Akida: Gah! I've returned both to writing and updating and from a very busy summer. I guess it also doesn't help that I went to Italy for a week, and now I can't remember what the hell I wrote for the last few chapters. Its an awesome place, if you ever get a chance to in your lifetime go and mingle with the Italians! Hell they had to practically drag me onto the plane trip home, mostly because I forgot all my nifty ideas. Phooey! Anyways, I'm still not sure where I want this story to go so bear with me. Also I'd like to thank you all for being so patient with me. Writing two stories at once is a real stretch of the mind for me, especially when one story almost solely revolves around the human psyche. Ugh, psychological stuff is evil!
Galandria the Vampire Queen: Look I updated! .
Moonyasha: 0.0 Yes ma'am! Err Sir? Eh.....just gonna stop right now .
Jenn: Aw gee, thanks a lot. By the way...Jenn...jenn...Might your name be Jennifer? .o
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha yadda yadda, but I'll bet you anything that if I did I would be a bagillionaire!!
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By: Akida
"I'm having issues."
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"Well I'm not quite sure if this is a change for good or for worse," Miroku began sighing tiredly. "But at least we don't have to worry about him slitting our throats while we sleep.....I hope."
They all nodded too exhausted to say anything else and trickled back inside the room, welcoming a long much needed sleep. Kagome watched as Inuyasha brought up the rear and stopped him with her gaze, he blinked still looking a little wobbly after his laughing fit, than walked past her dragging a clawed hand down her arm beckoning her inside. She resisted for a moment, look back behind her, then followed him stretching her arms above her head with a yawn.
Its going to be an interesting day tomorrow.....
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Sesshomaru flinched as something sharp and pointy bit into his left arm. Groggily he opened a sleep veiled eye and glared irritably at the tiny white mouse chewing at his arm. He wasn't happy at all. He'd had a terrible night trying to erase the utter humiliation at being subject to the same curse as his half-brother, and the mere fact that the command of subjugation turned out to be 'Sit' of all things struck a nerve.
He'd never been so infuriated in his entire life...well...almost. However that wasn't the point! The point was that he, the Great Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands, had been sat like some domesticated house mutt! He vented most of his anger on a few inanimate, and animate objects, and promptly collapsed into a tense ball of nerves, claws flexing and extending and teeth making a bloody tear in his lip.
The more rational part of himself felt childish, but his other half, which was most dominant at the moment, thrashed around kicking and screaming. The last thing he remembered was dozing off with his warm fuzzy tail ( It is a tail right?...That fuzzy thing he carries? ) tightly wrapped around him, and desperately forcing himself to think of happy things; Like killing humans....and mutilating villagers...and tearing bloody chunks of flesh off something or someone piece by excruciating piece.
Now as the realization that he'd gone to sleep in the middle of a wet thicket hit him, he felt even more displeased with himself and he wondered how he'd lost his carefully guarded composure so easily. Another sharp pain on his left arm brought him out of his reverie, and he raised his head and carefully looked over at the two mice who were contently chewing at the demon.
This puzzled him. Surely they could sense the danger they were in and he narrowed his eyes at them and hissed, feeling very much violated at being their new chew toy. One of them had the good sense to turn tail and scurry off further into the thicket and away from the large body, but the other mouse stayed and stared into his golden eyes with its nose snuffling his arm as if it hadn't realized he was alive. Tilting his head the silver haired demon slowly brought his claws down over the tiny animal, however instead of squeaking in terror it began licking his fingers and the demon lord smiled despite himself.
You silly little thing...I could kill you if I wanted to...All I'd have to do is crush your pathetic life out of existence in my hands, and that would be the end of you...
Sesshomaru scratched behind its ears and in response it crawled closer to him, pressing its soft nose to his arm and smelling him experimentally. He frowned feeling that there was some kind of hidden meaning in this display, that this mouse was somehow apart of a twisted representation of some part of his life. Yet however interesting this whole thing was, he was also very aware of other things exploring his body and he growled as something started feasting on his ear.
