Chapter Nine

Osaka, Japan

February, 2004

Blood. There was so much blood. She took a step back and slipped. Catching her balance she looked down and felt her stomach turn when she realized the bottom of her tennis shoes were covered in the sticky substance. She gasped and her senses were assaulted by the putrid smell of it. She couldn't help it. She screamed even though it would alert who ever had done that to where she was. Her eyes closed as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. When they opened again the sigh was still there, haunting her.

My friends...

Sango, Miroku, Kikyo, Kaede...they lay in heaps around her. None of them moved. They were gone. They were dead.

They died for me...

Sango scrambled off the bed as Kaede and Miroku came running in. "I don't know what happened. We were asleep and all of a sudden she started whimpering and then she screamed," she told them, trying to keep her own shattered nerves calm. "It was like the other day in the dorm. You remember, Miroku."

Kaede leaned over Kagome's shivering form. The girl's eyes were open, but were unseeing as she trembled and kicked her legs as if she were trying to get away from something. "This happened before?"

"Hai," Miroku answered. "At the beginning of this month when she first moved in with Sango-chan. She started screaming and woke both floors."

"Demo," Sango added, "it wasn't quite so bad as this. She screamed, but she woke up. That's when she told us about her otou and being here and everything."

"Oh, Kagome." The elder woman sighed and shook her head. Kagome was her shining star, her prime example in all of her research. Kagome was the one that she spoke about whenever she wrote a research article or brought new patients to the retreat. The girl had been so lively and ready to embrace life. "She was afraid something like this might happen, but what was the catalyst? She seemed to be dealing with the knowledge that the thief was after her again..." The woman seemed to be speaking to herself as she tucked the blanket closer around Kagome and put a hand to her forehead trying to calm her.

There was a noise from the other room.

Wait. Room?

For the first time, Kagome seemed to be aware of something other than the bodies of her friends and took note of her surroundings. They were in a living room of some sort. There was a fireplace and a couch and a bookshelf. This wasn't the retreat. This was some place she'd never been before.

No time to think about it. He was coming. She turned around and ran out of the room, catching a glimpse of the shadowed form and the bright red glowing eyes. Throwing the door open she ran as fast as she could down the path from the house to the woods. Once inside the line of trees, things seemed to get familiar and her body took paths her mind only barely recognized until she came to something that she did recognize. Something that was familiar. Much too familiar.

Taller than any other tree, the Goshinboku literally reached for the heavens. It would take four of her to reach around it completely and the hole in the front that had served as her front door was still there.

I'll be safe in the Goshinboku, just like jii-chan said...

But he was there too. He stood between her and her sanctuary. And he was laughing.

Kagome screamed again and Sango cringed, stroking her friend's raven locks in an attempt to soothe her. Miroku sat on the bed next to her and put his hand on Sango's shoulder. "Kagome is strong," he assured her quietly. "She'll come back out of this."

Sango nodded stiffly. "Kami...Miroku, I hope you're right about that."

The door opened and the three occupants turned to see who had intruded and mentally winced to see the white haired youkai, Sesshomaru standing in the door with boxers and a dark blue robe the only things covering his built form. "What is the meaning of this?"

Sesshomaru merely glared down his nose at the humans who stared at him so openly. A light pink blush tinged the bridge of Sango's nose and she turned her head away, concentrating on the well being of her best friend, but didn't miss the way that every muscle in Miroku's upper body tensed when he saw her reaction to the inu youkai's disheveled appearance.

"Why was my sleep disturbed?" He questioned sourly.

"It is just a nightmare. Nothing to worry yourself over, Mr. Takahashi," Kaede assured him, standing. He ignored her and leaned over the bed, looking at the dark haired woman who lay there. He sniffed audibly and turned those cold golden eyes to the doctor.

"Not simply a nightmare. There was a youkai in here, foreign from the scents of the rest of your staff that litter this place. If you wish for her to live to see the next sunrise, I suggest that you wake her soon." With that said, he turned and walked out of the room, loose silk robe billowing slightly behind him.

Sango frowned. "Dr. Ten'nou -" She was cut short by the sound of a crash and broken glass from the room down the hall. Kaede hurried towards it, met by two other nurses in the hall who had also heard the sound and thought it came from one of the children's rooms. It had, instead, come from the hanyou's room.

