Okay, I'm just really lazy and I'm just skipping straight to the disclaimer crap. Besides, you probably think all my babbling in the beginning is incredibly lame, but I do have a lot of disclaiming to do, anyways.
You already know by now that all we own is our own characters and the plot of this story. But any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi we do not own so please don't waste your time suing us… besides, we'd obviously win the case anyways, so it'd be rather pointless. However,during this post plenty of anime titles were mentioned, and I DON'T OWN THEM! So here's the list of all the crap in this chapter that Kayhera nor Ravyn own:
Rurouni Kenshin: Hmm… I don't exactly know who owns this, I just know I don't! I've watched about thirty episodes like two years ago, so any information about this that is wrong is not really my fault!
Wolf's Rain: I think Bandai owns this… Only seen the first five episodes, and I think I saw the last episode too because everyone died in it… but the only parts of Wolf's Rain that were mentioned occurred in the first five episodes so I'm pretty sure whatever I mentioned was accurate!
Big O: I have no clue who owns this! I have never seen this anime. All I know is from the commercials: something about robots. And the character in this fan fic who likes this show likes robots, so I think I'm okay with that…
Full Metal Alchemist: BIG fan of this! I've watched every episode shown so far on adult swim, so if you think I'm not accurate with this than you just suck! (okay, kidding, but you know what I mean…). And, sadly, I don't know who made this…
Cowboy Bebop: Watched a few episodes. It seems like something the character who mentions it would like, so whatever. I didn't really say a whole lot on the subject… And I don't know who owns it!
Slayers: I only added this in because I couldn't think of anything and was at the time IMing Ravyn… and she said I could mention Slayers (because I was having two of the characters talk about anime… notice how I'm not saying who is saying who in this whole entire disclaimer! Gasps!). Anyways, I've never watched it, so any incorrect information is all Ravyn's fault! Blame her! Points accusing finger at Ravyn as she crosses her arms and sticks her tongue out, then marries Sesshomaru because I'm in a really random mood. And I just asked Ravyn who owns it (I'm on the phone with her at the moment! I talk to her a lot…) and she doesn't know who owns Slayers.
Read or Die: Okay, there's a movie version of this that played on adult swim, and then there's a TV show version on this really weird channel that I have that really has nothing to do with the movie (as far as I can tell. I've watched both, by the way. Movie version waaaaaaay better. Go Yumiko!). They only play like six episodes of the freakin' show of the weird "gamers" channel I watch the TV series version on and then suddenly stop… then in a month play the TV show again for another six episodes. So I don't really understand the TV show that much because it's really confusing and once I start to figure it out it all of a sudden changes, but whatever. However, only the title was mentioned, so I'm okay with accuracy. And I think the same people who made Full Metal Alchemist made this but I really am not sure…
Chobits: This anime is totally awesome! If you haven't watched the TV show or read the manga do so because it's so freakin' awesome! Well, I've only read the first, second, and fourth manga (my friend didn't have the third one) and Ravyn's only read those too because I let her borrow them… Anyways, it was only mentioned once but the character that does mention it really, really likes it. It's like their favorite anime. Then Rurouni Kenshin. And Clamp wrote the manga, if you care and all.
Love Hina: I own manga one through five and own the Love Hina Spring Break movie… I know quite a lot about this anime, which is why it was the one anime that was discussed the most. So if I'm inaccurate then… well, let's just say I wasn't and move on with our lives, k? Anyways, Ken Akamatsu wrote the manga and Bandai made the anime.
InuYasha: Okay, this wasn't mentioned, but I'd just like to say I own manga one through eleven (and share it with Ravyn) and the second movie, and I'm proud of it! So there! Though I really want the third movie because apparently you get to learn about InuYasha and Sesshomaru's daddy and they haven't released it in the US yet…
Hmm….. What to talk about now? I don't want to stop writing the disclaimer! It was fun!But it's not like I have anything to talk about… sigh… oh, whatever, just read and reply! And have a good day!
