Comrade in Arms

AN: Well, still won't let me access the reviews I got for the last chapter. Heck, it still won't let me access chapter eight! (cries) So once again there won't be any responses from me. But so long as you guys are able to read the chapters, and so long as I remember what chapter I really am on, I can't really complain. What brings on this chapter, you ask? My own happiness wanting to be shared with others. As I had no school yesterday, I finished writing the last few chapters of CiA. I'm warning you now, that I didn't cover every single plot twist or character flaw. There has to be something for them to be able to argue about in the future, and develop as they and their relationship continue to develop, after all. So now that I'm all done, it means I have the next two months to edit the last chapter like mad.

Because, really, if any one else read it right now, they think Kei had gone nuts.

So, lots of editing for me, and you guys just get to sit back and watch the fluff unfold! Enjoy, everyone!

"Is she trouble/like I'm trouble
make it a double/twist of fate
or a melody that/She sings the revolution
the dawning of our lives/she brings this liberation
that I just can't define

She's a rebel /She's a saint
She's salt of the earth
And she's dangerous"

-She's a Rebel, Green Day

Chapter Ten: She's a Rebel

The research project for science was due in the second semester. They had to find a famous scientist and create a forty minute presentation on them. Though they had a long time to do the project, both Fukou and Kei were perfectionists and they wanted to have the best presentation in the class. As far as they were concerned, second place was never good enough for them.

Kei slammed down the books on the table in the nearly empty library. Her stack of books was much larger than Fuu's. She glared at him. "My topic has more subject material. I say we do Madame Curie."

"Everybody is going to do Madame Curie," he groaned, pointing to the books. "I'm talking about the guy who invented dynamite here! We could totally get extra points by doing something like… Tchaikovsky's 1812 to pictures of things blowing up just to wow the class!"

Frowning, Kei dug into her pants pocket and pulled out a coin. "Fine. Since you are obviously too silly to realize the full potential of my topic and too stubborn to change, we'll flip a coin. If you win, we'll do your topic, if it's mine, we do Madam Curie. Do you want heads or tails?"

Before he could answer, a new voice broke in the air. It was obviously feminine, a high and soft voice. It sounded easily excitable. Both Kei and Fuu looked up and were disappointed to see that it was the girl from the roof. Now Kei could see all of her rather than just a profile, and she had to admit that the girl really was beautiful. She had shining, thick hair, a delicate little nose and full lips that shimmered from lip gloss. Kei ducked behind the pile of books on the table a little, touching her own mouth and realizing she didn't even wear lip gloss with sunscreen in it to protect her lips. Then there was the girl's body. There was no way Kei would ever have a body like that without a lot of plastic surgery…

"Fuu-kun," the girl pouted, leaning on the table in such a way that her assets were best visible. "We didn't hang out today on the roof, and I was sad. I brought a special lunch today, made with all your favorite foods, and I didn't get to share it with you." He was now sitting on the chair, floored by the view she was giving him. She leaned over a little bit more, her hair brushing his cheeks as she hovered over him. She still pouted. "When will I get to see you again? I miss you…"

"Ah, we'll see. I'm a little busy trying to work ahead in school work, because I want to make sure that when practices for Miyaki-sensei start, I won't be behind." Somehow Fukou was able to keep his cool under the scenario she was creating.

Kei didn't know how he did it or how she herself was going to keep from scaring the woman away from Fukou. She was glaring, and she couldn't stop. The last thing they needed was to get into a fight with some prissy princess and get banned from the library. She sat down in her chair, staring at the girl and wondering how long it would take her to notice that Fuu wasn't alone. Her teeth were starting to hurt from being clenched.

The other girl smiled. "I hear that you're taking biology. I can help you study for that, you know." She leaned in a little more, her open mouth hovering near his, and her tongue suddenly licked his bottom lip. Kei's lip rose in disgust. That had to be the nastiest thing that she had ever seen! However, it was obvious that Fuu liked it, as he began to smile very faintly. The smile refused to reach his eyes.

"We'll see. Until then, Kei and I were going to start doing a research project." He indicated Kei, and the girl turned to look at her. Rather than blushing that such moments of intimacy had been noticed by someone else, or even showing the slightest signs of regret for not speaking with him in private, she all but glared at Kei. Kei was more than happy to glare right back, finding herself in a foul mood. "I will call you."

"Do you promise?" the girl asked with another pout.