Where the hell was he? He looked around the scenery as it changed from one thing to another. He had been standing inside of an eerily familiar cavern only to turn and see that it wasn't a cavern, but a cabin bedroom. The sound of movement from the next room brought him out of his thoughts and he tilted his head slightly, ears swiveling to pick up another sound to pick up the least bit of noise. There was someone crying up ahead...but as he stepped towards the door to see who it was, the scene changed again. This time he was standing in a forest that seemed vaguely familiar to his senses.

But he didn't dwell on that fact to long because there was someone coming. He heard a twig snap and turned towards the sound. This may have been a dream or a memory or something, but whatever it was, he was unable to use his nose to locate the enemy.

And then she as there, a blur of gray and black before she came crashing into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He gripped her arms to push her off of him and growled when her hair tickled his chest. Her eyes opened wide, surprised he supposed, to see that there was someone else there when she thought she had been alone.

Kagome's body seemed to go limp and relax, her clouded blue eyes drifted shut and Sango gave a sigh of relief, thinking her friend had come out of the nightmare and had gone back to a normal sleep. Feeling exhausted herself...it was nearly two in the morning...she yawned and leaned against Miroku's arm, lying her head on his shoulder.

He turned his head quickly to look down at her, confused at her behavior. She usually yelled at him, slapped him, or threw not-so-dangerous objects at him...she had never lain on him before. Not that he was going to complain...it was just a shock to see her so relaxed and comfortable around him. Okay, so, truthfully, that was his fault. He had an uncommon knack for getting into trouble with women and had a roaming hand that he just didn't seem to be able to control. He had, admittedly, fondly fondled Sango's backside a few times in the past and received his punishment for it, but he really did see her in a different light than the rest of the girls he was around. She was the only girl he had ever managed to maintain a friendship with except Kagome and he'd known Sango longer. He had never pressed her for more than just a friendship...didn't even really press her for that. She had given that willingly. He had never attempted to act on any of his ideas other than a slight caress every now and again just to keep her on her toes...and her bottom (a/n: I'm running out of supplemental words for the bum) was firm and round...very much to his liking.

With a mental shove, he forced himself off that train of thought. It was late, they were both tired and worried and they had just spent a few minutes living the hell that had been Kagome's life after her father's death...or rather, her family's life after her father's death. Kagome's life had been far different. Her hell had been self constructed. They could not experience her nightmare.

Sango had closed her eyes and taken a few deep breaths, calming her nerves to a point where she could enjoy the comfort beside her, the softness of Miroku's terry cloth robe and the feel of his modestly firm biceps beneath it. The weather, while warming, was still chilly and she wore only a light blue tank and dark blue boxers and chill bumps had spread along her bare arms, but the warmth of his body so close to her was nice. Who knew body heat could be so welcoming? And his hands were no where near her! Was this progress? Was she finally getting somewhere? Kami, I hope so. She was so tired of waiting for him to come around and begin to act like the gentleman she knew he was capable of being.

It was a tender scene for the two med students, really. It would have been even better had Kaede not picked that moment to walk back in. Sango's eyes flew open and she abruptly sat up, stiff as a board. Miroku bit back a groan and held his tongue to keep from speaking aloud the not-so-nice comment he was ready to give the old woman. He was finally getting somewhere and she had to ruin it!

"That was Inuyasha's room the noise came from," the aging doctor told them softly. "He seemed to be in a state similar to Kagome's and managed to knock the lamp off of the bedside table." She looked down at the now peaceful Kagome and frowned, her brows knitting in confusion. "It's almost as if they were experiencing the same thing." She was muttering, just barely loud enough for them to hear her as she shook her head. "But that's impossible...however, Kagome did say...but no...that would be impossible...masaka..."

"Dr. Ten'nou," Miroku interrupted, "how many youkai work at this retreat? Would any of them have any reason to be in this room recently."

"There are several, but none that would have been in here since before the four of you arrived and Mr. Takahashi said that the scent would have been lain only minutes before Kagome's terrors started. I don't know how anyone could get on these grounds. The security is impeccable. It would be practically impossible."

"Not for everyone," Sango muttered. "I'll bet someone really desperate could come up with a way to get in."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome breathed trying to catch her breath from the exertion she had had to exhibit to get away from the creature that hunted her. "Inuyasha! Nani? How...what are you doing here? This is a dream? Why are you in my dream?"

He lay his ears back slightly at the high pitched squeal of her voice. "I don't know, wench! But I'd better find out quick or one of us won't be making it out of here alive." He growled the last part menacingly.

