A Hanyou in Tokyo
By socchan
Eleven: Thunder Marks
Kagome glanced over the top of her (admittedly bad) hand at the now human boy in front of her. An unyielding pair of indigo eyes stared back at her. Try though she might, she couldn't get a thing from them.
Inu-Yasha wasn't terribly easy to read at the best of times; when he chose to, he could make it nearly impossible. Eighty percent of communication is non-verbal, after all. He could give off misleading signals, or no signals at all if he felt like it. It could be a great power indeed if only he realized how to use it.
Kagome knew it would be difficult for anyone to read Inu-yasha. Still, she couldn't help wishing she could read him a bit better. She took another look at her awful hand and grimaced. And not just for poker, she added, though it would help. Sighing, she laid down her cards. "I fold."
Inu-Yasha grinned a surprisingly toothy grin and swept the cookies in the middle to his pile. Kagome scowled and munched on one of her own as he gathered up all the cards and stacked them. Stuffing the remainder of the cookie into her mouth, chewing, and swallowing, Kagome reached out and grabbed the cards.
"Gimme those," she commanded. "I'm shuffling this time."
Inu-Yasha blinked a couple of times. "O-kay…"
Ignoring him, Kagome shuffled the deck once, twice, and then set it down in front of her. "Cut. And not into pieces." Inu-Yasha took about half of the cards from the top and set them next to the rest of the pile. Kagome set the bottom half on the top and dealt out the cards. Finished, she set the deck down again and picked up her hand.
Kagome looked at her cards and blinked. A bit of lore her grandfather had told her when she was younger came back to her—something called 'cartomancy'. The ace of hearts beside a heart, she recalled, Affectionate friendship and true love. A friend may become a lover or introduce you to someone who will fall in love with you. Her cheeks twinged ever-so-slightly red. Ace of hearts: true love. New life awaits. The greatest promise to those hopeful about love. If you are alone, you are about to experience a powerful love. Jack of hearts: someone you already know, youthful in appearance or attitude, whatever his age may be may make advances. Queen of clubs: an attractive, confident woman. Jack of clubs: a flirtatious young man. King of spades: and egotistical older man—ruthless and charming. Still slightly red, Kagome quirked an eyebrow. If I didn't know better, I'd swear this was the recipe for a girl's romance comic.
She pushed five cookies into the center. "Five."
Inu-Yasha barely glanced up from his hand. "Raise you ten." He pushed the selected amount into the pile, Kagome doing the same.
"Show?" Kagome suggested.
Inu-Yasha looked at his hand strangely. "Something tells me I'm not going to get anything better if I try, so yes, show." They laid down their cards.
"Two jacks." Kagome stated.
Inu-Yasha chuckled. "Two tens." Startled, Kagome glanced at his pile of cards. The ten of diamonds, the ten of hearts—upside-down? —and the ace of spaces barely visible underneath them. What does that mean? "You win, Kagome."
Kagome's head snapped back up. "Ah! I did, didn't I?" Grinning, she pulled the cookies towards her. "Maybe my luck's changing!"
Inu-Yasha snorted. "Not likely. This time, I shuffle."
The clock struck two. Had circumstances been different, one of them might have noticed the new energy signal on the edge of town; but as they were, someone else would have to.
Shippo muttered something and rolled over on his bed. He cracked an eye open and peered at the glowing numbers on his clock radio. Two-thirteen. He cursed under his breath.
Shippo had been hoping to get more sleep now that Inu-Yasha was guarding Kagome on the home front, but it seemed he was simply too used to the late hours. Suppressing more curses, Shippo rolled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen. Maybe a late-night snack would help him sleep.
The fox-boy rooted through the fridge, searching for something to satisfy him. Finding nothing he wanted, he rejected it in favor of the freezer. His eyes settled on a pint of Chocolate Fudge Ripple. He snatched it out of the freezer and grabbed a spoon from a near-by drawer. At last content, Shippo flopped down in a chair and dug the spoon into the rich, fudgy substance. Out of habit, he checked the parameter spell he had set up some years back.
