Phys Ed, Daniel decided, wasn't as bad as he'd feared. He's impressed the teacher, that was for sure, not to mention all the girls in the class had been almost drooling at the sight of him, and he'd made quite a few of the boys very upset and jealous, and not because their girlfriends were admiring some other guy. With all the homework he'd had piled onto him for tonight alone though, he wasn't so sure he'd be following Kyle's plan of, as the older teenager had put it, 'learning how to get the girl'. More like he was going to spend the night, not to mention the rest of the week, trying to wade through all the make-up assignments he'd been getting.

Maybe Lily could help him out, he was going to have her help him study to catch up on Japanese and Mod Civ. Thankfully, his English teacher had decided to give him a break and let him work from the current point in the class, with the promise that he would make everything else up over Spring Break.

Just as Kyle had said, he and the girls were waiting out in the parking lot for him in a white Mitsubishi that was parked right next to his red and white motorcycle. "How did you know this was mine?" he asked as he carefully slid his helmet on after tucking down his ears.

"The colors gave it away," Kyle replied while he grinned from in the driver's side. "Just follow me and I'll show you the way to Lily's place, so you can get there later on." There was a giggle from the backseat just before Kyle rolled up the window and back out of the spot.

With a sigh, Daniel swung his right leg over to mount his 'cycle, inserted the key and switched it to 'on', then kicked down on the starter to ignite the engine. He revved it a bit, slapped down the face guard of his helmet, then clicked the gear into neutral and push back to pull out from the parking spot. As Kyle's car headed out of the lot, Daniel shifted into gear and followed. This, he though just as they started off onto the main road, is going to be interesting.


It was about forty-five minutes later that Daniel finally pulled up to the curb next to Kyle's house. He'd called from Lily's house to let his parents know he was going to be home late, and because she hadn't seen him in nine years, Lily's mother had proceeded to dot on him like a lost son of hers she'd found again. Well, if anything, if he took Kyle's advice and asked Lily out, he knew that her parents would more than approve.

Oh yes, Lily's insistence that he stay so she could take his measurements for the costume. He would have rather done that than head off with Kyle, but the older boy had insisted that he needed to help Daniel 'study up on Inu'. That was likely to chew up the time he needed to be studying and catching up in class. But, having been told that he'd been heading back to her house, Lily had agreed. If only she knew Kyle's real plans.

"Don't worry about it," Kyle remarked as he opened the door and led Daniel inside. "You'll be back over there in a couple hours, and then you can cuddle up with her all you want."

Is that what he thought Daniel wanted to go back to her house for? If so, he wasn't sure he wanted Kyle's advice on how to be more confident about asking Lily out on a date. "Actually," he finally said. "I really need to get started on my homework. I've got a pile up to my waist to get through this whole week."

"That's what the rest of us are for," came Kyle's reply. "Right now, I wann'a get you introduced to the InuYasha anime, and loan you some of the manga." He had the younger boy follow him upstairs and opened the door of a room to reveal all the posters and various models that filled the walls and various shelves. While Daniel stared in amazement, Kyle simply chuckled. "This is just my collection room," he said as he walked over to a cassette rack and pulled a few VHS tapes from the slots. "Like I said, my dad's parents are from Japan, so my cousins send me a lot of stuff in between family trips out there. I actually got a scoop that Nintendo is finally making a Zelda anime."

"Legend of Zelda?" Daniel quipped while he gazed at a poster of that series' protagonist character. "It's going to be based on Ocarina of Time, right?"

A smile appeared over Kyle's lips as he pulled out a magazine and opened it up to show some pictures from the series. "Completely new continuity, and Link got a new outfit." While Daniel looked at the images, Kyle started looking for his spare copies of the InuYasha manga. "They ditched the hat, updated the outfit design, and best of all, they have an American voicing him for the Japanese dialogue."

Daniel looked over at his new friend. He couldn't read the article, since it was in a writing system he couldn't understand, so he had to take Kyle's word for it. "That would be this Chris guy you mentioned," he concluded. "You said he was working on some project for Nintendo, why didn't you say what it was before?"

