Hah, hah, I made it through another week! Seriously, retail in December sucks!

And on that note, it is entirely too common to run into people who have worked in retail or who currently do that absolutely hate christmas music. This is because, as I'm pretty sure most people have noticed, stores start playing their holiday music in mid November and don't stop, ever unti the holiday as over. Now, I personally have realized that I very much like music, holiday music included, and will always like it, but I have come to a conclusion that the stores could seriuosly limit their play list and not drive their staff crazy and everybody would be a hell of a lot happier.

First off, despite the fact that stores, especially department stores, are trying to really plug the holiday cds while they can, they should really try to avoid playing contemperary christmas music. You know what I'm talking about. I mean the crap that every new artist puts out at the height of their popularity for some extra cash. Sadly, crap is not just an indicator of how much effort was put into it, it is also a definite description of the quality. For example, I may love most of the music I've ever heard by OutKast (which is completely contrary to my normal opinion of the genre) but I do not want to hear them screwing up Silent Night. The other day I hearda heavy metal version of the Little Drummer Boy and I wanted to smack whoever it was that thought it was a) a good idea to make it and b) wanted to play it. The fact is, you have to be seriuosly careful when remaking old christmas music. The holidays are a time steeped in little idiosyncracies we like to call tradition and the music is a part of that. WE love the versions we grew up with, the ones done by the smooth voices of the crooners from the time of our grandparents. There is a magic to holiday music that lies in its basic simplicity. Little Drummer Boy is great because there is one drum whether it is sung by a choir or one person with back up. Sadly it is difficult to convince the modern day generation to stop messing with the music, it won't really sell to anyone above age 13.

Exception to the above restriction, the only contemporary holiday songs I've heard that have been well received and played more than the year it was released are all the comical songs. Grandma Got RAn over by a REindeer, The Chipmunk Song, I'm Gettin' Nuthin' for Christmas, and SAnta Baby are just good fun that plays in awesomely well with the season. But nothing more recent than Rockin' ARound the Christmas Tree and Jingle Bell Rock has really found extended play if it wasn't humorous because as I said we love our old music best.

SEcondly stores should avoid playing too many carols with the words. Instrumental versions are just less intrusive, you can't get the words stuck in your head if you can't hear them and still the store would get the target benefit of people in that holiday gotta shop mood because it plays like a sound track.

I'm sure we could limit it more, but just with those two future Retail employees would be able to enjoy all their favorite holiday tunes for ages... Don't you think?

On a completely different note, it appears nobody really liked the last chapter all that much. Seriously it's sad, almost enough to make me wanna stop posting all together... NOT!! I am impervious, I will continuing posting so long as I have chapters to post AND YOU WILL LIKE THEM!!!! THBBBBTTT!

Not even Rumiko Takahashi will be spared!

On the plus side, AKi has a more active roll in this chapter...for an unconscious person. Even Sesshoumaru gets to take part, but he's also unconscious. Seriously the most active characters in this chapter are asleep! You'll see what I mean, you can't help yourself. You know you love it!

Oh and before I forget, happy holidays (or lack there of if you happen to not celebrate at all...), I'll be posting next Wednesday just because I can! Myabe I'll give a detailed list of all the things I got that I didn't know about before hand... (that'll be a whole 4 gifts. Seriously it gives away the surprise when they ASK you if you would like a specific item for christmas.) Read on!

Tit for Tat

It isn't good for a body to worry too much. Anxiousness leads to sleeplessness, which eventually lands a person in a state of exhaustion rendering what might have been a capable helpful person utterly useless around the time help is needed. But sometimes it can't be prevented as Sesshoumaru unfortunately proved.

Days passed and Aki never woke. They continued to trickle water down her throat and coax soft rice into her stomach, but there was only so much they could feed her this way. And Kikyou was limited even further my Sesshoumaru's reluctance to allow her around the in his arms.

Fred spent more and more time in that invisible state that allowed him into Aki's dreams as time went on. Every time he would reappear he seemed more agitated and concerned and the intervals between his attempts to connect with Aki grew shorter and shorter.

The others did their best to act like none of this meant anything. So Fred was visibly worried, so what? So Aki wasn't getting much to eat, so what? So Sesshoumaru was growing more and more protective over… there was no real way to brush this off after Kikyou advised them against letting Azusa and Rin near him after a few days. So the group did their darndest to distract the kids to keep them calm.

Not that the kids weren't already wise to what was going on. Yumi kept sending her father accusing looks and even Youta looked a little worried.

