4/11/05

Disclaimer: The disclaimer is on vacation. You all know what it's supposed to say. If you don't, write to it in Bermuda.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Melly-chan in thanks for her permission to use Shayanui, who I don't actually know very well anyway and so would be butchering even without the moronic way I've been using him. Also for her patient explanation of copy-cat youkai, and like permission to use that concept of hers.

medlii: Hahhah! I made you laugh! I hope his reasoning isn't too hard to follow here – the problem is, whopping Miroku like that is really OOC for him, so I had to kind of shuffle a little. Luckily, Melanie will never read this in a million years, so I don't have to worry about her wrath when she sees what I had her character do. Oh, you thought Aerie's bugging was a little too much this chappie? A lot of people (including my mother ) seem to agree. I'll work on it. The thing about Aerie is that yes, she can get very annoying. It's a character trait of hers. She approaches all problems head on and with an air of absolute conviction that she is correct in her behavior. Even when she isn't sure at all. She has a good heart, but as Kagome said, she is not Miss Tactful of the Year. O.o Do you not like Kags?

NefCanuck: Ah, well, he isn't used to the whole getting-things-tossed-at-him thing like Miroku is.:smiles:She'll bounce him, she'll bounce him…she's an awfully grim person, isn't she? Just noticed that lately, trying to write her. Professional warriors…tch.

Trisak'smom: Hi, mom! waves Yeah, it's a temporary thing, pretty much. She was really annoyed about the whole Miroku thing, and it made her want to address every other problem she came across. Ferociously. However, all the things she addresses are things I've always wanted to bring up. Does that mean you don't like me? tear I would've been nicer about it, though, this girl has no tact. Didn't grow up along with me, y'see. :smiles:

Gem Gamgee: Aw, are you sick? I'm sorry. Better yet? is aware she has taken forever on this chapter Heh, I'm glad you liked that. How I slapped him in a dialogue I don't know. Same way Inu got sat, I guess….

biggest anime fan: Whew, this's gonna be long…. OK, first of all, yay for criticism! I'd been suspecting that was a problem and my beta even said so, but I kept not fixing it. This may be because she's my little sister and I'm in the habit of not taking her opinions seriously enough. I will now do my utmost to fix it. I just have to stick an extra 'said' or so in…. Thanks once again for all compliments…O.o; you think my plot's fantastic? I'm just running with it, you know. As for Kikyou, she's definitely in because I just can't leave her out, but until I actually wrote her in just now, I didn't know when. I have to get in Lel', Trisak, the bagpipe episodes, more Rath, more Yanagi, and phase Shayanui out somehow without just dropping him, because I hate it when characters get dropped. I think I'll save Sesshy for the sequel, because I have entirely too many players as it is.

Aw, that came out properly sweet? I'm glad. Ooh, you like the way I'm doing him? I'm trying to keep him more or less in character, but I'm sure I can't help changing him somehow. Or at least interpreting him. That is the best part of fanficcing a manga or anime, it's a different medium and you therefore have more latitude than if you fanficced a book… I'm on a tangent. I'll stop now. You make me so happy. sings It's funny! It's funny! The ideas…? Actually, a lot of them were developed during conversations with Maya, stupid jokes one of us made, and things…. Not that one, though. But most of the Naraku-Kileb scene was. Nah, you're not supposed to know Yanagi. She turned up quite forcefully in the middle of the chapter, and here she is. I like her, too. I hadn't thought about it in those terms…yeah, she's very self-sacrificing. You'll see, she can be pretty cold, too, though, about anyone she doesn't consider part of the people she has taken responsibility for. How would you see it coming? I didn't explain how he looked like Inuyasha last time. Although I thought the color-inversion might be a clue to who he was. winks fans self and passes out at all the compliments and niceness

COOKIES FOR EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! YOU ARE ALL VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE AND I LOVE YOU! YES, YOU! A COOKIE FOR YOU AND YOU AND YOU AND YOU ANDYOU! WHOOT!

