AN: I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Years, although when I went downtown to celebrate 2005 with my friends, nobody knew exactly when to begin the countdown, so I was left with no countdown and no chance to scream, 'Happy New Year!' in my friends' ears. Bah Humbug.

On a side note, expect to see more Inu/Kag smut in this chapter. As well as an appearance by somebody you should all recognize:

Pirate Pash

Chapter 13 – Another Captain?


The lord above was punishing her for sure.

Her ignorance, her innocence, and every good-natured aspect of her had been crushed by that one brief contact. When she felt those soft lips touch her own, she swore she heard – were those bells? Maybe because in the heat of the moment, she hadn't realised it was the woman kissing her.

She had first thought it was the gruff pirate sitting next to her who had pulled that move.

Her mouth remained slack, and her jaw was slightly hanging open in what could only be described as shock. 'By a woman… what a horrible dishonour to my dead family…'

"Don't tus…" Kagome mumbled silently as she turned her head away from the smiling prostitute.

"Are you alright, honey? I hope I didn't scare you - "

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Kagome screamed with all her might, and within seconds every pair of eyes had landed onto her. Ones she didn't recognize, and ones she did. She could care less.

Kagome took a step backwards to distance herself, but ended up pressing her back against Inuyasha's sturdy chest. He placed his hands on her arms in a sad attempt to sooth her, but she shook him off furiously.

The woman who had been only kidding a moment ago suddenly wrinkled her forehead. "Ma'am, I'm very sorry if…"

"No. No, you can't just do that - " She stuttered and grabbed onto a nearby chair to level herself. Everyone in the room was still staring and wondering exactly what was going on between the two eye-catching women. "You can't just go up and kiss someone like that! You can't – I…" She broke off to take a deep breath.

"Sweetie, calm down." The woman slowly reached over to pat her hand reassuringly, but was thrown off when Kagome slapped her hand away. "Ow!" It wasn't done in an offensive way, but the prostitute needed to keep her distance.

"I'm sorry…" Kagome breathed quickly, "but I asked you not to touch me. Do you have a problem with needing to touch people?"

Inuyasha suddenly reached down and wrapped his large hands around her waist. He brought his mouth close to her left ear and hissed, "Kagome, calm down and forget it."

"No, I won't!" The usually shy woman felt a sudden surge of power running through her and she brought her arm forward only to bring it backwards with three times the force, effectively jamming her elbow into the captain's ribs. "Let go!"

Before she could make even more of a scene and see how the wheezing Inuyasha was reacting, Kagome pushed past everyone and dashed out the doors of the house, storming into the dark, green garden.'How could he just say that… it was my first time…and it was with a whore…' Kagome though quietly as she gripped a handful of leaves with one hand. She imagined it was that improper woman and squeezed even harder. How dare she even touch her.

Kagome had wanted to live clean until marriage, or as clean as she was before she was kidnapped by Hiten and Manten. It seemed after she ran into the violent but considerate pirate captain she was having some pretty soiled thoughts.

And she didn't like that too much. She wasn't even close to marriage yet.

Yet everything that had happened in the last five minutes fluttered back into her small brain and she could no longer contain it. She wiggled back down to take a seat behind a tall bush to rethink things.

Maybe… maybe she should just forget it. After all, it wasn't THAT huge of a deal, right? But the thought of Inuyasha's face always made the anger rise again. Did he just think nothing of what the woman did? Why didn't he smack that woman in the face?

All of a sudden, she heard a pair of heavy footsteps emerging slowly from the noisy house and into the garden where she was presently hiding. 'Inuyasha…?'

Kagome was glad she wasn't crying, because she knew he hated seeing her in that pathetic state. But for some reason she wasn't angry enough to cry, she was just holding back a ball of anger forming slowly in the pit of her stomach.

When the footsteps were only a corner away from reaching her, she crawled up from the ground and dusted herself off. She needed to prepare to speak to him without ending off arguing as always. She wanted to apologize for the elbow-in-the-rib accident, it had come off a tad harder than she had intended.

Kagome lowered her head and spoke calmly to the dark figure. She was completely not in the mood to deal with him if he began to yell at her. "Inuyasha, I'm sorry."

Good. He wasn't replying. Maybe he was… "Huh? Who are you?"

She had just apologized to the wrong person.

