Ah wednesday. Thankfully I don't have to work, but my next day off is next wednesday, so I have a long week ahead of me again.

I am miserable. And it isn't because because of the long work week ahead of me. SEe, last week, in the midle of that exceedingly long week of work, I manage to develop facial palsy. Half of my face doesn't move properly. And my sinuses have decided to go crazy because of the weather constantly changing. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to eat, talk, or just work when your mouth is half broken. Or as I like to say, my smile is broken, literally. oh and that's not all. I can't close my eye all the way so it constantly waters, making driving a chore. Watching tv, studying, reading are all difficult. And it'll take anywhere from a week to two months to work itself out.

My mother, when she first found out, went into a low-grade hysterical fit. I think she practically invented it. So worried it was permanent she won't listen to me when I tell her what is really going on, and she's infected my dad a little bit too. She's getting a little better though. It's starting to go away already. Guess she'll finally stop repeating my grandmother's false information now. heh!

but you don't really want to know about that. You want to know how Aki is doing and if Sesshoumaru is going to get a beat down like he deserves. WEll, you'll just have to do what Even Rumiko Takahashi would have to do... Read it. heehee.

Enjoy!

Not In White

The car ride to the mysterious Mouse's clinic had been rather uneventful as all parties in the car strove to calm their tempers and made sure not to interact with each other more than necessary. This behavior might have continued past the end of the trip if there hadn't been a few ground rules to establish before entering the youkai house of healing.

"All right," a much calmer Loki began as he shut the car door. "First off, no threatening Mouse. Mouse is a healer and completely neutral when it comes to youkai politics. She doesn't care who you are or where you come from, if you're hurt and make it to her place, she will heal you. The only way you'll ever be barred entrance to her care is if you threaten her or those she has currently under her care." Loki paused for breath. "Rule two, there is a certain youkai that lives with Mouse. You will not threaten, tease or otherwise disrespect him. The only people allowed to do any of the above are Mouse and Aki. They're the only ones trusted not to touch on subjects that will reopen his emotional or mental scars. His name is Data. Aki is his favorite person in the world. If he knows you're the reason Aki's in the condition she was in, your meeting with him will not be pleasant. And no matter how normal he seems, he's damaged."

"When we get inside Mouse will already know everything that's happened to Aki since her last check up," Kaoru added. "Just a guess, but there's probably a lot that's happened in the last month she would frown on. Mouse will take you to task for it. Aki is very special to Mouse and any harm that befalls Aki pisses off Mouse to no end. She'll most likely drag you off to talk to you in private. No matter what is said, only you will hear it. This is a sanctuary, a place of healing so most rooms are sound proofed and the air is as clean as possible." Kaoru paused a moment in thought, "You may or may not see Aki before Mouse drags you off for that talk. I'm not sure of her condition now but I doubt she's awake yet."

"Wait," Inuyasha interrupted, confused. "How could this Mouse person know everything that's happened if Aki's not awake to tell her?"

Kaoru smiled smugly, "it's one of Mouse's many gifts, part of the reason she's such a successful healer."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at that and Kaoru chuckled, "you'll see soon enough."

Loki snorted as he opened the door for Kaoru, "Yeah whatever Aki doesn't feel like telling me, Mouse finds out easily without breaking a sweat," he grumbled good-naturedly. "You coming dog prince? I think I'm looking forward to introducing you to Mouse."

Sesshoumaru suppressed the growl that threatened to surface at Loki's lack of respect and subtle threats.

"Loki!" a childish voice called as a young boy hurtled down the hall at them. "Where've you been? I expected you ages ago!"

"I know Data," Loki sighed tiredly. "I had some things to take care of first."

The now identified Data narrowed his eyes at the taller male. "I hope you kicked his ass!" he growled with red flashing in his eyes. "Better yet, I hoped you killed the bastard that hurt Aki!"

"Whoa! Hold up!" Loki choked out. "One thing at a time. First, how is she?" he asked the all-important question on everyone's mind.

"She's still breathing if that's what you want to know," another voice floated down the hall. "Data! What have I told you about running in the hall! This is a place of healing not a playground!"

Data cuffed his toe and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah."

The female walking down the hall looked like she washed her clothes and hair with white out. Everything about her person was more close to white than the color it supposedly had been at one time. Her hair had a slight hint of blue and her eyes could barely be called green. Her clothes might have been blue at one point, but now they were so close to white one dismissed the hint of color as a trick of the harsh overhead lights. Thus Mouse stood before them without expression on her face. Next to her Data stuck out like a black-eyed Susan in a bouquet of bluebonnets.

