I disclaim.


Remember to Breathe

Agatha Lynn was quite certain she was going to scream. Dinner had been such a nice occasion and she'd retreated to her apartment shortly afterward. Around five that evening she'd decided to make one last check on the Inn before making herself some supper. It was then when she came across the twins. She took a deep breath and counted to ten as slowly as she could in her head. And she still felt the nearly overpowering urge to scream. She placed a hand to her head, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to breathe as deeply and calmly as she could.

"What possessed you to do this?" Her voice was strained and the young teens in front of her, as though realizing that they'd just landed themselves in a powder keg, suddenly appeared very sheepish. The shorter of the two worried the edge of her shirt while her brother twisted his fingers together and each offered up their own kind of prayer.

"Well, you see, we just wanted to do something to surprise you." Aggie gave her what could only be referred to as the look of ultimate disbelief. "And, well, we didn't mean for it to go this bad Aggie. Honest!" Aggie Lynn sighed and composed herself as well as she could. She knew that the twins really hadn't meant for things to get bad, they just had a terrible habit of disaster following them. And really, it wasn't as though they'd burnt down the lobby or anything. It was just a terrible shade of bright orange. Nothing that couldn't be fixed.

"Why orange?" Agatha was fond of the color, to be sure, but not when it was smeared all the way across the walls in the lobby of her Inn. As she stared in disbelief, the twins tried to come up with a way to explain.

"Well, you were saying when you closed shop before Christmas that you thought it could use some color in the lobby and we know how you like orange, so we thought that we'd surprise you with it. And we really didn't expect it to turn out this color and it didn't look so bad when we were painting in the daylight so I guess maybe now that it's getting darker -"

"Bree. Chill. I just . . . this is . . ." Aggie Lynn trailed off, pointing to the walls. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "It's nothing we can't fix. And by we, I mean you two, although it will go quicker if I help." Bree, and her brother Bryton, gave each other worried looks.

"You mean, we've got to paint it all over again?" Bryton was shyer than his sister, and she usually did all the talking, but he was known to get quite chatty with Aggie Lynn. Agatha ran a hand over her face as she stared at the walls.

"We're not gonna do anything with it tonight. You two are going to put those brushes and paint up, then you're going to go straight home and then in the morning, we'll deal with this, okay?" Agatha followed the twins through the routine, making sure she locked the door behind her as they left. She gave the orange walls one last look before shaking her head. Bree tapped Agatha on the shoulder and gave her a sheepish look.

"We really didn't mean to upset you. We just, you were kinda down the last time we saw you and we wanted to do something to make you happy." Agatha gave the teen a strained smile and hugged her to her side.

"I know Bree. It's just a bit bright, that's all. Tomorrow, in the morning, we'll look it all over and see what we can do about it, okay?" When the teen gave Agatha a small smile and nod, Agatha turned to her brother. "Now, you and Bryton get home before your momma comes looking okay?"

When she was sure that the twins were headed down the street to their house, Aggie Lynn headed back to her apartment, shaking her head the whole way. She knew that they'd only meant well, and she was sure that there was something they could do about the wall color, but as it was, she was halfway to frustrated and not sure she had a remedy for it. Once she was inside, she kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the couch with a barely suppressed sigh. Her cat, a grey tabby by the name of Xiggy, stretched and readjusted himself on the back of the couch after giving her a glare for waking him up. She reached up to pet his silky head.

"Something's gotta change, Xiggycat." The aforementioned cat simply gave Agatha a satisfied purr before slipping back into sleep.


Inuyasha was quite certain he was going to scream. After what seemed like countless hours in the plane and a few more hours trying to get through Customs, he was ready to go full demon and eat some people. He'd been under the impression that Sesshomaru had taken care of everything, but when he found himself filling out what had to have been the billionth form stating that yes, he had ordered this specific motorbike and no, he didn't know his exact destination and yes, he had all the funds he needed, he was contemplating flying back to Japan just to kick Sesshomaru's ass. It'd been a few centuries since their last real confrontation, and Inuyasha was feeling the need for another one.

"Mr. Ohashi?" Inuyasha to face the woman who'd called his name. She was shorter than him by a good foot and a half, and had a pleasantly blank face. "We just have a few more forms for you to sign and then we'll get you on your way." She motioned for him to follow her into another room. Inuyasha decided he'd have to just suck it up and make plans to kill his half-brother later.

A tiring two hours later Inuyasha was finally free of paperwork and seated on the back of his motorcycle. On a whim he'd flown into Miami, almost excited about the prospect of warm beaches and women in skimpy bikini's, but after all his time in the airport he was just ready to be on the road. Without much care as to his destination, Inuyasha turned the bike for the interstate, and drove.


Aggie Lynn jerked awake, startling the cat that was lazily draped across her chest. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before searching for a clock. The large black clock on the wall beside her door ticked loudly and it took her a moment to realize it was nearly dawn. She stared at the clock for another moment before picking up Xiggy - who loudly protested being moved - and heading for her bedroom. She let her cat down onto her bed - noting how he managed to take up the majority of it - and sleepily made her way into her bathroom. After changing and taking care of all her nightly needs she slipped back into the bedroom, crawling beneath the covers and sliding Xiggy out of the way so she could fit. The grey tabby gave her a satisfied rumbling purr and curled up at her side, slipping back into sleep as easily as he'd come out of it.

She lay there petting the cat for a long moment before slipping back into dreams herself. The last thing she thought before slipping back into dreamland was how simple life would be if she could live like a cat and spend her life moving from nap to nap.


It was nearly dawn before Inuyasha decided to stop and find someplace to sleep. He wasn't particularly picky about star rating, as his only requirement was somewhere to sleep. He found himself checking into a Holiday Inn just off the interstate in Northeast Florida, trying and failing to be somewhat polite to the girl with the atrociously thick southern accent, and collapsing onto the King bed with an air of completely undignified grace. He'd tossed his duffle on the floor and stripped to his boxers before crawling into the bed, and he found himself once again counting ceiling tiles.

He just hoped that his trip was really for the best.


A/N: Okay, so Inuyasha's finally in the country! It might've been a bit rushed, but he's there now and that's what matters. Thoughts? ^_^