On a mental map pulled up in his mind were a series of dots, each one representing a demon or mystic who could be considered a threat to Kagome. The size of the dot represented power, the brightness was the amount of control the subject had over said power, and the color showed what intents the individual had regarding Kagome. He raised an eyebrow, noticing that a large number of 'neutral' dots had changed color to 'friendly' since he'd last checked. How had that happened?
Shaking his head, determined not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he moved on. He sighed when he finally found a new power colored for malicious intent. He knew there would be a catch. Putting disappointment out of his mind for now, he focused on the dot, and the map zoomed in on it. Mentally, Shippo scrutinized it.
The dot was medium- to high-power, and on the move. The last malicious power after Kagome had been low-medium power, so he'd let it go. This one, though, he'd have to insist on helping with. Focusing a bit more on the aura, to identify traits about the person, familiarity tickled Shippo's senses. He frowned a bit as he tried to place where he'd felt a similar aura, then sat bolt upright as memory flooded back to him. The metal of the spoon contorted in his grip, and bit into his palm. "Shit…" he murmured, "Hiten's here."
Shippo never got back to sleep that night. At about a quarter to seven, he called it quits, showered, got dressed, and went to school. There he sat on the steps, anxiously strumming bits of songs on his guitar, waiting for Kagome and Inu-Yasha.
At about seven forty-five, the two showed up, bickering. Shippo thought he caught something about 'poker' and 'cheating' before Inu-Yasha launched into a lecture on probability. Kagome interrupted with a complaint about how she was the one who needed the cookies, anyway, before she noticed Shippo.
"Mornin' Shippo." She said, brightly. "You look tired." She indicated the dark smudges under his eyes.
Shippo shrugged a shoulder. "So do you. What were you up doing last night?"
"Playing poker." Inu-Yasha replied, matter-of-factly.
Shippo rolled his eyes. "Say no more. I didn't know you knew how to play, though."
"Didn't. Kagome taught me."
"And then he beat the pants off me." Kagome grumbled.
Shippo raised an eyebrow. "You taught him strip poker? I didn't know you two were so… adventurous. No wonder you're tired."
Inu-Yasha glared at Shippo, and Kagome turned red as a stoplight. "It wasn't like that!" she protested. "It was the new moon, and Inu-Yasha didn't want to sleep because it was his—"
Inu-Yasha clapped a hand over her mouth. "Quiet!" he hissed. "I don't want everyone to know when that is."
Shippo calmly surveyed the two, and then set his guitar in its case. He could guess what the new moon was to Inu-Yasha, but decided not to push his luck by saying. Instead, he changed the subject.
"So anyway," he said, mildly, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I ended up checking out some old defense spells I have set up. Out of pure curiosity, how'd you get so many youkai on your side in just one day?"
Inu-Yasha's cheeks colored slightly. "Um… family reunion." He muttered.
Shippo shook his head. "With you, I am somehow not surprised."
There was a muffled 'ahem', and Inu-Yasha turned to his side to see where it came from. Upon realizing, he dropped his hand from Kagome's mouth, rather embarrassed. "Uh, sorry." He said, sheepishly.
Kagome gave him a look that was only somewhat annoyed, and turned back to Shippo. "So you stayed up all night trying to figure out why people had changed sides?" She sounded skeptical.
Shippo let out a breath, and shook his head.
Inu-Yasha frowned. "Then why?"
The fox-boy opened his mouth to reply when the school bell rang. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he closed his guitar case and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll tell you at lunch." Still grumbling a bit, he walked towards the building. After exchanging a rather confused glance, Kagome and Inu-Yasha followed.
The hours to lunch dragged on. When the bell finally rang, Kagome and Inu-Yasha pounced on Shippo. The fox sighed, and glanced around at the other people in the classroom, a pained look on his face. Inu-Yasha caught the look. "Rooftop?" he suggested.
Shippo nodded, relieved. "Rooftop." The three grabbed their bento boxes, and headed up.
Moments later, they were arranged along a wall on the roof, bentos open on laps. Shippo took a bite of his lunch, chewed, and swallowed. "Last night I got a signal on the defense map of a fairly powerful youkai headed this way; he's after the Shikon no Tama. I want to stop him."
Kagome frowned, and swallowed the mouthful she had been chewing. "How do you know he's after it?"
