Hurray, it's WEdnesday again! Unfortunately I have to work, but that doesn't matter because I'm a responsible adult and know how to plan ahead! heheh, even if I do like to claim I'm a six year old from time to time.
This part of the fic introduces a lot of new characters, some of which you've heard of briefly in passing and many you haven't. This is not a bad thing. Also some of these seemingly "new characters" aren't. What do I mean? Well to tell you would take away some of the fun. Lets just say, you should keep in mind that Rumiko Takahashi never did establish how long youkai can live and neither have I and that's all I'm going to say about it! I really won't be explaining things clearly until far, far into the future because I am evil about random things. (sorry, apparently sharing an apartment with the epitome of all that is evil rubbed off. Luckily I am the incarnation of randomness, so it's difficult to tell when this will surface.)
Another thing about this part of the story, I decided to throw Sesshoumaru into the 21st century and see if he would sink or swim. Inuyasha takes everything in stride, but I believe this is because he always has a purpose and Kagome, despite her protests, encourages him to see most things in a positive light. Sesshoumaru is an entirely different person altogether. He's used to knowing his environment and being completely certain in his ability to overcome the dangers of it. Not so on this side of the well. His behavior may seem a bit strange, but think about it, how does a fish act out of water in comparison to being in its natural environment?
Oh, and we get to meet Loki. He was mentioned way back in the last chapter of part 1. He doesn't like Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru doesn't like him, but I won't tell you why. You'll have to read to find out!
Brought to You By the Letter 'S'
The tinny sound of a telephone ringing echoed through the two-bedroom American style apartment. The place hardly looked lived in; though there were tons of take out boxes strewn about the floor beside the computer. The man who stirred to answer the phone didn't exactly fit the somewhat feminine furnishings. He ran his hand through his extravagantly colored hair idly as he waited for sound from the other end of the phone connection.
His hair was about all that could have given away his youkai heritage if this day and age wasn't so full of color changing cosmetics. It helped that they were really popular to, so he looked almost normal with his dark hair splashed with white blonde. It likewise helped that his youkai blood was terribly diluted.
"Hey Loki," the tired voice of his semi-employer crawled out of the phone and into his ear. "I'm back. I've got a few errands to run before I'll be at the apartment."
"Geez, boss, you sound more tired than you did the last time you came back," the now identified Loki cried into the phone.
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. "Yeah well, a lot has happened in the last month, and you know these bracelets take a lot out of me," she responded.
"You are going to have to tell me this story," Loki demanded with an expectant grin. The strangest things always seemed to happen to her.
"Don't worry, you will hear the full report later, but I can give you a very condensed summary if you'd like." Her tired voice took on a note of mild amusement.
"Sounds good to me, summarize away!"
"Well, essentially you could say I was betrothed, married and divorced within the last month in an extraordinarily twisted feudal sort of way."
"I didn't know they had divorce back in feudal Japan," Loki stared confusedly into the phone.
"I told you it was twisted and completely without my express permission, all of it," Aki managed to scrape up the energy required to fume a bit.
"I have got to meet this wonderfully lucky then incredibly unlucky male that got through to the hardest matchmaking case Kaoru has ever had," he chuckled.
"If I remember correctly, she tried to set us up once. If I'm bad, you're equally as terrible."
"It's not my fault she can't accept that I'd rather sleep with her than you, Aki," Loki sighed. "She doesn't give herself enough credit."
"Yeah well, you're the one who told me most partial demons have personal issues," Aki reminded him from the other end with a chuckle.
"I know, I know," Loki sighed and let his hand run through his hair. "Anyway, enough of my would be love life. I found some more stuff for you to look at."
"Great, I've got a few things to discuss with you and the twins," Aki sighed on her end of the phone.
"Why don't we go out tonight boss? I'll buy you a nice dinner. You sound like you could use a night of fun."
"All right then, see you in a few hours," a click and dial tone signaled the end of the conversation.
Loki sighed and placed the receiver back in its cradle. He looked around the quiet barely lived in apartment. This was Aki's apartment, yet he spent more time in it than she did. All the research she paid him for he did on her computer.
It was amazing how much had happened since he'd met her all those months ago. Loki still couldn't believe she hadn't called the cops on him. He smiled ruefully, what a first impression. She had known from the start that he was no angel.