Rin and Azusa hovered outside the door every time Kikyou went to try feeding Aki and every time she came back out they demanded to know how Aki and Sesshoumaru were doing. Kikyou always forbore to answer instead patting each on the head and handing whatever soft rice was left in the bowl over to the youkai that caused all this.

It was his own special torment. The mole youkai would eat whatever was left in the bowl. Jaken had insisted on this punishment the moment he realized how little the miko had managed to feed his lord's female. Now the mole youkai dreaded the sight of it. He was sick of the bland taste of the cold rice, and the texture wasn't much better. With every visit the miko made into his former bedchamber, he prayed the bowl would return empty.

Inuyasha was never one to wait around patiently. He didn't do enclosed spaces well and inactivity got on his nerves. Sitting still gave him too much time to think and, as is often the case, he tended to think in circles when he couldn't move about.

Normally thought circles were hardly more than decidedly annoying, but Inuyasha wasn't one to have just annoying thought circles, his had a tendency to be dangerous. They tended to be especially hazardous to his health when his thought circles dealt with the two big, powerful, angry loves of his life, namely Kagome and the undead miko, Kikyou. And being trapped as he was in a somewhat small home after watching one being kissed and personally kissing the other, his thoughts couldn't help but involve them both.

Inuyasha greeted each new day of cursed inactivity with stronger expletives and increasing annoyance.

All of which had little to no bearing on the important content of this chapter of Aki's so-called life. Everyday could have held a party that never ended and Sesshoumaru still would have succumbed to the exhaustion his constant vigil claimed him with the way exhaustion always does when you keep a constant vigil over someone for days on end without rest.

"Fred where are you!" a worried voice sounded in his ears before Sesshoumaru had the chance to realize he was dreaming. "Come out Fred! I don't remember deciding to play hide and seek," the voice tried to laugh though the sound was horribly strained. "Fred this isn't funny!"

It finally clicked that the voice belonged to Aki and her worry was quickly crumbling into terrible fear. This was not to be allowed. Besides, he was feeling a bit bereft without her in his arms despite the knowledge that he was still holding her in the real world.

Sesshoumaru quickly to get from where he was to wherever she was, but found that hurry was useless if he didn't take the time to figure out where he was and where she was in relation to that. Shooting off in some random direction hadn't gotten him any closer to Aki giving her fear that much more time to develop and grow.

With a growl to himself for his own stupidity, Sesshoumaru was finally heading in the right direction. Perhaps he should try harder to limit time spent in his brother's company if the whelp's stupidity was so catching. The inu youkai tried not to wince as Aki's voice finally sank past the point of mild worry and into terror.

Sesshoumaru broke into view of his prey and pulled her into his arms before she had a chance to realize he was there.

Aki stiffened in panic, her already frightened mind told her this was the attack that would naturally follow fear in a dream. Then she glanced down at the monster's claws and found familiar, gentle hands with claws that would protect her from the nightmares when they came for her. She relaxed a bit and patted the striped wrist wrapped around her middle.

"So that's why Fred disappeared like that," Aki murmured thoughtfully.

"Hmm," Sesshoumaru nuzzled the crown of her head and brushed his other hand against her cheek.

"You have an interesting ability to bar all others from my dreams, you know that? She hugged his arm tightly. "It scared me when Fred just suddenly wasn't there anymore." Aki shook her head, "He never leaves like that, and so I was afraid something had happened."

"Would you have wakened up to see?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly. She had been asleep too long in his opinion.

"I don't know," Aki bowed her head to study her hands on his wrist. "Sometimes it's hard to remember this is a dream."

The inu youkai squeezed her a bit tighter as his worry spiked. It wasn't a good sign. The first sign of insanity was an inability to distinguish between reality and imagination. "Why is it so hard to remember?" Sesshoumaru asked. Perhaps he could help her if he knew the cause.

"Because when I am alone the nightmares come," Aki's slender fingers twined around his claws. "Fred says they are based on the real events, but the images are disjointed because of the spell. And they change slowly over time so I can't tell which is the memory and which is not. I feel the pain as if it were real, and the fear grows with the repetition of it."

"What do you dream?" he found himself asking despite a distinct lack of desire for the actual knowledge. He just knew the information was going to make him uncomfortable.

"About what happened to put me here in the first place." She mumbled reluctantly. And he was forced to remember the events as she did.

