Sunset's Shrink Chapter 7: Seventh Chapter, an inuyasha fanfic

Raine Okuna smiled, watching the screen before her. Surrounding her were several television screens showing images both in color and black and white. These televisions were the only source of light in the room.

She didn't want to load her parent's electricity bill up by using so much light. As it was the basement, which should have been cool, was heated with all the computer equipment running.

She had an air conditioner and several fans, which helped more than you could imagine. The desk before Raine was an almost complete circle. There was a small gap for her to get out of the small. Her smile turned into a grin as she typed something on the keyboard, her fingers moving fast across the holographic keyboard –advanced technology that she herself had created.

At age seventeen, Raine was smarter than most people ever got from years of training. She'd completed high school by age twelve, shocking most people, and now was in her fifth year in college. She'd just had her birthday a few days ago.

Of course, it was late at night and she was supposed to be sleeping or she'd never be able to pay attention in class in the morning. Not that she really needed to though. She had a good job already, to her anyway, though it was slightly illegal.

She created and sold android parts and software to people under the law. According to the recently passed law, all transactions pertaining to androids and the accessories needed to run them; software materials, parts, or the android itself, needed to be registered with the government.

Raine manufactured and sold parts through what was called the Decoloratio Venalicium, which was Latin for Discoloration Market. It was similar to the black market. Raine was careful so she didn't get caught. She used Android E.N.A. Series One, the very first model android that she'd made, to make the switch; money for items.

There was nothing about Android E.N.A. Series One that defined who the creator was which made it the ideal object in terms of secret drop trades.

Besides, it was much more fun to play with her creations. Her parents didn't know that she wasn't using the money her family sent for college and was instead using it to buy the tools and computer parts that she needed to make her inventions.

Raine ran her fingers through her black hair, feeling the greasy texture. She needed a shower. She hadn't had one in days. It must have been a month already since her last visit to the hygiene room.

Since Android E.N.A. Series Five had been nabbed by Li Xera, she'd been having so much fun decoding the secrets of the building by using her android's Plug-in ability that she hadn't really paid all that much attention to her hygiene.

She grinned coyly as she noticed something on one of the monitors. Aww, how sweet...someone is trying to hack into my tracking system. She thought looking at their attempts.

She knew she couldn't speak aloud or else her android would speak and she didn't want to shut the microphone off. Each shut off cost energy from both her work station and her android. That was a kink she had to work out yet. Let's give them a run for their money.

The largest, centermost television screen changed to a black screen with a green double greater-than sign with a green blinking vertical rectangle in front of it. Her eyes darted to a side screen quickly to check on her android. She reached across to the screen, tapping it with her finger. The image flickered momentarily before turning black and white.

"Artificial Intelligence activation process beginning." Raine heard the computer's voice say in her earphones. Seconds later, the computer's voice rang again. Raine kept one ear on the computer's status report, turning back to the main monitor, her fingers flicking across the glowing orange holographic keyboard.

The monitor began to quickly fill up with symbols, the green blinking rectangle always one step ahead of the letters, numbers, and symbols. "Artificial Intelligence activation processes malfunction. Power reserves are near depleted."

Her fingers stopping only briefly, Raine reached up to push a green button to turn off the microphone so that her android would not say what she spoke. "Computer, analyze and find out how many hours our little girl has left before moving to stand-by."

There was a small pause as the computer did the analysis, which Raine had expected. Raine's fingers went back to the keys and began typing again. "Android E.N.A. Series Five will move to stand-by in sixteen hours, forty-seven minutes, eight seconds."

"Thank you, Computer." Raine said, still speaking quietly. If she spoke loudly, her parents would hear and wake up. They were sleeping directly above her.

"If I may speak freely, Miss Okuna?" The computer asked.

"You may." Raine grinned, enjoying her computer's artificial intelligence. A computer normally could only be as smart as the user, but Raine had gone beyond that. She'd given her computer a means of thinking on its own, to create and hypothesize on its own.

Of course, there were override commands, just incase. Raine had also created a system firewall to prevent the computer from doing things on its own without verbal approval from Raine and both a fingerprint scan and an eye scan from Raine's palm terminal.

The computer didn't need these protections to be sure that it did nothing on its own; it was more a matter of Raine wanting to be sure that no one except her could tell her computer what to do. She knew that hackers could do almost anything, as she thought of herself as one.

"Android E.N.A. Series Five has not returned for twenty-nine days, seventeen hours, two minutes, thirty-six seconds, and eight milliseconds."

"I know." Raine admitted. "She'll be coming home soon."

"Android E.N.A. Series Five will not be able to function at maximum capacity for some days. Android E.N.A. Series Five will have to be either operated manually, or placed in stand-by mode. Android E.N.A. Series Five will deactivate completely if placed in Artificial Intelligence mode."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Raine typed the last of the commands, and then sent her 'get well card' on its way to the computer terminal that was trying to hack into her android's tracking system.

After that was done, she brought up the images that had been sent to her just before she got caught up in diverting a hacking attempt. Within a few seconds, she had an outline of what the finger had traced in the sink top. She turned the microphone back on and spoke quietly.

Shino cried out in frustration as the power went out. He slammed the file cabinet drawer he was looking in shut. It was getting dark out so the light streaming into the room through the windows didn't help at all.

He found it odd that even the backup generator did not come on. Carefully he made his way through the dark halls, listening to the confused shouts of everyone else in the SPD.

"Hey, what happened?"

"Who turned the power off?"

"It's probably the Seeds again! Aren't they the root of all our power problems? They probably blew another fuse!"

"Seriously this is ridiculous! Why can't they be put on a whole different breaker?"

The calls were all much similar to that, ranging from confused to just plain furious. He continued on his way towards the breaker room –something that it seemed no one else had in mind. When he got half-way there, he scowled inwardly at himself.

He had a flashlight connected to his belt, so why was he groping around in the dark? He took it out of its holder, turning the nozzle and shining the light ahead.

First he checked the backup generator, resetting it. That didn't bring the flood lights on. The generator was making its usual hum as though it were on, which confused Shino. With a sigh, he moved to the main circuit breaker and tried that. Everything read as "On".

"Oh, Takai, you're down here huh?" A tenor male's voice said from behind him. Shino turned around and saw one of the Seed's standing with a flashlight. It was Relic Johnson, a nineteen year old from America. He was a college student who had gotten a job with the Seed's because his uncle was the captain of the police department.

That didn't make him any less skilled at what he did though. Most of the Seed's were in their early twenties to late forties, yet still didn't match the skills of Relic. He had messy dark brown hair cropped to his earlobes that always had a greasy look to it.

Normally he wore a black baseball like cap on his head that said "US Marines" but today that hat was nowhere in sight. His white skin was slightly pinkish from too much sun, his bottom lip fuller than the top. His eyes were hazel colored, his figure lean yet muscular.

Every time Shino saw Relic, he was always surprised. Relic wasn't just some thin underfed scrawny nerd who wore coke bottle glasses.

"Yeah." Shino replied. "According to the breaker and the generator, everything checks out as on." He said. "What'd you guys do?"

Relic scowled. "We? Man, it wasn't me. They're blaming me since I'm the youngest, but I didn't do it. Opiwa and Tomyoak were trying to mess with a class C android and get into the androids system, to trace it. Whoever owns the thing must have noticed the activity, because they sent us a nice fat greeting."

"Class C?" Shino asked, crossing the room. As he began to make his way through the halls and back to the Seed's room, Relic fell in step beside him. "What's that mean?"

"Class C is the rank of the android. The lower the letter, the better the android. In other words, class A would be the best, and class Z would be the worst. They don't even manufacture class L through Z anymore." Relic ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. "I always get blamed." He muttered.

"So what class of androids were we using?"

Relic scratched the back of his neck. "We were using class H androids. Class A through D are illegal to use though except for in the use of military means."

"What do you mean by 'greeting'?"

"They sent us a giant counter-hack, a virus. This thing is huge." Relic paused in thought as they entered their destination.

Shino looked around the room. In the very center of the room was a holographic figure, the beams of light to create it seemed to come from every one of the computer monitors in the room.

The figure was hooded and cloaked much like the figures who would be holographic from the movie Star Wars. The entire thing was made of shades of green.

"Greetings." The holographs hollow voice echoed from every speaker in the room. There was no telling if the speaker was female or male. "Get well soon!"

After that, the message began to repeat itself. Shino frowned. "Johnson, can you do what you were doing from any other computer or do you need yours?"

Relic blinked. "Uh, I think I could use any computer..."

"I've got a laptop in my office. Get it working and find out who did this."

"Yes sir."

Relic hurried to get the laptop. When he had it, he began to set it up so that he could map-hack the location of the origination of the virus that had shut down the SPD.

Raine frowned when she saw another hacking attempt. This time, she instead started a "chat" with her would-be hacker. Basically, by chat, it meant that she would send files back and forth between herself and the would-be hacker. What she was doing was slightly like an IM.

Typing quickly, she wrote the instructions for the message. Then she wrote the message itself and sent it to her hacker. She created a name for herself so the hacker would have something to call her.

I see what you are doing. Why does my android's tracking device interest you so much? If you do not respond within one hundred twenty seconds, I will send you a greeting card that you will not recover from. – Kitty

Raine waited for the hacker to return the letter. Whoever they were, if they were smart they would take her seriously. She didn't take too kindly to people trying to invade her property.

Kitty, nice name. Your last greeting shut down the entire SPD, did you know that? Please do not send another greeting card. We have not recovered from the last greeting. We are not interested in your android in particular, just in the whereabouts. – Ziggy

Raine quirked an eyebrow. 'Ziggy?' She thought. 'What kind of name is that?' Of course, it was most likely not a real name. She smirked, remembering a boy from college, a sophomore, who went by that name more often than not.

Ziggy? Amateur. I already know who you are. Relic Charles Johnson, nineteen, from France, brother serves as a US Marine. You're a Sophomore in college, and you work as a Seed for the SPD. You've got a two year old daughter... Is my information correct? – Kitty

Relic's jaw dropped. "Who is this person?" He murmured. He was guessing the person must have been in their twenties or thirties, and female if their name was any indication. But that really didn't help.

