Author's Notes: I'm feeling better this week. Except that I found some
inconsistencies. In chapter 2, Inuyasha talked about seeing The Village
on opening night. My bad. I'll get around to fixing that.
Second, when Shippo was looking for games, he mentioned Halo 2. It was supposed to be just Halo, because I don't think Halo 2 is supposed to be released until late October or early November. Oops.
But other than that, I'm feeling good about a few things. One thing I wasn't telling you guys about because I didn't want to talk about was that one of our greyhounds was sick as hell. Her stomach was distending and she losing an alarming amount of weight. We took her to the vet the day I posted the last chapter and found out that she had to stay in the hospital overnight to have her belly drained of the juices that were filling her abdomen as a result of liver failure. We're not sure of the cause, but at this point we think it was because she ate something toxic.
However, we got her back the next day. She looked like she had just come out of Auschwitz, but she looked happy again. And now she's back to whining loudly when she wants attention and is practically inhaling every scrap of food we put in front of her. So we're feeling pretty optimistic about her recovery. Her name, by the way, is Sakura in case you were wondering.
Also, I'm on another creative spike, and I'm milking it for everything it's worth. I'm finally writing myself out of that god damn corner!
Finally, I at last have my hands on Hellboy comics. You have no idea how hard it was for me to get these. Mike Mignola kicks ass.
Oh, on a side note, I also got a T-shirt for one of my new favorite Internet cartoon series, Neurotically Yours. I'll let you guys Google that and find it on your own. It defies description.
Enough of my rambling. I need to get to work on this...
Lights, Camera, Action!
Chapter 8- The Night Is Young
"You're kidding, right?" Sango asked. It was a little less than a week before Halloween, and she and Miroku were sitting in the cafe studying.
"I'm serious," Miroku replied. "Let's go to the Halloween party in matching costumes. It'll be fun."
"Well... what did you have in mind?" Sango asked as she highlighted another paragraph in her book.
"I was thinking something along the lines of... oh, say... Aragorn and Arwen?"
Sango stopped right where she was. Reading, highlighting, breathing, everything. Did he really just say what she thought he just said? She looked up at him with her face on fire. How in the name of all things sacred and holy did he know about that? What was he, psychic? She had been fantasizing about going with him to the party in those very costumes ever since it was announced!
"But if you don't like that idea..." Miroku went on oh so innocently.
"No!" Sango interrupted a little too quickly. "No, that's alright with me. It would just be kind of a switch for me. I don't usually wear dresses." Well, that wasn't really a lie. Just an incomplete truth. Sango wore skirts on occassion, but she hadn't worn a dress in five years. Of course, she certainly wasn't about to tell Miroku every one of her reasons.
"Cool," Miroku said evenly. "I have a couple favors I can call in. Shouldn't be too hard to get the costumes."
Sango was never sure how to react to his behavior. There was no way in hell he was anywhere near as innocent as he pretended to be. Did he make some kind of pact with dark forces and just forgot? Little else seemed to make sense.
On the other hand, this was certainly nice. Though they weren't officially going out, they were getting pretty close. Normally, Sango liked to be the one to take the initiative, make the first move. But right now she was still uncertain and wanted Miroku to move first. She had been hoping he would ask her out or something. Or at least do something like that last evening they had together that Inuyasha and Kagome had interrupted. Asking her to go to the Halloween party with him wasn't quite what she had in mind, but he had somehow found out about her matching costume fantasy. That could be a good sign.
A little later, back at the dorms, Sango explained her situation to Kagome who looked positively giddy over it all.
"Sango, that's so cute!" she giggled.
"Yeah, but how did he know?" Sango asked, still trying to figure it out.
Kagome paused, trying to hide a guilty look on her face behind a thoughtful one. But she was too little, too late.
"You didn't," Sango said challengingly in a menacing voice.
Kagome looked like she was about to deny it, but smiled nervously instead. "Possibly," she said cautiously.
With that Sango immediately snatched up her pillow and lunged at Kagome who squeaked and grabbed her own pillow to use as a shield. "I can't believe you told him! Is there any part of my life that you aren't poking into?"
"You know you wanted him to find out! Besides, he did ask you to the party, didn't he?" This kept on for a little while. After the first 30 seconds or so, the argument petered out and Sango and Kagome just started laughing and having fun as they bludgeoned each other with their pillows. They were soon interrupted by a familiar and obnoxiously smug voice.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, we have a show to do." Inuyasha stood leaning one shoulder against the door frame, legs crossed at the ankles, and arms folded over his chest. He had an infuriatingly smug smirk on his face.
"How long have you been there?" Kagome asked with a light blush.
"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" he responded, earning him a tossed pillow which smacked him in the face. "You're hot when you're angry."
Kagome went even redder and scowled. "I'm not angry!" she snapped. "I'm just annoyed by you acting like a child."
"I wasn't the one in a pillowfight with my roommate," Inuyasha retorted. "And you are angry. Better calm down, though. You're turning me on over here."
"Inuyasha," Kagome growled, obviously more than a little embarassed, "you have two choices. Either you can shut up and let me get changed so we can do the show, or I let this stew for a while and have Shippo help me in delivering horrible, emasculating vengeance."
Inuyasha just held up his hands in defeat and walked out.
Kagome heaved a sigh and went to her drawers to get her costume for Roxanne. It was a black and white pinstripe dress with matching jacket. She also had a long coat, black pumps, and a fedora.
Sango went back to her bed as Kagome was changing. Suddenly, a wicked thought hit her. It wasn't quite as devious as something Shippo would come up with, but it was a very appropriate way of getting back at Kagome for betraying her like that.
She simply read her magazine until Kagome left the room. Sango waited thirty seconds to make sure Kagome wouldn't double back, then grabbed her cell phone and dialed up Inuyasha.
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Inuyasha was just fixing his suit jacket when his cellphone went off. He quickly snatched it up and flipped it open. "Talk to me."
"Inuyasha?" Why was Sango calling him?
"What's up?"
"Just thought I'd let you in on a little secret. Kagome is really hoping that you'll ask her to go with you to the Halloween party."
There was a brief pause as Inuyasha digested that information. "She... She is?" He had heard that right, right?
"Yeah. And I think you could really score some points with her if you suggested that the two of you go in matching costumes. Specifically, Ace and Roxanne."
Inuyasha had to admit, that did sound tempting. Wait, why did he care? Then he remembered how Kagome had been treating him since the elevator incident. Oh yeah, that's why. He admitted to himself at last that he had been considering asking Kagome out some time.
