AUTHOR'S NOTES
Either I did actually edit this but never uploaded it because of that stupid evil huge humongous slide show and speech project on the Indian peoples of the Pacific Northwest that took up all my time the past two weeks (this is what you get for living in the state of Washington: You get to take a class to learn all about it's history. Which is great and all… IF THE SUBJECT OF YOUR HOME WAS ACTUALLY INTERESTING! Okay, I'm kinda cranky… watch out or I'll spew colorful language like our own whittle half dog demon, except I do this normally, so expect more of it!) or I didn't edit it but that'd be because the only mistakes were like three and they were really minor and self-explanatory so who cares? Ravyn wrote them anyways! I'm a grammar freak so I try to fix my mistakes… and I have good perception so I see all the words surrounding what I just wrote, so it's hard for me to NOT see my mistakes after I just wrote them… If that just made any sense. Anyways, the ending is rather lame, but it was a really long chapter that we had to split into two… we seem to have this problem a lot… Maybe we write too much… Perhaps we should stop… And you know I'm just kidding so why bother with the joke?
DISCLAIMER
Because I'm the unluckiest girl in the world this week I don't own InuYasha, or Koga, or Sesshomaru… but if I could date them I would—wait, I meant OWN the story I could… Okay, I wouldn't want to even date Sesshomaru. He's not my type. Yes, he's hot, yes, he's an okay guy, but too quiet for me, sorry! InuYasha would be fun to tease and get into arguments with, and Koga… he's just awesome! He's so freakin' hot! And this has nothing to do with my disclaimer so moving on…
You know the drill: if you haven't seen something from here on the TV show chances are WE OWN IT! OMFG, that was soooooooo hard to figure out!
Here's fan fic:
Chapter Twenty-Four: That Rainy Night
When she came back to consciousness Yoshiko lay there for another ten minutes, not really wanting to get up. It was way too comfortable and she was sure as soon as she moved an inch somebody would pounce her, demanding answers. Finally, however, she groaned and sat up. The fact that nobody was sitting around in the hut left her a little puzzled. But she continued to get up and dress. Then she slowly walked out of the hut. As soon as she pulled back the flap she saw everybody waiting outside each with there own face of impatience. Except for Sueko. She seemed to be daydreaming. About what, Yoshiko really didn't know and really didn't care.
"What are you doing?" asked Yoshiko, blinking at the odd group.
"Waiting for you to wake up!" snapped InuYasha. "Took you long enough. It would have only taken half that time for my wounds to have healed."
Glaring Yoshiko walked over and hit him over the head with her fist. Probably not for the first time she wished she had the same power as Sueko to just say 'sit' and have him fall to the ground. However that special gift only came to a girl that was too soft to do it all the time. And at the moment she wasn't even paying attention. Not to Yoshiko anyways. Maybe not even InuYasha.
"Why didn't you just wake me up if you were that impatient? I think I could have coped," sighed Yoshiko.
Simultaneously Utako and InuYasha pointed at Koga.
"He wouldn't let us!" pouted Utako.
Yoshiko rolled her eyes and hit InuYasha on the head again since she couldn't necessarily hit Utako. Well, she could but the girl was farther away and it would be a little mean. Plus nobody would protest against her hitting InuYasha. Maybe Sueko but she wasn't paying attention! Finally Yoshiko took a deep breath and crossed her arms.
"Okay in some weird way Utako has some sort of weird spiritual powers connected to the element stones and since my dagger has a fire stone in it—supposedly—she was able to tap into that power and kill the demon," she explained in one breath.
"Huh?" said Sueko, looking at her finally and blinking.
In answer Yoshiko hit the girl on the head. Again Sueko blinked and rubbed her head in confusion.
"Welcome back!" said Yoshiko with a small grin.
"When did I leave?" asked Sueko.
"I don't know. You certainly weren't here!" said Yoshiko.
"Huh?"
"You're hopeless," sighed Yoshiko, turning away.
Then suddenly the events in the maze came back to her. She recalled her sword in two pieces and suddenly started feeling guilty. Takeno had just told her to take better care of it too! What was she supposed to do? She certainly wasn't just going to go up to him and ask him to fix it. Most likely she would get several bumps on the head. Laughing guiltily Yoshiko turned around toward Sueko, grinning hopefully.
"Sueko, you're one of my bestest best friends, right?" said Yoshiko sweetly.
"Uh…" said Sueko, backing away half a step. "What do you want?"
"You see, my sword kind of sort of needs to be repaired," said Yoshiko, scratching her head guiltily.
"Well, then you should take it to Takeno," said Sango, rolling her eyes.
"See that's the thing… Um… I'd rather not face Takeno by myself and I was hoping Sueko would go with," said Yoshiko, not looking at anybody.
"Well, have fun with that," said Utako, putting her hands behind her head. She turned away and noticed Miroku still holding the earth stone. "I'll take that," she said, pulling it out of his hand and running off.
"Uh, hey!" cried Miroku. But too late, Utako was already running off with it. "Why that little…"
"Isn't that just cute?" laughed Sango. Yoshiko shook her head sadly, turning back to Sueko.
"So…" she prompted.
"So what?" said Sueko, still blinking.