"Because Lily and Stephanie would have flipped if they knew that Chris is going to be Link's voice in Japanese." Kyle walked over and flipped the page to show the picture of an American young man with golden blonde hair that was covering over his ears. "Chris actually has elf ears, so they've also been having him appear at conventions in costume over there when he'd not at the studio with the rest of the cast. He's also voicing Ganon for the anime, and you can bet that if Ocean doesn't get it so that Chris is on the voice cast for the dub, people are going to flip out like ninjas and cause one hell of a stink."

Okay, Daniel was impressed now at just how big this whole anime thing was, not to mention the fact that Zelda was one of his favorite game series. "What else has he done?" he asked while handing the magazine back to Kyle.

"Covered a hell of a lot for Scott when he's lost his voice." The older boy smirked as he put the magazine back on the bookshelf, then pointed to a photo that was hanging on the wall, which showed him dressed in black and purple robes, Stephanie in some kind of black jumpsuit with pink armor and trim, and Lily in what Daniel knew was a Japanese school uniform for girls. With them in the photo was the young man from the magazine article dressed up in what looked like a leather version of the Link costume, hair styled so that his elongated ears were obvious, and a man in a sleeveless flannel shirt, denim shorts, and a cowboy hat on his head.

"The guy in flannel is Scott McNeil, that picture was taken last year at NDK in Denver," Kyle explained while patting Daniel on the back. "That was the first and last convention Chris attended as just a regular attendee. He sent a voice demo to Northern Exposure after Scott had been telling the guys up there about him and he got picked up by Ocean just three months later."

Dreams did come true it seemed. "How'd he get the role of Link in Japan though?"

Again, Kyle laughed. "That's the great part," he replied. "Apparently, Shegiru Miyamoto got wind of how much like a real life Link he looked like, and convinced the big N to pick up an American to be Link's voice, so that they could use him for the English dubs as well." There was a shine of pride in the boy's eyes as he looked at the photo. "We keep in touch, which is how I know he's also Ganon's voice."

Now walking over to his computer Kyle started booting it up while he watched Daniel looking at all the posters and models. "He was nice enough to send use some clips of what he sounds like as the big orc pig," he continued while waiting for the computer to start. "And holy god, they did a hell of a number with that. You'd never guess it was him if you didn't know for a fact he's the seiyuu."

Windows ME started, Kyle quickly brought up Winamp and opened a couple files into the media player. The first one, Daniel assumed, was a clip of Link himself, being there was no distortions done to it, and it actually fit the way he imagined Link sounding. Not exact, but the tone was pretty close. He had a feeling it would be better if he understood what was being said, however. "He's got a good voice," he remarked after a moment.

"That was as Link," Kyle said, though he knew it was obvious. "This," and he started the next clip, "is Chris as Ganon."

As the deep bassful and rumbling voice echoed off the speakers, Daniel found that Kyle was right; if he hadn't been told it was the same guy, he never would have known! It seemed such a contrast to Link, so sinister, yet at the same time so calm and calculating. If that was Ganon in Japanese he could only imagine how he'd sound when dubbed in English. "Holy moley," he whispered. "And he's a US native?"

"Yeah, and that's what's got everyone who knows all hyped up here in the states." Kyle quickly turned off Winamp and smiled. "A few people are complaining that it should be a Japanese seiyuu, they're the nay-sayers who think he'll botch up his lines." Again, that look of pride. "That's why he busted his ass learning as much of the language as possible, and his copy of the script is translated into romaji for him so he only worries about pronouncing the syllables. Plus, considering that the voice actor is the same for English and Japanese by doing it this way, they'll probably shut up once they see the actual show."

After hearing all this, it was no wonder his friends were so into all this stuff. He still wasn't sold on InuYasha, but he'd be damned if he didn't follow with this. He loved the Zelda games, watching it in full animation would be a dream come true! "Bummer he won't be at the convention," he muttered. But when he saw that evil grin on Kyle's face, he knew something was up. "You said he wasn't sure if he could make it."

