Chapter nine
Learning
----
The complex was located a fair way out of the township, a distance that was enough of a walk to be good exercise and far enough to ensure there would be few neighbours. The surrounds were peaceful, the seclusion was ambient, and all of it gave Kakashi mixed feelings. Should a showdown occur it was a relief to know that the number of people likely to be caught on the peripheries were few, but on the other hand if anything went wrong, it was a long trip back to the village.
He stopped considering the positioning, however, when they finally reached their destination. Beside him Sakura was unable to stifle a gasp and even he found it difficult to appear unimpressed.
It turned out the road they'd been following for the last fifteen minutes was not, as he'd assumed, a village thoroughfare, but was in fact the driveway to Izanami's house. A cart rumbled past them, wheels creaking over the gravel, and continued through the compound and out of sight around the corner of one of the buildings.
He'd been to the Hyuuga main house once, when the eldest girl was young and had very nearly been kidnapped. At the time he'd been just another ANBU and he hadn't really allowed himself the luxury of checking the place out, but what he remembered of the complex had been its sheer size and majesty, and this home rivalled the Hyuugas' in both arenas.
A low main building lay central to the complex; a pond complete with a shishi-odoshi had been cleverly built around and underneath one corner. Outbuildings spread off to each side - the closest one smelled of food and spices and his stomach rumbled of its own volition. He coughed, hoping to mask the sound, but a slow grin spread across Sakura's face and a worried look came to rest upon Akio's.
"Ah, Kakashi-san, I am a terrible host! I detained you for far too long and did not offer you refreshment." He sounded appalled at himself, but Kakashi waved it off.
"Don't trouble yourself, Akio-san. Truthfully I had forgotten, myself, it was the smell from the kitchens that reminded me we haven't eaten for a while." A while? Their last meal had been in the forest before they'd even entered the village. They'd gone without eating for nearly two days now.
"No, I shall arrange for food to be brought directly. Let us first enter the homestead and ask if Izanami is well enough to see us, and then we shall break your fast."
It was closer to dinner, but Kakashi was too tired to point out the other man's error. Also, Akio had started to remind him of Gai in a number of ways, and it was an unspoken rule amongst the jounins to just let Gai do as he wished, since resistance served only to fuel his passionate, outrageous ideas. Instead, he followed Akio up the wide wooden steps in silence and moved inside the almost daunting main house.
It was darker than he expected and it took a few seconds for his eye to adjust, accustoming itself to the surroundings with uncharacteristic slowness. He pressed surreptitiously against the side of his skull, quashing a nagging suspicion that something he'd feared would happen would soon come to pass. His right eye had done all the work for nearly twenty years now and it had placed an unbelievable strain on the organ, making him wonder more and more frequently if he was going to lose his vision, rendering this eye useless too. He made a brief mental note to train his chakra harder, because if that did end up happening, he'd need fuel for his Sharingan, which he'd never been able to switch off.
Sakura touched his arm and he shook himself from his musing. No point in worrying about what may never occur. He blinked and smiled down at her, an automatic response on his part, before he remembered he wasn't supposed to show approval at any point in this ridiculous plan. It was too late, however - the damage had been done. Tension he hadn't noticed was there lifted from her face as relief crossed her features. He felt bad for having treated her coldly, but she'd started a habit of making impetuous decisions and rushing into things, and it just wasn't a good trait for a ninja to have.
Although - an image of another young shinobi flashed through his mind - sometimes it wasn't so bad, after all.
He looked around. They were alone in a foyer of sorts, Akio having scurried off to collect Izanami and advise her of their arrival. Shoji walls hemmed them in at either side and the hall stretched out in front of them - dark, uninviting, and wide.
Sakura shivered, and brought her hands up to rub vigorously at her upper arms. "It's a bit depressing," she said, and he knew what she meant. The house was big and showy, but the emptiness was almost deafening and a tang of sickness hung in the air. It was a house that had tasted death once and knew more was on the way; the walls seemed almost to mourn and he wished they were back in the forest where the air was clean and everything was alive.
Judging by her expression, Sakura felt the same.
He was about to ask if she regretted her decision, but was interrupted by Akio's approach. Izanami trailed behind him demurely, looking much better than she had earlier in the day.