"Will you get your small head out of dreamland and pay attention to this very important topic I have brought up?" cried Yoshiko. "I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP MY EARS RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
"You're pathetic," laughed InuYasha. "You're a half-demon afraid of an old man."
Almost as if too lazy to walk over and hit him, Yoshiko took Sango's large boomerang and hit him with that instead. Just to make sure she didn't do even more damage Sango took her weapon back and walked off. But Yoshiko didn't really care, she just stood over InuYasha with her hands on her hips.
"You're so lucky I'm not Sueko! If I was her I would use that necklace as often as I could," snapped Yoshiko. "Sheesh, can't I be afraid of something? Besides, you didn't grow up with him!"
"I grew up in a human village as well," growled InuYasha from the ground. "And I'm not afraid of anybody from there!"
"Well I'm sure you didn't have village boys throwing rocks at you or old men threatening to pull off your ears if you didn't learn to respect your elders or other stupid reasons like that!" snapped Yoshiko. "Whatever, you've always acted strong and tough so you probably have no clue what I'm talking about."
"Okay, that's enough!" cried Sueko, walking over and hitting both InuYasha and Yoshiko on the head, though she hit Yoshiko far harder than InuYasha. "Let's just take your stupid sword to that old guy and get it fixed so nobody's having to protect you! That would just get annoying."
"Well, you'll need this," said Koga, handing the two halves of Yoshiko's sword. She looked down at the pieces sadly then back at the wolf demon. "Now I'll be off! See ya!"
"Hey! Wait one minute!" cried Yoshiko, putting her hands on her hips again. "That's it? You're just going to leave?"
"Yeah…" said Koga, stopping to think. "Why would I stay?"
"Oh, whatever," sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. At this a glint came to Koga's eyes and he walked over to Yoshiko and took her hands in his. This caused the pieces of the sword to drop to the ground.
"I get it! After I saved you from those vines you fell in love with me!" said Koga. "I knew if I only waited patiently—"
He would have continued but Yoshiko tore her hands from his grasp and hit him on the head. Surprisingly enough she was blushing slightly and quickly turned away from the wolf demon. Sighing Koga turned back to the others grinning in embarrassment. Then he shrugged and ran off, the wind rustling Yoshiko's hair slightly. When InuYasha turned toward her he walked over closer to look at Yoshiko's face. She blinked at him then pushed him away.
"What the hell InuYasha?" she said, not looking at him.
"You're blushing…" he muttered.
"Excuse me?" cried Yoshiko.
"I said you're blushing!" shouted InuYasha.
"I am not!" screamed Yoshiko, her cheeks flushing an even brighter pink.
"You are too!" snapped InuYasha.
"Shut up!" yelled Yoshiko, covering her cheeks and turning away.
"So, do you like wolf boy?" asked InuYasha mischievously.
"What?" shrieked Yoshiko, turning toward InuYasha with the intent of hitting him. But she turned around he started laughing.
"I'm just joking," he said. "Sheesh. It's quite obvious that you like Sesshomaru more than Koga!"
"I thought you hated Sesshomaru!" said Shippo, hopping up onto InuYasha's shoulder.
"He hasn't tried to kill me lately so I don't really have a reason to hate him," shrugged InuYasha. "Not like I'll suddenly become his best friend any time soon or something like that."
"That would be just plain weird," said Yoshiko. "Even I would find that awkward…"
"Are we going to get your sword fixed or not…" sighed Sueko, grabbing her bag and sword
Yoshiko shrugged and turned to Miroku because she was bored of talking to InuYasha. "So we'll be back in a couple of days. See you soon!"
"Hey, wait!" cried InuYasha as Yoshiko started after Sueko. "I thought we were going to be able to meet this Takeno guy!"
"I don't feel like dragging you guys along this time, sorry," shouted Yoshiko over her shoulder, then running to catch up with Sueko and putting her arm over her shoulders.
"What are you doing?" asked Sueko timidly.
"So… How's it going with you and InuYasha?" asked Yoshiko mischievously.
"Fine, I guess… Why?" asked Sueko, pulling away from Yoshiko.
"Just wondering because you seemed to be in dreamland back there… and here… and if I don't do anything you'll go back there and completely ignore me… again," explained Yoshiko.
"What?" said Sueko, blinking.
"What's up with you anyways? You seem awfully quiet," said Yoshiko, crossing her arms.
"I'm fine," muttered Sueko, turning away. "So how did your sword break again?"
"See this idiotic serpent demon thought it could steal my dagger. So me and InuYasha went after it except for the Wind Scar and my fire attacks wouldn't kill it. Then it decided it was arrogant enough to spit freakin' acid at me which I blocked with my sword…" said Yoshiko, glaring off at some random tree or another.
"Maybe you were the idiot and not the snake…" muttered Sueko.
"Who's telling this story?" yelled Yoshiko, turning toward Sueko.
"You…" said Sueko, taking a half step away from the half-demon.
"So don't interrupt!" snapped Yoshiko. Then she took a deep breath and continued. "I realized what a big mistake I made and sheathed the sword. Which meant that I didn't have much of weapon against that ugly snake. So just as I thought it was all over… Sesshomaru killed the damn thing!"
"Huh? What?" cried Sueko. "Since when was he there? I thought it was you and InuYasha fighting the demon!"
"Well, Sesshomaru showed up, okay?" snapped Yoshiko.
