The water, so identical to the tears she could no longer shed, drained down her face coming from the shower head that seemed so far above her. Her arms were stretched out in front of her as the water soaked her generally artificial body touching the wall that seemed so far away but yet was so close.
Her hair was still up because when she took a shower at school, she didn't want anyone to accidentally see the plastic implant that was part of her skull, making even her head have artificial bones in it.
She cried, but it wouldn't have mattered either way. No one would hear her anguished calls for a normal existence. No one would even see the evidence of it because she couldn't shed tears. It was physically impossible for her to do.
It hurt her to hear what had been said by a group of foolish freshmen during gym class and it made her feel dirty for some reason, and it wasn't the sweat or sand from the indoor volley court that made her this way either.
It was the idiocy and carelessness of those who had spoken, who had dared to utter such vile words even though they didn't know what Rin suffered at their words.
I am twenty years old! Rin thought, angry at herself for even thinking the way her thoughts were going. I am twenty years old; I should not be caring anymore! It has been eight years since the change, and there is nothing I can do to be normal again.
She had expected these thoughts to cheer her up and make her leave the shower, change from her bathing suit to her school uniform, and get to lunch where undoubtedly her friends were waiting for her, but she just couldn't bring herself to leave the small enclosure.
Instead of exiting it, she leaned against the wall with her back and slid down to sitting position. She felt the water pounding on her head and streaming down her body but ignored it, closing her eyes lightly.
A nap... Those always made her feel better. She just wished Raine wasn't at the College. If Raine would just graduate already instead of seeking all the knowledge there was in the world, Rin might have been able to communicate with someone who knew that she was a dirty Cyborg and yet didn't mind.
The things those girls had said, she was letting it all get to her far more than she knew she should, but perhaps it was due to the new emotions she was feeling? Why though?
She had no idea why she was feeling so strange lately because the emotions that she was feeling she knew were supposed to stem mainly from the heart and the ability to menstruate.
Of course, she didn't have a real heart, she had an electronic artificial one that pumped not only blood but also a blue-violet fluid that cooled her body and heated her body as needed.
She also didn't have the ability to menstruate because when the doctors had made her a Cyborg, they took out her ovaries so she couldn't reproduce ever again.
The past two years had been filled with strange emotions that she couldn't understand and the past two days frightened her even more than all that because even the smallest thing made her feel like she wanted to cry, yet the tears would not come due to inability to produce tears as a Cyborg.
"I want to go home..." she whispered to the water pooling in the drain. She knew if her skin had not been false, she would have pruned rather badly considering she was in the shower for nearly three hours. Yet, still, she felt filthy.
"I wish I could be a Cyborg. Don't you think that'd be just so cool?"
You do not think. Rin thought miserably. It is not all fun and games, hiding because you are half machine. Multiply the hate you have for demons in the school by ten and you still do not come close to how much fear just the knowledge of what I am instills in people.
I can not exactly be easily controlled like androids can, which is why people fear and hate me. Humans hate what they cannot understand.
Those thoughts made Rin feel even worse. "I do not think of myself as a human anymore?" she sobbed, her hands going to her face, hiding it in shame. She wished she could release her grief through tears, but she couldn't.
"Checkmate." Kikyou said quietly, smiling at Sango. Sango frantically looked at the board, trying to think where she had gone wrong. "Oh, it is not so bad." Kikyou's voice, as usual, was only a whisper. "Face it; you're not great at everything."
"No! It's impossible!" Sango groaned. She saw Yuri shaking in silent laughter beside her and stuck her tongue out at the mute girl. "Well, at least I have my dignity." She said, but then felt a warm hand on her backside and moving further South. Reflexes instantly kicked in, and she swiveled in her chair, her foot kicking out.
"Oomph!" Miroku fell to the ground, his hands covering his crotch, eyes rolled up in pain. "Ho, mama...That smarts."
Kikyou giggled. "Well, so much for dignity, eh?"
"Oh shut up." Sango grumbled. Whether she was talking to Kikyou or Miroku (who was still moaning in pain) was unknown, but the fact that she was peeved was quite clear.
She turned back to the chessboard and began putting her side back together. Kikyou did the same. "Where do you think Rin went? I haven't seen her since Gym, and she never mentioned anything about going home early or anything."
Yuri began writing quickly on her marker board and held it up for Sango and Kikyou to read. "Are you sure she was upset?" Kikyou asked in her soft voice. "She didn't look upset to me." Yuri shrugged and wiped her marker board clean, then wrote again.
