La, la, la… Fluffy-sama just has so much fun in this post! He runs into Yoshiko's aunt and gets a big, annoying lecture from her and then he's left to deal with his feelings… then Yoshiko's aunt shows up again! And on top of this Yoshiko is back with the others figuring out how in the hell she's going to get Sueko back to the Feudal Era.
Wait, why am I even explaining this post to you people? How about you just read it! I have nothing else to say anyways since I'm posting this on the same day as the other chapter before it.
I know the title of the chapter sucks. Shut up about it. I suck at chapter titles!
DISCLAIMERI don't own anything from the InuYasha manga or TV series. I'm just borrowing it for the fan fic. Same with Ravyn. And that's all I don't own… just read the damn fan fic already!
Chapter Twenty-Two: Sesshomaru's Problems
It wasn't fair! She just couldn't be happy. Sure, it was great to hang out with Rin and see Sesshomaru, but she missed Sueko. How long had it been since she had last saw the girl? Two weeks? Three even? Besides, after only one day things had become awkward between her and Sesshomaru. There were times when he almost looked sad. Then later the look in his eye would make her think he was angry. She also noticed, when he thought she was sleeping, him pacing as if considering saying something. But he never did. In fact he hardly said anything, leaving the girls to do what they wanted. So maybe it was about time that she got going.
"So… what you thinking about?" asked Yoshiko, walking up behind Sesshomaru. When he finally turned to look at her, she continued. "Did I do something?"
"Excuse me?" he said, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, you've been awfully quiet lately. And I don't really like awkwardness. It…" started Yoshiko. Then she paused and took a deep breath. "It makes me feel like I did something wrong. So have I?"
Almost immediately Sesshomaru muttered, "No."
"That's good," sighed Yoshiko, smiling slightly. "So it'll be okay if I leave for a little?"
"You need my permission to leave?" asked Sesshomaru, turning away slightly.
"Well, if I had done something wrong and just left…" said Yoshiko, "we'd be right back where we started, wouldn't we?"
"If you wish to leave you may," muttered Sesshomaru, turning away completely. "There's no need to stay somewhere you don't want to."
"B—but… I do want to be here…" muttered Yoshiko sadly.
But he was already walking away and if he heard, he made no sign of hearing. Yoshiko suddenly felt bad and wondered if maybe she should stay a few extra days… but no, she really needed to see Sueko! And maybe Sesshomaru would calm down a little if she weren't around, because she really couldn't say that she even believed him. It didn't seem like he was all right. And it had to be something she had done. Even Rin admitted that he was more quiet than usual. Not even Jaken believed him when Sesshomaru said he was fine.
Yoshiko sighed and walked over to Rin, who was patting Aun. Halfway there the little girl turned around and grinned at her. Yoshiko gave a small smiled but Rin still seemed to catch on to how she was really feeling. The girl frowned and gave the half-demon a hug. In the spur of the moment Yoshiko picked her up so she could hug her better.
"Are you okay?" asked Rin.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Yoshiko half-truthfully. "It's just I have to go for a while."
"Again!" said Rin, pulling away slightly so she could look at Yoshiko. "Why can't you just stay?"
"I haven't seen one of my friends in a long time and I really miss her," said Yoshiko, pulling Rin in for a hug again. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sesshomaru watching. "Keep an eye on him for me, please," she whispered in Rin's ear before putting the girl down again.
"Come back soon!" said Rin as Yoshiko grabbed up her stuff.
"Bye," she said, turning to the place she knew Sesshomaru to be standing.
He obviously thought he was well hidden because when Yoshiko looked at him his eyes were side in surprise. She then walked off, waving good-bye to Rin. The day wore on and the silence beat down upon Yoshiko. Being alone left time for her to think. She tried to figure out Sesshomaru's strange behavior but her thoughts kept wandered back to Sueko. It seemed kind of hard to be worried about something so silly when she really wanted to see her friend. She hadn't realized how much she missed the strange girl until she stopped to think about it.
