Kirie: Hello, all! My name is Kirie, and this is my first fic!

Itachi: (glares)

Kirie: (backs away laughing nervously) And this is Itachi, who kindly agreed to become my muse.

Itachi: (smirks) That's better.

Kirie: (crosses arms) You're not mute, you know. You could introduce yourself...

Itachi: No.

Kirie: (throws arms in the air) Fine! Anyway, as you know, this is an OC-centered fic. If you don't like it, that's fine-- just hit the back button and get out of my hair. And if you flame just because this is an OC-centered fic, congratulations! You're officially an idiot! Seriously, if you're just here to flame without good reason, then go soak your head.

On the other hand, constructive criticism is appreciated as I look to improve in any way I can. Praise is even better, since I like it when people like my work. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the fic!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nada. Zilch. If you sue me, you're going to be sadly disappointed. I only own Alma, her family, Izanami, Lena, and Nakira...ack, that's actually quite a long list.

Chapter 1: Best Man, er, Woman, For the Job OR How the HELL Did I Get Roped into This?

Inu No Taisho, the greatest dog lord of all time, sire of Sesshoumaru and the half-demon Inuyasha, was floored. His jaw snapped open and shut, rather like a landed fish, as he stared at the blue-haired, blue-clad midget girl floating in front of him. The dog lord quickly regained his composure, hoping the little blue...thing...didn't make too much of it, though the tiny, almost invisible smirk on her lips didn't bode well for that happy fantasy.

"You want me to pick her? But she-- she's--" Inu No Taisho sputtered, trying to find a way to say it without being too impolite.

"Violent? A nutjob? Not the best choice?" the little spirit girl said, her smirk dropping like a dead fly to be replaced with annoyance. "Sorry, Tai. She is the best choice."

"What? Oh, come on," the dog lord said, ignoring the butchering of his name. "Anybody else would be a better choice, rather than her. It's not that she's a bad kid, it's just that she doesn't have--"

"Fine," the blue girl snapped, periwinkle eyes crackling with irritation. "Fine! You want another option? It's either a seven-year-old or a crack addict. Pick one."

"You're not serious," Inu No Taisho said weakly. A crack addict wouldn't do his children any good, and to drag a seven-year-old into his mess would be just plain wrong.

"I'm dead serious. Well? What will it be, Tai?" The blue-haired girl demanded.

"Alright. It'll be the girl, then," the dog lord sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. The blue girl smirked victoriously.

"Get going, then. The sooner you get started, the better," she said wisely. Inu No Taisho nodded sharply and disappeared. The spirit-girl sighed as well, stretching out over thin air.

"Are you sure it was wise, to make him choose Alma?" a soft, shy voice inquired. The blue girl, named Izanami, didn't bother looking around for the owner of the voice-- there was no body to whom it belonged.

"Of course. Anything to help your spirit rest in peace, and she's just the one to do it," Izanami murmured, a faint smile appearing on her lips. "I do feel sorry for Tai, though. He isn't going to know what hit him..."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Alma glared at the shelf in front of her, pushing her dark red hair back and tapping her foot irritably-- all impending danger signs. She'd only wanted to sit down, have a nice cold pop and maybe some chocolate and spend the rest of the night watching her favorite anime-- but her favorite anime wasn't on its shelf. And Alma knew exactly where it was.

Why that little--! She knows I'd loan it to her if she'd just ask!

The redhead walked silently out of her room-- she'd have loved to storm out, stomping and yelling, but that wouldn't be very mature of her. Plus, it would wake her mother up, and that was the last thing the teenager wanted.

Alma peered around the doorframe into her younger sister's room, scowling when she noted the missing anime playing on the TV and its case thrown carelessly on the floor. Georgie was sitting on the bed, completely oblivious to anything but the anime (Fullmetal Alchemist, to be precise) in front of her. The older girl leaned down, picked up the case, silently crossed the room and brought the case down sharply on her baby sister's head.

"Ow!" Georgie cried out, scooting away and rubbing her head. Her brown eyes filled with angry tears when she saw Alma, one hand on her hip and the other holding the anime case. "What was that for?"