Sango looked over Yuri's shoulder as the mute girl wrote and read aloud as the words came. "'She... seemed... mad... at... some... freshmen.' But Rin hardly ever lets anything get to her."
It was at that moment that Kohaku and Souta decided to join the Study Hall. They burst into the classroom and tripped over Inuyasha, who was napping on the floor in front of the door to the room. All in a tumbled mess, the three boys (one still half asleep) tried to disentangle themselves from each other while the class laughed at them, even their friends. "Your foot's in my ear, Souta!" Kohaku complained.
"Your elbow is digging into my sack!" Souta haloed. "You've got nothin' to complain about!"
Inuyasha growled angrily. "Yeah, well somebody's hand is squeezing my butt and I'm near choking on someone's foot! Get off of me!"
Any chance Souta had to get up was thrown out the window when Rin walked into the room and tripped onto the mess of students. She might have looked small, but she was a rather heavy girl considering her bones were made out of metal.
Only four feet eight inches tall, she might have looked ninety pounds, but she weighed one-hundred thirty five. "Ahh!" she yelped, landing on Souta's back.
"Being...squished...to...death..." Inuyasha groaned, trying to get up but failing miserably. "I can't...breathe..."
"Oh, my nuts, my nuts!" Souta cried, actual tears shining in his eyes.
There was a slight scramble as all four tried to get up at once, and by the time they managed it the bell had rung and most of the students had filed out into the hallway to go to their cars and go home.
The supervisor of the study hall had never shown up, but that was of no consequence. When Rin had managed to get up, she sat down in a desk and took a few deep calming breaths before noticing the silence in the room.
She had expected the others to have left, but when she looked up she saw them all staring at her. Inuyasha, Kohaku, Kikyou, Souta, Miroku, Sango, and Yuri were all staring at her open jawed.
"Is there something on my face?" Rin asked, blushing. She didn't realize what was wrong. It wasn't a noticeable change for her personally, but for others it was a huge change that was thought to be rather odd.
She reached up to her face, brushing her flaming cheeks, though since she had just spent three hours in the shower she didn't know how she had something on her face.
The thoughts rushing through the seven teens staring at Rin were basically the same. She's a machine? Their eyes wandered from her head where they could clearly see the electronic half of her brain through the plastic area of skull where no hair grew, to her face, to the scrunch-tie that lay on the floor.
In the struggle to get up, Souta had felt his hand catch on something, and it was the tie that held up her wet hair in the crazy hair style. Now they could see why she kept that strange hair style.
"You're not real?" Miroku said incredulously. He began backing away a step before Rin noticed the scrunch-tie that remained stationed on the floor.
Real fear mounted in her stomach. Fear was an emotion that, as half-machine, the doctors said she would not feel again. Apparently they were wrong. She lifted a shaky hand up and pressed it to the part of her skull that showed.
"I am real..." she whispered, and if ever there was a time she wanted to cry, it was then. "Or... I used to be..." She bent down and scooped up the tie as the bell rang through the halls. They should have been in class already; the seven minute break was over.
No one moved; they hardly dared to breathe. "Then what are you?" Inuyasha demanded. "Not even a Class A android is so—"
"Shut it, Inuyasha!" Sango hissed. "What she is doesn't matter! Have we complained about you being a half-breed demon? No, we complain that you're a prick, but we leave the 'what' out of any of our feuds!"
Rin slipped her hair up in an unkempt tie and knelt down on the floor to recover her books from where they had scattered in the tumble. "I'll leave..." she murmured. Why did she feel like she'd just run a marathon?
Her artificial heart was pumping faster to cool her heated angry body down. It was beating faster than it was supposed to when pumping. Would it malfunction? Was it malfunctioning?
Her hand went to her chest and her face twisted up in pain. Her heart was not supposed to beat so quickly. Would she die because of a malfunctioning heart?
It was beating against her chest in a way that made her human organs feel like they were being hit with missiles one after another. Sweat formed on her brow and she had the inappropriately timed thought of, if I can sweat, why can't I cry?
So much pain, both emotional and now physical, surged through her. She felt a liquid begin leaking out of her body and wondered if she'd just wet herself. Finally, there was nothing but darkness to greet her. She fell forward and the others saw the blood stain on the floor.
Inuyasha sat down heavily on the floor. "I'm not sure whether to be disgusted or amazed or what." He said quietly, and the others could not disagree with him.