He chuckled warmly as the memory of his own surprise swept over him. There's nothing quite like finding the individual whose apartment you're breaking into standing directly behind you.
He hadn't heard her come up the stairs. Hadn't seen her come down the short hallway. In short, he hadn't even realized she was there until he heard her clear her throat and speak.
And what did this homeowner say? Aki had quietly asked why he hadn't tried to check if there was a key under the mat. Let's just say the word embarrassed could not cover the emotion that ran through him at that moment. She had then ushered him inside and begun one of the strangest relationships he'd ever heard of.
That is not to say they were lovers, though there were many who believed otherwise. Nor were they merely employee and employer, he was too involved in trying to look out for her than such an impersonal connection such words implied. Under different circumstances he might have said they were friends, but Aki never let herself get that close to him or anyone else for that matter.
Best not to dwell on the nuances of a relationship that may or may not exist once Aki saw the mess he'd made in her apartment. Loki hastily tossed his near shoulder length hair and set to work clearing the counters and floor around the computer of empty, half-eaten take out food containers. One of these days he would actually learn to cook, or so he kept telling himself that. Actually, he was rather hoping a certain someone would step up and give him a real reason to learn. After all, it was more fun to learn to cook for someone else.
There came a sharp knock on the door to the apartment directly before his particular "certain someone" walked in before he could answer it. Kaoru was a thing of efficiency, business, and design. She was a trendsetter and, in his humble opinion, absolutely gorgeous. The snappy entrepreneur had learned long ago to flout her physical oddities to her advantage. Which is why everything she wore was strategically calculated to offset her full head of naturally pink hair and odd candy-apple red eyes. Of course modern society chalked it up to color contacts and hair dye, not partial youkai heritage.
"My, my, my, Loki," she sing-songed at him. "What's this, not working again I see." Loki almost always regretted bragging to Kaoru about landing this so-called easy job in Aki's employ. She'd since taken it into her head to make sure Aki was getting her money's worth from him by checking on him at random intervals.
On the upside, he got to see her more often, but normally Kaoru was too busy playing drill sergeant for him to make much progress winning her over. Not that it would've done him any good to flirt with her more than he already did. Kaoru refused to believe it was more than him just trying to boost her self-esteem. Not that she didn't already think somewhat highly of herself.
Kaoru was very aware of her own worth when it came to her business and matchmaking and she had absolutely no qualms in letting others know it. No, she just didn't believe she had any chance at a romantic involvement with anybody. She was the matchmaker, not the defenseless client; the manipulator of love, not the other way around. Though poor Loki was stuck loving her without tangible hope of ever achieving his goals; he couldn't stop trying either.
"No, I am working," Loki defended himself. Cleaning was a form of work; some people even got paid for it. True, it wasn't exactly in his rather nebulous job description, but then, that job description would be come "unemployed" if he didn't clean up the mess.
"Loki," her tone became very condescending, the way it would if a child were trying to lie badly to cover up some misdeed. "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning," he replied shortly.
"Loki, you never clean, not unless…" Kaoru began and immediately brightened. "Aki is back isn't she? And you weren't going to tell me!" she accused him playfully. "When is she going to get here?"
"Later, and then I'm taking her out to eat. You know how she never eats a lot unless you take her out," Loki didn't bother explaining further, Kaoru wasn't listening anymore.
"Few hours? Good, good! I still have time to set some things up. You will of course be taking her to my club tonight. It's the perfect place…" here Kaoru dug out her very own special black book. Inside the charcoal covers were the phone numbers, addresses, and short descriptions of every unmarried person she had ever met and not already matched. "Lets see… Who has enough time to get here?" She dug out her cell phone and began dialing numbers like crazy.
"Ah, Kaoru," he tried to interrupt weakly. Aki wasn't going to like this. Of course, Kaoru didn't hear him, lost as she was in making "ambush Aki with love" plans. Loki shrugged and gave it up for a lost cause. He finished clearing away his trash while trying to ignore Kaoru's matchmaking frenzy.
It wouldn't do to interrupt her, especially not if he wanted to win brownie points. Besides it was well nigh impossible to get Kaoru to stop her planning once she'd started, as he knew from past experience. And it was damn near infeasible that you could find your way free of that stupid book until Kaoru herself had matched you up. Loki well remembered the last date she'd set him up on. He shook his head, what a disaster that had been.
