A Deal with the Devil by Gracie

The Dealings of Marriage

Kagome was making a deal with the devil. As simple as that, she would be giving up her life to him. She wouldn't even regret it. Now, she just had to convince him to buy her soul.

It was noon on a Saturday, and Kagome had never been more nervous. Not even during her geometry final exam, which was the determining factor between her repeating a year or passing. Even if Kagome had enough time to remember all of the moments in her life, she would have been hard pressed to choose a more distressing moment.

The room she was sitting in was cool, with a frigid air conditioning system that would have chilled her to the bone, had she not been sweating so furiously. There was red wall paper decorating the room with a traditional Japanese theme, despite the room being on the twentieth floor in a prestigious sky scraped in Tokyo. The other furniture was made with cherry-oak wood and styled to match the rest of the room.

The setting made Kagome nervous. It really did. However, it paled in comparison to the demon sitting across from her. He had long white hair, sharp golden eyes, and intense markings on his smooth skin. He breathed intimidation, and Kagome, who was normally outspoken and proud, unaffected by the world's views of her, cared very much about how he viewed her.

Everything in her whole world weighed on his opinion of her. All of the things she held dear, or rather, the only person who mattered in her life, depended on this interview. This marriage interview.

She cleared her throat, unclenched her hands from the hem her dress, and met his gaze. "So you see, my lord, it would be very beneficial to you if we were to marry."

His expression remained untouched by emotion, so she took that as a sign to continue.

"The world views marriage as a stable thing," she wouldn't mention the rising divorce rate, "and the political image of a bachelor such as yourself would improve greatly if you were to marry. Having a wife would make you more relatable to and the people of Japan would feel more comfortable with you." Pausing for a second, she realized her mistake, "I mean, not that they don't already feel comfortable with you, but it would put you in a more humane light…"

He cocked an eyebrow.

She stuttered a bit and continued quickly, "Not that being a demon isn't okay. People love demons. They respect them too."

His face remained still and she knew she needed to stop tripping on her words, and fast.

"Marriage is a sign of stability, and a sign of maturity. It would benefit your image greatly to have a quiet, respectable wife from a good background."

She took a breath and dared a glance at him. He looked at her for a moment, pondering what she said and nodded. Kagome wasn't sure if he was agreeing with her or telling her to continue, but it was a good sign. She had been right to find logical reasons for him to marry her, and even though she had nearly made a fool out of herself, he was listening to her.

"Marrying me would put you in more favorable terms with Taiyoukai Enterprises, because my adoptive father was the last head of the group." He nodded, silently accepting her point.

"This would directly connect you to your predecessor, and the company would be more comfortable with you in the position of the new head, especially given the untimely death of my father." She didn't even flinch as she referenced her father's death, only held his strong gaze and spoke evenly. He approved, and nodded in agreement again.

"Also, I can state the many benefits to being a married man. A wife could ward off unwanted affections from other women, and she'd be able to do it politely. A wife could host parties for you and take care of the matters in the house. I could help you out in any way you need." She bit her tongue, realizing she had slipped up and referred to herself as the wife.

He narrowed his eyes and stated, "I have various maids and butlers who help me out with unnecessary things such as that. I would not need a wife for those reasons."

She thought for a moment, and came up with her best response that didn't sound desperate. "A maid or butler wouldn't provide stability in your political image for you, though."

He looked mutely pleased with her response and she could have sung with happiness. She had proved to him that he needed her as his wife. Everything would be okay.

"You will explain to me why you need this marriage," he announced, his voice deep and powerful.

She swallowed uncertainly. "I-uh," Kagome blinked and tried to think as fast as she could. What would be a good response? Should she tell him the truth, that she needed the money? Or should she lie, and tell him she wanted to be a part of his fame, legacy, or power?

