Muse by razzaroo

Chapter One

Muse

Chapter I

oOo

Bright reds and oranges limned with gold splashed against the canvas as though the artist had captured the very essence of a sunset. However, the brilliant splay of color was engulfed in shadow as the thick curtains were draped in front of the window; it was a blank canvas once more.

Footsteps echoed across the concrete floor until they stopped in front of an easel; weary and agitated eyes eyed the blank, would be masterpiece before taking it down and propping it up against the counter. The same footsteps lead to the heavy metal doors of the studio, which slammed as he left.

"Ah Sesshoumaru-sama! I take it your session went well?" he rolled his eyes as his retainer and the manager of his gallery waddled up to him. His bulbous eyes were wide with admiration and the sight made Sesshoumaru want to wretch.

"Jaken-"

"But of course it went well! Someone of your talent and expertise couldn't not produce a masterpiece! Oooohhh, when will I be able to see it? And will it be for sale, or do you want to have it displayed in one of your galleries?"

"Jaken-"

"I have to call Inuyasha right now so he can make the arrangements-"

"Jaken-"

"I'll have to organize a preview and a press conference to announce your new-"

"Jaken!"

He stopped in his excited rant and looked up like a deer caught in headlights, quivering slightly at his superior's outburst. "Y-yes Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"I believe you have a customer. Unless you want to take up your old job of babysitting, I suggest you go take care of them," Sesshoumaru said as he watched the little toad like man scurry toward the front of the gallery.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tried to reign in his frustration as he made his way out of the high arching glass doors and through the parking lot to his car. Sliding into the leather seat, he revved the engine and didn't glance back as he sped out onto the road.

His head throbbed in time with the rock music trickling through the speakers. Closing his eyes briefly, a blank canvas flashed across his mind's eye; he growled and switched lanes, cutting off the person behind him.

"Timeless Media," he muttered into the small BlueTooth™ head piece and waited, albeit impatiently, to the lilting music that filtered into his ear. He hated being put on hold: For one, he was important enough to talk to the head of his own company and second, no one ever had good taste in music styles.

"Timeless Media Entertainment Inc. this is Shiori speaking how may I help you?" came a pleasant voice in his ear.

"Shiori, put me through to Inuyasha please," he said wearily as he turned onto the highway. The sunset reflected in his rearview mirror and he thought back to his session in the studio. His hands gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

"Hello this is Inuyasha speaking how can I-"

"When is the Nakashima unveiling?" he asked curtly, fully aware that he had cut the other man off.

There was a growl on the other end and Sesshoumaru couldn't help but smirk. "What the hell do you want?"

"I thought I made myself clear a few seconds ago; when in the Nakashima unveiling?"

There was a silence punctuated with the shuffling of papers before he got any response. "It was supposed to be on the thirtieth of August but the prick came up with some bullshit story about an injury so they had it postponed. The little bastards; do they know how much money this is gonna cost-"

"Well then it's a good thing money is not the issue then, isn't it? Do you know how long he's supposed to be gone?" he asked as he pulled in front of a pair of wrought iron gates. He nodded toward the guard and they swung open with a metallic creak.

"Well, they never said what kind of injury it was but if they had to send him away to some island retreat then it must be bad. Although I think the guy just finally cracked; I always knew he was crazy," Inuyasha laughed through the earpiece.

The gravel crunched underneath the tires as he cruised up the driveway; soon the gurgling of the fountain joined in when he came to a stop on in front of his house. He took the keys from the ignition and handed them to the waiting valet.

"So am I to assume that until either you or I get word from him he will be away indefinitely?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so. I'll try giving his agent a call tomorrow to see what's up," he said, the laughter slowly ebbing from his voice. Sesshoumaru could hear Inuyasha talking to his secretary and the telltale beeps from his organizer: He'd trained him well.

Walking up the marble steps and pushing the huge cherry wood doors inward, he was met the extravagant sight of his foyer. Not bothering to look at any of the dazzling features, he took a left and headed for his study where he slammed the door behind him.

