AUTHOR'S NOTES
Hmm… Hello! How are you doing today? I'm just fine, thank you very much! Um… I don't really know what to say… How about I just skip over to the disclaimer then, 'k?
DISCLAIMER
Shonen Jump is mentioned in this fan fic, and for those who don't know what it is (I didn't know what it was until recently…) I'll explain it to you! YAY! Basically, it's an American magazine with all of these chapters from really popular manga (though I think it has to be popular in America for it to count...). So that'd include InuYasha, because that's really popular here… except they put different anime in different issues, so it's not always the same one. Some of the anime included are Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto, Dragon Ball-something-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of, Shaman King, and InuYasha (duh). I don't know if this is available in different countries, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find it Japan, but I felt like mentioning it so I did. LIVE WITH IT! (To tell you the truth, I thought it was a Japanese magazine until I borrowed an issue from my friend and discovered that it's purely American. And that was after I wrote this post. But I don't feel like changing it so live with it!
I still don't own InuYasha, Rurouni Kenshin, Wolf's Rain or Chobits, but they're all mentioned in one way or another in this fan fic. Of course, this is an InuYasha fan fic, so what do you expect? InuYasha sort of is mentioned! I also don't own Toboe, sausages, or really random purple-eyed girl that Toboe gets a crush on, but that's mentioned too. Then again, that's all from Wolf's Rain so whatever! Anyways, happy reading!
Chapter Twenty-One: That Four-Letter Word
It was dull and boring without Sueko around. For one, there were no demons going after them trying to get her power or her sword. And then there was the fact that Miroku and InuYasha were just a little mad that the girls had disappeared. Okay, Miroku was mad. Mad… mad was an utter and complete understatement for InuYasha. He was fuming. Whenever Yoshiko tried to start a conversation he would snap and once she swore his eyes flashed red. Okay, not really. It was just a joke between her and Sango.
After what had happened a week ago Sango and Yoshiko had become closer. They were almost inseparable, so the guys being depressed and mad weren't as bad to handle. In fact they spend most of their day away from Miroku and InuYasha—from Miroku because you never know when he might want to make a move on them; InuYasha because he was just all around irritable, and it wasn't just at them. Most of it was being mad at himself but since InuYasha would never admit it, he tried to blame everybody else. Eventually he calmed down enough to talk.
"Where the hell were you two anyways?" he snapped, standing over the two girls as they sat talking.
"I'm sorry, did you want to ask us something?" asked Yoshiko, not looking up at the half-demon.
"You two just left and were gone for almost three days," cried InuYasha, putting his hands on his hips. "I think we have a right to know where you were!"
"We?" said Sango, raising an eyebrow and looking around InuYasha to where Miroku was sitting.
"Hey, I'm not a part of this!" said Miroku, holding up his hands.
"I needed to get away for a little bit. We stopped by my old village," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "I was hoping to get some leads on the shrines."
"Instead we met an adorable girl that has this cute crush on her little brother," laughed Sango.
"Oh, yes, that annoying girl 'adorable,'" said Yoshiko rolling her eyes. "And having a crush on some dead guy is not cute!"
"But you can tell she really liked him," said Sango, crossing her arms.
"You could tell she thought she liked him," said Yoshiko, getting to her feet.
She could feel everybody's eyes on her back as she walked a short distance away. Even though she knew they weren't going to stop her, she really didn't feel like leaving. Really, the only point of leaving would be to see Sesshomaru… and there would be no point in that. So she would only have to get a hold of herself in a minute or two and then go back. Then just as Yoshiko was ready to turn back around, there was rustling in the bushes. Immediately InuYasha jumped forward with his sword drawn at the same instant that Miroku and Sango grabbed their weapons. Yoshiko put a hand on her sword hilt but she didn't pull it out.
Suddenly a tail shot out of the trees and grabbed her dagger. InuYasha attempted cutting it off, but all it did was make a loud clang. Just as the demon was moving away she made a grab for it and missed. InuYasha and Yoshiko chased after it but it soon got too far ahead. Finally, it seemed, InuYasha got annoyed with it. Using the Wind Scar he hoped the kill the demon completely. But all it succeeded in doing was pissing it off.
As the demon stopped and swung its scaly head around Yoshiko attempted one of her fire attacks. But the dagger in the serpent's clutches warded the danger away. In retaliation the snake demon spat acid at the half tiger demon. She blocked it with her sword and it seemed like there was no lasting damage. Just in case, though, she put it away so she wouldn't be tempted to do it again.
The snake launched a few more rounds of acid at her, which she dodged easily. As Yoshiko distracted it, InuYasha made his way around it and tried cleaving the demon in two. However the scales continued to deflect his blows. In annoyance the demon swat at InuYasha with its tail. Then it turned its yellow narrow eyes on Yoshiko. Hissing, it came in for a deathblow. Just as she was sure it was all over a blast of blue energy was sent into its mouth. The attacks made its way down the snake's body until it shot out of the tip of its tail, sending the dagger flying. Yoshiko managed to catch it as InuYasha turned his sword toward the source of the attack.
"What are you doing here?" snapped InuYasha as Yoshiko turned to see Sesshomaru step out of the trees.
"You just keep showing up!" cried Yoshiko feeling like throwing the dagger in her hand at him.
"Me? You're the one that shows up," growled Sesshomaru. "This is the third time I've saved you."
"But why would you?" muttered InuYasha, lowering his sword in shock. "Just when I think I've got you figured out you find another way to surprise me."
"You stole my line," said Yoshiko, crossing her arms and turning away.
The wind blew through the trees as all three of them stood there. The only sound that could be heard was that of the leaves. The only movement was InuYasha sheathing his sword, something that surprised Yoshiko. But she showed no sign of noticing. That was when she realized that there was a fourth person standing there.
"Why can't you just apologize?" cried Rin's little voice.
"I have—" started Yoshiko, spinning around.
But Rin wasn't looking at her. The little girl was looking up at Sesshomaru. She almost looked angry. Which astonished Yoshiko and seemed to have Sesshomaru shocked. InuYasha just looked all around confused: by Sesshomaru, by his reactions, by the little girl. And how they and Yoshiko seemed to know each other really well. It didn't matter how many times he had heard about it, it still kind of scared him.
"I'm not leaving without Yoshiko this time!" said Rin, her little hands in uncharacteristic fists. "So apologize or I'm staying."
"Then stay," said Sesshomaru, seeming to regain his composure.
'Wait!' thought Yoshiko. 'But tonight is the half-moon. I don't need Rin seeing me like that!'
It seemed like the same thing was going through InuYasha's mind.
"We don't have time to take care of a little girl," he objected.
"Find time," said Sesshomaru turning and walking away.
