Chapter Thirty-Six
Dear Wack!
"Scary," Kagome commented quietly after Pepper had stalked off, still ranting about immature jerks. "Got somewhere we can hide, tou-san?" Pepper's temper put her own to shame... she'd rather not press her luck any more today.
"Let's go play with my toys," he whispered loudly before grabbing her hand and pulling her gently to the elevator, humming the first bars of the Mission Impossible theme. It's fun having someone on my side, getting into trouble with me and not lecturing me about acting my age...
When they entered the lab, JARVIS reminded him that Kagome only had visitor's clearance. Surprised he'd forgotten to fix that, Tony cleared her for entrance and basic equipment use, though most of the system would still remained locked to her. I adore her, but I can't drop my guard just yet...
He named off all his robots, happy to see her genuine curiosity as he told her what each did and when he made it. "Making robots and programming the A.I.s to run them is the fun part of what I do. JARVIS is my oldest A.I., which is why he has so much personality. I actually got a butler who'd served the royal family to help me program his manners. He had a sex change then too... The butler firmly recommended the retirement of the woman's voice he had to a bordello." And once again I forget I'm talking to my teenage daughter...
She grinned, "You know, you could use tearoom instead of bordello... we dragged Miroku out of those several times." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Those women were disturbing... blackened teeth, faces painted with white lead, eyebrows plucked and painted on halfway up their forehead..."
He made a noise of disgust at her descriptions.
She suddenly smiled a little, remembering her sister of the heart. "When Sango joined us he finally stopped visiting them. She's the one who really got me hooked on flying. She'd have Kirara take us up and show me how to do all sorts of flying mounts, dismounts, and trick moves. It was even better than Inuyasha's gliding, and a thousand times more fun than clinging to Sesshoumaru's mokomoko during the last battle..."
"Wait just a minute, that's the brother that tried to kill you? What were you thinking?"
"He'd changed, even saved my life before. Plus, we were inside Naraku's body and I couldn't get where I was needed without a lift. He still considered me a weakness, though. He always pushed his brother, saying Inuyasha had to become stronger, that it was their destiny to be warriors. He insisted it was their only purpose in life, and glanced at me when he said it."
"Why would he do that?"
She gave an open-fingered wave. "I'm not sure. Myouga-jii-chan, Inuyasha's flea-youkai vassal, said Sesshoumaru followed the path of Supreme Conquest, and felt that caring for someone made you soft."
Tony paused, considering what she'd said so matter-of-factly, and started sniggering. "A dog... with fleas for servants?"