GUESS WHOOOO!!! Yes! Itsa me! With my longest chapter ever! 16 pages! NOT including Author's Notes or Reviewer responses:gasp: I hope you enjoy...even though I've been gone for a while! Oh twell, been working my freakin' butt off... bleh.
Disclaimer: Krystal no ownies InuYasha or the gang. But I think if I beg hard enough Rumiko might let me have Buyo. :grin:
(Reviewer Responses will now be at the end of the chapter!)
Chapter 14 Let's all be Scarecrows!
:poke:
"..."
:poke:
"Grr..."
:po-
"RIN STOP THAT!" finally snapping after being continually poked by said curious girl for a good two minutes (a new personal record for him) Jaken took the stick she had been using to poke him a mere moment before. "I am not for poking you filthy girl!" he screeched, finishing his statement by snapping the stick in half. Satisfied that his point had gotten across, Jaken turned his back to the two girls and continued to watch for Sesshomaru. Rin and Ran just watched in amusement as Jaken repeatedly muttered death threats to himself, scratching the already irritated skin.
"Who knew you could be allergic to dandelions?" Ran muttered to herself, taking the stick Rin had picked up to continue poking the swollen toad before she could start. The three were still sitting in camp, patiently awaiting the arrival of it's leader. Ran sighed as she stood up, and stretched several muscles resulting in numerous loud 'pops!'. Completely stretched, she wondered out loud. "Does he always take this long to get back?"
"Silence hanyou! The great Sesshomaru is a very busy person! He is a great lord and demon-"
"Silence Jaken, your constant chatter is annoying." three heads whipped around to where the voice had come from, in time to see Sesshomaru float through the bushes.
"Aah... my Lord! I was just..." Sesshomaru merely glared in Jaken's direction. Jaken stuttered a bit, before getting the message and shutting up.
'Does he even walk?' Ran muttered to Rin as Sesshomaru continued to glare at the cowering Jaken.
'Rin doesn't think so, Sesshomaru-sama just floats.' Rin replied before running up to Sesshomaru.
"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! Look-e! Rin has new friend!" Rin danced around Sesshomaru just as a puppy whose master had finally come home would. Sesshomaru glanced up and noticed the small hanyou cat, standing boldly next to Ah-Un. Ran's young face remained impassive, something her father had taught her to do at a young age. He nodded and walked up to Random.
Ran calmly stood still, eyeing the large demon as he approached. When he reached her, she bowed as she had seen her father do years ago."Hello, I believe you knew my father, Hiroshi Silverweed. I am his daughter Random Silverweed. It is a pleasure to meet the great Lord Sesshomaru again."
Jaken actually passed out.
Sesshomaru nodded, ignoring Jaken as he twitched on the ground foaming at the mouth. "I would expect the daughter of Hiroshi to be well-mannered. It has been a while since I last saw you. He raised you well." he paused to discreetly sniff the air. "Yet you reek of my pathetic half-breed brother." his questioning glance finished the unspoken question.
Random nodded "Yes, do to certain...circumstances...I have been traveling with InuYasha and his group." she faltered a bit, memories of her family coming unbidden to her mind.
Rin continued to poke the toad on the ground, oblivious to the serious conversation around her.
The ice-king nodded in understanding. He had heard of the Silverweed murders, but did not know that the daughter had survived, this was...fortunate. Very fortunate indeed.
"Do you have your father's research?" Sesshomaru questioned, getting right to the point. Ran glanced up in surprise at this question. Her father (as far as she knew) had told no-one about his work, unwilling to let the information fall into the wrong hands. She looked at Sesshomaru with distrustful eyes. How did he know about the research?
Sesshomaru smirked (to himself) as the hanyou child glared at him, unsure of whether he was trustworthy or not. She may have been trying to hide her surprise behind a mask, but he had many more years of experience then she did and he could read right through her. "Your father foresaw his death, so he sought me out, as you probably remember."
Ran nodded, she remembered meeting Sesshomaru with her father when she was barely even old enough to walk. She had been too young to really pay attention to what they were talking about, something she regretted now. But the meeting did seem to be peaceful, so maybe he was trustworthy after all. Seeing that she did remember, Sesshomaru continued.
"We had been working together for several years. Your father contacted me saying that he had found a vital piece of information to our research, and that he wished to meet me, because he feared he may have been discovered. Unfortunately he was murdered before he could reach me again."
Ran nodded, now deep in thought. This bit of information cleared a lot of questions in her mind regarding her father's behavior shortly before his death. So that means the object he had given her...
...Crap...
"I do have my father's research...unfortunately it is not with me..." Ran continued to massage her temples as Sesshomaru patiently waited.
"Where is it?"
"It's with another person I have been traveling with..."
--------------------------(oink oink)-------------------
The two walked up to the small village. Kikyo keeping an eye on Krystal as she ran ahead, trying to figure out where the soul stealers (also known as her rides) had gotten to. Twice Kikyo had to stop her before she ran into a mud puddle, trying to keep the toddler presentable to public. Before they actually entered the village, Kikyo pulled Krystal to the side. "Now, when we go in here we are going to play a game."
