3/15/05

Disclaimer: Mithrandir the cat owns me. I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha owns a fire-rat haori and a cool sword. Neither of them owns anything.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to medlii, a wonderful reviewer who also knows Monty Python. Whoot!

biggest anime fan: Oh, he's definitely clever! I love it when he goes off into his lecture about the tamas, and everyone's eyes go all swirly…. I like him, except for the perverted bit. Hence my wish to torture him. Have you noticed how fanfic writers always seem to do that? Torture our favorite characters?

It's not actually in the book, because I stopped writing it before Kileb got a personal appearance or even became much of a character. Started writing a sequel-ish thing which included the forerunner to that story…and here was its final incarnation, fruit of being turned over in my mind and perfected for two years.

I was kind of worried, but I didn't actually have nightmares. Glad I didn't offend you! Nah, no shish kebab. It's a bakery, really, although they do carry a few non-baked things. Wow, that's a lot of bowing!

medlii: I guess…what happy thing would make somebody evil…? It's something to consider! It was Monty Python! You get the dedication! You're right, those are the best part! Oh, and the animator's fatal heart attack! You want more? (faints with pleasure) Here you go! MUST…HAVE…STARWARS…! I know it was different, and I wasn't even sure I liked it. I'm glad you did.

Ganheim: Thanks for that…. I'm GOING to leave it at nemesis. I didn't mean to use it in the story, it was a matter of curiosity. And I don't like in-text author's notes either, in principle. There's one in here to remind people of something they might've forgotten (my beta had.) Hey! You're right! I don't use 'youkai!' I meant to. When did I stop…? Hm. Strange.

It was supposed to remind you of the Buddha's story. I based it off of that. The first draft happened entirely on the road and it was all question-and-answer, but then I decided to make it more my own. I hope this does not offend. I always thought it could have as easily have gone the other way and made Siddhartha bitter.

I…guess with all her fingers out. It was just a moment of flippancy on her part, really. She was obviously never a boy scout. Whew. I should be so careful!

Like I said reviewing Life of the Silver Tear – which I assume is what you wanted me to review, since I've made it as far as Crossing the Rubicon goes as yet – I didn't have a lot of options. And I thought it was part of the narrative. You know…her, telling story…. Anyway. I know it's not that funny. But parts of the beginning are!

Aerie sighed and stood up, effectively ending the little discussion session.

"Well, let's go. I think I caught a whiff of a couple of old 'friends' of mine, who I really don't want to meet in this state, in there." Kagome shot her a look that said, Your explanation had better be good. Aerie winced. 'Whiff' had not meant actual smell, just a sort of feeling, but she realized that she sounded like she had a demon's nose, identifying people by scent.

"Right," said Sango, standing up. She swayed momentarily. "Give me Hiraikotsu," she barked, daring them to comment. Inuyasha handed it over and Miroku took her arm to steady her. She shook him off. "Not now, houshi." She said. "I don't have the patience for you toda- tonight."

"Inuyasha," Aerie said. He didn't even look at her. She sighed. He'd lost it again. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you. Do I have to call you hey you?"

"Huh?" he said. She rolled her eyes.

"Look, the lady Sango isn't feeling very well. Would you mind letting her lean on you?"

"I appear to have a hole in me, so I'm not feeling my best, but…I guess not." ((A/N: Remember? The way he got kidnapped was he got a spear stuck through him. A harpoon, actually.)) Aerie blinked. She wasn't used to the way he talked when he couldn't remember who he was. He sounded really, really strange. But he was also remarkably courteous.

"Good," was all she said, "Both our invalids together." She beckoned Kagome aside with her. "Look," she said, "Don't call him back until just before the sun rises, okay? He's being cooperative. We're not likely to get that out of him when he's himself. So please?" Kagome looked over the other girl's shoulder at him as he politely offered Sango his arm to lean on and she accepted it more out of shock than anything else.

"I just…I'm afraid that if I leave him like that too long, he won't come back again. And it's silly, but I actually miss his bad manners right now." Aerie turned to follow her gaze.

"You know," she said, "Me too. Weird, really. I guess…because it's familiar."

"You've only known him for a few days." Aerie opened her mouth, then closed it.

"Point taken," she replied. "Anyway, I don't think you'll have to worry. Inuyasha's too tough to get squashed by the fading tail end of a spell. But if it would make you feel better, how about you call him up every half-hour?"

"Okay."

"Okay," said Sango, grabbing Aerie by the collar when they stopped for a rest two hours later. They had two invalids along, after all, and no one was feeling their best. "What. Did you. Do. To him?"

"N-nothing, Sango, I swear! It was Kileb. He was messing around with Inuyasha's head after he kidnapped him! We interrupted it, but he was going to turn the hanyou into a weapon and set him on us. You know, like Kohaku." Sango sighed and let her go, stepping away.

"Who are you?" she said.

"Huh?"