He didn't dare start up his hacking just yet, not until he had created a net to catch the virus and isolate it. That took time, of which he did not have. He had no doubt that Kitty whoever that was, would send another greeting.

That is correct. How do you know about me? – Relic

It didn't really pay to continue to using an alias.

I just know. I'm that way. Why do you want to know my android's whereabouts? – Kitty

Relic ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Shino walked into the office, his flashlight shining still. It was getting darker and darker in the building as the sun went further down.

There has been a mass kidnapping. We think that the android might be among the sixty some who were kidnapped. – Relic

"What are you doing?" Shino asked, looking at the screen that was filling up with miniature messages.

"I'm having a conversation with the creator of the android. Hopefully they'll give away some information that will lead me to them or else to the android."

Oh, my android is with them. I have been monitoring things. – Kitty

"A conversation huh? Monitoring things?" Shino scratched his scraggly beard.

Will you tell me where your android is please? – Relic

Relic ran his fingers through his hair again. "I guess so."

I require payment for services rendered. Oh, there is so much information about all this that I know, my head could explode! Depending on how much you plan to pay me, in unmarked bills of course, I will give you information. – Kitty

"Now we're getting somewhere." Relic muttered.

Shino scowled. "No we're not!" He started, but Relic raised his hand, waving Shino to stop.

How much would one grand give me? – Relic

Raine scowled, but not at the price that Relic had given her. On her monitor, she saw Li Xera enter the vault through her android's eyes. Men and women came after that. "Bunch into groups with either one or two children." She heard Li Xera's voice say.

There was an odd number of students with Yuri among the numbers now. Li Xera grabbed a silenced gun from one of the men, aiming it at Raine's android. "Don't take this personally, girl. You're just one to many."

The bullet was fired and the next thing Raine could see on the monitor was the ceiling and then Kagome Higurashi's worried face.

"Rin!" Kagome shouted. "Rin hang on!"

Raine heard the panic in the room. Raine knew that the "life fluid" that she'd made to keep the android from overheating would be leaking out of the bullet hole.

"Kagome, listen to me..." Raine spoke into the microphone, hurriedly. "Where am I shot?" This was a good thing that she'd sent the Android E.N.A. Series Five on the trip rather than allowing her twin to go. Sending the android had originally been to test connectivity between her android and her sister over long distances.

"Don't talk." Kagome said. Raine wanted to slap Kagome. She needed to know where Android E.N.A. Series Five was shot, because if it was shot in the generator core, it could explode, killing all of the students. Raine turned off the microphone, knowing by now wasting the energy was necessary.

"Computer, show me a scan of Android E.N.A. Series Five. Bring the scan up on monitor eight."

"Yes, Miss Okuna." The computer said. Monitor eight began to slowly load up, showing a body scans of the android. The generator core was fine, but if too much of the coolant leaked out, the generator core would overheat and eventually it would have the same effect.

"Begin remote shutdown of the generator core."

"Beginning remote shutdown of the generator core. Generator core will disengage in two minutes and counting."

Quickly she replied to Relic.

Here is the arrangement. I will have a class F android waiting at the corner of Sixth and Main. Put the money in unmarked five dollar bills and ten dollar bills inside the android. No funny business either, I'll know immediately if you try anything. The transaction will take place in three hours. In return, I will tell you what you need to know. Are we in agreement? – Kitty

I do not have three hours. I need the information now. – Relic

Fine, if you do not have the money there in three hours, I will send a greeting that will completely disable all technological material and render all your data absolutely useless. – Kitty

You will have the money. Where are they? – Relic

"Thirty seconds until generator core shutdown."

They are being held at a place called The Gold Skin Bank, in a vault. They are being moved in groups of ones, twos, or threes to different airports around West City. After the exchange, it appears that Li Xera – the woman in charge of the kidnapping – will 'get rid of' the students. Li Xera will not personally be at the exchange. I am unable to obtain the information of where she will be, as I have turned my android off by remote. – Kitty

"Twenty seconds until generator core shutdown."

Raine looked at the monitors, checking sensor readings of the android and making sure that the generator core wasn't overheating yet. No such luck, the generator core was in the first stages of overheating. But it didn't matter, because the generator core hadn't reached the third stage. It was still able to be disengaged by remote.

"Ten seconds until generator core shutdown. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Remote shutdown of the generator core complete. Power to Android E.N.A. Series Five will suffer exhaustion in three seconds. One second. Android E.N.A. Series Five has atrophied power through the remaining Nexy fluid. Administering body cooling process. Twelve hours to completion."

Do you have a contact address that I can use to get in touch with you if your information proves false? – Relic

Raine's fingers zipped across the orange holographic keys. She figured that Relic must have had at least some experience with the Decoloratio Venalicium or he wouldn't have made a deal with her.

The deal probably would not be brought to his superiors since technically she was a criminal for sending a virus to anyone; the fact that it was a police department on the receiving end made it all the more wrong.

I will set one up. Hold on. – Kitty

Raine turned in her swivel chair, pulling up her jump-create program on another screen. The holographic keyboard went all the way around her, minus the small area where the 'door' was.

She'd designed jump-create specifically so she could do things from other computers by remote. She knew that as she created the account, she created it from not her computer, but from the remote location. In this case, she chose the computer that Relic was operating from.

He would think it odd when screens started popping up on his computer and he found he no longer had control over it. The account was created through syna, a less than known email server that by its own right was untraceable.

Most Decoloratio Venalicium deals were done through this server and it was managed by people among the mob, or so the rumors went. Still, she took the caution to create it from Relic's computer.

Relic stared at the screen in confusion. Shino did likewise, just as if not more perplexed than Relic, since he understood computers less than Relic.

The only thing he really knew how to do was use TrackFile to look up files electronically through the SPD network, things that had been entered into the system within the past thousand or so years since the internet had been created in the 1990's.

Relic scratched the back of his neck. "She must be good. She seems to be using this computer to set up the account."

"You shouldn't even be making this deal." Shino disapproved.

"But we really don't have any other leads." Relic countered.

Shino sighed, knowing that Relic was right. They had to act fast though. The trade was coming up quickly and if the person who deemed themselves 'Kitty' was correct, then Li Xera was planning to mass murder the students, and that would include his son, Medallion. He tightened his grip on his emotions.

He couldn't let fear get in the way of his work, or Medallion would be lost. "You're right." He admitted finally. He swiftly made his way out of the room, his intention clear. He was going to go and find his son. He took his cellphone/walkie talkie out and buzzed Lea. "Get all the planes leaving any airports around Tokyo to stop flights out."

"I'm on it." Lea promised.

Kagome tightened her hold on Rin, angry tears falling from her eyes. She wouldn't get up. She couldn't believe they had killed her friend. She heard the cock of gun hammer and felt as the barrel was placed to her temple.

Through blurry eyes she saw her arms getting drenched in a red fluid, seemingly too watery to be blood, but seriously what else could it be? Rather than feeling sticky or gooey on her skin, it felt greasy like vegetable oil or antifreeze.

But seriously, she didn't know why she was pondering these things. She had a gun to her head, held by a woman who obviously didn't care if she died or not.

"If you do not let her go I will shoot you."

A hand was placed on Kagome's shoulder, pulling her backwards just as the bullet was fired. Instead of killing her, it grazed her chin and embedded in her arm. She cried out in pain, but didn't allow Rin to drop. Kagome didn't know who pulled her out of the way.

Souta struggled to get out of his captors grasp, kneeing the man in the groin and rushed to his sister's aide. Several other students fought to get away as the realization that they weren't safe no matter who they were settled in.

Souta kicked the gun out of Li Xera's hand and it slid away. Before Li Xera could have a chance to react, since he didn't want to give her that chance, he swept her feet out from under her and pinned her down with his weight, holding her arms in place.

When it appeared he would be knocked off, Kohaku and Miroku also struggled over to help. Several shots were fired haphazardly and while a few shots missed and either went into a wall or else into the wrong target –be they captor or captive, most hit their targets: the students.

Medallion picked up the dropped gun, aiming it at Li Xera. "Put the guns away!" He yelled. No one listened. Medallion was shot in the back, the right shoulder blade. Through the noise of feral screams and shouts and gunshots, you couldn't hear the bullet crunching through bone. Medallion didn't allow himself to cry out or fall away.

He held his ground, moving the gun to his left hand and turning, aiming in the direction the bullet would have come from. That was when he saw the carnage. Bodies were everywhere, bleeding from somewhere on his body.

The captors were replacing magazine clips, one after another. Their plan for ransom fell apart completely when they shot Kagome's companion, Rin.

He aimed and fired off the remaining six bullets, one after another cocking the hammer when he needed to, all of them hitting the target he'd aimed for.

Six of the captors went down, shot in either the head or the heart. Li Xera was gone. She'd taken the confusion and battle as a great time to escape.

Medallion grabbed the gun of one of the men he'd shot, aiming again and trying his best to ignore the pain from his right shoulder. He could only be grateful his father had made sure he was as good a shot with his left hand as with is right hand.

"Best to be prepared." His father had always said. "Besides, if you are going to be an officer of the law, you'll want an early start, right? Consider this practice."

The gun only had three bullets left, but each one he shot hit their targets. After that, he searched the man for a magazine clip. He could see a few of the students who remained both conscious and alive doing the same as he; grabbing guns and firing at the captors, struggling to live.

There wasn't one person who hadn't been shot among the students, but like Medallion, they weren't about to give up their lives without a fight.

Even Karei Taisei wasn't just lying down easily. She had two bullet wounds, one in her leg and one in her stomach, but she was still able to kneel and fire off bullets with surprisingly good aim.

Kagome had been shot three times in the back it looked like plus the graze to her chin and the bullet in her arm. She was unconscious, or dead, Medallion couldn't really tell which yet.

Souta had been stabbed with a knife that still stuck in his shoulder blade and lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Medallion guessed that he must have been shot several times as well because the knife wound wasn't bleeding so much.