"--and her guardian, Kakashi-san." He seemed to be explaining their presence to her and Kakashi was thrown by her expression of mild confusion before remembering Akio's words from earlier. Usually, he had said, a look of sadness on his face, she remembers nothing of what has taken place.
Great. So now they were camping out in the home of a sickly, unstable young woman who had no idea why they were there.
Akio and Izanami reached the foyer and stopped. Sakura dropped hastily into a curtsy of sorts while he just stood there as Izanami appraised them both. She flushed when her eyes reached his face and then glanced away, fiddling with her obi while Akio described what they'd be doing here.
"O-Of course," she stammered at the first lull in his overly wordy reasoning. He grinned, obviously relieved to have it all sorted out, then opened a nearby fusuma, announcing he was off to get some food for the weary travellers.
"If you could show Sakura-sama and Kakashi-san to their rooms?"
Izanami nodded faintly and he slid the door shut again, leaving them with their hostess for the very first time.
They shared a moment of awkward silence that stretched and lengthened into a minute, and then pressed onwards to two. Kakashi could be patient but Sakura could not, and she cleared her throat just as Izanami spoke.
"I'll show you to your rooms, then." Even her voice was frail - a strained whisper - but it was more than loud enough for the heavy air. He nodded and Sakura followed suit, before she offered clumsily,
"Um, thank you for your kindness, er...allowing us to stay here."
"Not at all," Izanami demurred and the girl fell silent, niceties having been observed.
Their gracious hostess led the way down the dark hallways, a long path of rice paper walls with a few corners here and there. They took a couple of turns and then she was opening a fusuma, gesturing politely to the side.
"This will be Sakura-sama's room," she said, moving aside, allowing Sakura entry to drop off her pack. Izanami continued without waiting and they set off down another corridor that seemed to go all the way to the other side of the house. He let them walk for a bit longer before asking, "Where are we going?"
Izanami faltered and turned, careful not to look at him.
"To your bedroom, Kakashi-sama." The honorific irritated him, but it was irrelevant for the moment. He needed to get something else sorted first.
"Why are we going to the other end of the house? Couldn't Sakura and I share a room?"
Sakura regarded the woman curiously - it looked like she hadn't thought it strange at first, but considered it odd now after his protest.
Izanami flushed, again, still unable to meet his eye. "Why, it's not proper!" she said, sounding scandalised.
Sakura gaped. "You think that Kakashi and I are...that we'd..." Her mouth moved but no sound came out, her lips unable to complete the thought.
The other woman straightened. "It doesn't matter what your relationship is, an unmarried man and woman cannot share a bedchamber!"
"Izanami-san." His voice was cold and she actually flinched, her posture drooping as she half-turned towards him. "Sakura-sama is my charge. I cannot protect her to the best of my ability if I am hidden away in a far corner of the house. We must either share a room, or - if that offends you - adjoining suites."
This old-world politeness was really giving him the shits. He was tired, starving and they were still arsing around with room allocations.
"Very well," she said, her face still red. "I will arrange for a screen to be brought to Sakura-sama's room, if you wish."
"Thank you," he replied, and they trudged back to where Sakura's pack had been left. He dropped his own off as well, and then finally - blessedly! - they went to get some food.
----
Sakura had expected Akio to grab them a snack of some description, but instead they were ushered into a formal dining room and asked to kneel. An obsequious servant brought them individual tables, then returned with a large tray that sat on little legs in the middle of the room. Mouth watering, she waited impatiently to be served and when it eventually came she looked down at her food with propriety intent...which changed rapidly to chagrin as soon as she saw what it was.
Tempura.
She loved tempura. Fried food had always been her favourite, and was a luxury she often had to forgo in order to maintain peak fitness. The dish so temptingly placed in front of her looked to be scrumptiously cooked prawns with a selection of vegetables, all crisped to a light golden brown with a faint hint of steam rising off the plate. All in all, it looked perfect - and it wasn't just because she was ravenous - but she knew that to someone else, it looked perfectly awful.
Kakashi hated tempura. It was the one thing he'd cared to share with them, all those years ago. Sakura had thought him emotionless at the time, and the fact he felt so strongly about something as to actually admit to disliking it had left such a strong impression she'd remembered it to this day.
Personally, she hated anything with too much spice. Her mother had packed a sachet of wasabi every day in her lunch for four years, and every day she'd unpack it and drop it in the bin on her way to the academy. She sympathised with Kakashi's current situation because she'd been there herself.