Around noon she overheard some of her friend's voices. The way they were yelling, they were fighting a demon. Quickly Yoshiko ran through the trees until she came in view of InuYasha fighting an ugly three-eyed-twenty-tentacle-monster. She hid in the bushes and looked around for Sueko. The girl wasn't there. The demon must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Beside her the bushes started moving and out popped…
"What are you hiding for?" asked Shippo.
Afraid that InuYasha would hear them, Yoshiko grabbed the little fox demon and ran off. Shippo tried yelling but she put a hand over his mouth. Once they were a fair distance away and close to the well, Yoshiko slowed down. Soon Shippo gave up trying to yell. Finally she decided it was safe to let him sit on her shoulder.
"What did you do that for?" snapped Shippo.
"I didn't want InuYasha to know I was here," explained Yoshiko. "Because I'm hoping to figure out a way to get Sueko back."
"But InuYasha and Sueko are the only ones who can go through the well!" cried Shippo, as if he had already thought of this countless times.
"I know what!" said Yoshiko exasperatedly. "Despite that it's probably best if InuYasha didn't go through the well."
"He wouldn't anyways…" mumbled Shippo. "Stupid InuYasha! He was always making Kagome go back through the well. Then he would be too stubborn to go get her!"
"How did you get her to come back?" inquired Yoshiko.
"Well, I tried going through to get her with a Shikon Jewel Shard once," said Shippo thoughtfully. "That didn't work out too well but Kagome did come through. I guess she could sense the shard even though she was in her time."
For a minute Yoshiko thought about it. It sounded like something she could do but Sueko didn't sense the jewel. Besides, the jewel was gone now so it wouldn't help. So what could she put in the well that Sueko would sense? When she finally figured it out she started laughing. Shippo looked at her as if worried. When Yoshiko started hugging him, Shippo became a little frightened.
"Are you alright?" asked the little kitsune.
"Shippo you're my hero!" cried Yoshiko, running toward the well only holding onto the little fox's hand.
"Glad to hear it?" said Shippo in confusion. "Why?"
"You'll see," said Yoshiko mischievously. "I can't wait to see Sueko!"
"Hope she brings her GameBoy…" muttered Shippo. But Yoshiko was too excited to hear him.
'When my parents were deciding where to move to why'd they pick the one house with a gazillion stairs to climb up!' thought Sueko, urging her aching legs to climb the many steps to home. It might help that she was wearing Mary-Jane's and a skirt but whatever.
Sighing, her thoughts lurked again to her friends from Feudal Japan—what were they doing without her? Did they miss her as much as she missed them? Or were they too busy fighting a million demons… or something of the sorts? Was Yoshiko spending all her time with Sesshomaru or did she eventually go back to the others? Did anything major happen between them while she was gone? Did anything major happen to anyone while she was gone?
And what about InuYasha? As much hurt and anger she felt towards him, Sueko couldn't help but miss him. In some weird, messed up sort of way, that is. This was sort of her fault, not his. Well, it's his fault he made out with Kagome, but it was her fault for making such a big deal out of things… okay, she had feelings for the guy. Did he even know? Obviously not or he'd do something about it. He'd have shown up by now to bring her back to Feudal Japan!
At this thought Sueko stopped walking—or dragging her sore feet up the steps, for her shoes were making her feet hurt—and squinted against the setting sun to see the shrine. For no reason really, just for some reason… but then she saw the sword and remembered that she had put it there so InuYasha wouldn't come after her… Well, it had worked, hadn't it?
Sueko was about to turn her head and focus once more on climbing up the many steps but just as she was about to take her eyes away from the shrine she saw something that took all the breath out of her.
The sword—the sword stuck between the door handles so no one could get through—it was glowing… blue…
"Holy crap!" cried Sueko, running up the stairs as fast as her mutilated feet would let her. Once she had reached the shrine doors she pulled the sword from the door and looked at it critically, but no matter which angle she looked at it the sword remained the same—glowing blue.
Holding it in front of her, a million different thoughts went around Sueko's head. Was a demon in her time, with a shrine stone! Was something wrong with the others?
