomaru’s spine as he felt his aura flare to life. This feeling, it has been to long since I felt it. It was a memorable feeling, and very…unwelcomed.  He turned his golden eyes to the doorway where one of the girls stood. She looked at with cold calculating eyes. She spread out her aura to push up against him. Sesshomaru in turn could feel his pulse quickening preparing for a battle.

Tanao watched the display with light amusement. This was the first time he saw in full action the flair of powers from a demon like Sesshomaru. The feel of the power radiating from him may have been small, but there was force even he being a human could feel it. The longer he sat there the more it became intense to where the tension in the air was starting to make him choke. “Alright Kikyo that’s enough.”

As quickly as she forced it out Kikyo pulled back her powers and bowed her head in his direction. “Welcome, I hope you do well to protect us.” With that said Kikyo continued on her way down the hall.

“I was not informed that I would be dealing with a priestess. I thought they were gone from existence.”

Tanao shrugged simply and reclined back in his chair. “They practically are, it was hard to find lineage of a woman who was a priestess but I found one and that was how I managed to create Kikyo.”

Sesshomaru would have shook his head in distaste had he not had so many years of practiced ease and control over his emotions. Here he was playing safeguard to a priestess, which that tidbit of information was omitted from the files. He was sure because there was no doubt in his mind he would have missed the information about the woman. “Is there any more surprises that I should be aware of?”

“Not particularly, as you noticed Kikyo is a priestess, Kagura is partial human and partial half demon, whereas Kagome is practically a human.”

The word practically did not sit well with him. “Practically, you say?”

“A discussion for another time at best perhaps Sesshomaru.” Tanao stood from his chair abruptly before turning to leave Sesshomaru to his own thoughts.

~*~

Kagome applauded lightly before closing her book. She heaved a sigh of closure with a smile on her face. Finally she had finished the entire novel series and after so many heart wrenching moments it came to an end, sadly.

The wind flew around her shaking the trees to where the creaking of their branches could be heard. She watched in the middle of the field as her two sisters faced one another seeing as that was the only thing she could do. After all she, unlike her sisters Kagura and Kikyo, was human and there were limits to what she could do.

She felt a slight wave of jealousy wash over watching her sisters out do themselves time and time again with their daily training she was forced to act like a normal human, and there was nothing else special about her. Well except my eye color. She thought to herself, but at least she was alive and well, that was the important matter.  

The wind started up fierce once ore. She huffed in irritation. Every single time they would get out of control and somehow she would get caught up in their but not this time. Last time she almost got pinned to the tree she was reading by with Kikyo’s arrow and the time before that Kagura’s tornado almost carried her off. She was lucky to be able to get away, but the book she was reading at the time, not so much. “Do you guys mind?” She yelled over the raging winds.

Kagura and Kikyo kept at their battle not able to hear Kagome’s small voice over the roaring wind. Kagome hung her head in defeat there was no way that she was going to be heard over their battle, they never heard her. Picking up her books she walked back to the forest like area of the yard to collect her thoughts. She breathed in the air surrounding them, it was crisp and clean. The ray of the sun brushed against her skin leaving her feeling warm. She loved the nature around her it seemed that she merged with the feelings of nature every time she walked through the forest.

She came to a stop when she reached the brick wall. She always hated the ugly, gnarled cement that surrounded the lush green forest it reminded her of the truth too much. As long as she was what she was she could never go outside these walls. Her father created the forest in order to get a feel of the outside world, but how could she when there was no real human interaction aside from his colleagues who came to run a check over her every once in a while to be sure she was stabilized and her genetic structure would not collapse. She knew that was not the extent of being around humans. She wanted more than that, she wanted to get outside of these walls and see what was out there, what life was really like.

Kikyo and Kagura did not mind being behind walls, but she did. She understood though why her father would not let her be. After all her father was the one who discovered a way to stabilized human genetics with demons and generate priestesses with powers as they did in feudal era so he was by far important person and they had the potential to be exterminated. Still that did not stop her from wanting to be outside of the walls of her backyard. There is more to life beyond these walls. She thought rubbing her hand along the gravel.

