A/N: I have more than seventy reviews now! And I'm on four favorite authors
lists! And I've started stumbling across "Synthetic Emotions" on favorite
stories lists! Thank you all. I love feedback, and I love knowing that
people are actually enjoying my writing. I realize that there are some
stories with hundreds of reviews, but who cares? I have more than seventy,
and that's more than enough to make me happy. To everyone who reviewed,
you all kick ass. Thank you.
Alright. I've got that out of my system now.
Before getting on with the story, I'd like to answer a question about the level of technology in this reality. The easiest answer is to say that this world is precisely as technologically advanced as I need it to be in general. If I need something, I'll invent it, like the perpetual battery. I realize that this answer is pretty cheap, but its the truth.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Synthetic Emotions
Kagome's alarm went off at six-fifteen in the morning. The girl flailed blindly for the snooze button and felt her hand connect with the clock. The buzzer stopped, either because she'd found the blessed snooze button, or because she'd accidentally turned the alarm off. Kagome sighed into her pillow, mentally grumbling about the evil of whoever had made mornings so early.
A few minutes passed, and the she began to wonder if her alarm would go off again if she fell back asleep. Part of her didn't care. Sleep was a warm, inviting weight, ready to pull her back down. . .
The clock went off again, starting Kagome out of her doze. She rolled over on her back, blinking at the light that came in through the curtains, then reset her alarm for the next morning. After another moment of stretching, she stood up and began her morning routine. Step one, get up. Check. Step two, get dressed. Yawning into the back of her hand, Kagome began searching through the boxes she had yet to unpack for something to wear. Her work clothes were at the bottom of the box, and needed to be ironed, so she put her robe back on instead. She'd wait to get dressed until after breakfast.
Step three, coffee.
Kagome yawned again, then left to find the coffee maker, which ought to have been in a box in the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the living room.
Pieces of fluffy white stuffing covered the carpet, along with bits of wood and metal. Kagome didn't identify the mess until she caught sight of a torn shred of fabric patterned in green and blue, then she remembered Kikyo's love seat. The girl blinked, shook her head, and tried to process what her still sleep fogged brain was being told by her dropping eyes. Kikyo's love seat had been reduced to scraps no bigger than her hands, and sitting cross legged in the middle of the mess was Inuyasha. He looked like he was sleeping, but one ear was trained on her.
'I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with this,' Kagome thought, blurrily. 'Maybe I should come back after I get my coffee. . .' Then the scene sunk in.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, suddenly awake. "What happened"
The hanyou's gold eyes snapped open. "What?"
"What did you do?" the girl demanded, gesturing at the ruined furniture. "Did the chair look at you funny?"
"Feh," Inuyasha grunted, looking away and pointedly not answering her question.
"I asked what happened," Kagome said. The memory of the night before chose that moment to return to her, making her uncomfortable, but she didn't back down. "Tell me what happened."
"I was angry," Inuyasha said flatly, taking Kagome of her guard. He had to answer her, so he did. She swallowed hard, even more uncomfortable than she had been. She didn't like telling him what to do; it made her feel a little queasy. Again she thought of the night before, and what he would have done had she wanted him to. The queasy feeling turned into a sick churning.
"Why were you angry?" she asked, softer. He opened him mouth, but she continued, cutting him off. "Don't tell me if you don't want to."
"You 'are' crazy," the Companion youkai told her, looking away.
*~*~*
By the time Kagome felt human she and Inuyasha seemed to have reached an unspoken consensus to pretend the night before had never happened. The girl tried to brush the memory of it aside until a more convenient time. It was difficult, though. Because she didn't want to think about it, her brain kept returning to it. The night before, he would have slept with her. He didn't want to, though. How could he? They'd only met a day and a half ago. How could he want to sleep with someone he'd only known for a day and a half? Of course, she had only known him for a day and a half too, and she had been thinking about just that. . . but that was a fantasy. It didn't have any baring on real life. 'Right?'