"You're not serious, Rin," moaned Yoshiko when the little girl didn't follow.
"Lord Sesshomaru will come back for me!" said Rin. And the way she said it, Yoshiko almost believed her.
After walking a short distance away, Sesshomaru stopped. He almost thought about going back and getting Rin. He didn't care if Yoshiko came, it didn't feel right without the little girl. In fact, now that he thought about it, it didn't feel right without Yoshiko. Maybe it would have just been easier to apologize since she had already. All of this was pointless and, truthfully, he did want Yoshiko to come with.
'This is pathetic,' thought Sesshomaru continuing on. 'She's a half-demon."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said another voice in the back of his head.
His eyes narrowed as he reached the place where he had left Jaken—with Rin. But now Rin was with Yoshiko. A thought crossed his mind that was where he wanted to be. Jaken jumped off Aun when he noticed Sesshomaru.
"Where's Rin?" he asked, pausing and looking behind Sesshomaru as if expecting to see the girl.
"She's with Yoshiko," said Sesshomaru shortly.
"You know Yoshiko?" said a woman's voice from up in the trees.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" cried Jaken.
From above a woman dropped right in front of Sesshomaru. She had long black hair and bright blue eyes. Not only did she have stripes on her cheeks, but also on her hands. A grin spread across her face as Sesshomaru glared down at her.
"What do you want?" he snapped.
"I heard you say my niece's name," said the tiger demon. "How well do you know Yoshiko?"
"Who are you?" asked Sesshomaru.
"My name is Emiko," the woman said sweetly. "And you would be…"
"What is it you want with Yoshiko?" growled Sesshomaru. After somebody had pretended to be Yoshiko he hardly trusted anyone, especially someone with blue eyes.
"She's got something that belongs to me and I want it back," hissed Emiko.
"I won't be a part of it," said Sesshomaru, starting to leave.
"Oh, but you will," laughed Emiko, putting a hand on his cheeks.
As she forced him to look back at her, Emiko's eyes seemed to turn green. They looked almost similar to Yoshiko's. And, it seemed, because of this he couldn't move away. As the tiger demon kissed him, the whole world fell away.
Sueko sighed as she attempted to dodge all the round, red balls coming her way. 'PE was never my favorite period of the day…'
"Yo! Sueko!" cried Tamika's voice from the opposite team.
Sueko looked around until she found Tamika standing right by the wall, waving her hand at her and completely ignoring the dodge balls that were flying at every direction all around her.
"What?" cried Sueko, running over to Tamika, ducking a few times at the balls coming her way.
"Hi!" said Tamika, wiggling her fingers at Sueko and smiling.
"What!" repeated Sueko, crossing her arms.
"So, have you forgotten about him yet?" Tamika asked. "Or are you still remembering him?"
"Huh?" said Sueko, blinking.
"Kimono dude!" cried Tamika, waving her arms.
"No, and even if I did you saying that wouldn't have helped!" said Sueko.
"Oh. Sorry…" said Tamika. "You know, you should wear your hair up more often. You look cute with it up…"
"I only have it up so it doesn't get in the way as I do about a gazillion push ups," muttered Sueko.
"You only had to do ten extra for being late," said Tamika.
"You're the one who made me late!" cried Sueko.
"Oh, yeah, I did…" said Tamika.
Sueko opened her mouth and was about to say something, but a dodge ball hit her right in the face and instead she just moaned and fell on her butt, and moaning louder because both her nose and butt really hurt.
"Are you okay!" cried Tamika.
"Ow…" muttered Sueko, covering her sore nose and not even paying attention to another ball coming her way, which just bounced off her shoulder and went somewhere else.
"Um… Sueko?" said Tamika timidly.
"What?" asked Sueko tiredly, getting to her feet and brushing away at the dust on her.
"Um… your nose…" said Tamika, tapping her finger on her own nose.
"Huh?" Sueko removed her hand from her nose only to discover there was a bit of blood on it.
"Okay, I think God's trying to punish me today or something!" cried Sueko.
"Hmm… I've had a rather good day today…" said Tamika thoughtfully.
"Be right back," mumbled Sueko, rushing over to the girls' locker rooms to get some tissues or something to stop the bleeding. When she came back out she noticed Keitaro was sitting in the corner of the gym against the wall while hugging his knees to his chest and ducking his head every time a dodge ball came ten feet near him.
"Keitaro?" cried Sueko, running over to where he sat.
He looked up at Sueko and, in seeing her, looked somewhat relieved. Then suddenly concerned. "What happened?"
"Huh? Oh… a dodge ball hit my nose…" mumbled Sueko, turning a bit pink.
"Ouch!" said Keitaro.
"So why are you sitting in the corner all by yourself?" asked Sueko.
"Oh, that… well, I know I'm not very manly in saying this, but I never really did like Physical Education…" muttered Keitaro, turning a bit pink too.
"You could just call it PE,' said Sueko.
"Yeah, I could…"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better I don't like PE either," said Sueko, smiling slightly.
Keitaro laughed. "Thanks…"
"So…" Sueko said, sitting down next to Keitaro and hugged her legs to her knees also, "how come every time we get put into teams I'm always on the losing side?"
"Why's Tamika always on the winning side?" asked Keitaro.
"I don't know," said Sueko, laughing. She looked over at the other side of the gym to see Tamika throwing a dodge ball towards someone and crying, "Take that, you jerk!"
"Typical Tamika," muttered Sueko, smiling and shaking her head.
"Hey," said Keitaro suddenly, "your hair is up."
"Why is everyone pointing this out?" thought Sueko out loud. Then she giggled. "I always put it up for PE. Otherwise it gets in the way."
"It looks cute that way," said Keitaro.
Sueko laughed. "Is it 'let's point out Sueko's good looks' day or something!"
"Well, you're not ugly looking or anything," said Keitaro.
"Did I say I was?"
"I don't know. Did you?"
"Keitaro! You're the one who brought it up!" cried Sueko.
"Actually, technically you brought it up, I just continued on with the subject at hand," explained Keitaro.
"Don't you belong in the science classroom right now?" laughed Sueko.
"Nah. Science isn't really my thing…"
"Fine! Then math!"
"Okay!"
The two laughed. With regret, Sueko heard someone call her name and looked up to find Akio waving his hand at her from Tamika's team.
"Oh, god…" muttered Sueko, getting up from the gym floor.
"Hope your nose gets better," said Keitaro from the ground, grinning.
"That's all you've got to say to me?" asked Sueko. "Now I have to talk to Akio!"
"I really look like I care, seeing how I've had to deal with him much longer then you have. Well, when he decides to not skip school and shows up…"
"See you," said Sueko, striding over to where Akio stood—well, actually, he was leaning against the wall, but whatever!
