Insane-san says: Wow. Miko Tennyo, thank you so much. I think your review actually brought tears to my eyes. I hope your Christmas was magnificent and I hope your New Year is even more so. In answer to your question about the title, it came very randomly to me, though it does mean something about the story. I think the overall reason I picked out the title is because of this: Before I wrote this story, I was reading many Greek myths for fun. They are very interesting (though sometimes stupid). There is an old Greek myth about how the peacock came to be. Hera, queen of Olympus, finds out that Zeus, her husband, has killed her faithful servant, Argus. Argus was a beast-man with many eyes covering his entire body. I'll quote the myth for you: To make sure that her faithful servant Argus would never be forgotten, she took his hundred bright eyes and put them on the tail of the peacock, her favorite bird. The eyes could no longer see, but they looked gorgeous, and that went to the peacock's little head, and made it the vainest of all animals.

Before this happened, the peacock was just an ordinary bird. I sort of took the story of the peacock and put Kagome in its place. Kagome was just a normal girl until she found out she was above all other beings because of her sacred powers. She is being herself so that it doesn't all go to her head so she won't become vain.

Reading that over, it sounds kind of stupid, but it holds a lot of depth for me. It's sore of poetic, haha...Thanks for reading, Miko Tennyo. I look forward to more reviews from you. Thank you so much. I hope you are satisfied with my explanation of the title. Have a wonderful new year! You can have as much spiked egg nog as you want!

Peacock Feathers

XVI

"Remind me where we're going again, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha, once again, ignored me. I had asked that same question a few times, and each time he answered, I couldn't understand what he was saying. It was a town with many shops, I knew that much, but the name of it escaped me. Maybe it was in another language? Heck, I had no idea. So after the fourth time asking, he just ignored me. I tried asking nicely for him to say it slowly, but he'd laugh at me. It was embarrassing...

A small ghost girl had been following us ever since we passed a small graveyard on the side of the path we were walking on. She had bright eyes and a sad, curious face. I tried talking to her a few times, but her face would look like Inuyasha's and she'd ignore me. So that's how I walked. Being ignored. It was like I was walking alone.

Depressing...

Inuyasha stopped to stretch and crack the joints in his arms. There were apple trees to our left and I ran to pick one. I jumped and grabbed a red, shiny one. It was bigger than both my hands. I grinned and grabbed another one. They were tough to get down, but I managed. By myself. I took a bite of one and could barely get a grip on it with my teeth, it was so big. It was sweet and juicy.

"Hey, Inuyasha," I called out. "If you ask me...One more time...!" He started angrily. I ran up next to him going, "No, no, no," I reached his side and held out my other apple. Well, it wasn't mine from the start. I realized when I had picked the second one that I had picked it for him. "I got an apple for you." I said cheerfully. I couldn't see his face well because it wasn't turned all the way towards me so I don't know what his reaction was. "...You picked it for..." I smiled. "For you." I finished.

He stood there, looking at the apple in silence. Then he reached up placed his clawed fingers on it. I looked at his hand as he took the apple from me. I waited with a smile for him to say something. I watched his fingers sort of grip the apple tighter and he made a noise like he wanted to say something. But then he turned around and started walking again, quicker than before.

I didn't really take notice as to why he was acting that way, so I just groaned loudly and said, "Why are we walking faster? We were already walking fast before and I don't--"

"Oh...Sorry." He stammered.

I stopped walking and fell into the ghost girl. The icey chill covered me from the waist down and I gasped loudly. I jumped forward and spun around to face the girl. "Listen, you should be careful. I know it was me who stopped walking and whatever, but you shouldn't be walking so close." I said, wagging a finger. She stared blankly at me and tilted her head to her shoulder. Her long pig-tailed hair wagged over her shoulder and she blinked. I sighed and turned back around.

I saw Inuyasha move in a way that looked like he had just turned back around. I took another large bite of my apple and remembered how I was the only one who could see ghosts. 'It must look weird every time I go off talking to one of them...' I thought. "Is the apple good?" I asked as I took another bite of my own. I heard his crunching and felt the need to make some conversation.

