Hey there! We have two winners! I'll let you guys share, just cause okay! It's Bound Soul and SaxiActingChick05! I gave it to you both because Saxi got it first, but forgot Let it Be, but Bound Soul said them all! This one's for you! Also: Since that new rule with I won't be letting Boromir and Merry introduce the chapters and I may be forced to remove one of my favorite fics... nippiP dna yrreM, read it while you can before they make me get rid of it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merry, Pippin, Frodo, Sam, Boromir, Aragorn, Leggy, Gimli, Gandy, and Elrond. I own Jericho but I don't own the spiffy little cow that she had back home. That belongs to Bob... um... yeah...

Chapter Five: Wash This Skin.

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Boromir sat on the bed that Jericho shared with Merry and Pippin. He watched in silence as she packed the new clothes that the elves had provided her into the small pack that she had been given as a hobbit. Even when she'd been offered a larger pack she refused it saying, 'I'd rather die than part with this old thing.' He loved it when she said strange things like that.

The silence of the room was comforting. There were few times when he could just sit in silence and so few times he had spent in silence with Jericho. Somehow he thought she might have realized that he needed the silence. It was allowing him to concentrate on some other things. One of them being something she had mentioned that morning.

"...there's nothing for me in the past..." she had said. This disturbed him. Was love something she could just toss aside so easily? The hobbits had told him of how deep her love for Merry had been, and how strong they thought it was. It worried him that so quickly she could dismiss someone she loved so much. Could he be brushed aside so quickly? Boromir felt his stomach give a slight jolt at the thought. He wondered if she really did love him as much as it seemed, or if she was just going through a small phase.

"Dammit!" she cursed loudly causing Boromir to jump.

"What's the matter?" he asked standing up quickly.

Jericho looked at him as if she'd just realized he was there. "It's nothing she waved off, just something I lost on the way here. I forgot about it for a moment and was just thinking of a good use I could have put it too."

"Are you talking about that block you mentioned yesterday?"

"Yes, I wanted to give it to you, so that I could see you when things became hard for us to see each other, but it seems that that won't be possible," Jericho sighed.

"I doubt there will be a day that we don't see each other," he assured her coming to her side. Absently he placed a hand on her soft blonde hair.

"You never know what happens, though, and I'd feel so much better if I could find that damn block," she murmured leaning her head onto his shoulder.

"Isn't that in your past though? I thought you did not wish to journey into the past right now?"

"A short trip that's all, nothing more. Things were already as they are now, save a few things." She pulled her head from his shoulder and looked up at him.

"As in...?"

"You know what I speak of," she sighed and turned away.

"No, I don't Jericho. There are so many things about your past that you have not told me. I have acquired information from that time from your friends."

She turned around quickly. "Who?"

"Frodo, Sam, Pippin. Merry won't seem to talk to me."

Jericho shook her head and turned towards the window. "You don't know half of the story," she murmured.

"Then tell it to me, I want to know what you've been through! Why must you hide these things from me?" he said coming towards her, "I just want to know who it is I've fallen in love with, is that too much to ask?"

Jericho turned around, tears swelling up in her eyes. "That, my love, is a story that could take too long to tell."

"We have a journey ahead of us, and the rest of this day, I can wait, but not forever."

"Another day, a better day, when I feel less sad," she smiled sadly and went back to packing.

()

Merry was just about to open the door to his room when it opened for him. Boromir quickly strode out as if in rage, but also full of doubt. He could only guess what kind of strange and troubling conversation he had with Jericho.

He walked into the room to see her standing in front of the window, holding his knife he had received from the Barrow. As she held it up in front of her face the shine from the blade flickered upon the ground. She studied it as if something on it intrigued her.

"You haven't cleaned the blade since that night, and if so not very well," she said suddenly putting the knife down and turning towards the window.

"I must not have," he said absently walking into the room and over to the bed, "To be honest I don't think I remember much after that happened. It's all been so fast, and so dramatic I just might have forgotten parts on purpose."

He heard her chuckle. "You are such a bad liar," she sang sweetly, "You have been ever since I first met you. The grandmother thing and such, it was all so bad now that I look back on it."

"You look back on it?" he asked quickly.

Jericho turned towards him, her face wet and shining with tears. "No, I've been reliving the entire ordeal every night when I dream. Last night it was the first time you lied to me. I should have told you that when I apologized for snapping at you this morning, but... I had other things on my mind." A tremor of fear passed over her face. "Now, Boromir is mad at me because I don't talk to him about my past. I don't talk to him about all the wonderful things we did together, and I don't plan on it anytime soon."

"Why?" Merry asked simply. He wanted to know so badly and he feared the waver in his voice might have given that away.

"I don't know. I'm afraid he'll think I can just let people down like I did to you so easily," her face screwed up into a look of distress, "I only did it cause of the pain you caused me. I mean, I would never have done that had I not been turned into a hobbit and been blind for a bit. Really, normal people just don't do things right off the cuff like that!"