'Maybe I am crazy,' Kagome thought, sipping her second cup of coffee.
"Leave me alone!" Shippo's young voice piped, breaking into Kagome's thoughts.
"I didn't do anything to you," Inuyasha said harshly. "Quit whining."
Shippo ran into the kitchen and leapt into Kagome's arms. His blue- green eyes were wide. His bushy tail was twitching. His little mouth was set in a cute frown. "Kagome," he whined, "Inuyasha hit me!"
"Inuyasha," Kagome said, looking up to see him stalking into the kitchen after the little fox youkai. He glared at Shippo, then scowled at Kagome.
"Don't listen to him. He deserved it." The hanyou protested. "He bit me first."
Kagome blinked. 'How can he possibly claim he doesn't feel?' she wondered, looking from one of her youkai to the other, then back. He had admitted to being angry when she'd made him tell her why he tore apart Kikyo's chair. The girl could not suppress a small thrill of triumph. He did feel, which meant she was not crazy. But, what about Shippo? The doll- like youkai was still growling at Inuyasha; cute and possessive, just like a little girl would want. But why did he bite Inuyasha if she wasn't there to see it?
"I don't have time for this," she told them both, filing her curiosity away for a later time. "I'm already running behind, and I have to be out of here by eight." Shippo clung to Kagome's shoulder unhappily, obviously unsatisfied with her reaction. She hadn't protected him from the aggressive hanyou or anything.
"Where are we going?" Inuyasha asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.
"I am going to work. You two are staying right here," Kagome clarified. "I can't have you hovering."
"I don't think so. What if some idiot tries to take advantage of you without me there?"
"Inuyasha, I appreciate your concern, but-"
"Who said anything about concern," Inuyasha interrupted, eyes flaring. "I am programmed to protect my owner, and I have every intention of doing just that. 'Concern' doesn't enter into it."
Kagome fought the urge to smack the hanyou across his sullen face. Only the knowledge that she'd hurt her hand more than him held her back. "Well, I don't care. You're staying here. That's final."
"I am going. I told you, I am programmed to protect you." An arrogant smirk replaced his scowl.
"You have to do what I say," the girl argued.
"Unless it contradicts with my programming. My makers made sure to give me priorities."
"Huh?" Kagome stared at the hanyou. She knew that youkai would disobey their masters in order to protect them, but this stretched the limits on that particular loophole. Companion youkai didn't follow their owners wherever they went. Most of them stayed put while their masters were away.
Evidently, hanyou had more flexibility than normal youkai when it came to interpreting their commands.
*~*~*
It had been a surprise when that hanyou had reactivated two days before. Naraku did not like surprises. They had a way of interfering with his carefully laid schemes, tangling his webs. This particular hanyou could tangle his webs far too much for comfort. He could potentially undo more work than he could even fathom with his limited capabilities. So small. So petty and stupid, but also so dangerous. Naraku had thought him taken care of long ago.
However, Naraku prided himself on never wasting an opportunity, and as lethal as this hanyou could be to his plans, he also provided new possibilities. Naraku had to consider how to respond to this. He had to examine every one of his options. Otherwise, he might miss something.
Naraku did not waste. He had saved countless youkai from going to scrap on the chance that they might prove useful to him. He had saved Kanna, whose brain functions were completely blank so far as her creators had been able to tell, and discovered in her empty head the strangest shadow of a consciousness. He had known then that she would prove useful eventually. He just didn't know how. He had also saved and restored Kagura, who would be just another rogue youkai to be destroyed or refurbished. She was a powerful military model, and much as her distorted nature balked at service, she had shown herself to be an affective warrior when violence was necessary. He had even managed to salvage most of Kohaku's personality, in case he should need a goad for that activist woman. So far Sango had been perfectly willing to work against the perversion of youkai without any encouragement, but still, one could never be too sure. . .