"A game?"
"Yeah, a game." Kikyo was finally starting to catch onto this babysitting thing. Lie. Lie long and hard and use lots of bribery.
"How do we play!" The toddler stared at the priestess, eyes wide in fascination.
"We're going to pretend that I'm your aunt." Kikyo ignored the scrunched up expression on the ex-hanyou's face. "And trick the villagers into thinking that you are a normal human girl. If everyone believes us, then we win!"
"'Kay! What we win?" Krystal asked, hopping up and down.
Crap, Kikyo hadn't thought of that.
"Uh...you win...um...a toy! We'll get you a toy!"
Krystal's eyes became even bigger (if that was possible) at the prospect of getting an actual TOY! Her face literally sparkled at this new thought. "Yay! Yay! Yay! Toy! Toy for Krys! Toy for Krys!" she skipped ahead of Kikyo, into the village, singing her new song.
Kami what did she just do. Kikyo pondered as she walked into the village behind the hyperactive toddler.
"Krystal! Get down from there! What are you doing!?!" Kikyo yelled at the toddler, who had shot up onto the roof of a villager's hut and was now stuffing straw into her clothing.
"I wanna be a scarecrow when I grow up! Can I be a scarecrow?" she asked trying to imitate a scarecrow to the best of her ability. Which ultimately resulted in her toppling off the roof and landing in the dirt.
The priestess sighed once again and continued to rub her pounding head. "Yes, I think you'd make a fine scarecrow..." she muttered, simply trying to appease the girl. Why did she have to be stuck with this terror? Why did she have to watch...
"KRYSTAL! WHERE DID YOU GO!?!" Kikyo shouted. All traces of the toddler were gone. She took her eyes off of her for one second and that was all she needed to run off.
MEANWHILE...
Krystal ran around the village, excited at all the new things. She had already been kicked out of five villagers houses, three gardens, and some guys cart. Apparently the donkey doesn't appreciate hitch-hikers on it's back. Especially those that bounce. She was so excited that she wasn't even paying attention to where she was going anymore, and before she knew it she had crashed into someone.
"OW! What was dat for?!" a little boy sat up, rubbing the sore spot on his head. Krystal gaped at him, she had never seen a human child up close before!! Her parents had made sure she had always kept her distance. The boy looked at her oddly before standing and picking up the ball he had dropped. "What awe you staring at?" he asked. Krys finally snapped out of her stupor and squealed.
"Eeeh!! You look like me! Are you a human kid! That's cool! What's that? Is it a toy? The stinky-lady promised me a toy if we won the game! Wow! Are all humans kids hair that color?" She tugged on his shaggy, brown hair for emphasis. "Will you play with me?!?" In her excitement Krystal had glomped the poor child and was now chattering by his ear. The kid stared at her in astonishment, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay! My mommy just got me dis ball! We can play with it! My name is Shiro. What's yours?" He asked, tossing the ball to the hyper blond child.
"My name is Krystal! Me and stinky lady are here to get on a b...b...boot!" she stumbled on her words, not entirely sure of the name, then tossed the ball back to Shiro.
He laughed, tossing the ball back. "You mean a boat?" he asked. Krys nodded her head, chasing the ball that was rolling down the hill into the ditch.
"Yeah!" her voice echoed up from the ditch. "I don't know where we going though!" the ball bounced out of the hole, followed by a dirty head. "I'm hungry." she stated crawling out of the hole.
Her new friend thought a moment. "My mommy makes really good soup. We can see if she has some!" he grabbed her hand and dragged her through the village. Krys followed, until she spotted something.
"Ooh Ooh! What's that!?!" she tugged his hand and pointed at the large building that loomed up beside them. Shiro glanced up to where she was pointing, blushing a little as she tugged on his hand (A/N: Little kids are so cute!).
"That's the head of the village's house. We not supposed to go in there." he stated, turning around and getting ready to leave. He stopped when Krystal didn't follow him but instead raced towards the house. "Hey! We not supposed to go there!" he caught up to her and pulled her arm, trying to get her to leave. "You'll get in twouble!"
"Wow! It's so big! Shiro can we explore! Please!" she begged, using the patented puppy eyes she had learned from Shippo. Shiro wavered for a second. "It'll be fun! Like an adventure!" He finally gave in.
"Okay, but..."
"Yay! Come on!" she raced to the back of the house. Shiro following close behind her. The two kids explored the outer area of the house, before crawling in through a broken window. They both stared in astonishment at all the expensive things throughout the hall. "Wow..." Krys muttered. "It's so...shiny..." the two snuck down the halls, hiding underneath tables whenever servants rushed by. Krystal's stomach growled again. Krys whimpered, patting the poor, empty organ. "I'm still hungry." she whispered to Shiro.