"The spell's set up so it indicates the person's intent towards you." Shippo explained.
Understanding flashed across Inu-Yasha's face. "So that's how you knew about my family…" Shippo nodded. "Okay, I get how you know what this youkai was after, but why do you want to take care of him? Kagome and I handled that hair chick a while back okay."
Shippo grimaced. "As far as youkai in general go, she was about medium strength. As far as those who can take and hold human form, though… She wasn't exactly too high up on the ladder. I figured you could take her on your own. Besides, I had homework that night." He held up his hands to defend himself against the glares that were instantly pinpointing him. "Now don't get me wrong, I would've been out there in a second if I thought you needed my help, but you didn't."
Kagome and Inu-Yasha shared a look. "Well, I guess that's true," Kagome admitted, "but—"
"Next time something's headed our way, let us know." Inu-Yasha interrupted. "I'm not entirely fond of surprises."
Shippo nodded. "Anyway, this youkai is about medium strength before you get into great youkai, so he's stronger than that last one."
"So that's it?" Inu-Yasha asked. "You want to help because this guy's stronger than that chick? Look, ordinarily I'd say sure, join the party, but I really think Kagome and I can handle this one on our own, too."
Shippo frowned at him, surprised and a little panicked. "Really? How do you figure?"
Inu-Yasha shrugged. "My brother just passed on my Dad's inheritance to me, so with the Tetsusaiga, I think we should be okay."
Shippo barely registered the legendary weapon Tetsusaiga. "Look," he said, frantically, "I have to fight this guy. It's personal. Believe me, he isn't just after Kagome."
Kagome's eyebrows shot up and Inu-Yasha frowned. "Shippo," Kagome said, calmly, "I think you'd better tell us what's going on."
Shippo closed his eyes and raked a hand through his bangs. "Right. Okay. It happened when Kagome was about seven. I had only just started picking demons off when this guy rode into town on a motorcycle." Images flashed through Shippo's mind of a stocky man in his early thirties with a shaved head wearing biker leathers. He was rather ugly, and his bike roared like thunder. "He saw you when you were walking home, Kagome, and he must have figured out that you had the Shikon no Tama, though how I'll never guess. Manten never was the brightest sharpest tool in the shed.
"Anyway, I sent a couple of spell-creatures to watch him, just in case. Turns out he was planning on getting backup from somewhere to help him get the jewel if he couldn't take it for himself. It would probably mean sharing some of the power with those who had helped him, but Manten seemed desperate. I decided to stop him."
Memories flowed more freely now, of one of Shippo's spell-crafted spies returning with the news. Of Shippo being slightly panicked at first, then resolute. Of digging up his father's old war chest from pre-purging times. Of taking out a special set of enchanted stones.
"I was waiting a little ways from your house on the edges of the forest. Manten showed around midnight. He was still riding his bike, but he'd made it quieter somehow. Like thunder rolling miles off. I managed to scare him off, but only just." A scene with Shippo no more than a shadow in the trees, cloaked to keep anyone from recognizing him unless he wanted them to. A rock being tossed into the air, and then caught, almost casually. Whispered threats and the illusion of more shadowy youkai figures, produced by the enchanted stones being thrown into the forest. No one would be able to tell they had no aura with all the energy that was built up on the site. The sight of Manten turning the motorcycle around and fleeing the scene.
"I followed him to his 'hideout', a dilapidated old warehouse due for deconstruction in a bad part of town. It was mostly used by the Yakuza, or other crime syndicates, particularly demon branches. He was trying to call someone when I cut the power. I made my entrance and we fought it out. He lost; I walked away. Before he died, though, he swore to me that his brother would know, and would come to finish what had been started, however long it took."
The final memory: Manten at the phone, talking hurriedly to someone on the other end. His frustration when the line went dead, and slight paranoia when the lights went out, as well. Shippo had walked in, illuminated by foxfire, his eyes alight in the darkness. A deadly battle between thunder and fox, the former falling at last to the latter, the smell of blood thick in the air. Manten swearing with his dying breath that Hiten would come and avenge him, then take the power himself. Shippo, emotionally and physically exhausted, walked from the scene in darkness. The memories faded and the fox pulled himself back out into reality.