"Good you brought them," her eyes flicked to the brothers as her voice cut them with the last word. Mouse turned abruptly, freezing them both with her chilly voice. "Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, follow me please. I have a good number of words I wish to share with you."

"Hey, is Aki alright?" Inuyasha asked softly as Mouse led them around a corner and into an empty room.

Mouse's answer was to flick on a switch that raised the cover over the observation window to the next room. There lay Aki on a simple hospital bed wrapped in bleached cotton sheets, her hair spread across the pillow to hang of the edge of the bed. Her breathing was shallow and fast.

"We finally got her warmed, only to have her slip into the fever her body produced in order to heal the damage she's sustained," Mouse told them coldly. "I imagine her difficulty breathing is leftover from the poison she picked up from your claws not three weeks ago," Mouse accused icily. "Or perhaps being pressed to a wall a couple times this morning was enough."

Sesshoumaru growled softly in mild protest.

"Hey lay off! It's not like he did this on purpose!" Inuyasha bellowed, not liking this accusation session despite the fact it was directed at his hated half brother.

"Don't get me started on you and the number of times you've stuck her with Tessaiga," Mouse retorted mildly. "Besides, how can you possibly expect me to believe the finger and claw shaped bruises on her arms was an accident? Especially when coupled with the extensive bruising on her back? Even if Aki hadn't collapsed, she wouldn't have been able to handle much more manhandling today. As it is, if she wasn't already unconscious, she wouldn't be able to sleep due to the pain laying on her back would cause."

"So that's what happened this morning," Inuyasha mumbled.

"Oh that's only part of it," Mouse continued without changing her monotonous tone. "Actually, it started before she woke up this morning when she was pushed off the bed to the floor, but I suppose I could excuse that for the accident it was." Sesshoumaru fought back the colour that threatened to flood his features. "What I can't dismiss is the way you both continue to hurt Aki without bothering to think about it."

"What are you talking about? Except those times with the Tessaiga I never-" Inuyasha began loudly.

"You do the same thing over and over again and it hurts her more than the physical wounds either of you could deal her." Mouse cut him off. "Aki lost all of her family in one ni-"

"We know that!" Inuyasha interrupted angrily.

His anger dissolved quickly under the look she gave him. "So you know she lost her family, hmm?" Mouse began, deliberately using small words to be sure they both understood. "You know that she lost her heart and soul in a pool of blood? You know that her little brothers died the day before their school let out for their winter holidays? You know Aki had just come home from her own school to spend time with the family she had hardly seen in months?" Mouse shook her head coldly at them, "You know nothing. Aki lost every piece of her life that kept her breathing and striving for more all in one night. If you knew that like you said you do, you would not have continued to hurt her so." Mouse turned from them to stare out the observation window.

Inuyasha stood there confused as to what the hell she could be talking about, but damned if he'd ask.

"What is it that you speak of?" a cool voice filled the silence of the room. Inuyasha stared. Did Sesshoumaru just admit to ignorance in a situation? Oh no! The world must be coming to an end!

Mouse didn't bother to turn around. "Don't you think that someone that held their family so dear and lost them would be pained watching you two fight each other with the goal of injuring or possibly eliminating the other? Don't you think that someone like that would feel it like a slap in the face? You two still have each other, but you refuse to see it that way. To you, the other is an object of pain and hatred. For Aki, that's like rubbing salt in an open wound. She had brothers once. She loved them greatly and then she lost them." Mouse turned to hold their amber eyes with a look. "Then she is forced to watch someone else that still has a brother treat that privilege like a curse. It would be all right if you just took it for granted. It would be fine if you sparred or argued, but fighting with the intent to kill hurts her." Mouse turned back to watch Aki's uneasy breathing. "And for someone like Aki, who refuses to kill, the only thing more painful than watching you two fight each other would be if one of you succeeded in killing the other."

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise. He'd never thought of it like that. Now that it had been pointed out to him, he wondered if any of the rest of his friends felt something similar. Miroku had never had any family to speak of, his father having died years ago. Sango had lost her entire village except her little brother whom she was forced to fight by Naraku. Shippou had lost his family just before they met him. Gods, his band of misfits all had reason to dislike the altercations with his brother. Even Kagome, who rarely got to see her younger brother because of the shard hunt. Inuyasha winced; they'd probably already realized Aki might be pained by him and his brother, even if she was impossible to read.

