As he and Lily walked out of Mod Civ, Daniel couldn't help but be absolutely beaming, feeling like a god. Not that anyone would have blamed him. After all, he'd gotten himself a girlfriend, had been offered a tryout for the Junior Varsity basketball team, which he'd turned down because he already had enough after school activities on his hands, and he was no longer bothered by Greg Harris and his gang, thanks to the fact that those guys had finally crossed the line and been expelled. He'd also managed to blaze through and make up all the missing work, with no small help from his friends, and he was proud to admit he had help. That's what friends were for, afterall.
It had been over a month since he and Lily had officially became a couple, which actually had been about a day after they kissed, cuddled up and watched some anime in her TV room after dinner, and then, after watching Escaflowne the movie, had proceeded to resume the kissing. Kyle no doubt had informed Lily's mother about it as he'd left , since when Daniel had broken off the kissing session to call his parents, she invited him to stay for dinner. Oh well, she more than approved of them being a couple. Her father had taken it pretty good as well, even if he had given something of the "that's my little girl" lecture Daniel had heard all about from Sensei Ookami.
They had known him when he'd been just a little boy though, and considering that it have been Kyle, who apparently was famous for the antics he and Stephanie had late at night, who assured Missus Bennett that the teenagers were definitely not going to do anything he and Stephanie would...well, Kyle would be the expert on judging that. And they hadn't done anything besides kissing...a lot. Alright, so he'd lost his shirt once they'd resumed making out after his phone call, but that was the only article of clothing that had been removed besides shoes. Lily wasn't that kind of girl, and he was not that kind of boy.
He still was being doe-eyed by most of the girls around school, which made the boyfriends jealous, but at least they were leaving him generally alone, save those that were single and fawned over the fact he was now taken. Honestly, he didn't see what the big deal was. Yeah, he felt a whole lot better about himself and wasn't so quick to wish he was a normal human, but he was still an anomaly of nature and mutation. Besides, he was quite happy with Lily.
The film project had gone rather well, though he still couldn't really get into the frame of mind needed to portray InuYasha. Then again, when they didn't see you, only heard your voice, that didn't matter as much. All that mattered had been that the anime fans loved it, and Missus Gallagher has given them a B on the commercial. She would have given them an A, but apparently, being as good as it was hadn't been enough to redeam their previous antics in the video room. But to him, all that mattered was that he had fun doing it, and they'd passed the assignment, and the next one which had been to make a silent movie. Leave it to Lily to come up with a cheesy kung-fu style flick that had 'badly dubbed subtitles'. Ah well, the whole class had cracked up watching it, and they pulled off an A minus, no thanks to his own ability to pull off stunts that you normally needed wires for.
And now, they were headed off to that very class, hand in hand. God, he felt so good now. He had finally found a way to fit in with everyone else, by just being himself.
"I can't believe Chris isn't gonn'a make it! Gah!"
Well, sounded like Stephanie was in a great mood. They took their usual seats next to the lovingly engaged pair of teenagers that were Kyle and Stephanie. "What's going on?" Lily asked as she held out a handkerchief for Stephanie, who already was crying.
"We just got an e-mail from Chris last night," Kyle answered while his girlfriend was blowing her nose. "He's not gonn'a be able to make it to SakuraCon after all, apparently that project with Nintendo has got his schedule tied up to hell."
He almost opened his mouth, but then Daniel quickly thought better of telling Stephanie the real news on that when Kyle glanced to him and winked. It was a better idea to let it be a surprise, especially on just what that project was. "Bummer," he instead said. "I was looking forward to meeting him after what you guys have told me."
Kyle shrugged and gave Stephanie a pat on the leg. "He'll definitely make it to NDK though, he promised that, since Scott's gonn'a be there, and he wants to give us Voice Wars Two before he's a guest." A grin as she started to cheer up. "I'd advise against reminding him about that one girl from last year though. He's still a bit sore over that."
This was something new. "What happened last year?" Daniel inquired while he pulled out his art folder and started doodling.