She started to shake her head, but stopped herself, remembering her polite company. He wouldn't like it if she wanted power, he was the type of man who wanted an old fashioned woman who would be quiet and calm (she wasn't calm or quiet, and nothing like the traditional woman he would want her to be, but she wasn't about to tell him that). He would be the most comfortable thinking she needed money, because that was a motive he could understand easily.

"I need some money," she told him in a low tone. "One would think that the powerful Sendo family would have lots of money, but my mother and her husband were in a bit of debt when they died."

Kagome sat back in her seat and let herself remember what exactly had gone on in her family the past few years.

Kagome had been nineteen when her beloved father died from a heart attack. He had been her role model, her caretaker, and so much more. Her father had been the one to raise Kagome because of her mother's thirst for power in the political world. He had come from a long line of Higurashi's, who had been a large and prestigious family a long time ago, but had since fell from power. The last survivor of the Higurashi family, her father, was dead, and the lands had been left to her at age nineteen.

Of course, she was too young then, earning a degree in collage, and her mother had been put in charge of taking care of the lands until Kagome could. Widow Higurashi saw this as a problem, and frequently ignored everything that had to do with the lands, even the bills, which would soon add up to be quite a price.

Three months after Mr. Higurashi's death, widow Higurashi had begun to reunite herself with the pleasures male companionship could bring. Kagome had been too busy or too embarrassed to pay attention to her mother, and focused on completing her collaged degree. A month later widow Higurashi was married to Kenta Sendo, the leader of Taiyoukai Enterprises, and pregnant.

Now, Kagome mused, was the downfall of her parent's life. Kagome's mother wasn't just pregnant four months after her wonderful husband's death, she was pregnant with a hanyou, because Kenta Sendo was a demon. Hayous were a novel sort of people, half human, half demon, and more rare than platinum.

Over the years, society's acceptance of demons had grown more and more respectful and tasteful, and with the equality laws that had been passed before Kagome had been born, her generation never knew the tension between demons and humans. Hanyou were special to see, but people didn't hold prejudices against them anymore. Most people, that is.

Soon after the little girl was born, Mr. and Mrs. Sendo found they didn't have enough time to take care of a baby. They both were influential political figures who felt more responsible to their country than their family. Those first few months of the baby's life Kagome had taken care of the child along with a house hold maid. She had tried to put up with her parent's irresponsible actions, because she understood they had busier lives than her.

A few months later, she was fed up with them, and she intervened. Her mother and adoptive father had struck her a deal: She would care for her little sister during the day time, and they would continue to pay to keep the Higurashi's land. Kagome would also be allowed to live in the shrine house she grew up in, and they would pay for her little sister's schooling. The agreement was nothing formal, and they always came to collect her after work hours had finished, but everyone agreed it was best for little Rin to be raised by a sibling instead of a nanny.

Now, seven months after her parent's death, Rin was the only family Kagome had left. And with the discovery of several unpaid bills for the Higurashi lands, her adoptive father's debt from his latest campaign, her mother's new car and Kagome's student loans, it was apparent she would never have enough money to live.

Then Rin got sick. There were such few demon and hanyou illnesses that it was assumed every disease was fatal, and Kagome didn't have enough money to run tests to see if that was true. She had been sick for two days when Kagome found out how much general hanyou medication would cost, and with that, Kagome knew her fate was sealed. She had to protect Rin, so even if she needed to sell her soul to the devil to keep her alive, she would.

Kagome knew that she needed to get money, and fast, but she was backed into a corner. She had two options: marry rich or sell the Higurashi lands. It was selfish, and she knew it, but Kagome could bear to sell the lands that she grew up on and the place that her father had loved so much. Though Rin was not part of the Higurashi line, Kagome had wanted her to experience a summer with the rolling mountains and lush green fields, babbling brooks and everything that had made Kagome's summers worth waiting for.

There was also the fact that selling the lands would not pay off all of the debts, only provide them with some momentary money. And coupled with the cost of Rin's medical bills, they would soon be in deeper debt. So to provide Rin with a better life, Kagome would marry for money, not love.