"Then say that!" said Sueko.
"If you had let me finish I would have," hissed Yoshiko.
"Okay, what did Sesshomaru do?" asked Sueko, sighing.
"Well, after he killed the damn thing, like I already said," explained Yoshiko huffily, "he decided he was still mad at me and left. But I guess Rin was getting annoyed by me and Sesshomaru fighting. So she decided to stay behind and Sesshomaru, because he's so freakin' stubborn, left. Then I guess he met up with Rheda and she possessed him!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" said Sueko, waving her hands around. "Rheda possessed him? That would mean… Wouldn't they have had to kiss for that to happen?"
"Yeah… why?" shrugged Yoshiko.
"And you don't care?" cried Sueko.
"Well, it wasn't like they were ever in love with each other or something like that," said Yoshiko off handedly. "Besides I don't have to worry about Rheda falling in love with him at all. She's got this weird policy where she doesn't breed out of species."
"Okay… and I care why?" asked Sueko.
"You talking to me or to yourself?" laughed Yoshiko.
"Both…" said Sueko. "I think…"
"Whatever," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes. "We'll be at Takeno's in like ten minutes. So you can like go off into dreamland for a little while."
"Huh?"
The ocean waves lapped against the beach as the two girls walked onto it. Seeing the little hut Yoshiko moaned and started to turn around. But Sueko sighed and grabbed her arm, half dragging her to see Takeno. Yoshiko hung her head sadly and adjusted her bag so the pieces of her sword would be less noticeable. When they finally reached the hut, Sueko had to practically push Yoshiko up to the flap. Finally the half-demon sighed and walked in, dragging her feet slightly. Inside sat the old man, watching the door as if expecting the two girls to walk in. In fact as soon as Yoshiko walked in, he got to his feet, walked over to her and grabbed her bag.
"Hey! Wait!" cried Yoshiko, as Takeno took the bag back to his table.
He opened it to see the inside contents and pulled out the pieces of her sword. Out of the corner of his eye Takeno glared up at Yoshiko and swept away her belongings onto the ground. He picked up the pieces and held them up to the little light streaming in through the window. Then he threw the pieces behind him and sat down all the way legs crossed. Yoshiko gasped as her broken sword hit the ground with a clang.
"What was that for?" she cried.
"They're crap. I can't fix them! You'll have to get a new sword," said Takeno.
"But… I liked my sword!" whined Yoshiko. At this Sueko hit her on the head and sat down at the table.
"You're the one that broke it!" snapped Takeno.
"You guys are mean! I don't know why I brought Sueko along," muttered Yoshiko, sitting down as well.
"Because you're pathetic," said Sueko, crossing her arms. "Now are you going to figure out how to fix your sword problem?"
"Well where the heck am I going to get a new sword?" snapped Yoshiko. "Like in the next day so InuYasha doesn't get worried because you've been gone for so long…"
Sueko moaned and hit her head on the table. While Yoshiko stared at the girl in confusion Takeno reached out a hand and patted Sueko on the head. Then the girl lifted up her head a little bit and looked at Takeno.
"What are you doing?" she asked, a little frightened.
"Being a grandfather!" said Takeno.
"But… you're her grandfather!" said Sueko, pointing an almost accusing finger at Yoshiko.
"Well, you two basically act like sisters so I can act like your grandfather as well!" said Takeno, grinning.
"Ha!" laughed Yoshiko. "You never acted like my grandfather so why should you suddenly change your tune now?"
"Because Sueko is such a good girl and listens to her elders," said the old man, leaning back and closing his eyes with a grin.
"I told you he liked you…" muttered Yoshiko.
Sueko only just smiled at her as the half-demon sighed and put her head on the table. Finally she looked back up again and crossed her arms.
"So how much for a new sword?" hissed Yoshiko at the old man.
"Absolutely nothing!" cried Takeno in horror. "You're my granddaughter? Why would I charge you for a sword?"
"Because you're weird that way," murmured Yoshiko. "So what's the catch?"
"You have to promise not to abuse it!" snapped Takeno.
"Abuse… Abuse it! Why would I abuse it?" cried Yoshiko.
"Because you abused your last one," said Takeno wearily as if the thought pained him.
"I did not!" shouted Yoshiko.
"Sheesh, Yoshiko! Calm down," said Sueko, a little amused. "It isn't that big of a deal!"
"Let us see… Leaving your sword laying around without a sheath and letting a 19 year-old that knows nothing about swords pick it up…" said Takeno thoughtfully. "That's abuse!"
"The sword was getting crappy anyways," muttered Yoshiko, turning away. "But whatever. I promise not to abuse my new sword…"
"Good, now go away!" said Takeno, standing up.
"What?" said Sueko.
"Well, it sounds like there are people who would be worried about you so you need to get going!" said Takeno. "Besides I can't work with people around!"
"It's late and we can't exactly go anywhere in the dark!" cried Sueko.
"That's not true," said Yoshiko, standing up and going to the window. "I can see perfectly outside."
"Well, you're a freakin cat demon!" snapped Sueko. This earned her a hit on the head.
"Tiger… half tiger demon!" hissed Yoshiko. "Cat demons are idiots that think they're better than everybody else! Do not confuse me for one of them!"
"Ow…" muttered Sueko.