"Oh, don't you dare threaten me. I don't even know how I ended up back in the Sacred Forest. How am I supposed to know how you got here?" She retorted, matching his anger and irritation exactly.

"Sacred Forest? How do you know what this place is called?"

She stood up and brushed the dirt from the back of her gray plaid boxer shorts. "I only lived in it for three years. Or rather, in the Goshinboku, but the Goshinboku is in the Sacred Forest. Well...according to jii-chan it is anyway..." She trailed off silently following that thought process, trying to recall the stories of the Sacred Forest and the enchanted spirit that lived within the Goshinboku and kept the forest and the shrine safe.

"Goshinboku?" He repeated...that name...why did it sound so familiar?

"Hai, the Goshinboku. It's where I stayed during my 'sleep'. I hid in the tree because the Red Eyes couldn't get me there."

"Inu...yasha..."

Sango frowned hearing the girl breath the hanyou's name. Miroku furrowed his brow. After what Kaede had said about Inuyasha being in the same state as their friend, hearing her say his name had only added to their curiosity.

Sango bit her lip in thought. She had read some of the reports and articles in the medical journals concerning catatonic stasis, the topic interested her. Some said that they believed that during the 'coma' the patients were tapping into the normally unused portion of their brain, the portion that some experts believed could hold the ability to communicate through telepathy or to see and hear things that were not on the normal plane. Could it be...no...it was just some scientist's silly hypothesis...it couldn't be true...could it?

"Stop screaming!" Inuyasha yelled, getting more and more agitated by the second.

"I'll stop screaming when I can get out of here and back into the real world! I'll get out of here when that creepy, red-eyed freak decides to leave me the hell alone!" Kagome yelled back, hands clenched in fists at her side.

"Chikosho! Stop crying already! It's getting irritating!" He hated it, but couldn't figure out why. The sight of her flushed face, glistening wet cheeks, the sound of her quiet sobs...they were all starting to grate on him.

"I'll stop when I get ready! You're the one that intruded on my dream you know!"

"I wouldn't be here if you hadn't pulled me here, wench!"

Both hanyou and girl stopped, identical expressions of confusion, shock and awe flashing through their features. It was as if the occupants had finally come home and switched on the light bulbs for the two. This was getting creepy. "Pulled you here? I...I...how? I haven't...I didn't...Only...He..." She couldn't seem to form a complete sentence in her mind. All of her thoughts were grumbling together in a hyperactive spin cycle that never seemed to come to an end. "That's what...what he said...I did...before..."

"You...the Goshinboku...pulling me into your dream..." Inuyasha shook his head, his brow creasing in realization. "I should have figured it out earlier, but..."

She had pulled him into her world the last time when her need to be free of the forest and the confined space of the Goshinboku...the need to see her family...to continue with her life, had become too much for her. She had been too afraid to go though she wanted to so badly, so he had given up his only light and offered to help her back into the reality of the world. He would fight off the red eyes while she ran.

It had worked. She had, somehow, managed to successfully pull him from his dark cavern into the sunny and colorful forest of her creation. Some legend her old jii-chan had told her once. He hadn't seen the red eyed monster, but she said it was there and so he attacked it and held it off until she was gone...

Once when he was a child, his mother had bought him a package of side-walk chalk and he had spent most of the morning in the driveway, drawing on the black pavement. When he'd finally finished his creation he had stood back, proudly admiring his work, and couldn't wait for his father to come home so he could show it off to him. Unfortunately, it had rained before he got the chance and he had stood in the down pour, tears cascading down his chubby cheeks, as the drops had washed away what he had worked so hard to create. The colors had run together into a smeared mess before finally washing away into nothingness.

It had been like that when she left the sacred forest. It was as if he had jumped into a sidewalk drawing, like in a movie he had seen once, and the rain was had washing his world away until he was once again standing in the cavern of his cave. Only this time, his light was gone.

Kagome's scream drew him from his thoughts and he jumped, coming back to the present, if not reality itself. She was pointing behind him and he turned to see what had scared her. For the first time, he met his enemy face to face. An unidentifiable shadow emerged from his right. The only feature distinguishable in his smoky personage were the two glowing red eyes.

Their relief was short lived as Kagome drew in a deep breath and screamed once more. Sango sat up straight, dark eyes shooting open while Miroku's violet ones swirled with a mixture of disappointment and worry. Sango brushed the hair from Kagome's forehead and made soft shushing noises. When her brother had been little, she had done the same thing to him when he'd had bad dreams.