But just as she thought these panicked thoughts Sueko felt herself calming down, which was extremely weird. Then one solid thought entered her head: It's okay, no one's hurt; someone just needs you…
'What the hell is wrong with me!' Sueko thought. She looked down at her sword again, only to see that it wasn't blue anymore. Shaking her head, she set it down and tried to forget the weird thoughts and feelings, but just as she set it down and turned to walk away, it turned blue—again.
"Are you trying to say something?" Sueko asked the sword. "Because you're just damn confusing!"
'Come to think of it,' Sueko thought to herself, 'Yoshiko and me never really learned much from Takeno about my sword… In fact, we know absolutely nothing about it except it senses shrine stones and it did weird things like produce blue bubble force field things… What if it is talking to me?'
Someone needs you… said the solid thought again. Yet Sueko knew for some reason that this "someone" wasn't in any immediate danger… So what was the big deal?
"Sword… thing? Would you shut up if I take like ten minutes to pack? And then I'll figure out whatever the hell you want and you can stop talking to me!" cried Sueko. At this, the sword stopped glowing again…
Maybe some inanimate objects had a brain in their head. Except swords don't really have heads…
"Hey, mom!" cried Sueko, closing the front door a bit too loudly and shooing away Neko the cat with her foot gently.
"In the kitchen," was her mom's shouting answer, so Sueko rushed into there to meet her smiling mom. Well, she wasn't just smiling; she looked… well, a bit proud for some reason…
"Had fun?" her mom asked, setting down the spoon she was using to stir the mysterious contents of the pot on the stove—but it smelled like spaghetti sauce to Sueko—on the counter and crossing her arms.
"Uh… sure…" said Sueko. Somehow she had a feeling her mother knew she had done a little more than just "hang out with my friends" like she had told her mother after school she would be doing.
"That's it?" said her mom, her smile widening. "It's my daughter's first date and that's all I get?"
"It wasn't exactly a date…" muttered Sueko, turning red.
"Well, it wasn't a total disaster, was it?" asked her mother. "If it was you'd probably walk in here with tears to your eyes, wouldn't you?"
Sueko found that last thing kind of funny because when she had come back from Feudal Japan just after the whole InuYasha/Kagome thing she had just been crying… but after being at Tamika's she had calmed down so it probably looked to her parents that she had been all right.
"No… Actually, it was pretty fun," said Sueko truthfully. But she couldn't help but think back to her walk home with Keitaro… that was actually more fun then her date with Akio. Then again, she and Keitaro had lots more in common. Not that Akio was boring or anything. He just wasn't really into anime as much as Sueko, who had watched quite a lot because she rarely had anything else to do. Sure, he'd watched all the typical anime, but he wasn't really into Chobits or Rurouni Kenshin like Sueko was… so they were left to talk about normal everyday teenage stuff—which was never that interesting to begin with—or really weird stuff like theories on time travel—they only got on that topic because of some movie they had both saw, but after a while the topic gets old and then you're left with nothing to talk about… again—so, comparing her conversations with Akio and her conversations with Keitaro, Sueko would have to say Keitaro was a more interesting person to hang around with—no offense to Akio, who was a great guy and all. But with the height difference—for Akio was pretty tall for his age, taller then Tamika and Keitaro—would have been a problem. Keitaro was tall but not tall in the difficult way. Kind of like InuYasha…
Sueko sighed. "Mom? I was kind of wondering if you wouldn't mind me going back over to Feudal Japan for a little while? I haven't been there in a long time and I'm starting to miss my friends there a bit…"
"Oh," said Sueko's mom. "Can you stay until dinner's ready?"
"No, I'm sorry… I have a feeling I need to be there now…" said Sueko.
"Okay. Try to hurry back here as soon as you can, though!" said her mom, giving her a hug good-bye before Sueko hurried to call Tamika to tell her she'd be leaving and her mother returned to the spaghetti.
Once upstairs in her room, Sueko took all her school stuff out of her book bag to replace it with things she'd need in Feudal Japan, like her hairbrush, a few books to read, her GameBoy, batteries, her CD player she had gotten for Christmas, some new CD's she'd gotten while she'd been here, a few cosmetic things, a few extra clothing items incase something happened to the other ones… When she had packed everything Sueko collapsed on the bed and sighed, reaching over to her pillow to pet Neko, who was sitting there and meowing—instead of barking, Sueko supposed.