To his credit, he didn't let his revulsion show upon his face, instead downing the miso soup that accompanied the meal and asking for a second serving. His usual carefree half-smile creased his eye and graced his lips, and she thought again how lucky she was to be able to see him like this. She hid a grin at Izanami's discomfort from earlier - to think she hadn't wanted to let them share a room unchaperoned! He was her teacher, for goodness sake. They'd shared a bed on more than one occasion. It had never fazed her because she'd never thought of him as a man.
Sakura, I know he's been the leader of your team for five years now, but it doesn't detract from the fact he's a very good-looking man. Maybe if you opened your eyes and actually looked at guys as guys for once, you'd see what I mean.
She snorted, garnering curious looks from all assembled. Kakashi, good-looking? He certainly wasn't unattractive, and his physique - she'd noticed while dressing his wound - was lean and muscled. But it didn't help that he'd been her teacher, her superior, for five years. She had changed so much on the journey from child to teenager, but when she'd met him he had already been in that ageless category of adult. Kakashi had remained a constant, while she considered herself far removed from that immature girl of yore.
In fact, she was showing she still retained some of that girlish idiocy by even contemplating such a thing. What did it matter if she thought Kakashi was good-looking? He was her teacher, her sempai, a composed, elite, mature jounin.
Or maybe not, she thought dryly, as he cast Henge on his tempura, transforming them into grains of rice. Perhaps I give him too much credit.
----
Although he and Sakura were both keen to get started on Izanami's condition, she asked if it could wait until tomorrow. He acceded with ill grace - he wanted this over and done with - but they were imposing on her home and eating her food, so he wasn't really in a position to argue. Well...Sakura had eaten her food and he'd just played with his and willed himself full, but that wasn't really the point.
It was early evening by the time they finished with dinner. What a big day - the inn had burnt down at dawn; Akio kept them much of the day in his office; and then the walk to the compound and settling in had used up the remainder of the sunlit hours. The moon had only just risen but he was ready for bed, and judging by Sakura's unusual silence she felt much the same.
They returned to their bedroom and he noted with amusement that the futons had been moved to opposite sides, their edges flush against the walls. A large, ornate screen separated the two distinct halves, but it looked like it had been pulled from storage and the camphor smell of mothballs hung heavy in the air.
Sakura wrinkled her nose before going over to one of the futons and flopping heavily onto it, face squashed into the mattress.
"Ugh," she said, voice muffled into the pillow. "I hope I can sleep tonight with that horrible smell filling up the room."
He nodded even though she couldn't see him - the odour was rather strong - then walked across and settled himself on the end of her futon, back against the wall, knees arched over her feet.
She shifted slightly as he sat but didn't roll over. "Kakashi," she said, and even through the pillow he could tell she was worried. "I don't know if I'm ready."
Her train of thought eluded him, but he had a fair idea of what was troubling her. "To what?"
"To face...him." The usual hesitation. Which one was he now, anyway? He looked like one person but acted like another, and just thinking the name conjured memories of all those people who had gone before. Orochimaru was no longer human; he was more a destructive force than person, and it was frightening just thinking about it. Would they ever be ready?
"That's okay," he said, and it was. All they could do was try to live as best and fiercely as possible. Maybe he shouldn't have been so hard on Sakura for wanting to stay here a little longer - if she could develop her skills then when it came time to battle their enemy, she'd be more prepared. He reached down and patted her leg reassuringly and she finally moved around, looking surprised for a moment before smiling crookedly up at him.
"Kakashi --" she started but was interrupted by a brisk knock on the fusuma before it slid soundlessly aside.
"Pardon the...intrusion..." Izanami trailed off, a blush staining her cheeks as she did her best to avoid looking directly at either of them.
"Yes?" he found himself asking coolly, taking a kind of perverse delight in their hostess' obvious discomfort. He liked shock tactics, which was partly why the Icha Icha series was never far from hand. It was satisfying having someone think something and then sending their preconceptions out the window. And this one...well, this one's for the tempura.
"I. Er. I was...bath! I was coming to let you know where to find the bath. No doubt you would like to cleanse and refresh yourself after your long journey, and the bath would be excellent for that. Yes." She was letting her mouth run off while her eyes continued to dart over the walls, the screen - anywhere but at them.
