A special thank you to…
ffgirlmoonie…The Lonely Bird…Punk Rock Miko2…dragonflamez13…sweetrosie…Goddess of the Moonlit Sky…Hearii-sama…Mistress of Demons…Moonlight Radiance33…bdrake07…pure'ternity…silverkonekotsukari… Smiley Gurl 87…Clouds of the Sky…IamHermioneGranger…xXxSuzukixXx…Avelyn Lauren…Airya…Animekitty07…Sakurascent…MeiunTenshi…TwilightZelda…total-manga-freak…Al…premierarchange…Watching Eternity…Kannilala… Y .A.R…chiclet180…Boylessgirl52941…angelfeet… readingwriting wench…
Disclaimer:
(still in that little café)
Pwale & Al & Lia: …Sigh…
Blake: Do you guys realize how disgusting that is?
Mario: They guy's a total pedophile!
KK: Seriously, hitting on a 6th grader!
Mr. X: And no 6th grader has boobs like that girl does!
Inuyasha: …Okay, I just came back to the table and I am sure that I don't want to know what you're talking about.
(Pwale angrily closes the lid on the lap top that she and the other two had been sighing over)
Pwale: Go away Inuyasha! I'm glad that I don't own you or your friends! I want to own…(sigh)…them…
(Pwale opens lap top and points at the screen, where she has the anime Loveless on pause)
Al: OOO! IT'S JUST TOO CUTE!
Lia: Sigh…
Pwale: I love anime…especially shonen-ai anime…
Mario: …Well, to quote the anime that you three are fawning over…
Blake: HENTAI!
KK: I quite agree.
…
The Stamp Of Gold
Unleashed
By Pwalefriend
…
"This, Kagome," Kagura said. "Is a Scale. Not a scale, but a Scale."
They were in Inuyasha's room, the same one that Kagome read in, but the window was wide open and it was broad daylight outside, instead of near nightfall. Outside Kagome could hear the Spring birds start to arrive, though the ground was still covered in wet and cold white. Golden sunlight filtered in and dappled them room with color.
It was a beautiful time to start learning how to hone ones self and ones powers.
Inuyasha was sulking in the next room, and his blatant pouting energy was going to cause a little problem, but they would deal with that later.
He was sulking because he wasn't allowed to help with Kagome's new lessons in the ways of a Witch, since Kagura had deemed such lessons highly taxing on a maiden and the results (and the state of dress since beginners often got overheated) was not appropriate for a man's eyes.
Actually most of that (except for the getting overheated part) was a total fabrication. But Inuyasha, who was (surprisingly) not learned in the ways of a Witch, didn't need to know that.
Koga was sulking downstairs, angry that he hadn't been the one to get Kagome out of his room.
Miroku was sulking outside by the stables since he was having a fight with Sango about something silly.
Sesshomaru was sulking somewhere (he never told anyone where he was going and when he was sulking he was always subtle about it) because Kagura had kicked him onto the floor the prior night when he had started talking in his sleep about cat-girls and giant robots. There was only so much a woman could take in one night!
What were robots, anyway?
And several of the male servants had decided that they should sulk too, for two reasons.
One: A bunch of the women had been acting suspicious lately.
Two: All of the lords were doing it and you know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
And if the Lords were buttered up enough, then maybe the servants would finally get that vacation that had been put off since…well, actually no one could remember ever going on a vacation.
…
"Close your eyes." Kagura ordered, placing two stones on the on the Scale. Kagome had picked them randomly from a collection (Inuyasha's old crystal collection, actually) they were exactly the same but Kagura had made one a little heavier using a spell.
"Picture the Scale and your stones, one of these stones on each side." Kagura began to pace, going for a rhythmic timing. She resisted the urge to smirk in self-satisfaction. She sounded like the guru-man from India! Ooo! This was fun!
"Which is heavier?" Kagura asked. "Tell me just by focusing your mind. Do not open your eyes. Just focus."
Kagome frowned and focused. She imagined the cool feel of the golden Scale, it was smooth and when you touched it you could feel the gold under your fingers. The gold wanted to move and roil and burst from it's confining shape but was unable to merely because of it's temperature. Oh, how it wished that someone, some kind, kind person would see it's pain and have it melted then sent down a river. But people could not see it's wish, and so it was destined to forever unwillingly serve.
Kagome wanted to cry. The poor Scale!
"Focus." Kagura said, wondering why it wasn't working already. "Focus, Kagome."
Kagome frowned and focused on the rocks, but as she began to picture them in her mind red hot pain erupted behind her eyelids and she let out a little scream as she clutched her head and fell out of the chair.
In the next room Inuyasha flinched and leapt to his feet.
What was that? Was that Kagome? It had sounded…was Kagome in pain? Was she? She couldn't be! But what if she was? What if she was horribly hurt?