Sango was in the palm of his hand. It was Inuyasha he had to worry about.
In the end, it was Naraku's aversion to waste that offered the solution. The youkai stood slowly, and began the descent into the building's basement storage facilities. Somewhere down there, in the catacombs beneath Naraku's home, was a very illegal kind of youkai: a Replica. A youkai made not only to look and act like a specific human, but also programmed with that individual's actual brain patterns. After all, the human brain was nothing but a complex organic computer, all its information coded in chemical and electric signals. There was no reason why a youkai couldn't copy those signals.
Even humans who supported the production of youkai had agreed that Replicas were unethical. Like cloning before it, Replication was strictly banned. Humans always reacted illogically when souls were brought into the mix. Surely a Replica would be nothing but a soulless mirror.
The florescent lights turned on automatically at Naraku's approach, bathing the hall in cold, flickering white light. In the storage unit before him rested the body of a what appeared to be a young woman. She was tall and slim, with supple limbs and long, dark hair. Her eyes were closed, and her lovely face was set in a chilly mask. Even in repose her mouth was found itself a slight frown, as though that expression came most naturally to her. Her skin was stark, flawlessly pale, with a faint satin sheen in the harsh light, belying her humanity.
Naraku smiled at the Replica. He hardly remembered why he had kept her anymore. Once she had factored into his plans, but that had changed with other developments, and her importance had dwindled until he had decided to stick her in storage. Now she would have the chance to prove useful again.
He chuckled as he pulled the web into a new shape to accommodate these most recent changes.
"Time to wake up, Kikyo."
*~*~*
A/N: Holy crap, I accidentally stumbled back onto the plot! Took me long enough.
Anyway, much as a part of me would rather leave the Tweaky One (read as Kikyo) dead, she just plays too big a part in Kagome and Inuyasha relationship to leave out. I don't really hate Kikyo. I just think she's a psychopath when she's running around undead.
And sorry it took so long to update. I meant to do it Wednesday, but instead I went all delinquent and spent 6 ½ hours watching cartoons. Don't ask. I'll try to update again this weekend, and at least once more during the week, but I will probably have something like 50 plus hours of work, so I make no guarantees.
Be kind and review. Until next time.
Alright. I've got that out of my system now.
Before getting on with the story, I'd like to answer a question about the level of technology in this reality. The easiest answer is to say that this world is precisely as technologically advanced as I need it to be in general. If I need something, I'll invent it, like the perpetual battery. I realize that this answer is pretty cheap, but its the truth.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Synthetic Emotions
Kagome's alarm went off at six-fifteen in the morning. The girl flailed blindly for the snooze button and felt her hand connect with the clock. The buzzer stopped, either because she'd found the blessed snooze button, or because she'd accidentally turned the alarm off. Kagome sighed into her pillow, mentally grumbling about the evil of whoever had made mornings so early.
A few minutes passed, and the she began to wonder if her alarm would go off again if she fell back asleep. Part of her didn't care. Sleep was a warm, inviting weight, ready to pull her back down. . .
The clock went off again, starting Kagome out of her doze. She rolled over on her back, blinking at the light that came in through the curtains, then reset her alarm for the next morning. After another moment of stretching, she stood up and began her morning routine. Step one, get up. Check. Step two, get dressed. Yawning into the back of her hand, Kagome began searching through the boxes she had yet to unpack for something to wear. Her work clothes were at the bottom of the box, and needed to be ironed, so she put her robe back on instead. She'd wait to get dressed until after breakfast.
Step three, coffee.
Kagome yawned again, then left to find the coffee maker, which ought to have been in a box in the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the living room.
Pieces of fluffy white stuffing covered the carpet, along with bits of wood and metal. Kagome didn't identify the mess until she caught sight of a torn shred of fabric patterned in green and blue, then she remembered Kikyo's love seat. The girl blinked, shook her head, and tried to process what her still sleep fogged brain was being told by her dropping eyes. Kikyo's love seat had been reduced to scraps no bigger than her hands, and sitting cross legged in the middle of the mess was Inuyasha. He looked like he was sleeping, but one ear was trained on her.
