whoa, whoa, whoa! the world is spinning... literally. seriously it is! Everyday, Day and night, night and day, will it never stop? Heheh, not that I ever really get to see the sun.
Another Wednesday. I'm so tired. I'm tired a lot for some unknown reason. I think a lot of it has to do with the continual demands of working at wal-mart right before inventory. That's right Inventory is coming up, right on Valentines day. they're already calling it the Valentines day massacre.
So now that we've established that with the new year my reviewers went AWOl, we're back to me writing what ever the hell I want to as interpretation of the silence. If you don't know what I'm talking about go back through all the AN of part one, my first reviewer didn't appear until a couple of chapters into part two and the other consistant reviewer came in a while after that.
I wonder if they died... or maybe they really are overwhelmed by my playful perfection. Not likely, maybe they just forgot how to use the computer. Or maybe FFn really is experiencing the bug problem Tootsiepop254 believes where the Chapter notices aren't being sent out and neither are the PMs I sent either. In which case, Why aren't they checking on their own? I never miss a posting day without warning and never right in the middle of a part. I even made a point of saying specifically I WOULD post as per my schedule without interruption during the holidays. If I didn't receive a chapter notice, I would check anyways.
But then, I'm like that and I, at least, think this fic is worth it.
I really could've used that extra week of writing time. I'm currently in chapter 3 of part 6, and since part 6 is only looking to have 6 chapters anyway this might seem perfectly fine... Unfortunately a couple of these chapters (chapter 1) are apparently not wanting to be written and chapter 3 is being rather finicky on this point too. So I might decide that since nobody is consistently paying attention to this fic (besides Tootsiepop254, who actually took me up on that AIM chatting) I can be evilly erradic in my posting schedule. I'll think about it on my own a little more and see how long chapter 3 want to take getting down on paper (maybe it's afraid it'll get dirty?).
I wonder if Rumiko Takahashi had this problem... I bet she did because some of her characters are down right rotten to write for! (Kouga comes to mind, that stubborn wolf! I finally got his ass mildly domesticated, but he's still a little feral.)
A Feudal Era Yo-yo
Envy is a natural feeling that is uncontrollable. It colors how we think and act towards each other. The level of jealousy and envy we feel decides just how much importance we give to each of our fellows.
If we feel no envy, we treat others as inconsequential for having none of the qualities or possessions we admire and desire to find in ourselves. If a person has too many of these admirable qualities, we despise them unless they have some other serious drawback or pitiable quality to counteract our envy.
Thus Kagome found herself envious of Aki wrapped in the comfortable affections of her youkai the way Kagome wished she could be with a certain dog-eared hanyou. But this feeling of jealousy lacked the usual sting that seeing Inuyasha and Kikyou together had. Quite possibly it was because Inuyasha had set Kikyou up as the image of perfection that Kagome could never achieve. Or it might be due to the fact the teenager loved Inuyasha and not his brother.
The reasons mattered little, all that mattered was that Aki was comfortably curled up in the arms of Sesshoumaru and neither was feeling obviously awkward with the contact. Kagome just knew that sort of contact would have Inuyasha pushing her away before five minutes was up. That's if she managed to get that close to him without being on the brink of death, riding his back for expediency or otherwise goading him into it. All of which didn't count because the mood was always wrong and that was undeniably very important.
It was something Sango could likewise complain of, because the mood and timing was something Miroku need to work on as well.
It was strange to find that neither Fred nor Sesshoumaru appeared to have this problem shared by most of the males the girls had come across. And Kouga was included in that number, the wolf-jerk that couldn't see reason until it stood up and bit him in the ass.
Kouga on the other hand couldn't quite decide what bothered him most about his current situation. He didn't like being stuck in one place for any reason, even if he got to spend time with his lovely woman. He didn't like being told what to do, especially by a female, any female, but Aki in particular. He couldn't stand being kept in close company with the very pawn of Naraku that had dispatched so many of his people. Yeah, that Quite possibly was the worst. No wait, having to be peaceable about all these grievances was quite definitely the worst torment.
"I can't believe you would let that spawn of Naraku any where near your female," the wolf youkai grumbled darkly to Sesshoumaru as Kagura took Aki's empty bowl form distracted fingers.
