Quarantine by thetroll

Chapter 1

Higurashi Kagome had spent the last hour thinking of at least a dozen different ways she could make her department head, Ito Sesshomaru, suffer for his tyranny. His criticism and disapproval had been harsh, made all the worse because he'd been right.

Her team had made a mistake and as their supervisor, it was her responsibility to fix it.

But that didn't mean he'd needed to force her to work overtime in the office, alone, to fix the mistake and deliver the corrected documentation to him—only for her to find that he'd already gone home. It was so late that by the time she left his home, the trains wouldn't even be working for her to go home herself and, worse still, she had been caught in a sudden rainstorm without an umbrella.

To top it all off, there were rumors that the country was going to go on lockdown for the virus and she'd really wanted to stop and get food on her way home, just in case. Her entire kitchen was bare because of her tendency to procrastinate grocery shopping.

But no. Instead, she'd have to hope there was still food at the convenience store on her way home, in the rain, because nothing else would be open.

Grumbling to herself over the unfairness of it all, she trudged through the rain, her socks squishing in her shoes, as she tried to hurry to Ito's building. The sooner she delivered the corrected documents, the sooner she could head home.

She stopped outside the expensive condominium, unsurprised to learn that Ito had the penthouse. Ito's father owned the company and Ito himself was a part stockowner, not to mention the fact that Ito ran the marketing department, which had the biggest budget of all the departments save for research and development. With Takada Kaede on leave in self-quarantine as both her daughter and grandson had contracted the virus, Ito had taken temporary control of Human Resources and that was how Kagome had found herself under his enormously demanding and perfectionist thumb over the last few weeks.

As the doorman eyed her dubiously, Kagome wished HR had fallen under the control of Ito Sesshomaru's half brother, Ito InuYasha, instead. InuYasha might be loud and brash but he had a good heart under his demanding expectations.

After today, Kagome was positive that Ito Sesshomaru didn't even knew what a heart was.

Kagome had explained why she was there, though the doorman hadn't looked convinced. Even after he'd gotten Ito's permission, he'd looked like he wanted to toss her back out onto the street. Kagome made her way through the lobby with her head held high, but Kagome was painfully aware of how everyone stared at her as she squished and squelched her way over to the elevator, leaving a puddled disaster behind her.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever as she mentally forced herself to recite her carefully planned message and not any of the threats she'd been toying with. Could she even curse a daiyokai? She certainly hadn't gotten proper tutelage as a priestess, mostly because her grandfather had insisted on training her himself.

And Jiji wouldn't know a yokai if it danced naked in front of him. She rolled her eyes.

The elevator dinged and opened into an elaborate foyer that ended in the double-doored entrance to his penthouse and, with sweaty palms, she rang the doorbell before quickly wiping her palms dry on her skirt.

Or she tried to, anyway; the nervous tick of hers had evidently forgotten that her skirt was drenched. She sighed.

Just then, the door opened, revealing Ito dressed more casually than she'd expected. Somehow, she'd just assumed that the fastidious and proper man would wear a suit at home, but while he was by no means slumming it, he wore form-fitting black slacks and a deep blue, open collar button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a small dark blue apron had been tied around his waist. His usual suit jacket, tie, and cuffs were nowhere to be seen.

It was the apron that did her in. For all of its masculinity in its dark blue color, there were traces of a softer man in the tiny white flowers embroidered at the bottom. The unevenness of the stitching made her suspect that it was a gift rather than a deliberate purchase but still, the idea of Ito wearing a flower apron was frankly ridiculous.

Whether it was the overwork and fatigue or the apron itself that made her giggle, she didn't know, but she lost the battle and began laughing until she cried as he stood there stiffly in his doorway.

Ito's lips thinned as she laughed at his expense. "The documents, Higurashi-san," he demanded gruffly.

Pursing her lips, she dug the documents out of the waterproof binder she'd purchased several months ago. Not that she'd expected to use it for this, but at least it had been money well spent. As she handed them over, a tiny voice shouted, "Who is it? Is it a package? I love packages!"

Ito sighed heavily as the door was jerked open and a young girl, no older than six or seven, stared up at Kagome from behind the partially opened door. "Hi! I'm Rin!" the girl chirped.