"I guess you could stay the night. But as soon as the sun comes up you're out of here!" said Takeno, leaving the hut.
"Yay! I get to sleep," said Sueko with a small yawn.
"You're just happy because you don't have to face InuYasha," muttered Yoshiko, sitting down again.
With one last glare Sueko pulled out one of her books and started to "read" it. Yoshiko rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall of the hut, crossing her arms. Ten minutes passed and finally she got annoyed. She pulled the book out of Sueko's hands and took away the girl's bag.
"Hey!" cried Sueko.
"Either you're going to stay up talking to me or you're going to go to sleep!" snapped Yoshiko.
"I don't want to talk," said Sueko huffily, crossing her arms and looking away.
"But you need to talk…" muttered Yoshiko. "Whatever then. Go to sleep and we'll get going in the morning."
"What about you?" asked Sueko.
"I'm not tired! I just got more than enough sleep after I got injured. So I'll just wait," shrugged Yoshiko.
"You're just going to sit there all night!" cried Sueko.
"Why not?" asked Yoshiko.
"I can't go to sleep if you're just going to watch me!" said Sueko.
"Fine, I'll go outside," said Yoshiko huffily, standing up and leaving.
"Fine! Be that way!"
It was pouring down rain. Like, not just raining, but DUMPING, soaking everything in sight within seconds. With it hitting the roof and walls of the hut it might have explained Sueko's lack of sleep. But actually, she was a pretty sound sleeper and a little thing like rain wouldn't disturb her sleep at all. No, it was something more…
A whole week had gone by since they had visited Takeno and Sueko really hadn't gotten that much sleep at all for the past seven nights. Nor had she really spoken to anyone, or did much of anything, really. And if you narrowed it down it was all InuYasha's fault!
Okay, not really… it was more of Sueko's fault, actually. But she knew that one of these days she would have to explain to InuYasha… or apologize… or just plain talk to the guy or something! But she could never think of what to say. Or how to say it. Or when she should actually say it. And she was always afraid of how InuYasha would react to it.
So she basically hadn't really talked to him—or anyone, really—at all. And then whenever Yoshiko or Sango pestered her about her feelings—for Sueko had been looking awfully depressed—she'd just say nothing was wrong and then seem to ignore everyone and everything happening around her. Nothing really mattered anymore. All that mattered was that Sueko had to apologize for everything that'd happened for the past four weeks.
If only she could string together the words and get the guts to speak them.
It was when Sueko was laying there on her mat in the middle of the night listening to the rain that she sat up—after all, with all these thoughts drifting through her head she wouldn't get much sleep done anyways. Her hazel-green eyes looked at the room around her and it was then that Sueko noticed that InuYasha wasn't there at all.
Worried, and a bit curious as well, Sueko picked up her sword and lifted the flap to go outside. Once she stepped outside she regretted it—in a matter of seconds the rain had soaked her brown hair, making it stick to her face; it drenched her red shirt and made her uncovered legs freezing. The sandals did no good to protect her feet from both the wetness and the cold so her socks were soaked as well.
Sighing, Sueko shook her head to get the wet hair out of her face, and then walked away from the hut with her eyes squinting into the darkness and rain.
Despite the rain everything was relatively peaceful. No evil demon with some crazy plot to kill them all was in sight. Walking around, Sueko saw nothing in front of her. While standing underneath a tree—she hoped it would protect her from the rain but it did no good seeing how there were no leaves on the trees, being late February and all—Sueko had the sudden urge to look up at the tree, and was glad that she did.
Ignoring the rain, the missing half dog demon was sitting on a tree branch, looking deep in thought even for him as he looked towards the distance.
Sueko sighed as the same thoughts went streaming through her head; 'Now would be the perfect time to explain it to him. No one is around, after all…'
Sueko shook her head at her own thoughts. She couldn't tell him. She just couldn't. It was just too hard… too painful to remember the last new moon and the events that followed afterwards. Too painful to have to think that all of it was her fault…
Well, "Kagome" kissing InuYasha wasn't her fault… but everything afterwards was. How could she be so cruel to an innocent person?
A sudden noise startled Sueko and stopped her thoughts. Sueko looked up just as InuYasha finished saying, "What are you doing out here! Don't you know it's pouring down rain? You could get sick! You shouldn't—"
"InuYasha."
It wasn't a question. But Sueko said it in such a timid, quiet voice that she noticed his eyes go wide and, before she could do anything about it, InuYasha had jumped off his tree branch, grabbed Sueko by the shoulders and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" muttered Sueko, looking down at the ground. Immediately afterwards she thought of how stupid she had been for saying it—she could have explained everything right then and there and be done with it! But perhaps after a week of denying her feelings it was just habit now to do so.
She knew she should say something but nothing came to mind, and every time she opened her mouth no words ever came out. And when she couldn't think of anything to say she started to feel the tears well up in her eyes, and before she knew it Sueko could feel the tears streaming down her face. She ended up crying so much the rain couldn't even disguise the tears cascading down her cheeks.
"InuYasha!" Sueko cried through her tears. She put her arms around him as she cried, "I'm sorry!"
She could tell InuYasha was surprised by both her movements and her words but she really didn't care. Eventually he croaked out, "Sorry for what?"
"For everything!"
