A/N: And here is chapter eight. Thank you for all the lovely reviews. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well, and like always enjoy this one as well. Let me know what all of you think.
To answer one of the questions from one of my guest reviewers: I'm not sure if Kōga's ever going to be interested in Chiharu, but he will be interested in Kagome, just as in canon. But he might be more likely to use Chiharu for his own interests. Though, I won't make any promises (I might have forgotten him, until you mentioned the Wolf-prince…)
InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Enjoy chapter eight and let me know what you all think! Reviews are greatly appreciated.
o.O.o
Chapter Eight, Intertwined
'I'm an enigma, an unknown. You can't really figure out what I'm going to do next. I like it that way.' — Emmitt Smith
On the gentle sloping ground of the cliff, watching out over the largest river in miles, sat a large palace shrine, usually hidden from view by a thick, damp mist. When Chiharu had been small she had insisted on her own birthday party just as Kagome had insisted on hers and, considering creativity wasn't their parents main skill, they always had the same birthday parties every year.
On Kagome's birthday party they went bowling and visited a karaoke box close to their last home, and on Chiharu's birthday party their parents took the twin girls and their friends to a climbing wall. Considering they took them to these places and considering Chiharu had always liked sports, going to the climbing wall was the best day in the year each year. The moulded features and coloured route markers had never interested her much as long as she was the first to arrive at the top.
So when faced with a high mountain to get to the Sennin it was a given that Chiharu chose to climb. And that went well enough, considering her stronger endurance and even with Sesshomaru's Youki, which Chiharu considered probably had changed her DNA enough to empower faster healing (which she did), than yes, she could say she was doing reasonably well. That was if she forgot she wasn't wearing the proper climbing equipment she'd normally used and if she hadn't been carrying the extra load that was her sister.
"You're doing so good, Chiharu-chan." Kagome whispered, arms and legs locked around her sister as if she was her lifeline (she probably was).
"I hope you do realise that if we fall, I'm going to survive it, while you might not and I'll have to explain to mama and to Jii-san why you're not coming home, right?"
"Don't be pessimistic." Kagome lectured. "You're almost there."
Chiharu glanced up at the foggy cliff above her and exhaled. If she made it she was going to strangle Miroku. Apparently emitting hostile youki meant she was capable to carry her sister up a mountain. Her grip on her reiki faltered for a moment, just as pushed herself up the gentle slope of a cliff and she gasped. Shippou landed next to her panting loudly and Miroku had gone as pale as a sheet. Kagome scrambled to the low hanging bush and momentarily lay there, her school skirt scarcely covering past the swell of her hips. Chiharu still did not understood why her older sister insisted on wearing her school uniform. The large palace shrine was standing in front of them.
"Dear God," she whispered, "we actually made it."
As her Reiki thrummed through her blood, she gasped flopping back on her back and grounding her jaws together. His hostile aura washing over her
"Chiharu-chan?"
Miroku scrabbled towards her and she had to bat his hands away. "Just go." She gasped. It would pass. It always did.
"We can't leave you here you—" her older sister started but clamped her mouth shut when Chiharu glared at her.
"No, I'm fine." She gasped. "Just need a moment. "Go right ahead, my nose will find you." She said, and as they disappeared through the door she started to massage her temple. "Or at least I think my nose will find you. Considering my luck I'll probably run into that Sennin-guy before I run into you lot, but that's all fine and dandy."
Her breathing remained laboured for a few minutes. When she finally felt good enough, reiki once again pushed back, she slowly sat up. The sun had nearly completely set and she rubbed her hands together in worry. She wasn't entirely sure what she should expect with Inuyasha turning human, but his scent had been slightly off.
Hair falling loosely around her shoulders she carefully slipped inside of the palace shrine. Small brown weasel like creatures looked up, startled. She brushed her hair out of her face and passed them with quick steps, ignoring their surprised faces. Her sister's scent had suddenly stopped and she frowned when she noticed the large piece of the Shikon-No-Tama lying carelessly on the floor. Picking it up, she slowly pointed her nose in the air — like she'd seen Inuyasha do many times before — and sniffed delicately. Her scent was still in the room, around the large garden box, but yet she was nowhere around. As she sniffed again the scent of blood, coppery and heavy in the air filled the room and she also noticed the sound of heavy feet beating against stone floor, coming closer. Glancing around she pressed herself hurriedly against the wall next to the wooden door and, as the door missed her face by inches she slipped past a large fat man with sandy hair and a strange looking staff.