She returned to looking at the dog Demon across from her and decided that if she wanted him to marry her, she'd have to expand her presentation to him. Like a business deal, not only would she highlight why he needed a wife, but why it needed to be her.

"I'm the only one who could relate your image to the former head, and I have a polite background. I won't be trouble, I can manage things on my own." She searched her mind for other qualities he would want from her, but could not think of too many. If she was silent, she would be fine.

He regarded her with an expressionless face. If I marry him, I'll have to see that expression every day for the rest of my life. "Do you have any conditions?" He inquired. Was gaining a better life for Rin worth more than the rest of her life?

"Only a few," she whispered, feeling slightly sick. The rest of her life. "I need you to pay my debts… and..."

She swallowed and he watched her fight a battle with herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, and he reflected on his own motives for their marriage. He was being pressed by his advisors to get married to a human, because it would be good for demon-human relations. Then, just as he had been sorting through marriage candidates, she had found him.

He had long since outgrown his deep hatred for human kind, but he still found them weak and pathetic. They could work their whole life and never be happy, or figure out what they want to do, but never try to achieve that goal. They were fickle and loud, unrefined and ugly, which made him continue to dislike them. However, he had once met a human woman who had sparked his curiosity, and from then on decided maybe every single human wasn't pathetic. Only most of them were.

"I need you to pay for my sister's medical bills. She is the hanyou daughter of the former head of Taiyoukai Enterprises, so helping her out will improve your image more." She looked up at him with her azure eyes.

"This one has a condition too," he announced in his deep baritone. "This marriage will remain intact for the rest of your life, and as you know, you cannot get out of it. It will be permanently binding."

She nodded, and he continued smoothly. "We will not, under any circumstances have sexual relations. From the moment you marry me, you will be celibate to your death. There will be no sideline affairs or infidelity."

She wasn't quite sure if she should be relieved or sad. He was an attractive man, anyone with half a whit could see that, but he was cold and intimidating, so not someone she'd want to make love to. As much as she didn't want to have sex with him, she knew that seventy or eighty years would be a long time. He was a demon, someone with a lifespan of over five thousand years, so seventy or eighty years wouldn't be a lot for him. But for her, it'd be the rest of her life.

Kagome found herself nodding, despite her mixed emotions. "No problem. As long as you will watch over Rin when I'm gone," she rushed out.

He frowned at her, and she worried she had asked too much. Rin would live for over two thousand years, and probably die around the time he did. He wouldn't need to care for her all that time, but Kagome wanted a reassurance that someone would be around for her when she died.

He nodded to accept, and Kagome felt her throat closing.

"We will finish discussing this later. I will contact you soon to tell you the date of our marriage. Do not expect anything fancy." He stood up and presented his hand to her.

"I wouldn't dream of it," she murmured, reaching out for his hand to shake it. The rest of her life.

His grip was firm, but cold. Shaking hands to end a business deal, she thought with a touch of sadness. Her marriage would be a business deal. As he led her to the door, she shuddered, imagining the cold future that awaited her.

She wouldn't be Kagome Higurashi in that future.

She would be Mrs. Sesshomaru Taisho.

...

Hi guys! This is Gracie, with the first chapter of A Deal with the Devil. This story takes place in modern day, and wow does Kagome have a weird family life. In case you were wondering, I'll try and explain it as best as I can. Kagome was mostly raised by her father (who didn't die when she was young) because her mother was always working. He died and her mother got remarried to Mr. Sendo, and they had a hanyou, who is Rin. Rin is Kagome's little sister in this, and she's really sick. Kagome has been worrying a lot about Rin, because she doesn't have enough money to pay for hospital bills and it isn't normal for hanyous to get sick. Kagome's mother, father and step father are all dead, and her cousin Miroku just got married to her best friend, Sango. I hope this cleared up any questions, but feel free to ask me what's going on.

All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.