When he saw the bloody tissue in Sueko's hands Akio actually looked concerned as he said, "I'm sorry."
"Um… about the lunch thing?" asked Sueko.
"Um… not really but I'm sorry about that too!" said Akio. "I meant about the whole throwing-the-ball-at-your-face thing. I was trying to get your attention but maybe I tried a little too hard…"
"What are you, insane!" cried Sueko. "You think hitting a girl with a ball will get their attention!"
"It would have if your nose didn't get all bloody," said Akio, grinning.
Sueko sighed. "I'll never understand you…"
"That's not the point," said Akio. "The point is that you're the sexiest girl I've ever met and you should go out with me."
"WHAT!" cried Sueko.
"I beg your pardon?" said Akio, looking amused as he stepped away from the wall and just crossed his arms.
"Y—y—you called me sexy…" stuttered Sueko.
"You don't like that word? I can call you something else, like hot or—"
"No, no, that's okay!" said Sueko, waving a hand aside and laughing weakly.
"So what do you say?" asked Akio. "What to do something after school? Your choice!"
"Um…" said Sueko, not sure of how to put it.
"No?" said Akio, not sounding surprised or bummed out at all. "Keeping your eyes on some other guy?"
"No, nothing like that!" said Sueko.
"Hmm…" Suddenly Akio's eyes widened and his mouth formed a small "o" in surprise.
"What?" asked Sueko.
"It all makes sense now…" said Akio in wonderment, spreading his hands out dramatically with his eyes still wide.
"What!" cried Sueko.
"You're hung up on some other guy, aren't you!" cried Akio, pointing an accusing finger at Sueko and grinning madly, as though he was proud of himself for finally figuring out what had made Sueko upset earlier.
"Wh—what?" said Sueko—again.
"So, who is it?" Akio demanded to know. "Who dumped a beautiful girl such as yourself for no reason whatsoever?"
"God, I'm not amazingly beautiful or anything," muttered Sueko, turning pink.
"Seriously, who is he? I don't mind beating him up for you, if you'd like…"
"No, Akio, that's okay!" 'InuYasha would probably win the fight, anyways.'
"You sure? I really don't mind at all. A man like me has some muscle you know, and I think I'd manage—"
"I'll go!" said Sueko suddenly, crossing her arms.
Akio blinked a few times. "Come again?"
"I'll go!" repeated Sueko. "As long as I'm home after dinner, mom won't care."
"Really? Okay! So how about—"
Sueko didn't hear what Akio said next because just then a dodge ball had hit him on the shoulder and the teacher whistled for him to go in the "out" zone. The only reason Sueko didn't have to go before was because she got hit in the face so she didn't have to… plus the teacher didn't exactly notice.
As soon as Akio left Sueko rushed back to Tamika. She was throwing ball after ball at this one guy and kept calling him a jerk, a bastard, and a whole bunch of other things that Tamika probably shouldn't have been saying at school.
"What are you doing!" cried Sueko.
"Oh, hello, Sueko!" said Tamika, pausing with her ball throwing. The boy, noticing her lack of throwing a ball at him, hurried off to the other side of the gym.
"What are you doing!" she repeated.
"Oh. Um… He asked me out, I said no, then he started acting really weird…" said Tamika.
"You don't do that to boys who ask you out!" cried Sueko.
"You don't? I do it all the time, though…" said Tamika.
"Whatever…" muttered Sueko.
"Have you forgotten about doggy-eared boy yet?" asked Tamika, smiling.
"You really aren't helping…" muttered Sueko. 'This is like talking to a two-year-old!'
"You haven't then…" said Tamika. "Hmm… uh… I can't remember anything to help you with it, sorry. Which is really sad because I just watched this really cute romance movie the other day. I forgot the title, but the main character, which is some chick I also don't remember the name of, had—"
"Tamika, shut up for a minute!" cried Sueko.
"Ooh," said Tamika suddenly, "what happened now? Did something happen between you and Akio?"
"You were watching us!" cried Sueko.
"I just saw you talking," said Tamika, shrugging. "But somehow I'm thinking, 'Yes, something did happen!' So what was it!"
"Um… Akio asked me out…" said Sueko, turning bright red. "And I sorta said yes…"
Sueko quickly covered her ears and turned even redder as Tamika screamed in joy.
"Tamika, we're going to get yelled at by the teacher!" hissed Sueko.
"Oh, don't mind him! But this is so wonderful!" cried Tamika. "Hey, you could wear that one really pretty blue skirt that's all flow-y… or maybe you should just stick to that red shirt and the really short wavy black skirt… Dark colors are so better on you then light… and you can stop by my house so I can put your hair up all nice…"
Sueko sighed. What in the hell had she gotten herself into!
"That damn snake totally mutilated my sword!"
Yoshiko was sitting with the others around a campfire. InuYasha and Rin had been extremely quiet since Sesshomaru left early that day. The half tiger demon, on the other hand, was just full of energy. That was probably because the sun was setting, the half-moon would come up and she would become human. So in an attempt to burn off this energy effectively she had thought about training. But upon brining out her sword Yoshiko found out that the acid had almost burned a hole through the blade. Obviously fake tears feel down her cheeks.
"Well, you shouldn't have blocked the acid with your steel sword," said InuYasha.
"What else was I supposed to do?" snapped Yoshiko.
"Um… run?" joked InuYasha.
"Me? Run? Yeah right!" laughed Yoshiko, putting her sword away.
"You'll just have to take it to Takeno," said Sango, shrugging.
In the amazement to everybody, Yoshiko gave a yelp and jumped behind InuYasha. The half dog demon raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. Just at that moment the moon came up. The tiger's ears disappeared to be replaced by human ears. Her orange hair turned black and the bright green eyes became brown.
"If I told that old man I broke my sword right after he gave me a lecture about taking care of it…" Yoshiko stopped the shudder.
"Bad idea, huh?" laughed Sango.
"When do we get to meet this Takeno guy?" asked InuYasha as Yoshiko actually sat down at the fire next to Rin.
"If Sueko ever comes back we can all go and get my sword fixed," said Yoshiko.
"Why only if Sueko returns?" inquired Miroku.
"Because I think Takeno likes her," said Yoshiko. "Maybe he won't hurt me as much if she's there."
"Feh."
The group became quiet as everybody dared glances at InuYasha. Finally everybody's focus was drawn elsewhere as Rin sighed. Yoshiko put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Yoshiko was finding the girl's behavior odd. For the first half of the day she had been happy and active. When they had decided to stop for camp she had become quiet.
"I expected Lord Sesshomaru to be here by now," muttered Rin.