Sakura took pity on her as she started describing the correct route to the bathroom and sat up, pulling her legs away from underneath his and then bringing her knees up to her chest. She looped an arm around her shins and smiled warmly at the other girl when she finished.
"Thank you, Izanami-san," she said, "We'll be sure to take advantage of your generosity."
"Not at all, Sakura-sama." She backed up and seemed ready to bolt. "I will see you in the morning. Good night."
She exited as abruptly as she'd come, leaving them alone once more. Sakura stretched languidly, stifling a groan.
"I hope you don't think me terribly dirty," and his mouth went dry, "but I couldn't be bothered to have a bath tonight."
He coughed. "A-Ah. Me either. I'd most likely fall asleep in the bath."
She yawned. "No likely about it for me. I'd definitely conk out. I think I'm just going to turn in right now." She waited and he wondered what for, before realising he was still perched on the end of the futon, preventing her from getting in.
Whoops. Choosing not to bring attention to this obvious blunder, he stretched also, removing the ludicrous eye patch and rubbing his face. "Good idea," he agreed, and got to his feet, moving behind the screen to the other futon, hitting the lights as he passed the switch. He pulled back the covers and crawled under them fully clothed, suddenly too exhausted to do anything else.
"G'night Kakashi," she murmured drowsily from across the room.
"Night," he replied, and let the events of the day catch up on him, sending him instantly into a deep and dreamless sleep.
----
The next day arrived as expected and with it came the sun, filtering down through a high window and waking Sakura up. She rolled over and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. What was she - ah, yes. She knew where she was, this time, and the morning was going to be an interesting one - of that, she was certain.
Softly, so as not to wake Kakashi, she pulled a few necessities from her pack and bundled them up, tiptoeing to the door. She let herself out and moved swiftly down the corridor, following Izanami's half-remembered instructions from the night before. The "dirty-girl" remark Izanami had made in the office still smarted, and she was determined not to be considered as such again.
She found the bath with minor difficulties, taking only two wrong turns, but after backtracking and retracing her steps she happened across the neatly labelled room. Walking in, she found the tub clean and inviting, and wasted no time in drawing the water and settling in to soak.
She was there for some time, lost in a bliss of warm water, soap and utter relaxation as the bath unknotted muscles and soothed the tension from her body - until a timid knock sounded on the door. Geez, she thought irritably, sinking further under the water, doesn't anyone here have anything better to do?
"Yes?" she called out, voice ringing in the tiled room.
"Sakura-sama?" It was Akio, by the sounds of it. Was it his day off? He'd told them last night he had an apartment in the village, so surely he hadn't stayed over, if Izanami's reluctance to have unmarried couples in the same room was anything to go by. But then again, perhaps it was different if they were betrothed. She'd have to check that one with Kakashi.
"Yes?" she said again, as it appeared he was waiting for an answer.
"Will you be coming out soon? I would like to talk to you about the process, and Kakashi-san would very much like to do his ablutions as well."
"Don't rush on my account." Kakashi's tone was dry but it forced her upright, warmth flooding her face. Of course he wanted a bath too. How selfish of her to keep the tub all to herself.
"Ah, just a minute!" She rinsed hurriedly and toweled herself off, pulling on underwear and a thin yukata that had been thoughtfully left on the basin. She gathered up her soiled clothes and opened the door, moving aside to let Kakashi through.
"Why, thank you," he said, still sounding amused, and she glared at him, slightly embarrassed.
"If you wanted me out, you should have said so," she hissed, but he just smiled infuriatingly and waved it off.
"I was happy to hang around until you were ready - it was poor old Akio that couldn't wait to haul you from the water."
Chuckling, he slid the door shut, and she considered fuming but decided against it, as she'd need the energy for later. She turned to see what Akio had wanted and found him blinking rapidly, still recovering from Kakashi's parting shot.
"B-But S-Sakura-sama, that is not at all what I said!"
She sighed and patted him on the arm, walking off and waiting for him to follow. "Ignore him, Akio-san. He was just having fun."
"But--"
"No, really." She cut off his protests with a resigned smile. "I'm used to it by now. Don't worry, he didn't mean anything by it."
He looked far from convinced, but apparently didn't want to press the issue further. "If you say so, Sakura-sama."
The reached the room and stepped inside, Sakura moving to her pack and extracting the last of her clean clothes. Well, semi-clean, she thought, regarding them mournfully. Kakashi had wanted to pick up some supplies but they'd never gotten a chance what with the previous day's excitement. Maybe he could go into the village and buy some while she had a look at Izanami.