"Goes to show what you know," Fred laughed.
"One does not 'let' a female do anything or be around anyone," Sesshoumaru declared evenly. "You display your inexperience and ignorance with such a statement."
"One does not allow women to do things," Miroku shrugged. "It is the other way around."
"Especially with Aki," Inuyasha grumbled.
"You guys are so bad," Kagome shook her head. "You know, more than one gender is in this room. Stop talking about us as if we're not here."
"Kagome too," Inuyasha grumbled to the side.
Aki chuckled as the ninth grader huffed at the hanyou that couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. "Sometimes it is better to let the whole world think you're stupid than to open your mouth and prove it." Kouga snickered at Inuyasha's expense before the dog boy bashed him over the head. "Osuwari!" Aki activated the beads around Inuyasha's neck. "Behave yourself, Inuyasha," she shook her head and sighed. "Kouga, it's like this: Do you want a weak mate?"
"Lord Kouga would never want a weak mate!" Ginta answered quickly.
"It is an insult to even ask that question!" Hakkaku added shortly. "To have a weak mate is to be considered weak."
"But he wants a mate he can push around," she pointed out. "He wants a female he can order about."
"Kouga also made it sound like the female in question wouldn't have a choice in the matter," Sango pondered. "Such a person would be weaker than him in all things."
"Thereby making her a target for all his enemies to strike at him through her," Kagome nodded.
"I would never allow that to happen," Kouga growled.
"You have to sleep sometime," Miroku shrugged. "And you would not be able to take her with you everywhere."
"Thus she would inevitably be killed and most likely in a very unpleasant way," Kikyou finished. "So ends the mating contract with the foolish Kouga.
Said wolf prince growled a threat at the miko, completely forgetting that he wasn't mated and whole conversation was completely hypothetical.
"On the other hand," Aki continued the conversation. "Should Kouga find a strong mate, one who is nearly equal or as strong as he is, he would not be able to push her around or order her about unless she chose to allow it. It is highly unlikely for a female who is that strong and quite possibly independent would allow herself to be so treated."
"But, should an enemy seek to attack her," Sango nodded, "she would be able to defend herself and quite possibly others as well."
"Good thing Kagome-nee-san is strong," Hakkaku nodded to himself.
"She's already saved us," Ginta smiled.
"Too bad she's not going to be Kouga's mate!" Inuyasha growled with certainty.
"The hell she won't," Kouga yelled. "Kagome is my woman."
Aki snorted, "And I'm a hole in the wall."
"And I'm a spider monkey, see my tail," Fred indicated the empty air behind him.
"So if I break out a music box, will you dance?" Aki asked with a grin.
"Like a dancing pony," Fred chuckled.
"I'm confused," Shippou spoke up. "Are you a monkey or a pony?"
Aki laughed very carefully. "Don't worry, he's confused too. Wouldn't you be if you were a dead human-horse-monkey?" Fred attempted to look really pitiful while smiling at the same time. The result was so hilarious Shippou, Azusa and Rin erupted in laughter.
"That's absolutely ridiculous," Youta declared. "Nobody can be all those things!"
"I guess not," Aki frowned at the ghost. "So what are you really?"
"I guess I am the GREAT AND POWERFUL FRED!" he roared menacingly. "Able to jump through people without much effort! Capable of interacting with all dead people with ease! Speaking of which, your dad is a funny guy," the ghost commented to the silver haired brothers.
"My father was not known for his humor," Sesshoumaru said blandly to cover his surprise that the ghost had actually met the youkai in question.
"Well death can certainly free a body from his usual constraint," Fred shrugged, ignoring the ill-concealed look of hunger on Inuyasha's face. "He rather liked Aki, though. He kept saying how he would most-assuredly be jumping her bones if he were alive."
Sesshoumaru glanced down at Aki in his lap and she smiled innocently up at him. She hadn't told him she had met his father's ghost. "He only said that when he wasn't boasting about his wonderful sons," she corrected Fred.