"What made you think that?" growled InuYasha. He obviously wasn't in the mood to talk about his brother. Or he was still touchy because Sueko had been brought up.
"He never leaves me alone for more than a couple of hours," said Rin.
"You're not alone!" said Yoshiko.
"Well… I guess not…" sighed Rin. Then she turned and hugged Yoshiko. "I just don't like seeing you two mad at each other!"
"Sesshomaru doesn't strike me as the type to apologize," said InuYasha darkly. "So don't go holding your breath."
"But…" said Rin, blinking a couple of times. "I think he may actually miss Lady Yoshiko! He talks more when she's around anyways."
"Damn! He's a pretty quiet guy," joked Yoshiko. When nobody said or did anything she sighed and stood up.
Once again nobody made to stop her, which just made it harder to leave. So all she did was step away from the campfire a small ways. As she reached the tree line a familiar laugh came ringing to her ears. It seemed as if InuYasha recognized it too because he jumped to his feet.
"What the hell, Rheda?" shouted Yoshiko, backing up.
"Be nice to you aunt," said a woman's voice as the tiger demon emerged from the forest. "My, my… you look almost—"
"Human?" suggested Yoshiko.
"Something like that," said Rheda. "Strange that you kept something like this from me. After all, you lived with me for two years."
"Do you really think I would trust you with this big of a secret?" asked Yoshiko. "Now, Rheda, what are you doing here?"
"Aunt!" snapped the tiger demon. Then she calmed down. "I thought that maybe you would like to meet a new friend of mine."
Yoshiko's hand instinctively went to her sword handle. But then she remembered the acid and swore under her breath. Just as she was about to grab her dagger, she heard somebody come from behind her. She side stepped the first attack and turned around. When she did so she came face to face with Sesshomaru. The thing that scared her most was the fact that his hazel eyes were glazed over. It was almost similar to Miroku's expression last time Rheda showed up.
Recovering quickly from missing, Sesshomaru grabbed Yoshiko around the neck. He started lifting her up when InuYasha rushed forward. Instead of choking her, he flung her into the running half-demon. As both hit the ground, Sesshomaru drew his sword. He then turned to the nearest target to him: an extremely frightened Rin. Immediately Yoshiko grabbed InuYasha's sword hilt and pulled out the Tetsusaiga. So with sword in one hand and dagger in the other she rushed over in time to block Sesshomaru's attack.
"It's not like the sword will transform for you!" cried InuYasha, getting to his feet gingerly.
Yoshiko managed to push Sesshomaru away before she replied saying, "I just need a sword that isn't going to break!"
As she parried another blow, InuYasha came over to make sure Rin was okay. Miroku and Sango rushed over to attack Rheda, but their weapons bounced off a shield. The tiger demon grinned, not turning to look at the two humans. Shippo, suddenly feeling brave, ran forward and cried out "FOX FIRE!" Amazingly the blue flames passed right through the shield that popped up to stop the attack and caught the end of Rheda's robes on fire. She kicked the little fox away as InuYasha turned back to see Yoshiko busily dodging attack after attack.
"You know it would probably be better if I were doing that!" he snapped.
"And let you kill him?" shouted Yoshiko, managing to push Sesshomaru farther from the campsite. "I don't think so!"
After a few more parries and dodges Yoshiko circled around Sesshomaru. Raising her dagger she managed to get him in the back of the left shoulder. Showing little sign of pain, Sesshomaru abandoned his sword and grabbed Yoshiko's wrist. Right away she tried to get away but his grip tightened. Suddenly she felt a burning where he was holding. She clenched her teeth and found enough strength to pull away.
"You're just not going to give up on getting this dagger, are you?" cried Yoshiko, watching her aunt out of the corner of her eye.
"It is mine," laughed Rheda.
"Want to bet?" yelled Yoshiko, kicking Sesshomaru in the chest and rushing to the tiger demon having gotten a good idea from watching Shippo. "Watch what you can do with my dagger!"
A flash of flames burst from the tip of the small blade. Rheda cried out as they passed through her shield and covered her face with her arm. When she looked back up her eyes had changed from green to blue. Yoshiko grabbed the front of her aunt's robes with the hand holding the dagger. She then brought the Tetsusaiga up to the tiger demon's throat.
"You going to kill you own aunt?" inquired Rheda sweetly. "The person who took care of you for two years?"
"You mean the person who made my life hell for two years," hissed Yoshiko. "But no," she said, dropping Rheda to the ground. "I have no reason to kill you."
Her aunt glared up at her before getting up and leaving. When it seemed sure that the danger had passed, InuYasha strode over and grabbed his sword. If it had been any other day Yoshiko would have protested jokingly. But today was the half-moon. Today her aunt had tried to kill her… again. And today Rheda had turned Sesshomaru against her. This time, though, Yoshiko didn't hesitate even though she knew it was really him.
Slowly she started walking over to Sesshomaru who was kneeling. At first she was afraid that Rheda's spell hadn't worn off. But then she noticed that he was clutching his wounded shoulder. Leaning down slightly, Yoshiko attempted to look him in the eye. However, Sesshomaru seemed equally determined not to look at her. Despite this she knew that his eyes were clear, meaning he was himself. Because of this Yoshiko was very thankful.
"Sorry," she said quietly.
"What for?" growled Sesshomaru, waving her away as he stood up. "I'm the one who should be apologizing."
Yoshiko stepped away, blinking in surprise. He got to his feet finally and looked at her. Upon seeing the black hair his eyes went wide. She felt her cheeks go slightly pink and she ran a hand through her hair to cover this up.
"How long does this last?" asked Sesshomaru.
Yoshiko's eyes flickered to the moon.
"Until the sun comes up," said Yoshiko, shrugging.
Following her eye movement, Sesshomaru turned toward the moon. Recognition crossed his face and Yoshiko could see the pieces fall into place. She half expected him to yell at her for keeping a secret. Instead he turned toward her with a sort of smile on his face.
"This happens every half-moon?" he asked. Still a little shocked, Yoshiko only nodded. "And you've survived on your own with this… weakness?"
"How can being human be called a weakness?" cried Yoshiko. "I mean, look at Miroku and Sango. They kick butt most of the time."
"Leave us out of this!" said the monk, pretending to walk away.
"Don't tell me you like being human," InuYasha moaned to Yoshiko.
"And so what if I do?" said Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips. When she did so the pain in her wrist came back.
As she was looking down at her burnt wrist, Sesshomaru grabbed her hand to pull it closer so he could see. Yoshiko's eyes went wide in surprise. When he let go of her hand it took her a minute to register that fact. Finally she turned away trying to keep herself from blushing too much.
Thankfully Sango came to the rescue. She walked over, took Yoshiko's arm and walked her over to the campfire. Then she set about cleaning the half-demon's wound and bandaging it. After her injury was all taken care of, the sun started to rise.