"Yeah, that's what he told me to tell the girls," he stated before opening an old e-mail. "He's going to be at SakuraCon, but it's supposed to be a huge surprise to announce the premiere of the anime in Japan, so the website is listing nothing about him being there this year. It's supposed to hit their airwaves in April, and Chris is pulling for Viz to get the English rights so that he's on the English cast." He frowned for a moment. "Problem is, they're up against ADV, and while Chris and Tristan MacAvery are good pals, that ain't gonn'a mean squat if they get it and decide not to contract-out for Chris. Which means..."

"No Chris as Link and Ganon," Daniel said as his face fell. "Oh man, his voice fits Link too! Not that they won't have someone who can do a good job, but..."

A nod. "He sounds like the guy who did the grunts and stuff in Ocarina," he finished somberly. "He did let the girls know the he's definitely making NDK this year as a normal attendee, he's already pre-registered and signed up to be on staff, lucky bastard." That grin appeared again. "Mind you, his name's not nearly the fandraw that Scott's is, but when the fangirls see him, they squee and hunt him down. I heard he actually had some trouble at a convention in Japan because some school girl who was under sixteen wanted to sleep with him so she could say she'd been with Link."

Sixteen? Wasn't it eighteen that was legal concenting age? "I assume they have a legal difference from us on ages?"

He raised his brow, but then nodded. "Age of consent in Japan is sixteen. Poor Chris was freaked out actually when she asked him, and the girl was banned from the convention for life." Kyle finally turned around and handed Daniel the manga volumes and VHS tapes. "That's volumes one and two of the manga, and episodes one through sixteen of the anime. I'd loan you the VCDs, but Lily's already borrowing the ones you'd need."

And he was headed to Lily's house soon...wait, Kyle said he was going to teach him how to be able to be confident in himself around her. If he remembered that, this did not bode well. Best not to remind him. "I best get going then," he said, now turning to leave while he slipped the mangas and videos into his backpack.

Kyle smiled and stood up. "You think you're getting away that easy?" he said to let Daniel know he hadn't forgotten. "We still have to work on your confidence problem, Pup."

Not good. "Uh, Kyle," he replied while turning back around. "No offense, but considering I saw you flirting with almost every girl we passed on the way to Mister Bernard's class, I hardly think you're the person to teach me."

Kyle raised a brow, though his expression was more amused than upset. "Ah, that. Stephanie knows I can't help but flirt around, and she's not much better, so we let it go since she knows, and I know, that it will never go beyond flirting with anyone else." He raised his right hand and tapped that silver ring. "There's a reason for these, after all."

He didn't want to try and figure out the insinuation there. He'd heard Kyle making out with Stephanie when he'd dropped her off at home, even with his ears folded down and covered by his helmet. It didn't take much more to imagine what else they'd been doing. And then there had been that joke about Lily going the wrong way to the Janitor's office at school...

"Best advice I can give is to not be so nervous around her," Kyle stated as he leaned back in his chair. "Just forget about any thought that she'll not like you, because you know she does, and has done so for the past decade." He paused a moment, then grinned. "She has got the biggest crush on you, Danny. That's why she's such an InuYasha fangirl, because he looks just like you."

Someone had a crush on him? That was something he'd never have imagined in his life as happening. If he'd known that before, he would have made an effort to not forget her and...who was he kidding? He'd lost almost all memory of her by the time he was ten, he never would have known unless he'd been sent back into public schools sooner. But, he had a chance to make up for that. And then, Daniel smiled. Wonder what Sensei Ookami would say, he thought before taking a breath and slinging his backpack over his shoulders.

"I should get back to her house," he stated, then realized he didn't really remember how to get there. "Um, you think you could give me directions?"

Kyle chuckled and got out of his chair, then grabbed his jacket and his car keys. "I need to get some stuff back from her anyway, just follow me, it's not far." he paused a moment to get a box from in his closet, then headed out. As they went back down the stairs, Daniel slipping his helmet back on, Kyle paused at the front door and looked back to waggle his brows at the dog-ears boy. "I foresee much cuddling in front of the anime tonight for you, and possibly some tonsil hockey if things play out right."

"I'm not that much of a dog, you pervert!"