They glanced to each other, trying to decide which one was going to explain it, and then Kyle sighed and threw up his hand. "Fine, fine, I'll tell him," he exclaimed. With a sigh, he cracked his neck, wishing he didn't have to think back on it. "Like I told you, last year's NDK was Chris' first and last convention before he got lucky and landed a job at Ocean. Well, it was also there he met this girl who he went all head over heels for."
This sounded like he already knew how it ended. "I'm assuming that Lina cosplayer in the group photo."
A nod. "That's the one," Kyle confirmed. "After con, they started going out, even if it was a long distance relationship, and we all thought it was going to work out for him considering how happy he sounded. Then, right before he found out that he got the job with Ocean, she dumps him and left him heartbroken, blaming himself for everything that went wrong." He sighed and shook his head in disgust. "It turns out she had a record of doing this, and her former friends told him that it wasn't his fault, he wasn't to blame, but he's still beating himself up over it."
That sounded pretty bad. No wonder he had freaked out over that girl in Japan, he still hadn't recovered from that emotional trauma. "That sucks," Daniel commented while he shut his art book. "But he managed to pull it together enough to go up to Canada and grab that job, obviously."
A round of nods. "He's still sore over it though," Stephanie remarked as she handed Lily back her handkerchief. "The guy is afraid that it's gonn'a happen all over again if he gets into another relationship, hence why he tries to avoid the fangirls who are legal." Another sigh as she began tracing her finger on the desk. "I was thinking of setting him up on a date with one of my friends if he made it this weekend."
"Which is a very bad idea," Kyle chided. Apparently, he'd said this a lot. "She's not jail bait, but I don't think he's ready for that yet. It could end up leaving him even worse off."
A shrug, another sigh, and then Missus Gallagher called for everyone's attention. "Listen up!" she said while finishing up the roll. "New project! I want a short film, no more than five minutes, due in two weeks. Those of you who are going to SakuraCon this weekend, you're excused from this assignment." She let the round of cheers go out, as well as the groans from those obviously not going to the convention and wishing they were. "Instead, you have a different project." Ah, yes, not so happy about it now. "I want a video documentary of the convention, as well as a report of what's going on, what's coming out, and if possible, some interviews with the guests." Now she looked right at the quartette in particular. "Kyle, I know you have connections with that Blair guy at Ocean. I expect you to use them."
As he chuckled, Kyle shrugged. "I would," he replied. "But he's in Japan right now, and he mailed us last night to let us know he wasn't going to make it. I can try and get one with Paul Dobson though, he's on the guest list."
Missus Gallagher nodded and told everyone to get to work. However, she again flagged down Kyle's group to join her in the studio room. With the door closed behind them, she sighed and looked to the four. "Kyle, this is the one thing I have high expectations on from you guys. You brought me that great tape from NDK, and you were just my aide last year. I expect you guys to bust out something that no one else is going to get."
There was a spark in Kyle's eyes. Yeah, he had something in mind alright. "Already planned for," he replied. "I won't spoil it, because I want to keep it a surprise, but I think everyone is going to wet their pants."
"I already have twelve McNeil interviews, that's not good enough anymore."
"Trust me," he replied while glancing to Daniel. "This has got nothing to do with Scott. Just make sure that you've got tarps under all the desks when we show our report, because it'll make the janitor's job a lot easier in cleaning up the mess."
"I can't believe you told her that!"
As they all headed for the parking lot after school, Stephanie wasn't sure if she want to make love to Kyle right there, or beat him over the head. She was seriously considering both at the same time to kill two birds with one stone.
"Trust me, hon," he replied as he unlocked his car and let her in while Daniel and Lily were mounting the red and white Kawasaki. "I know what I'm doing, just like I always do." He grinned and opened his door while Stephanie just snorted at him. "Which one of us was the one that managed to calm your dad down after the first time he walked in on us?"