'I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with this,' Kagome thought, blurrily. 'Maybe I should come back after I get my coffee. . .' Then the scene sunk in.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, suddenly awake. "What happened"
The hanyou's gold eyes snapped open. "What?"
"What did you do?" the girl demanded, gesturing at the ruined furniture. "Did the chair look at you funny?"
"Feh," Inuyasha grunted, looking away and pointedly not answering her question.
"I asked what happened," Kagome said. The memory of the night before chose that moment to return to her, making her uncomfortable, but she didn't back down. "Tell me what happened."
"I was angry," Inuyasha said flatly, taking Kagome of her guard. He had to answer her, so he did. She swallowed hard, even more uncomfortable than she had been. She didn't like telling him what to do; it made her feel a little queasy. Again she thought of the night before, and what he would have done had she wanted him to. The queasy feeling turned into a sick churning.
"Why were you angry?" she asked, softer. He opened him mouth, but she continued, cutting him off. "Don't tell me if you don't want to."
"You 'are' crazy," the Companion youkai told her, looking away.
*~*~*
By the time Kagome felt human she and Inuyasha seemed to have reached an unspoken consensus to pretend the night before had never happened. The girl tried to brush the memory of it aside until a more convenient time. It was difficult, though. Because she didn't want to think about it, her brain kept returning to it. The night before, he would have slept with her. He didn't want to, though. How could he? They'd only met a day and a half ago. How could he want to sleep with someone he'd only known for a day and a half? Of course, she had only known him for a day and a half too, and she had been thinking about just that. . . but that was a fantasy. It didn't have any baring on real life. 'Right?'
'Maybe I am crazy,' Kagome thought, sipping her second cup of coffee.
"Leave me alone!" Shippo's young voice piped, breaking into Kagome's thoughts.
"I didn't do anything to you," Inuyasha said harshly. "Quit whining."
Shippo ran into the kitchen and leapt into Kagome's arms. His blue- green eyes were wide. His bushy tail was twitching. His little mouth was set in a cute frown. "Kagome," he whined, "Inuyasha hit me!"
"Inuyasha," Kagome said, looking up to see him stalking into the kitchen after the little fox youkai. He glared at Shippo, then scowled at Kagome.
"Don't listen to him. He deserved it." The hanyou protested. "He bit me first."
Kagome blinked. 'How can he possibly claim he doesn't feel?' she wondered, looking from one of her youkai to the other, then back. He had admitted to being angry when she'd made him tell her why he tore apart Kikyo's chair. The girl could not suppress a small thrill of triumph. He did feel, which meant she was not crazy. But, what about Shippo? The doll- like youkai was still growling at Inuyasha; cute and possessive, just like a little girl would want. But why did he bite Inuyasha if she wasn't there to see it?
"I don't have time for this," she told them both, filing her curiosity away for a later time. "I'm already running behind, and I have to be out of here by eight." Shippo clung to Kagome's shoulder unhappily, obviously unsatisfied with her reaction. She hadn't protected him from the aggressive hanyou or anything.
"Where are we going?" Inuyasha asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.
"I am going to work. You two are staying right here," Kagome clarified. "I can't have you hovering."
"I don't think so. What if some idiot tries to take advantage of you without me there?"
"Inuyasha, I appreciate your concern, but-"
"Who said anything about concern," Inuyasha interrupted, eyes flaring. "I am programmed to protect my owner, and I have every intention of doing just that. 'Concern' doesn't enter into it."
Kagome fought the urge to smack the hanyou across his sullen face. Only the knowledge that she'd hurt her hand more than him held her back. "Well, I don't care. You're staying here. That's final."
"I am going. I told you, I am programmed to protect you." An arrogant smirk replaced his scowl.