Kohaku was standing in front of Sango, who was unconscious, protecting her from more bullets while pummeling on a woman with his fists. The woman's arms were broken, making the gun useless.

He had a bullet in his foot making him less graceful than normal but he was still standing at least. Miroku was helping some of the unconscious -or dead- students out of the large room and placing them in the bathrooms to relative safety, not sure of what might lie in wait outside the open vault door.

Medallion couldn't tell where or if he had been shot because he had so much of everyone else's blood all over him.

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were using their fists and the claws that Medallion knew they had to protect an unconscious Yuri. Several others like the two boys who were demon or part demon and were still alive and conscious had also removed their witch charms.

Of course, none of the students could do much more than kick and claw. They didn't have the age or experience to use anything other than that. It looked so far like they were using speed to avoid the bullets, but not all of them could be avoided, especially if avoiding it would endanger Yuri.

Finally, as sirens were heard blaring in the distance and blood loss began settling in amongst the students, rendering them unconscious, Medallion included in the numbers that fell, the remaining captors still alive and conscious made their escape.

When the police got there and began speaking over a loudspeaker for the kidnappers to give up, Miroku being the only remaining conscious being in the building, came out of the building holding his ribcage.

"Don't shoot!" He croaked when he saw people cocking their guns, ready to waste him in an instant. He tipped over then, falling flat on his face. Blood pooled around him. "H..help us..." He cried.

Shino couldn't bring himself to leave the hospital. His son lay in a bed, unconscious. Lea had done his job; breaking the bad news to the parents. Sunset Hospital, with its advanced technology that bested even Tokyo's hospitals, was filled to the brim with the sixty students.

All had been transported to Tokyo hospitals, and then flown to Sunset by helicopter. Three students were dead in the bank, one died on the way to Tokyo hospital, and one died on the way to Sunset.

Only one of the students who died was from Sunset Private Education School. The other four had been from Sunset Public School. The android had been taken to the police station to be examined for salvageable parts.

"Shino, please..." Lea said quietly, standing at his elbow. She placed a gentle hand on his back. It had been a week already since the entire event had taken place. They were working on looking for the remaining kidnappers but sifting through all the blood that had been in the bank was not easy. The vault was one big blood bath. There was literally speaking gallons of blood in it.

"He's my son, Lea." Shino said his voice devoid of emotions. He reached out and grabbed Medallion's unresponsive hand, taking it in his two, holding it to his forehead. "Hold on, Medal." He used the nickname from Medallion's childhood, tears springing to his eyes.

Medallion had been shot five times though it appeared that none of the bullets had hit any vital points. Still, he had lost a lot of blood and though it had been a week since the event, Medallion had not yet woken up.

"Shino..."

"Go, Lea. I need to be alone with my son now."

Lea nodded after a moment of hesitation and left the curtained area. The room was large, having many pleasantly colored yellow curtains hanging around beds. Not all were closed, but most were.

She saw her Aunt enter the room, wearing a business suit; jacket and skirt being pinstriped gray, the blouse mother of pearl. The jacket was not buttoned closed and the blouse was disheveled slightly the top buttons on it were undone.

A bit of skin showed rather unprofessionally through the undone buttons, but it didn't appear she cared about that. Her lips were adorned with light pink lipstick, hardly noticeable against her lips – a silent admission that she was not single anymore.

The rest of her make up was also in light pinks and just barely noticed, to show she was married, silently without actually saying anything. Generally when a woman married, they toned down the colors they wore so as not to attract so much male attention and make their husbands jealous.

In her hands she carried a box. She didn't look as upset as she had been when Lea had told her the news: Kagome and Souta were in the hospital, badly hurt. Lea was just thankful that she didn't have to tell Kali what she'd had to tell the parents of the Graeme triplets. Gytha Graeme had died.

Lea watched Kali walk with the box into one of the enclosures and shook her head. She left the hospital and went home. There was no point waiting around. There was much work to do.

Kali looked at her two children and pursed her lips. She swore she had twenty percent more gray hair than she should after the whole kidnapping affair, and Kagome and Souta were acting as though they were dead, rather than alive and just much wounded.

Their beds were placed almost next to each other's in the small enclosure, a chair in between the two of them. The monitoring equipment was there as well, only on the opposite side of their beds.

Kagome had bandages around her stomach and chest to keep the wounds on her back wrapped. There were bandages on her arm and her chin. Souta also had wrappings on his back and shoulders, then a cast on his right leg. A bullet had shattered the bones in his leg.

Kali moved forward with the box, setting it on the chair and taking out a stack of books and papers, setting them on Souta's bed. The second stack she set on Kagome's bed. She knew the psychology behind kidnapping victims.

She was, after all, a very well known psychiatrist, and she had patients who would see her once every month or two months coming from Tokyo and other places on other islands. Some of them were people who had been kidnapped, or other such situations.

She also knew what was best for her children would be to get them to talk about it. So far they wouldn't. The police would be coming to question them shortly, and she wanted to hear it first, but she would not pressure them to tell her.

"Here's the work you missed in school. I expect you to be caught up within the next week." It seemed harsh, but it really was for the best. Who better to know than a psychiatrist?

Kali had been able to convince all the parents to do the same for their children at the PAC meeting the night before. PAC stood for Parents Against Crime, and all of the parents who heard of it in Sunset had joined.

It was created during the time while all the children had been kidnapped to provide comfort to each other during the horrible time. It would be best to, for the time being, give their children something to do while in the hospital or else they could become depressed with nothing to think about but what went on during the kidnapping.

All of them would remember the happenings for the rest of their lives, she had no doubt, but it would lessen things if they could be free from the thoughts for the time being. If they only had a week to make up a month and a half of school work, there would be no time for thoughts other than the work.

"Mama..." Kagome said quietly. She was staring at her hands. Her eyes harbored sadness and anger. "The gold skinned woman...she killed..."

Souta said nothing. He stared at the pile of homework for a moment before grabbing it up and looking the work over.

Kali moved the box from the chair and sat next to the bed, looking at her children. She took one of each of their hands in hers. "Don't think about it." She said seriously. "There is nothing to think about but your work for now."

Yes, Kali wanted to know very badly what had happened, but she didn't want to hear it while Kagome was upset. She wanted Kagome to observe the situation first with her own opinion to bias herself, nothing more, and nothing less.

It was what every parent would be having their children do, if they were smart enough to take Kali's advice.

Relic scratched his head, getting the red colored body coolant in his hair from the android. He and Tomyoak were working on the android, seeing if it was salvageable at all, though he didn't like working with Tomyoak at all.

Tomyoak was the type of person who made you grit your teeth together in anger but you know you can't talk back or anything because he's higher in the chain of command than you are. Of course, Relic was the chief's nephew, but that did him no good with Tomyoak.

Practically everything was salvageable. It seemed like if they could get their hands on a type two Coolant Pump for the android, they could get it working again. But it was an amazing android in itself.

The generator was a remarkable piece of work, with two chambers for the coolant to enter from and two chambers for it to leave; extra precaution from over heating. The entire design of the android was so complicated, yet so simple.

Rather than the common Spider Web design where everything generally connects to a center point, this was based more off of the human body where there was a point where everything connected, but the point was not at the center.

Everything about the android was so realistic, it was unbelievable. Of course, the android had no facial features or gender give-a-ways, but that was reasonable considering after the coolant finished running its course through the android it would lose all feature programming. That was how things worked with androids.

Tomyoak was talking to himself again. Does he ever shut up? Relic wondered. Tomyoak kept talking. Guess not. Relic thought.

"Give me those pliers." Tomyoak ordered, holding out his hand.

Relic reached for the pliers on the table. "You've already torn the thing apart! Why are you going to wreak it?"

"Give me the pliers." He repeated, and Relic handed them over. "I swear, you don't know anything. Leave this to me...you just serve as my assistant and be a good boy and hand me things. Give me the saw."

Relic did. He sighed and handed it over, wincing sympathetically when he heard the saw grinding through the metal that made the 'bone' structure in the leg.

When all was said and done, Relic washed up and with a last sad glance at the dismembered android on the lab bed, he shut the lights off in the lab and locked the door behind him. Tomyoak had left him to clean up the lab.

It was just like Tomyoak to do something like that. Make a gigantic mess uselessly, destroy something that was salvageable making the thing no longer salvageable at all, and then get someone else to clean up.

Relic rubbed tired eyes, unlocking his apartment and kicking his shoes off by the door. "Sammy? Tea?" He called into the dark for his girlfriend and daughter. "Tiki?" Tiki was his cat, a tiny kitten his girlfriend had gotten him. Tiki was an Abyssinian. Relic loved the tiny cat. As he closed the door, Tiki ran up to him, her little collar bell jingling as she mewed.

The Abyssinian is a colorful cat with a distinctly ticked coat, medium in size and regal in appearance. The head is a modified, slightly rounded wedge without flat planes and should flow into the arched neck without a break. The ears are alert, large and moderately pointed; broad, and cupped at the base and set as though listening.

The eyes are almond shaped, large and expressive, being neither round nor oriental. A fine dark line, encircled by a light colored area should accentuate the eyes. The color of the eyes can be either gold or green.

The body is medium long, lithe, graceful with well developed musculature that is not coarse. The Abyssinian is fine boned and stands well off the ground giving the appearance of being on tip toe.

The tail is fairly long, thick at the base, and tapering. The coat is soft, silky, fine in texture, but dense and resilient to the touch. It is medium in length but must be long enough to accommodate two or three dark bands of ticking.

Tiki's coat was warm beige, ticked with various shades of slate blue, the extreme outer tip to be the darkest, with blush beige undercoat. Her tail was tipped with slate blue coloring.

The underside and inside of her legs were a tint to harmonize with the main color. Her nose leather was old rose, her paw pads were mauve, with slate blue between toes, extending slightly beyond the paws.

Relic took his coat off and hung it on the front door hook, bending down and gathering his kitten into his arms. "Hey Tiki." He said. "Where's Sammy and Tea at?"