Pulling himself into a painful sitting position brought on by the result of sleeping in a bramble bush, he crawled slowly out of his temporary shelter and into the warm light ahead of him. A lush damp clearing greeting him and he flopped onto his back to bask in the heated and cooled waves that passed over his sore body. After a moment he stood much more easily and stretched with all the grace of a sleepy cat, then observed his surroundings as he picked dead leaves and twigs from his hair and clothing.
He easily found the scents of his brother and his companions drifting along the breeze, and made a calculation that they were a few miles north of him. He stopped suddenly and cast a look behind himself as he regarded his tiny white companion, nose twitching incessantly as it sat on its hind legs as if waiting for him to acknowledge it. The demon nodded at the little animal and could have sworn it had nodded back at him. Without a second thought to it he lifted himself into the trees and began steadily making his way back to the small shelter.
As he bounded through the air the trees and the landscape becoming a blur beneath him, the word "Food" popped into his head out of nowhere.
He would never admit it but he was hungry, very hungry and he had a feeling that the acid in his stomach was eating away at the walls, and just his luck that there wasn't anything around to kill. He'd have to settle for whatever food was provided by the humans who had allowing them to use their cramped guest room, but right now it didn't really matter what he ate as long as it looked semi edible.
The next word that bombarded his mind was "Bath", and he didn't even want to think about the things crawling over his body. He twitched suddenly as a large pinch flared from his sides, and he swatted at it instinctively narrowly missing colliding with a tree due to the distraction.
Ugh...I just want to crawl out of my skin right now...
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"Oh wow! Thank you so much! I-I really don't know what to say!"
"There's no need to say anything dear, were just glad to help a few travelers on their way."
Kagome smiled broadly at the short, brown haired middle aged woman, eyes sparkling gratefully. The lady had provided a feast fit for an army, and she wasn't sure how to thank her enough. Until this moment, she'd been living off of ramen, potato chips, the occasional cookie, and soda. She sweat dropped as her stomach made its joy known.
"Hee hee, you'd better eat up everything before your stomach gets any angrier. You can leave the dishes outside the door when your finished." She said bowing shallowly. She was about to leave when a loud noise sounded from across the room, and she blinked in surprise at the new guest.
Sesshomaru stood with a hand on the door to the outside looking very disheveled; His hair was a tangled mess and twigs and leaves poked out here and there. His clothes and armor were littered with dirt stains, and two voles poked out of his sleeve and shirt, and scurried outside sensing that they would be exterminated if they lingered. All in all he looked like he'd just been in a fight with a very angry bush, however he still donned his stoic expression as if there was nothing wrong with his appearance at all. An air of stunned silence lingered, then someone coughed.
"Um...may I help you sir?" The woman said shifting her weight uneasily, and watching as her guests faces tensed.
The odd silver haired demon looked left and right before fixing his piercing gaze upon the woman, causing her hair to stand on end and a cold chill ran down her spine.
"Bath."
She raised an eyebrow at him giving a thought to his mental stability, then the word registered and she gave a cheery laugh: "Ah yes of course! Please right this way sir, I'm sure your just dying to...uh...clean up!"
He sniffed haughtily, folding his arms in his sleeves and promptly followed the woman with an elegant stride, completely ignoring the other stunned occupants of the room. His mind was centered on one thing and one thing alone, and that was the unwavering desire to scrub his skin until it was red with irritation and eradicate the other inhabitants in his hair that were making his scalp crawl.
Five silent pairs of eyes followed after the tall demon lord and Kagome was the first to break the silence: "Is it just me.....or did he seem a little......out of it...."
"He looked like he was more than out of it Kagome," Sango said scratching her cheek thoughtfully. "He looks like he got the shit beat out of him by an angry tree. I've never seen him like that before."
Inuyasha 'feh'ed as usual and shifted his attention to a wandering vole that had crawled back into the room, and he focused on it with a predatory glare to banish his brothers image from his mind: That arrogant prick! He storms off after he gets his ass thrown into place, and now he thinks he can just crawl back here and everything will start going his way again. Good for nothing mutt--
"You know I am a little worried about him."