She didn't doubt that must have been the Sennin, but as the scent of blood grew stronger (and it was familiar as well), she hurried away. The palace shrine was a bit of a maze and if was only because of luck being on her side and effectively tracking the scent of blood that she found herself on a wooden landing in front of another door. The wood creaked softly and she frowned again as she inhaled deeply. It was Inuyasha's, yet it wasn't…
Shaking her head to clear it from the confusing unproductive buzz, she glanced at the door again. It was scratched and dented with chipped varnish and the brass coloured lock was oxidised with time. Tired of running behind the facts she quickly kicked the door in. Watching her little brother play his video games actually payed off as the door slammed against the wall. She slowly stepped in the darkened room, glancing around as her only source of light was provided by a small diffuse ray of fire light.
A boy, a long mane of black hair and dark brown eyes, was captured in large thorny vines. She slowly stepped closer sniffing him probably not as ladylike as her mother would have liked and gasped.
"Inuyasha?"
His eyes, slightly glazed, came into focus immediately. His eyes widened and his struggles momentarily intensified. "You?"
Blood ran freely from the wound created by thorns digging into his pale human flesh and grabbed his arms trying to hold him still. "Stop! You're only bleeding yourself out like this."
Ignoring the slight drum of fear, adrenaline and worry working its way up her bloodstream she pulled an arrow out and started to cut one arm free, trying to not hurt him any further. Blood was quickly spreading over his clothing drenching his apple red clothes a deep scarlet.
"Quicker!" He snapped. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know, they hid themselves. You should consider it a miracle I found you and— Oh For Kami's sake who cares," she muttered to herself, notching an arrow on her bow she took a step back and aimed at the ceiling where the vines seemed to be coming from.
His face paled quite a bit and she grounded her jaws together as her reiki intensified the almost dormant tingles up her spine. She concentrated, drew the string back and released the arrow. It sizzled loudly when it struck and just like that one time when she'd slightly lost the control over her magic the vines started to dissolve as Reiki and something else, something darker ate at the greenery. She clumsily caught him when the vines around his arms and legs dropped away. The vines seemed to have literally sucked out part of his blood as a dark coppery smelling liquid joined the fallen drops of Inuyasha's blood and she draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled up to his feet.
"We need to find Kagome," he wheezed and she nodded.
"I know," she whispered. "I'm just— I don't smell her blood, that's a scent that's easy to follow, but I can track her. I think."
"What?"
She hadn't heard him coming. She wasn't paying attention to the clear footsteps beating against the floor and she felt her face pale.
"Another one?"
The Sennin was ever larger up front than from his back. He had a large protruding belly, barely covered by a dark kimono top and a fur vest. His hideous face was scrunched up in though (he didn't look very bright) and as Chiharu looked him up and down in disgust, she noticed the bright gleam of a Shikon shard in his belly.
"What do you mean another one?" the Hanyō snapped. "What did yeh do to Kagome!"
"What do you think I did?" He asked sarcastically. "What humans are good for, I ate her."
"You what—" Inuyasha leaped at him and Chiharu almost dropped face first to the floor as he accidentally dragged her with him.
"No, wait I don't smell any blood or gore on him. At least not my sister's." Chiharu whispered as she dragged the now human boy back.
"That doesn't matter. He doesn't need to smell like blood. He uses some kind of sorcery that shrinks you."
"I—"
Her school clothes, the green school skirt and the red scarf of their uniform jacket fell to the floor as Tōkajin stepped forward. Chiharu felt her grip on the Hanyō slack and for a moment it was like all of her senses were numb, not registering anything around her. He had eaten her sister— He had—
Tōkajin grinned dangerously sweeping a large fist at the dark-haired boy and slammed him in the wall. "I'll kill you, you bastard!"
