Ch.4

No Stumbling!

B.B.- "Green?"

Inuyasha - (laughing) "GREEN!"

W.W.- "Shut up, dogface. Yes, B.B. green. Where have you two been?"

B.B.- "Well, I made a little phone call..."

W.W.- (looks up, sees two men with a big needle and a white shirt) "NO! (runs away) "Not

again! I HATE the Happy Place!"

B.B.- (joins the men chasing W.W.) "It's for your own good!" (Tackles and catches W.W.) "And don't worry about the story. I'll take over for a while."

W.W.- "NNNOOO!"

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B.B.- "While W.W. is away on her 'vacation' to the Happy Place, I'm going to show you who Miroku and Songo are meeting."

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Lady Keyla swung the doors open to show a girl, sitting on the floor of a larger than possible greenhouse within the shed. The girl was dressed all in green. Her hair, which was a natural light brown, had grass, ferns, and red roses growing, surrounded by light brown hairs, from her scalp.

"See, Lady Crow, I have RED ROSES. RED ones." The girl said.

"Hurry, Kala, remove all the roses you can reach." Lady Keyla grabbed two pairs of pruning scissors.

"Yes, Lady Crow." Kala received a pair of scissors, and got to work removing roses.

"Excuse me? Lady Keyla?" Sango asked.

"Yes?" Lady Keyla never looked up from cutting off red roses.

"Why are you only cutting off the roses, Lady Keyla?" Miroku asked the question Sango could not bring herself to ask.

Lady Keyla looked up. "You are now one of my students, Monk. As such, you are to call me Lady Crow. Do you understand?" Her eyes turned into hard diamonds, cold and white as snow never walked on.

"Yes." Miroku said. Lady Keyla's glare deepened. "Yes, Lady Crow."

"Good." Lady Crow got back to cutting roses. Finally the floor was strewn with red rose petals, and the girl, Kay, had only the stems of roses, grasses, and ferns in her hair. Lady Crow and Kala placed the pruning scissors on a nearby table. "Now, Kala, go get my kit." During the cutting, Kay had fallen asleep.

"Why did you cut off the roses, Lady Crow?" Sango finally asked.

"Oh, my dear." Lady Crow's eyes turned to Sango's favorite color for them to be, a soft amber. "You may call me Lady Keyla. You are not my student. I was cutting the roses because they were red."

"Why?" Sango felt she was being like Shippo. 'If I ask another question, she'll become angry with me.'

"Because red is a sign of impurity." She held her arms out to Tayallay, her eyes still amber. Sango placed the child in Lady crow's arms. "We only like white or pink roses, NEVER red, at our Do-joe."

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W.W.- "I escaped. Happy Place BAD for W.W."

B.B.- "How did you get out?" (W.W. snarls and grabs one end of story) "Let go!"

W.W.- 'MINE! STORY GOOD FOR W.W.!" (Abruptly lets go. B.B. falls over. W.W. snatches up story in teeth and runs off on all fours.)

W.W.- "I hate the Happy Place. The rooms are too soft. I don't like squishy."

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Ankha stared in amazement. She was looking at her exact reflection, only opposite. The features were the same, but where the cat demons skin was dark, the creature before hers' skin was pasty pale. The assassins luxurious black red tipped hair was shown back to her as thin and white with pink tips. She couldn't stand pink. Her glorious molten amber eyes were seen in the reflection as a horrible mottled gray. There was no emerald dancing in their depths, only a darker grey. Ankha gasped again, but this time in horror. The creature opened it's mouth, revealing dull yellow fangs. It spoke.

"Olleh, ohw era uoy?" The demon did not hear this strange talk, still shocked by the reflection. She snatched at her own hair, pulling it in front of her eyes so that she could see that it was as it was supposed to be. Whipping back her cloak, she examined her skin to make sure that it was it's rightful color as well. The pale creature spoke again, and this time Ankha heard.

"Olleh, ohw era uoy? Tahw era uoy gnoid ni siht ecalp?" The assassin scratched her head.

"Pardon? I don't understand." The reflection blinked a few times then smiled apologetically. Poof! She melted again into her original form. Laughing at Ankha's expression, the green skinned girl said

"Sorry, I forgot. I speak backwards when I'm reflecting. I said "hello, who are you? What are you doing in this place?"

"Um, I'm" she hesitated, then decided to use her real name. "Ankhale Suneye. I just ran into here while stretching my muscles. Where is this?" 'What's with this girl and giggling?' "Who are you?"

"I am Rorrim Etisoppo, daughter of the late Breeze and Niotcelfer Etisoppo." Rorrim saw Ankha about to offer her condolences, and stopped her by saying "It's okay. I never knew them. My grandmother raised me. This place is the Crystal Clearing."