"Well..." he was still a little uneasy about being in the head of the village's house, but it was starting to feel like an adventure...sorta. "We could check the kitchen..." before he could finish the statement Krystal was dragging him down hallways again, following her nose.
None of the servants were in the kitchen as two heads peeked around the corner, the counters filled with food for lunch. The two dashed in.
"Hey Shiro!" Krystal called over from a counter she was sitting on. "What's this stuff?" she held up a large red mass, some of the juice running down her arm. Shiro jumped from his perch on a chair, and ran over to Krystal, grabbing the item in question and taking a big bite out of it.
"You mean you've never had watermelon?" he asked, offering her a piece as she plopped down next to him.
"Nu-uh." she replied, also taking a large bite out of the sticky mass. "Is good!" the two kids quickly dug into the fruit, spitting the seeds in the air to see who could shoot them the farthest. Shiro won. ("You cheated!" Krystal pouted.) They both laughed after Krystal had tried to eat some of the grind, before realizing it made a better hat. "Hey Shiro!" Shiro turned around, only to get hit in the chest with a tomato. He looked up to see a grinning Krystal on a table, a bowl of tomatoes at her side, the watermelon grind still balancing on her head, acting as a helmet.
"This means WAR!" he cried, grabbing another bowl and putting it atop his cranium for protection from the incoming fruity missiles.
And so began the Battle of the Edibles.
Shiro dodged to the right to avoid the flying pudding and slung some goop he found in a random pot across the room, making a direct hit with his target. Krystal squeaked and threw another tomato, nailing him right on the helmet. She laughed until Pistachio nuts began to fly rapid fire against her, to which she retaliated by hurdling several fuzzy peaches at the enemy. Shiro quickly glanced around, hoping to find some sort of ammunition. Over on the other side of the room was a basket of oranges, the perfect long-range attack. He ran over and grabbed one of them, before whipping around to face Krystal. With a firm grip on the fruit he ripped the green stem out with his teeth and lobbed it into the air until it landed with a loud 'squish' right in front of her. The sticky juice exploded everywhere, thoroughly soaking Krystal and the area around her. This epic battle continued on for several minutes until Krystal finished it by accidentally running into the table and knocking a whole bag of flour on the two warring parties. The large bag pitched over, completely covering the two in the pale white powder. They both sat there, still in a bit of shock, before pointing at each other and laughing.
"Come on!" Shiro giggled, helping Krystal up. "Let's explore some more!" Krystal crawled on the five-year old's shoulders, making the two look like some four foot tall mangled food ghost or something, as they continued down the hall.
"For the last time! I refuse to give into Lord Onigumo's demands!" a loud voice cut through the children's giggles as they approached a large door. "They are simply intolerable!"
"You would turn down a chance to have this much power?" a dark voice seemingly slithered out the cracks of the door. Krystal crawled off of Shiro's shoulders.
"I refuse to associate with such contaminated filth!" Shiro glanced down at Krystal, who was frozen on the spot. The toddler's eyes were blank, having gone back in time to a moment she had tried to forget.
I couldn't resist...Flaaaashback!
Krystal glanced around, making sure no-one could see her. She giggled to herself as she snuck into the village. Her mommy and daddy were playing hide and seek with her, but they would never find her in here.
"Krystal! Krystal where are you!?"
'Uh-oh!' Krystal thought hiding behind a well. 'Mommy is close! She might find me!' She was startled when the village priestess walked up behind her holding a bucket, obviously to draw some water from the well. She turned around and smiled at the lady, holding her finger in front of her lip to ask the lady to stay silent. "I'm playing hide and seek with my mommy!" she whispered.
The priestess glared at the hanyou child in front of her, giggling in her little hands. She thought she had warned its filthy parents...
"There you are!" Krystal's mom ran in, swooping the toddler up on her shoulders. "What have we told you about going in the village?!" she scolded her child, Krystal's fox ears drooping as she got in trouble. "I-I'm sorry." she apologized to the priestess, "she just ran off."
"I've warned you to keep that abomination away from the village." the priestess cut in, her eyes cold, glaring at the cowering hanyou atop her mother's shoulders.
"She's just a child!" the woman snapped back, backing away from the priestess. "And she is good! If you could just let her in the village and see..."
"I refuse to associate with such contaminated filth!" the priestess shot back, glaring at them over her shoulder as she walked away. "Your lucky I even let you stay near the village. You're a traitor to all humans." she walked away, leaving a stunned mother holding her crying daughter.
Flames hungrily licked the sky that night, quickly devouring a little hut on the outskirts of a nearby village. The priestess stood and watched as the little home collapsed, before turning around and leaving, while some villagers still stood around the blaze waving their torches in the air and cheering.
"It had to be done...sister." the priestess muttered, walking back to the village. She failed to notice a small child hiding behind a nearby bush as she walked by.
