Finally the holiday is over! er...oh no, no it's not. I forgot about the evils of retail the day after chirstmas and New Years' Eve and Day. Silly me!
Now I would like to discuss something that annoys me year round. I'm afraid we're back to those wonderful traffic morons, cars and their drivers' habits that annoy me. Ho this one I just love.
Say you're driving down the highway and you just happen to be going a comfortable speed that is faster than quite a few of the cars and all the Semi trucks, you're not the fastest thing on the road and your pleased with that, but you feel it is safer for you, the driver passing quite a bit of traffic on the right, to stay in one lane, A.K.A the left, fast lane. (P.S. this is me. I tend to drive around 80 mph in the 70 mph zones. Any faster and it's more than my poor wallet would like to deal with should I get caught.) Now this other car comes up on your rear end really fast. They are annoyed that you won't get over (dude, I won't. I'm going 80 and I maintain that staying in one lane is safer than zooming in and out of them.) so they flash their brights at you and ride your ass. (I hate this!)
Now if you were me, you would ignore their unsafe hint. flashing brights at anybody is annoying and can be temperarily blinding making the person you might be annoyed with nervous. This will not cause them to speed up, (at least I never do) and it won't make them get over (again safer to stay in one lane). All it is likely to do is make them slow down, precisely the opposite of what Speedy Gonzales wants to happen. (sometimes the very reason for doing it! I'm vindictive when what you do endangers the lives of myself and those around me because of your impatience. And it is dangerous. Why else would Tailgating be illegal? And supposing you flashed your stupid brights at night and REally did temperarily blind someone. Just what everybody needs, a blind person behind a several ton hurtling mass of metal in the middle of traffic. I don't need anybody to show me the after pictures of the accident!) SEriuosly, ten over the speed limit is more than enough, and if you must go faster than that be prepared to go around the people that aren't crazy! Besides, you're less likely to get caught in the right hand lane than the left anyway. And if you can't easily go around the 80 mph joe that might possibly be me, slow your ass down! Traffic is too thick for that kind of speed.
Just a thought. This is one of the most annoying things that happens to me on my way to and from work. And I promise you at least one drive around my shift happens in the dark. The brights are just damned annoying. And just because you think I should be on the right doesn't mean I care. If I'm passing Semi trucks at a pretty good clip I'm going to sit in that damned left lane and use the wonderfulness of my cruise control so get over it! Nyah!
Rumiko TAkahashi, I will not make exceptions for even you! Or any of the race car driver youkai you invented. Becuase I think they would all drvie about 100+ mph. Any slower and they might as well get out of the car and push. heheh. Especially Kouga! That guy has no patience to speak of.
P.S. We had a wonderful, glorious green Christmas, HAH! Take that you rotten snow!
Perpetual Motion
Sesshoumaru's estimate of how things would stand when he awoke was proven accurate when he opened his golden eyes.
Aki had not stayed where he'd left her. Of course not, that would be entirely too easy. She had completely escaped the confines of the chamber, not that he'd expected any different.
Aki couldn't bear to stay in one place too long, despite her being unconscious for the duration of her stay. At least it always seemed that way to Sesshoumaru.
The taiyoukai pushed himself off the floor with a silent groan; sitting in the same position for days on end wasn't very wise. Not that he would allow such minor stiffness to deter him from finding Aki, Sesshoumaru needed to locate her and reassure himself that she was well like he needed the air he breathed.
Worrying for her constantly was beginning to become an ingrained behavior for him. He worried after her when he woke up, when he fought, when Aki was right in front of him and constantly when she wasn't. Sesshoumaru even worried about her in his sleep, he'd never actually had that happen before. He suspected the day he stopped worrying about her would be the day she died and passed beyond all hope of reversing her death's permanency.
Sesshoumaru was in no hurry for this to occur, therefore he chased after the missing female poste haste.
The inu youkai had to force his heart to continue beating normally the moment he stepped out of the secluded room that he had taken over upon arrival, for Aki was no where in sight. And not only was she still missing, but the door to the great cold and wet outdoors was slightly open.
Now this could mean any number of things from a member of the large group seeking a private moment behind a frozen bush or an intruder of malicious persuasion gaining entrance with intent to either kidnap or do harm. But Sesshoumaru just knew it was the work of Aki on some hair-brained mission to drive him utterly out of his head.