"Only because we'd already been engaged for two months," she shot back in an annoyed voice. "Damnit, what the hell do we have! Chris isn't going to be there, Kyle, and he was the one exclusive we could get, guaranteed!"
Yeah, it was best to let the almost married couple have their time to sort it out on their own. Daniel slapped down his face guard while Lily did the same with the visor of her helmet, started his motorcycle, then pulled out of the lot and headed down the street on a course for Lily's house. She still had a few touches left on his costume that he had to be wearing it for, and Sean was supposed to be dropping off the Tetsusaiga. That and the usual plan of cuddling in front of a sappy movie and having a make out session either afterwards, or during if they lost their attention span for the flick.
As they pulled up into the driveway, Daniel felt something vibrating in his pocket. He deftly reached in while pulling his helmet off with his free hand, then opened up his crimson colored cellphone and tapped the talk button with his recently grown-in claw. "Hello?"
"Hey, Danny. Where you at?"
Leave it to his mother to check in on him. "I'm over at Lily's to finish my costume for the convention," he replied as he followed Lily into the house. "Don't count on me being home for dinner."
"As usual," came the reply. "You need to bring her over for dinner sometime just so you're not always at her house. I wonder sometimes about what you're doing over there all the time."
"Mom, I'm not like that, and you know it!"
Lily glanced back as she caught that end of the conversation. "Because he knows I have a leash on his neck if he tried anything!"
The boy growled as he glared at her. "That's not not helping me," he hissed while Lily just grinned and flicked one of his ears. His mother seemed to enjoy it, however, so he quickly ended the conversation and turned off his phone. "I though we agreed you wouldn't bring that up!"
A look of confusion, and then Lily went red as she remembered about the problem he now had that was partly her fault. "Sorry," she quipped, but she took the chance, looped a finger around the rosary, and pulled him along down into the basement. "I'll make it up to you."
A minute later, curled up on the basement couch, they were back to the usual routine while a movie was playing and they didn't pay it a lick of attention. They ignored the phone as it rang, which was Lily's mother calling to let her know that she would be a couple hours late getting home, and then, it was the doorbell ringing several times that finally broke the two up.
"It's probably Sean with Tetsusaiga," Lily remarked as she ran upstairs, Daniel right behind her as they head for the front door. Sure enough, as she opened the door, it was Sean. "Hey!"
"Got a delivery for one Dog Boy," he replied as he brought his right hand into view with the finished prop sword. "Just finished up the fur piece last night, so it's all ready for the weekend."
He flipped it around while taking a step back and held it out to Daniel, who broke into a grin and gripped the prop by the hilt. "This is so awesome," the boy said as he tested the weight. The center of balance and handling was horrible, but since this was an actual prop and not a magical fang blade, one had to expect the balance to suck. "How solid is it?"
Sean grinned as he tapped the blade. "Rock solid, so if you guys use it for a Video project, it's not going to break on you."
"Inu Fanflick!" came the excited squeal from Lily as she jumped up and down. "Thank you so much, Sean! We're just finishing the costume too!"
They were? While it sounded better than tell him they'd been making out on the couch, they should probably have been doing that instead of popping on a movie they hadn't even been watching. But now that she brought it up, it probably was a good idea to get to work on finishing the costume, being they only had a couple days left. "Speaking of which," Daniel intoned as he turned back to glance at her. "We should get back to work."
"Hm? Oh, right." Lily nodded and went back inside after thanking Sean for dropping the sword off. Now with Daniel once again in tow, she set him up in her sewing room and pulled out the finished costume. "Undress and get it on," she stated with a mischievous gleam in those blue eyes of hers. "Come on, come on, hurry it up!"
And people claimed that guys were the perverts in a relationship? "I get some privacy, right?"
That gleam died as she finally left the room. "Fine, fine...spoil sport."
He quickly closed the door behind her to make sure she didn't try to peek in on him. "Gott'a love her, but sometime, yeash." Daniel pulled his shirt off, then his pants and started slipping into the kimono. It was then he remembered what a pain it was to tie those pants on with his claws. "Uh, Lil," he called while pulling the under-kimono and the top shut. "I need help."