The hanyou abruptly turned and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly.

"In there," Inuyasha waved at the window, "to wait for Aki to wake up so I can apologize."

The demon lord moved to follow the younger male but Mouse's firm "Sesshoumaru" held him back. "I'm not quite finished talking to you yet," the healer continued. "Why do you pursue Aki? What are your intentions?"

"Don't you know already?" he returned, his voice hard as flint.

"I know you continue to desire Aki for a mate. What I don't know is why?" Mouse looked at him.

"Can't you just read my mind?" Sesshoumaru spat feeling slightly unnerved and angry.

"If I had no respect for your privacy I suppose I could. If you were my patient I might, but I don't go around stealing thoughts and memories from people's minds," Mouse replied coolly. "Besides the horrible headache I would develop, not everybody has thoughts I necessarily want to know about." She paused briefly before continuing. "I only use my gift on patients that come in alone and unconscious so I can know what they've done to put themselves in such a state." She sighed softly, "But Aki is a special case. Which is why I want to know what your intentions are and why you refuse to seek a different mate." Mouse shifted to stare through the window, "I need to decide whether to tell you what Aki will need you to know should you succeed in winning her affections."

Sesshoumaru blinked at Mouse's back. Slowly he smirked at her, "you'll have to be more specific than that. After all, I might be one of those people whose thoughts you don't really want to know."

Mouse closed her eyes briefly, making him realize it was the first time she'd done so. "Being with Aki has been good for you, if you've picked up a bit of her playful sense of humor." The healer turned to look at him, "I want to know what you want from Aki. I want to know what reasons you hold for wanting them from Aki specifically. By you telling me this I can decide whether or not you're likely to succeed in you endeavors."

Sesshoumaru thought a moment gazing at the subject of their conversation through the clear glass. "What I want?" he breathed softly in consideration, mulling over the best way to reply.

"This isn't a test of your oratory skills, just say what comes out," she demanded as the silence stretched too long for the simple question.

The youkai lord let his features slide into a half-smile as he brushed his finger tips along the cool window. "What I want…" he murmured again. "I want Aki. I want her pain replaced with joy. I want the joy to be because of me. I want her near me when I'm awake and beside me when I sleep. I want her scent to not be so elusive. I want the sadness and fatigue in her eyes to disappear. I want to soothe away her nightmares and calm her fears. I want her to feel free to show all her emotions without shame." The inu youkai paused a moment, "I want Aki as my mate. I want to be the one she asks for help. I want to wake up to her sleeping face. I want her wrapped in my scent so thick that no one else's but hers can be detected." Sesshoumaru growled as his eyes flashed briefly to red with possessiveness. "I want to watch her teach our young ones about life. Most of all I want to see her grow heavy with the child that I put there, and if I can't have that then I want to at least try for the for that the rest of her life."

"You're talking of marking her," the healer gazed at him.

"As many times as she'll allow," Sesshoumaru returned her gaze with a nod.

"So that is what you want," Mouse spoke softly. "Why?"

The youkai lord turned back to look at Aki. "What do you mean?"

"Every desire you just expressed could be had with any female. It could simply be caused by instinct," Mouse stated.

Sesshoumaru growled, "I want Aki."

"Yes, but why her?" Mouse repeated. "What is so special about Aki that you refuse to even consider another female? What makes her the only one to fulfill all your wishes for the future?"

"Are you jealous? You seek to take her place?" Sesshoumaru asked suspiciously.

"I would prefer the company of a knife over yours, now stop avoiding the question and answer it!" Mouse ordered. "Why is Aki the only one who could fulfill all those desires for you? What sets her above all other females in the world?"

The taiyoukai growled softly under his breath.

"I don't speak dog," Mouse said shortly, "Try speaking my language, I know you can."

"You are intolerably rude, wench!" Sesshoumaru declared through gritted teeth.

"I'm also impertinent, but that's neither here nor there. Answer the question," Mouse demanded softly.

The demon lord clenched his jaw and glared at the almost demon in the next room. "It just has to be Aki," he almost shrugged, unable or unwilling to elaborate.