How did he know this? Because Fred was gone and the undead miko was calmly preparing a fresh batch of soft rice with something a bit more tempting. It should be well known by now that a conscious Aki was a pickier eater than the unconscious version, a fact duly noted by taiyoukai at a previous point in time. Thus he knew that Aki had been through the crowded common room full of anyone who wasn't live or a child or female. Apparently the mole youkai's dwelling, while big enough to house a close family of six easily enough, it was not quite big enough for this large a group of fully-grown people. It was good to be an instinct driven taiyoukai upon occasion. It had assured him the largest private room to himself, though now that Aki was awake, some shifting might be done to free up the common room of sleepers.
Not that all that mattered just yet, he still had an injured female to find.
Sesshoumaru stalked across the outer room to the slightly opened door, not bothering to make sure he didn't step on anyone. It's not like Inuyasha deserved such consideration after causing Aki injury.
He stepped out of the dwelling with a crunch in the snow before snapping the door shut behind him to cut off Inuyasha's tirade in its infancy. He didn't care what the hanyou had to say. He never said anything important anyway.
The layer of white snow glowed under the reflected light of the brilliant quarter moon, conveniently illuminating the area so that Aki's footprints in the shallow whiteness stood out starkly as dark patches of exposed earth betrayed her passage. His path was clearly marked and easily followed and he tracked down his elusive prey. That is, until he encountered a patch of ground completely uncovered of snow. His number one clue had been utterly decimated, not that he couldn't have tracked her anyway. It just wasn't common to find some random patch of forest cleared of all the snow on the ground.
Conveniently the explanation for this oddity was still at work within view. Better than just answering his unformed question his search was ended as well. Aki was the one who had cleared away the snow and was still clearing it by rolling it into a ball of some substance.
AS he watched she hefted the ball up to stack atop two others of increasingly greater size. Sesshoumaru didn't understand the point of this exercise. Why bother to stack balls of snow?
Aki's face was flushed with the cold and exertion. Her breath fogged the air in harsh gasps and pants. Her fingers, naked to the frosty temperature and snow, looked a little blue against the moon-glazed ball of white. She wasn't clothed properly for this activity though she seemed determined to finish the project regardless of the violent shivers marching down her spine.
"And what are you going to use to clothe the stupid thing Aki?" Aki's ghost companion demanded in a reasonable, if slightly annoyed, voice.
Aki didn't bother to reply as she searched out some suitable dead fall to use. Sesshoumaru watched as she stuck them in the middle-sized snow globe in a facsimile of arms.
The inu youkai crept forward in curiosity as the strange snow sculpture began to make a little more sense in its appearance though not in its purpose.
"You know it's not a proper snow man without a face. You don't have any extra buttons or coal, not even a carrot," Fred continued to talk.
So the monstrosity was a snowman? Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrow at the freestanding tower of frozen water. If it was meant to be a man, it was a grotesque one at best.
Aki searched for some appropriately sized rocks, a task made all the easier by the ground laid bare of its white blanket. She placed the stones in place of a mouth and eyes. Then the former tutor bent to tear up some of the browned grasses. She intended to make something out of the woven or braided foliage to dress her snowman in like a proper gentleman.
That's when the cold caught up with her. Her hands were to cold to bend the way she needed them to for her project. Aki grunted in frustration.
"HA! Now will you go back inside before you make yourself ill?" the ghost nagged her.
Sesshoumaru shook his head at the dead human. Aki wouldn't just give up like that despite the fact her task would grow in difficulty the longer she stayed out in the cold.
Sesshoumaru reached over to the bunch of grass in Aki's numb fingers and handed her the thick tail end of a bunch of it to hold. Then the inu youkai proceeded to work the mess into a long thick braid, being unable to produce a finer weave.
"why are you standing out in the cold?" Sesshoumaru asked gently as he continued to work.
"I n-needed to prove that it-t was r-real," Aki answered, stuttering from the cold induced chatter of her teeth. "The p-pain of cold w-wouldn't have Regis-stered with the spell in p-place." She glanced at her unfinished snow creation before adding, "I wouldn't have b-been able to b-build it before."
Sesshoumaru nodded minutely. It would be hugely unlikely the mole children would have known what such a strange thing was without Aki explaining it first, and there was no chance she would have had the ability to do so if the rotten brats still had the power of the beads.
"Why a snowman?" he asked to keep her talking.
"It w-was the only th-thing I c-could think of besides th-throwing snowb-balls through Fred's head," she smiled mischievously and pointed towards a white splat of snow on a nearby tree.