"I don't know which I like better," said Rin as Yoshiko started going back to her normal state, "the orange hair or the black."
"I know one thing," said Yoshiko, playing with the ends of her hair. "I really should cut my hair. It gets in the way when it's long."
Glancing up she noticed InuYasha and Sesshomaru eyeing each other. Hoping to stop a fight before it started, she got to her feet. But before she could say anything Sesshomaru started to leave. Rin smiled and started after him. Just as Yoshiko was starting to feel like she was about to cry, Sesshomaru stopped and glanced over his shoulder.
"You coming?" he asked.
"Wh—what?" said Yoshiko. She looked at Sango then to InuYasha. Neither made any sign of stopped her so she smiled and started after Sesshomaru. She was so glad that she didn't have to worry about him being mad at her anymore.
Sueko sighed, hugging herself tighter against the cold. She knew she should be feeling happy right now but all she felt was guilty… oh, and a bit of an idiot too.
'Why didn't I except Akio's offer to take me home!' Sueko thought. 'His way home would be a lot warmer. Have I forgotten it's February!'
So that took care about why she was feeling like a cold idiot right about now (her red shirt Tamika made her wear might look nice but it was awfully thin, and even the sweater she was wearing over it wasn't helping!), but what about the fact that she felt guilty? There was only one reason for it, but it made absolutely no sense! Why would going out on a date with Akio make Sueko feel guilty when she wasn't with someone else—particularly InuYasha—and this someone else didn't even like her back?
Sueko looked up at the sky, noticing that the sun was starting to set and the pinks and purples mixed together with the oranges and remaining blue that was left behind. With no money for the bus (another fact that made her feel like a fool) she was forced to walk home but at this rate she'd never get back in time for dinner!
She looked at the windows filled with merchandise to her right. A bookstore… a restaurant… some computer store… it was when Sueko reached a CD store that the door to the store opened and she had to stop in her tracks before the door hit her nose—which had suffered through enough damage that day. And then she noticed a familiar face walk out of it…
"Keitaro?"
"Sueko?" cried Keitaro, pausing as the door slammed shut from the wind and surprised to see Sueko standing in the middle of Tokyo all alone. Noticing the fancy outfit he asked, "What's the occasion?" with his eyebrows raised. Sueko noticed that he was wearing his glasses… for some reason she found that he looked a lot cuter with glasses then without…
"Oh… I was out…" said Sueko, turning a little pink, "with Akio… he sort of asked me out again and I couldn't say no, so…"
"Okay," said Keitaro, hugging his coat closer to himself. He laughed weakly. "It's awfully cold out… Are you sure you're fine in that sweater of yours?"
Sueko turned pink again just after she'd gotten over the first blushing-thing. "Oh, I'm fine…" she managed to mumble, smiling weakly.
"You sure? It's like twenty eight point five degrees outside and your saying you're fine in an outfit like that!" cried Keitaro.
"What's your point?" mumbled Sueko, turning more and more red.
"Just saying…" said Keitaro, shrugging.
After an awkward silence in which Sueko felt more and more nervous as the two continued to stand there by the CD store, Sueko said to Keitaro, "Well, I suppose I should be heading home… I have to be home before dinner and I'm probably already late…"
With a sigh Sueko walked forward towards home without another look at Keitaro, but stopped when she felt something heavy and warm fall on her shoulders and Keitaro saying from right behind her, "Here, you can borrow this…"
His voice was so low and quiet and made the back of her neck warm where his warm breath hit her that Sueko's eyes widened and her heart beat quickened in pace as she spun around to face Keitaro, only to notice that he was just wearing a long sleeve shirt… because she was wearing his coat…
Speechless, all Sueko could manage was a quiet, "What?"
"Here, I'll walk you home," said Keitaro suddenly, moving over to the side of Sueko instead of behind her. "Your house is that-a-way, right?"
"Uh huh…" 'What in the hell is going on? Why is Keitaro acting so weird!'
"So," said Keitaro—pretty casually considering the weird moment they just had, "were you ever planning on giving me back my Rurouni Kenshin DVD?"
"Huh?" said Sueko. Then she remembered that she had "borrowed" it without asking… Sueko laughed. "How'd you know!"
"I always know when something's missing in my room," said Keitaro, shrugging. "It took me awhile because I'm not really into Kenshin anymore. I was in seventh grade but after awhile I got bored with it… but I figured it out eventually. I knew it wasn't Tamika because she doesn't like Rurouni Kenshin… apparently it confuses her."
"That doesn't surprise me," said Sueko. "So if I give you back Rurouni Kenshin can I borrow Chobits?"
"I don't know… You didn't ask the first time…" said Keitaro, grinning.
"Oh, shut up!" cried Sueko, laughing.
"I don't know," said Keitaro. "How about I think about it?"
"You do that, then!" said Sueko. She suddenly felt happy and content despite the fact that before she had been totally nervous and awkward just moments before.
It was quiet again after that, except this silence was actually a comfortable silence. Sueko couldn't help but look all around her, having never really been out around Tokyo much since she moved there in September thanks to the amount of time spent in Feudal Japan… not that she was complaining. She met cool people, discovered she had powers she had never even imagined before, and gone on really cool adventures, even if she did get a few cuts and scratches (okay, that might be an understatement… she'd been stabbed twice already!).
Now that she started thinking about it, Sueko realized she had been in her timeframe for a long time… nearly two weeks, which was way longer then she'd ever stayed before… Or was it three weeks? See, she had been gone for so long she couldn't even remember how long! Last time she was there in Feudal Japan Yoshiko was gone… was she still gone? How were things with Sesshomaru? Would they actually get together or would he just be an evil jerk and kill her or something?
Because she was too busy thinking and not really paying attention to what was right it front of her it wasn't too much of a surprise for Sueko to bump into someone, but in backing away and saying a bunch of hurried "Sorry!"s and "Beg your pardon!"s she got a closer look at the person's face and couldn't help but gasp and freeze in her tracks.
"Are you all right?' the lady she had bumped into asked kindly.
"Y—Y—Yoshiko?" stuttered Sueko, putting a hand at her chest in hopes to have it stop beating so hard. "What are you doing here!"
"I beg your pardon," said the lady kindly, "but I don't know a Yoshiko. You must have mistaken me for someone else…"
With a closer look Sueko still thought this woman looked like Yoshiko—at least, a Yoshiko with black hair, brown eyes and modern day clothes. But then again, the nose was sort of different…and maybe it was because she'd never seen Yoshiko with black hair before (but that wasn't too weird; Sueko already knew Yoshiko turned into a human on the half moon… just like InuYasha did… But it was around the time of the half moon) but somehow it was different too…
"Sorry! I guess you're right…" mumbled Sueko, bowing down and hurrying over to Keitaro, who was leaning against the wall of a stationary store with an amused look on his face.