Chapter Nineteen: Going Our Separate Ways
It took all of her strength to climb up the sides of the well but Sueko couldn't understand why she felt so weak. As soon as she managed to get back to the solid ground of the shrine she ran over to the door, throwing it open and then turning around to slam them shut again.
She stood there for a moment, staring at the shrine with its closed doors. It suddenly looked like such a gloomy place even though before it had been so inviting. Sueko felt as though she had left something unfinished and because she couldn't think of what it was she decided to take her sword out and put it through the handles of the shrine door so no one could open it from the inside. Glancing at her sword trapping the shrine Sueko felt tears well up in her eyes again and she was all of sudden so overcome with grief she had to sit down.
'I find out I love him only to find out he doesn't love me at all!' Sueko thought to herself. But then a little voice inside of her head went, '…but he did follow you…'
'So!' Sueko thought to the voice in her head. 'He was… kissing her…'
'But he pushed her away right after…'
'…I showed up! He was going along with it all right, and then he stopped because he didn't want to hurt my feelings… or something like that… It's Kagome! He was in love with her and he still is!'
'I can't stay out here all night… but at the same time I don't want to go home. I'm so used to Feudal Japan I'd rather be there but then he's there…'
Suddenly Sueko stood up and tried to clean off her face the best she could with her sleeve and picked out her book bag. She didn't want to go home and she obviously couldn't go back to Feudal Japan so how about she just went over to Tamika's? Okay, so it would be extremely weird and sort of rude to just show up suddenly but she really needed to be with a friend… besides, Tamika just walked over to her house uninvited last time!
The only problem was that Sueko wasn't sure there was any sort of transportation running at about two o'clock in the morning… and no one would be awake at Tamika's…
"I've walked around Feudal Japan for five months. I think I can manage walking around modern day Tokyo," Sueko muttered to herself as she put her book bag on and started walking away from the shrine.
Tamika sat on the living room sofa with the television volume down to as low as it could go with her still able to hear it, flipping through the channels boredly.
"Nope… nope… what a boring show! Nah… oh, I like that show! The credits? Damn you! Nope… I wonder if Keitaro's still on the Internet… Nope… Dad likes that show. Too bad he's at work…"
There was a knock on the door that make Tamika jump up—both in surprise and excitement.
"Company! Wait, it's three in the morning… oh well!" she cried, who leaped up from the sofa and rushed over to the door. She was in pajamas that were way too small and her hair was messy like she had slept in it even though she hadn't and it wasn't even up in a pony-tail like it always was but Tamika didn't worry about her appearance at all as she opened the door to see who it was. Seeing the figure at the door she ran over to hug them, crying, "Oh, I missed you SO much! Wait, it's the middle of the night…. Oh well! How was Feudal Japan or whatever it's called? Did you kill another demon?" Letting go of Sueko and seeing the expression on her face, Tamika frowned and went, "Uh… I take it you didn't have fun there, did you?"
"I didn't want to go home so I went here. Hope you don't mind," muttered Sueko, looking down at the ground and closing the door behind her without looking at it.
"What's wrong, Sueko?" asked Tamika, grabbing Sueko's hand tightly and putting her face close to Sueko's with her eyes looking extremely serious and wide.
Sueko raised her eyebrows. "Tamika, are you okay?"
"I'm just fine!" said Tamika, letting go of Sueko's hand to put her hands together and grin. "Thanks for asking! But you're not!"
It was then that a door opened and Tamika turned around to find Keitaro standing there with a large white tee shirt that looked extremely worn and blue plaid boxer shorts. He was scratching his head in confusion, messing up his already messy hair. And he was also wearing glasses, which he never wore.
"Sueko, what are you doing in my house at three o'clock in the morning!" Keitaro cried out, walking over to where Tamika and Sueko were standing with both hands on his hips.