Sure, Sango had stuck up for Rin, but at the same time she had contradicting thoughts that machines were not supposed to live alongside humans and demons. She didn't know if that was real blood on the floor or if the girl in front of her was a fraud and the real Rin was stashed away somewhere.
A knock at the door brought the thoughtful teens that stood around Rin back to attention. They looked to the door to find a strange Rin-look-alike standing in the doorway. Instead of long hair though, she had short hair that looked a bit on the greasy side and a sarcastic look to her face.
Surprisingly, after three years, they had yet to meet Raine, though she knew all of them. Her attention, however, was not on them. The instant her eyes fell upon Rin's unconscious form lying crumpled on the floor, her mind and feet were quick to react.
Quickly she closed the distance between her and her sister. "Rin, wake up." She said, her eyes scanning the others in the room just barely before she knelt beside her sister. "Rin."
Kohaku moved forward and knelt on the other side of Rin, taking with him the barrier between uncertainty and confusion. Obviously Rin was real, and if Rin had given them any reason to fear her over the years, then there might have been reason to be hesitant, but now was the time to decide. "Let me help you." Kohaku said quietly.
"I don't need help from you." She muttered.
"Like hell you don't." Sango snapped. "Kikyou, Yuri, pick up Rin's things." Instantly, Raine felt a rush of gratitude because she'd gotten to the school on the transit system and carrying Rin alone to a bus filled with people who didn't like her wasn't always safe. That, and Raine knew she couldn't lift Rin alone.
Kohaku lifted Rin carefully, though she was rather heavy. "Lay off the Twinkies, Rin." He grumbled unaware that she was about to respond, and slightly in her own anger.
She had woken up in time to hear him, and to turn on her magna-gravity, a defense mechanism in which her body attraction towards earth became greater, thus making her heavier. "Ah!" Kohaku yelped as he fell back into a chair jamming his funny bone on the desktop.
Raine giggled. "Rin, you're awake. Are you alright?" Raine said her hand moving to Rin's forehead, then checking the pulse at the wrists.
Still, no one had moved. It seemed like they had just been shot back into time and didn't know how to move or speak anymore.
Rin clamored off of Kohaku's lap and stood up, turning off her magna-gravity. "I am... I think I am alright."
"I got worried when you didn't come out of the school. When we get home, we'll check to see what is happening to make you lose consciousness." Raine promised. "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately." Her voice was a whisper that echoed through the room. Chirping crickets would have sounded like strikes of thunder at that particular moment.
"I am... bleeding..." Rin said, looking at the blood on her leg with a true look of horror on her face. "I am bleeding... bleeding!" Raine was startled by the blood yet again. Where was it coming from? Why was it coming?
Kagome laughed at Kohaku's father's joke as she had an early dinner with her mother and Kohaku and Sango's father. Yusuke, claiming he wanted to explore the town, had not joined them for lunch.
An exceptionally happy waitress with a tag reading "Waitress Sammy" served them their beverages. Each of them had ordered tea, but Kagome got flavored Orange Tea instead of the traditional Green Tea like her mother, and soon to be step-father, was drinking.
It was four o'clock, which meant that Souta should have been home by then, but Kagome had instead decided that they shouldn't wait for Souta anymore. If he was going to be late when Kagome had specifically told him to be home by three thirty, then he didn't need to sup with them. Still, she had left him a note, hoping he would show up at the restaurant.
"Imagine! A hamster ventriloquist!" Kagome shared a laugh again with her soon to be step-father and mother, but they were careful not to be over exuberant. It would be rude to just start shrieking laughter at the top of your lungs in the middle of a fancy restaurant.
When they calmed down again, Kagome's mother looked at her. "So I hear you're looking for an apartment in Sunset, Kagome?" Kali asked with a smile. "Does this mean my baby is coming home?"
Kagome smiled and shrugged. "I feel there is more knowledge that I can grasp, so I intend to head off to Sunset College. I know I already am a P.I. but..." she trailed off.
"P.I.?" Kohaku's father questioned. "What's that?" he seemed intrigued as he sipped his tea, then set it down and stirred it gently.
"Private Investigator." Kagome replied.
"Oh, but why an apartment? Do you think that your mother and I would not want you around the house? Or else isn't there that mansion your father had around somewhere?" He set his spoon carefully, meticulously on the table.