"I promise." With that promise and with another warning glare at Kei, the girl sauntered off. Fuu looked around, and saw that they were once again in privacy. He opened one of the books he had found on Alfred Nobel and he began to flip through it, looking rather bored. Kei knew he was just trying to avoid talking, and she herself began to look through another book. Finally, he turned to her. "We need to talk."

Kei nodded. "Agreed, but I don't really want to start."

"That's alright," Fuu said, sounding a little indifferent. "I'm willing to start. I know that you saw me up on the roof with the girl that just walked in here, and I think that I'd rather like to know why you haven't bitten my head off for it."

"Because if you want to go sticking your tongue down someone else's mouth, that's your decision," she snapped, looking up at him. Her grey eyes were wonderfully expressive, revealing that she was frustrated and mad. He didn't know when he had gotten so good at reading her that he could see though the small things she did to hide what she really felt, but he could tell that she was a little scared too. "Neji said that you were something and it took me a long time to figure out what he meant. Sometime in the past, you became a player. That's why you were up on the roof with her, that's why you had all those girls following you and vying for your attention."

"If those girls…"

Kei cut him off with a simple wave of her hand. "I'm not asking you to justify yourself. Frankly, anything I hear will be bullshit. Poetic bullshit, but bullshit nonetheless. Save your lines for someone else, Fuu-sama. If you want to act like that, it's no business of mine. I just wish…." Her voice wavered a little and she smiled. "I just wish that if you felt you had to accept the fact that these women are obviously throwing themselves on you that you had told me. After all, aren't I one of the boys?"

He smiled a little. "I don't think you're really one of the boys as much as you are our little sister. We all know that you're obviously a girl, albeit a very tomboyish girl, and we're going to be right there to fight off boys who come to call on you because there's no boy that's good enough to date you."

Kei blushed deeply. She had never been told that she had was "obviously" a girl before. All she had ever heard was that she was a tomboy, that she was too masculine, that she acted like a boy, that her hair was too short for a girl's, that she didn't have feminine finger, that she would never be called beautiful, that she didn't have a feminine bone in her body. It never occurred to her that most of things had been said by people who were jealous of her, or by Fukou himself when he had been six years old, and therefore probably not true.

She smiled back in return, giving his forearm a small pinch. "I told you that it would be poetic bullshit." She let out a little sigh. "Please, just talk to me, tell me these things. It kind of worries me that you are doing things like this because in the end, someone is going to be hurt and I…"

"Don't want to see your fellow females being put down by a male?" he asked cheekily, recalling her fixation with arguing that the female sex was superior to the male sex. They'd had quite a few good arguments about that topic, many of them making Fukou laugh to himself when everyone was out of ear shot. Kei never knew just how much she brightened his day simply by being there.

Placing her small hand over top of his, her voice softened. Fukou thought it was odd. She sounded a little bit too mature for someone of fifteen years. Though Kei had always been mature for her age, this was a little bit different in some way which eluded him… She looked up at him, and for a brief second even her gaze seemed different. "I don't want to see you be hurt, Fukou."

'Nor do I want myself to be hurt…'

Which one of them pulled away first, neither one quite knew. They simply suddenly noticed that they were in a quiet, secluded part of the library and that they were holding hands. They both quickly snatched their hands back and turned in different directions until they were able to compose themselves. Fukou stared at his hand, and then he began to rub it hard, trying to get the feel of her warmth and skin out of his mind. It had felt like shocks running through his hand when she had touched him. His head throbbed.

And she had said his name. His real name, not 'Fuu' or 'Fuu-sama'. His real name.

He'd never realized before that 'Fukou' had the possibility of sounding good, of sounding almost… musical. But in her soft, caressing voice, it had. God, he'd almost been able to feel the words in the air, to feel the affection they had for him. Affection was new to him, and he was more than happy to share it amongst friends. After all, weren't friends allowed to be affectionate? Oh, he wished that she would say it again.

"Sorry," Kei said quietly, her hand gripping her knee so she wouldn't reach out to him again. "I shouldn't have called you that, Fuu-sama."

'But it sounded nice,' he protested. 'I almost wish you'd say it again. Why do you have to be so formal with me? You're my friend, my fighting partner…'

"If you wouldn't mind telling me though… how exactly did you get such a name?" She hoped she wasn't being rude for asking. She'd already told him how she felt about it, but she was still curious as to how it had happened.

He took a deep breath and turned enough in his chair so that he could see her. It didn't seem odd to be leaning his shoulder against hers and talking to her in a smooth, deep voice. It felt rather calming. Odder still was how being around Kei not only made him feel relaxed, but energized, filled with desire to be happy and do good… and be so totally unlike the man he appeared to be.