Miroku took Kagome's hand in his again and gently started massaging the back of it with his thumb. It was the best he could do. He had been the only child and so had no experience in comforting a frightened sibling and he had never been close enough to a girl in an unromantic sense to know how to act.

"Dr Ten'nou!" One of the nurses from Inuyasha's room called in a panicked voice. Kaede looked at the three young adults and, deciding that Kagome was in good enough hands for the moment, hurried towards the hanyou's room. Sesshomaru stood against a far wall, looking at his brother's writhing form with an uncaring air. She had the younger of the two nurses escort him out of the room and into the hallway. The dark aura coming from him was not helping her patient any.

The elder of the nurses had prepared a sedative in case the worst was to happen and they were unable to calm Kagome and Inuyasha from by other means. Their screams and fighting was starting to disturb the rest of the house and they had other patients, younger and in worse condition, to be concerned over.

Kagome fell to her bottom on the ground as Inuyasha pushed her behind him, effectively cutting off her screaming. "No...no...no..."

Inuyasha's grin was wicked. "So, kisama, you finally decided to fight me? Then come on!" He cracked his knuckles waiting for the thing to come out of the shadows and in a close enough range for him to attack.

"Inuyasha! Iie!" Kagome had scrambled to her feet and grabbed his arm. Her fear was obvious even despite his lack of scent. "Inuyasha, if you do this here...now...if something happens to you here...you may be stuck here forever."

He shifted his glare to her. "You created this place. You created him. Make him weak enough that I can just kill him. Then we can both get out of here."

She shook her head vehemently. "Iie...I know he's part of my creation. I know that, but I can't control it...him. I want to, but I can't...I just can't!"

"Then how are we gonna get outta here!"

"I don't' know!" She was starting to feel desperate. She wanted to go back. She didn't want to be stuck in this place again. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Her eyes were squeezed shut as panic once again began to set in.

Violet colored light surrounded Kagome's body and then dimmed, disappearing. Slowly, as if coming out of a deep sleep, Kagome's steel blue eyes began to flutter open and she found herself staring into the faces of her two friends. I'm back...I got out...I don't know how I did it, but I did...

Sango drew her friend into a hug as the girl woke up. Kagome was crying in relief. "Kami-sama I was so scared, Sango-chan. I thought...I was back in the forest and that thing was after me and...Sango-chan! I was so afraid! Inuyasha was going to fight that thing, but I couldn't control it. I should have been able too, but I couldn't. I knew if he got into a fight with it and got hurt he might not wake up again...he'd have been stuck there or even killed!" She shook her head and buried her face in Sango's shoulder. "He'd have been stuck there, reliving that same nightmare over and over again and I didn't want that to happen. I don't know how I got us out, I just remember fading away..."

Miroku couldn't help but grin, relief taking priority over the concern for now. "You shouldn't worry about not possessing the miko powers of your bloodline any more, Kagome-chan. You just proved that they do exist."

"You were glowing!" Sango exclaimed, shocked at what she had seen. "You glowed purple just before you woke up!"

"Glowing?" Kagome frowned, confusion written all over her face, but before she could say more her bedroom door was slung open.

"What the hell were you thinking you stupid bitch?" An angry treble reached her ears and she looked over to see a fuming silver haired hanyou. "I'm not some damn shield you can just yank into your fucking nightmares! I have enough problems of my own without having to deal with yours - and what the hell is that smell?" He visibly sniffed the air, as Sesshomaru had done earlier, and knelt down on the other side of Kagome from where Miroku and Sango sat, touching something with his fingers. A red powder collected on the pad of his index finger and he sniffed at it, recognizing a few of the ground herbs, ones known to cause hallucinations and delusions. "What's this?"

Kagome blinked, trying to keep up with his rapidly changing moods. "I don't know...I haven't seen it before. It wasn't there earlier and I haven't used anything that had red powder to it." She shook her head. She'd just woken up from a horror she hadn't faced since she was a child...they couldn't possibly expect her brain to be working at full throttle just yet.

"Your brother said that there was a foreign scent in here. One not associated with the staff," Miroku told them wondering if that might have something to do with the powder. "He claimed it was a youkai. Perhaps some daemon was able to sneak past the security and get into the house undetected...then that youkai could have been the one to leave the powder and the powder may have had something to do with the trance Kagome was in."