End Flashback (:sigh: I just couldn't feel right without a flashback...yeah, my attempt at drama)
Krys whimpered to herself. She hated that memory. She hated that night. Closing her eyes, she quickly re-buried the mental images deep in her subconscious.
Shiro looked at his new friend, confused. This was probably the quietest he had ever seen her. He poked her arm, a little worried for her.
"FRIED FISH!" Krystal squeaked out, the poke surprising her out of her memories. She looked over at Shiro, who was now on the ground swirly-eyed, having been knocked over by her exclamation.
"So, you refuse our generous offer?" the same slippery voice spoke, it's tone dripping with malice.
"Take your jewel back to your Master Onigumo, we will have none of it's tainted evil here." the leader responded.
"Fine then." there was a rustle as whoever was speaking stood up. "You choose to bring destruction upon your village then." Krystal and Shiro quickly ran and hid under the rug, as the footsteps neared the door. The door slid open, and a man with slick, black hair stepped out and turned left, stomping down the hallway. It was a good thing he had turned left instead of right, because if he had even glanced to the right, he would have seen two obvious lumps sticking up from underneath the rug in the middle of the pathway. One vibrating as the child underneath it was trying not to giggle. The hallway was silent for a moment after he left, until Krystal spoke up from under the rug, her voice a little muffled by the fabric.
"Someone is gwumpyyyy!"
"Sshh...he might still be dere!"
"No he's not! See!" Krystal poked her head out the side of the rug. "No-one's here!" she reached over and poked the lump next to her, causing it to fall over. She giggled, then got up and ran to the door.
"What awe you doing!?!" Shiro exclaimed, finally rolling out from underneath the rug. The two stared at each other for a moment, then burst out into giggles. The two kids were quite a sight. They were covered from head to toe in flour, random tomato splotches, and other unknown concoctions from the kitchen, and now the rug had rubbed their hair until it stood almost straight up. Finally calming down their giggles, Krystal pointed to the door, signaling that she was going to go in. Before Shiro could stop her, she had already burst through the door.
"..."
"AH! A GHOST!!" the terrified leader squeaked out, running to the corner of the room, tripping over the pillows he had been sitting on. Krys started giggling, his face looked exactly like a terrified mouse.
The superstitious leader shivered in the corner, eyes wide in terror as the terrifying apparition cackled in front of him. It cackled! It's never good when a ghost starts coming in your room and cackling! Cackling is bad! Cackling equals your doom!
By now Shiro had grown extremely curious as to what was going on in the room in front of him. So he finally poked his head into the chamber.
Haruka still sat in the corner, immobilized by fear. First that creepy guy comes in asking if Haruka wanted ultimate power, and now this frightening ghost is standing in front of him cackling! (Well, it had been cackling, now it was evilly jumping on the fluffy pillows he had been sitting on, covering them in ghost dust. This had to be a bad sign, maybe it was bewitching the pillows to attack him tonight? Dear Lord, he was never going to be at peace again.) Maybe if he could run past the ghost and out the door he could be safe. Glancing at the door, (he didn't want to take his eyes off the 'ghost' for too long, it could be waiting to attack.) he could feel his heart skip a beat...
There stood a second one. This new spirit glanced from him to it's companion, now hanging upside down from the candle-holder connected to the wall cackling even louder than before, then back to him. At least this one wasn't cackling...
Shiro couldn't believe it. The almighty village leader was cowering in the corner, while Krystal was hanging from a candle-holder on the wall, laughing so hard her face was turning blue. He had heard rumors that Haruka was superstitious, but this was ridiculous. He started to grin. This whole situation was rather humorous.
Haruka's heart must have stopped, now the second ghost was smiling.
'Please don't cackle...please don't cackle...please don't cackle...' he muttered the prayer to himself. One ghost cackling was bad enough, but two probably meant a whole life of horrible omens like toads in your stew or something terrible like that. He panicked as the grin grew. No, no, no, no, no...
Shiro couldn't take it any more...he burst into giggles.
Haruka fainted dead away.
"Cwap!!" Shiro screamed, running to Haruka, who was now on the ground drooling. "We killed him!!" he began to cry. Krystal jumped off of the chair she had been hopping on and ran over.
"No we didn't!" she replied pulling a stick out of nowhere and poking him. "See?" Shiro stared at her sniffling, not understanding the whole 'poking-him-with-a-stick-will-prove-he's-not-dead' concept. Krys rolled her eyes. "Twust me, I've poked so many dead things with sticks that I can instantwy tell the difference. I'm an eekspert." the stick vanished. "Too bad, I liked him, he squeaks like a mouse." the two decided that they had had all the fun that they could inside Haruka's house so they decided to leave. (That and a servant had caught them making hand prints on the wall with leftover tomato juice from the previous battle in the kitchen and threw them out, rather unceremoniously too, Krystal added afterwards). The two were now wondering the streets again.
"KRYSTAL!!!" the toddler's head whipped around towards the sound of the exasperated voice. Kikyo came stalking towards her, looking rather worn out.