"My parents were dating for a year, fooling around. Accidents happen, that's why condoms aren't a hundred percent safe, why packages of contraceptives say that they aren't a hundred percent effective. I was the result of my parents not taking enough precautions. My father blamed it all on my mother, saying that she was… well, never mind what he said. But because I was an accident, because I was never meant to be, he named me…"

"That's not true, Fuu-sama!" She spun around and looked at him, leaning into his space. Her grey eyes were passionate, the color back on her face. "If you weren't meant to be here, then neither was I! You and I belong together! You're my best friend, and if I ever hear you say anything like that again, then I will drag you outside and throttle you within an inch of your life just for being stupid! I've never been the most religious person, and you know that, but I strongly believe that God doesn't make mistakes, and so if you were reborn into this world, you're here for a reason! So… so there!"

After that, he agreed to do Madame Curie.

A little over a month later, Kei was still reeling from the lessons she'd been having with Inuyasha. For the first time, despite the fact that she was still new and regardless oh how much "natural ability" she had in fighting, he had led her hold a weapon. Her arms had been aching for days afterwards, the authentic staff he had her using being far heavier than the ones on school teams. But still… it meant that she was improving, if she was getting to use weapons. She was horrible with the staff, and was getting a lot of extra coaching from Fukou.

As for their school club, they had spent a lot of time working on gaining speed and feet work, unlearning the clumsier moves taught by their elementary schools and learning whole new styles by Miyaki-sensei. At first her teammates had been angry and aggressive when they found out there was going to be a girl on a team which, for years, had been all male. However, once they had gotten into a few scuffles after school and Kei had proved herself, they backed away.

Fukou had tried to defend her, which surprised her. He hadn't defended her since the day they had been accosted by students several years older than them. When he had stepped between her and the students that had meant to scare her away, she wasn't quite sure if she felt happy because he was till watching out for her and proving to be quite reliable when it came to the pinch, or if she was insulted that he didn't let her fight her own battles.

But a month after that conversation in the library, it was once again Jou's birthday, and there was a large party for the celebration. The cake having been served, and everyone feeling rather silly and dizzy from the carbonated drinks, they started up a game of truth or dare. Kei was the last person to agree to join in, and when she did so, it was only with the resolution that her friends promised not to do something at which they knew she would take offense.

On Kei's third turn, she once again picked truth, and her friends let out a grown. "Come on, Kei-chan!" Shin said, unable to think up another question he could ask her. "There's not much left to ask without getting into the fun details like the things you or girls in general fantasizes about, or how you like to be kissed, or locker room details!"

"Or the type of illicit undergarments you own or would want to own," Neji continued, dodging a friendly punch from Fuu. At least, most people present thought it was only friendly natured.

"Fine," she sighed. She didn't want to be a stick in the mud. "I'll pick dare."

Jou suddenly grinned and leaned over, whispering to Shin. He knew exactly what dare to give her, and Shin agreed. The turns were passed, and Kei was told that she would find out her dare within a few turns. Sure enough, within a few turns Fukou chose a dare, knowing that Jou gave great dares. His imagination seemed limitless at times.

"Your dare, Fuu, is to go into the closet for seven minutes… with Kei."

Kei did not want to go. No doubt her friends were not just curious as to who would survive being in such tight enclosure with someone who always egged them on and always picked on each other—at least in the private sphere—but she also suspected that Shin and Jou had planned this in the hopes that the dare would turn into seven minutes in heaven. It wasn't being alone with Fukou that bothered her, it was that she didn't like enclosed spaces.

Kei's hair was getting longer, and now she was able to play with it when she got nervous. She did so now, unaware of how small she suddenly seemed, despite the muscle that lined her form. Nor was she aware of how cute she looked, how much her sweet nature made them want to protect her, or how envious Neji and Fukou suddenly were, wishing that they could brush her growing hair.

"I guess I can…"

She didn't really remember walking to closet, or getting in it, all she remembered after that was suddenly feeling very warm and panicking because of the darkness that closed in on her. Her breathing was labored, and for whatever reason, she suddenly couldn't pick up on the scent of mothballs or Fukou's shampoo, but dirt. Fresh, overturned, deep soil. Her teeth clattered, and the noise surprised her. She jumped, looking around for the sound of the chattering noise, and bit her tongue to keep from screaming when Fuu's hands closed in around her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" He felt stupid after he asked it. She was panicking, so obviously she wasn't all right.