And she came bouncing back in, grinning madly as she helped him tie the pants on. "Not even a tease?" she asked while tying the loops of the back section, then doing the front. "I swear, you're still a shy little boy after this long."
His face turned almost as red as the costume he was wearing. "We've only been going out for a month and a half!" he exclaimed nervously while she helped finish up with the snaps to bring the flap of the kimono into place. "Besides...we need to finish this up."
Shoulders straighten and hair pulled out to flow down his back, Lily moved Daniel in front of the mirror so he could see how he looked. "Forgetting...oh!" She smiled and pulled the rosary out from under the kimono, straightening it out and getting it just right. "Perfect! You are gonn'a make them drop dead in shock, Danny!"
He raised his arms up, noting how well it flowed on him. Actually, the outfit was pretty comfortable, he could actually wear something like this on a regular basis. "Hand me the sword," he said, holding his hand out as Lily gave him the prop. Now resting it over his shoulder, Daniel looked in the mirror and grinned. "Not bad at a-"
"InuYasha! Iiya!"
He stumbled as he felt that flash in his mind, almost falling over if not for Lily catching him and taking the prop from his hand. "Okasan..." he whispered just as he lost the strength in his legs.
"Daniel, are you alright!" she exclaimed, now moving the boy to the main room and setting him on the couch. "Should I call your mom?"
The images flashed through his mind again, him in this same costume, but older, and he had a dangerous gleam in his eyes. There was someone else there who was screaming for him...why were they calling him InuYasha? And he could hear cries, like an infant. Wait, he was seeing things from the arms of the other person. It was him making those infant screams. What was he seeing?
And then, it was gone. He shook his head and cleared his vision to see Lily standing there with a look of worry in her eyes and a glass of water in one hand. "I'm fine," he said on reflex, but even he wasn't so sure of that. "Just a little dizzy and having a bad daydream, I'll be alright."
That didn't convince her. "What kind of daydream?" Lily inquired, sitting down next to him on the couch while he down the entire glasss of water in a single sitting. "And why did you say 'okasan'?"
Something was really odd about that vision. It had felt like his old nightmares again, except worse, even more real than before. Everything being said was in Japanese, and Lily claimed he'd called out 'mother' in the same language. What was wrong with him? "I haven't getting much sleep," he replied, trying to rationalize it while he slowly got to his feet. For a moment, he stumbled again, but the dizziness passed and Daniel was able to stand up. "You guys have gotten me too excited about this weekend, you've only got yourselves to blame."
"Oh sure," she hissed while standing and flicking his left ear. "Say it's our fault you didn't get to sleep last night. You're sounding more and more like InuYasha than you like to think, pal."
Well, that was one way to make his ego shrink. Daniel's ears drooped down in dismay even as Lily remembered that it was kind of embarrassing for him to act or sound just like the character. "Except you're not a jerk," she quickly added while rubbing his ear. That had him about ready to melt into goo right there. "Only about ten percent of the time, when you're being dense as hell."
"Do I get to see you change into your costume?" he said, grinning as he narrowed his eyes. "You tried peeking in on me, it's only fair."
Had he just asked if he could...what had Kyle done to her puppy! Okay, it was actually mostly her fault, since she did try sneaking a peek when she could, but she was his girlfriend! It was her right, after all. Maybe that did entitled him to a teaser, but did he have to be so blunt about it? Eh, what the hell, let him have a full show, he'd earned it, but he was going to pay admission up front. "Daniel," she whispered just as she batted an ear. "Osuwari."
WHAM!
"Ow! Damnit, you promised you wouldn't do that!"
"I know. That's an advance on watching me parade around in my underwear."
Yep, he didn't mind the pain now. When in need, use his overactive animalistic sex drive that was a good ten times worse than that of any normal teenage boy to soothe his anger. Sometimes, she almost regretted being cruel to him like this.
Almost.