"You still there?" Sango asked on the other end.
"Huh? Uh, yeah. So... she really wants me to ask her to the party?"
"It's all she talks about."
"Huh..." At this point he couldn't think of anything much more intelligent to say.
"I'll let you think about that for a while," Sango said almost playfully and hung up.
Inuyasha folded up his phone and slipped it into the inside pocket of his trench coat before draping himself in it. Well... it couldn't do any harm to ask, right? If Kagome really wanted him to ask her it shouldn't be a problem, right? At least, that's what he figured as he walked out of the dorm.
Shippo was already waiting by the car and Kagome wasn't far behind. "Alright. Let's roll."
They all climbed in without much talk. This had all become routine in the last two months. There seemed to be an awkward silence this time, though. Inuyasha tried to concentrate on the road as he went on with his daredevil driving but his attention kept going to Kagome. She and Shippo still weren't used to his driving, though.
He sighed lightly as he took a sharp turn and turned on the CD player. He couldn't remember which one he had left in there. It was his Number 8 mix apparently because the first song was Wheels of Fire by Manowar. He started singing along to try and keep his cool.
"Spirit of the Wheel/Wheels of fire burn the night/Ride across the sky/Wheels of fire burning bright/We live to ride/Ahh!"
"This is the last thing you need to be listening to!" Kagome shrieked as Inuyasha shot through a crossroad just as the light turned red.
"Would you prefer Highway to Hell?" he shot back. That shut her up. It wasn't the song, so much as the title that he knew did the trick. Of course, he probably should be a little nicer. It would make him look better when he decided to ask her the whole... question thing. So he shut off the CD player and tried to focus on driving.
"Thanks," Kagome said in relief before clutching at her seatbelt as they took another turn.
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A few close calls later, and they were all in Newfield. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the car and straightened herself out. "Shippo, you and Inuyasha set up. I need a minute to settle my stomach."
"You're the boss," Shippo said with a shrug.
Kagome leaned up against the car and fanned herself with her fedora. Thinking about Sango's situation made her realize that she had yet to pick out a costume for the Halloween party. It was less than a week away. She needed to think of something. Inuyasha was apparently a big Halloween buff. He might have an idea.
"Hey, Kagome."
Speak of the devil. "What's up?" she asked.
Inuyasha messed with the angle of his fedora nervously for a minute. That wasn't like him. "Uh... I was just wondering if you had any plans for the Halloween party?"
"Actually I was going to ask you for some advice. I haven't picked out a costume yet."
"Oh! Um... Well I was just wondering if you'd be interested in going with me in... matching costumes." As much as he obviously tried to hide it, there was a faint blush creeping into his cheeks.
Kagome looked at him strangely. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking we could go as Ace and Roxanne. You know, we already have the costumes, and they're really cool characters. Just... you know..."
"That's a great idea!" Kagome said excitedly.
"So... you'll go?" Inuyasha asked a little uncertain.
"Of course I will! I wonder if we'll meet any fans at the party." It was a really good idea. This meant Kagome wouldn't have to shop for a costume. And she got to spend the night with Inuyasha. Wait, where did that come from?
"If you two are done flirting," Shippo interrupted, "we're ready to shoot the scenes."
Kagome blushed a little but nodded. The first scene was straightforward. It was just Ace walking out of an alley while tailing a suspect. There was no dialog for this, as they had already recorded the voice-over narrative in the studio.
As the camera was recording, Inuyasha slipped out of the alley, peering ahead as if trying to find someone. He looked side to side, then cursed silently. His quarry had eluded him. It was back to square one. With a sigh, he tilted the brim of his hat down and walked back into the alley from where he came. To compliment the scene, Kagome had Shippo take several shots of the streets and the passersby to establish that the man Ace had been following had vanished.
After that came a scene in the episode between Ace and Roxanne. Shippo gave them their cues, and Kagome walked up the street beside Inuyasha with Shippo walking backwards slowly and evenly, keeping the camera level and the microphone steady.
"So he managed to slip by, eh," Kagome said in her Roxanne voice. She spoke in a lower, more seductive tone for this character.
"Sorry to say," Inuyasha responded as Ace. Within moments, Kagome recalled all her training as an actor and felt herself come alive in the scenery. She was Roxanne Stone walking with Adrian Spade. She found his slip up amusing and she just wanted to mess with his head. There was no camera. There was only the scenery around them.
"Do you have any other leads to follow?"
"One guy. I hear that Samson used to be a regular at Slim's Tavern. The owner, Slim Solomon, is the barkeep, and I intend to try and get some information out of him tonight."
"In that case..." With that, Roxanne placed a hand on Ace's shoulder to stop him. She then grabbed his neck tie and pulled his face down to hers. They stopped just centimeters apart and Shippo zoomed in for a close-up. They were going to edit out the footage in between back at the studio. As soon as he was set up, Shippo gave them a cue to start up again.
Roxanne pulled Ace down to her and kissed him on the lips. It was only for a moment though and he didn't have enough time to kiss her back as she pulled back and smirked at him. "For luck," she said simply. With that she turned and walked off with Ace watching her go.
"Okay, we're good. We just need it one last time for protection."
Kagome gave a small sigh. She was beginning to wonder if she was enjoying doing these kissing scenes a little too much. She was surprised though when she looked at Inuyasha. Every time they did these kind of scenes, he was normally very cool about it all. This time, he looked slightly flushed.
They set up to do the scene again, but Kagome couldn't seem to push from her mind how strange Inuyasha's reaction was.
It came time for the close-up again. On cue, Roxanne pulled Ace down into a kiss. But something was different this time. Kagome felt Inuyasha kissing her back. They lingered that way for a moment as Kagome tried to figure out if it was accidental or what. If nothing else, it certainly caught her off-guard. When she parted away, she fought to keep her composure. "For luck." This time it was more of a sultry whisper. She slowly turned and walked down the sidewalk.
"Damn," Shippo said slowly. "That was actually better than the first one. We should use that!"
Kagome took a second to push her blush down and smiled as she turned to Shippo and Inuyasha, the latter of whom seemed a little flushed himself.
As they headed back to the car, Kagome gave Inuyasha a curious look and whispered to him so that Shippo wouldn't here. "That wasn't in the script." Oh, real brilliant. What the hell kind of a thing was that to say?
"I know," Inuyasha said softly. "I guess I was just getting into character." Kagome doubted that was the whole truth. But what was she really going to do? Grill him over it?
