Installment 2! This time we get to see the miko everybody loves to hate, or at least gretly dislike. There's no real Kikyou bashing here, as I'm kind of ambivalent towards her existence, but Fred sure doesn't like her! At the very least they don't see eye to eye. Could be fun!

I have an interview today, so wish me luck. It's at wal-mart, and I know it's not the best job in the world, but I desperately need employment. I'd like to get my Credit card paid off and keep paying all the necessities, like Student loan payments... So seriuosly, send me all the good Juju you can. After all, you don't want me to be unable to finish this off because I had to pawn my computer or something.

On that note, if I do get this job and I either don't start before The first weekend in may or by some seriously miraculous stroke of luck I get the time off, I might be going to Acen! YAY! I really want to go because I didn't get to last year and I want to be able to rub it in that I got to go this year while all my friends still back in college couldn't because the con is held during finals week. It would so rock!

Ahem, so yeah, we'll see.

The experiments of the Inuyasha crew shall resume as soon as Rumiko Takahashi okays the use of various makes of Applesauce and it's crude product.

Soul Collector

Friendship is a prison of choice. We choose our friends and by that very choice we dictate to ourselves how we shall act and just what we will put up with. We determine how long it will last or what would be grounds for the immediate termination of camaraderie.

And often we do things that are disagreeable to ourselves to maintain these special prisons, to keep them from turning hostile and uncomfortable. Like not courting your crush because you know your friend is crushing on them too. Or forcing yourself to share your very special and rare personal treat so that your friend does not feel abused and neglected.

Sometimes when your dead friend starts complaining about something you're not doing, you do it, just to shut him up.

Hence why Aki was taking a break in the middle of a very nice day. She didn't need the respite and normally wouldn't have wasted the time, but Fred, her very noisy and overly concerned friend had been constantly yelling at her to take a rest quite a bit longer than a Nascar pit stop.

Why would a dead guy need her to rest? So he could damn well catch up for more than two minutes, that's why! He was sick and tired of being left in the dust waiting for her to stop long enough for him to beam over to her only to have her take off right after he appeared. Fred would holler and curse after her to no avail. She never came back.

Those few occasions when they would find themselves in the presence of a Shikon wielding problem, either the altercation was so quick as to be barely long enough for him to catch up or Fred would have to remain invisible for the duration. It turned out Shippou and What's-his-name's reactions had been a good indication of how the rest of this archaic world would view a ghost like him.

Ghosties were not perceived with anything less than torrid fear. As if he could actually do anything. He wished he knew half of what these people did. It'd be even cooler if he could actually do a tenth of what they believed he could.

And if he could? Why, the first thing he would do is smack Aki for constantly leaving him behind and neglecting her health. And Fred was really stellar about telling her that.

Which, again, is why Aki was sitting lazily in a tree with few leaves left in its branches. She was waiting for her dead friend to catch up and lecture her while she completely ignored him.

That was the plan anyway. It was a simple plan, with almost no point, but it was her plan and she truly intended to implement it upon Fred's arrival.

Someone else arrived first.

"Hand over your jewel shards, youkai!" a strong voice shouted.

Aki looked down to see the gleaming point of an arrow aimed at her. "I must say, this is the first time I've ever been threatened with an aerial weapon for the jewel shards. Most everybody else uses their bare claws or a blade of some kind," she commented dryly.

"Hand them over, you tainted creature!" the other woman shouted again.

"I think not," Aki refused. "After all, you didn't say please."

The stranger in miko robes didn't even change her expression though Aki could tell she'd caught the other off guard.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Aki added, a dismissive tone in her voice. "I wouldn't have given them to you."

The strange woman released her arrow and it hit true to her aim with a sharp THWACK as it pierced the tree.

"What'd you go and hurt the tree for?" Aki asked, completely disregarding the arrow's closeness. It still vibrated in the air where she had just been lounging. She had seemingly nonchalantly moved upon the arrows release from the bow and was now sitting a foot away from it. "What'd this poor defenseless tree ever do to you?" She reached out two fingers and purified the arrow out of existence, simultaneously healing the wounded tree.

"What are you?" the stranger demanded, her eyes slightly wider than before.

"I'm confused," Aki replied. "What sort of miko are you that you'd attack someone you don't know over something that isn't yours without warning? Aren't mikos supposed to be more honorable than that?"

"I thought you were youkai."