"Hah! That only lasted until he found out we knew who he was talking about," Fred laughed. "Then he gave us the 3rd degree. He wanted to know everything, from whether Sesshoumaru had learned to use Tenseiga to what cup size Inuyasha's girlfriend was. Don't worry Kagome, I told him you had huge tracks of land," Fred snickered.
Kagome flushed and found an interesting spot on the ceiling to stare at while everybody else stared at her in curiosity. They certainly didn't know what "cup size" meant and it was clear Fred hadn't really been talking about acreage
"Stop Fred," Aki scolded the ghost, "That's not something she should have to explain to her friends."
"Well, I didn't want to explain it to the old guy, but I did," Fred shrugged.
"You volunteered that information stupid," Aki shook her head. "Just like you volunteered to introduce him to my dead parents so they could swap stories and come ons, and you phrased it just like that," Aki finished before he could protest.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better Kagome's dad has been hanging out with him too and they both agree that Kagome has HUGE tracks of-"
"Knock it off Fred, or I really will rename you," the partial youkai invalid cut him off.
"I don't get it," Ginta commented out loud. "What's so embarrassing about land ownership?"
"So kind of you to ask," Fred beamed over Aki's groan.
"You just had to ask," Aki grumbled. Sesshoumaru prevented her hand from meeting her forehead.
"It's simply that Kagome has HUGE," and Fred made sure to use the appropriate gesture for the Monty Python line, "tracks of land."
"Oh god!" Kagome groaned and attempted to hide behind her hands as the group alternately stared at her bosom or blushed in embarrassment themselves. Aki shook her head at the poor girl as Inuyasha growled threateningly at everybody else.
"Aki's bigger though," Rin pointed out. The staring switched to Aki's chest for better comparison.
"Indeed, but the old dog demon's ghost would hardly need to ask that question with her standing right in front of him," Kikyou replied evenly.
Aki made a point of staring right back at the offenders. Most of the perverted stares were quelled under the combined power of her glare and Sesshoumaru's.
Kagura tugged on the towel still wrapped around Aki's hair. "It'll never dry this way," the detachment observed dryly. "And you'll certainly catch cold if you keep it wet."
"But if I remove the towel, my clothes get wet," Aki shrugged. "I'll still get a cold from wearing wet clothing."
"I can fix that," Kagura declared.
"Fix what?" Aki's eyebrows disappeared under her damp towel.
In response Kagura swiped Aki's towel and pressed her fore finger between Aki's newly exposed eyebrows. The wind user then proceeded to blow-dry Aki's hair.
"Neat trick," Aki grinned up at the woman after brushing off the annoying finger tapping her forehead. "How are you at drying clothes?"
"It doesn't work as well, I'm afraid," Kagura answered.
"That's too bad, I really would have liked to wear my jeans again," Aki shrugged.
"And I'm sure you wouldn't have minded being able to wear your flannel shirt," Fred grinned.
"The thought hadn't crossed my mind," Aki lied with a grin. Sesshoumaru ran his claws through her hair for the tactile comfort it brought him. It was practically the only thing he could have done that wouldn't cause her pain at the moment.
"Right," Fed chuckled. "And I finally managed to teach a poodle to fly."
"What's a poodle?" Shippou asked in confusion.
"It's a special breed of dog that people have domesticated as pets," Aki answered.
"There are dogs that can fly?" the kit marveled.
"Nope, which is why he said it," Aki laughed.
"Because they are both liars!" Jaken exclaimed more than willing to tarnish the reputation of a woman he was still of the impression meant very little to his lord.
"Actually, what I said previous to Fred's lie was a lie, and we both knew it, which is why he said what he did," Aki explained to a couple of horrified looking little girls.
"Grown-ups sometimes use sarcasm to express themselves," Kagome explained. "They tell lies that are often easily identified to make a point or sometimes a joke. That was Aki's intention which her good friend understood."
"I never lie about anything important," Aki smiled and elbowed Sesshoumaru when he growled at her words. "Small white lies about my health not withstanding."
"She'd rather just imprison you for no reason," Kouga grumbled. "And she'll lie about the weather."
Aki rolled her eyes at the annoying wolf prince. Suddenly the temperature inside the room dropped severely.
