A special thanks to…

Hearii-sama

Boylessgirl52941

total-manga-freak

sweetrosie

Al

Miko no Kaze

inukagforeva17

Remenscent

MeiunTenshi

Mistress of Demons

RedHairedEggHead

ffgirlmoonie

Avelyn Lauren

Disclaimer:

Mr. X.: 100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

Jenny enters.

Jenny: He still at it?

Pwale: Yeah…

Jenny: What number did he start at again.

Pwale: 10,000.

Jenny:…Dear gods…

Kagome: My sentiments exactly.

Pwale: Well, it's no matter. I WILL NOT GIVE IN!

Mr. X.: 97 bottles of beer on the wall, 97 bottles of-

Jenny: Come on Pwale! It's just one sentence! You've said it before even!

Pwale: Yeah! But it was never a matter-

Kagome: I don't know how much more I can take…

Pwale: As I was saying, it was never a matter of will power before!

Mr. X: 94 bottles of beer on the wall, 94 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 93 bottles of beer on the wall!

Al: Fine! If you won't say it, I will!

Al grabs the bars of the cell that holds Mr. X.

Al: WE DON'T OWN INUYASHA, MEANING THE SERIAL NAME, NOT THE ACTUAL CHARACTER!

Mr. X: See! That wasn't so hard, now was it?

Pwale:…

Jenny:…

Al:…

Lia: I knew that this flamethrower was going to be a useful investment!

Important Note: In this chapter I bring in a type of race called the Elementals. I do not know much about this particular faerie, so do not take me for an expert and do not quote me. Also, I have encountered in the past people who think some items of folklore belong to popular authors. For example, I know many people who thought that J. K. Rowling invented the hippogryph and the basilisk before I actually had to go online and get reference books to prove them wrong. As such, I feel it only fair to mention that no one owns any of the Faerie concepts I mention in here. No one owns the Faerie Courts, and unless someone has a bid on Irish folklore, there's no way anyone ever could.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: It's my birthday today! So, as a special birthday present to you guys I'm presenting this chapter. I'm sorry that it's so short, but I just had to do something! Enjoy!

The Stamp of Gold

A story by Pwalefriend

Attention Class!

Kagome was once again standing outside of Inuyasha Takahashi's quarters and was once again deliberating whether or not she could quit and still get paid. She was certain that if she considered it long enough she would find away to pull it off. Inspiration had to strike her some time!

But after five minutes of waiting Kagome was forced to admit that Inspiration wasn't in a striking mood that day. And so, with a heavy sigh, she pulled open the door and gave a little prayer to whatever God or Goddess might b listening that this 'session' might not be too abnormal.

Kagome went to the room where she had first heard the voice of her employer. The room with all the leather and the dark wood. It was, after all, where Mr. Takahashi had told her to meet him. She wondered if he was going to be behind the cork wall as he had been before.

Sure enough, a moment after she had sat down the wall panel slid back to reveal a new and improved cork panel. A slight shadow was behind it, a shadow that Kagome could only assume to be Inuyasha himself.

"There are books on the table next to you." Came Inuyasha's voice.
Kagome looked and saw, sure enough, a bunch of rather large piles of books. It was beyond her how she hadn't noticed them earlier. "Pick up the top one of the pile nearest you."

Kagome obeyed.

It was a dusty leather volume, old with gold filigree.

"…This isn't very…arcane…" Kagome said, gesturing to the language. It was, indeed, her own native tongue.

"We'll start out with the easy things." Came Inuyasha's voice. He sounded as if he was sulking. "Begin." He commanded. Kagome took a deep breath and began.

"The Anatomy of Magik and the Elements of" She read. "When one first begins the long and laborious study of magik it is important, nay, it is crucial to understand first it's creation and second it's limits. Magik, different from the rubbish magic of the lower classes and the magick used to keep children in bed, is something of science and-"

"Stop." Inuyasha interrupted. "Try the next one."

So Kagome picked up the next one.

It was newer, a nice fancy red leather cover, and this time it was written in an arcane language.

But before Kagome could get to page two even Inuyasha had her pick up another book.

And so it proceeded for a couple hours, until Kagome's voice got so tired and her throat rather rough that Inuyasha told her to stop and go get some lunch.