"Why are you wearing glasses…" muttered Sueko.
"I took my contacts out…" muttered Keitaro back. Then he asked again, loudly, "What are you doing in MY house!"
"This is an apartment, not a house," said Tamika. "And it's dad's apartment, not yours."
"I look like I care, Tamika," said Keitaro, rolling his eyes. "What are you doing here!"
"I didn't want to go home…" mumbled Sueko.
"Okay… why!"
"Um…"
"You idiot!" cried Tamika, hitting Keitaro on the head. "You really have no respect for other peoples feelings, you know that!"
"What?" said Keitaro, looking bewildered. But then he turned his head to Sueko again and his eyebrows went up as his brain suddenly figured out that Sueko wasn't happy.
"It was that stupid dog boy, wasn't it?" muttered Keitaro, crossing his arms crankily. "I really wouldn't be surprised if that jerk did—"
He stopped talking as Sueko's eyes started to well up with tears and she flung herself to the one person standing in front of her… which just happened to be Keitaro.
Tamika glared at Keitaro and mouthed, "Comfort her, you bastard!" so Keitaro patted Sueko's back awkwardly.
"He likes some other girl instead of me!" Sueko shouted through her tears.
Tamika waved her hands forward as if to prompt Keitaro to do something but he had no clue what to do or say.
"Um… Tamika kept going on about this movie she wanted to see. Want to see it with us tomorrow?" Keitaro asked because he couldn't think of anything else to say that was kind enough.
"Okay…" said Sueko quietly. It sounded like she had stopped crying now and was just sniffling. She let go of Keitaro to wipe the tears from her eyes. Tamika leaped over to the coffee table and grabbed a box to tissues for Sueko.
"I was watching this really sad movie…" Tamika said to Keitaro as Sueko blew her nose.
"Did someone die in it?" Keitaro asked.
"Not really. It was actually a comedy… but the ending was just so happy!"
"I'll never understand you…" said Keitaro, shaking his head sadly at her.
"You don't mind if I stay here?" Sueko asked.
"Nope," said Keitaro, shrugging off-handedly.
When Tamika jumped up and put her hands together excitedly he groaned. "We should have a party! I could make junk food, we could stay up late watching movies, and have a sleep over! We could have makeovers and everything!"
"I'll be in my room…" Keitaro muttered, who started to turn and walk away.
"Oh no you don't!" cried Sueko, grabbing his arm.
"We need s'mores!" said Tamika suddenly, who ran straight to the kitchen, closing the door behind her.
"I have extremely weird friends," said Sueko, scratching her head.
"I'm the normal one," said Keitaro, crossing his arms.
"Yeah… a computer geek is normal…" said Sueko.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that…" said Keitaro.
"You do that," said Sueko, who finally set down her book bag next to the sofa and walked into the kitchen to see if she could help Tamika (though she couldn't really cook that well so she'd probably just be in the way…. But whatever!).
The rest of the night had been long and uneventful. Surprisingly enough Yoshiko didn't think about much of anything. In fact she spent most of her time after leaving Sesshomaru walking around aimlessly. Her feet just carried through the woods to no place in particular. Finally she seemed to notice her surroundings and saw the splash of colors as the sun started to rise. She sighed and sat down, taking out some food from her bag and nibbling at it. It wasn't really that she was hungry but she was tired of walking and needed an excuse to stop.
But sitting there left too much time for thought, practically forcing her to recall the events of last night. The most awkward thought was when Sesshomaru had to carry her out of the shrine. Yoshiko shook her head, trying to clear her head of the thought. But at the same time she felt her cheeks go red at the memory. Sighing, she stuffed away the leftover food, got to her feet and started walking again.
Almost without realizing it though, she showed up at the place where she had known the others to be. She had been trying to avoid it though… not wanting to have to see anybody. But as soon as she appeared at the edge of the trees, Sango jumped to her feet looking right at her. There was no way she would be able to just turn around and leave now. So readying herself for Sueko's wrath, Yoshiko strode over. When she had reached the hut she soon noticed that someone was missing. In fact, that someone happened to be Sueko.