The girl looked eerily similar to both Ito and his younger brother. She had silver hair, golden eyes, and little tufted ears at the top of her head. 

Kagome stared at the girl in shock. "I'm Kagome," she said, shaking the hand the girl held out to her. "You have a kid? I didn't know you were married," she blurted stupidly, wanting to kick herself the moment the words left her lips. What did it matter to her if Ito had kids or was married or not?

He sighed again. "She is Izayoi's," he explained, trying unsuccessfully to pull the girl back into the penthouse as Kagome's eyes widened in sudden understanding. If Rin was Izayoi's then evidently he had a sister no one bothered to talk about. "Izayoi was unable to pick her up from dance recital so I had to leave the office to do so in her stead." He turned his gaze down the young girl beside him. "Your mother should be here any minute, Rin. You will finish packing up your backpack so you will be ready to leave."

"But she's wet!" Rin pointed a finger at Kagome. "My mom says that if you stand around wet, you'll catch a cold. You should let her come in and shower, Ni-sama. Mom says there's a really, really bad cold that makes people really sick right now. You wouldn't want her to get sick, would you?"

"Thank you, Rin-chan, but I'm fine," Kagome said quickly, not wanting to stay around Ito if she could help it.

Ito pressed his lips together, looking displeased by the reminder. "Ito Serena," he said, using the same warning tone that he'd used earlier that day to rebuke Kagome, "you will be ready to leave when your mother arrives to collect you."

Rin's lower lip trembled. "Mom says you're supposed to care about others," she said, her voice pleading. "I just want to be a good girl. And she looks really, really wet, Ni-sama. She's even dripping on the floor."

Ito's gaze darted back to Kagome and he seemed to see the puddle for the first time. "Hnn." He opened the door all of the way as Rin reached forward and pulled Kagome into the ornate penthouse. 

Ito disappeared for a moment and when he reappeared, he had towels and a robe in his hands which he quickly handed to her. "The guest shower is that way," he said, indicating the door with his chin. "You may shower as long as you need. As Rin has indicated, your human body could not withstand illness in its weakened condition."

That was probably the nicest thing she'd heard him say to anyone which is probably why she didn't protest as she took the towels and robe from him. Backhanded compliment or not, she hadn't expected him to even remotely care if she got sick or not. "Thank you, Ito-buchou."

"There are extra clothes in the bathroom," Rin piped up helpfully. "I use it all the time."

Kagome flushed but Ito gave her a slight nod that she took as permission to use the clothes. "I'll make sure I have them cleaned and returned to you. Discretely," she added, too quietly for Rin to hear.

He nodded.

Rin moved over to the dining room table and returned to her coloring book, evidently content to squiggle as much within the lines as she was without. Both of Ito's siblings were nothing like the daiyokai himself but they gave additional insight into what had to be the most private man she'd ever known.

Kagome turned and headed into the bathroom, deciding to take him up on his offer and shower until she had warmed thoroughly. It wasn't as though she had anything urgent to do at this hour, anyway.

. 

. 

"Where's Rin?" she asked as she stepped out of the bathroom, still towel drying her hair, dressed in loose clothing that she suspected had belonged to InuYasha. She couldn't see Ito Sesshomaru himself wearing the loose black teeshirt or the flannel pants, though she had a hard time seeing Ito allowing his younger brother anywhere near his penthouse given how often the two bickered. She'd hoped to find some feminine clothing in the bathroom closet—a closet twice as big as her own bedroom closet—but they'd been conspicuously absent despite the fact that she suspected Izayoi had been to the house with her daughter and husband more than once if Sesshomaru often picked Rin up from school or class.

Still, she'd expected to see the little girl still coloring in a coloring book at the dining room table when she'd finished her shower but Rin was nowhere to be seen.

"Home. Her mother has already come to collect her," Sesshomaru's voice answered her nearby.

She turned to see the daiyokai was in the kitchen, standing over a stove as he watched over something cooking in a pan. "Um, what are you doing?" 

"Cooking," he answered shortly, stirring whatever was in the pan with a bamboo spatula. "I heard your stomach growl when you arrived."