Kagome ran a hand through her loose hair and sighed as though weary. "Well, because I don't want to rub it in people's faces that I'm...you know...wealthy. And I mean, come to think of it, that mansion hasn't been used in over seventy or eighty years it has to be.
"It's probably a bit more than run down and will need a little fixing up. But I just wouldn't feel comfortable, no offense mama, moving back in with you." She smiled then, reassuringly.
"There are a few apartments I've already got in mind, and Kagura, Hiei, and Yusuke are moving to Raspuit to study at the college there after the wedding."
"But wasn't your business doing well for you?" Voicing her concerns had always been a strong point for Kali, but this time she was apprehensive. She wanted Kagome to do well for herself.
Kagome's eyes went wide and she shook her head violently. "Oh it's doing just fine!" she assured her mother. "I just have a few ambitions to fill before we continue further."
She couldn't tell her mother about the fact that she was searching for information on the gold skinned woman. Her mother would forbid her from delving into dangerous people's pasts, and would certainly forbid her from chasing after these dangerous people.
"Like having a family?" Her mother waggled her eyebrows suggestively, and the very fact that the words came from her mother's mouth made her laugh.
She shook her head no and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I don't need to tie myself down just yet. Speaking of families; a girl from Snowsville is going to be coming here at my request. Is it alright if I pay you for the use of one of the fasting rooms for her to stay in for the time being? I promise to well compensate you for it."
Kali smiled and reached across the distance, placing her hand on Kagome's arm. "She may stay, but I forbid you from paying me for it."
Kagome grinned. "Just like you always were, mama. You haven't changed, contrary to popular beliefs. Then I shall conveniently forget some money in your office."
"Oh, no you shan't!" Kali pursed her lips in a frown. Kagome laughed at her mother's use of words and turned to Kohaku's father as he spoke.
"So, Kagome, what are your intentions with Kohaku then?" He asked with a secretive grin on his face. "You slept quite cozy in his arms last night, I suppose." He knew she had; he had seen it when he went to wake Kohaku up for school.
Instead of sleeping at the Shrine, Kagome had stayed with Kohaku and Sango instead. At least he doubted they did anything with Sango there, and they were wearing pajamas at least which was a first for Kohaku who normally slept in boxer-shorts alone.
"You've only been back a day and already you two are together again after all it took to separate you." His grin stayed though.
Kagome shared his smile and her thoughts wandered to Kohaku. "Every night before I went to sleep, I took his picture and set it by my bed. Then, in the morning, I took it and set it back on my desk. I don't know; maybe I'm obsessed with him though." Her tone of voice told Kali and Kohaku's father what they needed to know though.
"So if he'd ask you again, you'd marry him?" Kali asked feeling slightly breathless at the thought of it. She knew her daughter wasn't going to answer that, but it didn't stop her from asking.
"Ready to order?" Waitress Sammy said, her copper hair pinned up in a bun that was slightly disheveled as though hastily fixed after being messed up. The three occupants of the table looked up at Sammy and then two of them looked back at the menu. Kagome's eyes stayed on Sammy, narrowing to detail the girl.
Her hair wasn't messed up five minutes ago. Kagome thought and her eyes glanced a bit of black and blue bruising on Sammy's neck in the shape of a thumb. That definitely was not there five minutes ago.
It angered Kagome that someone would touch a woman hard enough to cause physical injury. As her mother began reciting her order, Kagome stood carefully so she didn't tip her chair over in her haste.
Her mother's voice stopped and Sammy looked at Kagome curiously. Her mother stopped speaking and looked at Kagome.
"Kagome?" Kohaku's father said. "Wouldn't it be polite to wait to use the restroom?"
"I don't need to use the restroom." Kagome said, her hand moving to Sammy's chin and turning it so she could better see the thumb print. Sammy didn't move an inch, as though she had expected someone to notice.
"Who gave you this?" It was difficult for Kagome not to race into the back of the restaurant demanding to know who harmed Waitress Sammy, but she controlled the urge.
"My boss." Sammy's blue eyes were cold and angry as she looked towards the door that said "EMPLOYEE'S ONLY" in big bold capital letters. "No need to worry, miss. Today is my last day here. I'm only staying so I can get my paycheck."
"Hmph." Kagome grasped Waitress Sammy's wrist and moved towards the door that Sammy was eyeing angrily. "Stay here, mama. I won't be long." Kagome said as she passed her mother.
Sammy had no choice but follow, and not only she followed Kagome, but so did confused glances from customers. "No woman should have to suffer the aggression of another."