It was very easy to see how she could have such trouble distinguishing between the real events and the slightly changed versions. Once he got over experiencing the nightmare from her point of view and no longer feeling her in his arms he could understand her trouble.

The mole's spell had left her incapable of fully connecting and recognizing her environment. Occasionally she would manage a clear picture of what was in front of her, but the sound and scent was gone from it. Always she heard the orders clearly, but her vision would go hazy when that happened.

In her altercation with Inuyasha's group, what he saw through her eyes could not easily be identified as the same events as experienced by everyone else. She had no way of identifying who exactly she was fighting, only resisting the orders because they were violent ones that went against her very nature. Sesshoumaru felt the pain ripple through her as she struck the tree and the rest of her senses dimmed in response to it. Still she fought the compulsion to move and fight.

Impressions and sight came in brief flashes that left him reeling and unable to make sense of what he saw. It took him several minutest o realize that one of the numerous blurry blobs in front of him was himself as he had arrived around this point in real life.

Suddenly the images sharpened as Aki's weapon flew through the air to strike. He felt the metal biting horrifically into flesh before the nightmare ended abruptly.

Sesshoumaru was again standing where he'd found Aki in their shared dream. The nightmare had cut off when she had exclaimed in pain and stepped away from him, examining her bleeding wrist. It wasn't as bad as when as when she had cut it in real life. Then it had been on purpose, now it appeared that she had accidentally cut herself of his claws.

She sighed and let her wrist drop. "I scared myself when I did that," Aki turned to look at him. "I never thought I was capable of hurting myself like that. I just didn't think I had it in me."

Sesshoumaru stepped forward and grabbed her wrist to study the wound as it bled weakly. He hated the constant reminders of that near deadly wound she inflicted upon herself. It was a physical pain in his gut at every turn. Or maybe he was just stuck on this particular failure. He had come to her aid only to watch as she was forced to threaten her own life to set herself free. Some rescue.

He slowly lifted the wound higher until she tugged on it with slight alarm. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Aki asked worriedly.

Sesshoumaru caught her eyes with his and held them as he continued to raise her wrist inexorably to his mouth. Dreams were for the mind over the body, for the intellect more than instinct. The extent of Instinct's power in the unconscious mind was the ability to jerk the body awake before a dream death could occur. There was little reason to fear an instinctual reaction from his tasting the wound.

Aki cringed just before he made contact with the minor scratch, but relaxed when his touch failed to cause the pain she'd expected. Each moist caress of his tongue was gentle and warm.

She titled her head to the side to watch him curiously as his eyes slid shut to savor this simple taste of her.

Sesshoumaru drank her in and analyzed his reaction. It was interesting to discover how much of his desire for Aki wasn't based on instinct. Strangely, it pleased him to know that it wasn't instinct that had him fixated on her, at least not entirely.

After a short time the tiny scratch failed to offer any more blood for him to taste so he moved to taste her skin, just to keep Aki distracted. His lips and tongue explored the tender soft skin beyond her wrist to the inside of her elbow, absently pushing her sleeve out of the way. Sesshoumaru watch her out of the corner of his eye. He noted when she shook her head in amusement made obvious by the smile that wouldn't' leave her face.

When he couldn't move her clothing out of his way with ease, Sesshoumru swept out with his foot and dragged hers out from under her, gently knocking her to the ground.

"Oomf!" Aki gasped when Sesshoumaru's weight settled onto her with a sigh.

Sesshoumaru didn't bother to shift his weight so that she could breathe easier, for this was a dream and weight was imaginary.

"Why are we on the ground like this?" Aki asked the tree branches above them. Sesshoumaru shifted to lay his cheek against her shoulder and stare up at her profile. She glanced at him form the corner of her eye, knowing that if she turned her head to look at him directly they would be too close to talk properly.

"This Sesshoumaru," he began and she huffed and looked away. Sesshoumaru suppressed a growl and propped himself up on one arm. His other hand gently drew her chin back towards him until she was looking up at him. "This Sesshoumaru was scared to learn you were capable of doing that to yourself too."

Aki's eyes widened in surprise. Then she began to tear up and tremble. "I'm sorry," a big fat tear rolled down the side of her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered again and hugged him closer.

Sesshoumaru licked the tears from her face before settling to rest on her should again, listening to her cry as he pondered the absence of salt in her tears. He noticed the lack of sniffling that would normally accompany a bout of tears like this. There was no hiccupping like the last time she cried either.