"Hi stinky lady!" Krystal cheerfully waved at Kikyo, as if she had never disappeared on her. The priestess grabbed Krystal's sleeve.
"WHERE...HAVE...YOU...BEEN?" Kikyo looked down at Krystal's clothes. "...and WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!?!?!"
"Playing the game." Kikyo faltered. Taking a deep breath she counted to ten and waited until the urge to purify Krystal subsided. Normally it wouldn't have been so hard to find her. But the cloaking necklace Kikyo had given Krystal not only shrouded Krystal's half-demon features, but also disguised her scent and demonic aura. Making it almost impossible to find her in a crowd of normal humans. "Come on, let's just go." Kikyo muttered, dragging the toddler behind her.
"Bye-bye Shiro! I'll come back someday and play again!" Krystal waved good-bye to Shiro, who stood still for a moment in shock from Kikyo's entrance, before sadly waving 'bye' back. He was gonna miss the hyper girl. He turned around and ran back to the ditch, to retrieve the forgotten ball he and Krystal had been playing with.
Krystal turned her attention back to the priestess. "Do we get my toy now?" she asked. Too tired to even put up a fight Kikyo marched to the nearest store, picked up the closest toy, slapped it on the counter, scared the crap out of the shopkeeper, bought the toy, and thrust it into the awaiting toddler's arms. Krystal squealed as she waved the toy sword around. Exhausted, frustrated, and in a bad mood, Kikyo payed for the boat and boarded, a death grip on Krystal's sleeve so she wouldn't run off again.
------------(Hehehehehe)-----------
The baby deer leapt through the forest, smiling to himself as the sun's warm waves washed down on him. He paused for a moment to say hello to his friends, then continued to happily leap through the woods. His stomach growled, telling him that it was time to eat. Entering a field, he cautiously glanced around before stooping down to scoop up some of the delicious grass springing up from the ground. He never saw the shadow behind him.
"Yo Kouga! Look what I got!" Tsoki exclaimed, emerging from the forest dragging a baby deer behind her, followed closely by Ginta and Hakkaku.
"Pretty good squirt. Did Ginta and Hakkaku let you help?" Kouga asked, taking the small deer and adding it the pile of meat behind him.
"Uh boss..." Ginta nervously answered.
"Well, you see..." Hakkaku continued, nervously swallowing.
"No!" Tsoki loudly interjected "I killed it all by myself! No help from them at all!" she proudly grinned.
Kouga looked from her, to his two men, then back at the toddler. "You mean to tell me that a little half-demon toddler was able to bring in more food than you two combined?!?!"
"Told ya you needed me on your hunt." Tsoki smirked, the two wolf demons nervously standing there, trying to explain.
"Well, we smelled it..."
"I smelled it first! I told you two it was there! You almost scared it away!"
Ginta reached down and covered Tsoki's mouth.
"We were so busy watching Tsoki and making sure she was safe that we were slightly distracted, we were so concerned about her." In truth the two had been nervously following Tsoki, keeping a close eye on her to make sure she didn't throw any more rocks at them. Where does she get all those things anyway? Kouga nodded, accepting the quickly-thought-of excuse. Hakkaku gave Ginta and thumbs up for his fast thinking. Tsoki merely rolled her eyes.
'Bumbling idiots...'
"..."
"OWIE!!" Ginta leapt away from Tsoki, frantically flapping his arm in circles around his head, and whimpering about how bad his hand hurt now. Kouga turned around just in time to see this wonderful display of manliness from his henchman.
"Ginta, what are you going on about now?!" Kouga asked, watching Ginta nurse his wounded digits. Ginta pointed an accusing (and now slightly bleeding) finger at Tsoki.
"She bit me sir!" He pouted, rubbing his sore fingers. "-and it hurt! A lot!" Hakkaku patted his suffering friend on the shoulder. Kouga sighed to himself. 'At least she didn't slobber on him.' He subconsciously wiped his hand against his fur, the memory of a certain fox hanyou coming to mind. Kouga turned his attention to an innocent-looking toddler.
"Did you bite him?"
Tsoki tried, she really did try. If she said anything sarcastic it would immediately blow her 'I'm-so-obviously-innocent-just-look-at-me' cover. But a statement like that just begged for a sarcastic remark.
"Me? Bite him? Of course not. Don't you know wolves tend to spurt blood from their fingers unexpectedly?" she still tried to use the puppy pout anyway for good measure. Maybe he was stupid enough to fall for it, Shippo would have certainly believed her, Krystal too. Kouga placed his hands on his hips and glared down at the toddler, attempting to seem tough. His attempt at frightening her failed though, when she started giggling so hard her face was turning red.
"What's so funny?!" Kouga demanded, tilting his head to the side. Tsoki shoved her fist in her mouth to try and stifle a new attack of giggles, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks. By this time other wolves in the pack were trying to hide their chuckles behind anything they could find.
