Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Ranma and Yuu Yuu Hakusho don't belong to me.
Authors Note: watches 3-legged tortoise pass eh, still going very slowly ...
P.s. Thank you to the reviewers who told me (NICELY!) that I'd bungled and posted chap 10 twice. Here's the REAL Chap 11.
Kagome - 20
Ranma - 18
Yusuke - 15
The screams were her first clue. The guttural hiss of a really upset jumbo monitor lizard was the second.
Pedaling and weaving between the parked cars in the street and Sarita gripping her waist, Maeko made record time in reaching the poisonous lizard. Her tires screeched in objection to the sudden braking as she forced her way through the throng of human bodies surrounding the crash.
"Hey ...!" One man objected when he was shouldered aside and ignored.
"Watch it!" A woman cried when the bicycle rolled over her toes. Maeko mumbled a quick apology.
"Dumb bitch!" An extremely obese tourist growled in english. Maeko popped him in the nose, sending him into his neighbour and starting a chain of human dominos.
The surprised outbursts of toppling people filled the air as a clear path was finally open to the middle of the circle and the distressed dragon.
"Move it morons! Let the professionals handle this!" She snapped. "Hooooo ... Ten'ou wasn't kidding when she said you were a big boy! What's the zoo been feeding you?" She made small talk as she used her chi the manipulate how she would smell and appear to the seven foot long land lizard.
His forked tongue lashed out, tasting the scent of the one who faced him, and found the only thing he could smell was a female Komodo. Hurriedly he scented the air again and found much to his delight the humans were gone!
Attention riveted on the female he didn't feel the nooses of the catch-poles around his neck, nor did he see the transport box being lowered by the hovering helicopter. The only time he noticed something was amiss was when his vision was blocked by a black cloth bag being slipped over his head and secured.
Then the fight began!
"You mother-fucking morons! I had him! Aaarrrrggg! Fine, you don't want my help? Then all you bastards are On Your Own!" Maeko roared, irritated beyond belief that the zoo officials hadn't seen she'd had the big boy trapped in her technique.
Two more minutes and she would have lured him into the box and snoozing without stress or drugs!
She was ignored by the handlers still wrestling with him. That only inflamed her more.
"If you get bit, I ain't helping!"
Furious, she grabbed her bike and walked it to the clinic truck where Ten'ou had left it upon receiving orders to run to Kuno manor with the calcium. Once there she tossed it into the back and hopped into the passenger seat to wait for the traffic to clear up enough to drive home. In the meantime, she decided to take a little siesta.
Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses whither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day . . .
Memory
Turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you, open up enter in
If you find there the meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin
Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember a time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
A streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning
Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
Sunlight through the trees in summer
Endless masquerading
Like a flower as the dawn is breaking
The memory is fading
Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is
Look
A new day has begun
(Memory - from CATS the musical. Not mine, duh.)
Kagome was engulfed by a swirl of rage and instinct with her new blood pounding in her ears like a taiko drummer. All around her were foreign sounds and the smells only maddened her further. But she was aware of the tiny bundle in her arms that her instincts roared at her to protect at all costs.
Kagome could see nothing but blood red, churning in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions and the only thing keeping her anchored was knowing that not only was Rei safe, but she was in her arms.
Then there was a flash of light and power; the maelstrom stopped, everything, every thought stilled as the Tetsusaiga bonded itself to her.
Finally, she knew she and her pup were safe in the embrace of this power and the soul behind it, finally she could finally rest.
"Kagome ..." echoed a soft, welcome voice throughout her dreamscape.
Of course she knew she was dreaming, how could she not know? She was standing beneath the Goshinboku, with sakura petals flowing by, caressing exposed skin ...
And, lounging within the Goshinboku's branches, was Inuyasha. They gazed at each other with such heart wrenching longing it would bring tears to any observer unlucky enough to be there at that very moment.
"Inuyasha ..." she breathed, feeling her heart constrict in her throat.
Power erupted from the ground and swirled around the two forlorn lovers as two great powers were invoked, the power that names held, and the power of the purest of loves.
As the cyclone of power settled, the earth shook.
Kagome knew she should be feeling something, anything other than the calm that suddenly took over as a new figure appeared, a giant dog.
Larger than even Sesshoumaru had been. She absently noted as the 20 story dog loomed over them, eyes glowing red and teeth bared.
Brown met red and the canine leviathan that stood before her and took her measure took another step forward. The strangest thing was that Inuyasha didn't seem to have noticed it, or if he had, he was ignoring it.
Knowing Inuyasha as well as she did, she felt it was safe to say he was deliberately ignoring the behemoth pooch.
He hopped down from his perch and landed soundlessly on the soft grass. No more than five feet apart they stood, frozen in time.
Tetsusaiga appeared, floating between them in its guise of a rusted blade before it transformed into it's true form. The pearly fang snapped, as though Goshinki had taken it into his jaws once more. The fang melted away, leaving only the thin tooth Inuyasha had given Totousai to repair it.
That single tooth grew and fused with the hilt, behind Tetsusaiga she saw Inuyasha smirk.
Hesitantly she reached out, a single finger brushed the surface of the morphing fang.
Her neck and spine arched backward as the world around them exploded with indigo blue that rippled like ocean waves around the world. She felt Inuyasha's arms wrap around her, supporting her in whatever task she had been destined to accomplish.
"UURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!" Every male in the bar cheered as the originator of the belch, Chu, slammed his mug on the counter. "More!" He demanded.
Jin the wind demon groaned placed a hand over his face and pretended not to know Chu.
"You're an idiot, you know that? Besides, you said you knew where we could find Yusuke."
"O' courshe I know!" He slurred, thoroughly enjoying his state of inebriation. "He'shin the Nig - ningzen - ...ningenkai!" Chu declared, looking rather proud that he remembered how to pronounce 'ningenkai'.
Jin rolled his eyes.
"You talkin' 'bout that human Urameshi?" A particularly obnoxious looking Oni growled.
"Yeah! What's it to ya?" Chu growled just as menacingly. Jin's ears told him there was a fight in the air.
As usual, they were right.
"The stupid punk wouldn't die! I lost alla my money 'cause of him!"
"Yusuke's a punk, he ain't a stupid punk!" Chu roared in Yusuke's defence.
Things quickly went downhill from there when the drunken oni, on the assumption that Chu had insulted his intelligence, took a wild swing.
Of course Chu easily moved his head to the side with out a second thought. Naturally things quickly degenerated from there as some of the oni's drinking buddies decided to join the party.
"AND STAY OUT!" The bartender roared as he and his bouncers forcefully threw Chu, Jin and the oni out on their asses.
"Yeah! Who wants sake as nasty as yours anyway." Chu managed to retort before he turned green in the face and barfed in front of the door.
As the only sober one of the bunch, Jin took it upon himself to lead his friend/rival away from the scene before they attracted anymore attention.