It was about then that a loud pounding began on the door…and never stopped.
"Will you knock it off? If she's home, she's already heard you by now!" an irritated female voice yelled on the other side of the door. "Aki-chan, if you're home let us in, it's me, Kagome," the voice called.
Loki opened the door, if only to end the constant pounding. Kagome was the landlord's niece. She also traveled through a certain well like Aki. "She's not back yet," Loki began.
Kagome's eyes went wide and Loki was suddenly very aware of what he was wearing. He never really paid attention to what he wore at Aki's apartment. She was never present and when she was, she never made a comment about it, mostly because she didn't care and was American. Kaoru never worried about his clothed state, because she wasn't interested, or at least it seemed that way. Sad but true. They'd spoiled him for the rest of Japanese society, in which answering the door without a shirt in mid afternoon was terribly unacceptable, especially in as nice a neighborhood as this one.
Kagome continued to stare while the dog-eared boy to her left, Inuyasha he guessed, began to growl. It was the third person's reaction that puzzled him the most. The tall, white-haired male looked ready to kill Loki where he stood.
The poor youth smiled weakly, "Um, you could, come in and, uh, wait for her if you like." Somehow he was getting the impression his life was about to end.
"Who are you!" Inuyasha demanded suspiciously. He didn't like that Kagome was staring at this strange male. He didn't like that the male was in Aki's apartment without her. But mostly he didn't like the way he looked.
"Hey, Loki, when do you…" Kaoru trailed off, surprised at their new company.
"Hello, I'm Kagome Higurashi," Kagome introduced herself after shaking off her shock and embarrassment. Loki was good looking, in a somewhat tame kind of way. He had nothing on Inuyasha in her opinion, but realized her opinion isn't what mattered. In fact, the only thing that mattered was that the situation was almost certain to escalate into violence if someone didn't step in to turn the tide, but Kagome couldn't do it alone.
"And I'm Kaoru Tamaki," her bright pink head bobbed in greeting. "This is Loki. He works for Aki don't you Loki." Oh yeah, she could diffuse a situation like a pro.
"Yeah, I'm researching information on Aki's family for her." He smiled with false brightness. Neither male appeared to buy it though.
"If you are servants of Aki, then what are you doing in such a state of undress in the public areas of her home?" the tall as yet unnamed one demanded.
"That's because he is normally here on his own, and nobody really minds," Kaoru dismissed the issue. "Besides, Aki's American. They're not so squeamish about this sort of thing. And I am not Aki's servant or employee, I'm doing her a favor by checking to make sure Loki does what he's paid to do."
"How do we know you're not just lying to save your skin? You could just be robbers," Inuyasha thought out loud. "Either way, I don't think we should let them get away without some sort of warning for the male's state of undress, Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha cracked his nails threateningly.
Sesshoumaru was all for warning off this unknown male who may or may not know Aki; Who may or may not work for her; who may or may not be something more than a simple member of her staff. He didn't like the feeling coiling in his gut in the face of this very obvious indication that perhaps Aki didn't want him because she had other options; Options that didn't live 500 years before her time; Options that weren't prone to treating her like a possession against her wishes.
He didn't need this. It was bad enough to lose his contract with Aki and then lose her in the night as she spirited away to this god-awful place that he couldn't reach without aid. And somehow he didn't think that the fact this whelp was a great deal less than pure youkai would bother Aki all that much. Yes, he could use this opportunity for some much needed stress relief.
Loki looked at the now identified demon and saw his death staring back at him. OH shit! This had been the guy Aki had experienced all that weird and twisted marriage stuff with, and from the looks of things he hadn't wanted to let her go. What's more, the pureblooded youkai was very ready to strike out at anything that happened to cross his path and remind him that Aki was her own person and out of his reach. Unfortunately that anything just happened to be him at the moment.
And then, the phone rang. Everyone jumped in surprise at the shrill sound as it lanced through the air disrupting the pointless tension filling the living room and doorway. ON the third ring the answering machine picked up and Aki's calm voice floated through the air.