Inuyasha hadn't come after her, but rather a complete stranger. She had never seen this man before in her life, and she couldn't understand why he was out here in the middle of the night with her.

"Are you okay, miss?" The tall, dark man who had followed her was breathtakingly striking. He had a chiselled face complete with the bluest eyes she had ever seen, and his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail on the top of his head.

She repeated herself with amazement, the thoughts of that woman quickly disappearing. "Who are you?"

"Oh, of course. How rude of me. My name is Kouga. And you are - ?" He smirked politely at her, revealing a fang-like tooth that she realized Inuyasha also had. Why the hell was she thinking of that man anyway? That inconsiderate jerk hadn't even come after her!

"Kagome." She replied, pretending to seem uninterested. It wasn't that she didn't want to speak with this man, but he was kind of creeping her out. "What are you doing out here anyway, Kouga?"

"I noticed you, Kagome, inside." He pointed to the noisy house behind them, now filled with laughter and music once again. "And I noticed you long prior to that kiss, which was by the way, very attractive."

She snorted. "Are you rubbing my misery in my face?" Kagome noticed his dazed expression and folded her arms quickly. "I'm not one of 'those' girls, in case you're wondering."

"Oh no, I could never mistake you for a whore. You are so much more beautiful than that." Kouga spoke calmly and smiled at her once again, causing an awkward silence to fall between them.

How was she expected to answer when someone said something like that? Kagome leaped back a foot when he began to remove an outer layer of clothing: his white shirt. What in the world was this weirdo doing?

"Wait - "

Before she could respond, he had whisked one of his shirts off his back and wrapped it securely around her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get cold out here. I thought I saw you shuddering a moment ago."

This all seemed a little too familiar. The time of when she and Inuyasha were stuck together on that island came flying back to her. When he had done the same thing to her in a casual sort of way, she had flung his shirt back in his face. "…thanks…" She huddled tightly in her new blanket, which smelt of musky lavender.

"So now that you're feeling a little better, care to tell me why you're at a place like this in the first place? You mostly find filthy men here, not a pretty little thing like you."

She smiled sweetly and noticed him glaring at her. "I wish you could have told me that before I came here." Wait, hadn't Sango warned her not to reveal her pirate connections with anyone? Did that include handsome strangers who followed her in the middle of the night? "But I'm here because my – um, older brother is here. He's on a journey… and I am accompanying him because he wants a drink."

'Good one, idiot.' her mind scolded her.

"Was that man you were sitting next to in there your brother?" He asked casually, but the way he asked that set off something in her.

"Inuyasha is NOT my brother!" She yelled loudly. "I mean… no, he's not. The man sitting next to him was." Shit, she and Hojo had no resemblance whatsoever.

Kouga didn't seem to be listening anymore. As soon as the name 'Inuyasha' slipped off her lips, his face crunched up crossly. "Did you just say 'Inuyasha?'"

"Um." She was speechless. "How do you know him?"

"Inuyasha… Inuyasha's been my opponent for years. We're both after the same thing. I can't believe that damn bastard is here." He sneered and was about to turn around, but she quickly reached out and snatched the back of his shirt with her slender fingers.

"No, wait. Don't go yet." She immediately made up to avoid a brawl between Kouga and the pirate captain. He seemed to have the violent qualities of a wolf when he was distressed. "So, are you a pirate?"

He was so surprised by the beautiful woman's request for him to stop that he paused and smirked. "And if I am…?"

"Nothing…" She took another tiny step closer. She had only known this character for five minutes and already he was spelling trouble. Had she not stopped him he looked ready to tear somebody's head right off and jump on it. She had a gut instinct Inuyasha should know about this. "Well, I just admire pirates so much. I think they're so… what is the word - strong."

"Of course they are." He pointed out with full intensity, his eyes glazed over as if he were a grandpa telling a child another one of his lengthy stories. "Pirates are manly men. They battle, work hard, and know what they want in life. They're strong too, obviously."

"Oh really?" Kagome asked with mock interest. "What else?"

He raised an eyebrow at the girl but continued nonetheless. "They're also great companions, they can get a little out of hand at times but most of the time they're…"

Kagome sighed and fiddled with her fingers in a bored manner as Kouga continued to drone on. How exactly was she going to escape this chatterbox and warn Inuyasha?