Inuyasha snarled, his upper lip drawing back to reveal a glistening fang. "What would you be willing to bet Onigumo, or what ever he's calling himself these days, is behind this."

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh Kami-sama, no. When I suggested that we leave before it was only a precaution. I never really thought that someone could get into the house, but now..." She shook her head. "Kami! The kids...if we stay here they'll really be in danger. We've got to leave as soon as possible."

"I ain't gonna argue." The hanyou had no qualms about leaving that place as soon as possible. he'd never wanted to go in the first place, but at least now he knew why he'd been compelled to follow and why it had only seemed natural to save her the other day at the soccer game or to protect her from the red-eyed shadow in her dream. Her voice, her presence, had been his light. It had been the one thing that kept him warm and gave him comfort in the dark and secluded cavern of his cave. When she had gone and taken his light with her, he had succumbed to the darkness and the loneliness, but now his light was back and he was determined to keep it shining.

"Uh, that's great and all, but where are we gonna go?" Sango brought them all crashing to the reality of the situation. They really did have now where to go. If they went back to their families, they would be putting the people they loved in danger. If they stayed at the retreat they'd be putting the children in danger. They were college students with part time jobs that earned them just enough to pay for school supplies, groceries and the occasional outing to the movie or a club. They couldn't afford to stay in some hotel for any extended period of time.

Unbeknownst to all of them save Inuyasha, who had been growling under his breath for the past few minutes, Sesshomaru was standing in the doorway listening to them. As they all contemplated what their choices were, he stepped forward. the bed. "Our father owned a cabin in the mountains. It has not been used for some years, but should do well enough for a short time. I will even provide you with the transportation necessary to get to the cabin. It should keep this Naraku from catching my trail too soon, long enough for me to be on a plane out of the country with Otou-san's katanas." He turned without waiting for a reply and started back to his room to order the toad youkai to get on the phone and start finding them a ride out of this disgusting, human infested, building.

Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha watched him walk off, shocked at what they had just witnessed. They then looked at each other and contemplated on the appropriate comment for such behavior. Kagome was the first to recover and just shook her head. "Who'd have thought he was actually going to help us do something."

Sango nodded. "Even something as small as this."

"Feh." Inuyasha stood. "Get some sleep. My brother's probably sending us to some shack that's been falling down for years. Don't expect him to do anything beneficial for any of us."

"Perhaps, Kagome-chan, Sango-chan," Miroku started smoothly, "I should share your room for the night. Just to be sure that you are both safe from any more intruding daemons, I mean." He glanced around the room. "There is little room for a cot or another so that I would have to sleep between the covers with the both of you to keep you safe, but..."

Smack!

Sango shook her hand a few times to try and rid herself of the stinging sensation left after having slapping the fire out of the young man. "We'll be fine. I suggest you and Inuyasha go back to your own rooms." The glare she gave the dark haired man promised much pain if he continued in his actions.

He shrugged and crawled off the bed. "Oyasumi nasai then." He gave them all a charming smile and left the rest of them.

Sango too started to climb off of the bed. "Would you like something Kagome-chan? I'm going to get something to drink." Kagome nodded, she hadn't realized how parched and raw her throat seemed after screaming so much.

"Some tea should help you both to calm your nerves. Sango and I will return in a moment. Would you like tea also, Inuyasha? Or perhaps something else?" At the doctor's question, Inuyasha shook his head. Kaede and Sango went out, shutting the door behind them.

Inuyasha started to leave also, but Kagome grabbed his wrist before he could leave the bedside. "Inuyasha, gomen ne, I never got to say anything before, but I want to say something now. Inuyasha, domo arigatou gozaimazu. I don't know that I would have been able to leave that nightmare had it not been for you...I might have been stuck again, reliving that terror."

"It ain't like I had much choice," he said roughly.

She lowered her head, studying the cream colored bedspread, idly picking at a piece of broken thread in the quilted seam. Her other hand fell from his wrist. "I know and honto ni sumimasen, but it was something that I couldn't help. Please understand that I didn't do it intentionally...it just sort of happened." She still didn't look at him. "But that wasn't everything. I wasn't just trying to thank you for tonight. I want to thank you for helping me back then too...you know...before when I was at the retreat as a child. You were the voice that I heard. It was because of you that I was able to leave the Sacred Forest and come home. I want to thank you for helping me, but I also want to say that I'm sorry because...because I should have tried to bring you with me. Maybe...maybe if I had you wouldn't...you wouldn't think that your return was a mistake. Maybe...maybe I could have helped you." A deep blush was creeping up her neck and onto her cheeks until even her ears were tinged with pink. That hadn't come out the way she had wanted it to. Her thoughts were a jumble in her mind and she couldn't seem to focus enough to process her thoughts and express them in coherent ways.