"It's freezing!" Kagome shivered in her incredibly insufficient clothing.
"Still believe there's no storm out there?" Aki asked pointedly. "I was keeping the cold out, but since you insisted there was no reason for it, I decided to stop wasting my energy."
"You've made your point now cut it out!" Kouga growled as Kagome and everybody else shivered more violently.
"I did," Aki leaned against Sesshoumaru's chest comfortably. "It'll take a few minutes for the air to warm back up. Now don't annoy me again and we'll be set."
Kouga growled angrily, but Kagome spoke before he could. "Don't say anything Kouga, You'll regret it!" Her glower was no less potent for the children and other humans hovering around her for warmth. The wolf prince swallowed nervously as her look was taken up by the fire cat, fox kit and two adult humans.
Inuyasha snickered, greatly enjoying the wimpy wolf's misfortune right up until Kagome sat him with a strong order to shut up.
"Do youkai just not understand the concept of time out and tact?" Aki asked Sesshoumaru loudly.
"You do realize asking a youkai that question within earshot of other youkai is completely tactless, right?" Miroku smirked.
"Well, I've been called unreasonable, and a liar more than once in the last twenty minutes, I thought I'd give everybody a new word to throw around," Aki shrugged.
Suddenly she tensed, every nerve ending dancing to attention as she stared at the door to the world outside their little room of warmth. Aki pulled herself out of Sesshoumaru's lap and staggered through the tide of wolves that ardently paid her their collective attention. When she reached the door, she pressed her hand to it. "Fred," she whispered, the sound loud in the intense silence her strange movements had created. All attention was focused on her hand.
"Don't even think it Aki," it was clear the ghost knew what she was thinking.
"But she'll die," Aki protested, anyone with half a brain and eyes in their head could see that it upset her a great deal more than it should.
"You don't know who that is or why they ventured into the storm. Don't do anything stupid," the ghost tried to talk her out of it.
"Yumi, go get a long piece of rope," Aki told the little girl. The young mole youkai scrambled into the storage cupboards under the floor by the wall for the requested item. One end of the rope retrieved was tied around Aki's waist as Sesshoumaru stalked across the room to stop her. Aki shoved the other end of the rope into his hand before he could start. "Hold this. Kagome, time me fifteen minutes. If I'm not back on my own by then, pull me back to safety," she slid the door open to reveal a white void that was the storm. "Be prepared for hypothermia, have blankets and dry clothing ready, start fixing something warm to drink or eat. And Kagura, be ready to fix a lot of hair with that trick of yours."
"You should not be doing anything physically straining," Kikyou scolded her sternly.
"No one else will be able to find her quickly enough to do her any good," Aki shrugged her off.
"You should not be doing anything physically straining," Kikyou glared at her. "If this foolish person is incapable of walking back here, leave them."
Aki sent her a look over her shoulder as she stepped through the barrier and into the white. After she took two steps from the door here was nothing for them to see. The storm eliminated visibility beyond that point so all they could see was the rope disappearing into the snow.
"Apparently," Aki could sense where she was going well enough because the rope flew out the door at a quick pace that made Sesshoumaru wrap the end of it more firmly around his hand. He would not allow her lifeline to slip away from him.
The rope stopped threading through the door long before it could be drawn taught from Sesshoumaru's hand.
"I guess she's found them," Kagura said.
"Has it been time yet, Kagome?" Inuyasha wanted to know. It was very unlikely that he would ever learn the true virtue of patience.
Kagome rolled her eyes and continued to fold every available blanket and place it within easy reach of the door. "I'll let you know when it's time to start reeling her in. Until then you could help me get this place ready. Aki is going to be really cold when she gets back, but it will be worse for whomever she went to get."
"Keh! Just toss them into the hot spring. That ought to warm them up!" Inuyasha scoffed.
Miroku allowed his staff to fall on Inuyasha's head. "If we wanted to risk killing them, we certainly could do that," the monk spoke peaceably, as if he hadn't just given the hanyou a bump on the head.
"We have to be careful not to warm them up too fast," Kagome grunted as Kikyou pushed her aside to reach the fire they'd been using to cook with. The dead woman was too intent on preparing some tea to bother giving her reincarnation the time of day.
