Disclaimer: I do own it. I'm NOT insane…I think. All royal members of Japan are real, meaning their real names are used. However, their personalities are probably a far cry from what I've wrote of them.
Story: Due to the jewel shards on their necks, the last four members of the Shichinintai were somehow able to travel to Kagome's time. Unfortunately for her, the well has sealed up. At least they don't have their weapons!
Set after Ginkotsu's death.
Spoilers: After Ginkotsu's death, no.
Warnings: Eh, maybe…this is anime after all…
Pairings: No telling! Secret, secret!
A/n: I'm really sorry I haven't been replying to any of your reviews! I promise I'll return to it on the next chapter...
Kagome Higurashi! No Need for Shichinintai
Chapter Twelve: Stella Cadente
The next day was Christmas Eve and Kagome had forgotten something. As she left to retrieve whatever it was, the Shichinintai were having quite the discussion at the kitchen table. Believe it or not, they still had not taken a shower and put on some clothes. In conclusion, they were getting used to walking around half naked, especially in the morning.
"Alright, Suikotsu. You start. Since you seem to be so inclined to have gone a bit closer to Kagome." Bankotsu directed the discussion, roughly picking up some food with his chopsticks and shoving it into his mouth.
Suikotsu shrugged and waved a hand nonchalantly. "That's all that happened, really. Although, if I can vaguely recall, I think that morning she was lying on my lap. She was sitting in between Jakotsu and me. She must've slipped over me in her sleep."
Jakotsu grunted.
"Okay, other than all other times we all know of about each other, is there anyone else who spent some extra time?" Renkotsu questioned.
Everyone shook their head.
Renkotsu cringed. "Other than her tutoring time and when she accidentally crept onto my mattress, there was that one time in the beginning. When we first came here and she set up our "room". I went and talked to her and she told me about how the whole jewel shard hunt started."
He had them staring at him for a second before Jakotsu coughed and then said, "Well, no embarrassing secrets from me. But I think this whole discussion should've led to a revelation. I'm still in denial. Anyone else?"
"Denial of what?" Bankotsu asked.
"Denying that we fell for a wench and we want her to love us just like she loves cutie Inuyasha."
"Impossible," Renkotsu responded, taking a drink out of his tea.
"You've got to be kidding, Jakotsu! Besides, you'd also be the last to admit to something like that. You hate women, remember?" Suikotsu laughed.
Jakotsu sighed and started shoveling down the ramen noodles into his mouth before he slurped some of the broth. "D-E-N-I-A-L."
Bankotsu's face twitched. "Yeah, you're right."
The last two stared at him.
"Look at how we've been acting. We came back to the Feudal era and we wanted to come back here and spend time with Kagome. We acted like we had no purpose in that cave. If I remember correctly, Suikotsu, you were drawing a window on the wall and you sat right underneath it. Which I understand now. Renkotsu, you were drawing up as much geometry problems as you could with that stick and Jakotsu was trying to savor and eat all of those chips as fast as he could. We even attacked them just for the purpose of seeing Kagome again and Jakotsu purposely pissed off Inuyasha so Kagome and the hanyou would get into a fight, the end result being that she came with us.
"We've been acting so nice, trying so hard to get her happy again. And all those times we've felt jealous! Whether it was because of each other or Inuyasha or that clone! We even tried to steal from royalty…and I dreamt I was Tamahome last night and she was Miaka…"
It was silent and then.
"I dreamt I was Nuriko," Jakotsu admitted.
More silence.
"I dreamt I was Tasuki," Renkotsu relented and they all looked at Suikotsu.
"What? I don't recall having such role-played dreams." He bit the inside of his cheek.
"I dreamt I was Hotohori."
"You know, we should become the Feudal celestial warriors and Kagome could be the Priestess of the Sengoku Jidai. Or something like that," Jakotsu announced cheerfully.
No one answered him.
+
+
+
+
+
Kagome had just taken out the turkey to defrost when she saw the time.
"Oh great, I promised Eri I would come to her Christmas party for just a while!" She winced and raced up the stairs to get the others.
"Hey, you guys don't mind dressing up and coming with me to Eri's Christmas party, do you?" She said breathlessly, once she was in her room. They were in there studying. Although, considering she hadn't assigned them any work, she wondered why they bothered. Besides, it was Christmas Eve.
"You guys can wear those tuxes! Or even wear the white outfits! It'll be a White Christmas and all! I'll even wear white with you."
She seemed so excited and they chuckled. Putting away the books and papers, they stretched.
"It's always your call, Kagome. Why don't you go dress in the bathroom while we dress in here, alright?" Renkotsu smiled at her.
"Mmkay!"
It took awhile but once everyone was dressed, they met downstairs.
"Wow, you guys seemed stressed. Just looking at you and I can tell you're tense. If we go to the party, you guys won't have any fun and everyone else is going to notice you aren't feeling well."
Unknown to her, it was because of the discussion earlier and their new discovery of their feelings.
She motioned for them to follow her and they ended up in their old room. There, she told them to wait while she got something. She came back holding a jar of oil.
"Take off your shirts," she ordered.
There was a vague sense of déjà vu, except now their minds were filling up with even more dirty thoughts, that they accepted now, than before. Especially because of the jar of oil.