His mind absorbed and processed all this information as he allowed her to cry out all her fear and worry and loneliness. His claws roamed down her shoulders and arms in effort to comfort her, to be certain she knew she wasn't alone.

Eventually her sobs subsided with a hesitating sigh. Aki's hand sifted gently through his hair, letting the silver slide from her grasp like sand. She shifted minutely so she could look at him resting against her.

He reached up and brushed his thumb against Aki's still damp cheek. "Have you ever before cried without salt in your tears?" he asked her gently. When Aki just blinked at him in confusion he collect the last of her tears on his finger and presented t for her to taste.

She lifted an eyebrow at his seemingly oddball gesture before licking the moisture off his finger. All she tasted was fresh water and she stared at him in surprise.

He smiled down at her and asked another question. "Have you ever cried without sniffling or losing your breath before now?"

Aki paused in thought as she realized he was right. She hadn't wound up hiccupping or gasping for breath, her nose hadn't started to run or given her a reason to sniffle. Her cheeks were missing the feeling of dried salt and her eyes weren't burning after her sudden water works.

Aki had never been one of those people who could dry pettily either, but this time she suspected her face hadn't turned splotchy with color. Which she supposed could only mean one thing, she really was dreaming and Sesshoumaru was trying to give her indicators to help her tell that. Apparently he had taken her inability to tell the reality from this extended stay in dreamland very seriously.

Only problem, she didn't' cry often enough for it to be truly helpful.

Sesshoumaru must have realized this because he climbed off of her onto his knees besides her. He glanced down at her thoughtfully before carefully placing one clawed hand over her middle. "Do you feel the ache of hunger here?" he asked.

Aki blinked up at him. "I don't know about hunger, but I feel empty to the point of pain."

"Is it constant?" Sesshoumaru studied her pensively as she nodded. "Have you tried eating?"

Her focus shifted to the branches overhead as she thought about it. "Fred insists we have a picnic at least once every time he visits, and the emptiness gets a little smaller for awhile, but it never goes away."

"That's because your hunger cannot be assuaged in this place. Dream food holds no substance," Sesshoumaru replied. "The ghost probably attempts to feed you in the dream to make it easier for the dead miko to feed you while you sleep."

"Kikyou's been feeding me?" Aki asked in mild surprise and embarrassed horror. She would have sat up but he prevented it.

"Not very much," Sesshoumaru nodded mildly, his hand still holding her down. "There is only so much that can be coaxed into the unconscious, even if it is only water and soft rice.

Aki made a face at that, "No wonder all that food tasted funny! And I bet you gave her a hard time about every attempt she made too."

Sesshoumaru flushed with colour, "I just don't like her smell," he spoke with finality.

She gave him a flat look, "I'll have to remember that the next time I want you to leave me alone."

"Say what you will woman, but you like the way I smell," he leaned over her with a grin.

"What gives you that idea?" Aki demanded petulantly.

"You do when you're half asleep," Sesshoumaru informed her. "The way you scent me nearby and smile."

She scowled at that. Trust him to use her unconscious actions against her. "Fine I like it like I enjoy the smell of old books when they've been properly aired out," she replied with a smirk.

"For the last time. I am not old," Sesshoumaru growled. "I'm-"

"Ancient?" she cut in with a cheeky smile. "Older than dirt? From the Stone Age? Knew the makers of Stonehenge? Knew King Tut when he was a kid? Helped kill off the dinosaurs?"

Sesshoumaru growled and attacked her with his fingers. He knew exactly how old she'd suggested he was with those insults having learned what dinosaurs were and who kind Tut was on their trip to the museum. He wasn't exactly sure what Stonehenge was. He made a mental note to ask about it at a later date.

Aki shrieked when his claws first closed in on her sides to tickle her. She wriggled and writhed in attempted escape as laughter burst forth from her mouth.

Eventually he stopped to let her breath and she lunged up at him, knocking Sesshoumaru flat on his back and fully exposed to her revenge. It was his turn to dance and buck under her unmerciful avenging fingers as the tickled him pink and red. The sound of his unrestrained laughter was always stilted, as thought he couldn't' believe he was laughing and nothing bad had come of the sound.

Aki always wondered if something had happened once to make him sound that way. This went beyond just hiding his emotions. There had to be something that caused that small nuance in the sound of his mirth. But she never bothered to ask him about it.

To ask such a question would make him self-conscious about his laugh and ruin what little joy it caused. Besides, if he wanted her to know, he would tell her on his own.