He chuckled quietly in response to both the thought of cold, frigid snow flying through the ghost's head and at the surge of relief he felt at considering such behavior to be a good indication that Aki was going to be just fine.
Sesshoumaru finished the braid and handed it to Aki for whatever she intended to use it for.
Aki wrapped the thick weed braid around the "neck" of the snowman like a scarf. She then arranged a mess of grass on the top of the round head to simulate hair before stepping back to view her handy work.
"That is the ugliest snowman I have ever seen," Fred declared with feeling.
"You're j-just jealous that h-he's cuter than y-you," Aki shrugged him off. "N-now stop insulting m-my snowman before h-he develops a c-complex."
"What should we call the monstrosity?" Fred asked. "We could call him Igor Calvin Cull, I.C. Cull," the ghost laughed.
"Well you've l-lost the right to n-name him, being al b-beastly like that," Aki sighed, talking through chattering teeth was tiring. She stared consideringly at the piled snow. "I h-hereby name thee Manuel the F-frosted and we shall call him T-Timmy for short."
"How came he gets to be called Timmy?" Fred demanded in annoyance. "Why do you give the inanimate objects the good names?"
"Oh Sh-shut up!" Aki grumbled at her dead friend. "You're just upset you got stuck with F-Fred and couldn't get out-t of it."
"Is this done?" Sesshoumaru asked the female desirous of returning to the sheltered warmth of their temporary dwelling. Aki was looking decidedly cold and he was certain prolonged exposure would be extremely detrimental to her uncertain health.
"I sup-pose," Aki sighed. She stepped into the warm line of Sesshoumaru's body and hugged him gently. "Thank you f-for helping me finish. I n-needed to finish it."
Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around her and squeezed Aki carefully as he rubbed his cheek over her hair. He rocked her absently while running his claws through her pale locks. The inu youkai took in a deep breath and let it out silently in contentment; Aki's scent was strong on the crisp frigid air. He was tempted to pick her up and run off with her. Once they went back to the decidedly annoying group there would be more interfering distractions than a single noisy ghost. But the closest shelter was the mole youkai's residence, and it housed the group, so he would just have to put up with the collective nuisances there contained. Sesshoumaru would not risk Aki's health over something so minor as such guaranteed annoyances.
"All right, enough of that," Fred grumbled. "Get your derriere indoors and out of those wet clothes."
Sesshoumaru glared at the ghost before stepping away from Aki to really look at her clothes. Fred had not been lieing or even exaggerating just to get a reaction. Aki's clothes were wet to the elbow on her arms and up to mid-thigh on her legs.
The look on his face made Aki laugh. "Well, snow is b-basically water, you kn-now," she told him.
The inu youkai just shook his head at her; "You have a strange predilection for getting your attire wet, though doing so with snow is not as common. You usually seem to prefer rain." He prodded her into movement with a hand on her arm.
"Hey, l-last time wasn't my fault. I told you all the s-stuff in the air throws me off," Aki defended herself.
"That's why they have weather forecast," Fred declared pointedly, having been filled in about the adventures on the other side of the well. "And you can't blame the language. They use pictures to illustrate what they're saying."
"I'm going to learn how to b-beat the crud out of you s-someday," Aki threatened with a growl. "You know I didn't have the time to sit and watch TV. I never do."
"Sure you do," Fred disagreed as he floated behind his anchor. "You just have to turn it on while you're arguing with other people."
"That has got t-to be the stupidest thing you've ever s-said," Aki rolled her eyes as Sesshoumaru caught her when she stumbled over a set of exposed tree roots. Her feet were numb and her body was stiffening with the cold. Thankfully the doorway to warmth came into view quickly.
The former tutor wasn't particularly happy to spend more time in the place of her torment but it couldn't be helped. There wasn't much else in the area to offer shelter, especially not on par with the mole Youkai's hot spring warmed home. Only the front room needed the fire, all the other rooms were situated close enough to the steam filled cave of the spring to be kept comfortably warm.
When Aki's steps faltered a second time as her own benumbed feet got in her way, she thought perhaps a warm bath was in order once she made it inside.
Sesshoumaru was thinking the same thing, only the bath he envisioned involved two people doing a great deal more than washing up. He groaned silently to himself as he slid open the door for Aki to enter, his promise was turning out to be a great deal more annoying than Inuyasha was in a fight. Aki's curse had better be taken care of very quickly or he would be in serious danger of breaking his word.