"I thought I told you I hated these machines," she grumbled quietly. "Anyway, it's looking like I'm not going to be able to get there before dinner if we want to eat at a decent hour. So I'll have to meet you there instead. Juno says you were planning to take me to The Demon S as I haven't been there in a while. I'm warning you now, if Kaoru tries to set me up I'm going to leave." Aki paused on the other end while everyone in the apartment stared at the phone. "So meet you at the Demon S around 7. Later," and the call ended.
"So you weren't lying," Inuyasha fairly growled in disappointment.
"What is this place, this demoness she spoke of?" Sesshoumaru demanded.
"The Demon S is one of the hottest clubs in Tokyo. It's kind of a combination of an American style dance club and Karaoke bar that serves awesome international cuisine. It's fair impossible to get in most of the time. IT gets worse on nights when the Demon S herself shows up," Kagome gushed excitedly.
Kaoru beamed at her, "It also happens to be my most successful business establishment. Especially since Aki started going upon occasion."
"You own the Demon S!" Kagome squealed in disbelief. "Nobody's going to believe this at school! I just have one question and please answer it. All my friends have been dieing to know. Who is the Demon S?"
Kaoru chuckled, "That is privileged information that I am not at liberty to release." She looked at Loki, "Though I can promise she'll be making an appearance at the club tonight."
"Really?" Kagome fairly shrieked, much to the discomfort of nearly everyone in the room. "I wish I could go."
"We are going," Inuyasha snorted, "I don't trust these two until I see Aki greet them in person."
Loki sighed, "It was supposed o be a stress free dinner. Doesn't look like it's going to be though."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded.
"Nothing much. Now we have to find you guys something to wear," Loki replied. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru looked at him blankly. He was one to talk, dressed as he was.
But Loki was right. The two could not go to a nightclub dressed like some Period piece extras. The kimonos and swords would have to go.
Kaoru somehow managed to get the brothers and Kagome changed into clothing she approved of so fast it made Kagome's head spin. But they looked good, the ninth grader had to admit, especially when Inuyasha was done. They looked damn good.
Loki had done his best to dress to subtly match Kaoru with the tiny hope that the aggressive males would pick up on the message. The last thing he needed was for them to continue under the assumption that he had an interest in Aki. His life would find a quick end, especially if Sesshoumaru really was the guy Aki had been talking about. Pureblooded males tended to greatly dislike competition.
Thankfully, it appeared that at least the taiyoukai picked up on the attempt.
A phone call to the local cab company provided them with the necessary transportation, which almost proved a fatal decision as well. The boys from the feudal era didn't exactly trust the growling noxious van that pulled up out front of the building and almost couldn't be talked into climbing peaceably inside of it. Again Kaoru proved her abilities as some kind of mysterious super woman and managed to get them all in the cab so that they made it to the club about half an hour before Aki was expected.
"Ah! We forgot to cover Inuyasha's ears!" Kagome fretted as they were getting out of the cab.
"Don't worry about it," Kaoru soothed the teenager. "Part of the fun of going to a club called the Demon S is dressing up for it. And the inside game is trying to figure out which demon features are real and which are props, cute little dog ears are par for the course."
Inuyasha did not like having his ears declared cute in that silly tone she'd used, he almost growled before Kagome reached over and tweaked one of them with a happy smile. Kagome obviously thought they were cute; he supposed he could live with that as long is it was the right kind of "cute" and not the Shippou kind of "cute".
Loki laughed at some remembered thought, "Wonder what absurd costume Bantou will come up with tonight! Remember when he tried to pass off a pair of polka dot feathered ears and plaid leathery wings in the same get up? I thought Aki would choke to death on her stifled laughter!"
Kaoru smirked nostalgically, "It didn't help that he kept asking her to dance too."
"Yeah, well you shouldn't have encouraged him so much. I don't even know what possessed you to try that match. Aki and Bantou would never have worked," Loki chuckled and shook his head.
Her candy-apple eyes flashed in annoyance, "It was merely an experiment for field research. How am I supposed to match people up if I don't know how they react to certain types of people?"
"You didn't need to know how she reacted to different types of people. Aki doesn't want you to find her a match, Kaoru," Loki pointed out.
"Nor does she need you to," Sesshoumaru growled.