Alright," she muttered in his ear, keeping him in a headlock, "Who are you, and what have you done with Miroku?"

"I'm Shayanui," he said, his voice somewhat muffled by the way she had his jaw locked shut, "And I stashed him in a hollow tree."

Sango blinked and almost let go of him. She'd expected the confession to be a lot harder to get. As if sensing her confusion, he continued, "There's no point to lying about it, now that you've caught me. I don't have an evil secret mission or anything."

"So what are you up to?" she demanded.

"I just wanted to see if I was any good as an actor." He sighed. "And I guess I'm not."

Sango realized two things. One, that he hadn't asked her to let go of him because she was touching him all down his back while keeping him in a headlock, and two, Miroku might be in real trouble.

"I don't have time to hear the story behind this right now, Shayanui, or why you look like Miroku right now, though you had better explain it all later. Now we are going back to camp, you are telling the others what you did, and then you are taking us to where you left Miroku. But first…." She let go, stepped back, and gave him the wallop of all time on the back of the head, sending him hurtling forward into a tree. "Miroku I pummel for peeking at us," she said. "You I am going thoroughly thrash."

When she had completed the thrashing she yanked him upright and dragged him in the direction of the camp by his ear, he all the while keeping up a muttered chant that went 'Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.'

Inuyasha had heard the noise of Shayanui's discovery from where he lay, and frowned.

"I thought they'd notice him sooner," he said, but didn't do anything. Kagome would just sit him if he came charging in, and Sango plainly had it under control. After all noise had ceased he got up, vanishing temporarily to catch a brace of rabbits and, after a moment's consideration, skinning and spitting them. His efforts to suspend the spitted rabbits over the fire included them plummeting toward the flames several times, several burns, and much swearing. He finally got it positioned, but watched it warily, lest it decide to collapse again and burn Kagome's dinner. Although she didn't appear to like rabbit, even when it was cooked for her. He didn't know why.

The sound of a breaking stick made him turn his head, and he sniffed. "Come out, Miroku. How'd that son of an onii get you to stay behind, anyway?" There was a short silence and then Miroku came out of the bushes. There were always a lot of bushes around for people to come out of. They should really find less ambushable campsites.

Miroku was wearing nothing but his pants; having been robbed of everything else, his hair was sticking up at odd angles and falling in his face, and he leaned on a silver version of his own staff. He looked uncharacteristically annoyed.

"If you knew he wasn't me, why didn't you confront him and wait for me to catch up?" he asked, collapsing beside the fire and sending the rabbit toppling. Inuyasha dived after it with a curse, saved it before it hit the ashes that would render it uneatable, and then attempted to set it up again. Miroku slid in after watching his incompetence for a moment, nimble fingers relieving the hanyou of spit and support poles and manufacturing a stable construction out of them. Inuyasha watched for a moment, nursing his burned hands, and then remembered the question.

"I suspected," he said. "I didn't know." And if it had been you I would have felt really bad about confronting you, he added silently.

"Couldn't you smell that he wasn't me? While I was tracking you I saw my own footprints. If he hadn't stolen my clothes I would have thought I was losing my sanity. Why did you suspect but not know?" Miroku was thoroughly incensed. Inuyasha had never seen him like this. He was shouting. Rather to his own surprise, he found himself responding to the houshi's emoting by becoming calm. Miroku glowered at him.

"You couldn't start a fire." The hanyou replied.

"What?"

"That was what made me almost sure, just this evening. Whoever was pretending to be you couldn't start a fire. The Amaireecan wench had to do it for him. And he tried to dodge when Sango went for him. I couldn't smell it because he doused himself in ink, I don't know why. Ink has a very strong smell. And one reason I wasn't sure was that he knew all our names and he groped Sango." He paused. "Was that everything you asked?" Miroku thought a moment.

"I think so." They were silent for a moment more.

"So what happened?" Inuyasha asked. Miroku shrugged.

"Whoever it was came up behind me and hit me on the head. I woke up with a terrible headache and found myself stuffed into a hollow tree with a white and yellow robe and this staff. I got out and started following you. I was sure he was going to eat all of you in your sleep or something. He hasn't done anything, has he?"