"Shut up," mumbled Sueko, turning more red and dragging on Keitaro's sleeve as she started walking again.
"I didn't say anything!" said Keitaro, but he started laughing like he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"I said shut up!"
"I'm not saying anything! I'm only laughing, which isn't technically saying anything because you're not forming words…"
"I'm sorry I just had a nearly fatal heart attack and would prefer if you didn't make fun of me!" cried Sueko.
"I'm not making fun of you," said Keitaro, grinning. It was so obvious that he was trying extremely hard not to laugh. "Why'd you almost get yourself killed by running into some random person for, anyways?"
"I didn't mean to!" cried Sueko. "I was just… like… thinking…"
"About…" said Keitaro, putting his hands behind his back and putting his face close to Sueko's mischievously.
Sueko stumbled back from Keitaro a little bit, startled, and he just stood up straight with that same expression on his face. It was amusement… and also a bit cocky… it was so unlike Keitaro… it was so weird! But she managed to clear her throat and go, "Nothing important, really…"
"Oh, don't talk that way!" moaned Keitaro, shoving his hands in his jeans pocket and walking forward again. Sueko rushed to his side to catch up. "Have more confidence in yourself!"
"But… but…" said Sueko, blinking. "Since when did I have confidence issues?"
"It's called sarcasm," said Keitaro. "'A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.'"
"That just makes it sound so depressing," said Sueko. "And it isn't helping with my confidence issues that I suddenly have.
"You're right," said Keitaro. "Maybe someone should put in a better definition in the dictionary…"
"Have you—erm—memorized the whole entire dictionary or something?" Sueko couldn't help but ask.
"Uh… I don't know," said Keitaro, shrugging.
"You're just saying that 'cause you have, aren't you!" cried Sueko, pointing an accusing finger at Keitaro.
"Uh… no comment…" muttered Keitaro. When Sueko went into a fit of giggles he cried out while putting his hands at his waist, "Hey, you insulted me!"
"Who ever said that?" teased Sueko.
Keitaro laughed, putting his arms to his sides. "Look at us! We've resorted to childish teasing!"
"So?" said Sueko. "Insulting your friends is so much fun!"
"That sounds so mean…" said Keitaro.
"So does your sarcasm definition," said Sueko, crossing her arms.
"True, true…" said Keitaro in agreement.
The silence returned again, and it wasn't uncomfortable either… like the last one! But without the sound of Keitaro's voice or of her laughter she caught bits and pieces of conversations as she walked by the many groups of people on the streets of Tokyo.
"No way! Hojo asked you out? That's so awesome!"
"How'd you do on yesterday's math test? I so failed it!"
"Thanks for the flowers!"
"You liked them? Great, they were my dad's idea..."
A sudden slapping noise startled Sueko, and she turned around to see a long, dark haired lady glaring at the man standing next to her. He had a red mark on his face and the woman's hand was up like she had just slapped him.
The man wore this silly grin on his face as the woman cried, "You pervert!"
"I didn't mean to!" cried the man innocently, holding his hands up.
"Oh, yes, I'm sure you weren't thinking when you put your hand there because if you were thinking you wouldn't have done it!"
"But—"
"This isn't even the place to do that sort of thing! There are children around here, for goodness sakes, Maku!"
Keitaro, turning his head to see what Sueko had been looking at, said, "There are weird people around here these days… sometimes I worry about the human race as a whole…"
"Yeah…" said Sueko distractedly. Why was she seeing her friends in Modern day! Did she miss them that much!
"Isn't this your house?" asked Keitaro suddenly, making Sueko stop suddenly. She looked up at the long stairway that should look familiar by now but still didn't look like home in her mind.
"Oh… Yeah…" said Sueko, not wanting to part with Keitaro. He had been very good company, even if the coat thing was really weird. Speaking of that thought…
"Here!" said Sueko, pulling the heavy thing off her. "You can have it back now."
"Oh yeah…" said Keitaro, taking it and putting it back on. "I'm really dense. I completely forgot about it!"
Sueko didn't think Keitaro was telling the truth that he had forgotten but it was nice anyways. With a wave and a cry of "Good-bye!" Sueko rushed up the steps back to her house.
"Could she possibly be the one that pretended to be us?" asked Sesshomaru when he finally let Yoshiko bandage his wound. Again and again he played in his mind Emiko's blue eyes turning green.
"Unless I'm much mistaken, Rheda can only do slight physical changes. So she could make her hair a different color or make herself look older… but like she would," said Yoshiko. "So there would be no possible way that she could look like you."
"Maybe there were two…" suggested Sesshomaru.
"Not likely," said Yoshiko, finishing up. "Rheda is pretty good at keeping her new appearance. The person who attacked me was having trouble keeping their eyes hazel. Besides, I think Rheda's natural eye color is some sort of green."
She sighed and sat all the way down. Sesshomaru saw her glance over at sleeping Rin as he stood up. He thought about walking away so that he could rest. But when she made no sign of sleeping he sat down next to her instead.
"They had blue eyes?" he asked, continuing their conversation.
"Yeah… I can see why you thought it was Rheda," sighed Yoshiko. "She likes having blue eyes. But I noticed she had bright green eyes when she attacked…"
"Which means?" prompted Sesshomaru.
"Well… that you have a weakness of some sort for green eyes," explained Yoshiko. "Or she wouldn't have been able to control you."
Sesshomaru recalled the kiss between him and Emiko and hoped that Yoshiko would never know. Lately he hadn't found his thoughts so strange and he hadn't been trying to ignore them as much. There were still time when he found himself thinking something so crazy he would get angry with himself. Next to him, Sesshomaru felt Yoshiko starting to get uncomfortable. He wondered, for probably the tenth time, if he should have brought her along.
"Are you missing your friends?" asked Sesshomaru.
"Well…" said Yoshiko, looking over at him, "one of them at least. But she left for her home a couple of weeks ago. I expected her to be back by now… Except I guess InuYasha hurt her feelings pretty badly. But not on purpose! Though her leaving kind of made InuYasha really depressed… and I'm just rambling."
"I'm not stopping you," said Sesshomaru. "If you wish to see your friends, you can go."
"But I want to see you!" Yoshiko blurted out. She turned pink and looked away. "And… besides. I can't get to her home. It's in another time. But one of these days I'll figure out a way to get her to come back."
"Very well," said Sesshomaru shortly, in a way glad that she wouldn't be leaving.
