Fanfiction.net is down forever! No! Not really, but it kinda seemed that way. And man, I'm way too lazy to actually look for specific stories. Screw that. And so, if I can't use the search, I kinda look at the first page for a second and then pout and leave. Jade agrees that the whole system down thing really sucked and cut into our fanfiction schedules. Luckily, she received her newest issue of Animerica today. Has anyone noticed that Dr. Brown used to write all the video game reviews, and now he like, can't do it all by himself? My theory is that Dr. Brown has a girlfriend or other such source of distraction. Jade, who wants to marry Dr. Brown (if she can't marry Kouga) insists that this is nonsense and that I'm jumping to ridiculous conclusions. I think she's in denial. Anyway, story time.
But first...a brief message to those of you out there who would read it: First of all, there's only TWO reasons I'm posting even though I never got my five reviews, you bad readers you. One, as you can see by that introduction I wrote oh so long ago, fanfiction.net was down, there were difficulties, and I'm going to give you all the benefit of the doubt and say that you would have reviewed, but you simply couldn't do that. But you should keep in mind that I will NOT except excuses next time. It's five reviews or I ignore you as you have ignored ME! BWAHAHA! Two, today was Agent Willow's birthday...well...it's not really anymore since it's almost 2 in the morning on the 17th instead of the 16th, but you know. So yeah, here's to you, my dear Agent Willow, a.k.a. Madeleine, on your nearly-but-just-a-little-bit-past-the-actual-day-birthday. Here's to being old like me! Yay old chicks of the world! Unite! Although...we're still not as old as that ancient Agent Kodama, who's probably shaking her head right now. Oh yeah, Agent Kodama...um...I have a present for you. It's from Heaven. I thought that Agent Willow took it back with her after we finished Operation Shun, but I guess not, cause I found it yesterday when I was looking for my Inuyasha episodes. But yeah, present...yeah! So send me your address. You know, the real one, not the Smith one, and I'll send YOU the little piece of Heaven. It's super duper. And hey! Did you see I started posting the story where Van is dead? I did! But no one cares...sniff.
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Fate's Reversal
Part 10
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Sango sighed, blinking maroon eyes at her dark surroundings. She was full of troublesome thoughts that held off the rest she needed. Sekatsu and Tsuyo had still not returned and Miroku wanted to leave soon to look for them. Also, Sesshoumaru had woken up that morning, spent the rest of the day with Miroku and Kaede, presumably discussing the situation before he left without a word to anyone else. Sango still had no idea what had happened to the youkai, as Miroku and Kaede had not yet volunteered the information.
"Mmm, Sango," Miroku nuzzled the back of his wife's neck, tightening his arms around her waist. Sango smiled, thinking that he was probably only dreaming, but pleased that he stayed faithful to her even in his sleep. "What's wrong, honey?"
"Oh, I'm sorry for waking you up." Sango turned around to face her husband.
"It's all right." Miroku kissed her forehead, his fingers trailing through her black locks. "What's on your mind?"
"A lot of things." Sango admitted. "What did Sesshoumaru tell Kaede and you?"
"We talked for a long time, but basically, he told us that when he used the sword, he felt something that was resisting, as though he was trying to cut through something very thick. But after this initial resistance was about to give way, it suddenly became incredibly strong, so much that it threw back himself and his sword." Miroku explained. "It's more complicated than that, but that's the best I can explain it."
"Did he have any idea what caused this?" Sango asked, trying to ignore how Miroku's hands were beginning to wander restlessly over her body.
"He's positive that it was Naraku." Miroku's voice was grim, and for a moment, his hands stopped of their own accord. "As we suspected before."
"But for it to be Naraku, someone would have to bring him to life." Sango pointed out.
"Which explains why the Shikon no Tama was stolen." Miroku told her, sighing and letting the silence deepen the weight of his words.
"But I still don't see what Naraku would have to do with Haruka or the twins going missing." Sango finally spoke.
"Did Naraku ever need a reason to bring pain to innocents?" Miroku asked her.
"I'm scared for them, Miroku." Sango admitted. "And yet...I hate the idea of you leaving again so soon. I missed you so much, and you only just returned."
"We've really had no time to ourselves." Miroku observed, "What with dealing with Sesshoumaru and taking care of the children." Miroku's hands were wandering again.
"Miroku, we need to rest." Sango's protest was weak, and she knew it.
"I need you more than I need sleep." Miroku whispered in her ear before proceeding to devour her neck.