Sesshoumaru fairly roared in frustration when Mouse lifted an eyebrow at him and opened her mouth. Mouse snapped her mouth shut with a knowing chuckle. "Your frustration and anger conveys more than you might be able to say," Mouse gave him a gentle smile. "That gives me some hope for you, but know that if you don't learn how to say it, learn what it is, you won't succeed in this undertaking. Someday she will need to hear the words and if you allow your pride to get in the way she very well may break."

Sesshoumaru regained his composure, carefully slipping behind his mask of ice. He didn't like not knowing what the healer was talking about. He didn't like her amusement at his frustration. He didn't like her cryptic doomsayer speech about his and Aki's future. She spoke of Aki like the powerful almost youkai were fundamentally fragile and easily broken by words or lack of them.

"You don't think so?" Mouse raised an eyebrow. "Here, let me show you," she hit the switch to cover the observation window, cutting off the excess light for the other room. The small woman turned to the large blank screen and hit the button on the machine underneath it. "Data's been working on this program for years, but he only just got it finished right after meeting Aki. He's tweaked it to work especially well for her. After all, Aki funded the end portion of its development and re-outfitted this place with new equipment when Loki first brought her here several months ago. Data works all night developing new things to add to it and to smooth out the bugs that surface during use." Mouse absently smiled warmly at the thought, "He also insists we use it on other patients before trying it on Aki. He can't stand the thought of her being injured. Probably why he finished it up so quickly."

Sesshoumaru gazed over her shoulder at the flickering screen blankly. Everything she had just said meant very little to him and he really didn't see the point of her messing with this strange equipment. That is until the pictures appeared on the screen.

The monitor held a glowing double image of Aki with thin threadlike bonds strung out between the two. A glowing fuchsia colored light and a gnawing, gelatinous, black substance surrounded the bonds. Somehow he knew the black substance was not a good thing for Aki's health.

"You know that every living thing has a 'soul' right?" Mouse began, "And you know that demons heal faster than humans because they have closer ties with their 'soul' than humans. Normally when we show a youkai on this screen the images for the 'soul' and the living tissue overlap almost completely. Such overlapping would indicate a healthy youkai with a fast healing ability. Humans, who heal more slowly, would cause the images to overlap nearly half as much. Partial youkai, like Aki, would normally have an amount of overlap that is somewhere between the human's and a full-blooded youkai," Mouse continued to explain.

"But there is little to no overlap of these images," Sesshoumaru interrupted, subconsciously thankful the horror he was feeling hadn't seeped into his tone.

Mouse nodded solemnly. "The shock of her family's death on top of the sudden attack by whatever curse her family received severed most of the links between body and soul. The curse has been slowly eating away at the ties that are left," Mouse indicated the black substance surrounding the glowing threads with a delicately manicured claw. "Every time she comes back here the threads get more tenuous. Most who come even half this close to total separation tend to be on their death bed."

"But Aki isn't," the taiyoukai declared firmly.

Mouse turned to the inu youkai with a grim smile. "No, right now she isn't. She's holding on by shear will power, but how long can that last? Her psyche is cracked and splintered, it won't take much for it to shatter and Aki to slip beyond our ability to help her."

"Aki is not so weak as that," Sesshoumaru growled.

"Quite right, I don't know of any other person who's successfully fought off the edge of insanity, survived prolonged exposure to a particularly malignant curse, dissolved in an identity crisis all while hopping though time and losing all connection with her soul. Aki is not weak, you're correct, but even Aki can't continue on like this indefinitely," Mouse countered firmly. "Not even you could." The little healer sighed tiredly, "Aki needs to somehow renew the connections between body and soul, but there's no point in doing it before she gets rid of the curse."

"The Shikon no kakera…" Sesshoumaru began.

"Doesn't help much. You've noticed its presence," Mouse pointed to the fuchsia fog on the screen. "The Shikon fragments do strengthen what ties Aki still maintains despite the curse's knawing, but the shock of absorbing one of the shards snaps as many bonds as it strengthens."

"Then get rid of the curse," Sesshoumaru commanded simply.

"We don't know how," Mouse said firmly. "In order to rid Aki of this curse, we first need to know how it was put there, who put it there and what it is. Right now we only know what it does," Mouse explained. That's what the twins, whom you'll be meeting tomorrow are trying to figure out."

"So there's nothing you can do?" he nearly growled in frustration.

"We can try to slow down the curse's progress, but that can be very dangerous," Mouse informed him.

"What about this machine? Can't it do something?" Sesshoumaru demanded.