"Y… yes…" she stuttered. She felt him move closer, and the heat from his body only made her more nervous. "F… Fuu-s…sama…"

He frowned. The idea had left a bad taste in his mouth since it had been proposed. No doubt she was afraid—the way her body shook and the chattering of her teeth were obvious signs of fear—because she thought he was going to try and seduce, try to kiss her. He admitted to himself—only to himself, because he guarded those few times he thought about Kei romantically as being dangerous moments of pure gold—that he had thought about it. But he didn't want to be like that with Kei. He didn't want to see Kei being contaminated by the lust of the women that he had already experienced in his life. She was too good to be manipulated like that.

It was the old double entendre. He could love Kei as a friend, but never as anything more because he respected her too much. He didn't want to see her the way he had seen other girls because he wanted her to remain unblemished.

"Don't worry," he said, holding back the stinging bitterness that tried to enter his voice. "I'm not going to try and take advantage of you, Kei-san."

"It's not t…that. I… I'm scared, F…Fuu-sama," she chattered. Kei wrapped her arms around herself. Once again, the voice that Fukou had heard in the library came out. "B…Being in a place like this m…makes me t…think of being in a grave. I…it's like a story I read o…once. Being… being in p…" She took a deep breath and said it in a rush of waord. "P…pain 'both physical and emotional, and then to wake up and discover that you can't breath, that you can't see and there is a weight pressing you into a gritty pillow and suffocation'. T…that's what I feel like."

Her voice sounded a little panicked. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. Slowly, her chattering calmed down, and the warmth that she had felt became soothing, the smell of the fresh dirt slowly ebbing away. All she could smell was him, and he was familiar and comforting.

Fuu groped above him, knowing there was a light fixture somewhere. He found it, and the sudden light nearly blinded them. Clothes hung around them, piles of shoes squished into a corner by their feet, and Kei relaxed more. Now that she could see that she wasn't in the earth, she felt a little bit better.

Gently stroking her black hair, he gazed down at her. "Konseki-san… if you don't mind my asking, why are you claustrophobic?"

"I… I'm not, not really. I mean, now that the light's on, I feel much better." She took a deep breath and managed to smile. "It's being in an enclosed space in the dark, in the warmth, or underground… things like that bother me. I'm afraid of caves. I have nightmares about being buried alive. I don't now why though."

"Well, I would have thought that being buried alive would be a normal nightmare."

She didn't respond to his comment. Her hair fell away from her now serene face as she looked up at him. "Please don't tell anyone else about my secret. I don't want them to think I'm silly, especially because my fears seem so unwarranted. Maybe if I had fallen into a grave when I was little, or had a big brother who locked me into closets it would make more sense, but I have no reason to be afraid of those things… and yet I do. I fear them very much." Her arms tightened around him, her head leaning into his hand and he continued to brush her hair in soothing motions.

His face serious as he nodded, but behind his glasses his green eyes seemed more than just a little happy. So too, did they seem a little compassionate. Her hair was smooth, her body still soft despite her well-built form. "If I tell them, then you can tell them about my biggest fear."

"What's yours?"

"The wind." She looked up at in surprise, rather than in pleading, and he nodded again. "I'm perfectly serious, Kei. I am terrified of the wind. Maybe it was because of that storm that made me sick as a little kid, but the wind terrifies me. I hear it sometimes, tearing around the corner of my house and it sounds to me like it's after me. The wind can be so devastating, and yet how many people enjoy it, enjoy the way it makes their hair float or feel it try to pick them up as they walk along? But those winds, the kind that gusts, it scares me. And I don't know why."

She buried her face into his grey turtleneck and she breathed in deeply. He was being so quiet. He was usually so quiet. Remembering how she had come in and found him lounging on the couch, wearing tight blue jeans and a grey turtleneck, a wheel on a necklace around his neck, and a leather jacket, she wondered about him. He always put out the appearance of being a tough guy, of being sullen and quiet… and deep down he was so full of life! Why did he feel like he had to hide it unless he was amongst his friends?

She placed a hand over his chest, over the silver wheel that hung from the silver chain around his neck. Silver looked good on him, but so did the two gold earrings he had gotten over the summertime. Her fingers traced the spokes of the wheel. She didn't know he was so religious—maybe spiritual was the better word, she then wondered—to wear a symbol of Buddhism.

"Have you ever thought…" she said very quietly, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt, "…about reincarnation..."