"You know...in a strange way...that's almost...romantic." Sango struggled to speak as Miroku distracted her. After a few moments, she simply gave up.
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"Yuki, do you think we could escape from here? I mean, I don't think Kanna and Naraku will be able to stop us if they aren't here." Haruka bundled her blanket around her body as she moved closer to the other side of the cell where Yuki was laying on his own pallet and staring at the ceiling. It was late, but they were usually the last two awake most nights, as they were now.
"Maybe." Yuki answered, "But you know these cells have a barrier spell on them too." Yuki sighed, blinking slowly. "I can't get through it from in here. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I was thinking that we could tunnel out, you know?" Haruka suggested. "Or would the barrier spell get in the way?"
"Yeah, it's too bad." Yuki answered, not really looking over at Haruka as she spoke.
"Yuki, is something bothering you? You seem distracted." Haruka knelt down next to him in the darkened cell.
"I just...wish I could see the stars." Yuki lifted his hand into the air, staring at it as though it might answer some of the questions swirling in his brilliant red eyes.
"It's terrible, being in here for so long." Haruka agreed. "I miss freedom. I miss so many things I always took for granted before." There was a long silence as Yuki continued to stare at his hand. "Is...there something wrong with your hand?"
"Huh? Oh, no." Yuki actually smiled at Haruka, which made her feel relieved immediately. He had seemed so distant all evening. "I was just thinking about something my father told me when I was still a pup." Yuki sighed before sitting up and grabbing a stone that his sharp eyes could still spot in the corner of the cell. "Here, I'll show you."
"Show me?" Haruka was a bit confused, but intrigued. She watched as Yuki moved back to his bed, gouging tiny bits of the wall out in a seemingly random pattern. After a while he traced a line between the dots with his finger, making a vaguely animal shape Haruka thought might be a dog.
"This is Lupus." Yuki told her, pointing at the grouping of dots on his wall. "Can you see the wolf?"
"Kind of." Haruka squinted at the small dots in the dark wall. Yuki chuckled, gently tugging at her blanket so that she joined him up on the pallet where she could see what he had done better.
"Do you see now?" Yuki put his face next to hers so that she could see where he was looking better. "Right there is the tail, and the legs. There's the head right there, see the ears?"
"Oh, is it running?" Haruka's face lit up with comprehension as she saw what Yuki was showing her. "I see it now."
"This is a constellation that is very important to the wolf youkai." Yuki explained, casually draping his arm around her when she made no move to edge away from him. "When I was very young, my father told me that it has a special meaning for me, since I will one day rule over our tribe. You see, when I look into the sky at Lupus, it's like I'm looking up at all the past leaders of all the great wolf tribes who are watching over all of us. And when I reach out to them, like this," Yuki stretched his free hand out in front of him, "I am calling to them for advice. Only leaders know about this, and we only ever do it when we have made an important decision in our life or the lives of our tribe, or when we need help with a difficult battle ahead."
"Oh." Haruka loved listening to Yuki's stories, as they were all so different from what she'd always known. "So...did you need to talk to them?"
"Yes, I suppose I did." Yuki nodded, staring at the wall as though it might be good enough to suffice for the stars. "I've made an important decision, you see."
"What's that?" Haruka suddenly felt a bit nervous as his fiery gaze turned to rest on her own golden eyes.
"I...don't think I can tell you." Yuki licked his lips slightly.
"Try." Haruka encouraged him.
"I wanted...I was thinking that...you're a very strong woman, Haruka." Yuki told her, stumbling over his words. "I feel...a lot of things for you...and I decided that I'd ask you...I'd ask you something."
"Something?" Haruka was surprised to know that the decision was related to her. What could he ask her that was so important he felt the need to consult his ancestors?
"Haruka, you're a human...I don't really know if you'll understand what I'm asking." Yuki explained.
"Explain it to me." Haruka urged him.
"Wolf youkai...they, um...when they want...sometimes..." Yuki shook his head as if to clear it, looking away from Haruka's eyes to fiddle with a corner of her blanket. "When wolf youkai want to be together, they...um...it's not like with humans...they mate...and then they're together. But if they want, they can always separate and find...um, new mates. But see...with my mother and father, they can't ever separate."
"Why not?" Haruka asked, not knowing what he was getting at, but interested anyway.
"Well, my father is the leader of the clan, and he has to mate for life." Yuki explained. "So...um...if I wanted to mate...it would be the same way. For life."