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Halloween at last. This and Christmas were Shippo's favorite holidays. And the campus really got into this kind of stuff. The entire college center was hosting the party. The lounge, the dining hall, the game room, the pub, and the forum were all done up for the night. Themed food and drinks at the refreshment tables, black and orange crepe paper, fake cobwebs, window decorations, staff members in costume, blacklights and colored lightbulbs, a DJ, jack-o-lanterns, this party had everything except illegal drugs and prostitutes. And Shippo was pretty sure a couple of the idiots in this year's freshmen class were providing for themselves on that.
This year he had chosen to go for an obscure homemade costume that would confuse everyone except his friends. He was Drecker from the online comic ADVENTURERS!. He messed his hair up to make it as spiky as possible, then put on a couple fake earrings and wore black trousers, a white shirt, and a blue jacket. He stuck two fakey plastic daggers in his belt to finish off the look and used a make-up crayon to draw on a goatee. Oh yeah. Stylin'.
As the sun set, Shippo made his way to the college center. Kirara had said she would meet him at the lounge and surprise him with her costume. People were already arriving. There were the obligatory vampires, and psycho killers, and pirates, and just about every other cliche. There was even one of the senior guys dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. That took balls.
Shippo spotted Kirara at the same time she called his name. And as she walked toward him, he found himself adjusting his pants to accomodate for the reaction he was having to her costume. She was wearing a white wrap-around skirt with blue and gold trim that connected in the front, revealing most of her legs up to the lower thighs and sandals. She had a gauzy tube top on of the same color scheme that left her midriff and shoulders bare. She used some black make-up to draw lines on her face to give her an even more feline appearance than normal along with some Egyptian-style eye shadow. She had died her hair black and wore a gold headband with a blue stone in the center along with fake gold armlets. At the top of her head were two little felt cat ears. "How do I look?" She asked, striking a pose.
Shippo wanted to tell her that she looked absolutely gorgeous. "I am really impressed." Damn. "Out of curiosity... what are you supposed to be?"
She laughed and slapped his chest playfully. "I'm Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess, you dork. And I assume that you're Drecker?"
"The one and only," he responded suavely. He glanced behind Kirara to see that Inuyasha and Kagome had just come in dressed up as Ace and Roxanne. He couldn't believe they went through with that. "We've got company," he said to Kirara, pointing behind her.
Kirara looked behind her and laughed with glee. She ran up to Kagome and Inuyasha with Shippo in tow. "Hi guys!"
"Kirara, Shippo!" Kagome said excitedly. "Oh, your costume is great! You look gorgeous!" God damnit.
"Thanks," Kirara beamed. "I made it myself." Shippo noticed for the first time that she had also put a long, curvy tail in the waist band of her skirt to make it look like she had a cat's tail. Kirara really put a lot of work into this.
"Hey Shippo," Inuyasha said, drawing the freshman out of his thoughts. "Do you think you can stop staring at Kirara's ass long enough to help us track down Miroku and Sango?"
Shippo went beat red. "Duh...! I wasn't... I was..."
Kirara just smiled and stuck one hip out. "I'll take it as a compliment." She walked up to him and took his arm with a playful look. "Since all of our friends are going in couples, you want to go with me?"
Shippo felt like he could have jumped through the ceiling with that one. He just smiled and worked up his smoothest voice. "Absolutely. Can't resist my roguish charms, eh?"
"You could say that," she replied with a wink.
"Both of you stop before I put my lunch on display," Inuyasha said with a fake gag.
"Typical guy," Kagome said with a roll of her eyes. "Let's just go find them and have some dinner."
"No need," came a voice from the side. "We're right here." There were Miroku and Sango dressed up as Aragorn and Arwen. Miroku was wearing make-up stubble, but his hair was still too short to really complete the look. Sango looked the part pretty good, though with her white satin dress.
"Well, the gang's all here," Inuyasha said. "Now let's get down to the dining hall, I'm starving over here."
"When are you not?" Kirara teased.
"Burn in hell," he grumbled back.
"By the way Kirara," Sango said as they headed off toward the dining hall, "that's a great costume. Absolutely gorgeous." Damn! Damn, damn, damn! Shippo could have sworn at that point that the universe was laughing at him.
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Kirara was beginning to wonder how much harder she would have to try. She thought she had made it painfully obvious to Shippo that she liked him. And now she was in the most daring outfit she had ever worn in her life to try and catch his attention. If it weren't for the fact that this was the one day of the year in which hedonism was socially acceptable, she would have felt like a slut. Was he nervous or just dense?
She had to wonder about that as she helped herself to the buffet. She soon found herself next to Kagome at the salad bar. "Hey," she said conversationally, realizing too late that she failed to keep the angst out of her voice.
"Something up?" Kagome asked.
Kirara bit her lip nervously and decided to just tell the truth. "Well... It's Shippo. I don't know if you've noticed, but I really like him. And I don't know what he thinks."
Kagome just gave her a knowing smile. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'll see if I can get Miroku and Inuyasha to have a talk with him this evening... Well, Miroku anyway."
"Thanks Kagome," Kirara said with a smile. They walked back to the table with their food and sat down with the group, Kagome next to Inuyasha and Kirara next to Shippo.
"I hear the DJ's got a lot of Halloween appropriate music," Miroku said. "Iced Earth, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper. All in addition to the usual line-up of stuff."
"Bad ass," Inuyasha said around a club sandwich. "Normally, DJs suck. They just stand up there and ignore good requests and play all that fucking pop swill so that the stupid bitches who request it will sleep with them."
"A touch bitter are we?" Shippo asked with a teasing edge.
Inuyasha grumbled something under his breath through a mouthful of food.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that," Shippo said with a smirk.
Inuyasha then held out one hand with his middle finger extended and pointed down. "Can't hear this? Let me turn it up." He then turned his hand up so that he was flipping Shippo off.
"That's enough out of you two," Kagome said as if she were reprimanding two children. "We'll check out the Forum when we're done eating."
The rest of the meal passed with small talk. As they all got up to go, Kirara began to wonder just what Kagome had planned. Shippo had told her all about the night of the elevator incident. That girl needed a hobby outside of people.
"When we get to the Forum, how about we all go up and put in some requests together," Sango suggested. "We'll go one after the other. That way we can get six songs in a row that we know we want to hear."
"No objections here," Miroku said. "I hope you'll save me a dance for any slow songs that come up, Lady Arwen."