"By the way…" he added when she got up to go. "I haven't seen Kaede today. Where's the old bat? Usually she's up here first thing, making me eat the rubbish she sends up."

Kagome spared a startled glance in his general direction.

"Oh, didn't you know?" Kagome asked. "She fell down the stairs yesterday and put out her back. The poor dear is laid up in bed now, and she says that she'll probably have to stay there for a month at least."

Inuyasha snorted.

"Yeah right." He said. "She's probably just trying to get out of work."

Kagome sighed.

"Well, Mr. Takahashi-"

"Inuyasha." He interrupted.

"Pardon?"

"Inuyasha. It's my name. Use it."

"Sorry…since Kaede is the only one with medical training, Inuyasha, we will just have to take her word for it." And with that Kagome left Inuyasha alone to his thoughts.

Inuyasha stood and entered the Leather Room, as Miroku had taken to referring to it since it didn't really serve any particular purpose. He sat down in the chair that Kagome had just left, enjoying the warmth left in the chair. One of the books caught his eye and he sighed.

Well, he had been right. Even though he wished to the gods that he hadn't been. Kagome Higurashi was a nice enough girl with a fiery temper and a way with children. She didn't deserve to be mixed up in all of this. Too bad she had answered his letter, because now she didn't really have a choice. He may not like using people to his own advantage, but that didn't mean he was above it. Besides, this had to be done if anything was ever going to get any better for all of them.

"Master…" Came a small voice from at his elbow. Inuyasha looked down and saw the little Elemental that was looking at him with laughing eyes.

Elementals.

They were Inuyasha's true friends, they were the ones he trusted the most.

What are the Elementals?

There are many different types of Elementals. Inuyasha, for all his study, never pretended to know all of them or know much of anything about them. You knew as much as they wanted you to know, and that was it.

What Inuyasha did know was that each culture had it's own set of Elementals. Elementals are part of the Faerie Folk, or the Fey, or the Folk. They belong to neither the Seelie Court nor the Unseelie Court.

They were…hard to explain.

Many of the books that Inuyasha had read listed the earth Elemental to be a Gnome. Inuyasha doubted this, since all the illustrations he had ever seen depicted a gnome as being a dwarfish old man with colorful clothing and red hats.

But the earth Elementals that Inuyasha had in his service looked like little bonsai trees without any leaves.

"Yes?" Inuyasha said.

"What is it that you with that girl?" The Elemental asked. "She has power, like a deva. A being of equal power to ourselves, but of a different kind of power. Remarkable, truly. Rare to see it these days, and even less so in the educated young women, who must rely on the scientific nature they are taught if they are to be accepted by the racist officials." And with that the Elemental stole away.

Inuyasha shrugged. The Elementals often said things that they wanted you to know, but they never told you why they thought that you should know it. Perhaps it was because they didn't quite exist on this plane, and as such they just assumed that you already knew what they didn't tell you. He would store this information away for later deliberation…if he remembered. Inuyasha spared almost no thought to anything, except magic. There, even he wasn't stupid enough to do anything without careful consideration…but then again…that was never the sort of mistake that anyone made twice, now was it?

Inuyasha sighed and leaned his head back in his chair. Why did it all have to turn out like this?

G

Kagome was sitting quietly at Kaede's bedside with a small bowl of fruit salad in her hands. She had come here earlier to give the assistant Healer time to rest. Of course, without Kaede, none of them knew what to do or to what extent the damage might be, so they kept someone at her side at all times.

Kagome looked around.

She had never really been in the Healing Hall before. And now that she was she was actually rather surprised by the extent of work that obviously went into this.

Where did Kaede get all this money?

All right. Kagome decided. Enough's enough. She stood up.

"I'm not doing anything until I find out where all this money's coming from." She announced to the empty hall, which looked startlingly like a hospital wing. "For all I know this money could come from slavery, or child labor, or animal abuse, or…heck, for all I know Inuyasha could just magic everything into existence." Kagome chuckled a little. "But of course, that's utterly ridiculous."

Well? Review! Review as a birthday present! Please?

I'll see you next time…

Sincerely

Pwalefriend.