"I haven't been able to draw you in ages!" laughed Sueko, scratching Neko's chin as she purred. "I bet you miss that, don't you?"
One of Sueko's lame hobbies was to take a sketchpad and draw her cat… It's the only thing she could really draw. That and birds, flowers, a few insects, trees, rabbits, and dogs… not that she had seen very many dogs in her day, never owning one, but occasionally there'd be a lazy dog sitting in the sunshine she'd be able to draw out the window. Her drawing skills were basically limited to animals… or things that didn't move, but there was only so many times you could draw the living room sofa before that got real boring—and incredibly lame. But being in Feudal Japan, she was always up on the go and so it was difficult to sit down and draw things that didn't move.
Getting off the bed, Sueko stuck a notebook and a pencil in her book bag—maybe she'd have some time to draw there after all. And, after patting her cat gently on the head for good-bye, Sueko put the book bag over her shoulder and rushed downstairs to the shrine, glad to have an excuse to go back home—after all, Feudal felt more like home then home since she was there more than here anyways!
It wasn't too long after Yoshiko left that he heard somebody walk up behind him. At first he didn't recognize the scent. But when he did his eyes narrowed and he turned around to look into Emiko's smiling face. She crossed her arms when she knew she had his attention and leaned against a tree. For a minute they just stood there, staring at each other. Finally Emiko rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Well? Are you going to go after her?" she snapped.
"Who?" said Sesshomaru.
"Don't play stupid!" Emiko cried, throwing up her hands in annoyance. "Yoshiko, you idiot!"
"Why should I?" muttered Sesshomaru, looking away. "Would you stop me from her being where she wants to be?"
"Aren't you just depressing?" sighed Emiko. "But how is it that you know what she wants? You don't talk to her enough to even know anything about her life."
It was obviously her plan to anger him, but at the moment Sesshomaru was too tired to let it bother him. Besides, it was true. He wasn't going to argue such a pointless issue. Emiko knew more about Yoshiko than he would ever know and it probably be his own fault in the end. But even more than that he wasn't in the mood to talk to Emiko, have her laugh at him or give that smug smile.
"What are you doing here?" growled Sesshomaru.
"It's nice to see you too," said Emiko, shaking her head sadly. "I was in the area and thought I would come see my friend."
"We're not friends," snapped Sesshomaru.
"What? We kiss and you won't even admit to being my friend!" cried Emiko in mock horror. "That's just cold. I'll feel sorry for your girlfriend."
"I've had enough of this," said Sesshomaru, starting to reach for his sword.
"Is that how you solve everything?" asked Emiko seriously. "Something doesn't go your way so you kill somebody. How romantic."
"Are you done?" asked Sesshomaru, drawing his sword. "As far as I'm concerned you're my enemy and I will kill you."
"Then where does Yoshiko fit into all of this?" said Emiko as if to herself. She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and looked off into the trees.
Sesshomaru raised up his sword, thinking about killing her while she was looking away. But when she raised an eyebrow at him, he paused. Just when she was about to say something to him, a strong wind started blowing through. It wasn't just any wind though. It was most definitely demonic. Just as a blast of smoke came out of nowhere, Sesshomaru realized that Emiko had no weapon. Grudgingly, he stepped between her and where the demon was appearing.
When the smoke cleared completely Sesshomaru gasped. The demon standing before him looked almost like Naraku, except his eyes were gray, not red. He recalled his half-brother and that strange girl talking about a new demon. When Sesshomaru asked if he had blue eyes they had said he had gray eyes. Maybe this was that demon. What was his name again… Kamatari?
"He's kind of hot…" muttered Emiko, peering around Sesshomaru to get a better look.
"Thank you, but you're really not my type," he said off handedly.
"Don't worry. You're not my type either," shrugged Emiko.
"Then you won't be heartbroken when I kill you," said Kamatari.