He flipped the lights on in the kitchen and was surprised to find the kitchen spotless. Usually there were soup cups, takeout containers, dirty dishes, and the like laying around. His girlfriend never did the dishes or cleaned. The garbage was freshly changed.

The countertops were clean, not a speck of dust to them. The sinks were washed clean and empty. The dishes were replaced neatly in their proper cupboards. The kitchen smelled like Pine Sol, and was freshly cleaned.

Confused, Relic called out for his girlfriend again. "Sammy?" He walked into the living room, flipping the lights on. "Tea?" Again he was met with an abnormality. With a two year old daughter, it was hard to keep the place clean, but the living room was neat and orderly.

All Tea's toys were where they belonged in the toy chest. The room smelled like air freshener, not its usual dirty-cat-box smell. The carpet was vacuumed, the room was dusted, the T.V was not blaring like usual and was off, the bookshelf was done up in alphabetical order, even the many children's books were ordered.

Relic set Tiki down on the back of the couch, despite the kitten's protests and cries about wanting to be held. He walked into his and Sammy's bedroom and found it just as neat. There were not clothes everywhere.

The hamper was half-full of dirty clothes. The closet was painstakingly neat; everything that needed to be hung up was. Relic noticed there were none of Sammy's clothes in sight, not in the dresser, or the closet, or the hamper.

The bed was made up; the desk with Relic's computer on it was pristine and neat, polished to shine. He went into the next room: Tea's room.

The toys that usually littered the floor hazardously were no longer in sight, Tea's closet and dresser and hamper actually were able to close, and there were no clothes on the floor to speak of.

And in the center of the room, on the bed, was Sammy and Tea. Tea was sleeping soundly, her tiny thumb jammed into her mouth, her security blanket in her free hand clutching it to her closely.

Sammy sat on the edge of Tea's little toddler bed, her hands smoothing her short skirt, her hair in a neat bun –a hair style that Relic had thought Sammy hated. Sammy's American blue eyes and copper hair and her outfit...everything about her was perfect and Relic couldn't recall a time she had ever dressed up so much like that for him.

He smiled at her fondly before noticing the two suitcases at her feet. Two suitcases large enough for her to hold everything she held important, and yet small enough so she could carry them both.

Relic's smile was wiped away quickly when she stood from the bed and looked at him with serious eyes.

"I'm not ready for a child. I thought I was, but these past two years have proved me wrong." She said simply. Her voice was crisp, decided, but it wasn't meant to be hurtful. "I don't want to watch Tea while you go to school and work."

Relic's eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. "You don't have to." He said, panicking slightly. He couldn't imagine life without Sammy. "We can get a babysitter!"

Sammy shook her head slightly. "I can't be with you anymore. I don't love you."

Relic felt like his heart had just frozen over and was shattered into thousands of tiny slivers of ice. "You don't...love me?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper. He felt a tear making its way down his cheek as reality settled in.

Sammy picked up her suitcases and walked over to him. He was blocking her way out. "I'm sorry." She said, meaning it. "But if I kept pretending, it would only make the hurt worse in the end."

Relic knew she was right. She really was right about that. He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her, tears falling down his face. She never once responded.

His last hope crushed, he broke away from her, a strangled sob escaping his lips. It was a moment before he could get himself under control again, and Sammy waited patiently for him.

She wasn't trying to hurt him, but it was just wrong for them to trap themselves in a relationship that wasn't working. They had really only hooked up for Tea's sake. She waited for him to step aside in silence. She would not order him to. He had to make that decision on his own.

Relic nodded, and though he hated the idea of her leaving, he too knew that their relationship had fallen apart in the last year. He had known that it would come to this: either him breaking up with her, or her breaking up with him.

He had always thought it would be him though, and he had prepared himself to do so eventually. He knew that Sammy would have to be unhappy with him or else she would never do anything like this.

She had once told Relic that she took relationships very seriously. Relic was the first person she had ever broken a relationship with off. And Sammy was the first person to ever break off a relationship with Relic.

"Can I ask you one last thing then?" Relic spoke quietly, heartbreak making its way into his voice. He had never known it hurt so much to be broken up with. He had always been the one to make the final decision in all his relationships.

Sammy smiled then, the first smile on her face that evening. "One last thing." She agreed.

Relic took a deep breath and wiped tears away from his face. "I know...I know it sounds like a lame line in a movie but..." He looked at her, locking his eyes with hers. "Will you kiss me...one last time like you mean it?"

Sammy shook her head sadly. "I can't do that Relic." She told him, not trying to hurt him. She knew he was hurting though. She couldn't help that.

"Pretend I am someone else then." He begged. "Anyone else. But just one last kiss...?"

Sammy sighed and pecked his cheek. "I don't love you. I can't do it." She whispered. "I'm sorry."

Relic fought the tears, not wanting to cry. "You are leaving Tea?" He asked, unaware of the grief in his voice.

She nodded. "Yes." She said. "But I am not leaving the city. I'm going to help you take care of her. I know I am not ready for a child, but I'll work, I'll send you money, and I will come to visit her. I won't be coming to visit you."

He nodded his acquiescence and took her face in his palms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry it came to this." He uttered before releasing her, stepping aside and running a hand through his slightly greasy hair. "You have everything?"

She shook her head. "No. I will come back for the rest once I've settled in my apartment."

"That... that's fine." He walked with her to the door. Of all his breakups, he had to admit, this was by far the best. Not that it was good or anything. It hurt like a bitch. But there were no threatening words; there was no shouting, and no aggression. There was only understanding.

Sammy smiled at him. "Goodbye, Relic." She said.

"Goodbye Sammy." He whispered, and watched as she walked towards the elevator.

His mind wandered to the person who called themselves 'Kitty'. Relic added something to that description just then.

You've got no girlfriend...and a broken, bleeding heart.

Raine looked down at her sleeping twin. Rin lay in a metallic bed that was similarly shaped like a dentist's chair that the patient would sit in. The chair was in reclining position at the moment.

Raine had created the bed from spare parts and had made sure it was perfected before Rin's transformation. Rin would have been dead long ago, if Raine had not stepped in.

It took two years to convince the government that Rin would never want to be a vegetable and would rather be half-machine. They only agreed with it when they realized Rin only had one hope: become half-machine, or die.

Raine had also agreed to keep the government informed of Rin's status every so often. If she was late in getting the status report to the government any one time, Rin would have to be registered with the government so they could monitor her –which would take away Rin's freedom completely.

Raine had created the bed in accordance with Rin's body. It fit her perfectly, but since becoming a Cyborg, Rin was unable to grow. Raine was six inches taller than her twin, though both were seventeen,

Rin was only four feet eight inches tall, while Raine was five foot two inches. When Raine thought about the growth situation with Rin, she knew it was a good thing.

Raine didn't have the money or equipment to construct another maintenance bed if Rin suddenly was unable to fit. Raine hadn't thought to make it so that it could fit anyone of any size.

She turned to the monitor, smiling slightly. The monitor was placed on a stand next to the maintenance bed. It showed scans of Rin's body, showing what was working properly and what (if anything) wasn't working properly.

At the moment, Rin was completely fine. All systems checked normal. Their foster parents did not know, or did not want to know, that Rin was a Cyborg and the government had kept it a secret it seemed.

After the accident that had killed Rin and Raine's birth parents and crippled Rin, then after Rin becoming a Cyborg, the government had placed Rin and Raine in the Legume family (after many other families did not work out).

Rin and Raine never truly accepted the Legume's, but the Legume's had accepted them, and were constantly sending money to Rin and Raine so the girls could buy what the wanted. Raine and Rin had been to many different families and they had to admit that the Legume's were the best yet.

Raine smiled and turned back to her sister, bending down at her sister's side and brushing a finger through Rin's hair. The test with the android had been a success mostly.

When Rin wanted to, she could connect with an android and control it even better than Raine could with her computer terminal, making a class C android almost as good as a class B. Raine wasn't going to put that in the next report to the government though. The government wasn't asking for such tests to be done, yet anyway.

But just because Rin was a Cyborg now, didn't mean she was any less human. She was very human. She needed food, water, and excreted wastes.

She just didn't need as much sleep, and electricity gave her added energy rather than electrocute her (thanks to the E.C.C. inside Rin, which stood for Electricity Compressor Component that would protect her from being killed if something happened to break or malfunction -the E.C.C. absorbed the electricity that came from the broken or malfunctioning part and turned it into safe energy), some of her body was mechanical...okay; most of her body was mechanical.

Half of her brain was mechanical, a lot of her bones and joints had been replaced with mechanical ones, and her eyes were mechanical. It seemed creepy, but it gave Rin a chance at a new life when she would have died.

Raine hadn't wanted the only true remaining part of her family to die, and when she saw what the government had been able to do with Rin; giving her new life had inspired her to work hard to make her career one in electronics, or more specifically androids.

Rin opened her eyes turning her head to look up at Raine, reaching a hand up to grasp Raine's wrist. It was amazing how nothing about Rin felt or looked mechanical. The eyes, wide and brown, looked perfectly real and as normal as Raine's own.

"Yes, Rin?" Raine asked, her voice low.

Rin just smiled. "I believe Kagome is going to want an explanation...she thinks I am dead."

Raine shrugged, smiling at her sister. "When we get that far, we can worry about it then. There are still a few days before she is released from the hospital."

Rin nodded. "Alright. Thanks for talking me out of going on that trip. I would have been killed."

Raine shook her head. "I don't want to hear it." She said, going over to her bed in the basement. The Legume's never came into the basement, so the two never had to worry about being found out.

Rin blushed. "Sorry... I keep forgetting you said not to apologize all the time." She apologized, and then squeaked embarrassedly. "Sorry I apologiz— I mean sorry I said sorry..."

She trailed off when Raine waved her hand dismissively and turned bright red with her embarrassment. She had apologized three times.

Raine giggled. "Don't worry about it." She said. "Don't stick your foot in farther than it already is."

Rin relaxed in her bed before reaching towards the panel by her chair, touching it a few times in the corner to view the different scans and check to be sure she was alright. After that, she relaxed again and the two girls drifted off to sleep.