A sick cracking noise of bones rubbing against cartilage resounded across the room, as four heads craned to stare at the raven haired school girl with individual expressions of bewilderment.
"Wh-what?" Kagome replied to the thick silence that hung in the air like L.A. smog.
"Ooooh you pooor girl," Miroku said pitifully as he rose and toke her side, grasping her hands and feeling her forehead. "Perhaps he's bombarded you with some kind of mind illness known only to insane, rage driven demon lords...perhaps there is something I can do to save you!"
"Yeeeeeek!!"
--CRACK--
"If your gonna save somebody then keep your hands off their asses long enough to do something about it you sick dog." Sango growled as she surveyed the large hole in the floor and the unconscious twitching monk.
"Gee, I'd love to see the girl that falls for him...if its even humanly possible," Shippo said from around a bowl of broth.
Poor Miroku...an eternal slave to temptation. Kagome thought absently as she rubbed her head, then turned her attention to a white blur that was attempting an escape. "Inuyasha."
He froze like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, and tried his best not to appear irritated at having his perfect getaway ruined. He pasted a fake grin on his face: "Ne Kagome?"
"Well...um....since your both kind of 'stuck together' maybe you should try getting along with him from now on. I mean if you do fight each other things could get very ugly....so .....um.... please don't fight any more for now? OK," she said giving Inuyasha her sweetest "I'm so worried and sad" look. Truth be told this was a godsend in itself. If somehow she could make them stop beating each other up, then they would have one less enemy off their hides.
The dog boy growled heatedly and gnashed his teeth and whirled around clenching his fists. "You've got to be kidding' me! I'm not bending over backwards for anyone!! You hear me!? No one tells me what to do!"
"Innuuuyaaaashaaaa!"
"Err...um," Inuyasha fell to the ground with a terrified expression, even the other rooms occupants seemed a little nervous. It was rare that Kagome could look scary...really scary... and she did it with a tone as cold as ice. It made his skin crawl when she got angry but didn't yell at him. She looked like she was going to eat him. "Shi-shikashi.....But I guess your an ex-exception Kagome....eheh heh heh... I'd be more than happy to....abide by yer...your wishes."
"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?" She said cheerfully returning to 'happy schoolgirl' mode and sighed. "All I'm asking is that you at least try to get along with him, I don't want to see you hurt...and believe it or not I don't want him to be hurt either....well.....at least not by some weird curse that involves you or any of my friends."
"But Kagome think about this carefully," Miroku said as Sango gapped at his quick recovery wondering if his experience with women had hardened his endurance levels. "Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are like oil and water, they'd rather be as far out of each others personal space as possible-"
"But that's the problem," Shippo said spreading his hands wide. "Whether they like or not, their sharing one soul now and that's about as personal as you can get!"
"Which is why we have to encourage them to get along more, if we're going to beat this woman we have to prove to her that we can get along just fine even if we hate each others guts. That'll definitely be a blow to her ego when she sees them working together and not tearing each other to shreds. We have to work together! As a team!" Kagome said with a determined stance and smiled broadly.
"Well I hate to say it but your right," Sango said thoughtfully. "But first we have to get them to be in the same room with each other, and be at least a little comfortable with the invasion of their huge area of space."
"Hm, that's easier said than done," the monk pointed out. "We'll have to pull out all the stops this time around, but I guess it just goes to show that the old saying "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer," holds terribly true."
Inuyasha's ears twitched and he felt a sense of dread creeping up his spine. Usually his doglike instincts were to be followed to the dot, or else bad things happened that he didn't particularly enjoy being tossed into. He decided that whatever was coming next involved him, his brother, and possibly a therapist. He began to slither towards the door again.
"Inuyasha!"
--FREEZE--
Ack! I've been caught!
"Could you go find Sesshomaru and talk to him please," Kagome's sweet voice sounded from behind him. She was turning on the charm again.