She felt it literally rip at her as pure undiluted anger worked itself in her bloodstream. She felt it scorch at her limbs and settle heavily into her finger tips. She drew back so fast she thought the string of her bow might snap and released the arrow, pushing so much force, all of her bottled-up emotions into it. It flared a swathe of brilliant light and Tōkajin had only a second to throw himself out of the way. The crack was ear-deafening and the wall crumbled under the fury that was her cackling power. A large part of the roof clapped down and barely missed Inuyasha as he crawled hurriedly over to her and she felt her aura blow erratically against her skin. Another wall and perhaps even one behind that collapses down as well and when it did, a large plume of dirt expanded up in the air. A large chunk of concrete had slammed into the Sennin's head and he didn't move anymore.
Chiharu gasped and slowly sank to the floor, her shoulders slumping and her body momentarily stunned into a numb silence. A few dark strands of hair had escaped from her pony tail and hung loosely around her face. Blank-faced and pale, Inuyasha stared at her. A large part of the palace shrine was wracked, the roof gone, partly collapsed on it self and debris covering the floor.
The excitement of the anger from earlier had drained her a bit and now the reality crashed down onto her. She had done that. She'd take down half of the house, walls shrinking as her magic was dissolving it. She had done this, in a fit of rage. And Kagome—
"Hold on Kagome!" Inuyasha cried, his voice somewhat high-pitched and his eyes wide when he scrambled towards fat man. "I'll slice the bastard open!"
"Inuyasha! He didn't eat her!"
Miroku's voice came from where Tōkajin lay and, although mightily suspicious, she slowly inched closer. She hadn't seen him before. He hadn't been there when she shot her arrow. Was he hurt? Had she hurt him? She paused when she noticed a miniature version of Miroku.
"She wasn't eaten." He cried. "He took her to the kitchen."
"She's all right!" Chiharu whispered catching a miniature version of Shippou as he started to climb up her arm and settled on her collar. "Are you sure? Those are her clothes."
"Yes," Miroku muttered, his tiny face scrunched up as glancing around into what was left of the room and the corridors behind it. "Damn! Definitely shouldn't get on your bad side."
"Sniff her out!" Inuyasha snapped as the girl crouched down and collected her older sister's clothing.
"Right," she mumbled, nose scrunching up as she tried to catch her scent. Miroku pulled himself up on Inuyasha's sleeve and the Hanyō crossed the landing and stumbled off the stairs. Chiharu quickly moved after him and tried to keep him from falling when they descended a second flight of stairs.
Moving through the palace shrine, was tricky. She held her sister's uniform to her chest with one hand, she grasping his arm with the other. While they followed Kagome's scent — strongly mixed with the scent of sake — they heard the roar of fury coming from the Sennin.
"Well, pity he isn't dead." Shippou muttered.
"This way," Chiharu muttered, hauling Inuyasha to a left and down another couple of steps. The part they were in now seemed completely unaffected by the blast that had taken down so much of the shrine and Chiharu sniffed again. She could pick up the clear smell of her sister's scent and as she strained her ears she heard the splashing of water — smelled like sake though — and several heartbeats. "She's here."
"Are you sure, Chiharu-sama?" Miroku asked. She could understand why he was reluctant. Those senses were very new to her. Not to mention that to find her sister's group she had crossed half the country and tracked Inuyasha's group the wrong way for days. Yet, she sniffed again, she was reasonably sure.
"I am," she told them confidently. "Inuyasha, sit down. I'm going to get my sister."
"Feh, the hell you are, wench." The Hanyō snapped even as she forced him down. In human form she was stronger than he was.
"Listen you Baka, she's probably naked and will sit you into next year when you kick the door down. He gave her an annoyed look and she slipped into the room. It was indeed a kitchen, several lower weasel like youkai were bustling around, preparing vegetables and adding more sake to a large basin. Kagome, limbs floating and her head lolled back against the stone basin, sat unconscious in the sake.
With the same startled faces as before the lower level yōkai peered up at Chiharu's face. As she approached her sister, several of them blocked her path, large knives at the ready. She felt that same anger surge through her veins. She had unintentionally faced far larger and far more dangerous yōkai and as one tried to shoo her out of the room with a meat knife she crackled her knuckles.
"Move, or die."
Hair whipping violently about her face as Youki, just as violent as always but for once not aimed at her, swirled around her. It did the trick as many of them screamed and bolted through another exit. She glared at the one who had threatened her (falling over his own feet to get away from her) and stalked towards her sister. She had awakened, eyes wide and mouth slacked.