She turned to ask Akio what had become of the innkeeper, the guests, and little Masa-chan, only to find him holding one of her blue information scrolls, turning it over in his hands curiously. He noticed her gaze and put it down hastily, before asking, "What do they do?"
"Any number of things." She reached out and took the one he'd been looking at. "This is a mission scroll. It has information pertaining to a particular mission written inside of it in code. That one," she pointed to a larger, red scroll that poked out of the pack, "is a summoning scroll. Tsunade-san wrote that one..."
She trailed off as he regarded her oddly, realising she'd nearly blown their cover. "Actually, I'm not sure what that one does," she confessed, hoping to smooth over by appearing as though she'd pretended to know more than she did. "Kakashi was telling me some of his ninja stuff to pass the time and I guess I've forgotten most of it." She gave a self-depreciating laugh and tapped her head like she was an idiot.
He didn't seem to notice, his attention on the scrolls once more. "So these are...ninja techniques?"
"Well, yes, I guess." She returned carefully to explanation mode, hoping to avoid another near slip. "Scrolls can be used in a variety of ways. Some can, as I said, just contain information, some trigger jutsu - or, techniques, some summon animal familiars," his eyebrows rose sharply at that one, "and some are spells within themselves, and merely opening them will be enough to set off whatever is inscribed into the parchment."
He backed away from the scrolls, lying in deceptive innocence on her futon, and she thought that it was probably the right thing to do. Shinobi items were not safe in the hands of ordinary citizens, but she hoped she'd been able to appease his curiosity at least.
"I see," he said thoughtfully as Kakashi returned to the room. His hair was damp from the bath and flopped down over his forehead, and she found herself noting the contrast between the dark strands and his fair skin. He felt her gaze and gave her an inquisitive look; she shook her head and returned to the pack, putting away the last few items then standing up.
"Well!" she said brightly, for want of anything better to say. "If Izanami-san is awake, I might go get started. No time like the present, I always say."
"You do?" Kakashi asked incredulously, coming back from his side and leaning against the screen.
"Yes," she said, defiant, picking some lint off her shirt. "And...did you want to get some supplies today?"
If he was amused by her rapid change of subject, he didn't show it, and instead nodded thoughtfully. "If you're going to be working with Izanami-san, I might as well." His eye moved to Akio, who had remained silent throughout their exchange. "Will you be returning to the village, Akio?"
The policemen started. "Ah, yes, Kakashi-san. Perhaps we could acccompany one another there?"
"That would be simply wonderful," he deadpanned, and Sakura hid a grin, knowing the other man would fail to pick up the subtle jab.
"Well...see you later," she said awkwardly when no one moved to leave. She went to go and Kakashi stopped her, laying one hand on her shoulder.
"Be careful." His face was serious now, all traces of his good mood gone. She swallowed and nodded, finding herself wishing for his smile to come back. Silly, she thought, squashing the idea as soon as it surfaced, before trudging off down the corridor to Izanami's room.
----
She really hated this giant, confusing house, Sakura thought, some time later. It had taken her considerably longer to hunt down Izanami than it had to find the bathroom and she wished for one of the servants that she knew were loitering to come out of the shadows and give her directions.
They didn't, of course, so she persevered and eventually found herself outside a pair of elegantly decorated doors.
"Izanami-san?"
A rustle of fabric and then the doors slid open, revealing the woman's pale face.
"Sakura-sama." She beckoned her inside, and hiding her sudden gaucheness, Sakura moved inside the room.
It was warm in there - too warm, she thought, noting a brazier in one corner and a kotatsu in the middle. She knew the girl was ill but too much heat was never a good thing, and she'd be advising to cut back after she knew more about the sickness.
Izanami had seated herself gracefully, kneeling and looking up at Sakura expectantly. She crossed the room and sat down too, opting for a sort of cross-legged squat for more mobility.
"Um," she said, wondering how to go about this. She felt suddenly ugly and uncouth in the presence of such a refined woman, and it occurred to her that despite looking a bit peaky and somewhat wan, Izanami was actually rather pretty. She had long, straight hair and dark eyes, and Sakura wondered fleetingly if men found women like Izanami irresistible, with her genteel views and serene disposition. Next to her Sakura felt rough and grubby, a child again. Would men think Izanami was beautiful?