"Yuki...what are you saying?" Haruka suddenly felt a bit dizzy.
"Haruka...I love you." Yuki admitted, looking back at her to try and spot some reaction in her eyes. "I want you to be my mate."
"Your...mate?" Haruka felt as though she might faint. She'd been having fainting spells ever since she'd been imprisoned, but this felt different. It was as though she was so overwhelmed with emotions and confusions that her mind wanted to simply shut off. "But...I don't...we've only...I haven't known you for so long...how can you ask me that?"
"I...just know." Yuki explained vaguely. "When I look at you, I know that I want to always be beside you. I want you to always stay with me."
"Yuki...I had no idea..." Haruka shook her head. "I don't know what to say. I don't know...for sure...what I want."
"Well...that's okay." Yuki sounded a bit disappointed, but at the same time, hopeful that she hadn't rejected him immediately. "It's not a decision you can take lightly. If you wanted to...it would be forever."
"I just...don't know right now." Haruka answered. "It's all so sudden."
"I didn't ask you for a decision tonight." Yuki's hand stroked the side of her face gently, the warmth bringing her comfort. "I just had to ask you. I just...wanted you to know how I feel."
"I...guess I understand that." Haruka blushed as Yuki moved closer, turning and shifting his arms. "H--hey, what are you doing?"
"Putting you to bed." Yuki smiled at her, scooping her up and easily carrying her back to her own pallet. "You need to get some sleep, okay?"
"Yeah...I guess so..." Haruka agreed, not struggling as Yuki carefully laid her down and smoothed out her blanket over her, moving to make sure her feet and legs were covered as well. "Yuki?"
"Yes?" he moved back over her, tendrils of his hair escaping from the tie that held them back.
"If...if I say no...we'll still always be friends, right?" Haruka asked, unconsciously reaching up to play with the stray locks of black silk.
"Yes, we always will." Yuki smiled and stroked the side of her face gently, moving down to kiss her forehead. At the last moment, Haruka moved her face so that their lips met instead. After the kiss ended, she blushed up at him, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry to surprise you...I just felt like..." Haruka couldn't finish.
"I wish you'd surprise me like that more often." Yuki teased, laughing quietly. "Now, get some sleep."
"You too." Haruka smiled back at him, pleased that he understood her feelings.
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"How was she while I was away?" Sesshoumaru seemed to be speaking to himself as he swept through the halls of his castle, but as soon as his voice filled the air, an old man appeared at his side. He was a human, true, but so was Rin, and he was a highly renowned doctor, demanding a small fortune to devote his energies to Rin. Sesshoumaru had not considered money an issue, however. Only the best for his precious mate.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, I am so pleased that you returned swiftly." the man babbled slightly. "The Lady Rin has been well enough while you were gone. Yesterday, the young Master Fuyu and the young Mistress Natsu returned, and she was most pleased to see them."
"Has she improved at all?" Sesshoumaru always asked that, no matter how many times the damn doctor gave him the same answer. He could always hope.
"No, I fear that she has not." the doctor seemed to think he was to blame for this, but Sesshoumaru and he both knew that there was only one person to blame for Rin's current frail condition. It had been foolish of him to allow his dear Rin to bear his children. He remembered that when he was a pup, Inuyasha's mother had suffered the same heartbreaking condition as his Rin now had. Human bodies simply weren't built strongly enough, and for any human to bear a hanyou child, it was extremely damaging. And then there was his Rin. He couldn't believe that she'd even survived the birth of their twin children, but somehow, she had made it through. Sesshoumaru still remembered that day with mixed feelings. The incomparable joy of becoming a father had filled him, but when he entered the room where his mate lay, her body broken and drained, the joy had battled an intense sorrow at knowing he himself had probably shortened her life by a good twenty to forty years.
How could I have been so selfish? Sesshoumaru didn't even bother to dismiss the doctor, knowing that if he didn't say anything for long enough, the man would simply know that he should leave. Turning down a side corridor, Sesshoumaru was cut off from his path to his private chambers by two young youkai.
"Father! Was your trip productive?" his daughter Natsu asked him, her golden eyes shimmering as she flipped her elegant silver hair behind her shoulder.
"We returned yesterday, father." Natsu's twin brother Fuyu told his father, blinking eyes that were the exact shade of his mother's. "Our trip was quite uneventful, as it should be."
"Very good." Sesshoumaru nodded at his two children. They were like night and day, in looks and personality, but they were inseparable.