"Nothing you don't do," Inuyasha replied. Miroku blinked, then turned red.

"Oh," he said, figuring out what Inuyasha meant. "Where is everyone?"

"The females and the brat went off to bathe about half an hour ago. He followed them a little later. I heard a little battle a while back -" he broke off. Miroku was white as a sheet. "You don't think-"

"If he caught them without their weapons…" Miroku said. "He could have eaten them by now and left!" As one the males snatched up their weapons and rose, ready to dash to the rescue or revenge. Or look foolish, if the girls had taken the demon out. They never got a chance to do either.

"Glad to see you're alert," Sango remarked as she stepped out of the bushes. (Those so narratively convenient but practically annoying bushes!) Then, as her sleep deprived brain caught up, "Miroku?" She dropped Shayanui facefirst into the dust and more or less flew over to the houshi, embracing him quickly in her delight at seeing him whole and hale and then stepping back before he could spoil the reunion by copping a feel. "You're alive!" she exclaimed, holding him at arms' length by the shoulders. "I was worried."

"What do you think I am?" Shayanui asked as he picked himself up. "I wouldn't have killed him!"

"Well, I'm sorry that taking people out and usurping their places doesn't inspire trust, Shayanui," she replied. Miroku's eyebrows shot up.

"Shayanui? That was you? I don't understand. I thought we got along so well."

"We did," Shayanui responded shamefacedly. "I guess that was why I picked you…look, it was a stupid idea! I feel terrible about it. It's just…." He buried his head in his hands. No one there felt disposed to be very sympathetic. Sango he had peeped at, Miroku he had hit over the head and impersonated, and Inuyasha…was Inuyasha. It took exceptional cases to arouse his sympathy.

"Why don't you tell us what was going through your head at the time," Miroku said at last. "You never know. It might actually turn out to be a good reason." Shayanui shook his white-tressed head.

"It wasn't. It was just…well, I just did my first copy the other day – that was when I met you, right after – and I wanted to see if I was a good actor or not. I can't act someone I don't know, and you were the only people I know, so I followed you, and Miroku is the person I'm most like – I guess that means you're the opposites of one another," he told Inuyasha and Miroku, "So I wanted to take his place, so I could see if I could fool you guys. I don't know what I thought I was doing. I know I'm not going to ever do that again." The three watched him for a minute, then Sango looked at Miroku and said,

"Did that make any more sense to you than it did to me?"

"I don't believe so."

"Hmph," said Inuyasha. "How does he know you guys anyway?"

"We ran into him while, um," she had been going to say 'while you were dead,' but that would be just strange, "While you'd been captured. He killed a few enemies, then vanished."

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU REALIZE IT MIGHT BE HIM WHEN YOU NOTICED SOMETHING WRONG WITH MIROKU!" Inuyasha demanded, plainly appalled.

"Because he looked like you then, Inuyasha. Calm down, will you?"

"Only inverted," Miroku added. "He had black hair and he was in green. Now, Shayanui, let's have an explanation." His reverse image gulped.

"Alright. Let's sit down. I really am sorry, you know." So they all sat down. There was a brief interruption while Inuyasha snatched the meat off the fire, and then Shayanui began.

It seemed that he was something called a copycat youkai. In his natural form, he was something like a cat with the hind legs of a bird, and in this natural form he could not speak to any but his own kind, which were apparently rather rare. He could, however, turn into a color-inverted copy of any creature by ingesting a small piece of their anatomy, a hair or a drop of blood or anything like that. ('So that would be why you cut my hair and took it with you,' Miroku commented drily, lifting a lock of it to demonstrate that his ponytail was missing.) The first time he copied someone, it lasted for a day. The second in a row, for three, and the third in a row, it lasted until he cared to shed it. From a copycat's first ever copy, it obtained a gender, a name, and a personality, that it kept through all subsequent copies.

"And you were my first ever copy, Inuyasha," Shayanui explained. "I got some of your blood in the forest, just by chance. By accident, actually."

