A/N: Okay, last chappie was not my best work, I'll admit it.
-_-;; To be honest, I feel kind of bad about it, because I
should not have posted until I had the thing perfect. So I
absolutely SLAVED over this installment and gotten some real
forward motion with the plot in to make it up to you! *cue
blazing fires of passion*
Plus, somebody you've all been waiting for is in here . . . ^__^ *evil snicker*
By the way, "ja ken pon" is basically the same thing thing as "rock, paper, scissors."
"Games of Chance"
"Ueda-kun!" Hojou called, catching a random classmate by the shoulder in the hallway. "Have you seen Higurashi? Or Shindo- sensei? Or, um, a weird guy in a red trenchcoat, maybe?"
"No," the other boy answered, giving him a slightly annoyed glance. "Do release me, Hojou-kun. I believe the bones in my wrist are starting to grind together."
"Er, right- sorry." Hojou smiled at him apologetically and did so. "I didn't mean to grab you that hard. Are you okay?"
The other just sneered. "I'm not a child," he scoffed.
"I didn't mean- It's just, I'm a little stronger than I look." Hojou laughed sheepishly. "Sometimes I hurt people accidentally."
"I assure you," Ueda Katsuya replied coolly, hooking a strand of lightly colored hair behind a slightly pointed ear, "there is nothing that you could do to harm me, Hojou-kun."
At this point, if Makoto had been present, he would've gotten something very similar to "the heebie-jeebies", which are more or less all that remains of humankind's natural instincts. A million years ago, being in the presence of Katsuya would have seemed very much like being in the presence of a very large and very hungry wolf.
Hojou Akito, however, lacked such instincts to the point of being a creature that would've been literally suicidal in said time period. In almost ANY time period, to be frank. The redhead had not been designed to have a suspicious nature.
Luckily, Makoto wasn't with him, so Ueda had no reason to attack and both of them simply went on their merry ways: Ueda to class, and Hojou to the same place he always seemed to end up- Kagome's. Less luckily, the fruitless search for said Kagome was about to lead Hojou somewhere he really ought not to be going without those survival instincts. And perhaps a sword of some sort might've been useful too.
But this was Hojou Akito, and the thought of carrying any kind of a weapon would never have occurred to him.
Which really was quite a shame, all things considered. Because this time the youkai waiting by the well was not Kirara.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To put it nicely, Sesshoumaru was somewhat put out.
To put it less politely and more correctly, Sesshoumaru was fucking pissed.
Rin and Jaken had luckily stayed at home for this excursion, or else he might've wound up doing something to them to be regretted later. So instead the trees had suffered his rage- and Kikyou, of course. But she was already dead anyway.
Technically, now that he thought of it, so was Rin, but that wasn't the point at all.
So Kikyou was annoyed with Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru was annoyed with Kikyou, and both were proving terribly inept at plotting a suitable death for Inu-Yasha. 'Cause, y'know, that was what they did on weekends. And with any one and anywhere else, it would've been a date.
But they were indeed Sesshoumaru and Kikyou, and they were indeed sitting on the opposite sides of the Bone Eater's Well. They hadn't met purposefully and had no desire to work together, but when the scent/aura of your half-brother/ex-boyfriend stops very suddenly by a shallow well and the only other person for miles is his ex-girlfriend/half-brother, there's not much else to do but sit around swapping hanyou-hunting stories and the like.
Well, that and wait for said hanyou and his bitch to come back so you can kill them.
The figures that finally clambered out of the well, however, were not exactly what they'd expected.
"Mew," said Buyo.
"Mew," said Kirara.
"Uh-oh," muttered Souta.
"Shit," moaned Shippou.
Kikyou and Sesshoumaru glanced briefly at each other.
"I'll take the human," Sesshoumaru said finally. Souta gulped.
"Then I'll take the kitsune," Kikyou decided. "Ja ken pon for the little kitties?"
"Alright," Sesshoumaru agreed with a shrug.
The children cringed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The universe is very picky.
For example, it doesn't particularly mind if you destroy it, but there are RULES you have to follow while doing so. You can't be kind to animals or have a normal name like Hiroshi or Naoko. You have to kick puppies and be called something like Lord Skellatrix or Empress Death-o-matic. And no WAY can you have a happy home life in some cozy apartment complex- you'll need to kill off all your family and move into the nearest available impregnable fortress (complete with a convenient sewer for heroes to sneak in through and one-size-fits-all uniforms and face-concealing helmets for your henchmen to completely defeat the purpose).
Because there are rules. Ways to balance things out. For every purely evil creature in this world, there must be one who is just as pure as it is evil to combat it. Even if they never meet, that person must still exist, because there must always be a chance. It's a godsend to the underdog, but horribly ironic when you're on the wrong end.
And that, in a very roundabout way of explaining it, is why Miroku was good with children.
Naraku's curse made it so that if he ever had a child of his own, it would be doomed to die in a very painful way. Yet if he never had it, no vengeance could ever be taken for those already dead. Children were, to Miroku, both salvation and damnation.
So with irony and the universe being what they were, Miroku possessed an uncanny knack with anything that had yet to hit puberty. Akira was no exception. He adored Miroku and clung to the monk like lichen.
Sango didn't know the rules of the universe, but would've cheerfully slit the throat of whoever had made them at this point, because the sight of the adorable Akira drew nubile young women like an electromagnet, and Miroku's natural charm kept 'em there. For some reason, they even found the "will you bear my child?" line to be endearing and amusing.
The exterminator was this close to snapping.
Luckily for Miroku and Akira's fangirls, before she had a chance to they found Kagome's school.
Or rather, it found them.