Sesshoumaru woke, exhausted. He'd drifted off to sleep, working on his school work. He had yet to see his father or stepmother, not that he was complaining about not seeing Nekura, or that he thought his father had finally taken an interest in what happened to his children, but it would have been nice to see someone had taking an interest in their well-beings. He didn't get his hopes up though.

He sighed. The hospital room was dark. The sounds of slow steady beeping were coming from the many monitors that each person in the room on a bed was hooked up to. He looked at the tubes sticking out of his arms.

One was connected to an I.V. bag; the other was replenishing his blood. He heard the doctors say that after that some of the other students were already taken off the blood bags and only had I.V.

He looked to his sides, seeing his sister on one side of him, and his brother on the other. He was still mad at his father for never paying the ransom for his sister.

When she had disappeared so long ago, he'd thought that Yuri had been killed, and his father had always led him to believe that their (his and Yuri's) mother had died giving birth to him and Yuri. Apparently that was not so.

His mother was in jail, and before that, she had not been allowed to see Sesshoumaru and Yuri.

Sesshoumaru heard quiet whispers nearby and looked around. All the curtains were pulled back so that doctors could easily manage the night shift and if there was a change in someone's condition they wouldn't have to search all the curtains for the one who was in trouble.

"Oh shut up, Miroku." He heard. "I can't believe of all the people they put me by it has to be you, you lecher!" He saw Sango whispering angrily. Kohaku was laughing as quietly as he could.

He turned his attention away when he saw someone in his peripheral vision. Kagome was across the room from him, watching him it seemed. His heart raced momentarily before he realized she wasn't watching him, but was drifting to sleep. He blushed. 'Do I always get my hopes up?' He wondered.

He let himself drift to sleep then again.

A week later found most the students either in a wheel chair or on crutches. Some of the students hadn't been all that bad so they got away with just having a sling or a few bandages. The worst off of all the students had been Gytha Graeme, who had died, but the rest of the students were well on their way to recovery.

Kagome and Souta were happy to be home, but neither of them could make it to their rooms so their mother hung a curtain up on the living room entrance so that the two could share that for the time being. Upon coming home, the two teens were met with a warm welcome home.

Karei –although grudgingly- and May and Hakudoushi were waiting there. Karei had only been in the hospital for a week before being released. Also waiting was the gardeners and their families. Coming as no surprise to either of the two teens, Naraku was no where to be seen.

Still, the little welcome home party did not last long. It was about an hour into it that Kali saw how tired her children and Karei were getting, so she shooed everyone away, sending May and Hakudoushi along with Karei.

Under the strict watch of Kali, the two teens ate and then prepared themselves for a weekend of lounging in the living room watching television and eating popcorn and snacks.

Kagome couldn't get Rin off her mind all weekend. She and Souta used their cell phones to call their friends and chat when they were excessively bored and didn't feel like talking to each other.

When Monday came around, Kagome sighed. Kali helped her children get ready. Souta needed a bit more help than Kagome considering his leg was in a cast but soon they were ready to go and Kali drove them to school.

Having been shot in the back so many times, Kagome used a wheel chair, and Souta did as well, with his broken leg and shot up back and stabbed shoulder.

Kagome and Souta wheeled themselves into the commons and found there was absolutely no change in how her fellow students treated her and Souta.

Karei actually said hello to them pleasantly when they passed her while she was alone, but right after that she found her friends and began talking bad about them and saying everything they did wrong through the whole ordeal.

"Hey, Trip, Perv, Thief." Kagome and Souta greeted their friends. Kikyou came over to their little group, using crutches. Miroku wasn't bad enough to need crutches or a wheelchair, so he took all the time he could feeling up Sango and then skipping away since she was in a wheel chair and had no reaction time. Kohaku was on crutches as well.

"Hello." Kikyou said pleasantly. Kikyou wore the school uniform and a smile. Obviously she was determined to forget everything that happened, but her eyes told Kagome she had yet to forget.

Sango wore a pink hooded sweatshirt with baggy blue jeans, her normal high ponytail, and her normal makeup. Kagome guessed that she still wore her locket. Kohaku wore a pair of jeans, since it was rather cold out in October, and a plain black unzipped zip up sweater with a black tee-shirt underneath it. Miroku wore jeans and a black turtleneck underneath a purple tee shirt.

Kagome wore a simple outfit. Black tank top and army green baggy jeans. Souta wore a hooded sweater and a pair of shorts, saying that it was supposed to get warmer later on.

Rin never came, of course. None expected her to, unless they expected the dead could walk.

First period Sesshoumaru smiled, taking his normal seat. Again he had a perfect view of the object of his crush. But today she didn't laugh or smile. He didn't like to see her sad. Ms Saeko was apologizing for what happened and had treats for everyone and allowed them to just lounge around for the hour, but told them that they would still have to do a mural among their groups.

At lunch time Kagome received a phone call on her cell. She answered it and hand to plug one ear to hear the person on the other end. "Hello?" She said into the phone.

"Kagome." Kagome barely heard the person on the other end. They were quiet.

"You're going to have to speak louder!" Kagome yelled. No one noticed the change in the volume of her voice. Over the noise of the cafeteria, it was a wonder that anyone could hear themselves think much less another person.

"Kagome, it's me Rin! Rin Okuna!"

Kagome froze. "What?! Who is this?! What kind of sick joke is this?!" Kagome said. She looked at Miroku. "Hey, Miroku, wheel me to the music wing, would you? I can't hear a thing!"

Miroku shrugged and began pushing Kagome towards the music wing.

"It's no joke, Kagome! I swear it isn't! I was taken to a hospital in Tokyo and I'm still here. My sister came and so I'm calling on her cell phone. I just wanted to see how you were doing. They said that a lot of people were sent to Sunset hospital, and I heard you got out the other day, so I wanted to call, but they wouldn't let me and now,"

Kagome interrupted the breathless voice on the other end with a comment of her own. "So you're okay? I thought you were dead! How are you feeling?" Kagome asked.

"I'm alright. They won't let me leave the hospital yet though. I don't know how I'll ever catch up in school!"

Kagome chuckled, relieved. She had felt guilty that she hadn't been able to protect Rin.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said honestly, though she had no idea that Rin was lying to her and was in fact just on the outskirts of Sunset and not even using a phone to call, rather using her ability to connect long-distance with electronics and talking that way.

Everything she was saying was a lie, minus the fact that she was alright and that she was indeed Rin Okuna. Also she did want to know how Kagome was doing and everyone else.

"How is everyone else?"

"They're fine. Want to say hello to Miroku?"

"Oh, no, no." Kagome thought she heard embarrassment in Rin's voice and chuckled.

The bell rang. "Hey, Chicky, why don't you give Sango and everyone else a call later on? They'd like that. But I've got to go okay?"

"Okay, I'll see you soon, hopefully! Bye," was the bright response on the other end of the line.

Kagome smiled and hung up after a quick goodbye. "That was Rin." She told Miroku. "She's alright." Her smile stayed in place as she made her way to Fifth period. Miroku would tell the others if he saw them. She could tell Kohaku and Kikyou in Fifth hour.

Kohaku kissed Kagome on the cheek when he joined her at their normal table in fifth period. Mrs. Zeishun smiled pleasantly at the class. Behind her was a line of offline baby-androids, just as there had been two months before.

"Welcome back, my ducklings!" She chirped. "I've a wonderful surprise! Because will be re-doing the parenting unit."

Kagome's eyes snapped to Mrs. Zeishun. "You'd better give us better groups!" retorted Kagome. "I'm not working with Nokugami again!"

Mrs. Zeishun shook her head. "I'm sorry, Miss Higurashi," though she did not at all sound sorry. "The groups were chosen not by me this time, but by the headmistress. So you will work with who you are assigned, and you will get along."

"How can we do this?!" Karei yelped, agreeing with Kagome. "Half of us are crippled!" she waved her hand pointedly at the class, showing many of the students on crutches or in a wheelchair.

"Calm down Miss Taisei. We've much to do, and we can get no where with you screaming and shouting at the top of your lungs." Mrs. Zeishun said firmly. "Before you argue, you will listen to me."

Karei sat down, only to find another person arguing the point. "It's not right!" Hiten called. "I've still got tons of make up work from being absent to do and this'll take time away!"

Mrs. Zeishun looked calmly at her fingernails, tapping a foot on the floor in exaggerated patience while students called out their arguments. "I've a thing to tell you all." she snapped furiously after five minutes of listening to the student's harping at her.

"So sit down and shut up!" Student after student closed their mouths and opened their ears. "You will be paired with someone from outside this class for the project. And you will like it." She added with a glare towards Kagome. Kagome returned the glare with one of her own. She didn't like the sound of it.

"The project will begin in November on the fifth, and will last until January the fifth when we come back from holiday vacation. This gives you the rest of October to recuperate and shed your disabilities."

The teacher continued. "In accordance, it also gives you the rest of October to get to know the person you will work with a little better before you are thrown into the project. You will be required to stay at each other's homes three times each and yes, I have already made sure this is okay with your parents. They have agreed to watch you and your partner and be sure you are doing what you should be, and not goofing off."

Mrs. Zeishun walked to the ringing phone and picked it up. After a few quick exchanges of words with the person on the other end, she hung up and put a hand on her hip, turning to her students again.

"While we wait for your partners to get here, I want everyone to write a list of five things they're hoping their partner will be, while I hand out to you what your partner is looking for. You may not remove the masking tape to uncover the names, so don't even bother. Begin."

While Kagome had wanted to argue, she didn't. At least she wouldn't be put with Sesshoumaru, she thought, though she had liked the kiss between him and her. Kohaku couldn't kiss with so much emotion; neither could Miroku or Medallion –though the kiss with Medallion had been forced.

She pulled out a piece of paper from her perforated notebook and the pencil that she kept jammed in the spine of the notebook, setting the tip to the paper. Before she had realized what she'd done, she'd drawn a detailed sketch of a stack of lunch rolls taking up a corner of the page.

