Author's notes: Where did the time go? A lot's happened, yes. If you can picture my utter face plant to the keyboard when I realized that it'd been two months since I last updated, well… You know exactly what I did then. Uh-huh. Okay, enough of that.

In the news of my pathetic life: More misadventures in our apartment letter 'G' have occurred. I'm now home schooled. I've just gotten a second dog (yesterday). I've been doing most of my ramblingsat my livejournal, and the link to that will be posted in my bio soon. So if you want to know why the hell I haven't been updating, more or less, it's going to be up there.

TO THE REVIEWERS: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Now. On to part two. (This isn't as Inu-kun centric as the last chapter, since our companion fic is going to be focusing on that half of the story. Yay for side-characters that I haven't introduced until now.)


A sweaty, greasy hand reached for the can of soda. The girl sat down the wrench she'd been holding and relaxed at the cool feeling of refreshment sliding down her throat.

The metallic scent in the air would have been nearly repulsive to anyone who hadn't grown extensively used to it, as it carried the stench of grime and wasting mechanic oil. It wafted through the room, like the vague sound of metal clanging and rock music in the background.

It was insanely hot outside, and inside, as well at the time. Brownouts plagued that part of the city often enough, at least when it was at peak weather. However, even though it happened at such a pace, one never quite gets used to it. Like an electric jolt, you're hardly ever ready for it.

The girl cranked the bolts out from the device, struggling in a vain attempt to recharge the power in the workshop by means of the control panel. Which, thus far being three hours, had not yet succeeded.

Unfortunately for her and her fellow mechanics, the majority of the tools in that workshop were electrical; not that there weren't any manual tools, but they didn't work as well.

The flimsy tin roof did very little to shade anyone from the cruel sun, at times it seemed more as though it was a great oven, baking them all.

She sighed, having failed at her last attempt, wiping her forehead thoroughly with a grease-stained rag.

Sango was not one to give up easily, and would be the first to spend vast amounts of time trying to defy any number of odds as best as she could. However, her patience was not infinite, as she was well known for having a mighty temper.

"Damnit… Well, I tried…" She twisted her mouth into a displeased expression at the side of her face. Groaning, she slid up off of her knees, hearing her muscles creak from moving after so long a time. "…I need to work out more."

Slinging the rag over her shoulder, and crunching the soda can in the other; she took a last look out from the now darkening garage door before shutting it and walking out of the workshop for the day.


That damnable repairman isn't here. I called him hours ago. "These people…" Tapping his foot in a precise manner, Sesshoumaru abandoned his post by the window and began pacing around the humid room in resentment to the fact that it was both humid and repairman-less.

Feeling an unwanted pair of eyes on him, he stopped at the kitchen window and stole a glance through the blinds. Across the concrete walkway from his and his brother's apartment he found two disgustingly red eyes glaring in his direction.

What is…
The clinic had been especially busy that day, Kikyou and the other participating medical students had spent it tending to an excess of heat stroke victims, those who suffered from immense dehydration, and the like.

She'd had a hunch earlier in the morning that this sort of thing would happen, so she had made a sizable mixture of a cooling ointment out of some Aloe Vera and Echinacea leaves, with a small number of other herbs.

Most people might've found it eerie to walk down a dirtily white hallway, hearing little else besides your own echo of shoe soles clink repetitively behind you. To Kikyou, it was calming, almost soothing.

At the end of the day, what she wanted most was solitude; the comfort of knowing that all you have to worry about is yourself, no one else. At the end of the day, as she walked out of the slightly unsanitary clinic, she usually felt as though an enormous weight had been taken off of her shoulders. No one's life depended on her choices, for the most part, anyways. She did enjoy helping people, greatly, she did, but it was still nice to know that she was all right, too.


It blinked.

It was just a streetlight, but it blinked.

Slowly, the blinking became a regular movement in the bulb, and it sent a chain reaction to the rest of the street.

Looking up in raised hopes, Inuyasha felt more thankful than he had in a while. Which, when he thought about it, was fairly ridiculous; being thankful for a recharge in power.

Nevertheless, at the moment, foolishness didn't matter so much. The cool night air would have been enough to raise his spirits a bit further; though this certainly wasn't something he'd complain about.

Watching the children being called in from the streets he passed, he felt a twinge of envy. Not sure where it came from, or even why he felt it, he chose to ignore it.


As he walked up the steps to his apartment, he listened to the door across from his own, for that weirdo's yelling or whatever. It didn't come.
Inside his room, with a full stomach he had passed on dinner, a crashing window disrupted his gratefulness.

He rushed out, fists in position to defend himself, but only heard the voice of his brother in the kitchen.

"What the hell?"

"What happened?"

Though, when he arrived in the kitchen, Inuyasha found that a question wasn't honestly necessary.

Amongst the shards of broken window glass all over the floor was a wrinkled, filthy note tied onto a relic of sorts.

The relic, which resembled a voodoo doll, was tossed out for caution.

The note, when they managed to read the chicken scrawl that appeared to be writing read:

Fuck off.

"Simple, but it gets the message through…"

"Would you silence yourself for once, Inuyasha?"

"No."

Feeling the urge to roll his eyes up into his head, Sesshoumaru merely fisted his brother on the head.

"Damn it!"

"Be quiet."

Rubbing his head and glancing at the broken glass on the floor, Inuyasha had his suspicions of where it had come from.

Is that the game, huh?
Author's notes: Umm… yes, it's short. Too bad. I've already started on the ORALL chapter, so that'll be up in a few days or so.

I hope you all have had some nice holidays, had a good start to the new year, and will continue to both read and review (sorry for the lack of updating).

Be well!