InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Memoirs of a Soul ❯ Eyes ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Eyes

Masaharu Hyouga leaned forward on his desk and placed the tips of his finger on his temple, as if to ward off a throbbing pain located in his skull. He just had a long day of sorting through papers and silently cursing employees. His new secretary had just quit her job due to her workload and her boss's wonderful personality. He now had to do twice his usual amount of paperwork, which was already gargantuan in the first place, and search for a new, competent, person to fill in the open space that Ms. Sugimi left open.

Of course, that was going to be a challenge. Respectable, hard working, patient, women were very hard to come by lately. Not that it had to be a woman. Hyouga would gladly hire a willing, male secretary. But of course, Tokyo's Gay population had been growing rapidly in the last few years and Hyouga wasn't the type of person to forget the incident in which his last male secretary tried to hit on him. He would rather stick with the sex that he was attracted to.

Sighing wearily, Hyouga pulled out his schedule and searched for an opening in which he could use to escape.

"Press conference, lunch with Mr. Hiroshi…" he muttered. His eyes continued to scan until they rested on one line: "Meet students from Tokyo University".

Perfect. Loud, immature teenagers coming over to Nippon. Exactly what he needed for his migraine.

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"People, people! Will you please settle down? And please move back, the bus is trying to pull up!"

A horde of people abruptly moved onto the sidewalk.

A flustered man stepped on the bench located next to the group of students. "Thank you for coming!" he said with a grin, while he muttered, "and thank you for moving your carcasses. Honestly! I thought these kids would be smart enough to stay off the road!"

He smiled again as he started to talk. "I wanted to congratulate you on this achievement! Not a lot of people are accepted on this study. As stated in the letter you received, you are the crème of the crop, the best students to be attending Tokyo University this year."

There was a smattering of applause as the students started congratulating themselves.

"Yes, yes, a great achievement, I assure you," he beamed while grinding his teeth. "Now, there is one thing that you are required to do before you arrive at Nippon Headquarters. Now listen closely."

Half of the student body leaned in to hear him, while the other half started rummaging through their bags for a pen and paper.

"I want you to…" He took a deep breath and proceeded to yell, "I want you to get your butts on that bus! How are you supposed to arrive if you don't get on the stupid bus! Get, scoot, and skedaddle! I don't want any of you on this sidewalk before this minute is up! If you are not on the bus by that time, you are not going! The clock is starting…now!"

A flurry of bodies started to rush to the bus door and seat themselves in the chairs.

Looking at the people rushing to do as he commanded he thought of the quote that he happened to come across one day, "Chaos, panic and disorder. My work here is done."

Kagome was shoved onto the bus, barely clinging on to her book bag and sense of stability. Rushing forward to a random seat, so as not to be trampled, she plopped herself right next to the window. Sighing, she looked at her peers, who were still trying to get on the bus before the time limit was up.

Peering at the smug looking fellow that caused this ruckus, she muttered, "I could really come to dislike that guy."

"You're not alone in that observation," spoke a voice to her right, "nobody likes Jaken."

Kagome spun around to face the voice. "Jaken! His name is Jaken?!"

A black haired young man laughed at her. "Why not? It definitely suits his personality. Hard-hearted, cruel, unkind, and not to mention that he despises everyone! Especially younger people like us."

"You're right, it does suit him," she replied. Yes, it also happened to suit the toad youkai, Jaken, from the Warring States era too.

The man continued to laugh. "Don't worry, he's all talk. His employer totally terrifies him."

"Who's his employer?" She asked as the bus revved up and started to leave the parking lot. It seems as if everyone got on board on time.

"Why, it's the great Masaharu himself!"

Kagome huffed. "Oh? And how would you know this?"

"My twin brother, Un, works for Masaharu Hyouga."

Her eyes widened. "Yourtwin works for Mr. Masaharu? But you look so young."

"You'll be surprised at how young Masaharu seems too."

"How did your brother get a job at Nippon HQ?"

He leaned back in his chair. "Well we've known Masaharu our whole lives, and when he started working on Nippon, he offered us a job. My brother and I worked for him for quite a while, and then I decided to go to school. I didn't want to miss any experiences, you see. I started school, got high grades, and was accepted to this trip. Kind of ironic, don't you think?"

"Yes, definitely," Kagome agreed.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Ogino Ah."

"Hello Ah. My name is Higurashi Kagome."

Ah looked thoughtful. "Kagome… I used to know a girl named that. A long time ago…"

"Wow, I guess it is a small world after all!"

"Yes, I guess it is," Ah looked out the window. "It seems as if we have arrived."

"We did? That was a short bus ride! I guess Mr. Jaken just had his panties up in a bunch."

Ah started laughing again. "'Panties up in a bunch'! Oh, he's going to love that!"

Kagome flushed a little at that. "Could you please keep it down?! He might hear us!" she whispered urgently.

"So? I told you that he is all talk!"

"I know, but it's rude!"

Ah settled down. "Fine, fine, you win. But that is not going to make me not tell him."

"I don't care if you tell him! Just don't let me into the picture! I hate being the center of scrutiny!"

With a twinkle in his eye, Ah bowed and said, "As you wish, madam."

Oh no, thought Kagome. 'Madam' isn't good.

"Step lively now!" cried Jaken. "We wouldn't want to keep Mr. Masaharu waiting, now would we? He is at the very end of the program and doesn't like to be interrupted during a meeting. Which by the way, he has after your visit."

The crowd of students was gathered in front of giant glass doors, located inside Nippon Electronics Headquarters.

"First we will watch a video about the history of the company. It will outline the general…" Jaken's voice was tuned out by Kagome. This was turning out to be utter torture.

To entertain herself while was Jaken blabbering, she focused on her Miko powers. She looked inward, and saw a glowing, moving, blue mass. This was her dormant power. Reaching with her mind, she scooped up a small portion and willed it outwards. In doing so, she made that piece active or workable.

'Now what to do with it'… Kagome grinned as her thoughts settled on Jaken. 'I wonder…'

Kagome felt her hands warm up as her power was directed there. It was easier to manipulate magic with your hands. Why else would pictures of Merlin have him with his arm and hand outstretched against his foe?

She was just about to let her energy do its thing, when she felt eyes on her. More importantly, they were youkai eyes. Snapping her eyes open, she looked around. All she could see was the dark heads of her colleagues. No fangs, no claws, no animal eyes, or even a trace of youki.

The eyes had vanished.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Japanese words

Youkai- Japanese Demon; doesn't translate correctly

Jaken- hard hearted; cruel; unkind; Evil point of view

Youki- youkai aura

Hyouga- Glacier; It fits Sessho's personality, no?

Miko- Priestess of the Shinto Religion, has magical powers; sometimes called a sorceress; doesn't translate properly