Sango flushed, but smiled all the same. "As if I have a choice?"
Kirara loved these people. It never ceased to amuse her how their twisted little minds worked. Now if they would just get over themselves and start making out like she knew they wanted to, it would be even better.
They heard the sound of club music as they approached the Forum. The doors were open and smoke from a fog machine was seeping out from the black and orange cepe paper that had been taped in streamers over the treshold. They all walked in together and found themselves in a dark room with cheesy monster carboard cut-outs hung on the wall, spiderwebs, fog on the ground, a table at one end serving soft drinks and beer, the DJ's rig at the other end, and a plethora of blacklights, strobes, and party lights. The current music was another generic club song that consisted of little more than a drum beat and a bassline. It was cool if you were into that kind of thing.
The group all exchanged smiles and went up in pairs with Kirara and Shippo going last to put in their requests. Kirara came up first and jotted down her selection: Message In a Bottle by The Police. Shippo seemed to be very secretive about his choice and simply gave her a knowing smile as they walked away toward the dance floor.
"Alright!" Miroku shouted above the music. "We'll know the DJ has hit our requests when mine comes up first." That didn't take long. They only had to go through two songs when the familiar riff of Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top came up. Inuyasha seemed to enjoy that even more than Miroku. He doffed his coat and fedora, leaving them with the people at the refreshment table, and danced to the music, showing off in time with the lyrics. Kirara couldn't help but laugh when he grabbed Kagome and pulled her up to him, mouthing the lyrics at the last line in the last repeat of the chorus. The crowd of other dancers also seemed to find it funny as hell.
When that was done, Sango's song came up next. Kirara was a little surprised to hear the intro to Float On by Modest Mouse. They all got into it though. Miroku had been rather insistent on making sure Sango didn't save him just one dance, but rather all of them. Shippo and Inuyasha draped their arms over each other's shoulders, pretending to remove hats and sang along to the chorus half-way through the song.
At the end, it was fairly obvious who picked the next song. Powerslave by Iron Maiden. No one but Inuyasha. The Egyptian sound of the song actually gave Kirara an idea. She decided to continue messing with Shippo's head. She danced along with him to the gallopping beat then fixed him with a sultry look that must have really thrown him for a loop because he started to slow down and stare at her.
As the chorus came up, she took him by the lapels of his jacket, swaying her hips as she lip-synched to the chorus. He was spellbound.
Kirara kept repeating the process through the song, pulling Shippo out of his trance long enough to dance during the huge interlude. She glanced over to see Inuyasha holding his jacket and tie in hand and banging his head, acting completely insane through the guitar solos.
As the song drew toward it's end, Kirara leaned in close to Shippo and decided to just take the risk and lay her cards on the table. "How would you like to be a slave to the power of Bast?"
Much to her surprise, Shippo wrapped his arms around her waste. "Only if you'll take me lock, stock, and barrel." With that, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It was a kiss Kirara was all too happy to return. Heavy metal bringing people together. You didn't see that too often.
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Miroku didn't think he could have enjoyed himself anymore. Sango looked indescribably beautiful, she was dancing with him, they were out having fun. He would have to make the next move some time tonight while the mood was still fresh. He really did want to be with her. It had taken every bit of charisma to win over her father. Now he just needed to formalize it and ask her out.
He was more than a little surprised when he glanced over and saw Kirara and Shippo with a vaccuum seal on each other's lips. Iron Maiden inspired that? "I guess they're more deranged than we imagined," he remarked, pointing out the couple to Sango.
Sango's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Wow... Can't say I saw that coming."
"I think it came out of left field for all of us," Kagome said beside them. "I didn't think she would be so bold."
"I always figured Kirara was like a cat," Sango mused. "She's done toying with her prey, so she decided to go straight for what she wanted."
A throbbing bassline came up and Kagome smiled. "Ooh! My song!" When the guitarwork started up, Miroku quickly recognized it. Jet City Woman by Queensryche. Huh. That was unexpected. He thought she didn't like metal. Go figure.
Deciding not to waste the opportunity, Miroku pulled Sango into a dance. He stared into her eyes as they listened to the lyrics. She smiled softly at him when the chorus came up. She stretched up and leaned in, whispering in his ear. "You're a big softie, you know that?"
"It's a side of myself I only show to those I'm closest to," he whispered back. He smiled at the look in her face. They continued to dance together throughout the whole song and on into the next one, which was probably Kirara's choice. No one else in the room really mattered to them at that point.
The last song is what snapped them out of their trance, though. I Believe In a Thing Called Love by The Darkness. This was the song Shippo had picked. "Hey, I love this song!" Miroku heard Inuyasha shout.
Miroku and Sango both looked over at Shippo who gave them both a wink. Miroku just shook his head and mouthed out, "You sadistic son of a bitch."
Shippo just wiggled his eyebrows at them and mouthed back, "You know you love me."
Miroku looked over at Inuyasha and Kagome as they were dancing together. He couldn't help but feel sorry for them. When Shippo set out to enact vengeance, he laid a careful web of deception and trickery. And when the time finally came for him to unveil the coup de grace of his masterplan, it would hit Inuyasha and Kagome like a ton of bricks.
Miroku almost pitied them. Almost.
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Author's Notes: I was feeling very wierd when I wrote all this. Does it show? The next chapter will have more Halloween goodness to it. It's one of my favorite holidays so of course I'm going to devote some time to it.
Anyway, on to my reviewers...
Kagome M.K.: Your self-awareness of it made it funny instead of boring.
Magellan-Chan: No hints for you. I am The Plot Nazi... New Yorkers will probably get that.
Araine: Well, as long as we're bringing hospital-worthy stuff into this, I had to spend my 4th grade year on crutches because a bike accident resulted in a buckle fracture in my left leg.
bluefuzzyelf: Once I actually play The Sims 2, I'll make sure to add a scene with Shippo playing it. That game will be released long before this story is finished. I mean, school's about to start up again. A man has to keep his priorities straight.
Father Malvado: I never got into DMC for some inexplicable reason. What kind of bass are you saving up for, out of curiosity?
kewlgurl175: I know. I think the genes on my father's side of the family were tainted with darkness somewhere along the lines. Or it might have something to do with being descended from Carpathian aristocracy... Horror fiction fans will probably get that.
Gina: Bubble tea is still healthier than booze at least. Which is great if you're like me and have a really addictive personality.
Julia: Now that's what authors really like to hear. That we were good enough to waste that much time on in one sitting. I'm going to go get some ice for my swollen ego. (rimshot)... I now know I'm on an ego trip because I actually thought that was funny when I wrote it.