As the night wore on Yoshiko's eyes closed. Sesshomaru found himself looking at her waist long, silky, orange hair. Gently he ran his fingers through a bit of her stray hair. She shifted slightly in her sleep but didn't wake up. He lingered with his hand in her hair before decided to stand up. Walking a short distance away, Jaken finally showed up.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" the imp cried. "Why did you leave me behind?"
Ignoring Jaken, Sesshomaru kept walking. When the imp continued to follow and talk, he kicked Jaken. That got the message across and he was able to walk alone. Though it was strange not to have Rin or Yoshiko around it gave him time to think. But what it was he wanted to think about didn't become apparent for a while.
"I'm sure my trick wouldn't work twice," came a familiar woman's voice.
Sesshomaru stopped and turned to see Emiko sitting on a log. She smiled sweetly at him, her eyes a slight green. But they weren't as bright as Yoshiko's. Her long black hair was draped over her shoulder and her legs were crossed in a lady-like fashion.
"But I'm sure if I did look exactly like Yoshiko you wouldn't be able to kill me," said Emiko quite seriously. "Why would that be?"
"You tell me. That's why you're here," growled Sesshomaru.
"First, you have a question for me," said Emiko, her smile melting away to be replaced by a serious expression.
Without stopping to think why she might know he asked, "Why is it you have two names?"
"Every tiger demon does. One is a name that you can share with anyone. The other is a name only shared with family and those you trust," explained Emiko slowly. "Seeing as how I'm not a parent I don't exactly know which order you choose names. I'm guessing it depends on your preference. But I'm sure Yoshiko doesn't know the power in her little nickname Kane gave her—Kane being her father."
Immediately Sesshomaru understood which name was which. The only reason Yoshiko called her aunt Rheda was because they were family. But then that didn't matter. The answer to his first question was irrelevant. All he cared about was the answer to the question the first had brought up. But Emiko beat him to it.
"And only she can share it with you," said Emiko, almost sadly. "But don't expect her to. She's never been too fond of demons of any kind and probably is unwilling to share her personal life. Besides, she probably doesn't know anything about our double names."
For some reason this anger Sesshomaru and in an attempt to stay calm, he walked closer to Emiko. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look. When she realized what was going on she started laughing. After a while she stopped and gave Sesshomaru a smug smile. He chose to ignore it.
"Why are you tell me all this?" he asked.
"Because I trust you," said Emiko, shrugging. "And after that stunt I pulled there are some thing about you I know. In fact I'm still learning a few thing and you don't even know it!"
"How so?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Now, haven't we gotten a little off track," said Emiko, looking at her fingernails on one hand. "I was here to get from you why it is that you would be unable to kill my niece. Because she's the only one I know of with bright green eyes. Well, except my sister but I haven't see her for 20 years. So, you tell me: what are you feelings for Yoshiko?"
Immediately Sesshomaru went over all his strange thoughts: how he was unable to harm even someone that looked like her when he knew it was Yoshiko; why he became worried when he knew she was injured; the reason he wished to touch her hair, look into her eyes and have her smile at him. It all came screaming at him in three specific words. But in the end he couldn't bring himself to say it. So he turned and started walking away. Emiko sighed and stood up.
"Sesshomaru," she said quietly, causing him to stop. "She'll never really love you back. She's been though quite a bit of heartache already."
He turned around to look at her, to tell her that she was jumping to conclusions. But the look on her face… she looked sad and serious. This wasn't something she was telling him for her own benefit. Emiko seriously wanted him to know this.
"Of course, I don't know her as well as I know you," said Emiko, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "Who knows, something may change how she feels about her life. Anyways, I have better thing to do. So we'll just say that I owe you one so if you need help—"
"I won't be needing help," snapped Sesshomaru.
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," laughed Emiko. "I may be a bitch but I know quite about love, something in which you need all the help you can get."
With that she leapt up into the trees and disappeared. Subconsciously Sesshomaru noticed the sun starting to rise, but he didn't really care. He just stood there not really looking at anything, thinking over what Emiko had said. There were times when it all made sense and he was thankful for an explanation. Then he told himself it was all foolishness. Finally he gave up trying to think about it.
The sun had completely risen when he returned to where he had left the others. Rin was up and about while Yoshiko was standing up, stretching. She turned toward Sesshomaru. Upon seeing his face she frowned and blinked a couple of times.
"Hey," she said. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," he replied.
"You sure? Because you listened to me talk on and on last night," continued Yoshiko. "If there's something you need to talk about—"
"There isn't," said Sesshomaru, surprised by his own lie. But really, what would he tell her? "Let's go."
"If you say so," muttered Yoshiko.
'Damn! How is it that every time I finally get to see her again something comes up that makes me think it's better if she leaves?' thought Sesshomaru starting off without waiting to see if anybody would follow. They always would, unquestioningly. And a thought crossed his mind: what if one of these days he led them into danger?
Keitaro sighed as he closed the door shut to the apartment, tired from all those stairs and, somehow, feeling emotionally drained as well… He knew why he felt all weird inside but at the same time he was trying to ignore it… while all at once trying to think of something to do about it…
"Wait…" said Tamika as Keitaro collapsed onto the couch. It took him a second to figure out why, but then he realized Wolf's Rain was on and Tamika wanted Keitaro to wait for a commercial break before he said anything. Sighing loudly, pretending that the wait was extremely annoying or something, he pulled his coat off and put his feet on the coffee table, careful not to bump the plate full of left over chicken Tamika had sitting there.
Once the show was over Tamika reached over to get a tissue from her Kleenex box, blew her nose, and then said, "What?" though not in the mean way.
"What happened?" asked Keitaro. "I mean, on your show. Did someone die again?"
Tamika sniffed. "This one girl was giving Toboe these sausages because he was hungry… it was so sweet! And sad! And Toboe is so cute looking, even when he is a wolf!"
"Uh huh…" said Keitaro. "That's it?"
"Pretty much…" said Tamika. "So, did you get my CD or not!"
"Why couldn't you have gotten it yourself?" sighed Keitaro, digging into his coat pocket until he found Tamika's CD.
"Wolf's Rain was on!" cried Tamika, outraged that Keitaro didn't remember.
"Oh. Right…" said Keitaro distractedly. He wasn't really in the mood for a conversation…
"Something on your mind, Keitaro?" said Tamika quite seriously, which was really weird.
"Um…" How weird would it be to tell his little sister—okay, she was only two hours younger then him, but still—about some weird crush he was having on a girl who just got dumped by a guy she liked? And how to word it exactly?
"Hmm…" said Tamika, putting her face closer to Keitaro's and looking at him critically. Keitaro leaned back slightly to put some space between the two but she just moved closer… this continued until eventually Keitaro was leaning against the arm of the couch and was about to fall off it if he wasn't careful.