Okay, Sueko knew right away that probably made no sense but, again, she didn't exactly care that much. She was just really, really, really sorry!
She removed her arms from InuYasha's shoulders and he did too as she sniffled a little and wiped the tears off her face as best as she could with her wet hand. Which, to tell you the truth, wasn't that much. Then she said as clearly as she could with her extremely high-pitched, squeaky voice that she had thanks to all the crying, "I know that it meant nothing. The kiss, I mean… I know that now, that is… I mean, I've been mad at you for all this time when you never did anything in the first place and I'm sorry! I just… I just want everything to be normal again… like it used to… Even if you never liked me in that way in the first place…"
Sueko could feel her chin tremble but she refused to cry again even as the tears started welling up in her eyes. She also refused to look at InuYasha's face, forcing her gaze to the extremely wet ground… she wasn't sure she could handle his reaction to what she had just said. Especially the last part because it basically said, "I love you." And what if she was wrong and he didn't like her in that way?
As long as she had waited for InuYasha's reply, Sueko was pretty disappointed when all he said was, "That's it?"
Sueko jerked her head up and looked straight into his eyes. "What do you mean that's it!"
"That's all you've been upset about for the past week?" said InuYasha, smiling slightly.
'More like the last four weeks!' But Sueko just said, "Um… yeah…" Was the rain blinding her sight or did he look a bit relieved?
"I thought it was something a lot worse or something…" InuYasha muttered, but he was actually looking pretty cheerful now, which sort of annoyed Sueko.
"That's it?" cried Sueko. "Tada, let's forget about everything!"
InuYasha frowned. "That's not what I said…"
Sueko sighed. She might not be an expert in the "love-department" but aren't you supposed to get a bigger reaction out of something that suggests that you like the guy!
"But…" said Sueko, her voice getting sort of shaky again. "But…what about us? Are we just going to live the rest of our lives and not do anything at all?"
"What do you mean…" said InuYasha slowly.
"You never say anything!" said Sueko, sort of embarrassed at her own boldness. "You just stand there acting all indifferent all the time. I know I'm the protector of a Spirit Shrine but I'm not physic! How in the hell am I supposed to know what you think and feel about things if you never say anything? How am I supposed to know…" muttered Sueko, feeling her cheeks becoming damp yet again—and it wasn't the rain that was doing it, either, "How am I supposed to know… if you… like me?"
Sueko didn't care about the tears falling down her face. She didn't care that it was pouring down rain. She didn't care that it was the middle of the night and she was frozen from both the cold and dampness. All she cared about was whether or not she was right; whether or not InuYasha did like her.
In her talking her eyes had drifted to her wet feet but Sueko suddenly jerked her head up to look at InuYasha's face. He wasn't saying anything and maybe she'd be able to read the expression on his face instead. But it was unreadable. He just looked like he was surprised at what she had said, which wasn't helping any. But then when InuYasha noticed Sueko was looking at him his face softened and before Sueko could do anything about it he leaned over and put his arms around her.
Sueko felt it difficult to breathe as her heart rate quickened and she felt herself become tense in surprise. And then she felt a weird sensation around her stomach as InuYasha said her name.
"Sueko… How could you ever think I didn't like you?"
Her body went numb. Her mind even went numb for about a minute, but in the good way… and once her brain started to work again she couldn't think of anything to do or say. What would you say to something like that? Out of all the romance movies and books she had ever watched or read she couldn't think of a single thing to do. But she had to do something… So, not being able to think of anything else, Sueko settled for putting her arms around InuYasha too and lean her head on his shoulder… well, just below his shoulder.
The two just stood there in the pouring down rain, Sueko smiling and enjoying InuYasha's warmth—she was really cold! But then suddenly InuYasha let go of Sueko so quickly he almost pushed her, and before she could react to it she noticed InuYasha starting to take his shirt off…
"Don't do that!" cried Sueko. "It's like twenty degrees out here! You'll freeze to death!"
Then she shut up once she saw that he was wearing a white shirt under the red one, which was okay to wear in cold weather… Sueko had just assumed he had nothing underneath. But then InuYasha shoved his red shirt at her and said, "You're the one who's going to freeze to death! You're completely frozen! I told you not to come out here!"
Sueko kind of ignored his yelling as she stared at the red shirt, figuring out how in the hell she was supposed to put it on. Eventually she just decided to put it over her head and wear it like it was just a normal shirt, ignoring its extremely long sleeves and baggy torso. Grinning pathetically—she was just so darn happy!—Sueko looked up at InuYasha with her arms up a bit, which made the sleeves look huge on her.
InuYasha looked at her with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised. Then he laughed. "You look like an idiot like that!"
Sueko laughed too. "It was your idiotic idea!"
"Okay, now you're going inside and going to sleep, you hear me?" said InuYasha, pushing her towards the hut.
"Fine, Mr. Bossy," pouted Sueko. "But what if I'm not tired?"
"Too bad. You realize we haven't gotten any of the stupid stones for a long time? I'd like to hurry up and collect the damn things so I can move on!" said InuYasha.
"They're not stupid stones, they're powerful," said Sueko, laughing. "Get it right!"
Walking into the hut Sueko noticed two things: one, Yoshiko's sleeping spot was empty; and two, Yoshiko was leaning against the wall right besides the door with her arms crossed and a grin on her face.