She made her way over to the floating island in his kitchen and sat down on one of the plushy barstools. "You cook?" 

Somehow, she couldn't picture the daiyokai cooking anything. He'd never once brought a boxed lunch with him to work but now that she thought of it, perhaps it was a secret hobby of his. It would certainly explain the apron's presence.

"It is a passable hobby." He took a plate down from his cupboard and moved some food from the pan onto it before he placed the plate on the counter before her, fork already on the plate, beside a full cup of hot tea.

He was already reaching for another plate himself when she blurted, "Crepes. You made crepes."

He turned to her with his own plate and set it down on the island beside her. "It is a simple dish to make."

Crepes could be simple but he'd loaded the crepes with expensive and flavorful ingredients, some of which no doubt required extra preparation. "And I can't even cook pancakes right most of the time," she muttered to herself glumly.

Ito's lips twitched as he said, "I have reviewed the documents you brought, Higurashi-san." As he waved his hand, she noticed the documents on the other end of the island, neatly stacked. "I was impressed with how thorough you were with HR's plan of action for the employees if the country goes on quarantine, especially considering how, hmm, poor the first plan had been."

She flushed as she took in his obvious amusement. "That won't happen again," she promised him stiffly. It had been oversight on her part that it had even happened once.

"Hnn." He nodded and for a moment, they both ate in peace. "It is after midnight," he observed, looking out of the large windows installed in the main room of his penthouse. "I will call a cab for you once you have finished."

"Okay," she agreed, a little uncertain as to how to act around this version of Ito that was so at odds with his demanding work persona. "Thank you, Ito-buchou." She felt so at odds that she almost hoped he would say nothing else and allow her to eat in peace. 

"Ito-san," he corrected, looking amused again. "This is not Ito-Nakamura and I am not a manager here."

She swallowed back a mouthful of crepe as she gaped at him. "You are my boss—"

"However temporarily," he interrupted calmly. "It is likely that Tanaka-san will have remote access in another day or two and then your department will revert back to her management."

"—and it's not proper," she continued, ignoring his interruption. 

"Are you disobeying your boss, then?" he countered and if it had been anyone else, she'd have sworn he was teasing her.

With shaky hands she reached for the tea, now warm instead of scalding, and took a sip, more for the reprieve it bought her than for any real thirst. "Ito-buchou," she began, noting wryly his amusement at her continued refusal, "I am grateful for the meal, the shower, and the clothes, but I think you should really call that cab now."

She'd always found him attractive, ever since she'd joined Ito-Nakamura five years ago, and she didn't trust how she might act if he continued to act so, well, nice to her. She doubted he had any real understanding at all of the impact he was having on her, of her own need to be teased and how it turned her on, and she wasn't going to risk her job by misreading the situation and letting her hormones and her foolish hopes get the better of her.

His expression closed off and after a moment, he nodded. "Very well." He set aside his fork and pulled out his cell, making the call quickly and efficiently. As the phone rang, she felt her heart rate pick up. The movement of his had exposed a little more of his bare chest than she was accustomed to seeing and just that little bit caused her heart to flare into overdrive. 

Kagome, this is just pathetic, she grumbled to herself. As soon as she got home, she was redownloading that dating app before she lost her mind. 

The call abruptly ended without anyone answering. "Well, that's weird," Kagome muttered, reaching for her own phone. 

Just then, the screen lit up as a horrible siren sound emanated from the cellular device. From beside her, Ito's also began to do the same. She looked down at her phone, dismayed by the tiny kanji on the screen that declared the 'stay at home' order had already been enacted and everyone would be quarantined indefinitely until the virus had run its course.

"I need to go home," Kagome said, leaping out of her chair. "The cabs have already stopped running and I need to get home before the quarantine is enforced—" She grabbed her purse and her portfolio and ran from his penthouse, hitting the elevator call button as quickly as she could.

Ito followed her out, evidently intending on seeing her out himself. 

When they reached the lobby, she saw a few people already arguing with several uniformed police officers. Kagome strode past them, hoping she'd be able to leave unnoticed.

