Age of the White Dawn

Chapter 11: The Gigantic Almond Thingy

"What the hell is it?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Sango asked looking incredulously at Inu Yasha. He returned the look with a sour one of his own while Kagome tilted her head to the side and gazed thoughtfully at the object in question,

"It look like a metal almond," she announced, a minute later, with a decided nod.

"Close," Sango laughed, "It's actually a penuvoi."

"Oh, well that makes it so much more clearer," Inu Yasha snorted, rolling his eyes and receiving yet another glare from Sango.

"Well that's gratitude for you," she huffed.

Kagome, oblivious to the antics of her two companions, continued her inspection of the penuvoi by crossing her eyes and tilting her head in the other direction,

"It's a very big metal almond…but almond shaped never the less."

"What? Should I be grateful you brought us to a friggen gigantic metal raindrop?!"

"Inu Yasha be nice…and it's a metal almond."

"Yeah, it kind of does look like one, doesn't it!" Sango exclaimed, mimicking Kagome and tilting her head to the side as well.

"Focus! Focus!" said Inu Yasha exasperatedly, ears twitching madly.

"On what?" Kagome turned to him curiously.

"That! The-the tear drop thing!"

"Almond."

"Whatever."

"So…what about it?"

"What about what?" Inu Yasha slanted her a blank look.

"The penuvoi," Sango answered, making an annoyed sound at the back of her throat.

"The Penu-what?"

"The almond thing, Kagome."

"Oh."

"So, how the hell does it work?"

"We're still talking about the almond thing, right?"

"Yeah, it's actually called a penuvoi, though."

"Well I think it looks more like an almond than a penuvoi, whatever that is."

"But that is a penuvoi, Kagome!"

"Sorry Sango, it just doesn't look very penuvoi-ish to me."

"Focus! Focus!"

"On what?"

"Okay, stop!" Sango ordered, holding her hand up and putting such an abrupt halt to the conversation that Inu Yasha's mouth still hung open to angrily reply, while Kagome's eyes still danced mischievously in her otherwise innocently curious face. "We're going around in circles. How about I show you how the penuvoi—yes the almond thing—works. At the rate we're going, just telling you about it will take all night," she muttered, gazing up at the new dark sky.

"Sounds good," Kagome piped up, breaking the moment of silence that had followed Sango's suggestion. Inu Yasha just shrugged and tried his best to look indifferent.

"Feh, whatever. Just hurry up, we're already behind schedule."

"Since when did we have a schedule?"

"Uh…well…"

"Well?

"Feh!"

"Feh? Do you aleays use that word when there's nothing else you can say?"

And so Kagome and Inu Yasha's mindless banter continued in this fashion while Sango walked around the "gigantic metal almond thingy."

It lay partially buried in the sand and, if stood on end, would probably be three times Sango's height. As it was, though, the penuvoi lay properly on its belly, making it easier for Sango to enter it. Of course, Inu Yasha and Kagome were ignorant to this and, even if they weren't, they were too busy bickering to care. So busy were they bickering, that it took them a whole two minutes to notice the bendela's sudden absence.

"Apples are so much better then—hey! Where'd she go?" Kagome stopped their thought-provoking debate and looked around in confusion.

"Who?" Inu Yasha asked, with a twitch of his right ear.

"Sango, of course." Kagome told him, taking to retracing Sango's path around the penuvoi.

Gasping, she felt something dart out and grab; she had only enough time to see a sun-browned hand grasping her own small wrist before she was jerked through the penuvoi into a small room and was magically face to face with a grinning Sango. She held a finger to her lips and motioned for Kagome to listen.

"Don't get all worked up wench. Sango's around here somewhere, I can still smell her…wench? Kagome? Don't tell me you're hiding too!" Inu Yasha's irritated voice growled, penetrating through the penuvoi's walls. Kagome pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

After Inu Yasha's angry out burst had resided, there was only the muffled padding of feet against sand punctuated by loud sniffs. Eventually his footsteps stopped right next to the penuvoi, at the very spot Sango had dragged Kagome through earlier. His confusion was marked by a loud,

"What the hell?"

Then he was stepping in front of Sango and Kagome, who was laughing now that Inu Yasha had found them.
"Hmph. Too easy." He smirked, generating eye rolls and snickers of disbelief from both girls. Wrinkling his nose he looked around and continued,

"Where in all the hells are we?"

"Where do you think?"

"Uh…in the penuvoi?"

"Good dog," Kagome smiled, affectionately patting his head. Turning red he sulked,

"Don't treat me like your fucking dog."

Kagome just kept on smiling, "So Sango, how does this penuvoi thingy work? And where'd you learn about it, any way? They never taught us this stuff at school."

"Oh, a penuvoi is part of the prophecy so we were all taught to use it." She gave a queer laugh before walking over to a metal alter in the center of the room. It came up to her waist and its bright blue aura was the only source of light in the small almond (or tear shaped) room.