"Don't tell me you've been standing there the whole time!" cried Sueko, feeling the color rush to her cheeks.
"So what if I have?" asked Yoshiko, still grinning. "Nice outfit."
Gritting her teeth, Sueko stood on her tip toes while attempting to hit Yoshiko, but there was too much distance between them and the sleeves of the shirt kept getting in the way. Yoshiko laughed at Sueko's lame attempts to hit her, and suddenly they heard someone behind them yawning.
"What's going on?" asked Sango, rubbing her eyes and yawning again as she sat up. Miroku and Shippo were up to, Miroku blinking in confusion and Shippo looking from InuYasha to Sueko to Yoshiko.
"Why are you wearing InuYasha's shirt for?" asked Miroku sleepily.
Moaning, Sueko covered her red face with the huge sleeves of the shirt and cried, "Can I just disappear now? Please…"
The rain disappeared a day later and the group was able to start traveling again. Plus it seemed like winter was slowly turning into spring as they enjoyed warm sunshine for a while and animal life started showing up again. Then again, it was almost March, so it wasn't too surprising.
Sueko had been pathetically happy for about a whole entire week, which annoyed Sueko but everyone else found cute. Even InuYasha was acting happy—well, happy for him. Sueko found herself walking and talking with the guy all the time now, which was so weird but at the same time felt perfectly normal. Though Yoshiko was kind of perky too and teased them once and a while about it. It was times like these where Sueko wished 'sit' would work on the half-tiger demon.
Eventually Sueko got over being "pathetically happy," which she was extremely glad for—she found that she embarrassed herself more often when she was in that kind of mood. But with the sunny weather and time to kill when the group stopped to rest Sueko had taken up drawing again. Actually, she hadn't drawn in so long that none of her doodles were ever that good and she got extremely annoyed whenever someone—well, Yoshiko—wanted to see what she had been doing. But seeing how all Sueko had ever been able to do was draw cats, she tried drawing Kirara whenever she could. Normally Kirara was a very good model and rarely moved but today she just would not stop scratching herself!
"I don't care if you're itchy. Stop that!" cried Sueko, pointing her pencil threateningly at the cat. Kirara just meowed boredly back. Sueko often wondered if the cat demon could understand what she was saying but had never felt like going over to Sango and asking—besides, she doubt Sango even knew the answer to that, and it was her cat.
"What are you yelling at Kirara for?" asked InuYasha boredly, sitting next to Sueko. She found this odd and kind of random but figured InuYasha had grown bored talking to Miroku or Yoshiko so he decided to talk to her. Which was still kind of weird for Sueko.
"She won't stop moving," said Sueko, putting her chin on her knees, thinking it was a clever way to block her drawing so InuYasha wouldn't be able to see it.
Just as Sueko spoke Kirara started scratching her lower back again with her hind leg. And suddenly a speck of something had bounced off Kirara. But it didn't just lay on the grass; it continued bouncing around. It hopped onto InuYasha's knee, and then hopped up to InuYasha's forehead.
"What the hell…" muttered Sueko, staring at the thing on InuYasha's forehead and completely forgetting about hiding her picture.
Sighing, InuYasha slapped his hand on his forehead, and brought the hand back down to reveal a squished bug in his hand. But it looked kind of human… well, it was wearing clothes despite its many arms.
"What the hell!" repeated Sueko.
"Ow…" said—of all things—the bug, raising one of its hand to rub its sore head. "What did I do to deserve that?"
"What are you doing here?" said InuYasha moodily. "You show up and disappear for six months, and then decide to show up again!"
"No need to yell!" said the bug on InuYasha's hand, standing up and shaking himself till he became un-flat.
"What in the hell are you!" cried Sueko. "A demonic beetle that talks!"
"Beetle!" spat the bug. "How dare you…"
"What's going on?" asked Sango, standing above InuYasha and Sueko. Miroku, Yoshiko, and Shippo were standing next to Sango all with a look of curiosity.
"You rude little girl!" cried the bug, ignoring the new people. "Don't tell me you don't remember me!"
"Well…" said Sueko, trying to remember a time where she met a talking bug but failing at it.
"Myoga! Don't confuse the poor girl!" cried Yoshiko, smiling and sitting down next to Sueko as everyone else sat down too.
"Myoga?" repeated Sueko. The name did sound familiar…
"Yes! Myoga the flea!" said the bug triumphantly. "Now do you remember me!"
"Uh… not exactly," said Sueko, smiling sheepishly.
"What do you expect? You weren't around long enough and never came back enough for her to remember you!" said Yoshiko.
"Humph!" said Myoga the flea, crossing his many arms and sitting down on InuYasha's hand in a huff.
"What do you want, Myoga?" repeated InuYasha moodily. "I don't have all day."
"You do too," said Yoshiko. "It's not like we're doing anything important."
"Shut up…" muttered InuYasha.
"Actually," said the flea importantly, standing back up and clearing his throat, "I came back after researching about the 'Last One' and figured you'd like to know…"
"Oh, really?" said Yoshiko, putting her head closer to him. "Wow, that's so fascinating! So what did you learn that I know absolutely nothing about?"
"I'm not done yet!" cried Myoga.