"Stop!" An officer broke away to stand in front of her. "I'm afraid I cannot let you leave, ma'am. I'm sure there are things you want to get, but we can't let you out. If you and your husband will just return home..."

Kagome's eyes widened as the officer's gaze dropped to her oversized clothes and she immediately understood why he'd made the assumption he did. "We aren't married," she protested weakly. 

If anything, the officer's expression looked more resigned. "Right," he said, sounding wearily. "I apologize, ma'am. If you and your boyfriend would please return home for now; we'll let you leave just as soon as it's safe."

"But I don't live here!" Kagome immediately began rummaging through her purse, ready to pull out her identification card and prove it, but she couldn't seem to find her wallet anywhere in her purse. 

"Here." Ito handed her the wallet and she realized that it must have fallen out at some point in his penthouse and she'd simply failed to notice it was missing. If she'd gotten into a cab, she'd have no way to pay for it.

She blushed. "Thank you, Ito—"

"Ito?" The officer stood straighter and she cursed to herself. The Ito family was well-known and there was no way that the officer would have missed her calling his name. "Have a good night, Ito-san," the officer said, his voice a little shaky.

"We are sorry for wasting your time, officer." Ito pulled her to him and walked quickly over to the elevator and pushed the call button, cursing under his breath.

She understood why a moment later when the other officers began talking excitedly to one another about getting his autograph or a picture.

"Get in," he said, pushing her into the elevator as soon as it opened, and she tried to ignore how that demanding tone fired her up again. It seemed, she reflected, that outside of work, she liked it. Too much.

As soon as he was in behind her, he hit the button for his floor and then began tapping the button to close the doors. "I have no desire to have us both wind up in a gossip column, dressed as we are."

She winced. "I'm sorry; I should have thought of that before I used your name."

"No." His annoyed expression softened for a moment. "It was not your doing. I should have made sure you had everything you needed before you left and not insisted on seeing you out myself. You might have been able to leave if I had not interfered."

"Thanks again for my wallet." She sighed. "I'll try and get out of your hair as soon as I can."

They both fell silent at that.

As the elevator dinged at his floor, he said stiffly, "I am sorry, Higurashi-san."

She stared at him. "For what?"

He quickly left the elevator and she rushed to catch up. "For making you uncomfortable with my," he hesitated, "advances. I had not realized that I had made you so uncomfortable that you'd felt the need to flee without checking that you had all of your belongings. It has been a long time since I have attempted to seduce anyone and it appears that I misread the signs."

He wouldn't even so much as glance at her as he unlocked the door and gestured for her to step inside his penthouse. He said something else but all Kagome could hear was the sound of blood rushing in her ears. "Ito-san," she said weakly, not even recognizing her slip, "I...you wanted this?"

If it were possible, he stiffened even further. "I apologize again. I will ensure that I maintain a proper distance from you while you are trapped here." He ushered her into his penthouse and closed the door, all without making direct eye contact. 

She reached out for him before she could stop herself, unable to handle his emotional withdrawal as she forgot all of her reasons why any sort of entanglement with him would be a horrible idea. She cupped his jaw and gently turned his head to face hers, taking absent note of the small blush at his cheeks. She licked her dry lips as his gaze met hers. "I wanted it, too," she admitted, her voice raspy, and then she seemed to throw all sense of self-preservation to the wind because she added, "I like it when you tease and try and boss me around."

His expression suddenly blazed with passion, though it was tempered as he rumbled, "Are you sure, Kagome?" She shook at the way he said her personal name. "This would not be a casual fling and we will likely be confined together for some time."

"Mm?" She'd processed his words to review later but she couldn't focus on anything but the hand that had moved to stroke her lower hip with his thumb.

He chuckled, the sound low and dark as it caused the arousal she tried so hard to keep at bay broke through the dam of her control. "I asked," he breathed, leaning in so that his breath was warm against her lips, "if you are sure, Kagome."

She finally registered his words, but only just. "The only thing I'm sure about right now, Ito-san, is that if you don't kiss me right now, I'm going to implode."

"Sesshomaru," he corrected. "Sesshomaru."

And then he bent his head and kissed her.