"Kagome..." Kohaku said, his voice breathy next to her ear, his lower lip brushing her earlobe. She shivered, but not from the cold. The feelings she had for him were still strong, and he sent a fire racing through her veins.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a half hug, his list already written. She loved how he said her name; loved the way it rolled off his tongue as though it were the only name he ever wanted to or would say.

"I know you don't want a stack of lunch rolls from your partner." He whispered, ruining the moment with a lighthearted joke.

Free of the spell that had previously made her unable to think of anything but him, she glared at him half-heartedly. "And how do you know what I want?" She asked as quiet as he had been so as not to attract Mrs. Zeishun's attention. "For all you know, I might have low standards like those Tokyo sluts with no honor or dignity."

Kohaku gave her a chaste kiss. "You're never like that." He said to her. "If you are, then I'll know why." He threatened, a serious look in his eyes betraying his joking tone. Kagome knew what he meant by that.

She smiled at his concern, then turned to her paper and stared at it for a moment, feeling hungry still even after lunch. Quickly she scrawled down five things she'd like her partner to be, hoping that by some odd chance she would get Miroku or one of her few male friends in the school. She didn't think that guys would be paired up, though the headmistress had proved herself to be rather unpredictable in many events.

One. I would like my partner to not be a rich-boy.

She hated the thought of someone looking down on her because they had more money than she did. Just because she lived on a larger estate did not at all mean that she was living a high life.

Two. I would like my partner to be good at conversations.

Without the boy being able to hold conversations at the dinner table, or anywhere else for that matter, Kagome would scream when she had to stay at their house.

Of course, their parents would probably be there to help conversation along at dinner time, to poke and prod their child into speaking, but being able to have a nice conversation would be nice.

Three. I would like my partner not to have a girlfriend. (For my safety of course, I don't need a jealous girlfriend biting my head off.)

She added the bit in the parenthesis because she didn't know if she would be healed by the time the project started, but she did know that the girls in SPES were very possessive and if pressed would easily swing themselves into a catfight with anyone who threatened to take away their boyfriends.

The guys in the school had even made it a sport, sometimes egging the girls on and then turning around and making bets on who would win or lose. If she was still in a wheelchair that would not at all stop the girlfriend from attacking her, and Kagome would pretty much be beat.

She stopped a moment, trying to think of what next to write. She needed two more and then she'd be done. She could see why Mrs. Zeishun had only asked for five things. Kohaku was the only one done. The rest of the class was having extreme difficulty thinking of five things.

Most of those around Kagome and Kohaku's table were only up to number three, as was Kagome. It was hard to think of what she'd like her partner to be, especially with the added pressure of not knowing who her partner would be.

She couldn't say she wanted someone kind for the first thing and she wanted someone sweet for the second one because essentially, if she stripped it down to the basics, those two things were the same. The same went for "good" and "nice" and "romantic" and "beautiful" and "handsome".

All of those were essentially the same exact thing. Perhaps not so much "beautiful" compared to "nice", considering those could be very different things entirely.

Four. I would like my partner to be willing to cooperate with me in parenting.

Kagome smiled grimly, having her last one in mind already. She scrawled it down and snatched Kohaku's list, reading it. Kohaku did the same for hers, reading hers with shaking shoulders as he held back laughs.

Kohaku's list was basic. What he wanted in his partner was someone with sapphire blue eyes, black-blue hair, full pink lips, a "decent sized rack" as he so kindly put it down on paper, and for his last thing he wrote "I want a girl not one of those guys pretending to be girls".

Kagome chuckled. "Nice list, Trip." She whispered, trading his list for hers again.

He grinned. "I especially like item number five on your list, my beauteous pearl."

Kagome returned his grin with a small blush, remembering the kiss between Sesshoumaru and her. She had enjoyed that way too much. It had sent fire through her body like nothing she'd ever felt before.

Kohaku saw that blush and questioned, "Did something happen between the two of you, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head, lying through her teeth. "No."

Kohaku narrowed his eyes, sending a glance at Sesshoumaru who was at the front of the room hunched over his paper. He waved to the fifth thing on her list. "Then what is the need for this?"

Still, he kept his voice low. No one at the surrounding table would bother to listen to their little conversation. "You can't lie to me, Kagome. I know you too well. Something did happen."

After that, he didn't have to ask any more to know she was about to tell. She hated to lie to him and worse yet, she knew that he knew she hated to lie to him and always parted with the truth before too long.

Just before she spilled the information though, Mrs. Zeishun gave her a distraction. The distraction was in the form of a piece of paper with a list of five things on it.

Now rather than telling Kohaku what had happened, she shook her head, her resolve strengthened as Mrs. Zeishun's presence reminded her that she and Kohaku were not the only ones in the room.

Others were there too; including the one who she'd kissed and enjoyed that forbidden kiss as well. Kagome knew he had enjoyed it as much as she had. The question was whether or not he had pretended she was someone else, or had it actually been Outcast Kagome who he'd enjoyed kissing?

She didn't know all the answers, but she'd thought about that kiss many times over the past two months. She couldn't tell Kohaku. If she did, someone else might hear, and rumors spread like wild fires. Quickly, and terribly. She knew that all too well.

Kohaku sighed. Kagome had noticed that since the kidnapping ordeal, he had calmed down quite a lot. He was no less of a lecherous boy. He stole kisses from Kagome at every chance he could in the vault and at school.

That weekend Kagome had received eight phone calls from him alone, and they had been long ones. It was that he wasn't quite as dramatic anymore since the kidnapping. Kagome believed he had really been scared that he would lose her in there when she'd been in seizure so often.

Mostly what he said that was overdramatic these days was more in the company of the whole group, and Kagome knew he forced himself to be that way or else Sango would worry about him. Before the kidnapping, nearly everything Kohaku would say was dramatic.

Now Kohaku turned Kagome's face towards him with his long nimble fingers, pulling her into a kiss. His smile, the love in his eyes, the passion and fear and love in the kiss; all this made Kagome feel bubbly inside.

He'd never kissed her like that before and she liked it. For the first time in two months, the kiss between her and Sesshoumaru evaporated all but completely from her mind and she welcomed the change. She succumbed to him and returned the kiss with a soft passion of her own.

Her heart beat against her chest rapidly. But almost as soon as it started, it was over. Kagome smiled dreamily at him and he smiled back. For that one moment, the rest of the world was of no consequence; as though time had stopped for the two of them, and now it was picking up again.

The rest of the students had not noticed what had gone on between the two occupants sitting at the very far table at the back of the room. They had been too wrapped up in their work, trying to find something to put down on the paper that they hadn't looked around.

Kagome and Kohaku had made not a single sound, and Mrs. Zeishun had disappeared from the room after she'd finished handing out the papers to the students.

When she was able to think clearly again, Kagome turned to the list the other student had made, the one who was to be her partner for the project. She couldn't tell which kiss she liked better anymore. The one she'd shared with Sesshoumaru, or the one that had just taken place between her and Kohaku.

Kagome concentrated on the paper in her hands. Her eyes scanned the page. It was simple enough. Her partner wanted: "1. A female partner, 2. someone who has brains, 3. someone who won't cling to my arm like a leech, 4. someone who could easily solve the equation A equals X plus Y plus Z, and 5. someone nice."

Well, Kagome had the first through the fourth covered for sure at least. Numbers two and four were essentially the same thing, somewhat.

The answer to number four was Albert Einstein and his quote "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."

Number five might be a bit hard for her to handle depending on who her partner was. The school was enormous, so the possibilities were somewhat endless. Kagome was nervous because from the way Mrs. Zeishun had described it, it seemed like headmistress had chosen the names without the bias of the student's lists.

When Mrs. Zeishun had returned, she led a group of students. While the students lined up at the front of the room, Mrs. Zeishun collected the lists that the students had written and gave them to their counterparts.

Once that was done, she briskly clapped her hands together twice. "Children, children." She said, the claps accenting each word. The students at the desks looked up from the conversations they had been having with their desk mates and sat quietly.

It seemed that everyone was hesitant to anger Mrs. Zeishun that day, considering she'd blown up at them already and apparently had given out five detentions before lunch – a nominal world record for her normally impassive nature.

The students at the front of the room were looking over their lists, checking the names at the tops of the papers. Inuyasha was one of the students, and the hand holding the paper trembled. Whether it did from anger or whatever was uncertain.

Mrs. Zeishun turned to the students who had just arrived and stood at the front of the room. "Please, join your counterparts at their tables." She said her hand waving to indicate the larger part of the room where the desks were.

The students scattered slowly, looking around the room to find who was who and match the paper with the creator. Kagome soon found herself facing Inuyasha Nokugami. Her eyes bulged and she growled angrily.

The fifth reason on her list had been "Not a Nokugami" in the exact words she'd put it. Fate had decided to toss her a curve ball, and at the same time, smack her in the face with a trout. It was a comical thought, but it did not amuse her.

"You have the rest of the hour to talk to your equivalent." Mrs. Zeishun said, and then added as a second thought, "For all who don't know, equivalent means 'counterpart'." She sat at her desk, not to be disturbed for the remainder of the hour.

Kagome groaned and Kohaku patted her shoulder sympathetically. He at least had gotten someone tolerable. Padilla Sturm was a nice enough person, even if she was rather quiet. Kagome only smacked her forehead on the table once before a quickly forming headache warned her not to do it again or it would certainly punish her.

"Trip, headache meds?" Kagome asked quietly. This was going to be a long rest of the hour. Kohaku handed over two and his water. Kagome downed the pills and rubbed her temples, concentrating on Kohaku's voice as he talked quietly with the silent Padilla Sturm, his voice soothing her nerves.

Finally, she looked back up at Inuyasha. He didn't seem too pleased with the situation at all. In fact, he might have been even less pleased than her.

"You won't last long." Both said in unison, and then looked startled that they'd just shared the same thoughts.

Kagome frowned. "If your girlfriend kills me, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

Inuyasha grinned, startling her by the cheerful tone of his voice. "That's okay. She broke up with me anyway."

Blinking, Kagome scratched her head. "And that's a good thing?" She asked, surprised she was attempting to carry on a decent, non-aggressive conversation with him.