Second, when Shippo was looking for games, he mentioned Halo 2. It was supposed to be just Halo, because I don't think Halo 2 is supposed to be released until late October or early November. Oops.
But other than that, I'm feeling good about a few things. One thing I wasn't telling you guys about because I didn't want to talk about was that one of our greyhounds was sick as hell. Her stomach was distending and she losing an alarming amount of weight. We took her to the vet the day I posted the last chapter and found out that she had to stay in the hospital overnight to have her belly drained of the juices that were filling her abdomen as a result of liver failure. We're not sure of the cause, but at this point we think it was because she ate something toxic.
However, we got her back the next day. She looked like she had just come out of Auschwitz, but she looked happy again. And now she's back to whining loudly when she wants attention and is practically inhaling every scrap of food we put in front of her. So we're feeling pretty optimistic about her recovery. Her name, by the way, is Sakura in case you were wondering.
Also, I'm on another creative spike, and I'm milking it for everything it's worth. I'm finally writing myself out of that god damn corner!
Finally, I at last have my hands on Hellboy comics. You have no idea how hard it was for me to get these. Mike Mignola kicks ass.
Oh, on a side note, I also got a T-shirt for one of my new favorite Internet cartoon series, Neurotically Yours. I'll let you guys Google that and find it on your own. It defies description.
Enough of my rambling. I need to get to work on this...
Lights, Camera, Action!
Chapter 8- The Night Is Young
"You're kidding, right?" Sango asked. It was a little less than a week before Halloween, and she and Miroku were sitting in the cafe studying.
"I'm serious," Miroku replied. "Let's go to the Halloween party in matching costumes. It'll be fun."
"Well... what did you have in mind?" Sango asked as she highlighted another paragraph in her book.
"I was thinking something along the lines of... oh, say... Aragorn and Arwen?"
Sango stopped right where she was. Reading, highlighting, breathing, everything. Did he really just say what she thought he just said? She looked up at him with her face on fire. How in the name of all things sacred and holy did he know about that? What was he, psychic? She had been fantasizing about going with him to the party in those very costumes ever since it was announced!
"But if you don't like that idea..." Miroku went on oh so innocently.
"No!" Sango interrupted a little too quickly. "No, that's alright with me. It would just be kind of a switch for me. I don't usually wear dresses." Well, that wasn't really a lie. Just an incomplete truth. Sango wore skirts on occassion, but she hadn't worn a dress in five years. Of course, she certainly wasn't about to tell Miroku every one of her reasons.
"Cool," Miroku said evenly. "I have a couple favors I can call in. Shouldn't be too hard to get the costumes."
Sango was never sure how to react to his behavior. There was no way in hell he was anywhere near as innocent as he pretended to be. Did he make some kind of pact with dark forces and just forgot? Little else seemed to make sense.
On the other hand, this was certainly nice. Though they weren't officially going out, they were getting pretty close. Normally, Sango liked to be the one to take the initiative, make the first move. But right now she was still uncertain and wanted Miroku to move first. She had been hoping he would ask her out or something. Or at least do something like that last evening they had together that Inuyasha and Kagome had interrupted. Asking her to go to the Halloween party with him wasn't quite what she had in mind, but he had somehow found out about her matching costume fantasy. That could be a good sign.
A little later, back at the dorms, Sango explained her situation to Kagome who looked positively giddy over it all.
"Sango, that's so cute!" she giggled.
"Yeah, but how did he know?" Sango asked, still trying to figure it out.
Kagome paused, trying to hide a guilty look on her face behind a thoughtful one. But she was too little, too late.
"You didn't," Sango said challengingly in a menacing voice.
Kagome looked like she was about to deny it, but smiled nervously instead. "Possibly," she said cautiously.
With that Sango immediately snatched up her pillow and lunged at Kagome who squeaked and grabbed her own pillow to use as a shield. "I can't believe you told him! Is there any part of my life that you aren't poking into?"
"You know you wanted him to find out! Besides, he did ask you to the party, didn't he?" This kept on for a little while. After the first 30 seconds or so, the argument petered out and Sango and Kagome just started laughing and having fun as they bludgeoned each other with their pillows. They were soon interrupted by a familiar and obnoxiously smug voice.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, we have a show to do." Inuyasha stood leaning one shoulder against the door frame, legs crossed at the ankles, and arms folded over his chest. He had an infuriatingly smug smirk on his face.
"How long have you been there?" Kagome asked with a light blush.
"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" he responded, earning him a tossed pillow which smacked him in the face. "You're hot when you're angry."
Kagome went even redder and scowled. "I'm not angry!" she snapped. "I'm just annoyed by you acting like a child."
"I wasn't the one in a pillowfight with my roommate," Inuyasha retorted. "And you are angry. Better calm down, though. You're turning me on over here."
"Inuyasha," Kagome growled, obviously more than a little embarassed, "you have two choices. Either you can shut up and let me get changed so we can do the show, or I let this stew for a while and have Shippo help me in delivering horrible, emasculating vengeance."
Inuyasha just held up his hands in defeat and walked out.
Kagome heaved a sigh and went to her drawers to get her costume for Roxanne. It was a black and white pinstripe dress with matching jacket. She also had a long coat, black pumps, and a fedora.
Sango went back to her bed as Kagome was changing. Suddenly, a wicked thought hit her. It wasn't quite as devious as something Shippo would come up with, but it was a very appropriate way of getting back at Kagome for betraying her like that.
She simply read her magazine until Kagome left the room. Sango waited thirty seconds to make sure Kagome wouldn't double back, then grabbed her cell phone and dialed up Inuyasha.
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Inuyasha was just fixing his suit jacket when his cellphone went off. He quickly snatched it up and flipped it open. "Talk to me."
"Inuyasha?" Why was Sango calling him?
"What's up?"
"Just thought I'd let you in on a little secret. Kagome is really hoping that you'll ask her to go with you to the Halloween party."
There was a brief pause as Inuyasha digested that information. "She... She is?" He had heard that right, right?
"Yeah. And I think you could really score some points with her if you suggested that the two of you go in matching costumes. Specifically, Ace and Roxanne."
Inuyasha had to admit, that did sound tempting. Wait, why did he care? Then he remembered how Kagome had been treating him since the elevator incident. Oh yeah, that's why. He admitted to himself at last that he had been considering asking Kagome out some time.
"You still there?" Sango asked on the other end.