Frightening images of what might have happened to Kagome ran threw his head as Inuyasha tried to decide if checking up on them would be worth risking Kagura's wrath. All the while Kagura was asking Kagome is she was alright, what was wrong, was there anything that Kagura could do?
Yes, Kagome replied. Nothing, Kagome replied. No, Kagome replied.
But Kagura was not to be dissuaded and soon went off in search of some water for the poor girl, and some lunch. She seemed to be berating herself for overworking Kagome's raw powers, while she was inwardly congratulating herself on her excellent performance. The plan that she and the girls had worked out couldn't have been a better one.
She stood outside the door a moment and waited for the tell-tale sounds of Kagome's "strange" discomforts.
For you see, dear reader, Kagome was a beginner at the practices of a Witch. And as such could not be expected to achieve very much at her first lesson. To attempt such a feat would almost always cause acute discomfort for the new Witch.
Once she was alone, and once the pain struck again, Kagome would be in quite the unfortunate situation, with only Inuyasha to comfort her.
If there was one thing that Kagura had to give to the servants, it was that they really knew how to set a couple up.
…
Kagome sat in the chair, or rather, she had crashed and was now painfully burning in the chair. Her head felt as if it were about to split right open and when Kagura had left the room a horde of invisible spiders had come and were now climbing all over her. From this opinion she was not to be dissuaded. She didn't care if there was no such thing as invisible spiders that come to climb on you when you're alone, for she certainly was not so suddenly ill as to have poor nerves! Humph. She'd defy anyone who questioned her on this manner.
That is to say, after she'd finished dying.
Kagome, the comfort of the room totally forgotten as now it just felt stuffy and small, slipped from a chair and whimpered on the floor, ashamed of her own pathetic position.
Inuyasha, who had his ear pressed up against the door, burst through it when he heard her fall and her whimpers.
"Kagome!" He shouted. "Are you alright?"
She was slumped on the floor, her face twisted in agony and he could smell her sweat and fear. Well who wouldn't be afraid? It wasn't every day that one just fell down with a sudden horrendous affliction with mysterious and likely mystical origins! Especially not when one puts it like that.
Inuyasha's worry grew. What the hell?
"Does it look like I'm alright?" Kagome snapped back at him. He looked at her, a little hurt. Kagome felt a little guilty, he was only worried about her after all. She tried again.
"Inuyasha? I'm not exactly okay, but I'll be fine. Kagura's going to get…water…I think…" Kagome frowned. Her head was now feeling extremely heavy, and her eyelids had just become weights.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha knelt beside her. "I'm sorry. Is there anything that I can do?"
'Damn.' He thought. 'What just happened? Why is she suddenly so hurt?'
"…Um…" Kagome looked up at him and Inuyasha frowned when he saw how glassy her eyes were. "Inuyasha? Could you take me to my bed?"
"What do you-" Inuyasha started to ask her what she meant but before he could finish his sentence she had collapsed on top of him, fast asleep.
He stared down at her. She didn't look in pain anymore. She looked, dare he say it, peaceful where she was in his lap.
He was about to get up and carry her to his room but something stopped him. Maybe it was the way the tension melted from her body. Maybe it was the way the fear disappeared from her scent, leaving as beautiful and calming as he ever thought it. Maybe it was the way she seemed to…grow as she rested on him. Maybe it was that when his arms encased her it felt so right that he couldn't move away. Maybe it was his own sudden contentment with the situation. Maybe it was all these things.
And maybe it was something else.
…
"MISS SANGO! MISS SANGO!" The young servants woman came racing in the room where Sango, Kagura, Kaede and a few other of the matchmaking women were giggling over their success.
"What is it girl?" Sango asked. The maid tried to say something, but she had obviously just run as fast as she was able and she was quite out of breath.
When the girl was able to speak again she made even less sense.
"They're here!" She screeched. "Oh! They're here! They're here! They're here! Here! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!"
"No." Sango said, rightfully baffled. "I can't. Since I don't know what you're-"
"Sango!" Came a new voice, familiar only to Sango, who froze immediately. "I haven't seen you in forever, love! Do you know, if I didn't know better I would have thought that your younger brother was waiting for us? It's amazing who those two can always bond so quickly."
Sango looked up, along with everyone else, to see (to their indescribably shock) a middle-aged woman with a kind, loving and open face. Miroku stood behind her, holding a carpet bag, and just as shocked as the next person.
Mrs. Higurashi had come to the mansion.
…
Well? There was fluff, there was fantasy, there was a plot twist that I don't think any of you saw coming, and I, as always, left you with a cliffy.
I think that I answered your requests, except for the one about Koga. His absence shall be explained in the next chapter, fear not.
Roar!
Yes, the Review Lion is still doing her job! NOW REVIEW LEST YOU FACE OUR COLLECTIVE WRATH!
Sincerely
Pwalefriend