"And what does being youkai have to do with anything?" Aki asked, refusing to give an inch. "You assumed that because my parents were cut from a different fabric than yours, because I'm a different species from you made it alright for you to attack before trying to figure out if I deserved it. Different does not mean bad. Youkai does not mean evil any more than being human means that you are good. Assumption and prejudice are some of the most destructive evils the world has ever and will ever know. I would think that as a miko, you would try to stifle its continued propagation. Wariness I can understand, caution is wise but attacking without attempts to negotiate first? Some of the most violent wars have started that way."

"A youkai with such a store of jewel shards has no right to say such things," the strange miko declared.

"And why not? Do you assume that I came by these dishonorably? You think I killed for these?" Aki asked the quiet but accusing woman. "I'll have you know I haven't killed anyone for these. I never attacked without warning unless I was being stalked first and I normally win them in wagered contests. In a way you could say these are my winnings. Not that you should care, you haven't got any shards."

"You can sense the shards?"

"So can you."

"And you have miko powers."

"So it would appear."

"Careful Aki! She's just like those clay dolls that witch had when she cast that spell on you!" Fred announced as he finally caught up at the wrong moment.

Aki had to dash in order to keep the stranger from shooting him. "You must be evil you keep company with ghosts!"

"There you go again, assuming things!" Aki shouted. "You don't know anything about him!"

The miko gazed coldly at the youkai before her. "You want to know that I did to the witch that resurrected me?" Kikyou asked darkly sweet. She placed her hands on the youkai and demonstrated.

"Ah. Unn. Oh." Aki playfully groaned in fake death throws. She kicked her foot gently into the nearest tree a couple of times before groaning again. "It burns."

"Aki," Fred hissed angrily.

"Yes Fred," Aki answered and smiled innocently at him.

"I hate you," he grumbled.

"Love you too," she responded cheekily.

Kikyou blinked. The demon should be a pile of purified smoking dust. What was going on here?

"You didn't actually think that would kill me did you?" Aki asked gently. "You just saw me purify your arrow and heal the tree. Surely you must have realized that having such powers myself would have granted some small ability to withstand it. I mean, I may blister the hell out of my hands, but that's all," Aki waved her damaged hand at Kikyou. "What you just did will leave me with a sunburn that'll peel in a couple days."

Kikyou was speechless. A holy youkai? Was that even possible? The youkai and the ghost proceeded to argue amongst themselves. Was she in the wrong?

"Still, if you did that to the Urasei then we won't have to worry about running into her again," Aki declared charmingly.

"That doesn't mean you can trust her," The ghost whined. "She did just attack you!"

The ghost was right, Kikyou had attacked, not once but twice, and neither time did Aki retaliate with more than words. Perhaps she truly had been wrong. "Come here," Kikyou grabbed Aki's wrist and dragged her away from their pointless argument.

She led the youkai and gaping specter into a nearby glade where she plucked leaves from plants known for their ability to sooth burns. Kikyou let go of Aki to prepare them for application.

"What is she doing?" Fred asked suspiciously.

"Looks like she's going to try to take care of my hand," Aki answered absently. "Hey, you know you don't have to that, right? I already have stuff for burns with me," Aki dug out her container of Aloe Vera to show the miko.

Kikyou looked up and eyed the strange container. "What is that?"

"Aloe Vera," Aki answered. "A plant whose healing properties have been known almost longer than history has been written down."

Kikyou snorted, "Who would bother to write it down when so many have no use for reading?"

"You'd be surprised," Aki answered mysteriously. "Hey that reminds me," she snapped her fingers, "Introduction haven't been made. I'm Aki and this is Fred. Those aren't our real names I'm afraid, but I can't remember mine anymore and it's just too much fun pissing him off by calling him Fred."

"I am Kikyou," the clay doll in their company answered as she bent to apply the medicine to Aki's hand.

"Good to know," Aki acknowledged. "You know, you remind me of someone."

"If you say my reincarnation I will find the nearest poisonous plan and jam it down your throat!"

"Wow! You have a reincarnation? Who is it?" Aki exclaimed, happily ignoring the threat.

"Kag-something," Kikyou replied.

"You and Kagome? No way! I mean Kagome's always so open and effervescent and you're –well what I know of you – you're not." Aki smiled in wonderment. "No you don't remind me of Kagome at all. You two don't have anything in common, you even smell different."

"How would you know, you haven't seen her since before that witch broke the spell that kept you human!" Fred exclaimed.