Before she could finish, Jou pulled open the door, and they jumped apart, blushing deeply. Everyone thought that the reason why they had both been so red-faced was because they had been kissing and were ashamed about being caught. No one knew what really had gone on in the closet that day, and quite frankly, they were happy to have it that way.

In early January the first round of fights were going to be held at the school. Practices for the team were stepped up to four meetings a week, and with their additional lessons with Yasha-sensei, Kei and Fuu were getting the workout of their lives. They began spending more and more time with each other, working on their homework in groups. While at first their parents hadn't been to happy with this arrangement, as they didn't want their children depending on each other through high school to only be devastated when the tough processes to get into university would leave them separated.

Until then, at least, Kei and Fuu were tired, but very happy.

"Kei! Fuu! Break's over! It's your turns! Let's see what you two can do," barked Miyaki-sensei. He watched as the two of them put down their homework and jumped up, eagerly heading to the front of the gym to fight. They sunk down into their stances, and the fight began when he gave the command. He sat back and watched, approving. Kei had gotten much better, and their techniques had been reformed quite a bit.

For a long time he had thought that they were such good fighters because they had been trained by Inuyasha, or Yasha-sensei, as they called him. But eventually Miyaki Kouga had learned that Yasha and Inuyasha were not the same person. Kei and Fuu showed none of the same moves that he recalled Inuyasha using on him as they fought over Kagome. In fact, they fought much more like Sango and Miroku.

Eventually, Kouga had clued in, with the help of his wife. They were the reincarnations of Sango and Miroku. Kouga suddenly felt very conscious of the things he said and did around them. If they didn't know who they were, if they didn't recognize him because those memories remained separate from their minds, there was a reason for it. Maybe it was because something tragic had happened, maybe it was because they weren't old enough to deal with some of the things they had seen in their life, or maybe people who were reincarnated weren't supposed to remember anything at all to give them a new life. Whatever the reason, Ayame had pounded into his mind, he was to do nothing to "help" them remember, no matter how good his intentions.

He watched them fight, not doing anything as Kei fell away from battle and Fuu launched a flying kick at her. This was what they had been trained to do, this was how they fought together, not just testing each other out, but finding out their own limits as well. He was, however, shocked when Kei's reaction was to grab the foot before it struck her and throw all her weight on Fukou, pushing him to the ground.

Damn it, his back was still hurting from when Inuyasha had used that move on him. Kouga unconsciously rubbed his back. He was going to pay a visit to the shrine that night, and make certain that Inuyasha wasn't back in town after having disappeared five hundred years ago.

As soon as he was within two hundred feet of the shrine, he could smell the familiar stench. Kouga had never quite gotten over Kagome and Inuyasha becoming involved. Some part of him still felt bitter that Inuyasha had been picked by Kagome, leaving behind the age old question of 'why him over me'. He walked up the steps of the shrine. 'If I hadn't still been recovering from taking on Naraku myself, I might have been able to woo Kagome.'

"You!" He didn't have time to duck out of the way as Inuyasha came barreling at him. It was odd to see the half-demon dressed in jeans and wearing a red dress shirt, with his hair pulled back with a hair elastic and a bandanna hiding his ears. Inuyasha grabbed Kouga's jean jacket, lifting the smaller man to his tip-toes. "What are you doing here?" he snarled, his fangs visible from his sneer. Kouga's eyes, however, were on Inuyasha's feet. He grinned when he saw that Inuyasha didn't wear socks or shoes. "Oy! What are you laughing at, wolf!"

Emerging from the house and seeing Inuyasha accosting a perfect stranger, Kagome sighed. "Yasha, it's times like this I wish I could just tell you to sit and watch you fall down!" she shouted, approaching. There was something a little familiar about the man's blue eyes… it suddenly dawned on her, and she placed her hand on Inuyasha's stomach, her voice gentle but filled with respect. "Inuyasha, kindly put Kouga-kun down."

He put the wolf-demon down only because hearing his wife all him 'Kouga-kun' had shocked him into dropping the demon. He spun on Kagome, sputtering, "You're still calling him that?" She nodded and he kept yelling. "Why? You're married! He's married, or at least he was married to Ayame and you're calling him affectionate nicknames?"

"Friends do that, even when they haven't seen each other in years," she said. Kagome stepped forward and hugged Kouga. The full demon hugged her back tightly, and she looked up at him, patting his cheek. "You've aged well, Kouga-kun. Why don't you come in and have a cup of tea?" She looked down at the hands on her shoulders and spotted a gold ring. "I want to hear how you and Ayame have been holding up."