Inuyasha was in a state of speechlessness. He didn't know what to say to her gratitude or her remorse. It had never occurred to him to be angry with his light for leaving him. He had simply accepted the fact that he didn't deserve the warmth it offered, that he was destined for cold solitude. He had been angry with Kaede for not letting him have that solitude, for wrenching him from the cavern and the eternal darkness he knew would consume him if he just stayed in that cave long enough, but never had he blamed his light. You sound like a fucking lunatic, he scolded himself mentally for the process his thoughts had taken on. You're referring to a damn ningen as the light. Her name is Kagome and she's not your light, she's just some stupid ningen girl who babbles on about meaningless stuff when she should be studying her chemistry notes.

But he couldn't leave her like that either. "What happened back then doesn't matter. That it's still here now is the problem. I'll tell you this: If you plan to live through this, you better stop letting fear control you. Otherwise you'd might as well hand over that stupid necklace and bare your throat to Naraku."

Her head flew up as she looked at him, steel blue meeting gold. Was that his way of accepting her thanks and her apology, of saying he forgave her for tonight's episode?

She didn't have long to consider it because the door opened again and Kaede entered the room with Sango close behind, the younger girl carrying a tray topped with tea cups and a kettle. Inuyasha didn't give her a chance to say anything more before leaving the room.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I got sick and then I got writers block...I'm not used to writing in chronological order. When I wrote Time of Our Lives I would have an idea and I'd write it and then I'd have another idea and write it, even if it didn't fit with the first thing, they all seemed to have something in common and then I just copied and pasted each segment in an order that fit and separated it to chapters. :) Anyway, I wanted to try and make this chapter a little longer and a little bit fluffier. Eh...I think I'm going a little ooc, but I'm trying to keep it as close to the original characters as possible. It's just really, really difficult when Sesshomaru's involved. He's so damn hard to write for!

Glossary

Hai - yes

Demo - but

Goshinboku - God Tree

Kami - god

Youkai - daemon

Inu - dog

Masaka - impossible

Nani - what?

Jii-chan - grandpa

Chikosho - damn it

Kisama - You bastard/bitch

Iie - no

Hanyou - half daemon/half human

Otou - father

Katana - Sword

Oyasumi nasai - Goodnight

Gomen ne - Sorry

Domo arigatou gozaimazu - I thank you very much

Honto ni sumimasen - I'm really sorry

Ningen - human

Reviewer Comments

Kirei-Kitsune - You're welcome. I hope you enjoy them.

LukeShaelh - Thank you, I appreciate any and all constructive criticism. If you tell me what's confusing I can try and clear it up. As for being unrealistic...well, there's not much I can do there. I mean...it's Inuyasha...it's kinda hard to make it very realistic when you got someone with dog ears and fangs walking around. :)

Yashafan1 - Thanks! I hope I can do more with Varsha. I worked really hard on her character. I'm definitely going to try and squeeze her into the plot some more. And Kagura's gonna show up too! I'm gonna see if I can't squeeze some Kagura/Sesshomaru interaction out into my fic. :) I really, really liked them as a couple. And you're right - burnt toast! teeheee!

MintyFresh - I hoped you'd be pleased! A? I didn't even get those in school! ((does a happy dance))

Darkangelloveskouga - I'm trying! I'm typing so fast these days that my keyboard started smoking and I had to start keeping a fire extinguisher next to my desk. ((giggles))

Sara - Didn't think you'd get a comment, did you? Ha! Proved you wrong! I am gonna comment even though you haven't put a review on the site. And I am not mean! I'm just wickedly devious. ((teases hair to hide her horns beneath her curls)) I am perfectly innocent, you know. ((straightens halo)).

And a special thanks to Yashafan1, Kirei-Kitsune, Punkgoddess, Eartha, Sara, and MintyFresh. I love loyal reviewers! Thanks so much for your input! Inu plushies for all! ((throws out Inu plushie dolls like beads at marti gras))