Oh yeah, he definitely called that reaction perfectly.


The minute Lily had opened the door to see Daniel standing there, her reaction was a perfectly normal one, for a raging anime fangirl. She squealed, tackled him into a hug, then pulled him into the house and dragged him downstairs to the basement where she planted him in front of the TV. It was only then that Kyle cleared his throat to make his own presence known at the top of the basement stairs.

"You'd think you had him ready to hit the ground if he resisted."

She glared, he gave her the plotting eye, and then she raced back into the basement to get out her measuring tape. "Thank you for reminding me," she said as she had Daniel stand up and take his jacket and backpack off. "Spread your arms," she intoned, now running the tape along his body to get the measurements she needed. As she wrapped it around his chest, she had to resist tickling him in the side. "I can't believe how friggin' perfect to all this he is," came her mumbling as she wrote down the measurements in a notepad. "By the way, you think Sean can build him a Tetsusaiga in time for the con, or do we have to go pre-Fang Inu?"

"I gave him a call on the way over here, so he's gonn'a start work this weekend on a plastic Tetsusaiga instead of a boffer so it looks better, and he can give it that bone look."

"And for the rosary?" Lily continued as she finished taking Daniel's measurements. "I'm not that good at props, you know."

He held out the box he'd grabbed from his collection room and smiled as he opened it to reveal the contents. "This work?" he asked as Lily stared in amazement and was ready to swipe it from his hand. "Hey!" he hissed while pulling it back from her nabbing hands just in time. "Careful, this thing has been in my family since the Warring States era of old Nippon!" He took a breath, then pulled the blue bead and white fang necklace out of the box. "It's five hundred years old, and I'm surprised the damn thing is still so solid."

"Kyle, that thing is perfect!" she cried, holding out her hands so she could take it. When he finally draped it on her wrist, Lily noticed that it was a bit heavier that it should have been for what it was made of. "Where did your family get this thing?" she asked as she held it up to examine it in the light. "I didn't think they actually made prayer rosaries like this back then!"

He shrugged and slipped the box under his arm again. "One of my ancestors got it about five hundred or so years ago when some of his friends got married." He took a breath, then grinned like he had just thought of a joke. "He was a Buddhist monk, ended up having a bunch of kids with some 'demon slayer'. Big family, I think they ended up with like a dozen or so children before they finally stopped popping out babies."

That sounded a bit familiar. "If I didn't know better," Lily remarked wryly while she walked over to Daniel and slipped the rosary over his neck, "I'd say it figures you're a descendent of Miroku. You're his friggin' reincarnation considering how much you flirt with anything that has two legs, a pretty face, and a pair of boobs."

"I'm minus the Air Void," Kyle stated to remind her of that point. "Which I'm pretty sure means I'm not one of his kin, though you never know, they probably will eventually kill Naraku." He glanced to Daniel and grinned. "The pup here is pretty much InuYasha, and we all know I'm the Lecherous Monk of Buddha."

"Eric comes in a close second," she quipped while pulling Daniel's hair out from under the necklace. "But, he doesn't have any Asia blood in him, let alone Japanese. That and he lives in Utah, and makes a better Zelgadis."

He had the urge to finger the rosary, though Daniel also got a really odd tingle from it. Probably was just a static charge or something. "Do I have to wear this thing?" he asked as he started to not like that tingle. Then, it was gone, but he still felt something from the necklace.

"It's part of the costume," she replied while slapping his hand away from the beads. Lily sighed, looked at Daniel thoughtfully while she imagined him wearing the full costume, then couldn't help but giggle. "It's gonn'a be so perfect!" she exclaimed. "I can even see him taking the fall when I say osuwari!"

WHAM!

No one said anything for the longest moment. Lily just stood there, while Kyle was staring at where Daniel was standing. Or, to be more accurate, Kyle was staring at where Daniel had been standing. Lily slowly turned, and then they both looked down to see that Daniel was planted, face first no less, against the carpet, moaning in pain. They both blinked in shock at first, then realized that Daniel wasn't joking around.

"OhmygodohmygodI'msosorry!"

