"A drinking game?"

My eyes looked to the person sitting next to Kagome. It was InuYasha who asked. This, of course, gained me the attention of Sango and Miroku who sat across me and Kagome. As they had all finished their meals they, too, were beginning to grow rather bored.

My grin widened. "Yeah! A drinking game! You play a game where drinking is either a punishment or a reward. Haven't you ever head of it before?"

Miroku nodded. "Yes, I have heard of it. I have actually participated in a few myself." He smiled. "In the company of beautiful women…"

"Wow, you must be really proud of yourself," I said sarcastically and did not miss the nasty look his wife sent him. "With you being a monk an all…"

He shut up, giving a pleading look to Sango who huffed.

I did not know the two of them as well as I would have liked. I knew the monk was a pervert, but to what extent exactly?

Not wanting to dwell on it I continued.

"Regardless, I can guarantee that you haven't heard of my drinking game, people," I smiled and pulled something out of my jacket pocket. "Would you like to join me?"

I surveyed their interested faces and squealed when they all nodded.

"Well, the drinking game is called 'Fuck the Dealer'," I announced dramatically. "It is basically a card game – hence the 'Dealer'." I waved a deck of cards I had brought from home.

Kagome looked about ready to facepalm herself. There had been a reason why I had chose this particular game to begin with. The reason?

When Kagome had passed her second year in college with ease I had introduced the game to her on a party with some of her friends to lighten her spirit after the extremely tough exam I had given her and her fellow students.

And, boy, did that girl play. She ended up as one fucked up dealer by the end of the night. It had gone to the extent where Kagome had ended up losing her reputation as a sweet, innocent girl and had instead become a girl who liked to party – hard.

I snickered.

Kagome looked like the living dead the following day and I knew that the game did not bring any happy memories to mind. She had been impossible to deal with, and while it had been rather exhausting to control the abnormally loud girl, I wished to see her again from time to time.

I could not have brought her home that night. She was far too gone. Besides, I did not want to face one angry Mrs. Higurashi…

"I'll be the 'Dealer' in the beginning so that you're able to see how it works. And the rules are really easy, my friends," I started. "In my hand I hold a deck of playing cards. They are named and numbered. I will look at the card on the top and the players have to guess which card is in my hand."

At their confused expression I turned to Kagome.

"Kagome, let's show them."

I pulled up a card with the number ten. "What card is on my hand?"

She eyed me carefully. Her mouth had been drawn into thin line and her eyes narrowed. "Six."

I turned to the others. "Now, I don't have the card with number six on it on my hand. Meaning that my card contains a higher or lower number. If the number on my hand was lower, I'd simply say 'down'. But the card on my hand is higher than Kagome's six and so I say 'up'."

"Then, I guess ten," Kagome said.

I glared at her, causing her to smile. She was right.

"Since Hannah's card is obviously ten she, as the 'Dealer' is punished. She has to drink five sips of her drink," Kagome explained as I drank my five sips of punishment. "The game contains only punishments. Let's say that I guessed ten on my first try – the 'Dealer' would have to drink ten sips of his or her drink. But since I only managed to guess correctly on my second guess, she has to drink five."

"Ten sips of her sake?" Sango asked, horrified.

"Yeah," I breathed and put down my cup. "It's called 'Fuck the Dealer' after all. The main goal of this game is to screw the 'Dealer' over by having him or her drink as much as possible by guessing correctly."

"That's an amazingly large amount of sips, Miss Moore," Miroku voiced and eyed his own cup of sake.

"It gets better," Kagome laughed. "If I had guessed 'King' instead of ten, I'd have to drink the number in between 'King', which is thirteen, and ten."

"Hannah is the only 'Dealer' in the game?" InuYasha asked.

"No, I'm not. That would kill me," I said with a laugh. "If I manage to get past three people, each guessing on three cards, the deck of cards is handed to the person to my left." I gestured towards Kagome. "And if she manages the same, it'll be InuYasha's turn and so on. It's really fun, and it becomes easier in the end of the game."

"Why?" Sango asked.

"The 'Dealer' has to place the revealed card on the table, in this case, the floor. All the players are allowed to see which cards have past and can guess which remains. There are four cards of each number and, let's say, when all four fours are on the floor, they are removed so that only the remaining numbers are left," I finished.

I explained the game throughout and by the end InuYasha looked extremely interested.

I grinned.

"Shall we play?"

I volunteered to be the 'Dealer' in the beginning. It turned out pretty well. Of course, being new to both the game and the cards, Kagome and I had to explain along the way. I realized my error by bringing western European cards to the Feudal Japan. The numbers were foreign to them as they had a far easier – or at least according to them – number system.

I managed to pass my first round, being clean. Kagome had no such luck. She had been stuck with Sango, who had been her second guesser in the game. Eventually, Sango had not managed to guess the number and the round had been left to Miroku. Unfortunately, he had left to check on the children that had been left with Kaede for the night. Poor Shippou who had found our 'adult game' boring had gone with him. I suppose he would rather hang with kids than us.

Miroku had announced he would be back for the game shortly.

Apparently, it had been 'interesting.'

In the end, it had been my turn to guess on poor Kagome.

"Eight."

"Damn you!" she cursed and forcefully grabbed her cup of sake. I watched her throat as she drank, counting the sips. She stopped at seven, announcing that her cup was empty. I handed her my own, earning myself a glare, which I laughed off.

A woman came and refilled our cups. When I asked her to leave it there she had been rather surprised, but left it there nonetheless. Kagome finished her ten sips and looked at yet another card. Boy, did I feel sorry for this girl.