Her mother and soon to be step-father nodded their agreement and Kagome weaved her way towards the door. "Miss, it's no big deal." Sammy said quietly as though afraid to be heard. "It's my last day." Her voice got weaker as they got closer to the door.
Kagome burst through the door so hard that its edge took a chink of wood from the wall. "It's a big deal. It's a very big deal." Kagome scowled. "Point him out." She said, waving to the many people in the back.
Cooks were cooking, waiters and waitresses were picking up finished plates and placing them on trays, dishwashers were scrubbing pots and pans out. Kagome had already guessed who it was that was 'her boss' the instant she saw the man with the polo shirt and tie.
Her shaky hand came up to point at the scruffy, mildly dressed middle aged man. A smile spread wide across Kagome's face. She had been right. She let go of Waitress Sammy's wrist and walked forward, noting the bruising on several other females, but none of the males.
Her eyes wandered from one girl to the next, yet that eerie smile stayed in place firm on her face. "You've just hit your last bitch." She said when she reached the man. He cringed as though she were about to slap him.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you..." she whispered, her finger moving to his brow to flick a droplet of sweat off his forehead. "But you won't like me for very long either."
"Kagome, what did you do to resolve the situation?" Kali asked moments later when Kagome sat down again at the table. When Kagome didn't answer her with anything but a small smile, she repeated her question.
"Oh, mama, don't worry. I'm not quite as hotheaded as I used to be." She assured her mother.
Kohaku's father frowned at the indirect answer. "Kagome, what did you do?" He accused her. Sometimes you could know a person just too well, and then they moved away and you weren't sure how to react. He was finding that out right then.
"You worry too much." Kagome waved her hand in front of her face dismissively, while out of the corner of her eyes she saw eight women leaving the restaurant through a side door, their purses in hand, a slip of paper in the other. The copper haired, blue eyed ex-waitress smiled and waved at her before disappearing out the door.
Raine was far too careful to just allow a bunch of high school kids into her's and Rin's rooms. She knew they would want an explanation, though.
She allowed them into the living room of the Legume's house and sat them down while she and Rin went into the bathroom to clean up the blood and try to figure out what was going on.
Raine knew she would have to scan Rin's body before any serious determination would be done as to the problem but from what she'd seen and from Rin's slightly panicked explanation of it, she felt confident that the android flesh reproduced the missing ovaries that had been taken out of Rin.
"What if I am bleeding to death?" Rin asked, panicking. It was hard to believe that just hours before she had been wishing for death.
Raine washed her hands in the bathroom sink. "Relax, Rin. Take a deep breath in and then let it out...That's my girl." She turned to Rin while she dried her hands off. "I believe you are no longer barren, due to the reproduction of the android flesh cells. You know how the cells of an android are modeled?"
"No." Rin said bluntly. "I am not particularly interested in androids; just in what might cause me to bleed so heavily from such a ghastly place!"
Raine led Rin out into the living room where the seven high school students were accepting lemonade from Curinrin, Rin and Raine's foster mother. "Yes, its strange Rin, but it probably just took eight years for the cells to rebuild themselves." Raine said. "The flesh is modeled using priestess DNA, which inevitably includes self-revitalization.
"Girls, you should have told me we were going to have company!" Curinrin admonished, as though it were the worst thing in the world. She set the tray with the remaining two glasses of lemonade on the coffee table. "Oh, Rin. Your hair is all messy!"
Rin backed up when Curinrin went to smooth it out. "I can fix it, mum." She said quietly.
"Mum, I fancy a roast for supper, and Relic is joining us for dinner." Raine said brightly.
Curinrin nodded and glanced at the group, counting heads. "So eight extra places?" She asked. She wrung her hands on her apron for a moment before untying it and walking towards the kitchen. By the door she slipped on her shoes and her coat, grabbing her purse.
"No, mum!" Raine said as she passed by. "No extra. Rin was invited over to Doctor Onigumo's tonight again to work on the dresses."
Unfortunately, Curinrin hadn't heard. She'd just closed the door, so Raine looked at Rin. "Go ahead, have a seat. I'll be back in a moment." She hurried towards the door and slipped outside, even though she was just in socks and it was snowy outside.
"Let me guess..." Inuyasha said in a dry voice. "She doesn't know any more about it than we do."
"No..." Rin said quietly. "She knows even less about it, though it is rather surprising because Raine talks about it right in front of her and dad all the time."
