Twenty-One

As they stepped into the inner chamber, Kagome took another quick glance at the fire apparition leading the way. Her heart picked up the pace once more, his bold declaration playing itself back over and over and over in her head, and she tried to will it away with a loud huff. It was just… just…

'We're in luck," Hiei said, motioning to the demon's skull flickering with the light of a forge located toward the back of the cavern. "It would seem Totosai is home currently."

The sound of a hammer swinging filled the large chamber, sparks filtering out from the skull's eye with each blow. Kagome frowned a little, glancing around the darkened space. "It's weird, though, I don't see…" she replied, before she spotted the massive bovine sleeping off in a corner away from the noise. A smile touched her lips at the sight, having thought it odd that Totosai would leave without the beast. "Nevermind, there's Mo-Mo."

Hiei did not spare a glance toward the pack beast, having sensed its presence before they entered the chamber. He nodded for her sake, however, as he clenched his hand around the fire he was producing to douse the flame. He knelt in one fluid motion then, saying, "You'll need to get on my back. The ground here is likely to melt your shoes if you attempt to walk across it without assistance."

"Isn't this just a…?" She knew that Totosai often liked to hang out in volcanos, but this looked like a normal enough ca—

As if to emphasize his point, a pillar of fire sprang up in the distance.

"Oh…" Kagome shifted uneasily on her feet, wondering why the fire apparition was suddenly offering her his back after he had just carried her off to only God knows where across his shoulder. She quickly shook away the sound of his voice telling her that he and Kurama had been created for her, telling herself, again, that that was all just ridiculous. It was not possible. There had to be some other explanation for the way he was behaving, and she wanted to believe that it had something to do with her best friend deciding that she had been single for too long. Anything else was just… just… "This is crazy."

"Some might say that choosing to talk to yourself is considered crazy, little miko," Hiei drawled.

Glaring at his back with the remark, Kagome finally stepped up to him and allowed him to grip the back of her thighs to lift her up onto his back. Wrapping her arms tight around his shoulders, she said, "Let's get this sword already. I just want to go home and soak in the tub for a while to forget any of this is happening."

The fire apparition snorted, but did not otherwise comment as he bound effortlessly across the scorching hot terrian. It took him less than a minute to clear the cavern, and he quickly shifted forward when he felt the miko start to foolishly move to stand on her own two feet. His hands tightening around her thighs, he smirked at the sound of surprise that escaped her in a cute little gasp. "It's not safe yet," he told her before she had the chance to start screeching in his ear about inappropriate behavior like she often did with Youko.

"Oh…" God, she should have just told him to leave her on the other side, because her face was going to be permanently red by the time she got him to take her back to her apartment at this rate!

...she did not even want to think about what Kurama might say if she returned looking like a tomato, either. Or Youko, for that matter. The fox avatar was probably going to be pissed about the fact that she was basically blasted him into a potent barrier that might have left serious battle wounds on his flesh, so she really did not need more fuel to add to that particular fire. Even if he totally deserved it for groping her the way he had.

The sound of metal colliding came to an abrupt halt as Hiei stepped into the demon's skull with the miko situated on his back. Pinprick black eyes immediately swiveled in their direction, before the elderly demon reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Eh, what's this then?" he asked.

Feeling the fire apparition loosen his grip finally, Kagome settled back onto the floor and skirted away from him toward the swordsmith. "Totosai!" She smiled when the other fire demon settled his gaze upon her, blinking owlishly at the bright greeting. "I'm so sorry that we've just dropped in like this. I'm Kagome. We've met before through Inuyasha a couple times."

"Inuyasha, you say?" Totosai seemed to ponder this for a few minutes, rubbing thoughtfully at his chin while he shifted his gaze between the brightly smiling miko and the glowering demon behind her. Then, with a shake of his head, he said, "Inuyasha…? Inuyasha…? Nope! I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name. You must have come to the wrong place."

"...what?" Kagome sighed in aggravation. She should have known Totosai would act the fool, considering the couple times she had seen Inuyasha shake him for attempting to act like a senile old man. It was just her luck, honestly. She was never going to get home to that bath she so desperately wanted to take now.

"Your pathetic attempts at lying would be obvious to a newborn," Hiei said plainly.

"Hn?" Totosai narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, watching as the miko jumped a little in surprise at the sound of the apparition suddenly so close to her. As she turned a darker shade of red underneath the light of the forge, he turned his attention fully to the other demon staring at him with a narrowed crimson gaze. "I can't seem to remember ever lying about anything in my life, boy. You're both just mistaken, is all. Whoever you're looking for is probably dead."

The third eye he possessed cracked open slightly, as Hiei snorted, "You can't honestly think you can continue to lie to me, can you, old man?"

Totosai lifted himself to his feet, muttering, "A Jaganshi?" as he pounded his fist onto his shoulder in an attempt to relieve the ache there. "Here I was enjoying my peace and quiet for a while, thinking about taking a nice bath sometime soon, and a Jaganshi shows up on my doorstep with his mate."

Kagome visibly twitched, feeling her heart nearly skip a beat when she caught the term that Totosai had mumbled under his breath. She had to remind herself to breathe, her face aflame, as the hysteria she was feeling far too often these days tried to creep back up on her with the remembrance that she had almost come to the same conclusion. Her earlier discussion with Bokuseno kept her from freaking out again, though, since the ancient tree had confirmed that she had at least not somehow become mated to the two lunatics refusing to leave her home while extremely out of it.

"Oh, I'll have to move again," Totosai continued, "and I rather liked this underground cavern." He hefted his hammer over his shoulder, while pushing slightly at the anvil he had been using with his toe. "They'll all flock here once they hear word that the great and noble Totosai is alive and well. Such a shame."

Hiei shifted himself slightly so he blocked most of the entrance, saying, "I require a sword. You may leave after you've given me one."

The swordsmith waved his hand, seemingly unconcerned by the threat, as he sighed, "That's all they ever want. Swords, this. Pikes, that. 'Oh, Totosai, make me a weapon more powerful than even the Tessaiga!' But they never understand the work that needs to go into that kind of weapon, and they're certainly unhappy when I tell them that there's no way I could produce something of that caliber with such weak fangs. The Inu no Taisho was just so powerful that it was easy. Maybe if Sesshoumaru donated a couple of his…"

"Totosai, please," Kagome sighed. She just wanted to go home.

"Hn?" Totosai blinked then, asking, "Where did you all come from?"

Deciding to ignore the obvious attempt to act absent minded, Kagome said, "Please, Hiei just wants a sword." She flickered her eyes toward the fire apparition for a moment, and immediately looked away when he caught her eye with a slight smirk. "Any sword, really. It doesn't have to be anything like Tessaiga."

"Doesn't have to be anything like Tessaiga, you say?" Totosai repeated, watching as the girl nodded rather enthusiastically. His hammer slipped from his shoulder then, as he frowned. "Oh, but what does that matter, really? Everybody will still flock here by tomorrow."

"We won't tell anybody where you are!" Kagome quickly added. "Like I said, I know Inuyasha. He's," was, she quietly muttered to herself, "my best friend, and he's been keeping your secret for how long now?"

Totosai brightened a bit at the promise, asking, "Inuyasha? Inu no Taisho's youngest brat?"

She nodded, releasing a tiny relieved breath with Totosai's sudden and astounding revelation. She really, really, really just wanted to lock herself inside her bathroom and forget that Hiei and Kurama even existed for a couple hours while she was secluded behind a closed door. Maybe she would even get lucky enough that they would grow bored and decide to leave, though she seriously doubted it at this point.

Shuffling back toward the forge, the swordsmith produced a large pair of pillars from amongst the tools he kept there. "Why are we all just standing around then?" Totosai asked, amused by the twitch in the young miko's brow. "Come here and open your mouth, boy. I'll need a couple of fangs from you to make a sword worthy of protecting such a pretty little mate."

"He's not…!"

Kagome really, really just wanted to leave!