"You're nothing like me," the hanyou grumbled.

"Exactly!" Shayanui agreed. "I'm your opposite."

"Outgoing, polite, talkative," said Sango, "Not a fighter, trusting, and perverted. But tell me," and she narrowed her eyes slightly, "Inuyasha, despite everything else, is a fundamentally good person." Inuyasha muttered something about what did she mean, despite everything else, but inside it felt rather good to hear her describe him as a good person. "Does that make you a fundamentally bad person?" Shayanui blanched.

"I-I don't think so…." He said uncertainly. "I don't think it works like that. I hope not…."

"I suppose we'll give you the benefit of the doubt," Sango decided. "For now. But behave yourself, you hear?"

"I hear, Lady Sango, I hear!" he assured her. "I'll be good, I promise!" At that moment, Aerie, Kagome, and Shippo arrived, did double takes at the sopping-wet, white-haired Miroku and the shirtless, short-haired one.

"Er…" said Aerie. "Is one of them real?" she asked hopefully.

"That one," said Shayanui, Inuyasha, and Sango, all pointing at Miroku. Shayanui rose and swept a bow.

"Shayanui, at your service, sorry to have troubled you," he said.

"…" said the three late arrivals. So the story was all told all over again and everyone sat down once more.

Two of what appeared to be men were sitting in the gloom of a mostly empty room in a castle, occupied only by themselves, the mat the dark-haired one sat on, the cushion the red-headed one was lounging on, and a number of large jars. They had been sitting there since Kileb had first arrived, Kileb explaining his recent (rather embarrassing) encounter with Aerie and the inu-tachi, and Naraku summing up all of his past interactions with them. Or at least, as much as each felt the other ought to know. Both had already decided to find another source to query about those happenings. Now they were both being silent.

"That was a nice trick," Kileb said after a while, referring to Naraku's temporary existence as a disembodied head after that disastrous encounter when Kagome's arrow had found him. "You really don't depend on your body for much, do you? Or not much that you actually do. It's just reassuring to have it, isn't it?" Naraku concurred. He also had a whole complex to do with having an operational body that went back to Onigumo.

"Indeed," he replied. "You don't seem to depend on yours much either."

"What, this thing?" Kileb said, raising his eyebrows. He regarded one of his hands for a moment, then simply let it fade away. "I can't do all that much harm without a physical form to anchor in," he replied, "But it's just the illusion of a body, really." He pulled the corporeal 'illusion' back together and shrugged. "Do you ever miss it?" he asked offhandedly.

"Miss what?"

"Oh, just existing, before it became such a chore." Naraku looked at him, rather surprised by this attitude. Or at least by the way it was expressed.

"I do not think I know what you are talking about," he replied, totally honest for once. Kileb looked at him through narrowed green eyes.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, would you?" he said consideringly, and for a moment he almost seemed to be sorry about something. "Well, it's better like that, maybe. You don't have to keep forgetting things on purpose." You think I don't? Naraku thought ironically. "Do you ever wish you had a family?" Kileb asked him, "Parents and so on?"

"Why would I wish to have parents?" Naraku asked. Kileb shrugged.

"Emotional stability? Never mind. Do you like robins?" Now the look Naraku gave him was nothing short of disturbed.

"Why...of all things…would you ask that?"

"Makes conversation. And more interesting than the weather, especially after several thousand years of it. So, do you?" Naraku looked away.

"No. They're too cheerful." He opined. Kileb threw up his hands.

"Again with the angst! Alright, so not robins. What do you like?" Naraku opened his mouth, but then shut it. He hesitated, his brows lowering. Kileb watched him as he considered. "That wasn't supposed to be a trick question, you know." He remarked. Naraku shrugged. "You must like something."

"Must I?"

"Well, the feeling of power is a good start, but it doesn't seem like even that does much for you. Let's see. Do you prefer to be where it's light or in the dark?"

"The dark," Naraku replied.

"And are you glad to be in the dark as opposed to the light when you are?"