"It would be better if Aki had more dry clothing," Sango murmured.
"Here!" Yumi plopped a great bundle of silky cloth down on top of the blankets Kagome had set out. "And we have more blankets too."
"Yumi, those belonged to your mother," the older mole youkai declared darkly.
"And they will still belong to her if somebody else wears them," Sango smiled at the little girl.
"Mama would want us to use them to help others," Yumi nodded.
"Not predators and enemies," her father retorted.
"We aren't your enemies!" Kagome yelled in exasperation. "What have we done to make you think so?"
"We did not attack you, mistreat you or imprison you," Miroku said calmly. "We have kept you fed, warm, and comfortable. What reason have you for this irrational need to insult and otherwise offend out party?"
"The question didn't require an answer," Fred cut the mole off. "Try to remove the slack, Aki might have trouble finding her way back without a little help."
Sesshoumaru was all for pulling the rope taut, it was one step before reeling Aki in and that couldn't happen soon enough for him. Inuyasha hauled the excess rope further behind them to get it out of the way while Sango attempted to wind it up properly to be stored once again.
Strangely no matter how much rope was coiled up behind the inu brothers, they couldn't get the rope to pull taught at all. "I guess she's already on her way back," Fred murmured absently "Hey get away from the door!" he ordered urgently.
"What for?" Inuyasha demanded.
"Because you're in the way, stupid," Fred hollered. "How is she supposed to come in when she gets here if everybody is blocking the door? Did you ever think of that?"
"Don't forget the rope!" Kagome exclaimed.
Inuyasha cursed as he realized the mess of it getting in Sesshoumaru's way since the hanyou had paused to argue. It was getting harder to handle as the snow soaked into the fibers and the chill of it made the rope painful to grasp. Which could only indicate how very cold it was outside. "I hope you beat her when she gets back, "Inuyasha grumbled. He didn't like worrying about Aki, something he found himself doing all too often. He was extremely glad he wasn't in Sesshoumaru's shoes. If his worry was so horrible from just a brotherly stand point, he couldn't imagine how rotten it must be for someone more involved.
Sesshoumaru ignored the comment; he knew pain would teach Aki nothing except that he was violent. Besides, Aki couldn't really handle much more rough handling without good reason. All he could really do was hope she came back safe and sound. Then, oh, then he was most assuredly going to drag her forcibly (if he had to) into the room where they slept so he could become more intimately familiar with her bruises. Very likely, he wasn't going to give her a reason to leave that room for as long as possible.
But first, Aki had to return to the shelter heated by the fire.
"Has it been fifteen minutes yet, Kagome?" Azusa asked, getting bored with watching the rope turn into a damp coil by Sango.
"Eh?" Kagome gasped and dropped everything to glance at her forgotten watch. Her voice was shrill with guilt for forgetting to watch Ai's time and worry for the time her watch indicated. "She's been gone for over twenty minutes."
Sesshoumaru immediately picked up the pace, the rope flew past him faster than Sango could work it so the length of it bunched and twisted and flopped all over the place as it pleased. The taiyoukai didn't care; somewhere on the end of the rope was Aki, exposed to the fury of the wind and snow.
Two minutes later, Aki stumbled through the barrier over the door, tripped over the last of the rope and fell to the floor, dropping the demon she rescued in the sea of snow-white wolves. Both Aki and the youkai were covered in snow from head to tow, leaving them both looking as white as the void from which they had escaped.
Aki pushed herself up from the floor to sit and suck the warm air into her poor frozen lungs. Her skin was pale with cold as the snow began to melt and allieve her of its whiteness.
Sesshoumaru pushed through the shivering and frosted wolves to cradle Aki's head in his hands. He kneeled down to rub her cold cheek with his warm one.
"She's not breathing!" Kagome cried from where she was trying to help the other female.
Sesshoumaru felt the puff of Aki's breath across his face as she sighed tiredly before moving clumsily over to where Kagome was. The partial youkai pressed her ear over the unnamed youkai's heart. A second later she shook her head and motioned Kagome away from the female.