"Aki!" the relieved breath of her name escaped from every direction the moment said woman stepped into view. Apparently Inuyasha was extremely loud and vocal in protest of Sesshoumaru's nonchalant brush off previously, because everyone was now awake and crowding the main room.
Whatever they had previously been doing was now dropped as all attention was focused on the source of several days worth of worry.
"What's everybody doing up at this time of the night?" Aki asked mildly.
"I suspect Inuyasha was inconsiderate and woke them after I left," Sesshoumaru surmised.
Kikyou snorted at his "inconsiderate" comment, but didn't say anything about it. "Aki come eat," the miko called.
Aki glanced in her direction and shook her head; she was too numb and tired for food. Sesshoumaru growled softly and pushed her towards the miko.
"Not until I've gotten a both and into some dry clothes," Aki growled at the pushy male. Perhaps her appetite would return when she was warm enough to feel her hunger.
"Why are your clothes wet?" Kikyou demanded sharply over the din of noise everyone else had created.
Aki rolled her eyes at the sudden quiet, apparently everybody wanted to know. "Snow turns into water when it melts," she drawled.
"No kidding!" Fred mocked her.
"I'm totally serious!" Aki replied with wide eyes.
"As a heart attack?" Fred asked.
"Aki!" Kikyou interrupted their exchange.
"What?" Aki blinked at the miko.
"The snow wasn't deep enough to cause your clothing to become that wet," the dead woman pointed out.
"Well sure, if all she had done was walk around and stand in place, but who would do something that boring?" Fred asked sarcastically. "A grown up would, that's who. An adult that knew it would be a bad idea to get all cold and wet."
"Aki is a grown up!" Azusa pointed out.
"Really?" Fred lowered his eyes to the child. "Then how did Aki's clothes get wet?"
"She was attacked by a snow monster!" Shippou exclaimed.
"Poor Aki!" Rin cried in response.
"We should go beat up the snow monster for attacking her!" Azusa yelled.
"Fred, you are impossible," Aki groaned.
"Ah! Aki's getting sick already!" Fred declared in answer.
"Oh no!" Azusa cried with worry. The little girl bolted forward to latch onto the older woman. "Ah! She's cold to the touch!"
"What should we do?" Rin wailed beginning to panic.
"Get some blankets!" Yumi suggested franticly.
"I think we'd be better off beating up the snow monster," Shippou grumbled.
"Fred," Aki growled even as Sesshoumaru had to prevent her fall. "If you don't fix this I'm going to rename you Frank, and use all the bad jokes that come with the name."
"Which way did the snow monster go?" Shippou demanded. "Inuyasha will go beat him up!"
"Hey leave me out of your delusions!" Inuyasha yelled.
"You're all so stupid!" Youta laughed over the noise. "There's no such thing as snow monsters!"
"Like we'd actually believe a moron like you!"
Yumi somehow managed to smack everybody with the blankets in her hurry to get them over to Aki who was still standing rather close to the door.
The chaos Fred created was a recipe for disaster as was made obvious the moment Yumi tripped over a bit of excess blanket, plowing into Rin and Azusa. The three-girl battering ram knocked Aki and Sesshoumaru through the thankfully still open door to land on the bottom of a rather large pile up.
"What on earth is going on?" a feminine voice asked from beyond the heap in the snow.
Everybody looked up at the woman staring down at Sesshoumaru and Aki. The inu youkai growled up at her, trying to see the detachment around the sparks in his eyes. If he had felt the impact this much, he hated to think how badly Aki felt.
"Kagura, get me out of here," Aki cried around a couple of painful breaths.
"Give me your hand," the red-eyed youkai said gently.
Aki somehow managed to free a hand from the tangle of blankets and limbs not her own. Kagura bent down and wrapped her fingers around the partial youkai's exposed wrist and pulled the poor female free of the pile.
Aki curled around the pain in her ribs the moment she was able to do so. The damage from Inuyasha's hit hadn't quite healed completely and was still tender before three little girls had landed on them.
Kagura knelt down and pressed along Aki's sides to test the bones under the skin. "Poor you," Kagura clucked and pulled the other woman to her feet. "A good soak in some warm water to help the muscles and warm you up. Then a firm wrap of material to help bind the damaged ribs properly in place."
"Sounds like sweet heaven," Aki gasped painfully. "Too bad there's so many people in the way."
"I could blow them away," Kagura offered.
"With a yay-hay, blow the man down," Fred sang.
Aki sighed, "Better not. It'll probably come back to bite me in the ass before I make it through the door."