"Eight."

"Down," she grinned.

I surveyed the cards on the table. Eighteen cards had passed, meaning that there were thirty-four cards to go. And there had been no aces yet. I grinned.

"Ace."

"Fuck you!" she exclaimed in English and threw the card on the floor.

"How are you so good at this?" InuYasha asked and I smiled.

"I guess you can say that I've played it a few times…"

"You drink on a regular basis?" Sango asked. Women did not drink as much in this time, I knew. They usually only served the drinks to the men. I nodded my head.

Kagome finished her five sips of punishment. "Hannah is Norwegian," she breathed. "They drink often and usually a lot."

Sango turned her brown orbs towards me again.

"It's true," I shrugged.

"I once went to a party with Hannah and her friends from high school… I can't recall what happened because I drank too much!" Kagome slurred. "I wanted to fit in and so I drank as much as they did. It was horrible!"

I laughed. "We noticed. I tried to stop you, too, but you just kept on going. What was is that you drank?"

"That horrible drink with the lime and salt," she breathed, turning slightly green.

"Ah! Alexandra's tequila!"

"Yeah, that one…"

I looked at the others. They had no clue what we were talking about.

"Basically, I drink a lot. It's a part of my culture. When one finishes high school in Norway, they drink non-stop for fourteen days. It's usually several more days, but that's off the record," I explained.

Sango's eyes widened, her mouth dropping. "It could kill you!"

"So Norwegians have a higher tolerance for alcohol than normal humans then?" InuYasha asked, obviously interested. "Like demons?"

"I don't really know," I shrugged. "But let's continue the game! Kagome, for my next card I guess nine." I effectively ducked the question.

"Up."

"Ten."

Kagome turned the card before she placed it on the floor. A 'Queen'.

"Two sips, Hannah."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

I drank my sake quickly and eyed the cards on the floor. There had been no twos yet. If I did not guess correctly, this would be my last card. And two was a rather low number. Would I risk losing?

None of the other numbers had been finished, meaning that the card on Kagome's hand could be anything. If I guessed two and she announced 'up' it could be anything above! I groaned and scratched my head in thought. This was tough. I really hated losing. In the end I made my decision.

"For my last card, I guess seven," I announced. I decided to play it safe, just for the fun of it. Besides, if I guessed wrong it meant that it would be InuYasha's turn to 'Deal' the cards.

"Up," Kagome smiled and double-checked her card. "What will be your last guess, Hannah?"

Oh, she enjoyed this.

"I'll humor you. I guess five."

Her face broke out into a large grin. Had I guessed wrong?

"Hannah, I said 'up' not 'down'. Last I checked five is less than seven. I think you're getting affected by the sake."

I waved my hand. "Not a chance, girl. I'm Norwegian."

"A Norwegian who hasn't felt the effect on Feudal Era sake before. It's stronger in this era," she explained. And she was right. I was beginning to feel warmer than usual. And I preferred being cold than warm.

"Ten, then," I said and crossed my arms in mock offence.

"KING! Three sips, Miss Moore," she taunted.

As I drank my punishment the monk returned from his brief check on the children and resumed his seat in front of me. He announced that the twins, including their newly born child, were sleeping peacefully. He then asked who was winning.

"Kagome's turn is over," Sango explained. "Miss Moore did your round seeing you weren't here."

He nodded.

"It's InuYasha's turn!"

"Keh! My body can take much more alcohol than you humans!" he bragged and accepted the cards from Kagome. "I'll win for sure."

"Don't be so sure, dog," I grinned. "We are nearing half-way though the deck of cards. It'll be easier now."

"Whatever," he muttered. "Sango! You're guessing."

The demon slayer checked the already revealed cards and came to the same conclusion I had. "I'll guess two."

InuYasha checked his card once again. "What?!"

He placed a card on the floor, between the once and three. I laughed.

"Ten sips, InuYasha," Kagome giggled and poured him some more sake. "Drink up!"

He finished the cup at an amazing speed and my eyes widened. He ought to be careful with that. But a drunk half-demon could prove to be interesting.

Sango guessed again. This time she managed to miss on both guesses on the one card, and she took her punishment on six sips. The same went for her next card – and her last. However, the number ten went out and I gathered them beside me to prevent losing them.

Next player up was Miroku.

He guessed wrong on his two first tries and the deck was decreasing in size. In total, the poor monk had to drink fifteen sips of his sake, but he had one last guess before he was finished.

"I guess 'Jack'", he said and refilled his drink.

The half-demon let out a string of curses and placed a 'Jack' on the floor. This resulted in four 'Jacks' and I took them out of the system of cards on the floor.

InuYasha drank his ten sips of punishment.

I took notice that his cheeks were beginning to take on a slight shade of pink and I crosschecked the color with my mental 'how-drunk-are-you-on-the-color-scale'-list. I found him to be slightly affected.

"Okay, monk," Sango giggled, "it's your turn again."

Miroku took a sip of his own. "I must say, Miss Moore, this game of yours is both entertaining and challenging."

"At least when the alcohol kicks in," I smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

He turned his gaze on InuYasha. "Ace."

"Fuck you, monk!"

We all laughed at InuYasha's outburst and watched as he drank another ten sips. How many had he been drinking by now?

"Okay, guys," I said and held up my hand. "Because poor InuYasha had to drink so much, let's all drink five sips in sympathy."

They agreed.

"Again, Miroku! Get him real good!"

"Kagome!"