"Why is it called that?"

"Look down." The cat demon complied and looked at the ground around her feet.

"Oh!" It was shiny! Shimmering crystals were mixed in with the fertile soil. Crouching down, she pulled

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B.B.- "I was going to rule the world, but I was distracted by something shiny."

W.W.- (snorts) "'I don't exercise. If god had wanted me to bend over he would have put diamonds on the floor.' Not crystals."

B.B.- "Me likey the shiny."

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one out and looked at it. The sun shone through it and caused a rainbow to form.

"It's so pretty." The cat demon looked up at the girl. "I don't mean to be rude, but will you tell me what exactly you are?"

"Only if you return the favor."

"Most certainly. I am a cat demon."

"Ah. Thank you, Miss. Suneye. I am a mixed demon, a mix between my father, a Water demon, and my mother, a Wind demon. I don't know what that makes me. My grandmother always calls me her Wandering Imp, but I don't know..." Ankha noticed how late it was getting.

"Shouldn't you be going home for lunch?" She asked. Rorrim looked up.

"Oh, yes, I suppose." She thought for a moment. "Would you like to eat with us?" That startled the assassin. Did the little girl know what she was inviting into her home? Ankha didn't like the thought of the little girl walking home alone, but she had obviously walked here by herself, so... So what? That meant nothing. Things can change in an instant.

"I'll walk you home." Disappointment showed on the mixed demons face.

"Oh, okay. I don't live far." She whistled and what looked like a ball of fluff whirled out of the bushes and launched itself at Rorrim. She opened her arms wide and caught the puff ball.

Slowly Ankha relaxed and retracted her claws as she saw the fuzzy-thing- jump around in Rorrim's arms as the girl laughed. Seeing the demon's shock and confusion, she explained.

"This is Kyden, my pet Floof."

"A...Floof?"

"Yes." When the girl didn't go on, Ankha didn't say anymore, just blinked and nodded slowly.

"Ookkaayy...Let's go." She started off, but stopped suddenly. "Um, which way?"

Rorrim giggled and walked in front of Ankha. Quickly, the cat demon caught up with the mix and together they walked through the calm forest, enjoying the beauty of sun shining through emerald leaves and dappling the jade grass. As they walked, they shared little tidbits of their lives. Rorrim learned a bit about Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo and the rest. The assassin was rather vague on Rain, and only mentioned him in passing. In return, Ankha learned about Rorrim's grandmother, who was very unimaginatively named Wind.

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W.W.- "Yes, I know it's unoriginal. Shut up. I thought of these guys last minute. By the way, Rorrim is about ten years old in human years, and, if you discounted the green skin, could pass for an ordinary pretty human girl."

Rorrim - "With big eyes. And white hair."

W.W.- "Don't worry about it. Lots of people have white hair. Look at dogface. Rain is unique. He's blond."

B.B.- "Blond? If he's in Japan, how can he be blond?"

W.W.- " 'cause I like blond guys. He has a little blond goatee and mustache, too. Not muck, but a light fuzz. Why? Because I like that too."

Shippo - "Why?"

W.W.- "Umm..."

B.B.- "Because she's weird."

W.W.- "Yeah!...Hey!"

B.B.- "Hay is for horses, get back to the story so I can write again."

W.W.- (mumbles, so B.B. can't hear her) "Bitch."

B.B.- "Pardon?"

Inuyasha - "She said" (W.W. tackles him. In the ensuing confusion, Miroku squeezes B.B.'s ass, and they go off into a dark corner together. Confusion continues)

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The grandmother was a stern woman, who tended to become quite loud but never physical. Being a Wind demon, she was full of hot air.

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Wind - "Hey!"

W.W.- "You shut p too. You aren't a major character, you have no say. And just so everybody knows, Inuyasha is a wimp."

Inuyasha - "Murph!" (Tries to talk through full body cast. Only ears and nose are visible.)

W.W.- "What? No comeback? Oh well." (Sighs, then laughs evilly)

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Ankha soon became used to the Floof as it ran around in circles around their feet as they moved through the woods, and even chuckled at some of it's antics.

Their light conversation was soon disturbed, however, when the assassins ear twitched in response to a faint sound. Quickly, she stilled Rorrim's talking, and crouched low, moving the encumbering cloak out of the way. Then, a group of small, ugly creatures flashed into sight, and immediately started a loud chattering noise as they spotted the pair. And that was when Ankha felt the ground shake beneath her.

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W.W.- "Fine! Take it, goddamn it!" (Throws story at B.B.)

B.B.- (stops snarling and foaming at the mouth. Wiping away the foam with her hand, she rises from all fours to stand on two legs) "Ahem, thank you. R+R!"