"My face hurts," was all Daniel could say as they helped him up. He groaned, felt his face and found that, no, his nose wasn't broken. Lucky that. "What just happened, and why did I suddenly find my face eating your floor?"

Neither of them could explain it. One second, Daniel had been just fine, and then the next, Kyle saw those beads flash and Daniel had slammed to the ground. It wasn't possible, it wasn't logical, hell, it wasn't real! But, it had happened. "Danny," he finally said after the odd silence. "I'd suggest you take that thing off."

The boy nodded and started to remove the necklace, but it wouldn't come off. He blinked, pulled as much as he could, but the thing wouldn't pull away from his body. "Guys," he finally whimpered. "It's not coming off!"

The older boy groaned and took hold of the rosary. "That's not funny, Danny," he said, but then found that he was right; the rosary wouldn't budge at all. If they hadn't been freaked out before, they were now. "Oh boy, this ain't good."

"Stop joking around you two!" Lily exclaimed. Kyle then proceeded to try again, just to prove to her that they weren't playing; that necklace refused to be moved, and now, she recognized the reality of it. "Oh my god...Kyle, this is the real deal! This is a real subjugation rosary! How the hell did your family get this thing!"

"I told you, a Buddhist monk ancestor of mine got it from a couple of his friends who got hitched!" he replied, no less perturbed by this situation. It wasn't making any sense how this was possible for there to really be such a magic artifact, but they couldn't deny that it really existed, the proof had already given itself.

"Is everything alright down there?"

Lily froze, then looked up toward the stairs. "Fine, mom! Just watching some anime with Kyle and Daniel while we do homework!" She reached over and hit the play button of her stereo remote to put on some music. After a moment, she reached over and tried to take the necklace off, but it would not budge. This was not good. "Kyle," she hissed. "We have to get this thing off of him! Every time someone says osu-"

His hand quickly covered her mouth before she could finish. "Don't say it!" he hissed. When she nodded, he let go and sighed. "Get something to cushion him, we need to test this."

Daniel couldn't help but gulp in fear as Lily took him into her room and set him on a large futon. "Uh, this is gonn'a hurt again, isn't it?"

A shrug from Kyle was the initial response. "That depends on if it works for anyone," he said, then took a breath and sighed. "Sorry in advance...Osuwari."

He braced himself, but nothing happened. Daniel opened his eyes to see that he was still standing. Kyle repeated, and again, nothing happened. That was a relief. Maybe it was just a one-time fluke and-

"Osuwari."

WHAM! "Ow! Damnit, that hurts even with the futon!"

"Well, that confirms not just anyone can say it," Kyle muttered while they helped Daniel back to his feet again. He was definitely getting that pissed off expression so common to InuYasha himself, and Kyle couldn't really blame him. "Lily, until we can get this thing off his neck, you are not to say osuwari ever again, is that understood?"

Biting her lip, she nodded. "Let's just hope the same thing doesn't happen when I say 'sit'." Lily went wide eyed and covered her mouth, but fortunately, nothing happened. No glow, no Daniel slamming into the ground, nothing. "Oh good, I can at least say it in English." Something else crossed her mind now, and she fingered the rosary. It would move when someone wasn't trying to peel it off, that was a good thing. "I wonder why it only works for me? I'm no miko. Hell, I'm not even remotely Japanese."

Again, Kyle shrugged while he tried to figure it out himself. "It might be because you put it on him," he replied, since it was the most logical answer. "You put it around his neck, you gave it the command, and it's 'coded' to you." He paused and scratched the back of his head. "That's the only reason I can think of, thought I can't figure out why then you can't take it off."

This was just great. He had a necklace on him that made his face hit the ground whenever Lily said that word, no one could get it off, and he'd been trying to work up the courage to ask her out like Kyle had suggested. Now was no time to do that now, not that he had this...this thing on him. God, it felt like a collar around his neck now that he thought about it. That's exactly was this thing was, the Collar from Hell. If Greg got wind of this, he'd hear no end of it.