"That over there," she pointed to a section of the wall that not a metallic gray like everything else, but a sandy beige, "is actually a window. You just can't tell because it's covered in sand. To work a penuvoi, you need to face the window then put your hands here." She placed her hands flat on the alter which was not solid, as Kagome had thought, but a sort of gel that conformed to the shape of Sango's hand. When her hands were fully submerged in the gel, an orange glow that began at her wrists and ran through the rest of her began to emanate from her body.

Looking out the window, Kagome could see rivers of sand begin to slide down and off the window as the huge machine slowly rose above the ground for a second, then it gave a stomach flying lurch and landed heavily back on top of the sand. Turning away from the window, Kagome first noticed Sango's trembling hands, her lack of breath, then her smugly smiling face.

"That's basically how the penuvoi works. You look out the window, think of your destination and the penuvoi does the rest. It takes your magical energy and uses it as fuel, then returns it to you, like a cycle." She explained, still panting slightly. Kagome stared at the alter in awe and even Inu Yasha looked faintly impressed, faintly being the operative word.

"So, you're telling me that if you put your hands on that metal table thing, you can get us across this damn desert in an hour?"

"Three house, and well, no, not exactly," Sango admitted, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly.

"How so?"

"Well, when you use your magical energy for fuel, it slowly gets contaminated. It takes a while, but your energy will get so polluted that they penuvoi can't use it any more, which means we'll have to trade off every hour or so."

"Knew it was too good to be true," Inu Yasha grumbled.

Kagome held up a hand, "I have a question."

"Uh…we're not in a classroom, Kagome, you don't need to raise your hand, you know."

"Sorry, it's a habit. Plus, you're giving off very teacher-like vibes at the moment."

Flushing, Sango hurried on, "Didn't you say you have a question?"

"Questions," Kagome corrected, "First of all, none of us are wearing watches, how will we know an hour's passed?"

"The penuvoi won't work any more."

"No passing out?"

"No."

"Good. And you said we need to think about our destination, right?"

Sango nodded.

"Okay, then here's my second question: Where is our destination?"

"Out of the desert, of course."

"Can you be a little more specidifc? I don't want to send us back to the school or any thing."

Inu Yasha gave Kagome an irritated glare before he snapped,

"Udala, the Snowy Pine Inn."

Rolling her eyes, she gave a mock wave of dismissal, "Those were all my questions, that will be all." She then proceeded to arrang herself comfortably on the floor; she didn't want to stand for three hours straight.

Seconds later, she was joined by Inu Yasha. He sat in a way that reminded Kagome of a dog sitting on its haunches, and the sullen pout on his face only added to the effect.

"Are you guys done yet?" Sango demanded, the smile on her lips softening her harsh words.

"No."

"Too bad," she cackled, shoving her hands swiftly into the felt, resulting in the machine suddenly careening several feet upwards. Inu Yasha swore loudly and scowled, but Kagome squealed and clapped her hands together in surprised delight.

Unable to resist, she abandoned her comfy spot next to Inu Yasha to scramble to the window and press her face flat against it.

"Wow," she breathe, watching the egg-sized sand dunes pass below them, "You should really see this Inu Yasha!" She beckoned him with one hand, not looking away from the spectacular view. Seeing everything from so high up, yet knowing she was safe inside the penuvoi fascinated her. It made her feel strangely detached, as if she was a fourth person watching everything from the shadows…

"Erk, we're kind of high up, aren't we?" Inu Yasha's warm breath tickled her neck.

"Scared?" she teased.

"No," he protested, "just…adjusting."

"It's okay to be scared," she consoled him, barely managing to keep the teasing note out of her voice.

"I'm not scared."

Kagome smothered a smile. He was starting to sound like the younger students she tutored back at the school.

She winced and waited for the sharp pain she usually felt in her chest whenever she thought back to her home. It never came. Just a kind of alphabet soup warmth that filled her stomach and made her want to smile. 'I want to go back home,' she thought, willing the sensation to come. Nothing. 'Maybe, I don't want to go back…' She pushed the ridiculous thought aside and, instead, looked up at Inu Yasha.

"If you're not scared, what are you?"

"…Uneasy." He glanced down at her, smirked, then went back to his spot on the floor.

Kagome licked her lips and looked around; Inu Yasha's choice of words had gotten her nervous. Her eyes darted over to the orange glowing Sango, the window and finally rested on Inu Yasha.

"Yeah," she murmured, feeling the small hairs on the back of her neck raise, "I feel uneasy too."

Their eyes met and she felt oddly comforted by those eyes. As if for that one infinitesimal second, she was perfectly safe. Then he sniffed and turned away, thus breaking the trance-like state they had both fallen into.

Kagome shook her head and smiled brightly. Poor guy. He was stuck in a small room with a Kagome who had nothing to do. Poor guy.

A/N: Kagome's not the only one feeling uneasy, I'm rather feeling uneasy myself. Last night I thought I heard whispering, but there was no one there, and now I'm home alone…great, I'm going mad. Ah well, I hear insane people write very moving stories. Hoped you enjoyed it, tootles all!