"Good. Now have they're been any results in the search yet?" he asked, suddenly feeling slightly eager and his agitation returning full force. If the search had not heeded any results then his career would undoubtedly take a turn for the worse. Of course, he had other companies and other options but it was most crucial that he find what he'd been looking for, and soon.

"Look, Sess, they're not exactly what you're lookin' for. I mean, they are, but I just have a feelin' none of them are right," his brother spoke to him like he had all those centuries ago; his old nickname made a ghost of a smile appear on his lips as he thought back...

He quickly shoved the train of thought back into the recesses of his mind. He could tell by his brother's tone that his search had not yielded the results he had asked for. "I'll be the judge of that. Did any of them send in pictures?"

There were a couple strokes of a keyboard and the clicking of a mouse. "Yeah, I can send them to you right now but-"

"Just send them," with his anticipation came a cold voice that he almost cringed at hearing. He had not meant to snap at him; over the years the both of them had gotten along better and almost seemed like actual brothers, but this was crucial and he couldn't afford delays of any kind.

He heard Inuyasha sigh into his ear as he double clicked the mouse and sent the files containing hundreds of pictures into cyberspace. "There you go," he almost whispered and Sesshoumaru frowned at the feeble voice.

Opening his laptop and quickly logging onto his screen name, he brought up his email and open the one the one that had the header Search Results, disregarding the thousands of others that were rushing in.

Sitting back in his chair, he was silent as dozens upon dozens of pictures appeared; he watched half heartedly as the scroll bar shrunk rapidly in size. He didn't speak nor did Inuyasha and they both sat there in tense silence. When the final picture appeared, Sesshoumaru seized the mouse and began to browse.

What he saw disappointed him almost immediately. Almost all were models. Underneath almost every picture was a link to a website or an ensemble of phone numbers. Bleached smile after bleached smile he browsed past; he had never seen so many plastic surgery patients in one place. And he almost laughed at the though of how many hair salons had gotten business.

His anger grew with each passing image and so engrossed was he with perusing the smiling faces that he wasn't aware he had begun to growl until Inuyasha spoke.

"I told you."

Sesshoumaru pulled his eyes away from the glowing screen and closed them. He knew the statement was meant to be pleading and not condescending but he couldn't help but frown. "Thank you. When do you get off?" he asked tiredly glancing at his watch which read 8:37. The daycare center closed in an hour.

"I got off about an hour ago," he replied nonchalantly. Sesshoumaru's brows came together slightly.

"Then why are you still at the office? I don't require my heads to stay longer than they have to."

There was a smooth chuckle. "I knew you were gonna call here so I saved you the trouble."

"You stayed merely because you knew I was going to call? I find that hard to believe," he retorted, leaning back in his chair.

"You always call on Wednesdays. And like I said, I wanted to save you the trouble; you weren't going to call my cell phone so I just stayed where I knew you could reach me," he was still laughing quietly; the muffled jingling of keys sounded in his ear too.

Sesshoumaru scoffed. "And how exactly how do you know that?"

"I never gave you the new number," he said simply.

Sesshoumaru paused in mid-reply: he wasn't aware that Inuyasha had gotten a new phone. Although it would have been predictable since the number seemed to change every couple months or so; still, it annoyed him that he had to call the office instead of having the privilege to reach his own brother on his personal line.

"Well, I'm getting' ready to go. I'll be home once I get Rin and I'll just go ahead and get some healthy takeout to bring home."

Sesshoumaru wondered why he was going to get takeout when he had perfectly capable cooks here at home. "There isn't any need, we have cooks here-"

"That you gave the week off to. Yeah, you want the usual?"

Sesshoumaru sighed and mumbled a positive "hn". It was unnerving how in tune with his own life his brother was when he had his own hectic schedule to keep up with. But at the same time, he was grateful, as much as he loathed to admit it. If it weren't for Inuyasha then, no questions asked, his life wouldn't run half as smoothly.