"Uh...haha...boss?" Ginta stated, hiding his grin behind his already healed hand. "Um...hehe...you look like..haha..." hit with another fit of giggles, all the wolf could do was point at Kouga's hands.
"Huh?" looking down Kouga noticed (with a good deal of embarrassment) that he had unintentionally placed his hand on his hips. Definitely not manly. Probably the most opposite of manly you could get. Soooo not manly...crap.
It didn't help when Tsoki, finally calmed down enough to speak, threw in her two cents.
"All you need (haha) is an apron (snort) and a cooking (hehe) sp-p-oon (HAHAHA) and you'd be (I can't take it!) the perfect (guffaw) little housewife!" At this statement the whole hunting party burst into uncontrolled laughter, some demons falling to the ground, and most laughing so hard they were crying. Even Ginta and Hakkaku, trying to remain straight-faced so as to not embarrass their leader anymore, broke down into fits of laughter. Tsoki was laughing so hard she had the hiccups. "Just wait (hiccup) till (AHAHAH!) I tell (hehehe) Inu- (hiccup) Inu- (hiccup hehe) Inu- (hahaha) InuYasha! You will never (hahaha!) hear (hiccup) the end of it!!" Hearing this Kouga's bright red face instantly turned white.
"You are NOT telling dog turd!" He frantically begged the toddler.
"Oh? And what's to stop me?" Tsoki asked, having finally gotten her giggles (and hiccups) under control. Kouga paled even more. Tsoki grinned, she loved blackmail.
It had taken a while, but the whole camp had finally settled down for the night, spare a few chuckles whenever Kouga walked by. Kouga tried to retain some of his manly pride, but there wasn't much left to salvage. With a sigh, he plopped by his campfire. Ginta and Hakkaku nodded in acknowledgment, before continuing their task of preparing that day's kill to be transported to the caves the next morning. Tsoki had already fallen asleep by the fire, curled up into a ball with a blanket wrapped around her, to ward off the late night chills. Kouga sighed again, she looked so harmless when she was asleep. Just looking at her nobody would guess she was borderline evil mastermind. He turned to the two wolves.
"You remember the plan for tomorrow right?" his question was answered by two blank stares. Sitting back down after bopping Ginta and Hakkaku hard on the head for not listening the first time the plan was explained to the pack, he recapped. "Tomorrow me and a couple others are gonna scout ahead for any demons that might have caught a whiff of our kill." he waved his hand towards the carcasses being bundled up for travel tomorrow, "As you know, tomorrow group one is going to be taking the game back to the caves. I want the rest of you to follow the scent of the herd we are following and see if you can kill a few more before you head back. I'm placing Kiruzo in charge of that. You two," Kouga pointed to Ginta and Hakkaku "-are going to be in charge of watching Tsoki."
On the outside Ginta and Hakkaku nodded seriously and promised they would take good care of their charge. On the inside...
...they were screaming.
Time passed swiftly, and soon the sun was peeking over the horizon, announcing the start of another day in Feudal Japan. Many had been up before dawn, keeping watch or preparing for the trip back, and few paused to watch as the sun began to rise, filling the sky with radiant colors. Tsoki groaned from her comfy spot by the, now extinguished, fire. Cracking open an eye, she glanced around, before deciding it was time to get up. Standing up, her small frame shuddered in the cool morning air, before she shook herself to try and rid her body of the heavy cloud of sleep that seemed to linger on her. Feeling slightly better (at least now she could stand), she dragged her blanket behind her and sought out Kouga, who was giving last minute orders to everyone.
"Be careful with that! It's gotta make it back to the caves! You, you, and you. You guys are coming with me to scout ahead. And don't forget..." Kouga paused as he felt a tug on his furs. Glancing down he saw a still drowsy Tsoki looking up at him, rubbing some of the sleep from her eyes, the blanket in her hand trailing behind her. Grinning he reached down and ruffled her hair. " 'Bout time you woke up squirt."
"-notta sqrt..." she mumbled, still half-asleep, "whas goin' on?" she wobbled a bit as sleep tried to overcome her once again. She definitely wasn't a morning person. Kouga scooped her up before she fell over.
"Some of the wolves and I are scouting ahead to make sure no demons attack."
"Cool...I wnna cooOOOAAAWWNNooome." her sentence was rudely interrupted by a rebellious yawn.
"Sorry, you're staying here with Ginta and Hakkaku."
"No fair, I (yawn) wnna 'o (yaaaaawn) wid you (yaaAAAAwwn) and fight s'me dmons again 'cause is fn..." before Tsoki could even finish her sentence, she had already nodded off again, her head nuzzled against Kouga's fur. The blanket she had been clutching fluttered down to the ground. Shifting the now sleeping girl to his other arm, Kouga finished a few orders and walked off to find Hakkaku, Ginta being busy elsewhere.
"Hakkaku!" he called out to the demon, who was helping Ginta with some menial task. "Come here!" Hakkaku was over in an instant.