"For going into my room and taking my anime without permission," Alma said flatly, used to her sister's dramatics. Mom had spoiled Georgie badly when she was younger (and still did, when she could be bothered to get out of bed), and the redhead had spent the past few years trying to knock it out of her-- and had been quite successful, for the most part anyway. "For God's sake, Georgie, you know I'd let you have it if you just asked."

"What is it with you and asking all the time, anyway?" the brunette demanded, pain in the head forgotten. "Mom lets me do whatever I want--"

"That's enough," Alma snapped, narrowing her eyes at her sibling. "You're ten years old-- almost eleven. It's time to stop playing the 'but Mommy lets me do it' card. You should know by now it doesn't work on me anyway."

"Why do you get to set the rules, anyway?" Georgie grumbled. She jumped when the redhead slapped the case down her nightstand loudly, storm-gray eyes flashing behind her glasses.

"Because I'm the one who works five days a week, cleans the house, buys the groceries, cooks the meals, feeds the pets, gets straight A's, and keeps you out of juevinial prison," Alma snarled, forcibly holding back her already frayed and split temper. "Maybe next time I'll just leave you there when the cops pick you up, yet again."

The younger girl bowed her head and Alma fought the urge to curse when she caught the glimmer of tears in her sister's eyes. Congratulations, Alma, you royally fucked up yet again! Akwardly, the redhead sat next to Georgie and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry," Alma said, giving her a half-hearted hug. "I had no business saying those things to you, especially with my record. It's just been a crappy week, and I'm dead tired, and you know I don't mean what I say when I'm tired. Forgive your stupid onee-chan?" Georgie let out a choked half-laugh at the Japanese title.

"Only if you watch Inuyasha with me," the brunette mumbled. Alma made a face.

"Oh, God. Anything but that," she whined. Georgie giggled. "It's not funny! Why can't we watch one of those other things you've got, like Kodocha or Fruits Basket? All we ever watch is Inuyasha!"

"Inuyasha or bust," Georgie informed her cheerily. The redhead rolled her eyes, heaving a dramatic sigh of defeat.

"Fine. Inuyasha it is," Alma conceded, standing up and stretching languidly. "I'll go make us some popcorn and hot chocolate. Want marshmallows?"

"Yes, please."

Alma nodded and walked down the stairs, jumping over the last step into the kitchen. Patches, the gray and white cat, wound between her ankles and mewed imperiously when she looked down at him. Elmo, Dennis, Hobbes and the three as of yet unnamed kittens promptly set up a fuss, scampering around her legs and meowing piteously.

"All right, all right, I get it, you want your dinner," the redhead mumbled, picking her way over to their dish. Dennis, the pure black cat, swatted at her hair as she bent over. Alma made a face as Elmo, Dennis's half-grown black and white shadow, promptly came over to join the fun.

"Stop that, you," she said absently as one of the kittens dug its tiny claws into her leg while she was filling their dish. When it did not concede defeat, she picked it up and set it down next to its fellows before moving on to make the popcorn. As soon as they finished eating, all the kittens chased after her and attacked her feet. Alma gave up shooing them away as a lost cause and concentrated on not stepping on any of them.

Tundra, their Alaskan malamute dog, chose that moment to waltz into the kitchen and stand next to her dish expectantly. Alma glared out of the corner of her eye at the dog, who stared innocently back. She put the hot chocolate in the microwave and stepped over the kittens to fill Tundra's bowl, wincing as a kitten decided it would be fun to cling to her bare ankle. Tundra snorted and nudged the kitten away, then began to make short work of her food.

"You know anyone else would think it's freaky when you do things like that, right?" Alma said, raising her eyebrows. The dog ignored her and continued devouring her food. The microwave dinged at that moment, so the teenager abandoned her attempts to harass Tundra and pulled the mugs out. She dropped an insane amount of marshmallows in both of them, then grabbed the popcorn bowl with the other hand and made her way back up the stairs.

A mew at the bottom of the staircase made Alma flinch and look over her shoulder warily. Three pairs of pleading blue-green eyes watched her ascent, piteous mewls floating up to her ears. Alma cringed and quickly shut her eyes, trying to block out the cuteness as she slowly walked up the stairs. No, don't give in. Be strong, be strong... Resist! Another piteous cry floated up to her ears. Goddamnit! I'm such a sap. Anything cute and fluffy makes an effort to charm me, and I turn into a puddle of goo. Ack, it should be a crime for kittens to be so adorable...