"Alright then I'll see ya in a few and Sess," he paused, "we'll find her, okay?" and then he hung up.

Sesshoumaru could only hope that his words were true.

oOo

"Inuyasha-oniichan!"

He could hardly prepare himself for the impact the girl made on him as she hurdled down the hallway. Steadying both of them against the wall, he returned the tight squeeze before setting her down. Immediately she grabbed his hand, so much larger compared to his own, and lead him back to her classroom.

"Oniichan, come on! We have to go see my teacher; she says that she has something to give to you!"

"Geez Rin, slow down! You gotta give an old guy like me some time to get places," he said, bending over and pretending to hobble down the hallway. Rin giggled.

"You're not old Oniichan, you don't have any wrinkles or old people spots or art-artitis," her young face scrunched up as she tried to pronounce arthritis. Shaking her head, she led him on, the both of them entering what looked like a construction paper cave.

The walls were decorated with various works of art done by the little gaggle of munchkins running rampant around the room. He went over to Rin's cubby and took out the things that needed to come home; he then made his way back to where Rin stood talking to what he assumed was the teacher.

When Rin noticed his presence, her eyes lit up and she hurriedly made introductions. "Oniichan this is Miss Kagome, Miss Kagome, this is my onnichan, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked at the woman and his jaw almost dropped. He hadn't noticed he'd been staring until Rin nudged his leg and whispered, "Shake her hand!"

Inuyasha, struck dumb, held out his hand and took the woman's in his own, shaking it slowly as though he couldn't believe she was real. Letting go, he stood there for a moment, watching Rin talk animatedly to her.

"Inuyasha-kun?"

He was pulled out of his stupor when a lilting voice called his name. "Y-yes? Oh, um, yes?"

The woman, Kagome, laughed lightly behind her hand. "I was just telling Rin about how wonderful she is in class. She shows exceptional skill in reading and writing and has far surpassed her classmates in math. Her comprehension of certain subjects is astounding," said Kagome, her eyes warm and a smile on her lips.

"She also excels in art and offers surprisingly in depth reviews about her own and other's work."

"Oh, well, yeah, her father is an artist and has a couple galleries so she just kind of grew up around it," he supplied, seeing the confusion on her face. Beside him, Rin was just beaming at her praise.

Suddenly, he had to the urge to talk to Kagome alone, his heart beating frantically inside his chest. "Rin, why don't you go play for a little bit while I talk to Miss Kagome?" he pleaded with the gods for the girl to not get curious- for she did that often- and just go play.

"Okay," she chirped and skipped away to the dress up area.

Quickly pulling out a small business card, he hastily handed it to Kagome and watched happily as she took it. She read over it and her eyebrow arched elegantly.

"Um, may I ask what this is for?"

Inuyasha stood there dumbly with a silly smile on his face before his brain finally registered she'd spoken. "My brother- Rin's father is looking for models to be featured in his newest series of portraits and I think you'd be perfect," his smile broadened when she blushed, "for the job."

Kagome looked at the card and then at Inuyasha, a thousand thoughts running through her mind and not one of them coherent. She sighed. "I'm flattered but I really couldn't- I'm sure he's received better offers than a middle class daycare worker."

Inuyasha would not be turned away so easily and he couldn't help but think how wrong she was. "Look, before you turn me down, I'd like to talk to you about it- maybe over coffee or something- no! Not on a date," he added quickly when her brows shot up, "just like a business meeting, except more casual."

He crossed his fingers inside his pockets, praying fervently in his mind. Time seemed to slow, crawling by at an achingly slow pace as she considered his offer. After what seemed like hours, she nodded and he resisted the urge to cry out in victory.

"Great! So give me a call- use the last number- and we can set something up, okay?"

"Alright, that'd be great."

oOo

"Sesshoumaru, I found her."

oOo

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and on your way out please leave a review!

So, yeah... toodles!

♥ and dirty thoughts