"Are you—" started Tamika, but was interrupted by the phone ringing—thank god!—so instead she ignored Keitaro, rushed over to the phone and said, "Hello! Hamasaki residents! What may I do for you today?"
Trying not to laugh at Tamika's typical telephone greeting, he picked up a random magazine (last months Shonen Jump) and flipped through it, once and a while catching a few words or phrases from the phone conversation. After about five or so minutes Tamika hung up and plopped back down on the couch to say, "Guess what?"
"What?" asked Keitaro, tossing the magazine on the coffee table and completely forgetting about the plate of chicken (though thankfully his precious Shonen Jump didn't fall on it).
"Sueko's going away again," said Tamika sadly.
"What?" said Keitaro, feeling as though he wasn't really hearing right.
"Sueko's going away again," repeated Tamika. "Like, down the rabbit hole to hang out with Yoshiko and kimono dude…"
"What?" cried Keitaro, but this time it was out of shock, not confusion.
"Keitaro?" said Tamika timidly as he got up and hurriedly started putting on his bulky coat.
"I've got to go. Tell dad I'm sorry if I'm late for dinner."
He left the apartment before he could hear Tamika say, "But dad's working late again, so you wouldn't be late for dinner…"
'Could the subway be any slower!' thought Keitaro in frustration as he ran up the stairs to Sueko's house two at a time. Eventually he reached the front door and didn't even wait to catch his breath before knocking on the door—maybe a bit too loudly and too many times, but like he really gave a damn!
"Hello?" said the lady who opened the door.
Keitaro guessed she was Sueko's mom but didn't give it much thought as he said between gasps for breath, "Is Sueko home?"
"Um… nope, sorry. You just missed her. When she gets back I'll tell her you stopped by," she said kindly.
"Oh," was all Keitaro could say.
"I'm awfully sorry. But like I said, I'll tell her when she comes back you came! Your Tamika's brother, right?"
"Yeah," said Keitaro, not really paying attention. "Sorry, I've gotta go… thanks anyways."
"All right…" said Sueko's mom.
Keitaro walked back towards the stairs slowly, waiting to hear the front door close. When it did he immediately spun around and headed towards the shrine as fast as he could.
He couldn't help but remember the time when Sueko was yet again explaining to them about Feudal Japan…
"So when do I get to meet dog-boy?" Tamika asked, despite the fact she was supposed to be doing her math homework.
"Um… I don't know…" said Sueko thoughtfully. "Oh, it's be so cool if you could go through…"
"What do you mean by 'if we could'?" Keitaro couldn't help asking.
"Well, only InuYasha, me, and Kagome have been able to go through the well… no one else has been able to…" explained Sueko.
"That just sucks!" complained Tamika. "Wait, who's Kagome?"
"Oh… This girl that died…" said Sueko. "I don't know her though. She was, like, InuYasha's girlfriend or something. I don't know. Hey, have you done problem five yet because it really confuses me…"
'Oh, screw it!' thought Keitaro. 'Maybe she was wrong! Maybe other people can go through the well too. Maybe they can go if they're desperate enough!'
Despite his desperateness, Keitaro hesitated before jumping into the well. Standing before it, it looked pretty deep… and sort of a dangerous thing to recklessly jump into… But he had to tell Sueko… he just had to…
So taking a deep breath and putting on a brave face, he climbed into the well until his hands were the only things holding himself there as they held onto the edge… but not being very strong he found it hard to keep a tight grip and hold his weight so Keitaro let go sooner then he wanted and found himself falling and falling…
…and then landing roughly on the hard well floor. He could feel his heart sinking in disappointment, knowing automatically it didn't work. But, putting on a hopeful face he tried climbing up the well, praying to find something 15th century-ish as soon as he reached the surface. He only found himself in the shrine once more.
'Maybe they had the shrine way back then,' thought Keitaro, but there was doubt filled even in his own thoughts. Walking outside, he immediately heard the sounds of cars going by, and seeing skyscrapers scattered all around the distance.
He wasn't in Feudal Japan. He was still in modern day Tokyo.
He was too late. Too late to explain to Sueko… to tell her that…
"What is wrong with me!" Keitaro muttered as he shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered back towards home. "I can't even think of the word! It's only four letters long. It means nothing, really, if you think about it… Except for now I guess it sort of does… I can't go liking a girl who has yet to get over the guy who dumped her!"
Pausing in his tracks, he added before walking again, "What the hell am I doing, talking to myself? Don't I have better things to do with my time then talk to myself!"
Wow, like my ending? I am extremely bored and can't think of what to write for the fan fic at the moment so I'm going to reply to all the reviewers. And since I don't remember where I left off I'll just review EVERYONE again! Hope you don't mind!
Icygirl: Thanks for not finding our fan fic annoying after twenty-one chapters! The sad part is that we're probably barely at the middle of it… so would that make the whole thing 40-50 chapters by the time we're done with it? What a scary thought… And with 28 chapters on word document—I know, I'm really behind on my editing. Don't kill me about it! I've spent that time writing, so you can't totally hate me… right?—the whole entire fan fic is like 318 pages… so maybe by 600 pages it'll be finished… which is about the same size as a Harry Potter book… Wow, that's just really freaky.
Hmm… I'm babbling again, aren't I? I do that too much… Let's move on, then, shall we?
FullMoon-insanity: You're only on Chapter One… which I didn't get at first because I could have sworn I've read your name before. But then I figured out I'm reading your fan fic… okay, I'm not that smart today, shut up! Am I the only one who finds Kikyo NOT annoying? I mean, sometimes she is but I don't HATE her or anything. But the Japanese voice is soooo much better then the English one. But at least you aren't planning my death or anything because I killed off Kagome…
element hanyou: Yes, love does stink, doesn't it? Laughs But it has a happy ending in the end! Well, not for Sueko and InuYasha because they constantly bicker… but oh well. Can you really expect Sueko to not get impatient with InuYasha once and a while?
KikyoHater13: Wow, another Kikyo-hater. Poor Kikyo… Hmm… I really can't think of what to say about your reply except for maybe you should READ MORE!
peachpit: I still think your username is cute. But you haven't replied since the last four… so if I say anything about your replies I'll just repeat myself, and I repeat myself enough as it already is.
faithful taijiya: Ditto with the repeating thing. But your reply was appreciated! Now reply more!
BlackTearsOfDarkness: Ditto again with the repeating thing. Hmm… I have yet to read your other fan fics… Maybe I should go do that… but I'll post this first.
And, oh, hmm… Yep, that's all the whittle repliers! I suppose I must shut up—or stop typing, whatever!—and write the fan fic some more… even if I can't think of anything… sigh anyways, bye-bye!