"You know too much. You do things you shouldn't be able to. And you haven't yet given us reason to trust you. Why should we?" Aerie opened and shut her mouth a couple of times. Curse it, knowing so much about these people was supposed to make it easier, not harder! "Who sent you?"

"Uh…James Bond?"

"Who's that?"

"Never mind. He didn't send me. He doesn't even exist." She paused. "Here," she added. Sango herself didn't exist at home. "Nobody sent me. I only want to get home, okay? That's all."

"You have to explain yourself." Sango said. Aerie sighed.

"Why is everyone saying that? First Kagome, then Miroku, now you. I'll tell you when we get back to Kaede's."

"Why not now?"

"Because we're travelling, and I have to consult a friend of mine, and honestly, I like to build up the suspense. Oh, and I'd like Inuyasha to be in his right mind when I explain."

"So he will get better?" Aerie nodded.

"So we assume." I hope so. I really don't want to have to go poking around in Inuyasha's head trying to fix him. My control sucks; it'd be like doing surgery with a sledgehammer.

"Good." Said Sango. At that moment, Inuyasha walked up.

"Lady Sango, it's time to leave." Sango rolled her eyes and followed him, and Aerie, smirking slightly, came after.

"Leave it to Kileb," she muttered. "He gave him an injection of charming. He was going to turn him into a murderous tool to destroy his own friends, but he still made him charming."

Before long, it was obvious they had a problem. Namely, the 'Inuyasha' that was not exactly Inuyasha was developing a crush on Sango.

"Aerie," said Kagome. "I am not putting up with this, alright? There's half an hour left 'til dawn, and I'm going to talk myself hoarse. I went along with your little plan and I haven't been talking to him, because every time I do he goes 'Sorry, what's your name?' before long, and when I tell him he comes back. Look at him! He's acting like Houjo-kun." She gestured up ahead of them, where Sango and Miroku were both plainly trying to keep from exploding. It was indeed a pathetic sight. Lovesick little puppy being excessively polite and Sango trying not to lose her temper since it wasn't his fault. Aerie sighed.

"You're right. I was wrong. Go on. I'm a moron." Kagome took a step forward and then screamed out,

"INUYASHA! SIT!" He had just kissed Sango's hand. He plowed face-first into the dirt, Sango leaping back just in time and avoiding a predicament like Aerie's.

He pushed himself up slowly.

"What…was that?" he asked, eyes wide.

"I sat you," said Kagome, running up to him.

"You…what?" She actually growled under her breath in frustration.

"Inuyasha, snap out of it. I, Kagome Higurashi, sat you! And I'll do it again if you don't start acting like yourself. Remember! I – Kagome. You – Inuyasha." Inuyasha blinked, shook himself, and then froze. He looked slowly at Sango, then back at Kagome, and turned red. He jumped to his feet.

"How could you let me do that?" he demanded from behind clenched teeth. Then he turned and fled into the forest. The tachi looked after him.

"He's right, you know," Miroku observed. "He couldn't help what he did while he wasn't himself, but you could have stopped him, and now he's in a most embarrassing position." Kagome shot Aerie a dirty look and ran after Inuyasha. Sango rubbed her forehead and sat down on a convenient rock. Aerie bit her lip and turned away, retracing their path. She felt terrible. She'd really messed everyone up, feeling like she knew best just because she'd beaten up the current bad guy and happened to know him. Why am I here anyway? She wondered, leaning against a tree. I'm messing around with them and I have no business doing it; I keep thinking and acting like some sort of all-knowing…all-knowing something or other, and I shouldn't. These people are all older than me and probably just as smart, and except for Kagome they all have loads more experience. And she has almost as much, anyway. Well, there's Shippou, but I haven't messed him up and hopefully I won't. And sometimes I think he's got more sense than the lot of us put together.

Inuyasha tore through the forest, ignoring the pain in his chest and the slowness of his running. Dammit, he hated this! How could Kagome have let him do that? She must have seen what he was doing, but she'd…been avoiding him? Why would she have been avoiding him? Was she…mad at him? Well, of course she was now, but why would she have been mad before? What had he done? He couldn't think of a single thing. Damn her. It wasn't his fault! He hadn't done anything wrong, to make her avoid him. And then he'd gone and started…. He shuddered. He did not have feelings for Sango, that was one thing he was sure of. Miroku could have her. He was definitely confused enough. He whimpered. "Kagome…." Would she be mad at him forever? That whole thing had really sucked. It was bad enough the way he started talking whenever he wasn't around Kagome's voice for too long, but Sango….

Hang on. Whenever he wasn't around…. He stopped and looked around. He was out in the middle of the forest. Human. With no idea where he was. Nowhere near Kagome. And he was in trouble.

"Oh, great." He muttered.