"If it's about that wombat I swear I had nothing to do with it! It just ran off-" Hakkaku immediately starting rattling on about wombats or something.
"What are you talking about?" sometimes Kouga could swear those two had lost their minds.
"Uh...this isn't about that?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about. I came to tell you to take Tsoki." He transferred the toddler from his arms to Hakkaku's, who had frozen up upon first receiving the girl, expecting some lightning to come down and strike him. When nothing happened he calmed down and moved the bundle to a more comfortable position, where she snuggled down and muttered something about evil, fiery wombats of doomey doom doom. "Now, tell Kiruzo that I want you guys to travel no farther than the mountains to the North, I just want a few more kills, maybe seven more bundles or so, then take them back to the caves. Our group might be gone a week tops. Remember, your job is to watch Tsoki, make sure she stays safe. I don't want her out of your sights. And while your out keep your ears and eyes open and see if you can find Random and maybe even a little fox hanyou too."
Hakkaku looked at his leader questioningly. "You want us to bring a random fox hanyou back?" Kouga whapped him on the head for his stupidity.
"No you idiot! She's a friend of Random and Tsoki. They got separated when I was bringing them back in from the storm. Tsoki will know who I'm talking about." Hakkaku glanced around nervously.
"Uh...is she anything like Tsoki?"
"Huh? Oh, no I don't think so. Opposites really."
'Oh thank God...' Ginta and Hakkaku quietly thought to themselves. Now Tsoki could be a really great girl, and she was really cute. But she still terrified the two.
Kouga stared at the strange pair for a second before he shrugged, he was pretty much used to it by now. Another wolf called from across the camp, telling Kouga they were ready to leave.
"Well, we're heading out, don't forget what I told you."
The two snapped to attention. "Right!" Kouga nodded, before turning around and leading the other wolves in the opposite direction. Ginta returned to his work while Hakkaku stood there, still holding a dozing Tsoki. He glanced down, and swallowed nervously.
"Eh, Ginta? I-I'll finish that for you, if you could just hold her while I do that."
"Um, it's okay I got it."
"You sure? It looks like you could use some help."
"Nah, I pretty much got it."
"Oh, okay then..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...you're absolutely sure..."
"Yes, Hakkaku." Ginta finished up his work and walked over to the nanny wolf. He peered down at the toddler, happily sleeping. "Maybe she'll stay asleep..."
"For three days?"
"...toddlers need lots of sleep right?"
"Yeah, you're right! I bet she'll sleep the whole time!"
"Of course!"
"..."
"..."
"...you get her when she wakes up."
"Darn."
In a few hours the camp was all packed up and ready to go. The two nannies relayed Kouga's message to Kiruzo, who proceeded to divide the wolves into separate groups. Since Ginta and Hakkaku were Kouga's 'designated babysitters' they were placed in a group further back, mainly a clean-up group. It actually had been mostly quiet that morning. Until about ten o' clock, when a certain someone woke up.
Hakkaku had been carrying Tsoki in the crook of his left arm, where she had peacefully been sleeping, for a moment he actually thought he was home free...for a moment...
...he thought he was safe.
-----DONE!!----
Dear Lord! THAT was definitely my longest chapter. My original plan was to keep writing until I got to a certain point. But now on page 16 and having worked on this almost non-stop for a week, I've decided to just publish this chapter and move those scenes, and the InuYasha scene I was planning to the next chapter. Hope ya don't mind! That's why Krystal's part is a lot longer than the other's, because I was gonna lengthen their parts before I decided on this. But hey, at least I (finally) updated. w00t!!
PLEASE REVIEW!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! This chapter's prize is Toddler Cookies! Yum!
Well, see ya next time!
Ja-ne!
And now it's time for...
Da-Da!!
Reviewer Responses!!
:insane clapping:
"I know, I know you all missed me."
:Silence:
:clears throat:..."Anyway, let's just get this over with so I can go to bed!" :checks watch: "Hmm...2:30 in the morning...not bad..."
Muffnbootz: Eeeh! Yay! I'm so glad you like my story! Do you ever use your ten-foot pole to poke people? Because you could like hide behind buildings and watch your friends turn a corner across the street, and you're like 'Ah-ha! I've got you!' and you whip it around and poke them, knocking out eight people, three cars, and two giraffes who couldn't get out of the way fast enough. But yes, I feel privileged that you think so highly of it:gives you Random plushie:
Youkaichildofthesouth: Here's the next chapter! w00t! w00t! And yes...I LOVE Monty Python! ESPECIALLY THAT SCENE! I read your review and burst out laughing! I love the part where there going..."The great beast lunged, all hope seemed lost for Arthur and his men, when suddenly, the animator suffered a fatal heart attack!" And the picture of the animator's face cracks me up EVERY TIME! I love it:gives you Krystal plushie:
The Sacred Tree: Choking on your soda? Tsk, Tsk, don't you know that illegal in 52 out of the 47 states of the Union? But don't worry, I won't tattle on you. What did I do to have such awesome reviewers:tears of happiness: Yeah...I'm not allowed to drink soda...or coffee...or eat a lot of candy...momma seriously won't buy the stuff! Says I get to hyper...she's never seen me on an energy drink...:evil grin: Well, here's the next chapter:gives Tsoki plushie:
Ran-Ran Neko-Chan: IT WAS SO AWESOME TO GET TO SEE YOU AGAIN!! I miss you all so much:cries: Wal-Mart + 11 o' clock at night Good times
:Tsoki is sitting in the front of the car...well, driving, then she randomly locks the doors:
Ran-Ran: Hey Krys.