Whatever she wanted, they'd do it anyway and since their minds were so guttery…
"Now sit down comfortably."
That done also, they didn't expect her to start massaging them. It was unexpected but not unwelcome. Not at all…
They practically melted at her hands.
"That better?"
"Mmhmm." The four of them groaned out contented.
"Great! Now come on, I'll meet you in the car."
The group headed over to Eri's, with gifts in hand.
There…
"The 'Kotsus!" Ayumi squealed when Kagome and the Shichinintai stepped right through the door.
Ayumi and Yuka skid to a halt right in front of them, grinning from ear to ear.
"Kagome!"
They launched themselves at her, clinging to her limbs. In fact, their own limbs were helping in their attachment to Kagome.
"Get off me!"
Grabbing the scruff of their necks, she yanked the two girls off of her and proceeded to drop them to the ground.
"Too bad, 'Gome-chan! We wanted a kiss!"
Kagome blinked. "Huh?"
Yuka and Ayumi pointed up as they giggled. Kagome tilted her head.
"What!"
"Nah uh! You were caught with all four of them under mistletoe! Pucker up, Kagome!"
Kagome reeled back and held up her hands. "Hehehe, that's okay. Beside, they don't really know the significance of mistletoe, so…"
"What's with this mistletoe thing?" Bankotsu asked.
"It's nothing!"
"Saa, it's when a guy and a girl are underneath that thing right there and they have to kiss."
'They're guiding this,' Kagome thought horrified.
"Oh, okay."
Kagome whirled to face Bankotsu. "What do you mean, 'oh, okay.'!"
He shrugged. "Like this."
And he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Blinking, Kagome went all confused.
"You're not supposed…to be okay with it…"
Then Renkotsu and Suikotsu appeared on either side of her and kissed her cheeks as well. Jakotsu grinned at her.
He was more daring and audaciously kissed her right on the mouth. Her eyes fluttered close and her mind was blank. What was going on…
She jerked her head back and stepped away, eyes wide opened. How could he do something so idiotic and so bold!
For a few seconds, she just stared at them, her mouth opening and closing a few times. She cleared her throat and then turned to face Eri, who had came right at 'Saa'.
Breathing heavily and then loosing her breath,
"Merry Christmas."
Eri blinked. "Thanks…Kagome, you okay?"
Kagome straightened up. "Fine. Great party you have here! Why don't we just put yours, Ayumi's and Yuka's gifts over at the tree? Come along boys."
As she walked away with the Shichinintai lingering behind, Ayumi and Yuka whispered.
"Wow, she's gonna be hard to crack. Onwards, Yuka! We must covet Kagome!"
"Yes, we must! Damn you, Inuyasha! Damn you!" Yuka screamed out and then ran outside, screaming, "Damn you, Inuyasha!"
The Shichinintai felt very awkward after that.
Ayumi shrugged and out of nowhere, got out one of those sticky ribbons and slapped it on Renkotsu's head. In quick succession, she tied a ribbon each in Bankotsu's and Jakotsu's hair before tying a bow in Suikotsu's hair. She ran off quickly to pursue Kagome.
Eri shook her head. "I'll go save her from Kagome's wrath and then find the other psycho. I really don't think Kagome'll need saving."
After that, the men stayed with Kagome for most of the time as soon as she came back.
The party went by quickly; the Shichinintai hadn't been with Kagome until a little while ago. When they met up with her again, she was with Hojo.
"I'm sorry, Hojo. I really am. But I only see you as a friend. We can still be friends, right?"
"Yeah, Kagome. Of course. Have a happy Christmas, all right? You and those guy friends of yours."
The boy walked away dejectedly, and a weird sense of fear entered the men. What if Kagome said those words to them? Whether it was then or later…would they be able to handle it? Kami-sama, what if she just wanted to be friends?
"Guys, are you okay?" Kagome asked while waving a hand in front of Jakotsu's eyes.
"Uh, yeah…" Suikotsu answered for all of them.
"You guys want to go? I was going to teach you how to make shoumai."
They agreed and they started to go home. That feeling still bothered the four.
+
+
+
+
+
"Alright Suikotsu, mix up the ingredients. Jakotsu, Bankotsu, you're done. Renkotsu, when Suikotsu's done mixing it up, help me wrap the meat in the wrappers. Oh wait! Actually, Jakotsu, could you boil up the water?"
It wasn't pretty long before they had a lot of shoumai cooked. Kagome had put in the turkey into the deep fryer a few minutes ago and was just going to finish the spinach raviolis off when she remembered something.
"Hey! Bankotsu, mix the raviolis around a bit in this bowl so that the herb and olive oil stick onto them. I'm going to be right back!"
She ran off and the Shichinintai just shrugged it off.
However, it was Christmas Eve and Kagome wanted to give Inuyasha something, even though they weren't on speaking terms. She couldn't help it…
Going into the well house and falling through the well, she ran and kept going until she was in the forest. Her mind was racing.
Everything stopped when her eyes caught the betrayal. Her eyes were stinging with tears that wanted to fall.
Inuyasha and Kikyo were too wrapped up in each other to care.
Started 11/25/05 –Completed 11/25/05