"Yeah, but her room doesn't smell like anybody else as strongly," Aki retorted. "As I was saying, it isn't Kagome you remind me of. You remind me of that one guy I helped when I was still human. He was just as unexpressive as you are and couldn't seem to control his temper around me."

"Oh you mean the guy I wished was a girl," Fred remembered. "Of course I didn't get to spend time with him while he wasn't snarling at me," he grumbled. "He would've done really, super well if he'd gone into business as a man whore."

"I can't believe you!" Aki exclaimed in mild disgust. "That's totally inappropriate and what are you doing thinking of him as a man whore anyway?"

"I was thinking we might have actually found a way for you to finally get some action!" Fred answered loudly.

"That's it! Next time you complain about how fast I've gotten I'm going to speed up just to spite you!"

"Excuse me," Kikyou interrupted their spat. "How could you have been human before?"

"Aki's lived most of her life a human. When we ran into that witch you apparently killed we found out it was a spell that made her that way. The Urasei essentially broke it," Fred answered.

"I've been human most of my life. Do you know how hard it is to suddenly not be what you always were?" Aki asked.

"Yes," Kikyou answered remembering how it felt to wake up dead one day.

"Then you might be able to understand," Aki shrugged.

Or maybe it would be the other way around. Kikyou was fairly certain she was past her days of empathy. The dead could only do so much.

"YOU!" A snarling voice called imperiously. "Hand over the Shikon no kakera!"

"Why do I feel this strange sense of de ja vu?" Aki snorted. "Were the 'attack Aki' coupons on sale again?"

The strangely clad new comer didn't bother to answer before lunging at her aggressively.

"Whoa!" Aki dodged his move. She kept dodging as the altercation began to push her into more densely wooded areas. Always she was two feet ahead of the end of his lunge and just so much faster she began to give him tips and encouragement. Cool as a cucumber, she moved and spoke, "Bring your elbows in, you're allowing too much air drag. There, see you almost got me that time. Don't give up, you're getting closer." It was all nonsense of course. Aki could dance circles around almost every youkai she'd come across.

The youkai paused, panting through his very human-looking mouth. The head of some dead animal with a white pelt concealed the rest of his face. Aki likewise paused, barely short of breath. "Oh come on, you can't give up yet! I've still got the shards," she pouted.

He gave one more lunge at her and Aki dodged it swiftly to land on the crumbling edge of a deep ravine. Unfortunately, Aki had moved backwards so she wasn't completely aware of the drop until the ground gave out and down she went.

"AKI!" Fred shouted and hurried over to the edge of the ravine. Of course hurrying for a ghost is like watching a snail race, a very slow process in comparison to other things hurrying.

Kikyou calmly notched an arrow in her ever-present bow and launched it at Aki's attacker before he could do more than begin to turn at the sound. Her powers purified him until even the little wooden puppet with the hair wrapped around it was gone. Then she walked to where her new acquaintance had fallen.

Just as she was close enough to look down into the ravine, Aki hauled her torso over the edge. She had a chunk gouged out of her left eyebrow and her knuckles were scraped and bleeding. "Who the hell puts a ravine in the middle of a forest without staking up warning signs?" Aki grumbled climbing the rest of the way over the lip of the ravine.

"This is why I keep telling you that you should learn how to fly," Fred scolded her.

"Humph! I'd rather just suddenly find out I can fly when some demon throws me off a cliff. I think it would be way cooler that way," Aki replied primly.

"You can fly?" Kikyou asked.

"No, I can't," Aki answered pointedly.

"But he thinks you could," Kikyou eroded the point.

"What else could the wings be for?" Fred grumbled.

"Do you remember how long it took me to relearn how to walk, Fred?" Aki demanded. "I'm not going to work on flying until I need to."

"Why not?" the ghost asked belligerently.

"You know how birds learn to fly? They're pushed out of the nest and they either learn how to fly or fall to their deaths," Aki answered evenly.

"You'll fly."

"I'll fall."

"I can ensure that you won't fall," Kikyou said as she doctored Aki's minor wounds.

"Excuse me, but you look rather grounded there, if you don't mind my saying so," Ai coughed facetiously. "How could you possibly – "

The slender silvery bodies of Kikyou's lifeline eeled towards them through the trees, each burdened with a luminous ball of ethereal white in the slowly darkening forest.

"That's how you've survived without the Urasei around to maintain you," Fred snarled, "Feeding on the souls of the recently dead!"

"Fred, shut up," Aki sighed absently. Her glazed eyes were staring at her cupped palm, her brow creased in concentration.