"Ah...Yeah." He said in a calm voice. I felt my eyes narrow in concentration at his back and I wondered why he was suddenly acting so funny. "Y'know, where I come from apples don't get this big." I said with a grin, taking another bite of the apple. Inuyasha made a noise of acknowledgement. I sighed happily and took another bite. The sweet juice flowed into my mouth and I decided I should have picked more of the apples for later when I would be hungry again.

"Will there be more fruit where we're going, Inuyasha?" I asked loudly. I heard him take another rough bite. "Yeah. Different kinds." He said. I smiled happily and said, "That's good. So all of the fruit here is different...Right?" I swallowed a mouthful of apple. "Yeah, there's loads. Most of them are nasty. If they're bigger than your hand, then they're good." I held out my hand with a stupid smile and thought about it. "That's so cool." I said. My eyes widened as a sudden wave of surprise came over me. "Woah, what about vegetables? And animals?" I asked with my mouth open.

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder; his golden eyes barely visible through the wall of his silver hair. He gave me a strange look and then looked away. "Hey, what's with that look?" I said, pushing my eyebrows together in question. "Nothin', I've just never...Had someone rely on me for so much information before." He said, taking a noisy bite of his apple.

My eyes widened with a blink and I turned my apple over. "Didn't you have people relying on you at the city?" I asked. He shook his head. "It's not like I know a lot, it's just that I know stuff that you don't." I stared at the ground as I walked with a thoughtful expression. "That's true..." I sighed.

'Good job Kagome, now you're admitting that you're ignorant.' I hit myself over the head mentally and stared at my half-eaten apple. "What happened, Inuyasha...To that city we were at?" I asked. I was walking on eggs. I had to be careful not to crack any open. It took a few moments, but Inuyasha eventually answered me.

"There's a demon guy goin' around right now. A horrible demon who doesn't feel sorry for anything or anyone. He's said to show up every four-thousand years. He's a monster. He's more powerful than anyone and more evil than you know." I stopped in mid-bite to listen to him. I was getting nervous. "He kills for fun and wants to rule everything. It's also said that every four-thousand years...A Chosen One shows up, too."

I smiled dumbly and finished my bite. "That's me." I said. He nodded.

"Yeah..." Inuyasha said distantly. "When that Chosen comes, if it comes," He said. "Its job is to destroy...The evil demon." The little ghost girl ran in a circle around me and then stopped once she was behind me again. "But first it has to be trained to be strong enough to destroy the evil." I said in a far-away voice.

"Nn...Yeah. And if you're not strong enough, you'll be killed. And the world will be taken over and all will be thrown into darkness and chaos." He finished and tossed his apple core into the grass. "That's what the books say."

I stared in a sick way at the rest of my un-eaten apple and threw it into the grass. "I thought something like that." I muttered. I tried to force myself out of the shock and fear, but I was falling. I was falling far down into some kind of hole in my mind.

"Anyway," Inuyasha said. "He slipped passed everyone's deffenses and somehow managed to get into your room. I came in and attacked him, but he escaped. Next thing I know, everything's on fire." I heard him growl, but he cut it off.

"So the Chosen has a guardian to protect it untl it's strong enough to protect itself?" I asked, staring blankly at the dirt path. "Even after that." Inuyasha said. Kagome felt a smile tug at her lips when she saw the back of Inuyasha's head. "I just realized that I'm not going to be alone through everything. You're the same as me, aren't you, Inuyasha?"

He didn't answer me. "You're in the same boat. You're stuck with your job like I'm stuck with mine." I suddenly felt myself feeling better after thinking of those horrible thoughts. "If you die, you fail. If I die, we both fail." I actually started laughing. I think maybe it was to cover up the fear of death. Not to say I was seriously thinking I was going to die, but it was sickly comforting thinking about all of that.

Then I heard Inuyasha start laughing, too. The same laugh as mine. Strange and almost forced. "I hadn't thought that through." He said.