'At least I won't have to face her,' thought Yoshiko, dropping her stuff in a pile by the wall of the hut.
As she stood there she realized something else: everybody was quiet. A bit too quiet even. In fact InuYasha almost looked like how Yoshiko felt, so something big must have happened while she was gone. But she didn't want to ask because that would be a bit rude. Of course she was too tired to really think of nicer way to try and get somebody to say something. So she grabbed InuYasha by the arm and dragged him over to the edge of the trees.
"What happened?" sighed Yoshiko, not looking at him.
She expected him to come up with some sort of smart-ass remark. But he didn't say anything. He said nothing at all, which just worried Yoshiko. She turned toward him and hit him on the head.
"Okay, I'm impatient today so will you just answer me!" snapped Yoshiko.
Still InuYasha didn't say anything, but crossed his arms and turned away. Yoshiko moaned and started hitting her head on the nearest tree. As if out annoyance, InuYasha grabbed the back of her robes and pulled her away from the tree.
"Maybe you say what's up with you first!" said InuYasha, his voice almost indifferent.
"What's there to say?" muttered Yoshiko, pushing InuYasha's hand away. "Me and Sesshomaru got into this silly argument about human traditions."
"What do you mean?" asked InuYasha, sitting down with his back to a tree.
"I don't know myself! Everything just went by so quickly I hardly even remember how it started," cried Yoshiko, balling her hands into fists. "I was being an idiot anyways to think he would even care that the other half me is human! Besides, you're avoiding my question!"
"Yeah," shrugged InuYasha.
"Well, stop it!" snapped Yoshiko, putting her fists on her hips. "I want to know why Sueko isn't here and now!"
"She went home," said InuYasha. "What did you expect?"
"But she normally doesn't go home unless she's upset!" snapped Yoshiko. "Now spill! What did you do this time? I don't have time to be any nicer about it!"
"You're not going to let me get away without saying anything, are you?" sighed InuYasha.
"No, I'm sorry. I don't like it when people keep information from me!" snapped Yoshiko.
"You can't even be nice when you're apologizing," laughed InuYasha sadly.
"Do I need to say I'm sorry again?" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms.
"Don't waste our time," muttered InuYasha.
"Fine. Talk," said Yoshiko, sitting down.
"This girl that looked like Kagome but wasn't showed up and Sueko walked in on her kissing me," said InuYasha tonelessly acting like he was talking about someone other than himself.
"Fun…" muttered Yoshiko. "And of course she thought you were kissing… who's Kagome?"
"Can we not get into that?" sighed InuYasha.
"Sorry," said Yoshiko, putting a comforting arm around his shoulder. "Last night was just wasn't a good night for any of us."
"Feh," said InuYasha getting back to his feet and walking away.
Yoshiko blinked in confusion, staying where InuYasha had left her. Finally she shook her head sadly and walked back to the hut. Sango looked up immediately as if to measure Yoshiko's reaction to what InuYasha had told her. What she saw instead was Yoshiko grabbing her stuff and starting off again.
"Where are you going?" cried Sango, running after her.
"Somewhere other than here," said Yoshiko. "I'm not going to deal with a depressed InuYasha. This messed up love situation they have to fix their selves!"
"Oh, so you butt in and then just butt yourself out?" snapped Sango.
"Well, I know nothing about Kagome so I wouldn't be much help," sighed Yoshiko, smiling slightly. "Besides, I won't always be there to solve everybody's problems so they can deal with it!"
"Maybe you shouldn't be trying to solve anybody's problems except your own," muttered Sango.
"You were listening!" cried Yoshiko, but not in a mad way which surprised her.
