Maruken: Sorry for the late update! Things REALLY didn't go my way this week, oh, well.

Kuronue: * Appears out of nowhere*

Maruken:Yahhh! *Quickly inches away*

Kuronue: I'm not going to suffocate you for a THIRD time! Baka onna.

Maruken:*Now choking the bat* WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!!

Kuronue: Sh..e. does....n't. ow....n Yu.Yu... Ha..kus..ho.......*Still being choked*

"Mononokes are very rare and mysterious creatures of myth. Their true form is that of an abnormally large wolf, with more than one tail. The strongest mononokes have three tails. They're also the only youkai with the ability to."" I KNOW that already." Kuronue interrupted. Mizuyume raised an eyebrow. "So you wern't sleeping. Alright, that's pretty much all I know."

"What about their culture?" He asked. Mizuyume looked stuned." How do you even know that word?" "I'm not a baka, I know what the word 'culture' means!" Kuronue took great offense to this. "Strange batling," Kuronue was now fuming." so, you want to know about their culture. Let's see, where to begin." Mizuyume began rubbing his temples, which irriated Kuronue to no end.
"Ah! Got it. The males are mostly the dominant ones. A male mononoke could defeat a male youko, at least some could. The females, a select few could defeat a male youko, maybe. Females are sometimes given off as gifts, or offerings of peace, or as an alliance. That age is around 1000. The males may then do whatever they want with the females. Although, the mononokes are a proud race, I've never heard of them giving females off to other youkai groups, such as, crows, cats, bats, horses and certainly not kitsunes, or youkos. But when they do give females to other mononoke packs, the offering is usually the answer to the question. If she is battered, bruised and beaten, the answer is no. If she's in a healthy condition when brought back, the answer is yes." "Shimatta, it must suck to be a female mononoke." Kuronue suddenly felt a bit sympathetic towards Yamiko. "Oh, no. At least, they don't think so." Kuronue paused to think of another question.

"Do they have any enemies?" " Oh yes! Mononokes HATE youkos! Likewise, youkos HATE mononokes.." Mizuyume stated, putting a lot of emphasis on the hate part. "Why?" He asked, giving a puzzled look. " It is said that there used to be an ancient artifact that the mononokes and youkos guarded, together. Back then they were allies and friends. Yet there were always the ones that didn't like each other. Some mononokes thought of the youkos as dirty, coniving thieves. However some youkos thought of the mononokes as stuck up, greedy and unfaithful. Some female mononokes thought of youko females as slutty whores, and some youko females thought of mononoke females as shallow bitches. It was enevitable, the artifact was stolen. Youkos blamed mononokes and vice versa. Since then, they seperated and became the worst of enemies."

"Wow. No wonder she took offense to that." He whispered under his breath, so Mizuyume wouldn't hear him. "Arigato, good night." And with that, Kuronue stepped outside into the cold night. Vicious winds bit into his skin and whipped his black tresses aroud violently. The young bat then headed straight for his own hut. " I can't belive I called her a kitsune AND a youko. I feel like such a bakayarou!" He scolded himself aloud for his own ignorance.

When Kuronue got home, no one was there to greet him. However he was quite used to the silence and solitude and being alone. He supposed it suited him. His kyn never came into his hut, much less his room, so he decorated it with his latest thefts. Right now jewels shined on display cases, which Kuronue had made in his spare time. They brightened the room and made it more cheery. The small candles behind the fauceted gems help to create the illusion he had stolen more than he actually had.

Since he wasn't hungry. At the thought he mumbled to himself, " As if I was allowed to eat while the rest went hungry. They're so weak and igronant and dependant." He spat the last word out in fury, dripping in disgust, as he flopped onto his bed. A bunch of straw and feathers and skins made up his bed, so he didn't really fall hard. Unfortunatly he had forgottten his shoulder. He screamed in pain and his hand shot up to the wound to decrease the blood flow. "Might as well bandage that, hate sleeping on a bed that smells of blood. Besides it's near impossible to get out." So he got up and removed a rock from the otherside of the bed, which revealed a beige sack.

Inside the beige sack were a couple cleaned bandages and special tweeser like blades, used to find and pull pieces of foreign matter out of open wounds. These too were cleaned, leaving them a glinting silver. Among the bandages and tweeser blades were small sacks with a differnt colored strip on each. The contents of theses small sacks, were herbs that Midoritsuki taught him to use for many differnt purposes. The colors were so Kuronue wouldn't mix the herbs up, that might just kill him, if he used them wrong. Carefully he poured a very small amount of the green striped sack's herbs into his clawed fingernail. satisfied he then poured that into a somewhat medium bowl. Next he selected a violet striped sack and poured it's herbs into his outstretched palm. He then took three pinches and poured them into the medium bowl with the other herb. Lastly he picked up a rather large black striped sack and picked out nine reddish tan leaves. Grabbing a rounded stone, he then mashed all the herbs together into a semi dark green paste, which he carefully and cautiously applied to his shoulder's gashes. It was just a simple medicine to help his wounds heal faster, unfortunatly, it did nothing for the pain. When done with that he picked up a couple bandages and proceded to wrap them around his shoulder.

Satisfied his wound wouldn't bleed onto his bed he packed up all the beige sack's contents and hid it under the rock again. Now extremely tired he took off his scythes and their holders and hid them under his bed and laid down to sleep. Since his mind wouldn't focus on anything he banished all thoughts of Yamiko and what he had just learned from his mind. With nothing to try and think of, he was asleep within minutes.

Maruken: *Still choking Kuronue.*

Kuronue:* Now unconcious, head just waging side to side, swirly eyed, KENSHIN STYLE!*

Maruken: *Finally realizing he's not on this plane of the living.* How do YOU like being unconscious?! Tell me that!

Kuronue* Still unconscious*

Maruken: Fine, don't answer me!

Kuronue: * In dream place, still unconscious.* Why does she make my childhood so miserable? Baka onna. HAH! You can't throttle me here! Anyways people you know what makes her more sane, reviews, and keep in mind, I have to LIVE with her!!