"Then hurry up!" cried Yoshiko. "God, it's not that hard. Just spit out what you want to say and move on!"
"Well…" said Myoga, hesitating for a moment. "The thing is…"
"Don't tell me you went away for six months and learned nothing!" said Yoshiko, faking amazement. "That's, like, half a year, or a hundred and eighty days, or… well, I'm too lazy to do more math at the moment…"
"I told you, I'm not done yet!" cried Myoga.
"Then hurry up all ready. I'll be eighty by the time you finish at this rate," said Yoshiko.
"Well, I will admit that there isn't a whole lot of information out there about the 'Last One' or any of the four shrines…" started Myoga.
"So this is your way of saying you didn't learn anything?" asked Yoshiko.
"Did I say I was done yet!" asked Myoga.
"No… It's just so fun teasing a flea!" cried Yoshiko.
"You're amused way too easily," said Sango.
"For your information," said Myoga angrily, "I did hear a rumor that the Spirit Shrine was located up North."
"Oh my god!" said Yoshiko. "That's so exciting. Too bad we don't know where north!"
"Hey! No one knows about the 'Last One' so how am I supposed to figure out anything about it!" cried Myoga.
"Hey, flea thing?" said Sueko. "Do you mind not calling me the Last One? It's kinda annoying…"
"Well, you forgot about me!" said Myoga hurtfully.
"I'm sorry my life is so freakin' complicated I don't remember about talking bugs I met six months ago! I'll try harder next time!" cried Sueko.
"We really aren't getting anything done yelling at each other," said Miroku.
"Good point," said Sango.
"This is kinda boring…" said Shippo. "Are we going to actually do something or what?"
Suddenly Yoshiko stood up, looking quite thoughtful. For a few minutes she didn't do anything, just stood there as everyone else looked up at her. Finally she looked down at everyone and said, "What?'
"What are you doing?" asked Sueko.
"You know what?" said Yoshiko to no one in particular, "I haven't checked on my sword yet… It's probably done by now… I should go get it…" After another pause of no one doing anything she said, "You're all coming with, right?"
"Why should we? You were so mean to Myoga… I think it would be no fun being with a mean person like you," said Sueko.
"Shut up," said Yoshiko. "Besides, I thought InuYasha wanted to meet him! How does he do that if he never comes with?"
"Well, you have been mean to InuYasha and Sueko all week…" said Miroku thoughtfully.
"So you've all turned against me, is that it?" asked Yoshiko, crossing her arms.
"Oh, stop complaining, you big baby!" said Sueko, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "We'll go with you so we can protect you from you big, scary grandfather!"
"Shut up…"
Walking through the forest on the way to Takeno's was pretty boring, especially since Myoga wouldn't shut up the whole entire time. And Myoga talking the whole entire time didn't leave much room for someone else to talk so Sueko was just so very bored… But then suddenly it wasn't so boring when she heard someone besides Myoga saying something.
It was like this far away voice calling out to her but it was so far away she couldn't understand what they were saying. And Sueko looked behind her but no one was there…
"What are you doing?" Yoshiko asked.
"Did someone say something?" Sueko asked.
"Yeah. Myoga!" said Yoshiko.
"No, besides him…" said Sueko, looking around her again.
"I bet you haven't heard a word I've said this whole time!" said Myoga moodily.
"I have!" said Yoshiko, raising her hand.
"Are you sure no one else said something?" asked Sueko, looking around some more.
Yoshiko sighed and put her hands on Sueko's shoulders so she'd stop moving. "What are you doing!"
It was then that, instead of answering Yoshiko's question, Sueko got this strange idea.
"Hey, Yoshiko, can you like move your arms so I can get my sword?" asked Sueko.
"What?" blinked Yoshiko.
"Just do it!" said Sueko.
Still confused, Yoshiko put her hands to her sides with her eyebrows raised. But her eyes went wide as Sueko yanked her sword from its sheath and it suddenly glowed blue.
"I knew it…" muttered Sueko, looking at it like it normally glowed blue.
"What, you knew your sword was glowing!" asked InuYasha.
"No, I knew the sky was purple!" said Sueko, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, why in the hell is it glowing?"
"Why don't you ask it?" cried Yoshiko. "I mean, it was talking to you, wasn't it?"
"Uh… Yeah…" said Sueko, looking at her sword again.
"Well, then concentrate, you idiot!" cried Yoshiko.
"How!" cried Sueko back. "I can't concentrate if you're yelling at me!"
"Fine then…" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms. "Maybe you should learn how to concentrate with the noise…"
But Sueko wasn't listening. She had her eyes closed and attempted to figure out what her sword wanted. At first nothing happened and Sueko thought she just wouldn't be able to do it… but suddenly she just knew what the sword wanted. Almost like she had known all along… it was really weird.
"Apparently we're supposed to go south… Where's south?" said Sueko.
Yoshiko blinked for a few seconds, then she laughed. "Wow, you actually did it!"
"Ha-ha, so amazing," said Sueko. "Now where's south!"
"To the left," said Miroku.
Sueko blinked. "And you just knew that?"
Miroku shrugged. "Yeah…"
Sueko shook her head. "I'm not going to ask…"
"So do you know what it is we're looking for?" asked Yoshiko sweetly as if she already knew the answer.
"It didn't tell me that much," said Sueko.