"Huh? Uh, yeah. So... she really wants me to ask her to the party?"
"It's all she talks about."
"Huh..." At this point he couldn't think of anything much more intelligent to say.
"I'll let you think about that for a while," Sango said almost playfully and hung up.
Inuyasha folded up his phone and slipped it into the inside pocket of his trench coat before draping himself in it. Well... it couldn't do any harm to ask, right? If Kagome really wanted him to ask her it shouldn't be a problem, right? At least, that's what he figured as he walked out of the dorm.
Shippo was already waiting by the car and Kagome wasn't far behind. "Alright. Let's roll."
They all climbed in without much talk. This had all become routine in the last two months. There seemed to be an awkward silence this time, though. Inuyasha tried to concentrate on the road as he went on with his daredevil driving but his attention kept going to Kagome. She and Shippo still weren't used to his driving, though.
He sighed lightly as he took a sharp turn and turned on the CD player. He couldn't remember which one he had left in there. It was his Number 8 mix apparently because the first song was Wheels of Fire by Manowar. He started singing along to try and keep his cool.
"Spirit of the Wheel/Wheels of fire burn the night/Ride across the sky/Wheels of fire burning bright/We live to ride/Ahh!"
"This is the last thing you need to be listening to!" Kagome shrieked as Inuyasha shot through a crossroad just as the light turned red.
"Would you prefer Highway to Hell?" he shot back. That shut her up. It wasn't the song, so much as the title that he knew did the trick. Of course, he probably should be a little nicer. It would make him look better when he decided to ask her the whole... question thing. So he shut off the CD player and tried to focus on driving.
"Thanks," Kagome said in relief before clutching at her seatbelt as they took another turn.
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A few close calls later, and they were all in Newfield. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the car and straightened herself out. "Shippo, you and Inuyasha set up. I need a minute to settle my stomach."
"You're the boss," Shippo said with a shrug.
Kagome leaned up against the car and fanned herself with her fedora. Thinking about Sango's situation made her realize that she had yet to pick out a costume for the Halloween party. It was less than a week away. She needed to think of something. Inuyasha was apparently a big Halloween buff. He might have an idea.
"Hey, Kagome."
Speak of the devil. "What's up?" she asked.
Inuyasha messed with the angle of his fedora nervously for a minute. That wasn't like him. "Uh... I was just wondering if you had any plans for the Halloween party?"
"Actually I was going to ask you for some advice. I haven't picked out a costume yet."
"Oh! Um... Well I was just wondering if you'd be interested in going with me in... matching costumes." As much as he obviously tried to hide it, there was a faint blush creeping into his cheeks.
Kagome looked at him strangely. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking we could go as Ace and Roxanne. You know, we already have the costumes, and they're really cool characters. Just... you know..."
"That's a great idea!" Kagome said excitedly.
"So... you'll go?" Inuyasha asked a little uncertain.
"Of course I will! I wonder if we'll meet any fans at the party." It was a really good idea. This meant Kagome wouldn't have to shop for a costume. And she got to spend the night with Inuyasha. Wait, where did that come from?
"If you two are done flirting," Shippo interrupted, "we're ready to shoot the scenes."
Kagome blushed a little but nodded. The first scene was straightforward. It was just Ace walking out of an alley while tailing a suspect. There was no dialog for this, as they had already recorded the voice-over narrative in the studio.
As the camera was recording, Inuyasha slipped out of the alley, peering ahead as if trying to find someone. He looked side to side, then cursed silently. His quarry had eluded him. It was back to square one. With a sigh, he tilted the brim of his hat down and walked back into the alley from where he came. To compliment the scene, Kagome had Shippo take several shots of the streets and the passersby to establish that the man Ace had been following had vanished.
After that came a scene in the episode between Ace and Roxanne. Shippo gave them their cues, and Kagome walked up the street beside Inuyasha with Shippo walking backwards slowly and evenly, keeping the camera level and the microphone steady.
"So he managed to slip by, eh," Kagome said in her Roxanne voice. She spoke in a lower, more seductive tone for this character.
"Sorry to say," Inuyasha responded as Ace. Within moments, Kagome recalled all her training as an actor and felt herself come alive in the scenery. She was Roxanne Stone walking with Adrian Spade. She found his slip up amusing and she just wanted to mess with his head. There was no camera. There was only the scenery around them.
"Do you have any other leads to follow?"
"One guy. I hear that Samson used to be a regular at Slim's Tavern. The owner, Slim Solomon, is the barkeep, and I intend to try and get some information out of him tonight."
"In that case..." With that, Roxanne placed a hand on Ace's shoulder to stop him. She then grabbed his neck tie and pulled his face down to hers. They stopped just centimeters apart and Shippo zoomed in for a close-up. They were going to edit out the footage in between back at the studio. As soon as he was set up, Shippo gave them a cue to start up again.
Roxanne pulled Ace down to her and kissed him on the lips. It was only for a moment though and he didn't have enough time to kiss her back as she pulled back and smirked at him. "For luck," she said simply. With that she turned and walked off with Ace watching her go.
"Okay, we're good. We just need it one last time for protection."
Kagome gave a small sigh. She was beginning to wonder if she was enjoying doing these kissing scenes a little too much. She was surprised though when she looked at Inuyasha. Every time they did these kind of scenes, he was normally very cool about it all. This time, he looked slightly flushed.
They set up to do the scene again, but Kagome couldn't seem to push from her mind how strange Inuyasha's reaction was.
It came time for the close-up again. On cue, Roxanne pulled Ace down into a kiss. But something was different this time. Kagome felt Inuyasha kissing her back. They lingered that way for a moment as Kagome tried to figure out if it was accidental or what. If nothing else, it certainly caught her off-guard. When she parted away, she fought to keep her composure. "For luck." This time it was more of a sultry whisper. She slowly turned and walked down the sidewalk.
"Damn," Shippo said slowly. "That was actually better than the first one. We should use that!"
Kagome took a second to push her blush down and smiled as she turned to Shippo and Inuyasha, the latter of whom seemed a little flushed himself.
As they headed back to the car, Kagome gave Inuyasha a curious look and whispered to him so that Shippo wouldn't here. "That wasn't in the script." Oh, real brilliant. What the hell kind of a thing was that to say?
"I know," Inuyasha said softly. "I guess I was just getting into character." Kagome doubted that was the whole truth. But what was she really going to do? Grill him over it?