"I notice they're all young human girls," he continued disgustedly. "Your prejudice reflects in your appetite."

"I don't control who they bring me," Kikyou defended herself.

"Well, you should!" Fred declared.

"It isn't like I go out and kill the girls so I can consume them," Kikyou retorted.

"No, you just prevent them from becoming ghosts or finding their own ways towards where they want to go," Fred accused. "You couldn't just be a ghost like every other self respecting dead person. No, you had to be something that eats souls!"

Before Kikyou could begin again, before Fred could continue, Aki distracted them both. In her cupped hand glowed a sphere similar to those that Kikyou had just taken into her self. Aki marched up to the clay miko and shoved it into her chest with such force that several of the girls' souls were expelled from the dead miko's body. "That ought to do you for a couple days at least," Aki said to herself. "And it should help minimize your soul intake."

Kikyou gasped and choked on the sudden new sensations overwhelming her. There was such pain, a sorrow so profound, surely the heavens must be weeping. "What have you done?" the miko's eyes were round with shock and confusion.

"I gave you a piece of my soul," Aki answered tiredly. It was exhausting giving away a piece of soul.

"AKI!" Fred yelled angrily.

"Do shut up, Fred," Aki responded before continuing to talk to Kikyou. "You shouldn't be so surprised. You do carry a piece of Kagome's soul, albeit an enraged one. I dislike dragging others into my personal hell, and I dislike watching others do so also. I cannot keep you from doing so all together, but I can help reduce the number of victims that fall to your continued existence," Aki sighed. "Besides, what is anger without reason? What is rage without sorrow? It's dangerous and destructive and I hate to see it. So I gave you reason, I gave you sorrow. Now when you move to act in anger you will think of the sorrow it will cause. When you strike out in rage you will hold back knowing the pain it would cause."

"I am not a dumping ground for your pains and sadness!" Kikyou growled at her.

Aki just laughed joylessly. "You think I've dumped my pain and heartache on you?" She shook her head, "What utter bullshit!" Kikyou opened her mouth to rebuff her and Aki cut her off. "You just assumed that's what I did! Well let me enlighten you, what I gave you was joyful compared to what I kept! I've still got the lion's share of it! But if you really want me to 'dump' on you, I'd be glad to oblige," she spat.

Fred cut the dead miko off before she could say anything else to upset Aki. "I wouldn't if I were you. I can and will free you of that body if you choose to call her anything derogatory and upset her any further."

"Leave her alone, Fred!" Aki yelled and shook her head. "We were leaving anyway."

"What?" Kikyou asked in shock. This stranger had made it so Kikyou didn't have to eat as often and now she was going to leave without any kind of repayment? "What about flying?" the dead miko asked. "I was going to help remember?"

"I said I wasn't going to learn," Aki answered.

"But you really should," Kikyou admonished her.

"There's a lot of things I should and shouldn't do, but I don't care and neither should you," Aki shrugged and turned to leave only to be swamped by a dizzy spell. Next thing she knew she was falling and they were shouting her name.

"This is your fault!" Fred declared.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Kikyou asked skeptically.

"If you hadn't taken a piece of her soul – "

"I didn't take it! She shoved it at me. Besides what makes you so sure that's what caused this?" Kikyou was tired of being criticized for what she was. Why should she continually be accused of things? "Maybe if you weren't always nagging and arguing with her she wouldn't be so exhausted!"

"What would you know about it!" Fred yelled.

"She was alone when I came across her, was she avoiding you by chance?" Kikyou eyed him levelly.

Aki pushed herself off the tree she'd fallen against and gave them both an incredulous look. They were arguing. She had just fallen and alarmed them and they were arguing. Did they realize that the only argument they should be having is over how to correct the situation? She shrugged, who cared?

Aki turned away from them slowly and began walking away. She doubted they'd notice until they settled who was to blame. Maybe she would've been better able to pull off her escape if she'd paid more attention to where the ravine was.

"AKI!" the miko and ghost yelled in unison at the sudden sound of scrabbling rocks and Aki's disappearance.

Fred floated down to where his friend had managed to catch herself on an exposed root. "Just how the hell did you manage to fall this time? What were you thinking?"

"Um, woops?" She mumbled up at him. He didn't really expect her to answer, right?

"You fell down the ravine for the second time and all you can say is 'woops'?" If Fred were alive he'd be turning purple. "Woops would be for the fist time you fell down it."