Honestly she had no idea.


"Hon, are you all right? You look a little… flustered."

Inuyasha glanced up at the gorgeous Japanese woman who had just spoken to him, her hand resting lightly on his uptight shoulder. She was a looker, that was for sure, with her dramatic brown eyes and large chest only a few centimetres from his face. "I'm fine."

"Really?" She asked sincerely and placed herself down on the floor next to him, startling the confused Hojo who had yet to leave. The woman, who appeared to have been mesmerized by Inuyasha's good looks, touched his hands softly and stroked them with the pad of her thumbs. She brought her pink lips next to his ear and breathed, "Are you sure you don't need someone to – if I can put this bluntly - assist you?"

He wasn't even paying attention to what she was saying. He was too occupied thinking about what that stupid wench had just done to him. 'How dare she hit me! What the hell did I do to her to make her so pissed off?'

The beautiful woman still latching onto him looked into his distant eyes and sighed. This was beyond strange… no normal man had ever resisted her breathing-in-the-ear technique. If he were a sane man he should have been dragging her off to a back room by now. "Sweetie, are you still in there?" She waved a small hand before his face.

"Wha - ?" Inuyasha turned his confused face to her and frowned. When did that harlot sit down next to him? He turned to face her. "What was it that you needed?"

"Me?" She realised quickly that the handsome pirate was, indeed, speaking to her in that tone of voice. This was insanely out of character! This sounded to her like an interesting challenge. "I was just asking you if you needed some comforting?" She dragged a finger down his arm seductively.

"I can't believe her…" He mumbled to himself despite her actions.

"Who?" She whispered silently and began to stroke his arm again in soothing motions, ignoring the neglected Hojo watching this all occur next to him.

"Kagome…"

"Who's that?" She asked with a slight smirk, pleased that this man seemed unhappy with a woman. Perhaps she could persuade him into bringing her out of here and into another country? She wouldn't mind being carried around by this hunk…

"Damn it, Kagome! What's wrong with you?" He screamed suddenly, before storming out of his cross-legged position on the floor and following the path that Kagome had left out the doors and into the garden. He was completely regardless of the woman who had just toppled over onto the mat.

"I can't believe him…" The harlot spoke, weeping as she crawled back up from where she had fallen, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "Wh - where did I go wrong with him?"

She froze when a hand began to soothe her back in circular motions. "There, there, ma'am. It will be okay."

She glared over her shoulder at the light-haired boy currently patting her back. Inspecting his average build and polite enough appearance, she brought on her perfect smile and turned to him slowly. He would do for now… "Honey, I think I hurt myself. Would you be a dear and help me up?"

It didn't matter how long it took and who she left with, but she was going to get out of here…


'I'm going to ask her why she attacked me so damn hard…' The captain pushed past a couple pirates he didn't recognize, and walked out the hefty doors. 'Why the hell did that stupid woman run into the garden?'

He looked around at the shadowy night sky, with only a smidgen of light shining down on the bushes surrounding the garden. Maybe… maybe Kagome ran back down to the ship? She couldn't have. Earlier he clearly saw her running out here and he hadn't followed her.

Something in him hadn't wanted to.

It may have been the hard jab in the ribs she gave him, or the fact that the kiss wasn't as big a deal as she was making it out to be.

Her face had sure been an amusing sight. Her hair was tousled up and messy, her usually pale face was beet red and steaming, and her lips were curled into the angriest snarl he'd ever seen. Kagome was great…

Inuyasha flinched when a mouse scampered by his foot suddenly, causing the pirate to jump back. 'That was unexpected…' He continued on through the tall bushes that appeared to look more and more like a maze than an actual garden. "Kagome?"

There was no reply. However, he heard the faintest scurrying sound coming from behind some bushes nearby. He repeated, this time in a more impatient tone, "Kagome? Are you there?"

"Ee – Inuyasha?"

He had caught her. Why was she hiding anyway? She sounded almost a little too frightened by his arrival. This peaked his curiosity as he turned another corner, nearing her voice with each step. "Where are you?"

"I'm – 'go' …here!" She shouted quickly with fake innocence dripping in her voice. His ears twitched lightly, had she just whispered 'go' to somebody out here?

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

She squeaked loudly when he was only one green wall away from reaching her and demanding some answers. Inuyasha picked up his pace when he heard swift footsteps leaving – no, wait, coming toward him?