Would Kakashi think Izanami was beautiful?
Gah! She berated herself for her random train of thought and wondered angrily why she was thinking such a thing anyway, since the woman was plainly spoken for and it didn't matter to her in the least who Kakashi found attractive.
"Is something the matter, Sakura-sama?" Izanami's soft voice intruded on her ridiculous thoughts and she accepted the interruption gratefully.
"No, not at all. And please, Sakura is fine." Much more of this 'sama' business and she'd go insane.
Izanami looked dubious but agreed anyway. "If you wish..."
"Okay," Sakura said and Izanami fell silent again, her large eyes wide and almost fearful. "What I'm going to do now is investigate your body with a healing light, which will move through your flesh and organs to identify the sickness."
The other woman nodded and swallowed bravely. "Will it hurt?"
Sakura tilted her head. Hmm...she hoped not. "Nope," she said reassuringly, "it will feel a bit strange, but bear with it the best you can. If you get too uncomfortable, let me know and we'll stop, okay?"
Relieved at having been given an out, Izanami nodded. "So, I just sit here?"
"Yup." Sakura settled herself fully into a cross-legged position and reached out, letting her hands rest lightly atop Izanami's head. "Now, just relax."
And then she was off. The chakra she'd gathered into her palms glowed a faint blue in the stuffy air then entered Izanami's skull and moved down through her body. It was different from last time - instead of many smaller chakra soldiers, she settled instead for three larger ones that moved together through Izanami's head and then diverged at her neck. One continued down through her chest and torso while the other two took one arm each, travelling slowly, right to the tips of her fingers before retracing their path and slipping down to her groin then continuing on to her feet.
Once they'd completed a first pass, she got them to return for a second, and then once more for a third. She broke the contact after that, sliding limply to the side with sweat pouring off her, feeling like she'd just run ten laps of Konoha.
Izanami sat up, coughing slightly. She dabbed at her mouth with a handkerchief pulled from a fold in her kimono and waited for Sakura to catch her breath, before asking, "Well? What did you find?"
Sakura rubbed violently at her eyes with a fisted hand and tried to collect her thoughts. What a good question. What did I find?
"Well," she said, stalling, "I can't exactly be sure. Would you mind if I returned to my room and made some notes? I'll let you know what I come up with as soon as possible."
The other woman seemed unsurprised, as if she'd been expecting something like this. "Of course," she said civilly, rising and showing Sakura to the door. "I look forward to your findings."
Sakura smiled faintly and set off down the corridor, hoping her feet knew the way. This was strange and disturbing, and she had no idea what to think.
Because although the woman had a steady, beating heart, was patently breathing and seemed reasonably able to move around, her trusted chakra soldiers had all told her the same thing.
Izanami was already dead.
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Notes on terms:
Most of you will probably already know most of these - I did, which is why I used them, but I had a couple of issues during beta so here's a quick translation guide to a few of the Japanese words I used in the chapter.
shoji - rice paper walls that many traditional homes use
fusuma - rice paper sliding doors
kotatsu - a low table with a heating element in the middle
shishi-odoshi - also called a "deer scarer", but that sounded dumb so I chose the original name. It's a hollow bamboo tube water feature that fills up with water and then gonks down onto another piece of bamboo, making a rhythmic thumping noise that I personally find annoying but is apparently soothing for meditation. There's one in every second episode of Kenshin, and many other anime use them too
tempura - battered, deep fried pieces of meat
Which brings me to my other point: The official data book lists Kakashi's most disliked food as tempura, something I incorrectly remembered him saying in that episode where Team Seven was formed and he asked for their likes and dislikes. It was only later I recalled he said he had "no intention of telling them his likes and dislikes". So, my bad. It's technically canon, but just pretend he told them that all the way back then. (Incidentally, Sakura dislikes anything really spicy, which is what prompted the wasabi comment).
Thanks to darkenedsakura, nushi and icarust for their feedback. I love you guys!
EDIT: I DON'T love ff net.I'm terribly sorry to the people who've received several notification emails as this is the THIRD time I've uploaded this chapter. I really hope it works this time, because I won't be home from work for another 14 hours, and if that's the case I'll be royally pissed. Thanks for having the patience to keep checking on this, and ta also to those of you who let me know the chapter hadn't uploaded properly. Gah.