"Chiharu-chan?" she whispered, voice full of awe. "How?"
"I don't know. I don't care." She answered, her anger still prickling her skin and exciting her senses. "Get out and dress yourself."
"Is that blood?"
She followed her sister's horrified look. The front of her haori and her sleeve were drenched in blood. "It's not mine. Don't look at me like that. It's Inuyasha's. He's hurt and I think we should get out of here."
She nodded slowly, rushed out of the stone basin and redressed. Her cheeks were tinted pink as she found herself without underwear or brassiere and peered up at her younger sister with a fierce scowl. "Where are my shoes and socks?"
"I have no idea." Chiharu answered, slightly amused. "Do you really care?"
"No, I suppose not."
Inuyasha was still seated where she'd left him and his face was pale. Kagome gasped when she noticed him. She knelt by his side, hands smoothing down his sleeves and eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay?"
"Feh, they're just a few scratches. Nothing to worry about." He muttered before looking at Chiharu. "When does the sun rise?"
She raised her eyebrows. "Erm, I don't know. It was pitch-black when I last looked, but I have no idea what time it is now."
"Use your nose, you idiot girl." He snapped Chiharu roughly pulled his arm around her shoulders. He hissed and she patted his wrist absentmindedly before sniffing the air again.
"Fine, what am I supposed to smell, oh-so-patient-teacher?"
"What do you smell?"
"Your blood," she told him point-blank, eyeing him. They were moving again, crossing the kitchen and stepped through the other exit. The palace shrine was even bigger than she'd intentionally thought. She took a deep breath again and tried to focus on something else than the coppery scent that clung to Inuyasha. "I think I smell some medicine…"
"That's me too."
"Than what am I supposed to smell?"
"The grass, fresh water, wet leaves, anything you associate with outside." He told her. Kagome swallowed audible, arms crossed over her chest and Miroku clung to the sleeve of Inuyasha's kosode. Chiharu chewed on her cheek and felt her ears twitch when she heard grasshoppers chirp and an owl hoot.
"I think it's still night." She whispered. "I think I heard an owl."
"Fuck!"
"Chiharu-chan," her older sister whispered slowly. "Exactly what did you mean with sharper senses?"
"Erm, they're a lot sharper I think." Chiharu admitted.
"Of course they are," Inuyasha muttered. "That's the Youki. It changes one's biology. It's why it's just not done."
"I thought it was not done, because humans normally don't survive." Miroku piped up.
"No, it's not done because the match between ningen and yōkai is looked down upon. Not to mention that it should have killed her."
"When we get out of this and assuming we're alive, teach me." She suddenly said, hoisting him more comfortably up against her.
"What?"
"Obviously these things, these senses are mine now. I'll only be a nuisance if I don't know how to work with them, so teach me." She told him. Her senses were a lot sharper than a human's — even thinking that felt weird — and right now they overwhelmed her too much to be helpful. She heard and smelled so much, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to concentrate on and if she could work with them than Sesshomaru would loose the hold he had on her.
"Erm, okay," Inuyasha muttered his face flushing beat-red and Kagome grumbled under her breath. "I suppose I could do that."
"Good,"
They stumbled through the building, Inuyasha's limb getting worse and his face pale. The palace shrine was like a labyrinth, designed to stop the Sennin's pupils to not escape their prison. Despite the Hanyō's grumbling, he had to sit down, slacking down the rough wall and slumped onto one of the steps. Kagome rubbed her hands together and peered down the darkened corridor.
"I'm going to look around for a way out. There has to be—" Chiharu started when suddenly she heard footsteps coming up a set of stairs she couldn't see. The shikon shard, that was embedded in his bellybutton, shone brightly and the stench of human corpses wafted to her nostrils. The door to their right bursted open and before she could even say anything a wooden staff slammed into her temple and she fell backwards, down the stairs. She rolled down the last few steps, her head ringing when her cheek slammed into the rocky wall.
When she came to, someone was pillowing her head on his or her lap. Someone was gripping her hand when she became aware of a soft ache at her temple. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her foggy vision. Kagome's worried face came into vision.
"You're all right?"
Chiharu blinked again. The ache was already dulling and her vision sharpening. "I'm fine. Let me get up!"