“Kagome.”

Kagome turned to the sound of her father’s voice. She looked up to the camera mounted on the wall as the red light flashed. “Yes father?” She spoke to the camera.

“Come inside you have guest to greet. Bring your sister Kagura too.”

Kagome stared at the camera in disbelief. Did he really think that she could stop Kagura and Kikyo in the middle of their fight? She gulped and hung her head in defeat as she made her way back to her feuding sisters. Taking a step in she called their names hoping they could hear her over the sound of rushing winds, but they only continued. She moved in a bit closer and tried again, maybe they would see her in their peripheral vision line.

Kagura held her fan close to her chest breathing deeply. Her chest rose and fell harshly as she waited for another attack from Kikyo. “You’re getting better Kikyo soon you may be able to beat me.”

Kikyo rose her bow and notched another arrow to the string. “I have no qualms in my mind that I will soon defeat you Kagura.” She too was out of breath from their battle but her exterior hardly showed it.

Kagura laughed at her sister. “You can quit your bravado sis, you know I always win. Your arrows will be knocked away by my wind and there is nothing you can do to stop that. It is now time to end this, Dance of the Dragon!” Kagura called forth her special abilities and aimed the spiraling tornado towards Kikyo.

Kikyo reached behind her for arrows only to find that her quiver was empty.

“What’s the matter Kikyo you run outta arrows, unlike you I control the wind and that is limitless.”

Kikyo waited until the swirling vortex approached her. When it was within a few meters of her she called upon a barrier to shield her from her. The rough winds rushed over the barrier striking against it. Expanding her powers she pushed away the wind redirecting its course. “Only a fool would depend on just their weapons alone Kagura.”

Kagura gritted her teeth in annoyance. “I see you have learned something new.”

They both paused when they had heard Kagome’s screams over the wind. They both looked up to see her caught up in the vortex that Kikyo had shifted. Quickly Kikyo grabbed and arrow from a nearby tree and notched it on her bow. Surrounding the arrow with her aura she released it into the vortex. They wind dispelled immediately leaving Kagome to fall.

Oh no I’m going to be killed for sure. Kagome thought as she pressed her eyelids together tightly.

“Kagura, go!”Kikyo shouted.

Kagura ran forward, hoping to reach Kagome in enough time before she hit the ground. I won’t make it in time to save her. Kagura thought. She pushed her legs to go faster hoping her demonic speed would be enough.

Over the balcony a blur shot over the railing. Kagura paused in her run as she felt a powerful demonic aura move past her towards her sisters falling form.

Kagome waited for the impact to come, but instead felt the acceleration of her fall decrease. Daring to open her eyes she looked up to see amber slit eyes looking at her. To say she was shock was an understatement, but she turned to look towards the ground to find she was still in the air, but was slowly descending towards it. She gripped onto her saviors neck, deathly afraid of heights. “Please don’t let go.” She breathed out quickly.

Sesshomaru listened to the thrum of her heart as she panicked from the tower height. “Do not worry I won’t let go.” He stated simply.

When his feet touched the ground she still held a tight grip on his neck. Her sisters rushed to her checking her over for any wounds. “I’m alright I think.” She told them as she loosened her hold on her savior.

Sesshomaru removed his arm from around her waist letting her sisters take her into an embrace. Tanao rushed outside his hands gripping his knees as he hunched over to catch his breath. “Kagome are you okay?” He asked checking his daughter for any wounds.

Kagome gave her father a reassuring smile and nodded her head firmly. “I’m okay dad.”

Tanao sighed in relief. He was becoming too old for this. “Thank goodness.” He then turned his head to Sesshomaru and nodded his thanks to him. “If we are all settled then I would like to introduce you to a guest.”

The three girls turned to the man who had saved Kagome. Sesshomaru took a step forward his hands tucked behind his back. “My name is Sesshomaru and starting today I will be the personal bodyguard for you three girl.”