"She was talking to me, asshole." A man who looked annoyingly familiar stopped before him, his fang bared and a fist formed at his side. "No need to yell at her."

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder, and peeking out from behind a flower pot was a worried Kagome, waving her hands frantically in front of her face, urging him to stop whatever he was going to do. "And why are you out here alone with her?"

"You don't remember me, Inuyasha?" The annoying man smirked evilly and turned around to glance at Kagome for a second. "And why would you care if I was out here with this pretty lady? Do you know her?"

"Yes, she's on a expedition with me. Do you have a problem with that?"

"My, the great Inuyasha is now carrying a woman aboard. I heard women were bad luck on ships, is that true?"

This bastard was going to die – whoever he was. He was giving way too much attitude for a wimpy-looking piece of crap like him. "That's none of your goddamn business! Who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm Kouga. Captain of the Wolf Gang Pirates. I'm surprised you don't remember me - seeing we had such a memorable first encounter." He sneered. "But I suppose slow dogs like you have bad memories anyway."

"Maybe you're just too unimportant for me to remember!" Inuyasha screamed and leaped forward, swinging his fist at him and missing when Kouga ducked and ran backwards. When Inuyasha attempted to attack again, the quick pirate jumped over his head surprisingly and landed gracefully on his two feet. He snarled, "stop running away, you wimp!"

"Inuyasha, stop it!" Kagome yelled from the side.

"Shut up, Kagome! I'm gonna take care of this momma's boy before he can open his mouth again!"

"I thought I told you not to talk to women like that!" Inuyasha was completely caught off-guard when a fist made firm contact with his right cheek, sending him flying through the air backwards. The stinging pain on the right side of his face was beginning to spread to other parts.

Before he had time to catch himself, Inuyasha crashed into a garden wall, knocking the entire structure over as the trunk snapped. 'Oh god, not in front of her…' His body finally gave in to the force and stopped moving when he lay sprawled above the plant, his eyes glowing red with rage.

"Kouga, stop that right now!" Kagome yelled, her face fuming as she rushed over to the injured captain, who was now picking himself off the ground crossly. "You're hurting him!"

"You should consider yourself lucky, you filthy dog. This pretty girl here just saved you from a beating." Kouga smirked at him, relishing in all his glory.

"Stop that, Kouga!" She repeated, helping the now even more pissed-off man by pulling him up. He roughly shook her off. "You don't have to say things like that!"

"I only say them because they're true. Isn't that right, Inuyasha?" He pointed out and glared at his enemy again. "But it looks like we can finally finish our match without interruptions."

"What the hell are you talking about? Have I met you before?" Inuyasha landed swiftly back on his two feet and stomped forwards, shoving Kagome behind him. The captain took another two steps closer and cracked his knuckles loudly. "Tell me where we met."

"Does the navy interrupting our battle sound familiar? My crew were about to sack yours when the damn sea fleet got in my way. I would have loved to sink your piece of shit craft."

"What did you say?" How dare this guy insult his beloved ship… even if it was his old ship no one had a right to insult it. It went against his policies. Suddenly everything this man had just said scrambled in his brain until it cleared. "I remember now… the Wolf Gang pirates… you're the captain."

"Good to see you remembered." He winked quickly at Kagome, who ignored him.

"Kagome, stay back." He growled when he spotted the wink of Kouga's eye and his veins began to emerge from his skin. "I remember it, only you guys weren't winning, you were far from that. We had your guys pummelled to the ground and whimpering."

Kouga snarled and challenged back, the anger evident in his brown eyes. "My men never whimper. If anybody whimpers - it's your puppy crew crying for their mommas!"

"I've had enough of the bullshit you're spewing out of your mouth!" Inuyasha immediately raised a fist and was just about to swing it at Kouga's cocky face when suddenly he felt his entire arm being pulled back. Kagome had disobeyed his rules and latched onto his arm, disabling him from striking the other captain. "Kagome, what are you doing?"

"Don't get started again, Inuyasha." She insisted, lightly tugging on his sleeve now. Kagome had had enough of watching these two idiots quarrelling like five-year-olds. "You know I hate it when you fight."