Alma reached the top of the stairs and started to turn around to order the cats to stay there (not that they would listen, but still) and stopped dead, resigned and amused. Dennis, Patches and Hobbes were trotting up the stairs, each holding a kitten by the scruff of the neck, with Elmo leading the way, his tail whisking to and fro jauntily. The redhead stood to the side to allow the felines into Georgie's room, smiling as she thought of how anyone else would have been staring slack-jawed or running for their video camera. The pets in their house had always been a little unusual, if only because they seemed smarter than the average cat or dog. Tundra huffed as she followed the cats into Georgie's room, almost as if she had heard Alma's thoughts and found them amusing.

Georgie rolled her eyes as her older sister followed the procession into her room and moved aside to make room when Alma set the popcorn bowl on the bed and handed her a slightly hot mug. The cats made themselves comfortable in various places around the room and Tundra flopped on the floor, for all the world looking like they had nothing better to do. Alma switched the lights off and shut the door as Georgie put the DVD in and pressed Play. The teenager let a small smile appear on her face when she saw the brunette glaring at Hobbes, who had sprawled over her spot on the bed and was ignoring the scowl he was recieving.

"Just pick him up and give him to me," Alma said, not bothering to hide the tone in her voice that clearly stated she found it funny. Georgie scowled and scooped up the errant cat, obviously resisting the temptation to dump him on the floor. The redhead took the gray-striped nuisance from the younger girl and slid onto the bed, trying not jolt the already protesting feline.

"So," Alma began casually as the opening song started. "Why did you swipe my Fullmetal Alchemist? I thought I drilled it into your head thoroughly enough last time to ask first, and it's not like you to forget things." Georgie scuffed her shoe along the floor guiltily, looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

"You...said you'd come pick me up after school today, remember?" the brunette mumbled hesitantly. Alma's eyes widened and she fought the urge to curse out loud. Damn! Idiot, idiot, goddamn fucking idiot! What the hell is wrong with me?! God, I'm such a freaking moron! If I don't come, she has to ride the bus, and the other kids...shit!

"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. Did any of those little shitheads give you trouble? I'll kick their asses if they did!" Alma hissed, her fists balling as she remembered all the times her little sister had come home, crying and nursing bruises. Most of it had stopped after Alma had begun picking up Georgie after school, but there was still enough going on that she was worried.

"No, nothing happened," Georgie insisted, avoiding her eyes. The redhead felt her eyelid twitch, and knew that while no punches had been thrown, words had been said and words were often worse than blows.

"I'm sorry. It'll never happen again," Alma promised softly, meaning every word.

"It's okay, I don't mind--"

"Of course you mind. You wouldn't have swiped my DVD if you weren't mad," the redhead said dryly. "In any case, I had no business forgetting you, no matter how busy I might be. It's not going to happen again." Georgie smiled, brown eyes holding a melancholy wistfulness that said she wanted to believe her, but didn't quite just yet. Alma felt a bitter twinge in her heart, reminded of a time when those brown eyes had been so open and trusting when they looked at her. Now, the trust was still there, but cut back by a considerable degree. And it's entirely my own damn fault. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my own stupid, selfish misery after Seth died--!

"I know you work hard," Georgie said, eyes on the floor as she automatically cuddled a kitten that had somehow found its way up onto the bed. "You go to work during almost all your free time, and you practically break your back to get good grades in high school. You do so much to make everything right-- it's just-- I get so mad at you sometimes. You know?" she finished desperately.

Alma stared straight ahead, not seeing the TV screen in front of her. Those words were nothing new to her-- it was only more proof that she was a failure trying to cover up her mistakes. Nothing could erase what she had done in the past, and her failures as a friend, a daughter, and a sister.

"Yeah. I do."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Georgie? It's over."

No response. Alma glanced sideways at Georgie and almost laughed when she saw her little sister, sprawled over her bed with the Elmo and the three kittens curled around here. Definitely blackmail material, but her camera didn't have any film in it, more's the pity... She shook away the wayward thoughts and gathered up the mugs and the bowl, noting that Georgie's floor would need to be vacuumed from the popcorn fight they had had halfway through the third Inuyasha episode unless Tundra decided she was hungry. Said dog rose, stretched, and followed the redhead out of the room and down the stairs, apparently not interested in the popcorn scattered everywhere.