"Would you rather I say 'D'oh!' or something? How about something absolutely random like 'Tuesday'?" Aki asked while trying to find footholds before her lifeline gave out. Rather abruptly, the root let her drop another few feet down the ravine. "Whoa!" her heart fluttered and her muscles froze.

"Aki! Don't Move!" Fred shouted.

"Naw, you think?" Aki grumbled irritably. "So exactly how were you planning on getting me out of this? 'Cause I really don't feel like hanging around until the end of time you know."

"I'm working on it," Fred muttered.

"Yeah well you work on it while I get myself out of this mess," Aki muttered and started looking for footholds again.

"Aki! I told you not to move," The ghost yelled as Aki's endeavors released another trickle of rocks cascading down the side of the ravine.

Kikyou sighed as she looked down the side of the ravine. It was unlike her to allow a strange male's words to upset her so much. It was even more unlike her to argue and defend her actions. She had always allowed her actions to speak for themselves and others could derive their meaning anyway they so desired.

Perhaps it was the piece of Aki's soul that had her acting so different. Kikyou had already observed that the other woman tended to argue a great deal with her friend. But then, their friendly spats were almost completely devoid of anger or rancor and her argument with the ghost had been filled with some amount of venom. Even now she found herself flaring at the specter.

Why? It made no sense.

She sighed again. It was something to ponder another time. Right now, a terribly generous soul was in a very precarious position because of Kikyou's own neglect. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in her strange argument over blame, Aki would never have been allowed to take another step. It was clear the woman couldn't be trusted to look after herself and was badly in need of care. The kind of care a miko, like Kikyou used to be, could provide.

She raised her eyebrow as Aki and Fred continued to argue back and forth. One might suppose they could be siblings or lovers, not that it was any of her business. Of course, she was sure Aki could do better.

Shoving that thought aside Kikyou signaled to the Shinidamachuu over her left should to go retrieve Aki.

It flowed down the side like liquid mercury, a few of its fellows following suit. The silver ribbons of their bodies glowed in the ever-darkening night, clearly visible against the darker shadows of the disrupted earth and rock.

Aki had managed to find a single semi-secure foothold and was resting her weight on it while searching for another before releasing the much abused tree root when the first shinidamachuu circled her waist and brushed against her exposed skin where her shirt had torn in the subsequent falls she had taken. In her shock at the sensation she almost let go of her root, which would have been a bad idea.

The moment Kikyou's little soul collecting youkai touched Aki it convulsed around her, squeezing too tight in some places and allowing too much slack in others. Without her hold on the root she would have fallen as the creature's writhing knocked her out of the foothold in such a way as to destroy it.

"Damn it Kikyou!" Fred growled angrily. "Call off your snake – thingies!"

Kikyou gazed down at her youkai concealing her surprise. She'd never seen them act this way. It was like Aki's very being was contaminating it, turning it a pale white-blue. To someone else it would look the same, but to Kikyou the difference was easily discernable. Especially since its companions were the same as always.

As the change finished and the youkai's coloring became uniform over the whole of it, the convulsing stopped and it gripped Aki almost lovingly.

Kikyou raised an eyebrow. These youkai were in no way affectionate with anyone, not even their own species. Yet there was her soul collector squeezing Aki in a serpentine hug as it cradled her body like a precious treasure. They'd never done that with even Kikyou, whom they were most partial too. Curious.

The shinidamachuu set Aki gently on her feet farther away from the ravine's edge than Kikyou stood and with a final squeeze and a slithery kiss, sailed away to coil around its fellows above them.

"Ew! Slimy!" Aki wiped off her cheek, fighting her creeping skin unsuccessfully. "I wish you'd just let me fall."

"I said I would make it so you wouldn't fall," Kikyou replied. "Now sit down, shut up, and allow me to tend you wounds. Then you are going to rest until the sun comes up!"

"Quit ordering Aki around!" Fred shouted.

"I'm not tired," Aki declared quietly at the same time.

Fred glanced at her then at Kikyou, weighing his dislike for the soul eater against her ability to force Aki back to slightly better health. The real question is how much did he really like Aki alive and healthy? Fred grumbled unintelligibly for a minute. "Good luck trying to get her to sleep," he said.

"Why?" Kikyou demanded slightly wary of his statement.

"She doesn't sleep," He answered.

"'She' is right here and not tired, now let's get a move on," Aki turned to take a step away from the void that was the ravine. She thought it was kind of strange that the black hole in there was only determined to suck her down. Not that it mattered.