Our laughter died down and stopped. I started wishing we had kept on laughing because now everything was silent. Silence left spaces for thoughts and I didn't want to think right then. "Let's do our best, Inuyasha." I said.

"Okay." He replied.

Ever since that time, I saw Inuyasha differently. I felt different towards him, too. It was like he was almost...It was like I considered him my best friend suddenly.

Soon, the sun was in the middle of the sky. The ghost girl was humming a haunting tune that brought my spirits down. I wanted her to leave, but what could I do? Inuyasha told me that we'd be at the town in a few minutes, but I was impatient. I was losing my temper and starting to feel whiny. The sun was hot and I found myself repeating the girl's depressing song in my head and making up words for it.

"Inuyasha," I whined. "Make her stop. I don't think she understands this language." I groaned pathetically. Inuyasha pushed his hair behind his shoulder and turned his head towards me. "Start cursing at her or somethin'." He said with a sigh. He was uncomfortable like me, I knew. It was a bad day and we both wanted to go somewhere cool.

"Go away you...Darned little brat!" I said forcefully. I felt a smirk jump onto my face. 'That felt kind of good!' I said to myself, shocked. I looked over at Inuyasha, almost waiting for praise, but he looked strangely disgusted. "That was it?" He asked. My triumphant smirk faded to a frown and I said, "It was."

Inuyasha turned all the way around and stared. "Point to where she is." He said. I glanced over my shoulder and pointed to the emotionless-faced girl. Inuyasha walked up to where I was pointing.

The next thing that happened was very...Not kid-friendly, you could say. Some of the curses he said I never knew existed until he said them. And they were burned there in my mind to be repeated through my head.

Inuyasha finished his cursing with a kick of dirt at her. The girl's face was terrified and she faded.

I felt suddenly...So sorry for her. My eyes welled up. "Oooh..."

"Gaaah...What?" Inuyasha asked with annoyance. "I feel sad now." I said. "She's gone, isn't she? That's what you wanted." Inuyasha said, shaking his head as we walked. "Yeah, but she was..." I sighed and pushed hair out of my face.

"Ah, we're here." Inuyasha said loudly. I ran up next to him with a happy laugh. There was a little wooden sign that said...Oh gosh, I have no idea what it said to this day. It was in some strange language or something. Whatever the case, I couldn't pronounce it. The path went from dirt to gravel and we entered the town. Everything was very plain-looknig. Cottages made of pale wood, children running and laughing, people selling chickens and produce on the side of the roads.

"We're goin' this way." He informed me. I walked next to him and looked around at the busy people. Soon we were in front of a shop made of large logs. A sign stuck out above the door that looked like a sword. Inuyasha pulled the door open and we went inside. It smelled like coal and burning metal. Smoke floated around the shop and an old man stood behind a counter, pollishing a spear. What little hair he had was pulled back in a greasy little pony-tail. He had a thin sort of grey goatee and he was very skinny. He had baggy green clothes on and large, vacant eyes.

"Welcome to the weapon shop. If you have any questio--My goodness! If it isn't Inuyasha." He said in a hoarse voice.

"Yeah, yeah. It's me." Inuyasha said, walking up to the counter. It was so amazing to me at how it seemed like everyone knew Inuyasha. "Well, I take it you've heard about the little incident up north. I lost my weapons and need some more." Inuyasha said stiffly. "Is that how you greet the person who's made every weapon you've touched?" The old man asked, his bulging eyes focused on me.

"Who are you, my father? I'll greet you however I want." Inuyasha said, baring his fangs. "I don't have time for this. I need some weapons!" The old man scratched the top of his balding head with a bony, clawed finger. "I think I'm losing my hearing in this ear, could you repeat that?" Inuyasha lost his patience and he straightened himself up with a growl. "Don't be a fool! We don't have years, Toutousai, now get me some swords."

I raised my eyebrows and knew that Inuyasha was being a little rude, but he was technically in the right. I walked closer to the counter and examined the spear Toutousai had been pollishing. It shimmered with the oils and was extremely long and pointy. 'Shish kabob...' I thought in a murmur.