Don't turn around! Don't turn around! Eyes focused on the crack in the floor!!
"Inuyashaaaa pleeease! Your the only one who can do this!" She said as she caught the corner of his orange eyes, and brought the "Dewey-eyed anime cute girl" mode into the game.
Damnit! She does that every time! Agh! How am I supposed to say no to that!
"F-FINE! I'LL DO IT BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I-"
"Eeee! Thank you sooo much Inuyasha! Your the best!," she said smothering the dog demon in a monstrous bear hug. She pulled back and turned jabbing her finger at the hallway door.
"Well what're we waiting for?! Lets go make nice nice with Sesshomaru!!"
She dragged a very confused half-demon behind her, who was trying to figure out when Kagome had ever used the term "nice-nice", and vanished into another section of the house. The raven haired girl was determined to make some ends meet with the squabbling siblings, and she wasn't going to give up doggonit! (No pun intended)
After a swift inquiry of where the resident platinum haired man had gone, she sighed heavily when no one could tell her where he had gone. She then considered finding the brown haired woman she meet earlier, since she was the last person to see him, and inquire of his whereabouts. She voiced her thoughts aloud to her grudge companion.
"So you want to split up and look for him?" He said shooting her his most annoyed look.
"Yeah I figure we have a 50/50 chance of running into him, besides he stands out like an eyesore so he shouldn't be that difficult to find." She said ignoring his disinterest in their quest.
"Fine whatever, I'll look for him, you look for this brown-haired woman of yours. We'll meet back with the others in that room in about 10 minutes if either of us can't find him. Got it." They exchanged nodes and went in opposing directions, the empty hallway adorned with its simple homely touches, echoed hollowly as their footsteps receded into silence.
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Steam. Thick steam filled the air and drifted upwards towards the afternoon sky through a hole in the bamboo forest. The strong, pliable plants towered over the private springs of the residence, the only source of bathing waters within miles. It created a surreal atmosphere that could knead tired muscles and pains of the days labors, and turn its occupants into bundles of happy clean flesh.
However, there was one occupant who was oblivious to the healing wonders of the spring, and was more interested in scalping himself with a rough brush and a few cubes of imported soap.
Sesshomaru had scrubbed his body a total of 8 times and washed his hair twice that amount, and he didn't intend on stopping anytime soon. His pale porcelain skin had turned a light cherry color from all the rigorous scrubbing, and he was sure that he would go bald from combing and detangling the huge knots of hair he encountered. By now he had probably sent all his unwanted guests packing due to his rabid ministrations, but somehow it seemed to be more of a mental thing because he was still convinced that he was filthy.
Why can't I wash myself clean! Why do I still feel this ungodly sensation of grunge? Why does it persist!-
He stopped in mid scrub as his fingers came into contact with the imprinted tattoo around his neck, its spidery runes standing out over his skin, and he realized his discomfort.
This restraining object had caused his sudden urge to eradicate the unseen filth, yet this filth lay inside him, eating away at him like a termite does to weakened wood. This filth was guilt, pain, anger- and he realized that this was what must have molded him into the unfeeling and violent person that he was today. There had been so many things in his life that he wanted to redo. Things he should have done that he never had, things left unsaid that should have been said, all leading to a mountain of regrets. Suddenly that hot spring was looking very enticing. He wished to wash his feelings away forever.
He stared up at the cloudy sky through a small hole in the bamboo forest that surrounded him, letting the overpowering heat play with his mind and calm his nerves. He drifted in and out of consciousness barely feeling the hard rocks that supported him, and oddly enough he felt a wave of calm wash over him, leaving in its wake the dozing form of the platinum haired demon lord.
For perhaps the first time he had been there, he felt truly relaxed and soon images of home began to filter into his drowsy head. A vision of a dark-haired girl dressed in a sky blue yukata waved to him from the limb of an ancient oak; his squat green henchman following him like an obedient animal through his many travels; far distant memories of a blonde haired messenger sending word from his father- he was coming home soon and was bringing something special for his little boy. His tiny little brother, with his huge baby eyes, following him into his room trying to get his attention, and fighting off a small hydra that was intending to make lunch out of said brother.