Miroku wandered off into the trees in one direction, a slap mark on his cheek, and Sango stomped angrily off in the other, muttering something about 'cursed men.' Shippou was left alone, in the middle of a clear space, with a pile of gear. He looked after Sango, then Miroku, then Inuyasha and Kagome, then Aerie, and said in a small voice,

"Uh-oh." Something bad was going to happen. Something bad always happened whenever people all went storming off in different directions. It was practically a rule. And Shippou, sure that whoever he followed would be the wrong one, sat down on Sango's rock to wait for something bad.

It was just beginning to get light in the east when Kagome caught up with Inuyasha. He was sitting on a rock, his head resting on his hands. He looked up as she neared.

"I feel as if I ought to know you," he said.

"You do, Inuyasha," she told him sadly, "I'm Kagome." He bit his lip as he remembered.

"Oh." He turned away. He didn't want to be yelled at any more, but he couldn't start running again. He had to stay near her voice. And he couldn't take to the trees in this shape. He looked at the ground, waiting for her to sit him, or scream at him, or go away, or even to cry. He knew he'd messed up. But it hadn't been his fault!

Kagome blinked as he turned away from her. Was he mad? She had gotten pretty fierce back there…and after all, what had happened hadn't been his fault. This wasn't right. She'd left him in whatever corner of hell it was to not know who or even what you were, in the opposite way from when he turned youkai, just because she wanted him to cooperate. Because he was easier to manipulate when he wasn't himself. Like a dog that's been beaten and taught to be fierce, being made harmless by disease weakening him, and his people letting him stay sick because he was easier to have around the house like that.

"I'm sorry Kag-yasha."

The babble of both their apologies at once blended their names and Kagome smiled. He'd apologized to her! He never did that. Of course, maybe it was just the alterations Kileb had made….

"Kagyasha. I like that," she said. "But, Inuyasha, you're not apologizing just because of…because of what Kileb did to you, are you?" He scowled. And after he'd gone and apologized and everything!

"I do have manners of my own, you know," he growled.

"I know," said Kagome. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I shouldn't have abused my power like that. Leaving you not knowing who you were." Inuyasha was silent for a moment, as if considering that, and then said softly,

"The sun is rising." Kagome slipped forward to his side, and they both looked east into the face of Sol as it peered over the horizon. Inuyasha caught her hand as he began to return to his usual form and squeezed it. She looked at him and saw pain cross his face as the babble rose again for a moment inside his skull.

You don't care…. If you did you wouldn't have kissed the lady's hand… Silly hanyou…thinks the humans care…thinks he's found a pack of his own…

Can't decide which woman…the miko who wants to kill him or the girl that he's given every right to hate him….

Idiot…all alone…just come on…

No, no, no! Inuyasha insisted. No. And then the sun was risen and he could feel barriers going up in his head again, ones that he'd never even noticed before, and the hateful whispery voice was shut out. He looked up at Kagome. "It was lying," he said, seeming briefly as disoriented as he had been when she had first found him again. "I do care. And you do, right?" Kagome smiled.

"Of course I do, you silly hanyou. How could you think anything different?"

Miroku wandered through the trees, wishing he could stop making Sango angry. If he could just stop groping her, life would be perfect…except for the gaping chasm in his hand that was going to destroy him if he didn't get rid of Naraku first, of course. Maybe he had two cursed hands, he thought ruefully, rubbing his face where Sango had hit him.

He never saw it coming.

He was felled by a blow to the head from behind, and the person who had hit him kept hitting for a while until he was sure that the monk would not be waking up soon, though not enough to kill him. Then he dragged him through the bushes and out of sight. A moment later, Miroku stepped from the bushes again. Miroku with dead-white hair and yellow eyes, clad in white and yellow robes with a silver staff in one hand. He glanced down at himself.

"This won't do," he muttered, vanishing into the bushes again. After a few minutes he reappeared in purple and black with the gold staff, though his hair and eyes were still the wrong colors. "That's better," he adjudged, and went in search of black hair dye.

So what's up with Miroku? You'll have to wait and see! And poor, wise young Shippou, sitting there waiting for something bad. The fluffiness is alright, right? Personally I think they're wonderful together. Inuyasha's like a bulldog. Doesn't know how to let go. Keeks'll be showing up eventually…Aerie happens to have issues with her, so that should be interesting….

Inuyasha and Sango: I am REALLY REALLY ANGRY AT YOU – AGAIN.

Trisak: Yeah, yeah, sorry. I just had to do it. And count your blessings. I didn't do dialogue. Inuyasha, you didn't have any sugary, disgusting lines to say. But I could go up there and put them in….

Inuyasha: NO! No. I'm…fine, really.

Trisak: Thought so.

Kagome: At least I got to sit him.

CRASH.

Inuyasha: Blasted wench! What'd you do that for!

Kagome: I thought you couldn't get sat when we were just disembodied voices in a dialogue.

Inuyasha: I'm serious about that revolt….

They had better not. The characters never want an interesting plot. They want the happy ending at the beginning, and we can't have that…. Oh, tell me whether you think Kikyou should come in soon or if I should leave that awhile? I will take your opinions under consideration.