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Halloween at last. This and Christmas were Shippo's favorite holidays. And the campus really got into this kind of stuff. The entire college center was hosting the party. The lounge, the dining hall, the game room, the pub, and the forum were all done up for the night. Themed food and drinks at the refreshment tables, black and orange crepe paper, fake cobwebs, window decorations, staff members in costume, blacklights and colored lightbulbs, a DJ, jack-o-lanterns, this party had everything except illegal drugs and prostitutes. And Shippo was pretty sure a couple of the idiots in this year's freshmen class were providing for themselves on that.
This year he had chosen to go for an obscure homemade costume that would confuse everyone except his friends. He was Drecker from the online comic ADVENTURERS!. He messed his hair up to make it as spiky as possible, then put on a couple fake earrings and wore black trousers, a white shirt, and a blue jacket. He stuck two fakey plastic daggers in his belt to finish off the look and used a make-up crayon to draw on a goatee. Oh yeah. Stylin'.
As the sun set, Shippo made his way to the college center. Kirara had said she would meet him at the lounge and surprise him with her costume. People were already arriving. There were the obligatory vampires, and psycho killers, and pirates, and just about every other cliche. There was even one of the senior guys dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. That took balls.
Shippo spotted Kirara at the same time she called his name. And as she walked toward him, he found himself adjusting his pants to accomodate for the reaction he was having to her costume. She was wearing a white wrap-around skirt with blue and gold trim that connected in the front, revealing most of her legs up to the lower thighs and sandals. She had a gauzy tube top on of the same color scheme that left her midriff and shoulders bare. She used some black make-up to draw lines on her face to give her an even more feline appearance than normal along with some Egyptian-style eye shadow. She had died her hair black and wore a gold headband with a blue stone in the center along with fake gold armlets. At the top of her head were two little felt cat ears. "How do I look?" She asked, striking a pose.
Shippo wanted to tell her that she looked absolutely gorgeous. "I am really impressed." Damn. "Out of curiosity... what are you supposed to be?"
She laughed and slapped his chest playfully. "I'm Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess, you dork. And I assume that you're Drecker?"
"The one and only," he responded suavely. He glanced behind Kirara to see that Inuyasha and Kagome had just come in dressed up as Ace and Roxanne. He couldn't believe they went through with that. "We've got company," he said to Kirara, pointing behind her.
Kirara looked behind her and laughed with glee. She ran up to Kagome and Inuyasha with Shippo in tow. "Hi guys!"
"Kirara, Shippo!" Kagome said excitedly. "Oh, your costume is great! You look gorgeous!" God damnit.
"Thanks," Kirara beamed. "I made it myself." Shippo noticed for the first time that she had also put a long, curvy tail in the waist band of her skirt to make it look like she had a cat's tail. Kirara really put a lot of work into this.
"Hey Shippo," Inuyasha said, drawing the freshman out of his thoughts. "Do you think you can stop staring at Kirara's ass long enough to help us track down Miroku and Sango?"
Shippo went beat red. "Duh...! I wasn't... I was..."
Kirara just smiled and stuck one hip out. "I'll take it as a compliment." She walked up to him and took his arm with a playful look. "Since all of our friends are going in couples, you want to go with me?"
Shippo felt like he could have jumped through the ceiling with that one. He just smiled and worked up his smoothest voice. "Absolutely. Can't resist my roguish charms, eh?"
"You could say that," she replied with a wink.
"Both of you stop before I put my lunch on display," Inuyasha said with a fake gag.
"Typical guy," Kagome said with a roll of her eyes. "Let's just go find them and have some dinner."
"No need," came a voice from the side. "We're right here." There were Miroku and Sango dressed up as Aragorn and Arwen. Miroku was wearing make-up stubble, but his hair was still too short to really complete the look. Sango looked the part pretty good, though with her white satin dress.
"Well, the gang's all here," Inuyasha said. "Now let's get down to the dining hall, I'm starving over here."
"When are you not?" Kirara teased.
"Burn in hell," he grumbled back.
"By the way Kirara," Sango said as they headed off toward the dining hall, "that's a great costume. Absolutely gorgeous." Damn! Damn, damn, damn! Shippo could have sworn at that point that the universe was laughing at him.
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Kirara was beginning to wonder how much harder she would have to try. She thought she had made it painfully obvious to Shippo that she liked him. And now she was in the most daring outfit she had ever worn in her life to try and catch his attention. If it weren't for the fact that this was the one day of the year in which hedonism was socially acceptable, she would have felt like a slut. Was he nervous or just dense?
She had to wonder about that as she helped herself to the buffet. She soon found herself next to Kagome at the salad bar. "Hey," she said conversationally, realizing too late that she failed to keep the angst out of her voice.
"Something up?" Kagome asked.
Kirara bit her lip nervously and decided to just tell the truth. "Well... It's Shippo. I don't know if you've noticed, but I really like him. And I don't know what he thinks."
Kagome just gave her a knowing smile. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'll see if I can get Miroku and Inuyasha to have a talk with him this evening... Well, Miroku anyway."
"Thanks Kagome," Kirara said with a smile. They walked back to the table with their food and sat down with the group, Kagome next to Inuyasha and Kirara next to Shippo.
"I hear the DJ's got a lot of Halloween appropriate music," Miroku said. "Iced Earth, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper. All in addition to the usual line-up of stuff."
"Bad ass," Inuyasha said around a club sandwich. "Normally, DJs suck. They just stand up there and ignore good requests and play all that fucking pop swill so that the stupid bitches who request it will sleep with them."
"A touch bitter are we?" Shippo asked with a teasing edge.
Inuyasha grumbled something under his breath through a mouthful of food.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that," Shippo said with a smirk.
Inuyasha then held out one hand with his middle finger extended and pointed down. "Can't hear this? Let me turn it up." He then turned his hand up so that he was flipping Shippo off.
"That's enough out of you two," Kagome said as if she were reprimanding two children. "We'll check out the Forum when we're done eating."
The rest of the meal passed with small talk. As they all got up to go, Kirara began to wonder just what Kagome had planned. Shippo had told her all about the night of the elevator incident. That girl needed a hobby outside of people.
"When we get to the Forum, how about we all go up and put in some requests together," Sango suggested. "We'll go one after the other. That way we can get six songs in a row that we know we want to hear."
"No objections here," Miroku said. "I hope you'll save me a dance for any slow songs that come up, Lady Arwen."
Sango flushed, but smiled all the same. "As if I have a choice?"