He nodded. "Yeah. She's like a leech. The only reason I said I'd go out with her is because she cried."

"Soft spot for female tears huh? Hmm...that could prove useful." Kagome chuckled.

"I'm immune by now. Or at least, I ought to be." He amended. With all the 'fangirls' he had, of course he would want to be immune.

"We'll find out, won't we?"

Inuyasha pointed to the sketch of lunch rolls on the paper that her list was on. "I don't think I can get you these." He said, grinning.

"Well, it's good to know you're not as stiff as your brother." Kagome muttered darkly. "He's impossible to work with." But he's a good kisser, she thought.

Inuyasha wiped sweat from his brow. He'd just come from gym, Kagome guessed. "He's not as bad as you think." She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really, he's not."

"Alright, then you try raising an android-baby with him and see how well you two get on then."

Inuyasha made a face. "Man, its bad enough that I have to live with him. Raising something is definitely out of the question."

Kagome laughed outright. "We'll get on just fine, you and me." She said as the bell rang, dismissing the students for seven minutes before the next class started. She began to wheel herself out of the room, her books in her lap, when Kohaku called for her to wait for him.

"I'd like everyone involved in this project to report here on Friday, November fifth for the distribution of the androids." Mrs. Zeishun called to the class as they all dismissed.

Kohaku and Kagome either wheeled or crutched themselves to band. Kagome had to stop at her locker to retrieve her violin and music, placing her books in her locker, and they were in the band room quickly after that.

Kagome was tuning her violin when Sesshoumaru sat next to her, in the seat he normally sat in before the entire ordeal had happened. Gytha Graeme used to be the violin's section leader, but with her death had come promotion.

Sara or Sethy, Gytha's sisters, would normally have been promoted in Gytha's stead, but no one had ever expected Gytha to be murdered either. Sara and Sethy were acting as stand-in for Gytha for the time, but their puffy eyes and tear-smudged cheeks and the determination in the way they set their chins as they looked at Kagome and Sesshoumaru proved they were up to something.

In the first ten minutes of class, normally the sections would meet with the leaders to talk over parts that needed to be worked on in certain pieces.

Half of the band had been missing during the field trip, and almost the entire violin section had been on the field trip. The band was far behind in practice and there was a concert on the fifth of November already.

As the sections met, the violinists all looked to Sethy and Sara. "Are you okay?" one of them asked sympathetically.

The two Graeme triplets smiled bravely. "Yes, thank you." They said together.

Sara took a deep breath. Her eyes searched each of the faces of each and every one of the violinists. "We'd like to call for a secret ballot in the matter of section leader." Sara said quietly, though everyone among the group heard her.

"Neither of us wants to be section leader." Sethy continued.

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest. "Then you must nominate two people to vote between." She said quietly. She uncrossed her arms and took the stack of music from Mr. Bemis, the band director, and took one of each song, handing the stack to the person next to her so they could get their music and pass it on.

Sethy nodded grimly. "We know you will not like who we have chosen, but we have thought it over carefully and discussed it with each other. Gytha had—" her voice caught in her throat momentarily before she pressed on "—I know Gytha had been one of the best violinists here. She'd been chosen section leader for her competitive nature as well as her skill. But Sara and me, we're not cut out for the job. We'd be hard put trying to do so well."

Sara continued, and though tears stood in both the girls' eyes, they did not let them fall. "The secret ballot will be decided between Kagome and Sesshoumaru." Sara glanced at those students who had not been on the field trip.

"And before you judge Kagome on Taisei's rumors, you might look past that. She's a nice person. She stood up for us all."

Kagome smiled slightly at Sara and Sethy as Sethy nodded her agreement to her sister's words. "You flatter me." She said quietly, a wry smile on her face. "I did what I had to, in order to protect my territory."

Everyone in this group who had been on the trip knew of Kagome's ongoing battle with SPS, and Kagome had always had their confidence that they would not run and tattle on her. Just as they had her confidence that she would protect them if they asked.

"But every word is true." Sethy said. She took a handful of small pieces of paper from her pocket and gave one to each of the group members. "Do you two accept the nomination?"

Kagome nodded. Sesshoumaru did as well. As the nominee's, they could not vote. That left eight members to the numbers who did vote. Four were on Sesshoumaru's side, and four voted Kagome in.

When the matter could not be resolved easily, Kagome groaned and Sesshoumaru sighed. They spared a glance at each other. Both found the other to be as exasperated by the event as their counterpart.

Kagome knew the two Graeme girls were pushing themselves. They hurt sorely over the loss of their sister. Finally a decent idea was brought to the group. The ten minutes were almost up, and most people were finding their seats among the other sections.

"Why not ask Mr. Bemis?" One of the girls asked. This was the girl that had asked the two triplets if they'd be alright at the beginning of the class. Her name was Mai Hashing.

The boy, a freshman by the name of Sweden Hart, sitting next to Mai nodded. "That's a good idea. He could decide the last vote, since he isn't discriminatory against either one of them like we are." His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he ducked his head. It was obvious of what he spoke: He didn't like Kagome.

Sara nodded and went to Mr. Bemis, asking his opinion. Mr. Bemis, having many other things on his mind at the time, yelled at her that he couldn't be everywhere and ordered her back to her section. "Class is starting already! You can deal with this afterwards! It's bad enough half the band has just barely received the music!"

Sara sighed. "I thought this would be a good idea." She muttered.

Sethy patted her sister's shoulder disappointedly.

Kagome would gladly have just stepped down to allow Sesshoumaru the position, but it was against the rules. It just wasn't how things were done. She had accepted the nomination, figuring Sesshoumaru would get all the votes in the first place. She had been wrong.

Mai, ever helpful Mai with all her ideas, said, "I know, why not have both of them share the position! This way if one is sick, we're not totally at a loss."

The others thought this was truly a great idea, but Kagome could see many flaws in it. It wasn't that a shared position had never been done before in the band, in fact most sections did have two already and that worked out great.

But that meant that practice sessions with just the violin section would have to be coordinated by both of the section leaders. In other words, Kagome would have to converse often with Sesshoumaru.

This put him and her together often, trying to figure out what to do with the violin section. Before she could fill in her objections to this, she was overruled by eight eager violin players.

While Sesshoumaru secretly congratulated himself on the promotion, though he of course kept his face void of emotion, Kagome grumbled about the change.

Band lessons began and Kagome found herself wishing she had a supply of headache meds in her pocket like Kohaku. Or else that she'd joined the percussions. She'd be back there by him and could steal from him then.

The wounds on her body, though they'd so far been quite quick to heal thanks to whatever the doctors had done, were itching, and the scar on her chin felt sore after being pressed up against her violin for forty minutes.

All her friends had noted the same thing; that they were healing faster than they really should, thanks to a medication they were to take, and whatever the doctors in surgery had done.

She sighed. At least she wouldn't have to work that night. Though she could stand on her own, as could her friends, their parents had been quick to force them to just use the crutches or wheelchair.

Kali had threatened to tie Kagome to the wheelchair if she didn't stay in it. She envied Sesshoumaru. He wasn't in a wheelchair. Not that she'd ever admit that she did, but perhaps to herself...no, not even to herself would she.

After band was Language class. That went swiftly and smoothly, as did gym class right after that, though Kagome hated not being able to join in class.

After gym, Kali came to pick up Kagome, Souta, Sango, and Kohaku. Seeing her mother driving her and Souta's car made the group of friends laugh. Miroku walked home. Work for him wouldn't start back up until Wednesday. Kikyou took the bus as usual.

When they got to the shrine after dropping off Sango and Kohaku, they found nine students lounging around the courtyard.

Souta grinned. "You should have joined the percussions like the rest of us." He murmured in her ear as they parked in the shrine's garage. "You'd not have this problem then."

Kali got out of the car. "Don't either of you go pushing yourself too hard, or it's back to the wheelchairs for the both of you." She warned. Kagome smiled and hugged her mother, getting her things from the trunk and going up the stairs. "Alright mom."

"Don't you have work to do?" Souta questioned suspiciously towards their mother.

Kali chuckled. "Alright, alright, you got me. Since you have company, Kagome, I will ask Loesia, Kozue, and Satu to help me with supper."

Loesia, Kozue, and Satu were three of the gardeners who were excellent cooks. Sometimes when there were many guests over, Kali asked the three to cook dinner and then paid them extra for their time.

Kagome nodded and noticed for the first time that her mother looked worn out. Two months ago, her face did not have so many worry lines, and her hair was not speckled with white. Now it was.

"Better yet," Kagome started, "why don't you just go work? Souta and I'll take care of things here, and Loesia and them can start supper on their own. They know by now where everything is." Kagome wouldn't tell Kali to go rest. She knew her mother would much prefer to work.

When Kali would have disagreed, Souta slung an arm through hers, escorting her up and out of the garage. "Come on, mom. They can handle it."

Kali sighed, relenting. "Alright fine." Kagome heard her say before she too started out of the garage. She made her way to the front door and exited out into the courtyard, looking at the members of the violin section. She saw that Inuyasha was also there and raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

Inuyasha grinned at her. "When Mrs. Zeishun read your list, she said I'd better pay you a visit this evening. She threatened a months worth of bathroom duty if I didn't." Kagome shuddered.

Bathroom duty was the worst punishment you could get. It meant you had to clean bathrooms out with cu-tips and soap and water. Someone with bathroom duty had to wash the sinks, the toilets, the floors and the walls as well as the mirrors.

Mrs. Zeishun was the person who'd started the ritualistic punishment, so no one would put it past her to follow through with the threat. She might not usually give out detentions, but if she was really truly vexed, you could bet your bottom dollar that she would give you bathroom duty.

The violinists all looked at Kagome. Sara said, "We really need to get started learning our music." The others nodded their agreement, minus Sesshoumaru. He was looking over the music.

"Alright, we'll practice in the library. The place has great acoustics. Inuyasha, if you want, you can come or not." She began to lead the nine members of the violin section towards the library when Inuyasha moved to follow.