"No way! Uneventful my foot!" Natsu tugged at her brother's black hair, sticking her tongue out at him. "Fuyu's editing again, father! We got to fight this one crazy rabid youkai, and she was so funny! You should have seen the way she foamed and gurgled, her eyes spinning all crazy like this." Natsu gnashed her teeth, groaning and rolling her eyes erratically. Fuyu sighed as though her lack of grace was absolutely insufferable, but Sesshoumaru knew that he was trying to cover the laughter his sister's behavior had prompted in him.
"It sounds like you enjoyed yourself, Natsu." Sesshoumaru commented. "How is your mother?"
"She's okay, I guess." Natsu shrugged. "Just like she always is."
"I will go to her now." Sesshoumaru told his children. "If you wish to discuss your trip later, that will be allowed."
"Yes, father." both of the teenaged youkai answered simultaneously, Fuyu bowing and walking away while Natsu curtsied and kissed her stoic father before disappearing after her twin. Sesshoumaru sighed heavily before quietly entering his own private chambers.
"Sesshoumaru?" Rin was so excited, she leapt from her seat by the window, but it was too much for her weak body, and she almost collapsed to the ground before Sesshoumaru caught her and carried her to their bed even though he only had one arm. "I'm sorry...I suppose I missed you."
"Do not apologize, Rin." Sesshoumaru pulled back the covers laying her gently on the bed and tucking her in carefully. "I should not have left you for so long."
"I didn't mind." Rin assured him. "You don't need to watch over me constantly."
"I know," Sesshoumaru's clawed fingers combed through her hair. "But I missed you as well, my love."
"Sesshoumaru, I love it when you say that." Rin smiled sweetly up at him. "I worry sometimes that I'm too much of a burden on you."
"You're my mate." Sesshoumaru kissed her forehead softly. "You will never be a burden."
"I love you, Sesshoumaru." Rin sighed happily. "I wish I wasn't...like I am."
"It's not your fault, Rin." Sesshoumaru told her, feeling the familiar twinge of guilt.
"I just wish I was stronger for you." Rin told him. "I hate to see you looking at me, worrying about me, thinking it's your fault. You can't fix everything."
"I would give up everything if I could fix you." Sesshoumaru's hand strayed toward his sword. He had found out that when someone died of natural causes, the Tensusaiga was useless. Their body was used up, and nothing he could do could bring them back. It stung him to know that one of the only things he couldn't fix was the woman he loved so dearly.
"I know you would." Rin smiled softly. "But I never asked you to fix me. All I want is for you to stay with me."
"I will." Sesshoumaru nodded. "Always."
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"Mommy! Mommy, is dinner ready?" Haruka looked down at the small child demanding her attention as she bustled around the kitchen.
"Almost, honey." Haruka smiled at the toddler. "Just wait. Your father should be home any moment."
As if on cue the front door opened and a male voice boomed out. "I'm home!"
"Welcome back!" Haruka called, checking over her dinner one final time before moving the food to the table. "Dinner's ready." She set down the last dish just as she was grabbed from behind and twirled around for a kiss.
"Did you miss me?" Yuki asked, wrapping his arms firmly around her.
"Yuki, not in front of the children." Haruka nodded toward the two young ones scrambling into the kitchen, both of whom were perfect blends of their father and mother.
"They don't mind." Yuki smiled down at her, but he let her go before going to his own seat at the table. Haruka giggled slightly as she moved to serve the food, but Yuki grabbed her arm as she moved past him, pulling her ear down to whisper in it. "It could be like this forever if you could only see me in your heart."
"What?" Haruka asked just as her surroundings went white, fading into dark and disappearing completely. Haruka woke up, blinking at her dark surroundings. "Only a dream." she sighed. It had been a sweet dream, though. Without thinking about it too much, Haruka bundled up her blanket and moved to the other side of the cell, nudging at the youkai sleeping there.
"Mmm?" Yuki blinked up at her, then moved over when he saw her, making room for her to sleep next to him.
"Thanks." Haruka cuddled against the young man, trying to figure out what her heart was telling her and if she should listen.
"I love you." Yuki answered, only half awake as he kissed her temple before going back to sleep, his arms wrapped around her as though he was holding onto something that might leave at any moment. Haruka realized that he must think that she would leave. Unless she agreed to stay with him forever, it was as good as telling him that she'd leave soon enough.
"I don't want to go." Haruka sighed before drifting off herself.
*****
The End (Of Part 10, That Is)