"Stupid brother, stupid crate, stupid humans, and stupid stupid island!" Inuyasha grumbled to himself rather loudly. Not that he cared who heard him. He was still miffed about his placement. Not only were he and Kagome split into two separate groups, but they weren't allowed to converse with each other.
To make matters worse, she was with his brother, that Enishi weirdo, and the stripper!!! He was sure that Sesshomaru would protect her from them, but who would protect her from Sesshomaru?!? In any case it was his job to protect her, not his brother's, and he was not happy about it one bit!
"Don't worry about Kagome, Inuyasha. She will be fine." Inuyasha turned from his task at trying to pry open the crate, to see Sango sitting on her's with items strewn about. From the looks of it, her's was full of rubber bands.
"I wasn't worried about her! I just don't like the fact that she is stuck with such loosers!" In his anger, he hastily demolished what was once his crate, and instantly paled. What god would he have to kill for messing with him like this? Tossed around his form were hundreds of doggie-whistles. How the hell would these help their team!
"Oi dog-breath! Hide me!!!" Kouga ran to Inuyasha seeking refuge from the ever-persistent rabid woman known only as Misao. He was cradling his still splinted tail as he ran. The damn thing would eventually fall off if it sustained more of Misao's incessant 'petting'. He had been contemplating the use of the banana leaves that were in his crate, when he heard someone approach. When it turned out to be Misao, he ran for dear life.
"Like hell wolf-boy, get the hell away from me!!" Kouga brushed Inuyasha aside and dove into the large pile of whistles, just as Misao charged into the clearing.
"Have you guys seen a wolf demon come thro.......HOW KAWAII!!!!!!" In an instant she had latched herself onto Inuyasha's ears. He tried everything in his power to dislodge her vise-like grip to no avail.
"What the hell!!! Let me go wench!!! HELP!!!!!" Inuyasha tried to stand and make a run for it, but was pulled down and fell hard on his back. She still wouldn't let go! The damn woman had glazed eyes as Inuyasha suffered from her pulling. If this kept up, she would rip them off his skull!
Sango clutched her sides to contain her laughter. She had never seen her friend look so desperate! He was always acting so macho, and now here he was cowering from a woman like a whipped puppy. Unable to contain it any longer, Sango fell off her crate and rolled on a mixture of grass, rubber bands, and dog-whistles; laughing her head off.
Inuyasha just glared at Sango as she rolled around on the ground. He didn't see what the hell was so funny. Only Kagome had ever dared to touch his ears, and even then he was asleep when she had done it. As soon as she let go, he was going to introduce this infuriating woman to his best friend...Tetsusaiga!
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"So you're telling me that she thought you were having a threesome in the bathroom! Heh I didn't know you were that type! How did you fit that many people in there? Lucky you're so small eh?" Sanosuke winked at Kenshin suggestively. It wasn't often that he was given the chance to pick fun of his long time friend."Yes, it is good that this one's stature isn't too great, that it is." Kenshin choosing to act like he didn't get the hidden meaning in Sano's message, and decided to play naiive.
"How did your ride go Sano?"
"Well this Sango chick found her boyfriend making out with a stewardess who turned out to be a man. I ended out sitting with her after she beat him out of his seat. She's actually pretty nice, once you get her into a better mood."
"How's my old apprentice doing this fine morning? I hear Kaoru was placed in another tribe. How are you taking it?" Hiko walked into the clearing with Kikyo clinging to his left arm and Tomoe on his right.
"This one is fine master. Yes, Kaoru's placement was a bit of a surprise, though I trust in her ability to handle herself. Master, may I ask who your friends are?" The two women were fawning over his master like he was a god.
"Oh, sorry about that! My name's Tomoe and this is Kikyo. So you were Hiko's apprentice? That is so cool!" Tomoe dislodged herself from Hiko, and resumed her hold on Kenshin, who tried in vain to make her release him. He wasn't used to this type of treatment from a woman.
Sanosuke grumbled to himself. Why did all the missies go for the pretty boys? Was there something wrong with his breath, did he stink or something? He checked, nope, still fresh. He continued to sulk to himself until he noticed that Kenshin had yet to open his crate.
"Hey Kenshin, you ever gonna open your box?"
Thankful for the distraction, he turned to his crate and pried it open with a large stick he found nearby. He heard scuttling coming from within, and lifted the lid fully. When he peered inside, he drew back immediately.
"Eeeeeeeek!!!" Sanosuke screamed as he jumped into Kenshin's arms which wasn't very wise considering how much taller he was. They landed in a heap with Sanosuke on top.
"Kenshin! I never knew you were like that! What will your woman ever think!" Hiko chuckled to himself. The entangled pair quickly drew apart sputtering excuses.
"Woah, food." A man that none of the team knew creened. He had a long braid and fiery red eyes. He stooped down, and picked up one of the tarantulas before it could escape. It began to sizzle and smoke in his hand. Much to the disgust of the group, he took a large bite.
"Tastes just like chicken, you guys wanna bite?" Sanosuke turned his head and threw up in the crate, while Hiko and Kenshin just shook their heads.
"Just means more for me then. By the way, I'm Hiten." He stooped to pick up the crate of tarantulas, and scrunched up his face. "Alright, which one of you freaks puked in my lunch!"