"I admit that I butt in for a little…" said Sango, smiling. "Now I am not going to let you go off and leave me here with a depressed InuYasha!"
"Fine. I'm not going to wait up for you though," laughed Yoshiko, watching as Sango went running back to the hut to grab her own stuff.
'It'll be a bit nice to travel with someone else…' thought Yoshiko, smiling to herself.
Sueko sighed, sitting up on the Hamasaki's living room sofa she had been sleeping on that night. Well, had been trying to… Sueko couldn't bear to close her eyes, for every time she did she remembered InuYasha and Kagome… kissing…
She didn't care that he never really did like her in that way or the fact that she had just realized she liked him that way in the first place—it still hurt! And how in the hell is it possible for him to go doing that with Kagome when she was dead! What, did he bring her back from the dead or something? Talk about extremely gross, doing that sort of thing with a dead girl…
Ugh… why'd she have to find out she was in love with the guy when it was too late to do anything about it! 'If only I wasn't so stupid… I could have been the girl he was kissing…'
A sudden crashing noise and a male voice saying very inappropriate words as he cried out in pain stopped Sueko's train of thought as she jumped up and nearly fell off the couch. She turned around to see Keitaro stumbling out of the hallway muttered swear words as he hopped on one foot, inspecting the other what-appeared-to-be-injured one.
Sueko raised her eyebrows. "What did you do?"
Keitaro looked up. "I stubbed my toe—stupid bookshelf… Wait, why are you up? Did I wake you?"
"No, no… I was just thinking…" said Sueko.
"Oh," said Keitaro, putting his foot back down on the ground and just standing there.
The two didn't say much of anything—Sueko wondered why Keitaro was out of his room at four in the morning… so to break the silence she asked just that.
"Uh… because it's Friday so I stay up all night to catch up on online stuff that I've missed during the week thanks to the homework load at school," said Keitaro simply.
"I thought you liked homework," said Sueko.
"I do."
Sueko blinked a few times. "Whatever… aren't you going to do something?"
"Huh?" said Keitaro, scratching his head. "Oh! Um, I forgot what I was going to do… my bookshelf is really, very, extremely evil…"
"Uh huh," said Sueko. She wanted to say something else but couldn't think of anything to say.
Keitaro cleared his throat awkwardly, ending the odd silence that had lingered after Sueko's last words. "Erm… well, I don't exactly remember why I'm out here so how about I just go…"
"Wait!" cried Sueko, leaning on the arm of the couch. "Don't go!"
"Uh…" said Keitaro, blinking.
"I'm sorry…" muttered Sueko. "It's just… I guess I'd just like some company right now…" 'So I can stop thinking these really annoying, depressing thoughts!'
"Oh… okay," mumbled Keitaro. Sueko might have been imaging it but Keitaro looked extremely awkward…
Whether he was awkward or not Sueko sat up on the sofa and moved the blanket away, making it to where Keitaro would have been comfortable to sit there, and when he wasn't getting the impression that she was letting him sit on the couch ('Typical guy…') Sueko started pointing to the empty spot and Keitaro's eyebrows went up as he got the impression. He sat down and Sueko got this really random thought that he didn't look that bad with his glasses on… in fact, he looked just as good with them on as he did without… 'What a weird, weird thought!'
"So… um… anything new happen while I was gone?" Sueko asked, not sure of what to say but wanting to say something.
"Uh… well, we started a new unit in History," said Keitaro.
"Er… okay…"
"We're learning about the Meiji Restoration, which is the start of Westernization, which is the adaptation of western ideas. The Meiji Restoration was also the start of—"
"I know, Keitaro," said Sueko, trying not to laugh. "I've watched Rurouni Kenshin before!" When Keitaro just looked at her blankly she added, "What, you don't watch anime? You seem like the anime type…"
"Um… See, I'm on the computer. And Tamika uses the TV. So if I'm not on the computer I watch TV… but Tamika has it. And anime usually confuses her, except for Wolfs Rain or Big O, which I don't really like…" explained Keitaro.