"Don't expect me to protect you either," muttered Sesshomaru just causing Emiko to start laughing so hard she had to grab hold of a tree to keep herself up.
"You would be… InuYasha's older brother," said Kamatari with a hint of interest in his voice, turning to Sesshomaru.
"What would it be to you?" snapped Sesshomaru, starting to get annoyed by everything and everyone.
"Well, Naraku was interested in this fact so I am too," explained Kamatari, shrugging, "which I'm one of his reincarnations that he created before he died."
"In that case," said Sesshomaru, lifting up his sword. "I will have to kill you."
"Now I'm sure you'll prove to more or a challenge than your brother, but I didn't come here to fight," said Kamatari.
"You just can't win today, can you?" giggled Emiko, sounding so much younger than she looked. "First Yoshiko walks off on you, I show up, and then a demon shows up that you can't even kill."
"Speaking of Yoshiko—" started Kamatari.
Upon hearing the demon mention her name, Sesshomaru started jumping to conclusions. He thought maybe Kamatari had killed her but what would be the point of telling Sesshomaru now? Then the thought came up that Kamatari had her captive. Though why would he tell Sesshomaru? It almost seemed like the demon could tell what he was thinking, because a smirk crossed his face.
"I've noticed that you've spent and awful lot of time with the half tiger demon lately," continued Kamatari. "And from what I hear you hate humans and half-demons are the worst. What's with the sudden change?"
"Ooh! Maybe you can actually get him to say something!" said Emiko excitedly. "He won't admit anything to me."
"What makes you think there is anything?" growled Sesshomaru, starting to turn away.
"Well…" said Kamatari thoughtfully. "If she were to suddenly, say, die… how would you react, Lord Sesshomaru?"
He didn't stop to think about it. Out of built up anger, Sesshomaru turned around and swung a blow at Kamatari's neck. Almost out of thin air a short sword appeared in the demon's hand and he one handedly blocked the attack. A short laugh escaped Kamatari's lips as he managed to push Sesshomaru back. Emiko gasped and, in a flash of flames, a dagger appeared in her hand, which she attempted to stab Kamatari with. He dodged easily and sliced her arm. Her face became very serious as she grabbed her bleeding forearm.
"You're both pathetic," sighed Kamatari. "I find it impossible that you ever got a hold of any of the stones."
"Well I inherited mine," snapped Emiko. "The question is where did you get yours?"
Kamatari just gave her this look that almost plainly said 'it's none of your business' and raised his sword to a killing blow. For no reason that he could think of, Sesshomaru rushed forward and blocked the attack. Then forcing Kamatari back, he tried yet again to chop his head off. But instead his sword was deflected by a shield. The force of the barrier was almost enough to shatter Sesshomaru's arm. Instantly he dropped his sword and stepped back, his arm limp at his side.
"Until next time Lord Sesshomaru," laughed Kamatari, his voice echoing, as a wind blew through and he disappeared in another puff of smoke.
"That was eventful…" mumbled Emiko, turning to Sesshomaru. "How's your arm?"
"It'll be fine," growled Sesshomaru, the feeling already coming back in painful flashes.
"I'll be just fine too, thanks for asking," said Emiko coldly, stooping down and picking up his sword.
"Why should I care what happens to you?" snapped Sesshomaru.
"We're moody again," sighed Emiko, walking back to where he had left Jaken and Rin. He made no sign to stop her but just followed. "You're not really going to let what he said about Yoshiko get to you? She's too strong willed to let someone like him kill her."
When they walked into the clearing Rin looked up. Upon seeing Emiko she didn't stand up or run up. In fact she didn't even smile. Sesshomaru didn't find anything odd about it since Emiko was a stranger. Instead he strode over to a rock and sat down, waiting for the pain to leave his arm. Emiko leaned his sword against a tree and sat down on the grass at his feet. She draped her hair over her shoulder and started braiding it. The tiger demon glanced over at Rin and smiled. The girl just turned away as if thinking she was intruding.
"She's a sweet girl," said Emiko. "Where'd you pick her up?"
