Chapter Six:
Reached Decisions

Sesshomaru sat by the roaring fireplace, his thoughts turned inward. He thought of the woman he'd attempted to kidnap not too long ago. Her name was Usu-Venita, the last survivor of the Usu Family. Watching the fire dance made the great Lord of the West think of her, for she was a fire demon as well as a wolf demon.

He thought back to the fight he'd had with Kouga, that cocky wolf that the great Usu-Maru's daughter had chosen to take for a mate. They had been so deeply bonded that he had been able to use her fire magic, a skill Sesshomaru would have liked for himself. His mind began turning over possibilities.

"Yes," he thought, a cold smile crossing his face, "that is what I shall do."

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"Let go of me! Let go, let go, let go!"

"And what if I don't wanna?"

"You have to, Inu-Yasha, or else Kagome'll...."

"Sit boy!"

As though it had been scripted, Kagome came out of Kaede's hut with a scowl on her face as Inu-Yasha mumbled inaudible curses into the dirt.

"See?" Shippo asked, a little triumphantly.

Kagome's face brightened as Shippo climbed onto her shoulder, "Come along, Shippo."

The spell still not having worn off, Kagome and Shippo walked back to the hut, leaving Inu-Yasha pinned to the ground to wait. Now able to raise his head a little, Inu-Yasha saw a pair of feet.

"My, my, my, the trouble you get into," a smooth voice said, "truly, Inu-Yasha-san, you seem to like the pain K-chan inflicts upon you with that dreaded word. You must be a masochist."

Inu-Yasha growled as he pulled himself up out of the ground that bore his imprint, "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Venita."

She smirked, "Oh? Why not? Am I the only one who finds you slamming into the ground funny? I don't believe so, since everyone else laughs but you."

"What's your point?"

"My point, Inu-Yasha-san, is that you're a stubborn idiot."

Inu-Yasha stepped back at her statement, but quickly tried to regain his composure, "And what's that gotta do with anything?!"

Venita turned and began to walk away her arms crossed over her chest as she looked over her left shoulder at him, "You coming?"

"Coming where?" He demanded, crossing his own arms defiantly.

"Walk with me."

Unable to keep his curiosity at bay, Inu-Yasha took a leap and began walking next to Venita, her eyes focused only on the path ahead.

Inu-Yasha tried to figure out just what Venita was staring at, but he couldn't seem to be able to lock onto the same object she seemed to be interested in.

Inu-Yasha then decided he'd ask in traditional fashion, "What're you lookin' at?"

Venita pointed off in the distance to the horizon, "Doesn't it just piss you off that no matter how far you walk, you can never get rid of that annoying line that we all call the horizon? It just sits there, taunting you to run towards it and try to run past it, but no matter how hard you try, the line is always there. Holding you away from the one place you want to go. I hate the horizon and its damn limitations it sets upon the rest of us that aren't annoying lines."

Inu-Yasha looked at the labeled 'annoying line'. He'd never really noticed it before, but now that Venita had been so kind as to point it out to him, Inu-Yasha decided that he, too, hated that line.

"But what's the horizon gotta do with anything?" He asked, wanting to know where this was going. Usually all conversations that started with funny sayings ended up serious.

Looking over to his left, Inu-Yasha saw that Venita was no longer there. He tried to catch her scent, but it had somehow vanished.

Inu-Yasha began to panic. If Kouga found out that Venita had last been with him before she disappeared, the wolf would have a fit. That being branded into Inu-Yasha's mind, he began to search frantically for the white-haired woman, but to no avail.

He now stood where he'd last seen her, his back towards the way they'd come. That was when he felt himself being pinned to the ground with the same amount of force as a 'sit'. Trying to move, Inu-Yasha found that his arms were pinned to his sides by a pair of lightly tanned, smooth, skinny, legs. Elbows rested upon his shoulder blades, and a small giggle made his body shake.

"Is there anything you can think of, Inu-Yasha-san, that resembles that annoying horizon?" The smooth voice of Venita continued on as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

"Hello to you too," she said with a smirk in her voice, "I got distracted by an interesting development in the environment."

Inu-Yasha sighed, "You got sidetracked by a shiny object."

"I said it was an interesting development in the environment!"

"Uh-huh, right," Inu-Yasha said, trying to wiggle free of her grip, "so what's with pinning me here?"

A chuckle reached Inu-Yasha's ears, and it reminded him very strangely of the cruel tone Naraku used when about to unleash some new evil, "Simply put, Inu-Yasha-san, you're impossible to question unless someone restrains you. However, no one's been brave enough until now."

"Don't you be givin' Miroku or anybody else any ideas!"

"You won't have to worry about my new 'tactic' reaching the ears of your comrades if you cooperate. Understood?"

"Hai."

"Good, now answer my question."

"What question?"

"You'd better be glad I can't shock you with static anymore," Venita growled lightly as she held Inu-Yasha's arms tighter against his sides, "is there anything you can think of that reminds you of the annoying horizon?"

"Like what?"

"Anything." Venita replied simply.

"No."

"No?" Venita asked tauntingly, "There must be something that would be even remotely similar."

"What're you gettin' at?"

Venita didn't even try to suppress her growl, "Is not love like the horizon? Always there, yet unattainable? Sitting there, taunting you with its presence; isn't that what love does?"