When they got to the library, Kagome found Souta waiting for her. He had her violin and music waiting for her. "You forgot something, nimrod." He said pleasantly.

Kagome grinned. "No, I saw you take it from the trunk, jerk."

"Anyway," Souta rolled his eyes. "Loesia said to tell you that dinner is at six-thirty sharp and if you are a peep late even, she'll gut you like a fish."

Loesia always said that. Over the years, you learned not to take her so seriously, because she would never do something like that. "Thanks." Kagome took her violin and set her backpack on a table. The rest of the students, Inuyasha included, were finding chairs.

Souta stretched lazily and collapsed on a cushion nearby where Inuyasha sat on one. The position he was in gave him a good view of each of the violin members. "What'cha doing here?" he asked as they began warming up.

"Mrs. Zeishun's android-baby thing. I'm in that and Kagome's my partner. Mrs. Zeishun ordered me to come tonight and bond with Kagome or else she'd give me bathroom duty." Inuyasha's voice was dry and sarcastic. "Stupid really."

"Yeah it is. But at least you avoid bathroom duty." Souta looked thoughtful for a moment then grinned. "Kagome's neck." He said quietly, so Kagome wouldn't hear.

Inuyasha looked at Souta, quirking an eyebrow in question. "What about it?"

"Well, not exactly her neck but more towards the back of her left earlobe, if you touch there she's all gooey and forgets whatever she was arguing about temporarily. Of course, you'd have to get past her in order to touch it, but it'd give you time to run away. Just brush your finger on it. Push to hard and it won't work."

"And I'll need this?"

"It'd help. I heard about that project. You'll have to stay here, and she'll have to stay at your house. Each visit is a total of six days you'll spend with her. I'd say yeah that'll come in handy."

Inuyasha grinned. "Okay. Thanks."

Kagome was right to choose the library. The books, the glass, the walls, everything was perfectly positioned to bounce the sound back to the group so they could know where their mistakes were right away.

When the bell chimed seven o'clock, the violinists were very disappointed to stop. Kagome grinned. Even Sesshoumaru looked unhappy. Inuyasha and Souta's conversation about whatever was interrupted.

The students made their way towards the dining room, Kagome reassuring the others that there would be other days they could come. Kali was frowning, sitting at the table, her finger tapping the wood steadily.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said, standing when the group of teens entered. "An entire half an hour late, Kagome!" said the very exasperated woman. "Souta, you were there, why didn't you remind her?"

Souta shrugged. "You never said to remind her?"

Giggles spread through the violinists as Kagome smiled sweetly. "We came at least. That's something isn't it?"

Kali smiled despite herself. "Yes, that's something, I suppose. Please, everyone, find a seat." She waved to the long table that was set in a small area. Of course, the table could seat a little over one hundred people, so it did not need to be set completely. Fourteen places were set at the table.

Kagome scratched her arm as she sat down, wondering about that fourteenth place setting. There were only thirteen of them. Nine people from the violin section, Inuyasha, Souta, Kali, and herself. So who was the fourteenth place setting for? She doubted it was for Naraku, considering they knew very well that he was most likely at the bar and not going to be coming for dinner.

Loesia, Kozu, and Satu really had outdone themselves with dinner. There were three courses. The first was a salad. All five of the gardeners had stayed to help with dinner, not just Loesia, Kozu, and Satu.

While two of the gardeners weren't exactly the best cooks, they were able to balance trays on their arms and serve at the same time, so Ai and Myra were the servers.

The first course was a grilled chicken Cesar salad topped with Cesar dressing. You could taste a faint hint of Parmesan cheese in it, but Loesia and Kozu, who would have made the salad and main course, knew that neither of the Higurashi children liked Parmesan so they hadn't put much in there though it was part of the recipe.

The main course was Spicy Chicken Curry Soup, something that Kagome loved. She could taste the lime and the garlic and the coconut just as well as the chicken and carrots and the flavors of the soup blended to create heaven in the mouth.

The third course was dessert. Kagome reveled in the Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake that was Satu's specialty. It contained raw eggs, but Kagome didn't care. She ate it anyway.

While she ate, she listened to the students talking about random things. Souta was complaining to their mother about how the cast on his broken leg itched. He wanted to take it off; his leg didn't hurt when he walked without crutches so surely it must be healed, he reasoned.

Their mother sat and listened calmly to his complaints before pointing out that the medication the doctor gave him would heal his leg quickly but if the cast was taken off, it would heal bowlegged and he would have trouble walking after that without a cane.

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, who sat across from Kagome and Souta, were talking quietly to each other as they ate. They were talking about the art class murals projects, wondering what they should put on the mural. It was a boring conversation, so Kagome turned her mind elsewhere.

Sara and Sethy were not talking at all. Kagome figured they were probably thinking of their lost family member.

What am I thinking? Kagome thought. Gytha isn't lost! She can't be found unless you look six feet under her gravestone! She sighed and turned her attention back to the conversations.

Everyone was talking, and for the first time in her life, Kagome wasn't sure where she sat with these people. Before it had always been far away and now all of a sudden they were acting civil with her? Or were they doing this because they pitied her for getting kidnapped? No, that couldn't be it, because half of them were kidnapped too.

Even more was that Inuyasha was acting strange towards her. Stranger than normal... if that was possible. It used to be that all Kagome had to do was say his name and he'd get irate, like as though by saying his name, she'd offended him. But while they'd been in the vault, it had seemed like Inuyasha went out of his way to run into her. She hadn't noticed that until just now.

Then there was another thing. Yuri, Sesshoumaru's twin, was the only one of the students who had not been released from the hospital. She was in the psyche ward for mental trauma caused from ten years of abuse.

She couldn't talk; she was too afraid. She was schooled somewhat, considering that she could write, but someone had schooled her against the gold skinned woman's orders.

Kagome finished her dessert and stood from the table, grabbing her dishes and taking them into the kitchen, coming back out with a bucket to gather up other dishes.

Students began waving and saying their goodbyes, playing their way out. They thanked Kali for dinner, and then left. It wasn't until Kagome and Souta started doing dishes that they realized they had not seen Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha leave, but had seen them go into Kali's office with her.

Kali walked into her group counseling room, the two Nokugami boys following her. She sat comfortably on a stool, smoothing her suit-skirt over with the long fingers of one hand while waving to the rest of the furniture in the room. By sitting on something as informal as a stool, Kali knew it would allow them to be slightly more at ease with her.

"Have a seat." She said softly, gently.

The boys looked around for a moment, both slightly unsure, before the elder son walked over to a maroon high backed chair and sat in it, his movements stiff, yet graceful. The younger son stood for a moment longer before sitting on the floor right where he was with his legs in a pretzel fold, sticking his hands into the sleeves of his school uniform.

Kali smiled at them both and nodded her acquiescence to their choices of seating. "Very good." She said, still speaking softly. She needed not raise her tone, because she knew already that she had their attention.

"In today's counseling session, I'd like to ask you some questions. You may choose to answer them or not. If at any time you feel uncomfortable with the question," she stood from her seat, taking out two small electronic squares from her suit-jacket, giving one square to each of them, "push down on the pad with your finger gently, and we can get back onto a more comfortable subject. You need not exaggerate your discomfort, because this way neither of you will know of the other's discomfort."

She moved back to her footstool, sitting down on it and folding her legs off to the side so that there would be no chance of too much of her legs showing indecently.

"Can I ask a question?" Inuyasha asked.

Kali could see through the barrier of the witch charm and smiled as she saw his ear twitch from up on top of his head. "You just did, but go ahead anyway." She said with the smile in place.

Inuyasha blushed and looked at the floor, embarrassed at that, but then stuck his chin up in the air defiantly. "Where is our sister?"

Kali could almost see the relief on Sesshoumaru's face when Inuyasha finally asked the question. She wondered what Sesshoumaru had thought Inuyasha would ask.

"Yuri is in the Psychiatric ward in Sunset hospital. Friday afternoon she will be transported here to stay with me until she is able to take care of herself—that is if the doctors in the Psychiatric ward can't help her. These are your father's directions; he had told me to tell you at the close of the evening."

"So basically he doesn't want her." Inuyasha spat bitterly. "Figures. He never bothered to care the first time; why would he want her now?" Inuyasha stared at the floor angrily, as though if he tried hard enough, he would be able to burn a hole in the stone floor and the carpeting the covered it.

Kali pursed her lips imperceptibly, to stop herself from smiling at a time when it would be inappropriate to do so. Inuyasha was opening up, and that was a good thing.

Kali doubted that Sesshoumaru would say something if he didn't want to or if he thought it might affect someone else, so it would be harder to get him to talk, but perhaps this was the start of the blooming stage for these two life-hardened flowers?

Kali leaned forward in her seat, speaking again in her tone of voice that Souta and Kagome called "the shrink's voice"; her voice was soft, measured, and pliant. She'd found that when she used this voice, her patients tended to think that whatever she asked was their idea to tell.

She directed this voice at both boys, not just Inuyasha. She wanted to know Sesshoumaru's opinions too, and know what he thought. "What makes you say that? Why would you think your father does not want Yuri?"

Sesshoumaru scowled as though he wanted to say something. He gritted his teeth together. Kali wondered what he wanted to say, but Inuyasha was already speaking.

"Because he doesn't! He only keeps us around because he wants us to run his business!" Inuyasha's face was red with his anger. "Sess'll run the company, and dad"—he added scorn to the word, as though it tasted bitter on his tongue—"is going to make me head of security. Big whoop. I don't give a crap 'bout that stuff. Does he think about us and what we want? No!"

Now was when Sesshoumaru spoke, but it was as though Kali wasn't in the room anymore—like the boys were talking to each other. "Don't forget that wife he's got."

Inuyasha growled. "Yeah. She's a drunk, and a dirty smutty child abuser."

Kali was startled, but she didn't let it show on her face. The revulsion on both boys' faces told her that what she'd just heard was true. She thought carefully about this bit of information, digesting it slowly.

It wasn't that she'd never encountered a case where the children were abused, but that was no reason to hastily jump to conclusions either, and that didn't mean that she knew right away what she should do and what was right.