"Makoto-sama!" Shikako gushed, literally welding herself to Miroku's side. "There you are!"
* tbc . . . *
. : review or die! : .
Plus, somebody you've all been waiting for is in here . . . ^__^ *evil snicker*
By the way, "ja ken pon" is basically the same thing thing as "rock, paper, scissors."
"Games of Chance"
"Ueda-kun!" Hojou called, catching a random classmate by the shoulder in the hallway. "Have you seen Higurashi? Or Shindo- sensei? Or, um, a weird guy in a red trenchcoat, maybe?"
"No," the other boy answered, giving him a slightly annoyed glance. "Do release me, Hojou-kun. I believe the bones in my wrist are starting to grind together."
"Er, right- sorry." Hojou smiled at him apologetically and did so. "I didn't mean to grab you that hard. Are you okay?"
The other just sneered. "I'm not a child," he scoffed.
"I didn't mean- It's just, I'm a little stronger than I look." Hojou laughed sheepishly. "Sometimes I hurt people accidentally."
"I assure you," Ueda Katsuya replied coolly, hooking a strand of lightly colored hair behind a slightly pointed ear, "there is nothing that you could do to harm me, Hojou-kun."
At this point, if Makoto had been present, he would've gotten something very similar to "the heebie-jeebies", which are more or less all that remains of humankind's natural instincts. A million years ago, being in the presence of Katsuya would have seemed very much like being in the presence of a very large and very hungry wolf.
Hojou Akito, however, lacked such instincts to the point of being a creature that would've been literally suicidal in said time period. In almost ANY time period, to be frank. The redhead had not been designed to have a suspicious nature.
Luckily, Makoto wasn't with him, so Ueda had no reason to attack and both of them simply went on their merry ways: Ueda to class, and Hojou to the same place he always seemed to end up- Kagome's. Less luckily, the fruitless search for said Kagome was about to lead Hojou somewhere he really ought not to be going without those survival instincts. And perhaps a sword of some sort might've been useful too.
But this was Hojou Akito, and the thought of carrying any kind of a weapon would never have occurred to him.
Which really was quite a shame, all things considered. Because this time the youkai waiting by the well was not Kirara.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To put it nicely, Sesshoumaru was somewhat put out.
To put it less politely and more correctly, Sesshoumaru was fucking pissed.
Rin and Jaken had luckily stayed at home for this excursion, or else he might've wound up doing something to them to be regretted later. So instead the trees had suffered his rage- and Kikyou, of course. But she was already dead anyway.
Technically, now that he thought of it, so was Rin, but that wasn't the point at all.
So Kikyou was annoyed with Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru was annoyed with Kikyou, and both were proving terribly inept at plotting a suitable death for Inu-Yasha. 'Cause, y'know, that was what they did on weekends. And with any one and anywhere else, it would've been a date.
But they were indeed Sesshoumaru and Kikyou, and they were indeed sitting on the opposite sides of the Bone Eater's Well. They hadn't met purposefully and had no desire to work together, but when the scent/aura of your half-brother/ex-boyfriend stops very suddenly by a shallow well and the only other person for miles is his ex-girlfriend/half-brother, there's not much else to do but sit around swapping hanyou-hunting stories and the like.
Well, that and wait for said hanyou and his bitch to come back so you can kill them.
The figures that finally clambered out of the well, however, were not exactly what they'd expected.
"Mew," said Buyo.
"Mew," said Kirara.
"Uh-oh," muttered Souta.
"Shit," moaned Shippou.
Kikyou and Sesshoumaru glanced briefly at each other.
"I'll take the human," Sesshoumaru said finally. Souta gulped.
"Then I'll take the kitsune," Kikyou decided. "Ja ken pon for the little kitties?"
"Alright," Sesshoumaru agreed with a shrug.
The children cringed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The universe is very picky.
For example, it doesn't particularly mind if you destroy it, but there are RULES you have to follow while doing so. You can't be kind to animals or have a normal name like Hiroshi or Naoko. You have to kick puppies and be called something like Lord Skellatrix or Empress Death-o-matic. And no WAY can you have a happy home life in some cozy apartment complex- you'll need to kill off all your family and move into the nearest available impregnable fortress (complete with a convenient sewer for heroes to sneak in through and one-size-fits-all uniforms and face-concealing helmets for your henchmen to completely defeat the purpose).
Because there are rules. Ways to balance things out. For every purely evil creature in this world, there must be one who is just as pure as it is evil to combat it. Even if they never meet, that person must still exist, because there must always be a chance. It's a godsend to the underdog, but horribly ironic when you're on the wrong end.
And that, in a very roundabout way of explaining it, is why Miroku was good with children.
Naraku's curse made it so that if he ever had a child of his own, it would be doomed to die in a very painful way. Yet if he never had it, no vengeance could ever be taken for those already dead. Children were, to Miroku, both salvation and damnation.
So with irony and the universe being what they were, Miroku possessed an uncanny knack with anything that had yet to hit puberty. Akira was no exception. He adored Miroku and clung to the monk like lichen.
Sango didn't know the rules of the universe, but would've cheerfully slit the throat of whoever had made them at this point, because the sight of the adorable Akira drew nubile young women like an electromagnet, and Miroku's natural charm kept 'em there. For some reason, they even found the "will you bear my child?" line to be endearing and amusing.
The exterminator was this close to snapping.
Luckily for Miroku and Akira's fangirls, before she had a chance to they found Kagome's school.
Or rather, it found them.
"Makoto-sama!" Shikako gushed, literally welding herself to Miroku's side. "There you are!"
* tbc . . . *
. : review or die! : .