Inu-Yasha thought for a moment, "How can it, if you and Kouga are together now?"

"But Inu-Yasha-san, I'm not talking about Kouga-kun and I. I'm talking about you and K-chan."

Inu-Yasha's face paled, "W-what?!"

Venita nodded, "That's right. K-chan seems to be your horizon. She's always there for you, right in front of you, too; however, you're held back by her image, since it reminds you oh so much of Kikyo. Am I not correct? You can't deny it, K-chan's always been there for you, and yet you continually push her away like she'll always come back. Let me tell you something, Inu-Yasha, you can only push a person away so far before they stay gone for good."

With that, Venita pushed off from her position on Inu-Yasha's back and sat in a tree as she watched him pick himself up. Jumping down in front of him, Venita grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her, and before he could disguise his eyes from her, she saw what they held.

"What more do you want?" He asked, his voice dark and backed by a low growl.

"I just want you to know, Inu-Yasha-san, that if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here. All you have to do is tell me that you want to talk, and I'll drop what I'm doing and talk to you. I mean that, and I give you my word."

Inu-Yasha blinked and all of a sudden, Venita was gone.

"Maybe that's her way of trying to tell me something," Inu-Yasha thought to himself, "that in one blink, Kagome could be gone too. Just as easily. Damn, why can't anything just be plain and simple anymore!"

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Venita walked towards Kaede's hut, her mind filling with innumerable plans. She hoped she'd scared Inu-Yasha into realizing how quickly Kagome could be gone, so now she had to manage the same with Kagome. But how to go about it? Kagome wasn't easily frightened into things.

This would take more than just one wolf demon's plots.

Rather than going to Kaede's hut, Venita decided to take a detour that would hopefully lead her to the mastermind behind most matchmaking plots. Quietly weaving her way through the trees, Venita wondered if perhaps Kagura could be an asset in this matchmaking. It was certainly worth a try.

"Have to talk to Lunia-chan about that," Venita thought, the scent of the tricky moon goddess finally reaching her nose, "but if there are a few more players to this game, there could be one hell of a party afterwards. Not to mention an equally large wedding reception."

Peeking her head through the branches, Venita found her chosen target. Lunia sat with Tora on a rock, both of them in deep conversation. It took them a while to notice they had company, but Venita waited patiently nevertheless.

"Venia-chan?" Lunia asked, surprise in her voice.

Tora, too, stopped his babbling, "Ookami-sama?"

Flashing them a wolf's grin, Venita stood and walked over to them, "Did I miss anything?"

"No, nothing out of the ordinary. What're you up to?" Lunia asked.

"Up to? Me? Since when am I up to anything?"

"You've already begun your plans haven't you?"

Shrugging Venita lay back, "Perhaps."

Lunia leaned forward, "I want to know every juicy detail of those schemes of yours, Venia-chan. They're essential."

Smiling once again, Venita told them of her plans and the one she'd already enacted. When she finished, both Tora and Lunia sat openmouthed.

Tora playfully hit Lunia on her shoulder, "See? I told you we needed Ookami-sama! She always comes up with the best plans for what we need done!"

"This is brilliant, Venia-chan! Oh I taught you well, indeed. I'm so proud!" Lunia exclaimed while hugging the white-haired deviant she'd been put in charge of so many years ago.

Venita bowed, "Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. But what we really need is an opportunity to get them alone. Then, Tora-kun and I can play our part and completely set this up!"

"But you have to be careful in case this backfires, Venia-chan."

"True, but think, Lunia-chan! If we get those two together, that will only leave Houshi-sama and Sango-san, which will be a piece of cake if we can work our magic on those two!" Venita exclaimed, watching the nods of agreement she received.

"Then it's settled," Tora said decisively, "first we work on Inu-Yasha and Kagome, and then we finish with Miroku and Sango. Yes?"

"Yes." Lunia and Venita chorused.

Tora chuckled, "Women, such controlling creatures."

Phantom flames danced around Tora's body while Lunia began drawing the symbols to one of her well-known curses.

"What did you say?!" They asked, evil glints in their eyes.

"Nothing, nothing! Don't hurt me! I swear I'll never dig through another woman's dresser just to look for her underwear!" Tora exclaimed, shielding his face with his hands.

After a moment, Tora lowered his arms to see that both Lunia and Venita were staring at him with blank looks on their faces.

"Huh?" Both meddling menaces asked.

Tora allowed himself to sigh inwardly, "Let's just decide which plan we're going to use first."

At this suggestion, both women completely forgot Tora's statement and began conversing as though he weren't even there. Deciding it was safer to get out of their way, Tora headed towards Kaede's hut to have a word or two with Miroku.

Perhaps he and the monk could devise a way to stop women from trying to kill them.

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A/N: So sorry I took so long, but I've been sick & school hasn't been any better… TT.TT

So, what do you think of this chapter? I tried to make it as funny as I could without totally killing what little plot I've got. I hope you like all the different methods I'm gonna try & come up with, but if I can't think of anything, could any of you help me?

Truly, I'd love to know what you guys think would be a cute & hilarious "plot" for Lunia and the others to try. Please review with your ideas & comments!

Ookami-chan :-)