"Look, Aki's lucky she's in my capable hands and doesn't give off a scent. You know what sort of situation she'd be in otherwise, Loki. A partial youkai female of her caliber is rare," Kaoru declared snappishly. "The fact that she wasn't claimed at birth is a miracle. If she'd been publicly released of that spell in youkai society it would've been a free for all and Aki might have found herself trapped in a match where she would be taken by force or beaten or kept locked away from the world. You know this, Loki. Females are too rare in most of our people's minds to be gifted with the kind of freedom Aki was raised with. I don't know what her parents were thinking, letting her be raised a human."
Kaoru shared a few cryptic words with the bouncer at the front door before leading them inside the large building under the neon lights.
The noise inside the doors made continued speech impossible and Kaoru had to pull Inuyasha into the club somewhat forcefully while Kagome pushed Sesshoumaru gently from behind. Kaoru lead them pointedly from the door to another door marked "authorized personnel only". Once the door shut behind them the noise was greatly curtailed to a tolerable level.
"So what you're saying is that because Aki is such a powerful female with such a large portion of youkai blood she has to hook up with a youkai male?" Kagome asked.
"Pretty much," Kaoru shrugged.
Loki shook his head, "not exactly. Youkai females are extremely rare, and most are betrothed at birth to offer the girl some protection until she's old enough to make her own choice to either mate her betrothed or not. Then he is hopefully old enough to protect herself, or at least her family can offer her protection until a choice has been made, but that often doesn't happen if the betrothal is dropped. Kaoru just likes to act as matchmaker and she's pulling out all the stops to get Aki mated despite her objections."
"She shouldn't have any objections! She should already be mated!" Kaoru declared with feeling.
They found the end of the hallway with its set of stairs and stepped into a room that looked onto the dance floor through one-way glass. The room sported a simple table and some chairs over luxurious carpet. There was a lamp in the far corner being kept company by some overstuffed chairs and a small coffee table.
"This used to be my office until Aki started coming here," Kaoru explained the room, hoping to change the subject after catching the glare Sesshoumaru threw her way. "Now it serves mainly as her dining room. I don't really mind though, this wasn't really the best room to get anything done."
"What she isn't telling you is that the rest of the time she uses this room for people she's set up on blind dates. Kaoru first thought of using this room for that purpose after Aki told her it was impossible to get to know some one if you can't hear what they're saying," Loki teasingly corrected the matchmaker queen.
"It sounds like you've known Aki a long time," Kagome observed.
"About as long as you have," he smiled at her. "Aki called me right after she came back through the well the first time. She's told me everything that's happened on that side of the well ever since, including about all your friends and their misadventures in the great shard hunt. For example, I know about what you and Miroku did out in the woods that one time."
Kagome blushed, "How would she know about that?" she demanded over Inuyasha's outburst demanding the information.
"Aki has very acute senses," he explained. "In the beginning she had a hard time filtering through it, but now she says she can hear the kids whispering to each other in their secret haunts on the other side of Kaede's village when she's standing at the bottom of the well. She just happened to be passing close enough to you guys to overhear your conversation."
"Why would Aki tell you anything?" Inuyasha demanded only to have the conversation skip right over him as the gathered occupants of the room turned at the entrance of a somewhat out of breath young woman.
"Loki!" she gasped at him, shoving her shock purple hair over her shoulder.
"Juno!" Loki exclaimed. "Where's Aki? Is she here?" he began frantically looking out the window to the dance floor and club beyond.
"I don't know where she is," Juno looked close to tears. "She lost me about an hour ago, but not before she told me what she wanted for dinner."
"Then she'll definitely show," Kaoru soothed her.
"I knew it was a bad idea when you assigned me to follow her," Juno complained.
"No, you do a great job, Aki likes you," Loki said encouragingly.
"Aki 'likes' her because she knows how to loose her," Kaoru muttered dryly and Loki gave her a disapproving glare.
"Why were you having Aki followed?" Inuyasha wanted to know.
Loki blinked, "the city isn't all fun and games, schools and playgrounds. Even on the brightest days there are shadows."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning there are predators and prey in the city too. Every place has its dangers fool, we simply seek to lesson the chances of those dangers rising up to claim Aki," Kaoru explained derisively. "Granted muggings and rape incidents have dropped dramatically out of respect for Aki. She's impressed a lot of people and all the most powerful gangs are run by youkai who have taken to policing all the less powerful gangs in order to protect her because most don't know her on sight."