"Kagome doesn't like it, Inuyasha. So why don't you cut it out?" Kouga jeered from the side with a sneer on his face. Watching the rough Inuyasha being stopped by a woman was not something seen everyday.

His enemy's comment struck an ego-nerve in his body. "Christ, Kagome! Stop controlling what I do! Fighting is the only way I can relieve some of this anger inside me right now!"

She could not believe this guy. First he shows absolutely no compassion towards her when she is attacked by the harlot and her first kiss is stolen by a woman. And now when she tries to stop him from abusing himself and somebody else he claims she's too controlling? She screeched, "Forget it. Kill yourself. I don't give a shit anymore!"

"Will you stop screaming? You're hurting my ears!"

That was the final straw. "I can't believe you! How dare you act like this to me! Ever since I've accepted this life you've been nothing but cold and mean toward me!"

"Me?!" He turned his full attention to the screaming woman now, the wolf captain completely forgotten. "You're the one that just hit me in the ribs, woman! Do you realize how much that hurt?"

She folded her arms over her chest with a huff. "Well, you deserved that."

"What the hell did I do anyway?"

Kagome took a deep, cleansing breath, and bit her teeth together sharply. "Why did you do nothing when that woman kissed me without my consent? You didn't stand up for me, you didn't smack her, you didn't even follow me here until I was already being comforted by a total stranger!" She pointed to Kouga without looking his way.

The black-haired pirate standing next to the arguing couple pointed out, "You know, Kagome, if you absolutely cannot tolerate him, I am more than willing to bring you along, where I can be a real man that treats you better than this violent guy."

"Shut your face, asshole." Inuyasha swore under his breath. If he weren't so into his argument with her he would have beaten this guy ten feet into the ground by now. But he was worried: would Kagome really choose to go with Kouga if given the chance?

"What do you say, Kagome?" Kouga asked hopefully.

"I…" She glared at her captain, who was watching her desperately. "I don't know…."

Inuyasha stared at her. "Jeez, Kagome! I'm here now, is that not enough? What that stupid woman did to you was eye-catching, and everyone in the room was staring! I don't even know why you have a reason to be angry about that little thing!"

She stiffed up and swallowed loudly, trying to calm herself down. She couldn't. "Want to know why, you inconsiderate jerk? It was my first kiss, okay?" Her voice weakened slightly and she finally convinced herself to give up arguing with him.

"What?" The captain jerked back, shocked by her frail reply.

"Yes, it was my first kiss. That's why I was angry. Is that an acceptable reason for you?"

Inuyasha scratched his head and stumbled forward. "Shit, Kagome. I didn't know…"

"No you didn't." Kouga filled in for her, becoming quite the nuisance in their presence. "I thought the amazing Inuyasha would know that a woman cherishes her first kiss, and does not want it to be shared with a whore. What were you doing the entire time?"

"Would you stay out of this?" Inuyasha was at his limit with this loudmouth, and before anybody like Kagome could stop him, he snapped around and whipped up his arm, crashing his knuckles into Kouga's jaw with only a fraction of his strength to avoid distorting his face.

"Erg…" The injured man cupped his jaw with his hands and sat up from the ground where he had fallen. He had heard rumours about how strong this ass was… seemed like they weren't exactly rumours.

She sighed. "Inuyasha, I thought I told you…"

"I thought I told you to shut up." He snapped, and before she could even blink her eyes he had her hard-pressed tightly against a plant wall. She was breathing deeply and trying to ignore the pine needles poking into her back all at once, having being completely taken off-guard by his sudden action. "Listen, Kagome, I'm sorry."

"Inu - " She gripped his shoulders with both hands to drive him back, but his strength overpowered hers. Inuyasha's nimble fingers found their way around Kagome's sexy corset, running one hand up the length of her white, smooth leg under her black dress.

She shivered at his intrusive touch. Before she knew it, she began to gasp for air like crazy, having never been shown such dangerous things before. Oddly enough, she was glowing in the sensations he was provoking and nothing could be seen outside her and Inuyasha's world in the night.

Not even Kouga.

Then he kissed her. The lips she had often been staring at touched hers, and unlike the soft and tender lips of the woman, Inuyasha's were gruffer and far more dominant. She actually panted when he began to lick her mouth and suck lightly on her bottom lip. "Ohhhh…"

"What the hell are you doing, Inuyasha? I'm still standing here!" Kouga interrupted angrily, and he was almost unable to watch that brute ravage the beautiful woman. Although she sure appeared to be enjoying it.