Sesshomaru didn't respond but finally decided to think over what Kamatari had said. And, more importantly, his reaction. Their conversation reminded him a bit too much of Emiko's though she had attempted to kill him. He couldn't say the same about Yoshiko or Rin. Besides, he was sure she wouldn't have hesitated to kill him if she could. That was probably the only thing stopping her from trying to kill him now. Even injured she was no match for him.
Tired of fighting and denying, Sesshomaru started thinking about the best way to say it. But he wasn't exactly sure what it was he wanted to say. Emiko sat patiently, picking a stray flower near her foot. After looking at it for a while she placed it in her hair. He found himself noticing that the little blue flower matched her eyes. Or she had matched her eyes to the flower. Just when he was about to say something, Rin walked over timidly.
"Hey cutie!" cried Emiko, crossing her legs and sitting up straight. "I'm Aunt Rheda, what's your name?"
After glancing at Sesshomaru the girl replied, "My name is Rin."
"That's such a sweet name. No wonder Yoshiko likes you!" cooed Emiko. Then she added, almost bitterly, "Of course she liked almost any little girl that reminds her of herself."
"You know Yoshiko?" asked Rin, her eyes wide.
"She's my niece," responded Emiko, picking another flower. "We use to talk a lot back when I was nice Aunty Rheda. Then I guess things changed and now she won't even admit that I'm her aunt. Not that I blame her."
"You're telling us this why?" inquired Sesshomaru.
"Just thought I'd let you know why Yoshiko hates demons so much," shrugged Emiko. "I'm part of that problem. And those silly legends about the 'Last One.'"
"Are you saying she may not come back?" cried Rin indignantly. "Just because Lord Sesshomaru's a demon?"
"Well, if Fluffy here doesn't monitor his attitude…" said Emiko off handedly. "There's a chance that Yoshiko will probably stay away rather than risk getting into an argument she'll never have the chance to apologize about."
She waited for these words to sink in. If the subject wasn't so serious Rin might have found the nickname amusing. Sesshomaru wondered why he was gaining this knowledge after already having an argument with Yoshiko. Of course Emiko didn't know this. Or she did and that was why she was telling him now. There could have been no way of telling him before. They hadn't known each other then. And he still wasn't sure if he wanted to know her now.
"She was pretty quick about apologizing last time," said Sesshomaru.
"Even though she shouldn't have needed to…" mumbled Rin, looking down at the ground. Sesshomaru glanced at her slight surprise then looked back at Emiko.
"You two got into an argument? Wow…" said Emiko in amazement. "Actually, I expected it. Your ethics and ways of life clash horribly. Somebody is going to have to change their perspective and I can't see that person being Yoshiko."
She twirled the small white flower between her fingers a couple of times before handing it to Rin. Emiko smiled and placed it in the girl's hair. Then she turned back to Sesshomaru.
"But if you were to suddenly drop off the face of the earth, let's say, after getting into an argument, she would blame herself," explained Emiko. "You see, she and her father had a fight before he left. Something about protecting her little brother and all of this was his fault. Then she found out he had died like a week later and she thought that maybe if she had apologized maybe he wouldn't have gotten killed."
As pathetic as it sounded, it made sense to Sesshomaru. As much as she tried to hide it Yoshiko was a sensitive person. It almost seemed like she was so fragile that if he touched her she would break. It was a silly thought but it basically summed up how he felt. She was made out of china and he would have to handle her carefully or she would shatter. Maybe, someday, he would be able to give her flesh and bones.
Ignoring the cramped feet, Sueko climbed up the well. She couldn't help but grin as she pulled herself up, for she couldn't wait to see everyone.
Well, maybe not InuYasha. But she'd just have to learn to deal with him! Besides, maybe with the time they'd spent apart it wouldn't be so awkward like it is on TV.
Hopefully.
When she finally got to the top she was surprised to find Yoshiko and Shippo standing there, Shippo with an amazed expression on his face, Yoshiko with her arms crossed and this smug look on her face. But Sueko noticed Yoshiko's lips twitched to a sort of smile just as Sueko pulled herself completely out of the well and was brushing herself down.