"No." Naraku replied, in a tone which said clearly, You are wasting my time. Kileb raised an eyebrow.

"Well." Then he lapsed into silence. "I'm trying to list your good points," he remarked after a while. "It's…interesting. Tenacity, to the point of neuroticism. Guile. Oh, about those baboon skins, has there been massive slaughter of albino baboons across this island recently, or do you conjure them up in the mistaken impression that they look somehow impressive or intimidating?"

"Why does it matter?" asked Naraku, feeling put upon.

"I like baboons. So? Where do you get them?"

"I conjure them," responded Naraku, blinking. This…person he was working with was plainly wholly insane.

"Good. So, tenacity, guile, lack of slaughter of baboons, lack of cannibalism, er…. Point five. I need a point five." Naraku regarded him with a vague sense of astonishment that someone as old, powerful, and ruthless as Kileb had shown himself to be was still capable of being so…silly. "Come on, Naraku, you know Naraku better than I do." I wouldn't count on it, Naraku thought.

"I can play the bagpipes," he said, which was simply the first thing that came into his head. Kileb smiled.

"Good enough. Tenacity, guile, lack of baboon slaughter, lack of cannibalism, plays the bagpipes." Naraku shook his head slowly to himself as the other rose and left the room. He was mad. Powerful, dangerous, functionally rational, deadly, and, at least until he opened his mouth, imposing, but completely insane.

"So we'll see you some other time?" Aerie said. Shayanui nodded and gave a charming smile.

"Someday. We'll see how long it takes you to recognize me, hm?" She swatted his bare shoulder and scowled at him.

"Oh, get on with you! Go charm someone with a little less sense."

"Farewell, fair lady," he said, sweeping a bow.

"See you around," she replied.

"Goodbye," Miroku said, looking up from wringing out his robe, which he had reclaimed from Shayanui. "You'll be alright traveling in the dark?"

"I'll be fine," the copycat youkai said. "Goodbye, all of you."

"Hmph," said Inuyasha.

"Bye," said Sango and Kagome.

"See you 'round, Shippou," Shayanui said, ruffling Shippou's hair. The kitsune granted him a small smile.

"Seeya." He said. The golden-eyed doppelganger of Miroku smiled back at him and left, vanishing into the darkness beyond the circle of firelight.

Yanagi slipped down the passageway, thinking hard. She had left right after the new man had, with plenty to think about. What use might this new girl be?

She came into the kitchen, where most of the remaining servants were hanging about. Most of the lordly folk who had been in the castle had either vanished or died long ago, the Hitomi clan was decimated, and the new occupants did not appear to see the need for things like baths and food. The servants found themselves with time on their hands, which most of them spent trying to stay as far away from the false Hitomi Kagewaki and his lackeys as they could. He had arranged for there to be food for them at some point. It arrived every week or so, not at all reliably, brought in by the woman Kagura or by some other demon whom he sent to do it. There were a few who genuinely were enjoying the first freedom they had ever known, ignoring the fact that they could die at any moment. You could die at any moment from the day you were born. There had also been those who had ignored the obvious fact that Kagewaki was not himself and been resolutely obedient. They had all died by now.

And then there was Yanagi. Yanagi and what she called her 'pack.' They skulked in shadows, they spied on meetings, they knew all the secret passages of the castle between them – although Yanagi was the only one who knew them all. There were six of them now, her pack, and they reported to her dutifully, keeping her informed about anything she might have missed while she was in another part of the castle. There had been seven just this morning. There were two of her pack in the kitchen just now, as she entered. One was sitting with his wife, the other feeding her daughter rice.

"Myaki. Erisu." She said. They looked up, then put aside what they were doing and came over to her. They did not ignore their captain when she wanted them. "Rani is dead," she said, breaking the news without preamble. Myaki closed his eyes for moment. Rani had been his friend.

"How?" He asked.

"He didn't watch his tongue." Yanagi said. "There's a new demon in the place, or something like one. Hirigo was there. Hasn't he been talking about it?" Erisu shook her head.