"You're not normal, you're better than normal Jericho." Merry exclaimed, "When will you ever see that?"

Jericho hung her head. "Please don't talk to me like that," she asked.

"Why not?"

"Because you sound like you're still in love with me."

Merry stood there. He didn't have a clue what his face looked like, but it must have been a sight. The emotions came on one after another. Shame, Rage, Love, it all came back to the same thing. Melancholy. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied, "I'm just a concerned friend."

Jericho smiled. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so hard. It's my fault really. You looked so... I don't know. I felt like I was... like I was again. My mind must have been playing tricks."

Merry smiled. "Maybe it's really just your mind wishing for what you thought you heard?"

Now she truly laughed. "Oh Merry, now that's funny! No, that's in my past. And remember, I've got Boromir now."

Sadly he forced a normal smile upon his face. "Yes, and besides we're best friends, nothing more."

()

Why did she feel so terrible at the sound of those words? Not only the words he had spoken, but also the words that seemed to pour from her mouth without her consent. What was happening to her, she loved Boromir and that's it! Hobbits and humans don't mix that's just creepy!

Jericho shook her head and quickly walked out of the room. She knew it was rude, but she couldn't stand to be in the same room with him a moment longer.

She walked down the hall briskly, thinking she could go to the gardens and just think by herself for a moment or two. Or maybe she would go down to a common room and see if she could find some good company. Perhaps she could chat with Pippin or Frodo on some stupid matter.

"Why not chat with me?" came that old familiar voice from behind her.

Jericho felt her body tense up, but she tried to remain calm. Fear is what he wanted.

"You never answered my question, I would hate for there to be such a consequence as death because a stupid little girl couldn't tell me a few little facts," he sneered.

She could hear him coming closer, and she had to control her breathing less she give away how terrified she was.

"Maybe my first question was a bit hard, but don't think I won't ask it again. I have so many more questions, and I know you have so many answers."

Jericho felt his hand upon her shoulder, and she couldn't help but shiver uncontrollably. She wanted so much to turn around and punch this creature's lights out, but she knew better.

"You're shivering," he said sensually as he placed his other hand on the opposite shoulder, "Are you afraid of me?"

Jericho didn't move. He moved his hands slowly down her arms and pressed his body against her back. The heat of his breath was warm against her cold skin.

"One question and that's all for today, it's a simple one really," he murmured his face in her hair and neck, "How many of the fellowship must die before the task is completed?"

Jericho felt her body begin to quake uncontrollably, so much that Glorfindel stepped back. As she fell to the ground she uttered one word softly, "Two."

()

Pippin had been sitting by the heart in the middle of a room full of elves when suddenly he felt very cold. So cold in fact that he began shivering. The little hobbit scooted closer to the hearth to see if he could warm up that way, but it was to no avail.

His stomach began to twist and turn in that queasy way when you feel nervous or frightened. He wrapped his arms around his middle to try and calm his stomach. That wasn't working either.

Suddenly he began to shake more violently, and he fell over onto the ground muttering the word, 'Two.'

Elves of all kinds rushed to his side, but quickly he couldn't see right, he was seeing strange things he'd never seen before. Tall mountains, deep caves, trees with golden leaves, and two enormous statues of men he'd never seen before. Suddenly he glimpsed a man who looked a bit like Gandalf falling into a deep hole, and then as if watching it happen, but not really the scene switched. He saw a person a lot like himself screaming and being carried off by these huge black creatures. Then as he watched himself go away he saw Boromir fall down with three arrows in his chest.

The images stopped as suddenly as they had started and so did the shaking. Pippin looked up to see 5 elves, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Aragorn staring down at him.

"Are you okay Pip?" Merry asked his face full of concern.

Pippin looked around the room and contemplated telling them what happened. "Yeah, I guess just some bad beef or something."

()

Jericho sat up slowly. She could feel the blood trickling down her nose. There had been something during her seizure, but she could not remember. It was like there was something that she wasn't supposed to see there. What could it be?

Suddenly as if hit with a ton of bricks, she remembered Glorfindel, and the feel of his hands on her skin. Jericho began to shiver again as she pulled her knees to her chest and pulled her self into a little ball. She'd been harassed before and never felt badly about it, but for some reason this time... it was just different. Was it something from being a hobbit that had stayed with her, or was it something more.

She felt a strong need to bathe to get that feeling off of her. Sure she'd felt this way before, but he had only touched her skin. It felt as if she'd been raped, but she knew he only played with that subject. But what scared her the most was that he could do that... just for the fun of it.

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Here you go! Hope you've enjoyed, I'm just glad to be back and in action. I hope that this stays and I don't end up stopped like I've done twice now! Luvs-DB:D