"So you think that this demon that just blew into town is this guy's brother?" Inu-Yasha asked.
Shippo nodded. "Nearly positive. If it's not him, it's someone close to him. Auras are extremely hard to fake."
"Well, shit." Inu-Yasha swept a clump of his hair behind his ear. "Guess there's no way we could've kept you out of this even if we'd tried."
Shippo smiled wearily. "Not really, no."
"Well, hey, look on the bright side." Kagome said, cheerily. "With Shippo fighting with us, I'm less likely to drain myself."
"About that." Inu-Yasha's voice was nonchalant. "You haven't completely recovered from the last fight we were in, and, since Shippo's gong to be taking a bigger role in this one, I want you to take a back-seat."
"Haven't recovered—!" Kagome glared. "Whose fault do you think that is, mister I'm-so-good-at-poker-I-can-guess-what-Kagome's-hand-is? You ate all my cookies!"
"Only half." Inu-Yasha defended. "Besides, you lost fair and square."
"Jerk."
"Annoyance."
"Bastard."
"Looser."
"Cheater."
"Hey! I don't cheat! I don't need to cheat! I just use your inability to play poker to my advantage."
Shippo sighed and resigned himself to a long lunch.
=^-.-^= End Chapter Eleven =^-.-^=
I live! Okay, so I was alive anyway; I just wasn't writing. For those of you interested, though, I do have an excuse! And it's a pretty good one, too.
My depression came back. It made me feel less like writing and more like slacking off and sleeping. Worse, it made writing seem boring to me. Not good. I don't want to be bored when I write. Or ever. Anyway, that's my excuse. Many apologies for the long delay and to those I kept waiting. I'll try not to do it in the future. In fact, I did my best to get this out before I left for Thanksgiving in Penn's Woods (Yes, I am United Statesperson.) so you didn't have to wait for five days for me to post it. Incidentally, my family will end up driving home on my birthday _. This coming Sunday, for those interested. Still, you can't have everything; where would you put it? ß Not mine. Just thought I'd point that out.
The Cartomancy bit at the beginning was a bit of blatant foreshadowing. Try and figure out what I was aiming for with Inu-chan's hand ^_~. I gleaned the information from a fortune-telling book, whose methods were collected by Gillian Kemp, not me. It's not the best source of such information, but was appropriate for my purposes.
Tenshineko: The 'raising the dead' ceremony won't be yucky, I promise. At least, not very, I think. But that's all I'm saying about it for now. Also, I said earlier how I would be including Miroku and Sango, but I never said how they would show up. Sure, I can't resist putting them in; but how will I manage it? (hee hee, I'm going to break your brain!) Glad to have your support, by the way ^_^.
Teo: About cinnamon. It was really the first thing that popped into my head that they would have an incense for. Later, I found out that the Mask of Flesh was carved from a cinnamon tree. Go figure. Maybe it's some cosmic subconscious whatsit. Anyway, for this story, cinnamon has restorative properties. No real base in real life. Glad you liked the bickering. I'm trying to make a subtle move towards better characterization, and I don't know if it's working or not; I can only hope. I'm also looking forward to writing about Miroku and Sango, but there are still a few chapters before they show up.
Eidolon Griffin: Why are newbies so good at poker? It's called the Principal of Favorability—or Beginner's Luck. To find out more about it, I suggest reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. Why is Inu-Yasha in particular so good at poker? I made him good at math in this fic, that's why.
RaVeN222: I am incredibly flattered! Thank you.
To the several people who asked (though I cannot recall all of your names at the moment): Reviews and e-mails are appreciated and welcomed. If I didn't want them, it would defeat the purpose of posting on-line. Please, send away, and tell me what you thought!
Disclaimer: I own Nathan, and that's about it. Inu-chan and crew are property of the wonderful and talented (and wonderfully talented) Rumiko Takahashi. Were they mine, her work would be a fan fiction. However, that is not the case. Thank you, and please don't use my original character(s) without asking. Unless you're Teo. If you are, feel free to borrow whenever you feel like it.
Edit (1-1-04): Wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to finish all of them today. Had to copy all of the old chapters (that's one through ten) because my computer lost them a while back, so if there's a double border, that's why.
-socchan