Kirara loved these people. It never ceased to amuse her how their twisted little minds worked. Now if they would just get over themselves and start making out like she knew they wanted to, it would be even better.
They heard the sound of club music as they approached the Forum. The doors were open and smoke from a fog machine was seeping out from the black and orange cepe paper that had been taped in streamers over the treshold. They all walked in together and found themselves in a dark room with cheesy monster carboard cut-outs hung on the wall, spiderwebs, fog on the ground, a table at one end serving soft drinks and beer, the DJ's rig at the other end, and a plethora of blacklights, strobes, and party lights. The current music was another generic club song that consisted of little more than a drum beat and a bassline. It was cool if you were into that kind of thing.
The group all exchanged smiles and went up in pairs with Kirara and Shippo going last to put in their requests. Kirara came up first and jotted down her selection: Message In a Bottle by The Police. Shippo seemed to be very secretive about his choice and simply gave her a knowing smile as they walked away toward the dance floor.
"Alright!" Miroku shouted above the music. "We'll know the DJ has hit our requests when mine comes up first." That didn't take long. They only had to go through two songs when the familiar riff of Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top came up. Inuyasha seemed to enjoy that even more than Miroku. He doffed his coat and fedora, leaving them with the people at the refreshment table, and danced to the music, showing off in time with the lyrics. Kirara couldn't help but laugh when he grabbed Kagome and pulled her up to him, mouthing the lyrics at the last line in the last repeat of the chorus. The crowd of other dancers also seemed to find it funny as hell.
When that was done, Sango's song came up next. Kirara was a little surprised to hear the intro to Float On by Modest Mouse. They all got into it though. Miroku had been rather insistent on making sure Sango didn't save him just one dance, but rather all of them. Shippo and Inuyasha draped their arms over each other's shoulders, pretending to remove hats and sang along to the chorus half-way through the song.
At the end, it was fairly obvious who picked the next song. Powerslave by Iron Maiden. No one but Inuyasha. The Egyptian sound of the song actually gave Kirara an idea. She decided to continue messing with Shippo's head. She danced along with him to the gallopping beat then fixed him with a sultry look that must have really thrown him for a loop because he started to slow down and stare at her.
As the chorus came up, she took him by the lapels of his jacket, swaying her hips as she lip-synched to the chorus. He was spellbound.
Kirara kept repeating the process through the song, pulling Shippo out of his trance long enough to dance during the huge interlude. She glanced over to see Inuyasha holding his jacket and tie in hand and banging his head, acting completely insane through the guitar solos.
As the song drew toward it's end, Kirara leaned in close to Shippo and decided to just take the risk and lay her cards on the table. "How would you like to be a slave to the power of Bast?"
Much to her surprise, Shippo wrapped his arms around her waste. "Only if you'll take me lock, stock, and barrel." With that, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It was a kiss Kirara was all too happy to return. Heavy metal bringing people together. You didn't see that too often.
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Miroku didn't think he could have enjoyed himself anymore. Sango looked indescribably beautiful, she was dancing with him, they were out having fun. He would have to make the next move some time tonight while the mood was still fresh. He really did want to be with her. It had taken every bit of charisma to win over her father. Now he just needed to formalize it and ask her out.
He was more than a little surprised when he glanced over and saw Kirara and Shippo with a vaccuum seal on each other's lips. Iron Maiden inspired that? "I guess they're more deranged than we imagined," he remarked, pointing out the couple to Sango.
Sango's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Wow... Can't say I saw that coming."
"I think it came out of left field for all of us," Kagome said beside them. "I didn't think she would be so bold."
"I always figured Kirara was like a cat," Sango mused. "She's done toying with her prey, so she decided to go straight for what she wanted."
A throbbing bassline came up and Kagome smiled. "Ooh! My song!" When the guitarwork started up, Miroku quickly recognized it. Jet City Woman by Queensryche. Huh. That was unexpected. He thought she didn't like metal. Go figure.
Deciding not to waste the opportunity, Miroku pulled Sango into a dance. He stared into her eyes as they listened to the lyrics. She smiled softly at him when the chorus came up. She stretched up and leaned in, whispering in his ear. "You're a big softie, you know that?"
"It's a side of myself I only show to those I'm closest to," he whispered back. He smiled at the look in her face. They continued to dance together throughout the whole song and on into the next one, which was probably Kirara's choice. No one else in the room really mattered to them at that point.
The last song is what snapped them out of their trance, though. I Believe In a Thing Called Love by The Darkness. This was the song Shippo had picked. "Hey, I love this song!" Miroku heard Inuyasha shout.
Miroku and Sango both looked over at Shippo who gave them both a wink. Miroku just shook his head and mouthed out, "You sadistic son of a bitch."
Shippo just wiggled his eyebrows at them and mouthed back, "You know you love me."
Miroku looked over at Inuyasha and Kagome as they were dancing together. He couldn't help but feel sorry for them. When Shippo set out to enact vengeance, he laid a careful web of deception and trickery. And when the time finally came for him to unveil the coup de grace of his masterplan, it would hit Inuyasha and Kagome like a ton of bricks.
Miroku almost pitied them. Almost.
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Author's Notes: I was feeling very wierd when I wrote all this. Does it show? The next chapter will have more Halloween goodness to it. It's one of my favorite holidays so of course I'm going to devote some time to it.
Anyway, on to my reviewers...
Kagome M.K.: Your self-awareness of it made it funny instead of boring.
Magellan-Chan: No hints for you. I am The Plot Nazi... New Yorkers will probably get that.
Araine: Well, as long as we're bringing hospital-worthy stuff into this, I had to spend my 4th grade year on crutches because a bike accident resulted in a buckle fracture in my left leg.
bluefuzzyelf: Once I actually play The Sims 2, I'll make sure to add a scene with Shippo playing it. That game will be released long before this story is finished. I mean, school's about to start up again. A man has to keep his priorities straight.
Father Malvado: I never got into DMC for some inexplicable reason. What kind of bass are you saving up for, out of curiosity?
kewlgurl175: I know. I think the genes on my father's side of the family were tainted with darkness somewhere along the lines. Or it might have something to do with being descended from Carpathian aristocracy... Horror fiction fans will probably get that.
Gina: Bubble tea is still healthier than booze at least. Which is great if you're like me and have a really addictive personality.
Julia: Now that's what authors really like to hear. That we were good enough to waste that much time on in one sitting. I'm going to go get some ice for my swollen ego. (rimshot)... I now know I'm on an ego trip because I actually thought that was funny when I wrote it.