Inuyasha didn't understand why they were being so friendly after so long. Kagome very much doubted that he was able to understand. He was too stubborn to stop thinking as Kouga as a potential enemy for Kagome's heart and start thinking of him as a friend. Kouga, as soon as he saw Kagome, knew that he didn't have a claim to her anymore. She was married to Inuyasha, and he wasn't going to dishonor that union. Nor did he really still feel bitter about not getting picked as her husband. He had a wife he had come to love dearly, and he was a natural friend to Kagome, just as the way things should have been.

When he went home, he found Ayame in the kitchen, her nose stuck in a textbook of advanced calculus. She smiled at wearily, her eyes barely leaving the page. No doubt their youngest son had been asking for help again as he tried to understand theoretical mathematics, and so Ayame was brushing up on her favorite subject. "There's supper in the microwave for you. Just hit start."

She brushed her red hair over her shoulder, and yawned before pulling the blankets tighter around her. Her voice was sleepy. "Don't you think it's amazing we've advanced so much to be able to calculate things like the weight of an asteroid hurtling to Earth so long as we have the…"

Ayame was cut off as Kouga ignored the food in the microwave and grabbed his wife's shoulders, pulling himself down to kiss her passionately. Ayame was taken by surprise, but as she gave into the unexpected kiss and wrapped her arms around her husband, she could feel her insides start to melt. How long had it been since Kouga had been this passionate with her? When he tried to pull away, she bit his bottom lip, eliciting a growl from him as she teased his body and his masculinity. No real wolf would allow her to tease him like that, or challenge him.

Kouga picked her up and swiped off the kitchen table with his free arm as she kissed him back intensely. The book clattered to the floor as the table was cleaned off and Ayame was pinned to it. She let out a muffled sound of surprise when his hand landed on her breast, slipping under her shirt and massaging her skin. Kouga's lips released hers and she chuckled. "I missed you," he said.

Her cheeks were pink, and she suddenly felt like a young demon again, barely two centuries old. She looked up at him, fingering ears that were still slightly pointed. "Does this mean that Kagome-chan's back in town and you've finally cleared everything up?"

Often they had discussed Kouga's feelings for the priestess, and he had always been forced to admit that he still wondered if he loved her or not. To him, Kagome was always the girl who had gotten away. Ayame liked Kagome. She could see why her husband would like the young lady, as human as she was, but Ayame never begrudged the fact that she had married Kouga for political gains rather than from love.

She knew, even if he didn't, that it was love that made his kisses soft when she was sad, that it was love that made him dote upon their children and protect their clans no matter what. She knew too, that it was love that made their bed warm at night and their bodies intertwine even if they were both too hot. He wanted to protect her because he loved her, he had just never been ready to admit to either of them how much he loved her.

Kouga was proud, and if he had acknowledged that it was Ayame that held his heart in his hands when he had offered it to Kagome, he would feel like a liar. He needed one last moment with Kagome to make sure that she didn't want it and make sure that he was happier with Ayame. The kiss Kagome had given him on his cheek when she said hello had told him everything he needed to know. He was a missed friend, someone strong she could rely on when Inuyasha was away, and she cared for him. Her heart, as she had always tried to tell him, had been given to another.

Yet, he kissed his wife again, he grew frustrated as she teased him with her stubbornness and childishly giggled at him, and he thought. His kisses become thirstier for the beautiful sighs of pleasure she rewarded him with when they made love. She made Kouga wonder if he had ever really offered his heart to Kagome at all.

To be continued, as usual. And as a side note here, because I know some of you will be wondering about Kei's decision to not throttle Fuu over the head with the biggest library book she can find: as the reader, you have been offered a unique perspective into the foundations of this relationship. You know what both of them think. Kei doesn't. She doesn't know what exactly it is Fukou thinks about women, that he thinks the only thing they want is physical adoration and that they will try to trap him into staying with him. From Kei's perspective (with the women at the fight two or three chapters ago, and with this girl here who instigates the flirtation with Fuu) she thinks that they are coming on to him.

Therefore she doesn't beat him for being a sexist jerk because she doesn't know how he really feels about girls. But we do, so if anyone wants to pick on him in the reviews, I won't hold it against you.

And I suppose some of you are wondering how that conversation works at developing their relationship. We get to see how he feels about Kei. He does care about her. He worships the ground she walks on, but he won't say anything because he's afraid if he gets too close to her, she's going to turn out to be just like all the other girls he had met. And you have to agree that Kei acting like the girl who came up to Fukou in the library is most OOC:) See you later!