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"Damnit Naraku, your guest could have seen this compound, what the hell were you thinking!" Shishio was beside himself. This was going to be one of the biggest trades of their smuggling career and his partner almost blew it because one of his guests decided they didn't want to get wet."I told you already Shishio, it's taken care of. The guests have been warned not to do it again on threat of exile. The buffoons suspect nothing, and I've already made it to where they can't sneak off without our knowing about it. I have spies all over the place, not to mention booby traps. If something's coming we'll know it. Drink your tea, and leave the rest to me." Naraku was tired of the self-righteous mummy. He would have done away with him, if not for a large portion of the men's loyalty to him.
"You better make damn sure it doesn't happen again. Just to be on the safe side, I'm appointing my man, Soujiro, to your film crew. He's inconspicuous and loyal." He took a small sip of his manzanilla tea, that he had Naraku pick up when they were last in Mexico.
"You don't trust my judgement in this? You forget where the money came from for us to start this little operation. It was MY ties to the Mexican federalies, that got us our deals."
"And YOU forget that it was MY men that transported the goods up until now." He glared over his cup at Naraku. His blood would have been boiling over if not for the relaxing qualities in his drink.
"What are you saying?" Naraku narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the mummified bandage factory.
"I am saying Naraku, that if that agent that you've forgotten about, comes within two miles of this compound, I'm pulling out, and taking my men with me. You'll handle the deal on your own, though where you'll get the man power to transport the goods is beyond me." Shishio knew he had his 'partner' in a corner. There would be at least sixty tons of explosive compound coming in, and that type of tonnage took careful transport, and an army of men.
"I have guests to tend to. Just remember one thing Shishio; you pull out, and not even your legions of followers will be able to stop me from killing you." Without waiting for a reply, Naraku turned on his heel and left the compound office.
Naraku called to Kanna when he cleared the office wing. The pale white woman bowed respectfully to her boss, and awaited orders. Naraku sneered to himself; Shishio wasn't the only one that had spies.
"Kanna, I want you to keep a close eye on my partner. If he even looks like he's leaving, I want you to inform me right away."
"Yes, master. Do you wish for me to detain him as well?"
"That won't be necessary, inform the others of my orders as well. I don't want that living bandaid to be able to piss without me knowing, got that?"
"Yes, master. It will be done as you have commanded."
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Sango's eye found itself twitching in irritation. The weird woman's antics were humorous when they had first began, but after about ten minutes of it...let's just say enough is enough. No one could be that enthralled with someone's ears!"Excuse me...hello...hey you!" The last title caught Misao's attention, "I don't think his girlfriend would like you hanging all over her man's ears like that. I think it would be best if you went on your way. We've already told you that Kouga's not here."
Inuyasha found his respect for Sango climbing up a few notches. Once the hold on his ears was released, he made an attempt to gently rub feeling back into them. He flinched slightly despite himself. They were obviously bruised beneath the light coat of fur that covered them. Nothing was more bothersome than bruised ears...well...other than having a charlie horse in his sensitive ear muscles. That was just plain painful.
"Sorry about that...it's just that when I see something like his ears or a tail, I just can't help myself." Misao tried to plead her case to no avail.
"Yeah well, that's a good way to get your ass killed you know. You can't just go around grabbing youkai appendages!" Inuyasha retorted, but then had an idea, "You know, my older brother has a tail. It's big and fluffy." It was obvious that he held the woman captivated by the picture.
"Really! Is it fluffier than Kouga's?" It took all of Inuyasha's control to keep from laughing. If all went to plan, he would kill two birds with one stone... rid himself of the ear molester, and embarrass his brother. Not to mention, Kagome wouldn't want to have anything to do with him when he killed her.
"Don't tell me you didn't see him? He was the guy flying to the island."
"Ooooh, you mean that hottie is your brother?!? Who was that woman that he was carrying?"
The twitch in Inuyasha's eye after that question did not go unnoticed by Sango. She decided to answer for him, since he looked too peeved to do so himself.
"THAT, was Inuyasha's girlfriend. Her name's Kagome."
"Wasn't she placed in the other team?" The glare Misao received from the inu-hanyou was answer enough to her question. Mouthing an 'oh' she gave a slight nod. She then remembered why she had come to the clearing in the first place.
"Well, I have to find the wolf man. If you see him, could you come and tell me?" Misao waited until she received double assents before she left. Once she was gone, Kouga leapt from his hiding place within the whistles.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you... I am in your debt Inuyasha. Whatever you need just name it!" Kouga was all but bowing at Inuyasha's feet. Inuyasha pondered what torture he could inflict onto the wolf. It was then that he remembered the whistles. Kouga seemed to realize at the same time, when he followed Inuyasha's gaze to the offending pile, that had been somewhat scattered.
"Well wolf breath... you can start by helping me bury these damn things." The odd pair proceeded in doing the necessary task. Little did they know that Sango had procured one of the whistles without their notice.
'You never know...?'
TBC
A/N: Kojika is alive! Didn't she do a great job on this chapter? I know I laughed a lot as an editor. I'll have ch 11 up shortly, it'll have lots of Sess/Kag, Aoshi/Kaoru. My favs! Belle