Alma dumped the dirty dishes in the sink carelessly and began to run the hot water while she fished around in the cupboard for the dish soap. Dennis wandered down the stairs, gave her disapproving look, then promptly sat down and began to wash himself. The teenager rolled her eyes in exasperation at the random weirdness of their most eccentric cat and sternly turned away the urge to squirt him with the dish soap and see how he liked that.

As she was setting the dishes in the drying rack, Tundra began to growl softly in the background. Startled, Alma looked over her shoulder at the malamute, who was slowly rising from her position on the floor and creeping stiff-legged over to the stairs.

"What is it, girl?" the redhead whispered, trying to quell the loud, incessant pounding of her heart. Predictably, the dog didn't answer, only continued to growl louder at the unseen threat upstairs. Alma shivered, and forced herself to calm down.

"Stop that. There's nothing there," she said sharply. To prove her point she stalked up the stairs, Tundra slinking close behind her.

A flickering light was on in Georgie's room, and Alma frowned uncertainly. Didn't I turn the TV off? I'm sure I did...

"Curses, where is that girl? She isn't working tonight..."

The hair on the back of Alma's neck rose at the sound of a man's voice coming from Georgie's room. Georgie! What if he hurts her? There's no way in hell that's going to happen while I'm around! The redhead snatched up a small table in the hallway, took two long strides into the room and swung the table at the tall shape just beginning to turn around.

It went straight through him.

Alma dropped the table with a soft cry of shock, staring at the tall man-- was he a man? No man should have golden slit-pupiled eyes and long white hair in ponytail and strange markings on his face. Not unless she was dealing with some punk weirdo with too much time on his hands. The stranger's face relaxed into a relieved expression when he saw her, something the teenager found odd to say the least.

Hey, wait a second...He looks just like that Sesso-what's-his-face on Inuyasha... Oh, no, not another Inuyasha nut! One's more than enough, thank you very much.

"Ah, there you are. At least I didn't have to go chasing you all over town," the white-haired man said, obviously pleased with himself.

To which Alma came up with the intelligent reply of, "Huh?"

The white-haired man rolled his eyes in irritation and shook his head. "I swear, teenagers get dumber every year..."

"Excuse me?" Alma said mildly, ice dripping from every word. The Sess-clone winced and laughed nervously when he saw the apathetic expression on her face.

"Look, I need your help," he said bluntly, and the apathetic expression was replaced once again with shock. This...this jerk just broke into her home, insulted her, and now he expects her to forgive him. Not freaking likely!

"I...I need you to help two people who are precious to me...my sons," the Sess-clone explained, his face sad and grave. Alma felt her heart soften a little bit. She almost felt sorry for the man-- key word being 'almost'.

"Sorry, but no can do," the redhead stated flatly. "In case you haven't noticed, I have a sister to take care of, grades to keep up, a job to work at, and a life of my own to live. Who's going to take care of Georgie if I go God-know-where with you?" The white-haired man winced.

"I was afraid you'd say that," he muttered. "And stop glaring at me, you! You can come with her, just don't blame me if you don't like how it turns out..."

Seeing that the Sess-clone was talking to something over her shoulder, Alma turned and saw Tundra standing behind her, lips peeled back in a silent snarl. The teenager turned back to the deranged white-haired weirdo and resisted the urge to jump back-- he was barely six inches away from her face.

"Just what the hell do you think you're--"

The Sess-clone flicked Alma on the forehead. Stars exploded in her vision, and then she sank into blackness.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Oh, God... my head...

Hey. You okay?

I think so...

The awakening of your powers always hurts.

Powers...?

Hmph. That dingbat didn't tell you anything, did he?... I guess it doesn't matter now. Just make the best with what you've got now, okay?

Sure...when I find out what you're talking about.

You'll know soon enough. Now, wake up!

Alma opened her eyes blearily, and cringed at the light shining down on her. She sat up, shielding her eyes with one hand against the glare. Her other hand dropped to the ground, then snatched itself back up in stunned disbelief as it felt cool grass instead of rough carpet. The redhead looked around wildly at the clearing of the woods she was in, and thought one sentence that neatly summed up her predicament.

Oh, shit!

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Kirie: Well, that's all for now. Hope you liked it, so please review!