Toutousai patted a hand against his little pointed ear and opened his bony jaw in a senile way. Inuyasha slammed a fist on the countertop and lowered his head.with clenched fangs. "Toutousai," He drawled through his teeth. "Hello." He pushed himself up straight and glared. Toutousai kept his mouth open. "Well, hello. How may I help you?" He blinked and then said, "My God, Inuyasha, it's you." He said. "What brings you here?" Inuyasha took a deep breath to calm himself and I bit back a disbelieving laugh.

"I need...some weapons." Inuyasha hissed. Toutousai nodded lightly and went to a door behind the counter. He opened it and black smoke poured out. I heard the roaring and crackling of flames. He went inside the room and closed the door. I coughed in my fist and felt my eyes water. I pressed my hands against my cheeks to cool them.

The door opened again and Toutousai walked out. However, he didn't have any weapons from what I could see. Toutousai walked up to the counter and opened his hand in front of Inuyasha. Inuyasha flicked his ears back and he bent his head closer to Toutousai's opened hand. I looked closer, too. In his hand were two pieces of metal. They actually looked like... "Hair pins?" Inuyasha seethed. "Yes. Hair pins. I never really thought about it before but I guess long hair gets annoying. It's not a surprise that you asked for these hair pins now that I think about it..."

Inuyasha threw his head back and let out a frustrated yell. He jumped over the counter and opened the door. He disappeared in the smoke. I coughed lightly in my hand and glanced up at Toutousai. He was staring right at me with such a blank look. "H...Hello." I said carefully. He didn't answer and continued to stare. Silence followed and I wished for Inuyasha to come back quickly.

"So..." Toutousai said. My eye twitched on its own. "You must be..." I flicked my eyes over to a shelf full of bottles of pollish. 'Here it comes...' I whined in my head.

"Inuyasha's girlfriend." He said, pointing a finger at me. My face contorted and my lip winced. "Whu...What? No! I'm the-"

"So why him, huh? You like air-headed guys who do things without thinking? Guys who...Beat up their swords?" He rasped with a blink. My face was red and I thought, 'Air-headed...?' I waved my hands in front of me. "No, nothing like that. You see, I'm-"

"In love with him, no doubt...Or maybe you're using him. Or maybe he's using you...I suppose I knew Inuyasha would turn out to be that kind of guy, knowing the life he's lived..." Toutousai rubbed his chin with his thin hand and stared up at the ceiling.

"That's not it!" I shouted in embarrassed desperation. "He's my guardian!" I cried, rubbing the side of my face with the back of my hand. Toutousai nodded. "That is so bittersweet," He said. "But find out if he's using you, girl. You'll get hurt!" He said. I slapped my hands over my burning face and shook my head.

Inuyasha came through the door with two swords and a white bow. "Kagome, sword or bow?" He asked. "Hey, what happened to you?" He asked, staring at me. I crossed my arms over my chest and suddenly found the dusty floor interesting. "Nothing, really." I said quietly. "I don't know how to use either." I said, stealing a quick glance at the weapons he held. Inuyasha shook his head. "Whatever. Then I'll take both of them. You'll learn how to use them anyway." He said, putting a sword in a sheath at his side.

"Well, we'll be going, Toutousai." Inuyasha said, his voice hinting that his mind was elsewhere. "See you around. C'mon, Kagome." Inuyasha said, walking out the front door. I ran after him, catching a last embarrassed glance at Toutousai.

"Bye-bye, Chosen One!" Toutousai called as the door closed.

"That stupid...!" I started, clenching my fists as I walked behind Inuyasha. "What?" Inuyasha asked, glancing down at me. I turned my red face away from him and glared through the dirty glass window of the weapon shop. "That Toutousai is a strange person." I said quietly. Inuyasha just went, "Keh," and we walked through the busy town until we reached the other side.

Insane-san says: Another chapter done. I should really make them longer...They seem so puny sometimes. I mean, if I can write chapters that are over 6,000 words long, then surely I can stretch these out a little more. What do you think? Review please, you happy people. I hope I shed some light on you. (I didn't get any dandruff along with that shedding I hope.)