They were in a small room, with one window. Large pots were stowed at one wall and an old rug decorated the floor. Torches hung at the wall providing a dim orange light. The door to the room was closed, yet she heard footsteps behind it. As she sat up the door burst open. Someone slammed down onto the floor and the torch nearest to the door fell down the wooden floor, extinguishing when one of the pots tipped over and a transparent liquid sipped into the creaks of the floorboards. Something round or oval rolled to the other side of the room, stilling against the wall but she couldn't identify it.
They were only shapes, as her eyes adjusted to the change of light. She realised the Sennin had found the room she'd been dragged into and Inuyasha, white faced and bloodied was trying to fight Tōkajin off. The large Sennin was commanding his leafy staff, creating huge, vines with sharp thorns. They were larger than the ones she had encountered before, but just like the ones before they tried encasing themselves around Inuyasha. She got shakily to her feet, stumbling to the open window in front of her, catching herself on the railing. They were high up, at least forty feat. It was a sheer drop down and Chiharu didn't think they could have climbed down even when the Sennin hadn't found them.
Long green vines trailed over the floor, like deathly creepers and the Hanyō howled when the thorns ripped open his back and Chiharu winced.
"You evil, horrible—" Kagome started, her face flushed in her anger.
The Sennin glanced at her with dull, dark eyes and shrugged. "I'm not evil, I just wanted to get stronger."
"You're insane, that's what you are. You don't have any respect for human life either." Chiharu huffed, glancing at Inuyasha. "Let me rephrase that, you don't have any regard for anyone else's life at all."
"Humans are worthless," the Sennin whispered and Chiharu curled her fingers into a fist and glared at the large man in front of them. Kagome bodily forced Inuyasha to a saver place against the wall. "They're born helpless. They slave away in filth from morning to night, only to grow old and die. Both my mother and my old man croaked like that. I wasn't going to live in such a pathetic way."
"You're human?" she whispered her regard for him vanishing even more. He chuckled harshly and she felt a prickle of anger settle itself heavily into her limbs. A somewhat familiar tingle ran up her limbs and pressed her lips together. "You're human, yet you eat other humans because you didn't want to grow old and actually contribute to society?"
"Whats wrong with the strong eating the weak? It's the same as a snake eating a frog!"
"Generally snakes eat frogs for food, not out of some misplaced feeling of superiority, you Baka." She snapped back. The creepers were starting towards her, but the magical aura had worked itself around her pushing them back.
"Go ahead and get her angry," she heard Inuyasha whisper but his words barely registered.
"Why don't you look at the flowers?" the Peach man whispered lightly, waving his staff again. Small flowers drifted around her but Chiharu didn't care much for them, notched an arrow and glared at the Peach man.
"Why don't you feel my arrow!" She snapped back, releasing the arrow. He seemed to have learned not to take her arrows lightly and jumped out of the way before sending the large creepers at her again. The arrow lodged itself into the floorboard. The spiritual power ate at his staff and the creepers designated under her pressure. Tōkajin ground his teeth together as he slowly got up to his feet and Chiharu glared at him.
His flowers were gone. She was unsure what they were supposed to do and Shippou whimpered from his spot on her shoulder. "How do you like it when someone else is stronger than you?" She hissed. "You don't seem to handle spiritual power very well."
He suddenly lunged at her. She didn't have the time to notch another arrow, but she did have enough time to raise her arms in front of her head. Except for a few beginners classes in karate when she was a child, she had no experience with hand-to-hand combat and jumped uselessly out of the way. She wasn't fast enough though and it was only because of Inuyasha, suddenly pushing her out of the way and taking the full brunt of the Sennin's attack that she escaped unscathed.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice echoed dauntingly off against the ceiling. Inuyasha was flung through the room, harshly slamming into one of the large jars at the other end of the room. It broke open, spilling the same odd smelling liquid from before, but this time Chiharu recognised the oval things that rolled over the floor. Several empty eyes glanced back at her and she reeled when she looked at the human heads.
"My medicine," Tōkajin muttered.
The shards of the earthy pot were sprinkled over Inuyasha's body and he slowly stumbled to his feet and in an unfocused moment he drove the rusty point of his Tetsusaiga sword into the socket of Tōkajin's left eye. The cannibal howled in pain and anger. With a snarl of anger he slammed his huge rocky fist into Inuyasha once more. A sickening crack followed and Kagome screamed when his arm dropped uselessly to his side, bend in an odd angle.