She was slightly thankful he hadn't ever tried to tell her such things before though. It was easier to keep him at arm's distance if he kept he there himself. Aki smiled dementedly down at Sesshoumaru where she had him pinned at her mercy, her nimble fingers never betrayed her pondering. Not that he really would have noticed, his eyes were closed in a failing attempt to fight back the tears leaking from his eyes.

He looked so funny and failed so miserably at fighting his reaction that Aki couldn't help but laugh as well. That was the last straw and Sesshoumaru captured her hands and lunged upward until they both fell back to the ground with her on bottom.

"You dare to laugh at this Sesshoumaru," the inu youkai tried to regain his serious façade and failed completely when Aki wiggled in a certain way when he was mid-sentence. His name had unfortunately been said a couple octaves from the tone he'd been trying to achieve.

Aki laughed as slight color flooded his face. "Yep! This Aki dares to laugh at that Sesshoumaru," She mocked him playfully, and squirmed again in hopes of breaking free.

"Stop that," Sesshoumaru meant to growl but wound up whining instead.

"I will not," She declared flippantly. "In fact, I think I'll laugh at you some more." And she wiggled again to punctuate her statement.

The taiyoukai released her hands to latch onto something more bothersome and pressed his body down more strongly in hopes to better restrain that terrible movement.

Aki frowned up at his strange behavior. What the hell was he doing? "Sesshoumaru?" She murmured in her confusion.

Sesshoumaru groaned, now just her talk was causing the reaction. Apparently his mind could be turned on just as easily as his instinct when it comes to Aki. The wise youkai would leap up and put some distance between himself and the temptation to break his part of their promise, but he didn't want to move away from her.

While they were awake she was always putting distance between them for whatever reason and sometimes Aki continued to do so in their dreams, whereas he was constantly working to counter that. At least he used to be before the promise.

Now the only time Sesshoumaru could get away with trying to move in on Aki was in their shared dreams, but even there he had limits.

Aki tilted her head to study him better and the movement, so small and innocent, sent him spiraling over the edge to where he just had to do something. His hands trapped her face and he kissed her strong and hard. Coherent thought had abandoned him as pure emotion blazed through Sesshoumaru and out of him at the most important point of contact between their mouths.

Aki froze in shock at his first contact with her lips, the kiss throwing a barrel of monkey wrenches into the workings of her more thoughtful self. It was disgraceful how easily her train of thought could be hijacked and derailed by something so incredibly small. Or so she might have thought if Sesshoumaru's kiss had left her the power to actually think. Instead all she could do was react, and those reactions were based on erratic emotions at that.

It was these same emotions that directed her to drag her hands up to latch onto Sesshoumaru's forearms where they rested above her chest due to his hands still cradling her face. Her claws accidentally grazed his skin as they settled into a hold that could either be an attempt to lock him in place or push him away.

The small almost pain was enough to bring Sesshoumaru back to his senses and he softened the kiss before ending it completely. He buried his face in the crook of her neck with a groan. Keeping this promise would be the death of him!

Aki nearly chuckled at the sound but restrained herself. "Nobody said keeping promises was easy Sess," She said as her hand ran over his hair in an offer of comfort.

The inu youkai growled his frustration as he rolled to lie on his back at arms length from her. Sesshoumru stared up at the maze of branches and memories that hovered overhead. Some memories were his: memories from childhood, memories from adulthood. Memories from before Aki were slowly being crowded out by memories from after the moment he met her.

He wondered what would happen if the memories of Inuyasha and Fred giving him advice were to pop there for Aki to see, or what if the full conversation between him and Loki had while locked in that room were to pop up? Sesshoumaru almost cringed when those exact memories did appear. If Aki caught a glimpse of those he was in trouble. Who was he kidding, if? More like when. His only hope was to distract her from looking up and paying attention.

The best thing he could come up with was to encourage her to wake up. He was not the only one worried after all. Sesshoumaru glanced over to where she lay, intending to bring this up, only to find the space empty. He looked straight up in building alarm to find her memories no longer present and bits of the tree were already starting to disappear.

He hated when she did that. The feeling of being alone in the remnants of their dream was annoying at best. The worst thing about it was knowing that by the time he managed to wake up, Aki would most likely have disappeared from where he could see her as was her constant habit. And he hated that too!

But…

At least she was awake. At least she was moving around and could finally start eating more than the little snatches of food the miko had thus far managed to feed her.

Still he would rather have awakened before her, knowing Aki she would probably do things she shouldn't. She was Aki after all…