"And the DVD's all over your room would be what, exactly?" asked Sueko with her eyebrows raised.
"That'd be anime. But good anime," said Keitaro. "Like Full Metal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop…"
"What about Slayers? And Read or Die? And Chobits?" cried Sueko. "Besides, wouldn't you like Love Hina? The main character has the same name as you do!"
"Sorry, watching an anime with a bunch of naked chicks with no storyline or real plot bores me," said Keitaro.
"It has a plot! Keitaro and Naru work hard together to get into Tokyo U because they made a promise they'd go there someday! Plus Seta's kinda hot…" said Sueko.
"So's Motoko, but I don't watch the show because of her," said Keitaro boredly.
"Um… Keitaro? Doesn't your sister look like Motoko?" said Sueko tonelessly.
"Huh? No she doesn't!" But then Keitaro paused and looked as though he was thinking, and then suddenly his cheeks turned a bit red as he muttered, "I never did like Love Hina…"
"You know what?" said Sueko suddenly. "My life is so freakin' dramatic. I'm a protector for some Spiritual Shrine and I always have to go fight demons… and I'm friends with a half tiger demon, a perverted monk, a demon slayer and a kitsune… My life could so be an anime show, except they'd have to draw me taller and with bigger boobs… and better hair. My hair is extremely messy at times…"
Keitaro laughed. "Your hair is just fine. And besides, isn't the girl from Slayers really short? What's her name? Ina… Verse… y… something…"
"Lina Inverse!" cried Sueko, turning a bit pink in the face. After all, Lina was her favorite character because she was kinda short… like her!
"Yeah, her…" said Keitaro, scratching the back of his head.
There was a pause as the two just sort of started thinking for a little bit, but it was broken by Sueko, who started laughing.
"What?" asked Keitaro.
"Oh my God…" Sueko paused for breath. "Keitaro, you were actually wrong about something!"
"Huh?" said Keitaro. "Oh… Well, that's only because I've only watched a few episodes of Slayers… I mean, Darien's swords pretty wicked and all, but other then that the show doesn't make sense… Okay, it does, but it's so scientifically incorrect! Like, who can make a fireball just by holding out their hands and chanting a few words? I mean, Full Metal Alchemist is a bit off with it's facts but alchemy makes more sense then random fireballs coming out of people's hands!"
Sueko giggled. "You can make up an excuse for anything, can't you?"
"Actually, that wasn't an excuse, that was an—"
"Rise and shine!" cried an extremely cheerful voice behind the sofa. Keitaro and Sueko jerked their heads around to find Tamika standing there with a big grin on her face. In seeing them facing her, she gave a cute little wave and said, "I didn't know you got up this early, Sueko!"
"No, I just couldn't sleep," said Sueko bitterly. Not at Tamika but at the thought of why she couldn't sleep. She noticed that Tamika was fully dressed with her hair all nice like she had already taken a shower and blown dried her hair and decorated it… and she was even wearing make up and this nice outfit (Okay, just mascara, blush, and lip gloss… and she was wearing a simple yet fancy looking blue skirt with butterflies on it and a blue tank top with a sweater to go with because it was still January… a blue sweater.
"Well, if everyone's awake then I'll go make pancakes!" said Tamika cheerfully, who gave a wave good-bye as she rushed into the kitchen.
"The insanity I'm surrounded by both day and night," muttered Keitaro, shaking his head.
"Oh, don't be mean! I've always wanted a little sister," said Sueko thoughtfully. "Being an only child is cool and all but you don't have anyone to play with."
Keitaro laughed. "One day you'll get a little sister and regret it!"
"I suppose I would," said Sueko. "Seeing how if I did get a little sister they'd be a baby and I'd have to change their diaper and stuff…"
Keitaro just laughed again and shook his head as Sueko asked, "What? What's so funny!"