Aki placed one pale hand over the stranger's heart. She placed her other hand under the stranger's arm and closed her eyes.
Aki shoved energy through the youkai's heart in one swift pulse causing it to jump-start. The youkai's eyes snapped open and swung out with both claws instinctively. The stranger managed to scour Aki's cheek and nick Kagome's forearm before Aki straddled her and pinned her down.
"Sorry Kagome, my bad," Aki murmured quietly as the strange youkai continued to struggle. "I should have realized she would react like a cornered animal."
"Ayame! What are you doing here!" Kouga demanded gruffly, his voice breaking through the wolf youkai's senseless fright.
"Should've known she was a friend of yours," Aki snorted as Ayame began to settle down.
"Are you okay Ayame?" Kagome asked, now recognizing the youkai's slowly thawing red hair under the disappearing frost.
Ayame blinked up at the novice miko cradling her arm as Kouga came up behind her. "What are you doing here?" the pinned youkai asked quietly.
"We were looking for Naraku and found Aki instead," Kagome motioned to the partial youkai still sitting astride Ayame. "Kouga was probably following Kagura for the same purpose," the time traveler nodded at he red-eyed woman standing against the wall. "We got stuck here because Aki wouldn't let any of us out into the storm."
"I was following Kouga," Ayame explained softly. "Grandfather wants to speak to him about a pack problem "
"You are lucky you were close enough for Aki to sense you," Kikyou declared sternly. Foolishness that caused near death injury deserved nothing but her wrath. She was keeping it to herself though, barely. "If not for Aki your mission would have ended in failure due to your death."
"Lay off Kikyou," Aki growled tiredly as the miko forced the partial youkai's chin to the side in order to examine the scratch on her face. "Is it still bleeding?" the former tutor asked mildly, at this point she really didn't care.
"It is slowing," Kikyou nodded.
"Sango could you hand me my first aid kit? There should be bandages in it for this sort of thing," Kagome shrugged as she looked over her own scratch. Inuyasha grabbed her arm so he could examine it instead.
"What happened to you?" Ayame asked in confusion as Sango handed over the metal box of supplies.
"Keh! You scratched them when they tried to help you," Inuyasha growled, lifting Kagome arm to an awkward level.
"Hey! That's attached you know!" Kagome protested.
"Quit your whining!" Inuyasha growled in return.
Aki chuckled, "don't worry about it," she said to Ayame. "You awoke unexpectedly in a foreign place surrounded by people you didn't recognize. It was natural to react that way. Besides you didn't really hurt us." Sesshoumaru growled at that, but Aki ignored him while Kikyou bandaged her cheek.
"See if you can refrain from collecting any more injuries for a while," the dead miko grumbled.
"Don't bet on it," Inuyasha grumbled as he glared at Kagome over her injury.
"Don't look at me like that!" Kagome huffed. "This wasn't my fault, you fat head!"
"Can we get everybody dry and warm before we start throwing around blame?" Aki growled. "Let's start with the wolves. Kagura can you get their fur dry?"
"Keep that witch away from the wolves!" Kouga snarled.
Aki gave him a flat look, "If you think you can keep them all from attempting to shake off the water and showering everybody else until their fur is dry, I'll be happy to ask Kagura to only worry about Ayame and me. Otherwise it's more efficient to dry the wolves first."
"If she does anything more than dry them…"Kouga growled and left the threat open.
"You'll shave me bald and grease me down with butter," Aki suggested without the smallest hint of being serious.
"No Aki, that's what I would do," Fred laughed.
"Seriously, the first time you used that threat my little brothers attacked you with a stick of butter and a frying pan," Aki laughed. "Just dry the wolves, Kagura. Then Ayame and I would like a style and curl."
Kagome laughed, "Kagura the hair stylist! She would be so awesome at it!"
"Mark my words Windy, you'll be a rich artist some day," Aki grinned.
Kagura simply scoffed at her as she moved to blow dry two wolves at once.
Everybody else stared at the three people from the future like they were crazy. Like anybody who could quick dry hair would ever be considered an artist! The world didn't work that way.
But Kagome, Aki, and Fred knew different. The world was a crazy place and always changing, after all.