Krystal: Yeah?
Ran-Ran: You're locked in.
Krystal:...
Krystal: NOOOO!!! LET ME OOOOUT!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHH:plasters against the window screaming.
Tsoki: SHUT UP BACK THERE!
Krystal and Ran-Ran: Yes ma'am.
But yeah, I misses you. Thanks for reviewing! Yay:gives you a prize packet of all three toddlers, since you're one of them:
CelticGoddess09: Yay! I like funny things...their just so...funny! Well...eh...I FINALLY updated...hehe...:sweatdrop: Did you know oreos sink in milk? Neither did I. So I had a big not-clear glass of milk and I'd sit next to my little brother watching tv. I'd put an oreo in, watch tv, turn around, and my oreo would be gone. So I'd glare at my little brother and put another oreo in. And repeat process...well let's just say I found out that my little brother didn't eat any of my oreos...hmmm...chocolate...milk? Sorry, late and I'm hyper! So you get my random reviewer story! Yay for you:gives you Krystal plushie:
AnimeMew: Yay! I updated!! I swear I worked on this chapter non-stop for a WEEK! Grrr...and now I'm hungry...oh so hungry...:starts singing: Nobody knows, the hunger I've seen:sigh: I could really use a foot long BLT from Subway right now...with cookies and about six mini-cinnamon rolls from cinnabon, finished off with a bottle of water...Mmmm...sorry, I get hungry and it reflects in my reviewer comments! Ehehe...Ever watched Invader Zim? I have...good show...Um...I'd better leave now before I get more random...THANKS FOR THE REVIEW:happy dance:gives you Random plushie:
Lady Zettai Gangu: I love making Tsoki's evil plans work! I was going to put a ton in here where she tormented poor Ginta and Hakkaku ( I adore those two! There just too adorable!) But I thought of I had to try and squeeze any more stuff for this chapter my mind would explode, so it's all been bumped up to next chapter...but yes...Tsoki is quite fun. Kouga is fun too, I enjoy toying with emotions :evil smirk: oh twell:gives you Tsoki plushie:
inuyashabooklover5188: YAY:hugs you: I updated! (finally!!) :nervous grin: Yay for webcomics! I'll definitely check it out:happy jump: YOU HAVE YOUR OWN ROOM FOR COLLEGE! NOT FAIR! But oh so cool!! I love tormenting Jaken, he's just so...tormentable! And he ALWAYS is going on and on and on about how no-one is as great as Sesshomaru, and Sesshy doesn't even seem to like him that much and he keeps following him around. I don't know who to feel more sorry for, Jaken or Sesshomaru. Ran is awesome! And yeah, she is really, really, really smart (AND NO DENYING IT RAN-RAN!) And yeah, it's hard to offend Krystal (good thing too, because her being so hyper it annoys people! te-he) And hey, dandelions are freaking awesome! It's like two flowers for the price of one! And you can blow one and it goes FWOOP! and flies away! Haha! Jumping on your friend must be hilarious to watch, I like to leap on people too, but the police told me a long time ago to stop it, random people don't like random girls jumping on them. (jk!) And yeah, soul stealers are the travel of the future, I swear they look so ride-able! And yes, Kikyo is a moron...me no likey her, which is exactly why the poor thing is traveling with me. Nah, InuYasha doesn't have the spell, it's a special thing Kikyo has, but that part was very important to something that is gonna happen WAAAAAAAAAAAAY later! (If I can muster up the self-control to finish this story! I WILL FINISH IT! I MUST! I MUST!) But yeah, thanks for the review! I always look forward to them! P.S. I haven't been on facebook a lot because I've been reeeeally busy. Like nine and a half hour shifts at work busy. :passes out: Well, see ya next time:gives you Krystal plushie:
Ru-Doragon: One...of...the...funniest...things...you've...read...on...fanfic?!?!?! ...EEEEEKKK:runs up and hugs you till ya turn blue: That maketh me SOO happy! w00t:happy dance: Well, I'm gonna try to make sure I keep updating so hopefully it'll stay funny! Stay tuned for more funny scenes coming soon! But till then, take this:gives you a present, you open present, inside is a wombat with a bow around it's neck: I call him Fred, and he is very nice:gives you Random plushie: