by Chri
July 14th, 2004: Chapter completed
Disclaimer:
Inuyasha or any of the other characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing the setting to write a fanfic, so please don't sue me.
The chapter epigraph is from a Pitchshifter song.
Special Thanks to:
My fantastic beta-reader Xue.
Your knowledge about the Far East was more helpful than ever. Thanks
for not getting tired of dealing with my weird vocabulary! ;)
Chapter 20
Still at the end of the day
when all's said and done,
the one and only single thing left
is that one burning question
What's in it for me
Miroku had been lying awake for a while, his mind drifting. 'It has to be quite late in the morning,' he thought, making out the muffled voices of villagers outside. He turned his head to the side, his sight coming to rest on Sango. She was still asleep and looked quite relaxed.
It was the first night with just the two of them and nobody bothering - even on the night when they had come together they had been joined by the others later. But this time they had had a hut all for themselves. He was glad it had been available, even if it was old and without any furniture. Soon, someone from the village would likely reclaim this place, but at least for this time it had been their room.
He turned his head back. 'Idiot, what are you gushing about? Nothing has happened yet.' They had just fooled around a bit during the day. 'Well, how does the saying go - don't rush women.' Maybe there was some truth in it?
In any case, it had been a nice day. Without Inuyasha and Kagome around and Shippou occupied in the village, they had finally had some time just for themselves.
Sango was still a bit reserved - he wasn't sure if she was just shy or if it was something else. Nonetheless, her smiles had grown to look more comfortable. Now that she was finally relaxing around him, he realized that she never really had before. Well, saying that she had never let her guard down wasn't true, but he couldn't remember her ever being so at ease. Compared to now, she had always been a bit distant. Maybe because of the tragedy that had fallen on her village? Although, when people were orphaned all of a sudden, they usually tried to fill the void. Or was it just that he had kept asking women to bear his child?
That would all be over soon, anyway. Whatever her reasons had been before, now Sango really trusted him. She still shoved his hand away when he tried to grope her, but it was more playful than before. She still looked when he talked to another girl, but it wasn't suspicious anymore. 'Well, a bit even now,' Miroku thought, being honest with himself. 'But I guess that's okay.' After all, he also watched out when Sango was talking to other guys...
"Why are you looking so tense?" he suddenly heard Sango ask.
He forced down a guilty look and smiled at her. "Good morning, Sango."
"Good morning," she replied, looking at him curiously. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Miroku answered slowly, searching for a reply. "I was just lying awake and thinking a bit."
"What about?"
"Only inconsequential stuff," Miroku answered and smirked. "Also whether you'd notice if I touched you... somewhere"
"You!" Sango scolded, lightly batting his arm.
"What?" Miroku asked in an innocent tone. "Am I not allowed to dream?" He gave her a quick kiss. "You were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake you up."
"Thanks so much for your concern," Sango teased good-naturedly, a bit flustered.
"No thanks necessary," Miroku assured. "So, how long have you been awake?"
"I woke up just now," Sango answered truthfully. She turned back, looking at the ceiling. "Must have been ages since I slept that long."
"I can only agree," Miroku said with conviction. He folded his hands behind his head, looking at Sango out of the corner of his eye. "It couldn't be related to the absence of a certain hanyou?"
Sango laughed. "No, of course not." She was silent for a second. "I wonder what Inuyasha and Kagome are doing; they've both been away for more than a day. New moon is over, too."
"I'm betting they're lazing about just like us."
"Inuyasha?" Sango asked incredulously. "He's only lazy when he's sulking."
"Hmm, something to that," Miroku agreed. In any case, Sango's concern was justified - usually, Inuyasha only stayed briefly in Kagome's time. When the girl was at school, he even returned and waited in this time. 'Stupid guy. If I could travel to the future, I wouldn't stop staring. And I'd take everything I can sell here back with me...' He was sure nobles would pay fortunes for stuff from Kagome's time.
"Kinda strange without them..." Sango continued. "They're usually around all the time."
"Do you miss them?" Miroku inquired.
"Don't you?" Sango countered.
Miroku was about to make an off-handed reply, but decided otherwise. "Yeah, a bit." He had actually planned to talk with Inuyasha yesterday, to get the hanyou's opinion on the matter of children. It was kinda strange - all his life he'd hunted after women to sire an heir, only to start having doubts when he finally was together with Sango. 'I'd hoped that another viewpoint would help me, but Inuyasha hasn't showed up.' He didn't know who else he could ask, but that had to be obvious when the first person coming to his mind was Inuyasha.
"But I'm sure they'll be back soon," Miroku assured. "And until they're back, we should be happy for the free time." He lay back, closing his eyes. 'Don't want to deal with problems right now,' he thought, feeling content with a mattress beneath and Sango beside him. 'Is it like this to have a home? Peace... It doesn't feel so bad.'
Kagome woke up slowly, still feeling tired. When she couldn't fall asleep after a while she reluctantly opened her eyes. She looked around, realizing that she was in the living room of her house. 'I fell asleep?' Slightly confused, she looked to her right, seeing that the TV was turned on. Her gaze came to rest on the two empty glasses on the small table in front of her. 'Souta!' she exclaimed mentally, the events of the previous night coming back to her.
She sat up with a jerk, her sleepiness vanished in a rush of adrenaline. 'Is Mama back already? Wouldn't she wake me up and tell me how Souta's doing?' Or were they still away? What did it mean if they weren't back yet?
She moved her feet off the couch, feeling them restricted by something. She looked down, seeing that she had been covered with a blanket. She couldn't remember covering herself; she couldn't even remember falling asleep. 'Was that Inuyasha's doing?' she wondered. 'Where is he, anyway?'
She looked around and found Inuyasha in the corner of the room. Seeing the silver color of his hair made it obvious that his human time was over. He sat against the wall, head slightly bent, Tetsusaiga cradled against his shoulder with his thumb resting on the sword's hilt, ready to push it out of its sheath - the very picture of a sleeping hanyou. Beside the rise and fall of his chest, she saw no movement.
'He shouldn't have to sleep like this,' Kagome thought. 'At least here he could sleep more comfortably.' She was sure that he needed rest, after a night like the last. When Inuyasha nodded off without intending to, it meant he was tired. 'Stupid - if you had only told me...' she thought wistfully.
Despite everything, she felt sorry for him - he had to be in an awfully complicated situation. It looked like he was really anxious about facing her family. He hadn't said so, but his reluctance to return home with her told her as much. She wasn't sure if she could help him - her family had every right to be wary of Inuyasha. 'Watch out,' she remembered her mother saying, without any compassion in her voice.
Kagome grimaced - she never hesitated to defend Inuyasha against strangers, but what could she say to her family? In their eyes, everything had to be Inuyasha's fault. His rough exterior wouldn't help him, and his family wasn't used to him, so they wouldn't understand him like she did.
'I did all that and I wanted to!' Inuyasha had shouted, when he hated what he had done. It had to tear him apart, knowing that what happened hadn't been out of reflex or anything like that. 'I... I really hope that your doctors will be able to help him.' It wasn't like him - hoping for something. He always took matters into his own hands, even foolishly so.
'I'll defend him, no matter what!' Kagome thought resolutely. 'Even if it's Souta, or Grandpa, or even Mama - I won't let them think badly of him!'
She turned around, the TV catching her eye. It was some children's show, with crafts and painting. Not in the mood to watch something like that, she took the remote control and switched it off. 'Why didn't Inuyasha turn it off, anyway?' she wondered for a second. 'Didn't he know how to?'
Well, he likely didn't. 'He doesn't know so much about my time...' Things that were self-evident to her had to be a complete mystery to him. For that he didn't show much interest - rarely asked any questions about how something worked, a short inquiry how something had to be used at the most. 'Is he embarrassed, or does it really not interest him?'
She stood up, quietly heading for the kitchen. If her mother had gone to sleep, maybe she had left her a note there. The kitchen had always been the place for left notes, whether it was from or for her mother. When she found nothing, she headed upstairs for the sleeping rooms. She silently opened the door, careful to not wake her mother. To her disappointment, she didn't find her there. Getting worried for her brother, she hurried to his room, but no one was there, either.
She shivered for a moment. 'They're really not home yet.' That couldn't be good, could it? She went downstairs, wondering how Souta might be doing. What if he was really seriously hurt, like Inuyasha had feared? Would he have to stay in hospital?
She entered the kitchen, her eye falling on Inuyasha in the next room. 'Maybe Mama was at home and they didn't wake me?' It was possible that she had told Inuyasha the news and headed back to the hospital.
Not able to wait any longer, she went to wake Inuyasha.
Finally, the next village was in sight. Hachiro allowed himself to slow down his pace - he had rushed long enough. 'If they aren't here again, maybe I'll give up on them,' he thought, weighing his options against each other. Although it seemed like a really lucrative business, hunting them through the whole of Japan still wasn't worth it. Depending on how far ahead this Sango girl and her group were this time, he'd try to catch up once more or call it quits.
As Hachiro approached the village, he saw that the villagers only gave him quick glances, and no one wanted to know about his business or tried to stop him. 'I guess a visiting stranger isn't too uncommon an event. Maybe there's still something strange going on?'
Some time ago he'd heard a rumor about the Shikon no Tama having ties to this village, but that story was more than fifty years old. With the recent reemergence of the jewel he'd tried to find out more about it, but without a close examination, the only thing he had picked up was talk about various youkai adding to their power with the jewel shards. The mining village had actually been subject to the attack of one, which had obviously been stopped by the youkai huntress' group. 'A lucky coincidence that I come across this village...' Hachiro thought - if the group dealt with empowered youkai, they should know a bit about the Shikon no Tama, but even if they didn't or weren't here again, maybe he could find out more from the inhabitants. In any case, those taijiya ought to have acquired some wealth - professional youkai hunters were wanted and rare, mainly because most of them didn't grow old.
Although, even more interesting was the rumor that there was a hanyou traveling with them. It was only partially believable - hanyou were very rare, and many villagers had told him it was a youkai. But if the fellow jumped off a cliff to defeat his opponent, it was worth taking a closer look in either case. He was still looking for someone like that.
He finally made it into the village and approached a man. "Excuse me, could you tell me where to find a headman?"
Someone knocked on the door. "What is it?" Sango called, pulling the blanket a bit higher just in case. She checked beside her; Miroku was awake again, too.
"Are you already up?" she heard Kaede ask from outside.
"Awake, but not up yet," Sango answered, feeling self-conscious. By now, Kaede must have guessed that something was going on between her and Miroku. She wondered how the old woman would deal with it... Well, it wasn't as if she was her mother. "What is it?"
"There is a visitor," Kaede answered. "I think he will interest you - he claims to know something about your great-grandfather's fate."
"Really?" Sango blurted out, sitting up abruptly.
"He's in my hut. If possible, hurry up; we've been waiting for a while."
Sango could faintly hear the old woman stepping away from the door. "Did you hear that?" she asked expectantly, turning to Miroku. "I almost can't believe it."
"A surprising turn of events," Miroku agreed.
Sango threw back the blanket, standing up. She quickly headed for her clothes to change before leaving the hut.
Thanks to Miroku, they had slept in night robes. 'Look what I got, Sango! With these we'll sleep much more comfortably.' Not that he was wrong - sleeping in something other than her clothes was indeed better, but she was sure he had come up with it just to watch her changing - Miroku's stupefied look at the changing screen she had borrowed from the villagers afterwards was proof enough. Stepping around the makeshift partition, she began to change quickly, curious about the newcomer.
When she was half-way finished she noticed her shadow on the paper screen. 'Oh no,' she thought, becoming suspicious. With only her head peeking around, she looked at the paper screen from the other side - her silhouette was perfectly visible against the light shining through the crannies of the wooden walls.
'Damn!'
She looked towards Miroku, taking care that no other part of her peeked out, and found the monk turning his sight from the paper screen to her. He even had the nerve not to bat an eye. "What are you looking at?"
"The nice view," Miroku answered, his face finally cracking into a grin.
"Lech," she muttered and vanished behind the paper screen. Still, she was glad it was only Miroku who saw her like this. She could feel the blood rushing to her head after the thought. 'Better get dressed quickly,' she decided, doubling her efforts to get clothed.
Inuyasha relaxed. 'Just Kagome.' With his demon senses back, he could easily recognize someone without looking up. He also woke up before someone was able to snatch his sword right out of his hands. He opened his eyes and looked at Kagome.
"Good morning," Kagome said after a moment. 'He woke up as soon I walked towards him,' she observed. 'He's really depending on his senses...'
"Morning," Inuyasha answered, feeling uncomfortable. His problems from yesterday evening were far from solved, and the house he was sleeping in was a reminder of the troubles still ahead of him. 'I should never have come here,' he told himself. He guessed Sango and especially Miroku were glad to have had a day to themselves, but under these circumstances it would have been better if he had stayed in his time like always.
After a few seconds of silence Kagome took up the conversation again. "Have you heard anything from Mama?"
Inuyasha shook his head. "No, I was up till morning; I'm sure I'd have noticed her afterwards." A short pause. "Do you think she... should be back already?"
"I don't know. I hoped so," Kagome replied. 'So, they've really been away all the time.' What did that mean? If it was really bad, wouldn't her mother have called? She hoped that was a good sign.
Kagome sighed. "Well, despite everything, I'm hungry. You also want breakfast?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "Yeah." He got up and followed Kagome into the kitchen, still a bit groggy. "Do you think it's bad we haven't heard news of Souta?" he asked on the way.
"I guess that depends on the news..."
Rieko took her mug and drank up. Although she liked the sweet flavor of the last sip of coffee, it also meant she'd have to get up to refill it. "I should have switched with Tsuya," she grumbled, heaving herself out of the chair.
'Nights like those make you wish you'd have chosen another job,' she thought, strolling to the coffee machine. There had been a robbery with someone shot, a few violent muggings and a number of brawls just to name the important happenings. To make things worse, an anxious mother had kept walking up and down in front of her counter all the time.
Rieko pushed the button to refill the mug, sleepily watching the coffee rising higher. Night shifts at hospital always meant lots of coffee. "I'm too old for this job," she sighed - with thirty or even forty this hadn't been so hard. But she needed the money. Her son had had a car crash recently - he had had to borrow money, although they really needed it for themselves. 'Thank the gods nothing happened to him.'
She turned around to return to her chair. Her sight wandered over the woman. 'If she hadn't fallen asleep soon, I'd have asked a doctor to prescribe her a sedative...' At least her old man hadn't made problems - had just sat in his chair with a grim face. Had stayed awake long, too. 'Must run in the family,' she guessed. She didn't even know why they were here - the woman had immediately searched for a doctor for her little boy. She didn't like it when people didn't register at her place. 'What do I sit here for? If my son was hurt, I'd still register at the counter first.'
Didn't work, usually, but the new doctor was too nice and had let it pass. She looked at the clock on her way - with some luck, Tsuya would have to down the woman's personal details.
She returned to her chair and sat down, placing the coffee mug next to the telephone. She gave the thing a challenging look. It didn't ring, admitting defeat. 'Better for you...' She had earned a bit peace, after all.
Rieko took her mug and made a sip. Night shifts always meant lots of coffee.
Sango entered Kaede's hut, finding her with a man inside. The old woman was talking with him over a cup of tea. Sango took in his appearance, suspicious of his sudden emergence. His age had to be about thirty, judging from his face. He was a bit taller than average and clothed elegantly, though nothing overtly expensive. The discarded katana had to belong to him, but carrying one wasn't unusual these days. 'So far, everything looks okay.'
"I'm sorry for interrupting," Sango said formally when they looked up from their conversation. She heard Miroku enter behind her and also excuse himself.
"It's no trouble at all. You must be Miss Sango and the priest Miroku," he greeted them. When Sango nodded, he stood up and bowed. "It's an honor to meet you. My name is Isobe Hachiro."
Miroku and Sango bowed and sat down, while Kaede stood up. "I'm sorry, I have matters to attend to, but I'm sure you have much to discuss," the old priestess announced her leave.
After the old woman had exited the hut, Sango gave vent to her curiosity. "Lady Kaede said you know something about my great-grandfather?"
Hachiro nodded. "I'm not completely sure about him, but I definitely know about the werewolf in question," he said. "But before we continue, I have to tell you that I don't offer my knowledge for free. I travel a lot and pick up stories and rumors, and making a living of them is part of my trade."
Sango grimaced. 'Well, at least he doesn't beat around the bush...'
"What kind of compensation do you have in mind?" Miroku asked. "As you can surely see, we cannot offer any riches."
"Oh, I don't think that will be a problem," Hachiro answered. "I'm very flexible in adjusting to my clients capabilities. Sometimes I just trade one piece of information for another."
Sango narrowed her eyes. 'Information is exactly what we can't offer.' With an enemy like Naraku, anything could be used against them. Even if this Hachiro was a human, he just might sell them to their enemy. "Before we speak any further, I want to know how you found us. Your arrival is highly... unexpected."
"I'm sure it is. I was surprised myself to be confronted with this event - after all, that story happened more than fifty years ago," Hachiro began to explain. "I trade at the market of the mining village you visited a week ago. I arrived a bit early and heard your story from the villagers."
"I see," Miroku said. "So you followed us all the way?"
"Well," Hachiro laughed, "I had intended to catch up sooner, but I didn't know your destination, so I had to ask around a bit. I already feared I had lost you, but luckily you stayed in this village."
Sango nodded - the story sounded believable. She exchanged a quick glance with Miroku, who seemed to be of her opinion. "I hope your travels weren't too exhausting," Sango said, filling Hachiro another cup of tea and also two for Miroku and herself. "If we had known, we would have spared you the inconvenience, but we were in a hurry," she explained, taking a sip from her tea. 'If Inuyasha hadn't been so set on reaching the village, we might have met this man much earlier. Let's hope that won't jack up the price.'
"It's no problem," Hachiro assured. "I followed someone for over a month once. This risk comes with my work, so I'm used to it."
"Well, Mr. Isobe," Sango began, "what exactly is that you know? I can hardly offer you something without having a rough idea of what I'm going to get in return."
"Ah, a woman of business," Hachiro stated. "Well, I know about the fate of the beast, and I also know where your great-grandfather was seen last."
"That certainly sounds intriguing," Sango said. "How do you know all of this?"
"I'm sorry," Hachiro refused, "but I can't tell you before we have a deal."
"Well," Miroku said, rubbing his chin, "it looks like we've reached a point where an agreement becomes necessary. So, what kind of payment do you have in mind?"
"The information is old and hard to come by - this of course makes it more valuable. Hmm, I'd say something about ten ryo."
"T- Ten ryo?" Sango stuttered. "That's more than I've earned in my life!"
"That might be because you're still young," Hachiro said with a smile. "If you want to, you can also trade something of equal worth."
"I don't have anything to trade," Sango explained. 'Most of my and my parents' belongings were destroyed with the village,' she thought, failing to come up with a plan. There were a few half-completed and cheap weapons left in the armory, but that wouldn't be enough for even one ryo. "I don't own more than the equipment I'm carrying with me, and that I cannot sell."
"Well, that's a shame. I had really hoped we'd come to an understanding," Hachiro said, standing up. "If you change your mind, you can find me at the mining village for the next few weeks."
'Damn, this was too good to be true,' Miroku thought, watching the man pick up his katana and place it at his hip. 'Wait,' Miroku exclaimed mentally, getting an idea at the sight. "Mr. Isobe, I think there might be something we could trade." He jumped up and rushed out of the room.
Sango watched Miroku leave, wondering what his idea was. When the monk came back after a minute, she saw him carrying the two swords they had acquired from the humans Inuyasha had killed. 'They are magic,' she realized, remembering that Miroku had found out about the swords' enchantment. 'So they have to be worth something!'
Miroku took place next to Sango, motioning the man to join them again. "We could spare these swords. Both are enchanted, able to cut through even youkai armor."
Looking a bit surprised, Hachiro sat down and took the sword Miroku offered him. He pulled it out of its sheath and followed the blade with his fingers. "Hmmm, not the strongest enchantment," he stated, weighing the sword in his hand. "But the blade is well-balanced."
'He's able to sense the enchantment himself?' Sango wondered. She hadn't thought that he would be able to, judging from his looks. 'He's not your everyday traveler.' She wondered how much he would offer them, being capable of guessing the worth of the swords himself. Being honest with herself, she didn't think that the swords were worth more than a third of the money the man wanted.
While Hachiro examined the sword, Miroku exchanged glances with Sango to make sure she was okay with this. His reasoning had been the fact they didn't fight much with the swords, anyway, and it shouldn't be a problem to obtain a normal katana afterwards. Judging from her expression, she was okay with it, but unsure about something. 'Likely about the price we can demand,' Miroku guessed.
"Well," Hachiro finally said, "I value the sword's worth about two ryo, so two of them makes four ryo. I'll make you a special offer and let you off half of the price - five ryo for the swords, five ryo left."
Sango hoped that her disappointment didn't show. That was more than she could expect, but still not enough. 'That's it. That was our last shot.' Maybe she should really stop trying to find out about her great grandfather? After all, she had enough to worry about with Naraku and freeing her brother.
Miroku saw that Sango was about to call it quits. It was subtle, but he had known her long enough to have seen her in this mood a few times. "Mr. Isobe, could you leave the room for a minute? There's something I want to discuss with my companion."
"Of course," Hachiro said and bowed. "It's an important decision, after all." He stood up and went out of the hut, a small smile appearing on his face. "Youngsters," he mumbled to himself. 'Almost get a heart attack when I pretend to leave.' He had thought that at least the monk would understand the basics of bargaining, but it appeared he just acted brighter than he really was. 'Or the girl is messing with his senses.'
Well, wasn't his problem. It looked like he wouldn't only get the two swords back, but a nice bonus on top of that. Obviously they didn't have much of worth, so by now they had to be contemplating telling him about what they knew of the Shikon no Tama. If he did it right, he might even have a group of youkai hunters on his side, something that could prove useful in the days to come. Not to mention that he had yet to meet the rest of their group.
When the man had left, Miroku turned around. "Sango, is everything okay?"
"Miroku, this - This isn't worth it. That's enough money to get all of us lodging for the next two years. And I'm not talking about the two of us, but Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippou as well. I'm sure there's enough for even Hachi."
"We've always found cover for a night till now, haven't we?"
"That's not the point. Finding out about my great-grandfather's fate isn't worth ten ryo."
"Sango, if you don't take this chance now, I'm sure you'll be unhappy."
Sango kept silent, staring in front of her.
Miroku sighed, thinking things over. He was sure that Sango wanted to know about her great-grandfather's fate, so she shouldn't worry about replaceable things like money. "He said that we could also trade knowledge," Miroku suggested.
"Well, do you really want to tell that man about the Shikon no Tama?" Sango asked. "Even if he seems nice, he'd probably sell everything we tell him to Naraku for the right price."
"Well, it doesn't have to be about the Shikon no Tama..."
"And what else important do we know about?"
Miroku sighed; she was right, they couldn't tell that man about anything vital. 'Maybe we can borrow the missing five ryo?' he wondered, thinking of other possibilities. But who had that much?
'Kagome!'
"Sango, what about asking Kagome for help?"
She turned around, looking angered. "You don't have to worry her, too! Miroku, you know yourself that Kagome isn't rich!"
"That might be true," Miroku answered. "But those lighters are very cheap in her time, I've heard. On the other hand, in our time..."
"Sell one to him? Wouldn't that be dangerous? Till now, Kagome has never tried to trade any of the advanced stuff from her time."
"Nonetheless, if we bargain skillfully, we might trade only a lighter or something like that and even keep the swords. Besides, when the little thing runs out of energy to make fire, it's just gonna be a useless piece of junk."
Sango was silent for a while. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Miroku coughed.
Author Notes:
This time it's been three months. :-/ Time at university was tough, I guess that's my only excuse. I'm annoyed myself - when you want to write something but you can't, it's really dissatisfying... I'm not sure how long it will be until the next chapter, but I'm sure it won't be three months again.
I've also received my first flame. (I guess that's a good mean value for 420 reviews.) To a certain extent I always wanted to know how it is, but I guess from now on I can do without them... Anyway, I know now that Sankon Tetsusou means "iron reaver soul stealer" and not "soul shattering iron claw" thanks to better Inuyasha fans than me. oO
Other than that, I've decided to move the Author notes to the end of the story. I've always preferred this stuff at the beginning in other stories, but it looks like most people don't (judging from a discussion on a forum). I see this as bonus for the readers, so I'll go with the popular opinion in this case. Disclaimer and special thanks stay at the beginning.
Reviews revisited:Silver Dragon 2488 - Hmm, I guess a poem for the disclaimer isn't a bad idea, but there's one problem: I'm no good at writing poems... Anyway, the disclaimer's not so important - I guess concentrating on the story is better. ;)
Mikky - I'm glad that you like the Mir/San thing. I'm personally not too happy with it - I feel like it could have been done better (I think there a few rough edges). And, maybe I'm saying too much, but you're not bad at guessing. Ku ku ku ;)
Holly - Thanks for your review - I was also happy with the last chapter, spent quite some time contemplating the characters actions and reactions. I'll continue trying to come up with unusual situations - hope you'll continue to like it!
Badgerwolf - Nice summary of the current complications! I'm taking my time with resolving the problem, but if my plan works out, it should be for the better :)
GothicElf - Thanks for the review - it's never too late to start! :) About "sit", I don't use the word to trigger the spell (exclusively "Osuwari" to avoid situations like the one you pointed out). But, your review has shown the problem - people aren't aware of it. I've added "Osuwari" to the dictionary, but I'm not sure if that's enough. Do you have an idea?
Tsu-chan - Hehe, I'm glad that you liked my special thanks. :) I hope I could return at least part of the favor... Hope to read from you!
Jenbunny - Your thoughts about Kagome's mum pretty much mirror mine. How would she react in such a situation? I hope her first reaction was believable, but now that she's sleeping over it, I guess I'll have to be more careful.
PrincessLesse - Thanks for telling me that you like my characterization - I think this is maybe the most important aspect for a story to me. :) Anyway, I hope that the story will continue to grip you with unusual situations (I hope I can stuff them all into this story ;))
Dauq - Very nice to hear from you! I was actually
wondering if you were still around... Well, I guess reading three
chapters at once can make up for a long wait. (I definitely like to
read stories in one go.) Thanks for going into detail with your
comments about my characterization. There were some parts that were
kinda hard to figure out - emotions running high always demand careful
writing. It looks like I did right in trusting my feeling here and
there.
Because you mentioned it, I really enjoy putting relations to the
original into the story. I sometimes wonder if it is adding to the
story, so it's encouraging to hear that you like it! :)
Tom - LOL, the counselor might need counseling afterwards. ;)
Blaque-Ivory - Hmm, I guess the wait was even longer this time. :-/ This time I'm even unhappy with myself - not much output for three months. Nonetheless, I hope you'll continue to enjoy it!
Admiral Biatch - Hope your computer didn't make problems since the last time. (Mine sure did...) Don't worry about timeliness - a review's a review. ;) Anyway, it looks like "The White Dog" hasn't updated for twice as long as me. And it looked so promising...
HMPRune - Hmm, thanks for telling me "my" Kagome is written well, I'm always a bit unsure about her - she's the character I can empathize with the least.
AmunRa - Thanks a lot for your review. Better a good one
than a rushed one! :) I'm slowly getting embarrassed about being
compared to the White Dog - that one's so much better than mine. Still,
thanks for the compliment! (Most importantly, with reasoning)
It's great that you share your thoughts about the story with me, so
don't feel bad about it! I really like to hear how people experience my
writing. :)
Caeria - Hmm, I hope your boss doesn't notice that you read during your work! :) Anyway, I'm glad that my writing manages to provoke the thoughts a bit, and maybe is a bit unique as an Inuyasha story. Hope to hear from you!
Honey Badger - Um, yes, this story is still alive. (Don't worry about poking, everyone needs that once in a while ;)). It's also great to hear that this story is someone's favorite! Anyway, I know what you mean with fearing that a story is discontinued. In fact, I think more than 50% of the good stories are sadly never finished. I especially hate it when they don't at least leave a note saying what the status of a story is. Well, that's the world of fanfiction.
Bagira - Hmm, I'm glad you like it. Telling me details (like you're rereading my fic) is always making my day. ;)