"Aki does a lot for the kids who are less fortunate. A good number of those kids wind up in the gangs so they feel that she is directly helping them too," Juno explained. "She's polite to just about everyone and she tries to protect everyone she meets. That's enough for most people who don't know about her curse. For those of us who know, I think we'd set her up as a queen if she'd let us."
"Did you tell Tuck what Aki wanted yet?" Kaoru asked the purple haired woman as she picked up the phone on the wall.
Juno nodded. "I also asked for something I could eat. I get hungry when I'm upset."
Kaoru smiled at her, "You're always hungry."
"Seems like it these days don't it?" Juno smiled warmly. "It comes from eating for two." Kaoru grinned at her, while Kagome offered congratulations.
"They had you follow Aki in your condition?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly.
"Yeah," Juno looked at him somewhat surprised that he had spoken at all. "It's probably the easiest job they could have given me. I mean all I gotta do is follow Aki and call for help if she gets into trouble. The likelihood of that happening is very slim in the daytime. Most of the random elements come out after dark. Besides, I'm only just into my 2nd trimester and the doc advises a certain amount of exercise."
"Look, Kaoru!" Kagome squealed. "She's here! The Demon S is here!"
"Well then come on, Kagome! You didn't come to sit in a closet!" Kaoru grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door, down the hall and stairs and into the noise.
Everybody else just gravitated to the window to look out on the floor. There in the middle of the dance floor, was the mysterious popular sensation, the Demon S, and she looked suspiciously like a human Aki with streaked hair and strange make up to disguise her identity.
Sesshoumaru blinked at the vision before him. Surely people didn't really dance like that here. His eyes tried very hard to persuade him that what he saw was the truth, in which case, he hadn't known that Aki could bend like that.
He really didn't like this. Or rather he liked her dance, he just didn't like that she was moving like that in public. Seriously movement like that should be reserved for the privacy between intimate couples at home. He balled his fist driving his claws into his palm painfully. He didn't even realize he was shaking until Loki whispered quietly in his ear.
"Relax," Loki said as Aki found a partner that set Sesshoumaru growling angrily. "I highly doubt he'd partner himself with Aki while Juno's carrying his baby. And I don't think Aki would let him get away with it either. Aki merely chose him because he's safe and already attached to someone else."
Sesshoumaru had to acknowledge Loki's logic. There were very few youkai that would abandon a pregnant mate. It was as his own rage was cooling that he realized Inuyasha was growling rather threateningly despite Juno's increasingly desperate attempts to soothe and distract him. The taiyoukai glanced back out the window and spotted Kagome dancing in a situation similar to his Aki.
Though Inuyasha had no formal claim on the teenager, it was clear that he had fixated on the girl for his mate. After spending some time around the two in his search for his own wayward mate, Sesshoumaru found that, despite himself, he approved. Not that it mattered right now.
Sesshoumaru looked back to his little brother. If someone didn't intervene there would be an incident. He sighed discreetly before pulling a chair from the table and setting it against the wall furthest from the glass. He strode back to the hanyou and, with some resistance, managed to seat the near enraged dog boy in the chair.
"What'd you do that for!" Inuyasha snarled ferally as he tried and failed to gain his feet.
"Stopping you from making a very grave mistake," Sesshoumaru answered coolly. Loki and Juno were wisely pretending to be incredibly deaf and most likely blind. "You have no real claim to the girl and she is doing nothing wrong by her customs," sometimes he should take his own advice, "were you to burst out of here and confront her about her behavior, you would serve not only to cause yourself and our…hosts trouble we do not know how to deal with, but you would also seriously embarrass the wench and yourself. What happens when you embarrass her?"
Inuyasha settled almost immediately. If he was stupid enough to embarrass Kagome where people she knew might see…Let's just say the Earth simply wasn't large enough to contain the crater he would make. Inuyasha blinked, why was Sesshoumaru so calm. The question plain on his face, the dog boy opened his mouth to ask it.
"If you had been listening before, you would know that Aki's friend is Juno's mate," the taiyoukai said quiet enough for only Inuyasha to hear. "From what I know of Aki, it is about as safe a situation as could be hoped for." With that, both brothers rejoined the other two at the window and Sesshoumaru immediately wished he hadn't.