"It can only read what it's shown," Mouse replied. "Without it, we wouldn't know how dire the situation with Aki actually is. We could only guess, but this helps us know exactly where we stand." The pale healer looked at Sesshoumaru, "It also helps us to know what else is going on between her soul and her body." Mouse turned back to the screen, "For instance, Aki's 'condition' is actually slightly better than I would've expected." She paused before continuing, "the entities that summoned Aki from this world somehow managed to strengthen the bonds between the two. Somehow they've fortified the bonds against the curse's gnawing. Basically giving us more time to figure things out. And they are looking into removing the curse from their end of things as well."

"So that leaves us…" Sesshoumaru prompted.

"That leaves us to renew the connection between body and soul. That leaves us to try and maintain Aki's physical health. That leaves us with trying to heal that damn gash on the back of her shoulder," Mouse glanced at the inu youkai evenly. "And I've got a few ideas that won't end in pillowing."

Sesshoumaru growled petulantly. What was it with this little female and accusing him of things?

"Though after talking with you, I'm not as against the idea, but you need to stop trying to manipulate her into being your mate." Mouse scolded him. "If you want something that will last and won't make her hate you. Let it happen naturally," she finished absently as some piece of information on the screen caught her attention.

Sesshoumaru stared at the images of Aki on the screen allowing the healer's advice to sink in without seeming to. "How long does she have?"

The question startled the healer out of her contemplation of whatever had caught her attention. "That's the ultimate question, one for which we require a precise answer, but can only give generalities," Mouse sighed quietly.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, we don't know. We can guess, but we can't be certain. Could be today, Could be years from now, we don't know," Mouse replied while returning her attention to what she was working on before.

"That is unacceptable!" Sesshoumaru growled.

"That's life," Mouse returned absently. She hurriedly wrote something on a piece of paper and stood up to leave. Finally the healer looked at him fully. "You want a definite answer that I know is true? Aki will die sometime after this moment in her life. That's certain for all things eventually die," Mouse told him in a voice that was no more than a dry statement of facts. "Until then she will live, or survive as she puts it." Then she promptly left the room.

Sesshoumaru stared at the distorted images a certain lights began to flash and brighten.

Aki was barely awake and already she knew she wasn't in her apartment. For starters, the sheets on which she rested were entirely too stiff to be hers. They were scratchy and smelled all-wrong. Besides, it was hard to miss the absence of her favorite bear.

The next thing she noticed was a distinct lack of noise. The air was just too still and quiet despite the forced movement of the air conditioners.

She heaved a gentle sigh despite the violent urge to shiver. She was freezing and she knew she should be. Aki groaned and sat up slowly, clenching her teeth against the nauseous feeling of vertigo the action aroused.

Cautiously, so as not to blind herself, she opened her eyes to the bright white room and panic seized her. Aki hated sterile white rooms. Her eyes shot around the room bouncing of the plain white walls and observation glass. She hated sterile white rooms with observation windows. More than that, she hated to be alone in them.

Forgetting the dizziness that plagued her every movement, disregarding the weakness pervading her limbs, Aki swiftly leapt from the bed and headed for the door determined to leave this nightmare ASAP.

She had just reached the door with her hand on the knob, when it opened outward and she started to fall. The room spun and her arms flailed before somebody caught her.

"Whoa!" a deep voice rumbled through the chest she found herself leaning against. A chuckle sounded as the arms that caught her lifted her to almost stand on her own. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be on your feet yet." She found herself looking into Loki's face. "Come on, I'll help you back to bed," he finished with a wry grin.

Aki fuzzily nodded in agreement, a bed sounded awesome just then. Her body shook with muscle fatigue and chills brought on by her fever. Yep, it would be great to lie down and go back to sleep. Just not in there!

Loki had attempted to steer Aki back into the room she had been attempting to escape when the almost youkai latched onto the doorframe with greater strength than he would've thought possible.

"Not in there!" Aki cried and subconsciously began to dig her claws into the wall, reinforcing her grip on the doorframe. "Don't put me in there!" her voice cracked under the stress of her fear.

Loki reached out to try and dislodge her hold on the wall and she burst into hysterical tears at his touch.

"No!" Aki fairly screamed in panic. "No don't make me go in there, don't lock me away! Please don't put me back in there! Please…"She continued endlessly, incoherently pleading with him.

Loki finally took the hint and let go. He watched her slide down to sit on the floor slightly curled in on herself.