It went on and on, strains of memories and feelings he'd thought forgotten and lost to the sands of time. The most significant was one of his younger brother with a pleading expression, and almost tormented look of need, and a vision of a very familiar girl named Rin. Her sweet smile and bright eyes had remained even after she'd outgrown her childlike body, but her personality remained engraved in that innocent stage she never seemed to outgrow. His eyelids grew heavier and his senses dimmed as the heat began to infect him, but he allowed himself this moment of happiness.
"Thank god this place has a hot spring, I need a serious bath!" A feminine voice cut into his dozing.
Kagome drew back the thickly woven hanging that separated the spring from the outside world, and breathed in the damp earth. She had already met with Inuyasha again reporting the guest had evaded their thorough searches, and the little brown-haired woman was also as elusive as their primary target.
After some thought she decided that she could use a good soaking, rummaged in her bag for the sweet smelling substance she called soap and headed for the only bathing area there was. She'd decided to take the one that smelled like Jasmine since she'd already lost her vanilla scented one to Sango, who seemed a little attached to it for some reason.
She undressed humming the tune to a song she'd heard on the radio a few weeks earlier, and wondered how much of her studies she was missing and cringed at the amount of make up work she would have to do when she got back to her time. Life isn't easy when your living two different lives. She was too preoccupied with her worries that she missed the blatantly obvious trail of ornately decorated clothing, armor, and two very suspiciously familiar swords.
"Oo hot hot hot!," she exclaimed testing the water with her toe. "Eh...I guess I shouldn't complain, I haven't had a hot bath in ages so.." She trailed off easing herself into the steaming liquid.
She let the breathe she was holding escape with a hiss, and she smiled as the water loosened her sore muscles. This had to have been the farthest they'd walked in a while, she thought absently as she scrubbed herself with the flowery bar of soap, the aroma soon filling the air with its intoxicating scent.
Unbeknownst to Kagome, a very sensitive nose picked up the smell almost instantly, and his imagination went a little hay wire after that. Sesshomaru would later realize, to his horror, that heated areas and scents closely linked to certain desirable emotions or people did not mix. He acted out of impulse and followed the tantalizing scent of Jasmine, eyes blurred from his need to find the only person that aroma lead to, his body acted of its own accord and soon found himself stealing up behind the unsuspecting figure before him.
He gazed over the tanned blemish free skin, warm and rose colored from the heat; the cascade of dark velvet that lay in waves over moistened skin. A chill ran up his spine as he connected scent to a comforting face, not pausing to rationalize the situation, and the need to touch his young companion, to feel her soft skin beneath his fingertips overwhelmed him. He wanted to run his hands through the silky dark strands, take the unmistakable female figure before him, nude and sopping wet, into his arms and caress every line, every curve of her body.
Just then the sane part of his demonic mind returned to the plane of reality screaming; "Wait! Why is Rin here?! How could she have gotten here?!" But it was already too late and he'd already enveloped a startled Kagome in his strong embrace, and was holding her in an almost crushing hold as he inhaled the sweet smell of Jasmine that was screwing with his senses. He'd missed this scent for the many weeks he was away from the one emitted its tempting aroma.
"I've missed you Rin," he said huskily. "I've missed you dearly."
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Akida- Wai! Lookit I finally updated! Sorry if its so short, at least I think its short, I was intending this to be a filler between chapters and to get me started off again, so if it seemed a little weird that's why. Also I think I'll start updating Lifeline first before I go onto MDM, because for some odd reason after I finish a chapter in that one...I have a mental meltdown and I can't think about anything anymore. Strange, perhaps its a sign to put more romantic fluff or humor into it. Anyway, I can't think of anything else to prattle about, history has sucked all my thinking out, so I will now leave you to your own devices....like.....REVIEWING! Yay!! ::throws random objects:: o.0
