InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ If At First You Don't Succeed ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

hmm.... bear with me through the prologue (not too hard, it's really short). I initially wasn't going to include this when I was sketching out the plot, but I did anyway, because I figured it'd be a good hook - and I also really liked Diamond. Don't laugh. I'm probably going to post this at the same time as the first chapter, which was going to be the prologue until I threw this in, so if you don't like her, don't worry, cause you probably won't see her again. And also - while this may appear to be just another "after it all ended we find old characters who are five hundred years older and they end up banging Kagome indiscriminately" - well, it's not. Shippou is not going fall in love with Kagome, or vice versa (unless I stray from the outline. But I won't. Bad things happen when I do that. Things so bad that I deleted the story and changed my penname. Yes. Very embarrassing.) Anyway, this is not an AU, though it's got AU elements in it. It is more a continuation than anything, and has been in the makings for a good long time - I had the idea for it a year ago, when I first started watching Inuyasha, and the plot has been growing inside of me ever since, gaining oddness and complexity. But don't worry. I cut out some of the oddness. Erm. I lost track of my train of thought. And I was rambling. Sorry. It's, like, 12:30 am, which is really very late for me. Uh.... oh yes. It starts out Shippou-heavy in the first couple of chapters, but then it's Kagome and Inuyasha for awhile, and then we add on more people. One more thing - this hasn't been beta'd and I would really appreciate any pointing-out-of-errors (if anyone wants to be a regular-type see-it-before-I-post-it, feel free to drop me a line J). And, of course, I do not own Inuyasha, or anything else, for that matter.

If At First You Don't Succeed

by wildgoose

CHAPTER 1

Diamond looked up as the boss walked in, six feet and four inches of young, rich, and brilliant eye candy. "Good afternoon, Ms. Stuart," he said in his softly accented baritone, pretending not to notice the issue of Cosmo open on her desk. "Any calls while I was out?"

Diamond casually stashed her nail file in her purse and answered automatically, suddenly self-conscious of her own flat Brooklyn vowels. He'd said that he was Japanese, and he maybe had been born there, but he didn't look like any Japanese guy she'd ever met. His hair was the wrong color, for one thing. And weren't they supposed to be short? His accent was kind of hot, though, and his English was always so proper. She'd heard that he'd been working here for about eight years, but he really didn't look a day over twenty; people did say that Asians didn't age as quickly. Diamond knew that she didn't look old. Twenty-six, tops. She patted her bottle blonde hair, feeling it pouf a good six or eight inches out of her head. Maybe she should have teased it a little more? No. Cheryl had sworn that she looked just like Madonna when she did it like this. Not a hair out of place. God, it was good to live in the eighties, when people had style. "...and Mista Geely wants you ta cawl him as soon as you get in," she finished.

He smiled at her, brilliantly, flashing pearly whites that could have been in a toothpaste ad. "Thank you very much, Ms. Stuart."

"Please, sir. Cawl me Diamond." He smiled at her again and walked into his office, leaving the door open. Nice boy, but he always seemed so sad. She'd heard that that was what happened when you were born into money; your parents neglected you or whatever. Not that she'd have complained. She went back to her magazine, retrieving her nail file. She'd only gotten halfway through the article on "Six Sexy Secrets That'll Keep Him in the Sack" before, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boss spaz out. It was weird, like he was having a seizure or something - he stood up really fast, knocking over his chair, and stood rock-still, his eyes glazed over. "S-sir?" Diamond was unsure of what to do. Maybe he was having a heart attack? But he was really too young for those, right? Should she call a doctor? And then he staggered back and tripped over his chair. It was like her eyes stopped working, because for about half a second, her boss simply wasn't there - not that the desk was blocking her view, but she didn't even hear him hit the ground. And then he was back, standing up, and everything was normal. Or almost.

"Ms. Stuart." he said. "I would like you to do me a couple of favors."

"Anything, sir," said Diamond, meaning it.

"I find myself needing to liquefy all of my holdings in the United States. Fifty percent of the profits are to be divided evenly amongst the charities on that list I gave you. The rest should be wired to my Japanese accounts. You may keep four hundred thousand dollars for yourself, as a severance package, I suppose. I will not be in need of your services any longer. And please book me on the next flight to Tokyo. Will you be able to take care of all that?"

"Su- sure, sir. But why?"

"I have to go home. A friend of mine is going to be born. I have to be there to meet her and keep her safe."

"Okay." Diamond watched, dazed, as the boss staggered out. Maybe he was on drugs…. Not pot, but maybe coke or scag? Or maybe he was involved in something illegal and needed to book it out of the country. Or maybe he was just crazy. Or maybe he was reading a letter and a girlfriend was pregnant or something. Because obviously his English was going bad under pressure, because he couldn't know that his friend was going to be born. Going to give birth was more like it. Jesus Christ - four hundred grand. Mr. Kitsune - redhead, rich, and bonkers. Still - four hundred grand. She put the weirdness out of her mind and got to work.