Tears streamed down her face in a salty torrent punctuated by half-hearted hiccups and mumbled protests. Aki's mind was fuzzy and she could no longer see clearly, but she was too tired to care. Shakily, she buried her face in her hands, not noticing the absence of her bracelets or the scratches she gave herself with her claws.

Inuyasha, finally having found his way to the entrance to Aki's room, immediately ran back to the last place he'd seen his elder brother. The dog boy instinctively knew Sesshoumaru would know the best way to soothe the emotionally over stimulated Aki. He needn't have bothered.

After a few moments of staring unproductively at the screen, Sesshoumaru had turned to follow after the healer and demand an explanation. The moment the door opened the sounds reached his ears and the terrifying scent of Aki's blood reached his senses. Sesshoumaru was moving towards the source of the scent before Inuyasha had a chance to go very far.

The sight of Aki in a broken heap on the floor caused a constriction of the muscles in his chest despite the evidence that she was physically all right.

Sesshoumaru kneeled on the floor next to her. Being this close he could smell her overwhelming fear and clearly hear the torrent of nearly unintelligible words spilling out from behind the hands hiding her face. She kept slipping in and out of Japanese.

He reached out and gently grasped her shoulder in an attempt to try and quiet her. Aki jumped and momentarily quieted. Slowly, she raised her face from the protective shelter of her hands and gazed over the jagged peaks of her talons.

The first glimpse of her ashen tear-stained face had Sesshoumaru drawing Aki's tired body into his arms to rest against him. He could feel the heat pouring off her fevered skin through his borrowed clothing.

The torrent of words began again, muffled by his shirt. The taiyoukai could tell she was pleading with him about something. It was in the tone of her voice and the weak clenching of her hands around his neck as he lifted them both off the ground.

Sesshoumaru raised a questioning eyebrow at the male standing slightly in the room Aki had formerly been in.

Loki opened his mouth to answer the unspoken inquiry but was interrupted by Mouse's demand for an explanation.

"What's gong on here?" she demanded coldly. "Aki should be in bed," the healer stated firmly, ignoring her gathering audience. Data came running up behind her with Kaoru trailing him from wherever she's been hiding. Mouse pointed back into the room. "Put her back!" she commanded.

"No!" Aki's body went rigid and her voice became painfully shrill. "Not back in there! Don't lock me back in the white!" and from there she dissolved into multilingual incoherence accompanied with a fresh onslaught of tears and wracking hiccoughs and sobs.

Sesshoumaru didn't need her outburst or her claws pricking at him to know he wasn't putting Aki where Mouse wanted her because Sesshoumaru wasn't about to follow someone else's orders, especially when it concerned the woman in his arms. He began to growl, quietly enough to just tickle Aki's sensitive ears and intense enough to rock her frame soothingly, causing her to relax slightly against him.

"Oh Aki," Mouse breathed out, showing vivid emotion for the first time since he'd met her. "I didn't realize it bothered you this much, I mean I knew but…" the healer looked absolutely shame faced as she reached out to lay a comforting hand on the hysterical woman's shoulder.

Aki stiffened once again before letting out a soft sigh as Inuyasha whispered his promise that neither he nor Sesshoumaru would allow her to be placed back in that room again.

"So where else can we put her," Loki asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," Mouse said quietly, slowly getting over Aki's hysteria. "Much like a hospital, all the rooms here are white and sterile."

"I don't understand," Kaoru interrupted. "She never had a problem with the rooms before."

"Actually, she did," Mouse said evenly. "She was just more in control of her fear then because she was fully conscious and never left alone. Fred was always with her."

"That's all nice to know, but it doesn't solve our problem," Inuyasha ground out.

"You could put her in my room," Data, the forgotten, spoke quietly. "It's not white and definitely not sterile, but it is clean-" at Mouse's disbelieving look he added "-ish. We could turn the radio on low. Aki always said the right kind of music can be soothing."

"Sounds good to me, lead the way," Inuyasha nodded to the boy. Sesshoumaru and the dog boy moved to follow the other.

"Wait a minute," Mouse practically growled. "I'm the healer here! I don't recall approving this course of action!"

Two sets of golden eyes turned to glare at her. Mouse nearly swallowed with nervousness.

Data had to walk around the inu brothers to give Mouse a rather cutting glare of his own. "Do you have a better idea?" he practically taunted her, knowing she didn't.

Mouse sighed and shook her head as the three males immediately dismissed her and head towards their decided destination.