Someone was pulling out the neck hole of his shirt. He finally snapped back to reality just as Lily was tucking the rosary under his shirt, then caught a peak through the neck hole and blushed. "Wow," she whispered while letting go and shoving her hands down in front of her. For a moment, she glanced to him, then took another look and tuned an even brighter shade of red. "Oh, wow!"

"What?"

She glanced to Kyle, not even trying to hide how red she was from embarrassment. "Kyle, you have got to see what he looks like under that shirt!"

Both boys stared at her like she was nuts. Kyle was the first of them to respond. "Uh, Lil," he said. "One dude checking out another dude is not something that's kosher with the Lecherous Monk."

She blinked, then realized what he meant. "No, no, not like that! I mean..." He paused then just grabbed the bottom of Daniel's shirt and pulled up. "I mean, look at how built he is!"

"Hey!" he cried, pulling his shirt back down while it was now his turn to go red. "It's bad enough all the girls in PE were screaming for me to take it off, I don't need you doing it too!" He looked to Kyle for some back-up, but the older boy just had one very surprised expression on his face. "A little help here!"

After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah, definitely agreed," he said, then glanced to Daniel. "How the hell did you get like that!"

He almost yelled back an angry retort, but realized just what Kyle as asking. "I've been training in martial arts for nine years, and I take my test for black belt in a couple weeks. I've been like this since I was twelve."

Again Kyle stared in amazement while Lily resumed the usual anime girl thing to do of going bright red. "You are so damn lucky," he said finally. "Most guys don't get that kind of gift when they hit puberty, you have it made!" With an evil eye to Lily, Kyle grinned. "This would be where Stephanie would say that that you got the pick of the litter, Lil."

Did Kyle have to use dog terms like that when talking about him? Daniel sighed and lowered his head. That was another problem, now that he thought about it. He had to shower with this damn necklace on in PE, how was he going to explain that? More over, how did he explain it to his parents? He thought his life had been complicated before, but now, with all this...

He felt a hand pushing his chin up, and he looked to see Lily smiling at him. "Cheer up," she said, her tone upbeat. "He's right, I got the best in the litter."

She got what? "Uh, Lily...I..." He looked to Kyle, but the older boy had already left the room, abandoning Daniel to be alone with Lily. Wait, alone with her! What was Kyle thinking! "I should probably be..." gulp "...going..."

She smiled, took a hold of his sidelocks, then inched toward his lips. Daniel found he couldn't breath, his heart was pounding, no, racing, and then, she kissed him. He went wide eyed, but then, after a moment, he smiled and slipped his hands around her waist and let himself be drawn into it while his eyes fell shut.

He had best call home to let his parents know that he was going to be home a little later than expected. But, that could wait a bit. Right now, he felt like putty in her hands, and he liked it.

Just outside, Kyle didn't even have to look in on the two to know what had happened. He smiled, glanced to his ring, then dug out his cell phone and brought up Stephanie's number. She picked up after a couple rings. "Hey hon," he said into the phone. "Mission accomplished, those two are having their first kiss, and with each other no less." She asked him something, he angled back a bit to peek in, then broke into a wide grin. "Well, I don't count on it going past first base, but...damn, he must be one hell of a kisser for her to be like...holy geeze, she's got her hand up his shirt. Uh, Steph...make that second base at most."

She said something else, and he glanced at a clock. It was about five fifteen. He weighed the options in his head, heard her whispering over the phone to him, then decided it best to let the little lovebirds who were still innocent kids have their privacy. After all, when the Lecherous Monk of Buddha got an offer of booty call, who was he to refuse? "I'll be over in about fifteen minutes, along with dinner, because I don't think we want your dad walking in on us again, even if we have an engagement."

With that, after bidding her a short farewell, he flipped shut his phone, took one last glance to make sure the pups weren't doing anything he would, and was satisfied that they'd behave. Keys and box in hand, he headed upstairs, let Lily's mother know that the girl had found herself her first boyfriend, who was well-behaved, respectful, and completely incapable of trying anything underhanded with her daughter, and left with that big grin still on his face.

"Chinese sounds good," he muttered while heading for Stephanie's house. "She generally likes Chinese to munch on while we cuddle afterwards."