"You have to do what I say," the girl argued.
"Unless it contradicts with my programming. My makers made sure to give me priorities."
"Huh?" Kagome stared at the hanyou. She knew that youkai would disobey their masters in order to protect them, but this stretched the limits on that particular loophole. Companion youkai didn't follow their owners wherever they went. Most of them stayed put while their masters were away.
Evidently, hanyou had more flexibility than normal youkai when it came to interpreting their commands.
*~*~*
It had been a surprise when that hanyou had reactivated two days before. Naraku did not like surprises. They had a way of interfering with his carefully laid schemes, tangling his webs. This particular hanyou could tangle his webs far too much for comfort. He could potentially undo more work than he could even fathom with his limited capabilities. So small. So petty and stupid, but also so dangerous. Naraku had thought him taken care of long ago.
However, Naraku prided himself on never wasting an opportunity, and as lethal as this hanyou could be to his plans, he also provided new possibilities. Naraku had to consider how to respond to this. He had to examine every one of his options. Otherwise, he might miss something.
Naraku did not waste. He had saved countless youkai from going to scrap on the chance that they might prove useful to him. He had saved Kanna, whose brain functions were completely blank so far as her creators had been able to tell, and discovered in her empty head the strangest shadow of a consciousness. He had known then that she would prove useful eventually. He just didn't know how. He had also saved and restored Kagura, who would be just another rogue youkai to be destroyed or refurbished. She was a powerful military model, and much as her distorted nature balked at service, she had shown herself to be an affective warrior when violence was necessary. He had even managed to salvage most of Kohaku's personality, in case he should need a goad for that activist woman. So far Sango had been perfectly willing to work against the perversion of youkai without any encouragement, but still, one could never be too sure. . .
Sango was in the palm of his hand. It was Inuyasha he had to worry about.
In the end, it was Naraku's aversion to waste that offered the solution. The youkai stood slowly, and began the descent into the building's basement storage facilities. Somewhere down there, in the catacombs beneath Naraku's home, was a very illegal kind of youkai: a Replica. A youkai made not only to look and act like a specific human, but also programmed with that individual's actual brain patterns. After all, the human brain was nothing but a complex organic computer, all its information coded in chemical and electric signals. There was no reason why a youkai couldn't copy those signals.
Even humans who supported the production of youkai had agreed that Replicas were unethical. Like cloning before it, Replication was strictly banned. Humans always reacted illogically when souls were brought into the mix. Surely a Replica would be nothing but a soulless mirror.
The florescent lights turned on automatically at Naraku's approach, bathing the hall in cold, flickering white light. In the storage unit before him rested the body of a what appeared to be a young woman. She was tall and slim, with supple limbs and long, dark hair. Her eyes were closed, and her lovely face was set in a chilly mask. Even in repose her mouth was found itself a slight frown, as though that expression came most naturally to her. Her skin was stark, flawlessly pale, with a faint satin sheen in the harsh light, belying her humanity.
Naraku smiled at the Replica. He hardly remembered why he had kept her anymore. Once she had factored into his plans, but that had changed with other developments, and her importance had dwindled until he had decided to stick her in storage. Now she would have the chance to prove useful again.
He chuckled as he pulled the web into a new shape to accommodate these most recent changes.
"Time to wake up, Kikyo."
*~*~*
A/N: Holy crap, I accidentally stumbled back onto the plot! Took me long enough.
Anyway, much as a part of me would rather leave the Tweaky One (read as Kikyo) dead, she just plays too big a part in Kagome and Inuyasha relationship to leave out. I don't really hate Kikyo. I just think she's a psychopath when she's running around undead.
And sorry it took so long to update. I meant to do it Wednesday, but instead I went all delinquent and spent 6 ½ hours watching cartoons. Don't ask. I'll try to update again this weekend, and at least once more during the week, but I will probably have something like 50 plus hours of work, so I make no guarantees.
Be kind and review. Until next time.