"No. He hasn't been here."

"Keh," Yanagi said. "Probably hiding in a corner somewhere. I've just found out that the Dog's Squad has a new member, just like Naraku's Company." She had learnt the name of the creature long ago. "I think she could be useful. Erisu, there will be new slave-troops arriving soon. They'll probably associate with the boy. If they do, find out all you can." Erisu had made friends with Kohaku a while back. When he wasn't working, she said he was rather a sweet child. She was working on him. There had to be some reason he served Naraku, and she was going to do something about it, whatever it was. "Myaki, go find Kagura for me."

"Right," said Myaki. "You'll be talking to her?"

"As soon as I get my final pieces of information," she affirmed. "I'm going back up. Get Desi to cover for me." There were still a few tasks everyone was expected to take care of. One of them was the washing. Demons generated a huge amount of laundry and sewing. They did not take good care of their clothes. Yanagi had become professional at avoiding her turn – always for a good reason, of course, but she hadn't done laundry in weeks.

"He's going to catch you someday," Myaki said, shaking his head. He was not talking about laundry. Yanagi gave a rare smile.

"See, this is one way I know he's not Kagewaki. He doesn't know about the passages." Kagewaki had known. They had played there, when he had been strong enough. He had always been so weak, and he had hated it. She had feared, for a while, that her childhood friend had sold himself to the demon for strength. But no. She wondered what had happened to him. He was probably dead. "I'm glad Rani wasn't married," she said. "I hate telling the family." Myaki touched her arm.

"I know, Yanagi." He said. She raised her eyebrows at him, then swirled out of the kitchen and up the stairs again.

"Jaa!"

The tachi was settling down for the night. Miroku was bemoaning the loss of his hair, whereupon Shippou told him he sounded like Manten and they got into a quiet argument. Sango was already asleep. Kagome was powdering her nose, or something. Aerie and Inuyasha were sitting on opposite sides of the fire, lost in thought. Suddenly Aerie looked up with a devilish light in her eyes.

"So, can I touch them?" she asked. Inuyasha blinked at her.

"Touch what?" he asked, utterly nonplussed.

"Your ears, of course," she replied. He growled softly.

"What is it with my ears? Why do people always maul them?"

"Inu no mimi are so cute, Inuyasha. You know, I haven't seen a real dog since I got here? I like dogs." ((A/N: I don't.)) Inuyasha blinked, trying to come up with a response to her insinuation that he was some kind of inferior replacement to petting a dog. 'I'm as good as a dog,' for example, obviously would not work. "So, can I touch them?" she repeated. He snarled.

"Sure. But then I'll have to cut off your hand."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I'll pass, thanks," she replied, tucking her hands behind her head. "Was your mother nice?" she asked the leaves of the tree above them.

"Er…."

"I mean, she obviously wasn't terrible, because you loved her, but was she nice?"

"Feh," Inuyasha said, scowling. "You know nothing. Leave me alone. My mother was wonderful." Aerie smiled.

"I'm glad," she said. "And your father? To have raised someone like Sesshoumaru, he must have had some issues."

"Will you keep your mouth off my family?" he demanded. "Father was great, too. A little distant, maybe, but he was great. Sesshoumaru gets it all from his mother."

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're right, it's none of my business. Especially since I keep not telling you things." He looked up, a calculating look in his eye.

"That's right. I answered your questions, now you have to tell me."

"Uh, alright, but my family is boring. My mother's a psychiatrist and my father's a teacher."

"Your mother's a what?"

"A doctor for the disturbed and insane. She's good at it. She avoids prescribing meds. Dad teaches math to tenth graders."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Nothing like as interesting as your family." That depends on where you're looking at it from, Inuyasha thought, picturing growing up in a house constantly filled with crazies and a scholar. It would explain a few things.

"So is that where you get it from?" he asked.

"Eh?"

"From your mother, dealing with loonies. Where you get your…" He searched for a word. "Spunk." To his surprise, she winced.