Kagome whimpered when she felt the cool air on her lips; his warm mouth had left hers. The feelings she had felt in the pit of her stomach when he had forced her roughly against the wall like that almost felt like an explosion. His touch was addictive, unlike that woman's.

'I can't believe I actually kissed him. And in front of Kouga!'

She sprang forward and covered her face in shame, why did people always have to see her in such situations? If anything was done like this on her island they would have definitely shamed her for her 'disgusting behaviour'.

But she was living as a pirate now and she could do anything she wanted.

"Did you see that, Kouga?" Inuyasha shouted at his competitor with a wide, satisfied grin on his face.

"Kind of hard not to when it was right in front of me."

"I hope that teaches you to back off her!" He said proudly, displaying a beam that reached from ear to ear. Inwardly, he cursed Kouga for even being there and interrupting such a good thing.

"Now that I can't do." He stated firmly. "Kagome's a stunningly gorgeous woman, and her personality is strong and fiery, not to mention just a few minutes ago she was entirely pure. I've taken a whole new liking to this woman. And that fact won't change."

"Thanks Kouga…" She was still too embarrassed by their earlier display.

Inuyasha growled. "Don't you have to get back to your crew now? I would more than happily fight you but Kagome probably wouldn't want me to hurt you. So go."

"However," He interrupted, "I will act like a gentleman and leave. I have a mission to accomplish anyway. That reminds me, Inuyasha. How far along are you to finding the Shikon no tama?"

"That's not of your concern. We're enemies here."

"It sounds to me like you guys are still floating about. I'll let you know that my men have already found a pretty sure-thing location. I guess kids just aren't cut out to be navigators, are they?"

Inuyasha twitched. He had never met a more infuriating guy in his life. "Shippou is a genius. He's known for having more knowledge of maps and navigating than many top guides. And I know for a fact that your old man navigator is not a reliable one. Can he still see what he's drawing?"

"I guess we'll see when one of us gets our hands on it. Which won't be you." Kouga commented, waving a good-bye to Kagome before disappearing from the garden in a flash.

"What a cocky asshole…" Inuyasha mumbled, "I wanted to punch his face in."

"He's not so bad. I mean, he did give me his coat when I was cold. I still have it." She pointed to the layer of clothing on her. "It was pretty kind of him I suppose."

"Take that off."

"No, I don't have anything nice to wear besides my worn-down clothes. I want to keep this!" She argued.

"I don't want anything of his on my boat. It'll be a curse and we'll all sink!"

"You and your superstitions!" She grumbled, placing her hands on her hips. When she stared at him, the image of him touching her soothingly and kissing her lips made her face flush a deep red. "Uh… "

"Stupid wolf gang pirates, think they're all so great - " He was too involved in cursing them that he failed to notice her face. "They can't possibly have the location of the Shikon already. If Kouga gets his hands on that first…" He would gain the power to do anything he wished.

"Captain, quick!" A younger boy from their ship hurdled over a short bush out of nowhere and yelled, "Captain, sir, please come back into the inn. One of our men broke out in a fight with a wolf gang pirate member!"

"Who is it?" Inuyasha snapped.

"It's Hojo, sir. And I believe he's losing." The boy informed him quickly.

"How embarrassing. And why in the world is Hojo of all people getting into a fight?"

"The woman that kissed the madam on our ship," He spotted Kagome watching nearby and pointed at her, "that kissed her – well, the whore went after Hojo and her tough ex-boyfriend seemed to see it, and now he's really, really beating up Hojo!"

"Ouch…" Even an infuriating guy like Hojo didn't deserve it, Kagome thought miserably.

Suddenly, a loud 'crack' and the most ear-shattering scream she had ever heard pierced through the air, and the three of them wasted absolutely no time making their way back into the tavern, where a massive problem was bound to arise.


AN: Well, there you go. Some fluff for all you Inu/Kag smut readers out there, and the introduction of pirate captain Kouga. This should get interesting… not to mention what happens to poor little Hojo back in the tavern.

I'd like to once again thank my wonderful reviewers; you guys are absolutely the most encouraging readers and I am so encouraged by your criticism and comments. I dedicate this chapter to all you guys.