"Hold it right there! I said sit down, shut up, and let me care for you injuries. If you refuse to be reasonable and do so on your own I will have my shinidamachuu come down here and pin you to a convenient tree while I work," Kikyou threatened.

"And then what? You gonna let them Ravish me?" Aki snorted.

"Why would they do that? Only the one was acting strange," Kikyou puzzled aloud.

Aki pointed up without looking, "Yeah well, the craziness has spread."

Kikyou's eyes followed the path Aki indicated and blinked in astonishment, "Um," was all she could say as Fred cursed.

"Well I guess if it comes to that I'll have to let them ravish you," Kikyou declared.

"What?" Fred howled in disbelief.

She smirked at him; did he really think she was going to back down just because Aki's own contaminating presence had infected the entire pack when they weren't looking? Truly he must be stupid! And Kikyou took relish in the thought. The miko held her smirk until she caught the smirk on Aki's face.

"It's a good thing they're sexless then isn't it?" Aki confided in her and Kikyou blinked.

"Really," she gazed up at the formerly silver bodies of her feeders. Kikyou had never really thought about it before, but they certainly did seem to maintain the pack numbers without much effort. Perhaps she should pay more attention the next time the pack is cut down in size by an enemy.

Aki leaned back against a tree gazing up at the serpentine creatures dancing amongst the shadowy branches. Their unique grace and easy movement was beautiful and mesmerizing, and Aki noted absently, slightly dizzying. Or was the dizziness just her? She shrugged, who cared?

Kikyou glance back at the infection her soul collectors had caught. The other woman was jerking to correct her balance every so often. Apparently Aki was suffering some amount of vertigo.

Kikyou shook her head and moved to take a closer look at the gouge in the other woman's head. Aki's gaze shifted and she pressed back into the tree, watching her. Aki's movement gave the dead miko pause.

Aki's stance was much like that of a threatened wounded and delirious youkai. She appeared as if she might lunge forward and knock whoever approached into the next moon cycle. Kikyou recognized it having seen it many times just before she delivered the killing blow.

It was the look in Aki's eyes that had the miko second-guessing. Aki was watching her, but without wariness or suspicion. There was no fear or caution in the youkai's eyes. They barely shone with mild curiosity.

Either Aki didn't view Kikyou as a threat; an insult (or compliment) of great magnitude, or Aki just plain didn't care what happened to her. In the case of the second, Kikyou's work was more than cut out for her.

Kikyou approached slowly, not wanting to set off the lunging/killing part of the youkai in front of her.

Aki huffed out the unique scent of Kikyou's fear. It smelled horribly like sulfur and she just couldn't shake the smell of it. It was making her nauseous, quite a feat in and of itself since she hadn't eaten in days. "What are you so afraid for, Kikyou?" Aki demanded grumpily. "You're already dead. What more can a person do? You expect some great entity out there to come up with death for the dead? They're having enough trouble trying to kill someone who should already be dead."

"By your own argument you should be terrified," Kikyou pointed out while taking another step closer.

"Why?" Aki asked tiredly.

"Because you are still alive," Kikyou answered.

Aki laughed derisively. "There are many kinds of death, Kikyou. They may not all be terminal but they are fatal to something that was once alive, a body, a mind or a soul."

If Kikyou were alive, she might have shivered at Aki's creepy declaration. If she were alive, she very likely would've let it drop and continued on her way, shaking off the encounter. But Kikyou was dead and she was determined to dress Aki's many hurts. And being dead made little else seem creepy anymore.

At least now Kikyou knew Aki wouldn't pounce. Though she wasn't sure if it was better for Aki to disregard the dangers of the world because she didn't care than to simply view Kikyou as a non-threat. Being a non-threat required less work and care. Kikyou sighed.

"Let me help you, travel with you, so that I can see that Youkai are not all bad. Let me learn the lesson, if the lesson is there to be learned, that youkai are simply people like anyone else," Kikyou suggested. She figured offering to let Aki dissuade the miko of her prejudices might make it easier to help the strange woman.

Aki sighed, before reluctantly agreeing, "Fine, but I don't rest often and Fred complains a lot."

"Do not!" The ghost yelled defensively.

Kikyou gestured to the ground for Aki to sit. "Indeed." Her not life just got more interesting. Perhaps she was a bit old to be learning new things, but learning not to hate was a lesson worth the effort.

Besides, she did want to help Aki learn to fly.