"Maybe. Kinda. I wish." She replied. She chuckled slightly. "Look at you. When did I lie down on your couch?"

"Uh…." Inuyasha said. She laughed.

"Never mind. I'm glad we had this little talk, big guy." She was actually an inch taller than him. It was fun being in ancient Japan. Everyone was short. She stretched. "I'm going to bed. Or to blanket. Whatever. I always hated camping when I was a kid…."

Suddenly she stiffened, catching sight of a hovering eel. Inuyasha caught sight of it, too, just before Kagome appeared from the forest, out of breath, a scratch on her cheek, and then she had his full attention. He leapt over to her, checking her for injury, and she smiled at him to show she was alright. Miroku and Shippou broke off their discussion and gravitated toward the action. Sango sat up straight, awoken, and tumbled upright. "Kikyou?" Aerie asked Kagome. The other girl nodded. "She try to kill you again?" Kagome shook her head. "Can you talk?" Kagome shook her head. "Why not?" Aerie asked. Kagome shot her a look. "Er, right. Let's play Twenty Questions. Did Kikyou do it?" Kagome nodded. "Was it because of something you said?" Kagome nodded again. "Something about her?" Kagome shook her head in denial. "Something about Inuyasha, then?" Kagome tilted her head as if to say, Not exactly. "Something about her and Inuyasha?" Pretty much, said Kagome's nod. Inuyasha was looking more and more disturbed as the discussion progressed. "Huh. And for this she sealed your mouth? Funny. I thought she was developing a complex about you, with all the stuff she said to Tsubaki." She went over to the older girl and bent down slightly, taking her face between her hands. Not an inch over five feet. Honestly. "Miroku?" she said after a moment. "Could you give me a hand here? Kikyou works magic all back to front." He came over, saying,

"I don't really know all that much about miko spells, I warn you."

"Doesn't matter. Just tell me if this curlicue thingy is at the beginning or the end of the spell." He looked at her blankly and she sighed. "I guess I'll have to wing it. This would be a really good time for Trisak to show up." A moment and several peculiar noises later, Kagome could talk again.

"Th-thanks," she said, leaning into Inuyasha, who was still standing at her shoulder. "That felt really strange. All I said was that Inuyasha shouldn't die for caring about her." Inuyasha looked down.

"Inuyasha," said Aerie. "Can I talk to her?" He hesitated. "I'll come and get you if she needs you," she promised. "I swear." Slowly, he nodded.

"Go ahead."

Whoot! Eight pages! I was on a roll! From now on, I am going to be making the chapters longer, partly because I've got three places to plot-service, and partly because to get the whole story done without running to fifty chapters, I have to. Oh, and to make you happy! That's important too! Sorry this took so long; I have evil amounts of homework suddenly. (Phooey to lab reports.) Plus, the internet went down. It did! Seriously! It made me sad.

In case you didn't catch it, part of the Yanagi sequence was kind of spoofing all those scenes with police captains or the leaders of troops of warriors, where they're soldiering on despite losing someone, etc., etc., and the whole thing is wearing on them.

Yanagi: Please, ma'am, could you tell me where I am?

Trisak: Spare me the innocent servant girl act. You're in my author's note. This is your chance to complain about your life.

Yanagi: …

Trisak: Although I know it must be more fulfilling than scurrying around following orders.

Yanagi: …

Trisak: I'd recommend being a little less obvious about the whole boss thing, by the way. If there's an informant, you are so grilled.

Yanagi: …do I get paid for working in this story?

Trisak: :aside: I hate practical people. Sure, Yanagi. You get paid.

Yanagi: Good.

Trisak: Oh, and about the secret passages, I know I'm playing fast and loose with Japanese architecture, but bear with me, will you? Pretend the walls aren't mostly paneling, and that there is space in this castle for loads of secret passages. The Hitomi clan is super-paranoid, okay? I NEED these secret passages. Yanagi would not get away with listening at doors in a castle full of demons. OFF I GO, INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER…!

(Oh, yeah. And my birthday is next week! Wheeeeeeee!)