"Fine! Be that way!" said Yoshiko.
"I don't see you trying to figure out what the hell your sword wants!" cried Sueko.
"That'd be because at the moment I don't have one! So that'd be pretty difficult…" said Yoshiko.
"Yoshiko! Sueko! Are you just going to stand there all day or what!" complained InuYasha fifty feet away to the left.
"Now we've been left behind, and it's all your fault!" said Sueko.
"Sure… think what you want," said Yoshiko, walking over to the others.
"Fine… leave me… You could all be going the wrong way for all you know! But maybe I'll be mean and won't tell you!" said Sueko.
"Are you coming or not!" cried InuYasha.
"Fine…" muttered Sueko, running to catch up.
REPLY TO REVIEWS
Review of reviews! Wahoo! Aren't you so excited to see your name on MY fan fic? Well, if you replied it'd be there… but seeing how a short amount of time went by it's okay if you didn't reply. I won't send Fluffy-sama over to your house to kill you or anything. Yet…
Oh yeah, I forgot: May 2nd is Ravyn's B-day. Let's sing her happy birthday! 1, 2, 3… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Okay, I'm done now. Let's all hope she gets Fluffy-sama for her birthday. Let's ignore the fact that she already has a good enough boyfriend as it is and I'm the one who needs one seeing how I'm horribly, horribly single… not that I care. All the guys I know are really weird. The only guys I'd want to date are fictional characters… it's not my fault the people on InuYasha and Wolf's Rain are incredibly hot! Okay, Toboe's just cute… blush
ANYWAYS, I'm moving on!
icygirl2: Yeah, the fan fic has been a bit slow lately, but the characters were having some "romantic difficulties." Ducks the glares from Yoshiko, Sesshomaru, InuYasha and Sueko Well, they're all solved now, so now we'll get to do some action. After we meet a new character… and I think something else happens before the big evil bad guy shows up that I can't remember… oh yeah, I remember! You meet Kikyo's clone! Okay, she's not her clone, but she like looks like her… except her hair is brown… but she acts nothing like Kikyo… even though she has emotional issues… why in God's name am I spoiling the fan fic for? Moving on before I'll have to shoot myself outta guiltiness…
BlackTearsOfDarkness: Wow… a lot of replies! "Yoshiko's just a softy deep deep down, isn't she?" Yep, she is! Ravyn likes writing characters like her… But I have a tendency to write my main character to be almost exactly like me so I guess that's not too bad… "/ Poor Sueko. Sueko and Inuyasha need to hurry up and get together! Graahh! Anticipation, tension, blah bleh bluh! And Keitaro has an awesome bedroom." They just got together! So that solves that problem… And I like Keitaro's bedroom too. I based it off Ravyn's parent's office… and the fact that that's how I'd imagine a computer geek's room to be. Whatever, it all works out! "Pokemon! I know all the words to the Pokemon theme song. I don't even like Pokemon. But I wanted to annoy my friends so I learned it and sang it to them all day once. ." Wow… well, we all have our hobbies! Lol, just kidding! I was obsessed with it in like 4th grade but that's it… Ravyn actually has the songs to that AND Yu-Gi-Oh! AND Digimon memorized… And please don't bring up Digimon in front of her. She won't shut up… And I have all this Japanese music that I'm trying to memorize the English translated lyrics so I can sing the song in English without looking at the damn piece of paper so whatever. "This chapter made me sad ( She needs to come back! He didn't mean it! SUEKKO, COME BACK! ARRGH!AAHH! COME BACK!" I think I'm replying to these backwards… AH WELL! And she did come back because Yoshiko made her, so there you go, that problem solved! "Oh! I like Keitaro! But Inuyasha...But Keitaro...Inuyasha...Keitaro...eek! I can't decide which one I like better. Hmm...Eenie meenie miney mo..." That made me feel so guilty. I never intended to make this Keitaro-Sueko-InuYasha love triangle (Keitaro's just so freakin' cool! How could I be so cruel? Bows head, ashamed) but then again I never intend to do half the things I ended up doing in life… Whatever. It's not like much of it I have to regret, they're just kinda embarrassing memories to think up… Let's just say that all three of them will find a happy ending, whether they're with the girl/guy they want in that triangle or not… It's totally obvious who wins this feud but I don't want to just say it. That's just mean! But this story ends happy! We don't like depressing stories so… well, you get the point. If you don't than TOO BAD! "Did I ever tell you I was Miroku for Halloween? Because I was. It was fun. I got to carry around a big stick for my staff. And I didn't have to wear shoes either!" Hmm… aren't you a girl? I just assumed that you are because of the remus/kiora fan fic and now I'm wondering if you are still one or not… Whatever, this is what I get for "figuring" things! I do it all the time! Which is why I suck at talking! Yet I talk all the time! So my life is just full of problems! DAMN IT! Okay, replying to someone else's reply before I scare people (though I already managed that, huh?)!
elemental hanyou: "Nice I love it...man people are in bad moods in this chapter. I have some things to tell them...Attitude problems" Yep! All attitude problems! And you haven't seen the worst of it so watch out! I think Ravyn likes writing like this so go figure…
Okay, that's all for now. I'm gonna finish editing the next post and I'll try to upload that in the next coupla days so STAY TUNED! Sayonara! waves