"Now Aki," Fred began. "You know Sesshoumaru won't allow anyone else to bite your ass but him." The ghost smirked at the glares sent his way.
"Why would Sesshoumaru-sama want to bite Aki-chan's bottom?" Rin asked Azusa.
"Why would anybody want to bite her bottom?" Azusa countered.
"Maybe Aki tastes good," Miroku chuckled and ducked as Sango took a swing at him.
"Maybe she tastes like candy?" Shippou suggested.
"She probably tastes like chicken," Fred shrugged.
"Why would you suggest something like that?" the delinquent monk asked.
"It's what all the cannibals say," the ghost shrugged.
"What's a can-bull?" Rin asked the tall youkai who was finally regaining his feet. Sesshoumaru glared at the dead human. The little girl did not need anything more to have nightmares about.
"That does it! You shall hence forth be known as- Ouch!" Aki yelped mid-threat. "What'd you do that for?"
Youta made a face up at her as she rubbed her arm where his teeth had clamped over her skin. "You don't taste very good," he declared cheekily.
Kagura snorted and rolled her eyes as Aki had to sweep the boy behind her. Sesshoumaru's growl did not bode well for the little brat. The wind user shook her head as she grabbed the little biter firmly to keep him out of reach of the inu youkai fighting against Aki's attempts to restrain him.
"Youta!" Yumi gasped, scandalized. "You know you're not supposed to bite people. What would mama say?"
"Mama's not here is she," the boy brushed his sister off, further igniting her wrath.
The siblings then proceeded to squabble and fight while Kagura desperately tried to keep her hold on the one brat and separate the two at the same time.
"Unhand my children, you spawn of evil!" the mole father finally managed a clear view out the doorway. He tired to force his way through the crowd in the way, but only succeeded in knocking over Shippou and tripping over the blankets Azusa had been trying to pick up.
"No," the girl groaned. "You're getting the blankets all wet."
"They are my blankets anyway!" The mole youkai yelled hotly before laying into the human child with a long list of insults.
Aki's shivers were beginning to set back in and the chaos was more excitement than she could handle. Sesshoumaru was still trying to push past her to beat Youta for biting her and now Azusa was being battered with a verbal onslaught the poor child didn't deserve. Rin was standing altogether too close to Yumi and Youta's argument and she just knew Kagura's temperament was not the best for dealing with the situation. And to top it all off, Shippou was still going on about the snow monster when he thought he could catch an ear, Miroku and Fred were debating how she tasted, Kagome was holding Sango back from killing the monk, and for some strange reason Kikyou and Jaken were stuck in a heated discussion that had Inuyasha fascinated.
There were certainly more reasons than one Aki preferred to travel alone.
Aki immediately reached a decision and decked Sesshoumru. She then moved to thump three moles and a monk for good measure. "Now that I have your attention can we please get everybody inside before it starts to snow again?"
Sesshoumaru looked up at her from where she'd knocked him rather unexpectedly on his ass. He was so surprised to find himself on the ground once more he hardly even noticed the snow melting into his clothing. He did notice that Aki didn't looks so good.
"You heard me, everybody inside," Aki repeated. "You too Windy."
"That servant of Naraku will not set foot in my house!" The adult mole youkai declared emphatically.
Aki glared at him flatly, "Yes. She will."
"don't argue with her stupid," Inuyasha dragged the protesting parent further into the common room to open more space for the others to come in.
The children scrambled inside, Yumi and Youta still rubbing their heads where Aki had thumped them.
Aki offered Sesshoumaru a hand but Kagura snatched it and offered her own instead. Sesshoumaru quirked a brow at her behavior. "Aki is in pain simply from breathing, she should not be disciplining or helping others." The wind youkai explained shortly.
"It's not that bad," Aki protested.
"Kanna has told me never to trust those words," Kagura smiled. "Especially from you. You would do well to seek out that bath now."
Aki sighed tiredly, "Fine. Let me hunt out some dry clothes and I'll look into it."
"Do not go alone," Kikyou ordered.
"How inept do you think I am," Aki grumbled and demanded the whereabouts of her bag.
"I moved it to the room with the spring in it," Kagome answered. "I'll join you if you like."
"I will too if you nee-" Sango knocked the monk flat before he could finish.
Aki winced at the sight. "I think Sango needs you to keep her from killing Miroku, but thanks anyway, Kagome." Besides, she was likely to have other company for bath time. Quite possibly a lot of company now that she thought about it.