She turned her head, not noticing anyone else around. "Where are Miroku and Sango? And InuYasha?"
"You've been gone three weeks and that's all you've got to say?" Yoshiko asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Is everyone okay?" Sueko asked, still looking around. "Are there any shrine stones around?"
"Yeah," said Yoshiko. But that's all she said.
"What's going on?" cried Sueko, putting her book bag down and walking up to Yoshiko—though her attempts to look at her eye-to-eye were in vain since Yoshiko was pretty tall. "My sword glows and then it starts talking to me and you have the nerve to say nothing!"
Yoshiko smiled sweetly. "I haven't said nothing! Haven't you been listening or are you suddenly deaf?"
Sueko sighed. "Must I kill you with my sword!" she cried out—just as she saw two people out of the corner of her eye come from behind a group of trees.
"Miroku? Sango?" Sueko gasped, turning around.
"Hello to you too!" said Sango, smiling. She looked flustered and out of breath.
As if he could read her mind, Miroku said, "We just got done fighting a demon. Well, not quite… InuYasha was doing most of it anyways so we left him to it. And we heard yelling."
"That's because she's just being annoying!" cried Sueko, pointing an accusing finger at Yoshiko.
"But I haven't done anything!" said Yoshiko innocently. "Well… I did force you up here…"
"You went down the well?" cried Sango in amazement.
"No, I lured her here with a shrine stone," said Yoshiko, holding up an earth stone and grinning.
"You know, I have better things to do then run after stones and save them. I could have been doing something important in my time!" cried Sueko, crossing her arms.
"But were you?" asked Yoshiko sweetly.
"No…" Sueko admitted.
"Wait," said Shippo suddenly—so suddenly that everyone actually looked down to look at him. He was actually a bit startled by this but said none-of-the-less to Sueko quite seriously, "What happened to your legs? They're all dark looking…"
"What!" cried Sueko.
"Yeah…" said Sango in agreement. "There's like a weird cloth covering them or something…"
Sueko continued to stand there blinking, but eventually her brain registered what they were all saying and she looked down at her tights while saying, "Oh, crap."
"What?" everyone said anxiously, which made Sueko giggle.
"They're called tights. See, you wear them in my era with dresses and skirts and crap… yeah, whatever. But I was in such a rush to get over here that I never changed…" sighed Sueko. "It's never practical to run around fighting demons in a skirt!"
"But Kagome was always in a skirt!" Shippo piped up.
"I'm—not—Kagome!" cried Sueko through gritted teeth.
"And we're all very glad that you're not Kagome," said Yoshiko. "If you were then you wouldn't be you!"
"Whatever," said Sueko, not getting a word Yoshiko had said. "If you excuse me, I'll be going back to my time frame for like ten minutes or something—"
"Oh, no you don't!" cried Yoshiko, grabbing her by the arm before Sueko could even move one step.
"Oh, come on!" cried Sueko. "Just for ten minutes!"
"No! You'll never come back!"
"I will too! But I can't stand walking around Feudal Japan with a skirt the whole entire time!"
"You're staying here, and that's final!" cried Yoshiko.
Sueko sighed, not really in the mood to argue. "Fine. Can I at least get out of these tights!"
"Sure!" said Yoshiko, letting go and smiling innocently.
"Uh huh," said Sueko moodily, picking up her book bag and walking into the forest to find some random clump of bushes to change in. She was surprised—and at the same time, not really that amazed—to find InuYasha leaning against a tree away from everyone else, looking extremely unsure of himself. And, when Sueko had went up to him, extremely nervous.
She almost felt sorry for him. Almost. She still couldn't get over what he had done, even if he had never liked her in that way…
"Hi," said Sueko simply.
"Yeah… Hi…" said InuYasha, taken aback by the fact Sueko was actually talking to him.
"I'm just going to change," said Sueko, incase he hadn't heard her tell the others, "because there's no way I'm wearing tights in this era."
"Okay," said InuYasha, crossing his arms and turning away.
'Fine! Be that way!' thought Sueko, walking into the forest. But somehow she couldn't help thinking, 'But can I really blame him for it?'