"Chiharu-chan!" Kagome cried. "The Shikon-shard!"
"I'm going to rip you apart!" The Sennin hissed.
She notched another arrow on her bow and peered at his back. With a furious cry she released the arrow with all of her bottled up emotions, beams of purple light exploding from within her. Kagome emitted a terrible high-pitched little shriek as the arrow struck Tōkajin. The Sennin howled in pain as the energy burned through him and the shikon-shard dropped from his belly-button. Large rips and gashes ran over his body and as invincible as he'd seemed, blood gushed out of the newly formed wounds. He dropped down, face to the wooden floor and momentarily didn't move. Her older sister squealed, crossing the room and throwing both arms around her neck.
"You did it! You're bloody scary doing it as well, but you did it!"
"Is he dead?" She softly whispered.
Inuyasha had struggled to his feet and suddenly Tōkajin charged at them. "How dare you!" Both sisters cried out, eyes wide and backs hit the windowsill. There was nowhere to move but out and Chiharu arms shook when she felt the strange aura churn around her body again.
"Duck!"
Inuyasha came flying after the Sennin and, as the girls fell to their knees, he used his entire body weight and the momentum, sending Tōkajin out of the window. Chiharu and Kagome both gasped loudly when the Hanyō went after him over the railing and down the cliff.
"No!" Kagome howled loudly. The girl crossed the room, jumped over the debris and the still smoking creepers and ran towards the door. The sun was slightly peeking over the horizon from the East and Chiharu slowly got up from her crouched down position and peered down the cliff. It was certainly fifty feet down and as a human… she shuddered. She couldn't see them, both fallen below the layer of fog that still hovered a few feet above the ground.
"Chiharu-chan?"
"Yes," she whispered, hurrying out of the room as well. She paid no heed to the creepers, still withering around, or the debris that covered the floor. She did however remember to pick up the shikon shard, dropping it in the jar, with the other ones she carried, and started to look for the exit. Luckily she found a pathway that didn't require any rock-climbing skills and soon she was sprinting down a long set of stairs. When she finally reached the ground, Shippou had returned to his normal size, apparently the magic that shrunk him only worked in the palace shrine and she felt her shoulders lock together when her eyes fell upon the Sennin. He lay still next to the sole tree with the heads, in a pool of his own blood. She froze.
Tiny claws bit into her shoulders and Shippou started to shake. "Is he dead?"
"Come help me!" Kagome demanded shrilly. "We have to save him. The Sennin fell right upon him and—"
"Kagome, if he did… Falling from such height, with all those injuries, as a human. There's no way he could have survived that, but with the Sennin—"
"He probably died without regrets Kagome-sama. He wanted to save you—" Miroku, back to his normal height and size as well, opted unhelpfully as, Chiharu walked over to the Sennin. He was lying face down, his back covered in scratches and burns. She wasn't sure if she could flip him over. Even without being death weight, the Sennin had been huge.
"I didn't ask for this!" Kagome cried grief-stricken, her cheeks flushing to a dark red and slowly Chiharu tried pushing him over. The sun was finally reaching above the mountains and the morning air was cool and damp. "He kept fighting even when he was so hurt. That idiot."
"Yes, he was an idiot." Miroku considered.
"The biggest of them all!" Shippou wailed and with a grunt, magic empowering her limbs, she heaved the Sennin up and rolled him on his back. Except from the large crater originated from the impact of the fall, there was no Inuyasha.
"Erm, guys?"
"Who. Are. You. Calling. An. Idiot?" Inuyasha's furious voice interrupted.
The Hanyō lowered himself out of the trees with the heads. He was still looking as if he had an altercation with a bus, but other than that Inuyasha looked almost fine. His appearance had reverted back to normal. That was if you didn't count the furious expression that had twisted his expression.
"Hell, you really had an angel on your shoulder." Chiharu whispered as the others fussed around him.
She suddenly realised that the pain had been gone. It had been gone since the moment she blew up half of Tōkajin's house. Rolling her shoulders she exhaled loudly. They were gone. Right now it didn't matter much, but as she took the stairs leading down back towards the river-mound, it certainly did make moving easier.
To be continued…