A silence filled the air from there, with the only sounds being that of the dishwasher in the kitchen, uncomfortable shifting, and the sipping of lemonade. When the grandfather clock struck the half-past mark of the hour, Rin stood nervously. "I will just go see what Raine is doing." She muttered. "Excuse me."
As soon as she had left, Kikyou said slowly, "It does fit the pieces of the puzzle together a bit though." She set her glass on the tray again, only half gone. "A pessimist would see this glass as half empty, wouldn't you agree?" To the others, it appeared she was completely changing around a subject that she herself had brought up, so they were confused.
Yuri fished her marker board out of her backpack and wrote on it, holding it up for the others to read. "Quite correct, Yuri." Kikyou nodded. "An optimist would see it as half full rather than half empty."
"But that says nothing to what the hell you mean." Sango scowled. "You could make a little bit of sense you know." She rubbed her hands together. "This house is rather cold."
Kikyou sighed, exasperated. "This situation with Rin is much like the glass. We're looking at her as a pessimist would. Has she ever shown us anything but kindness? Sango, look at you and Yuri! She's making both of you dresses free of charge! She wouldn't accept a cent from you or Kali when her skill could have demanded thousands for just one of your beautiful gowns."
"So what?" Sango said. "You realize she's some sort of android, right?"
"Come on, Sango, that's hardly fair!" Souta said, sounding much like his mother when she would scold Souta and Kagome. He bit his lip, but Kohaku continued for him, saying, "She probably knew we'd act like this, so it's not really a surprise she kept it a secret.
"And she was right, I mean look at us, we're more friendly with Inuyasha right now than her, and we've hated him since pretty much we met him and liked her since we met her."
"Friendlier, not more friendly." Inuyasha corrected him instantly, and then regretted it. It was a reflex to correct grammar mistakes after tutoring fourth graders for the past year, but Souta, Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku all gave him a look that told him he was a nerd. He sighed, "Sorry, it's a habit..."
Raine came back into the room with Rin, waving off something Rin had said with her hand and the seven teens immediately closed their mouths and opened their ears.
"No, Rin. You're not getting the point. The point is that the molecular structure of the android flesh is self-revitalizing, and it's recreating the organs taken out of you. This is a good thing because—"
"It is not very good because if the gov—" Rin started, only to have Raine interrupt her as they sat down together on the recliner, both small enough to fit together on it. "So we don't tell them." Raine said bluntly. "Simple as that."
"Don't tell who, what?" Miroku asked, having been mostly silent up until now. "And I think we deserve something of an explanation." He polished off his lemonade and set the empty glass on the tray. "We've been under the impression that Rin was er...human... this whole time. But it turns out she's something...who knows what. I mean, don't get me wrong but—"
"What he's trying to say is that we accept people for what they are, as long as they're honest. If this is all a joke, I'm not laughing." Sango finished. The frown was back and in full force.
Raine ran one of her hands through her slightly greasy hair. "That's nice, because I'm not laughing either. The thing about my sister is rather important, and it's perhaps one of the few matters I place above all else, even my career."
"How sweet." Inuyasha drawled. "Does this mean you're a machine too?" His arms were crossed over his chest and he sat on the floor with his legs crossed in a pretzel fold.
Raine looked to be biting back a snide comment when Rin spoke rather quietly. If the room hadn't been so silent, she wouldn't have been heard at all. "Raine, please do not lash out..." It had been the tone of voice which Inuyasha used that set Raine off. "I am not just a machine." She told them.
"Twelve years ago," Raine started, managing to turn her glare into a smooth and flawless smile, "Rin and our parents went to Egypt to live. Two years later, they were flying back when their plane veered course and crashed into a mountain."
Raine took a deep shuddering breath. "It took me two years to convince the government to make my sister a Cyborg. The idea was experimental, but was said to be a way to make it so she wouldn't just stay a vegetable or die. Rin is the first Cyborg created on Earth. And don't you go saying she's bad either, because she's not! She's a good girl; she just needs a different doctor than you."
"So she is a machine?" Souta questioned. "Or what? I'm confused."
"She's a Cyborg; half of her is composed of human flesh and blood, the other half is composed of cellulose and steel."
Sango clapped her hands together as though dusting them off and stood. "Well, I understand, even if you all don't." She sighed. "It's a relief to know the truth," she admitted. "I'm sorry I was a bitch though."
"Oh, I do not mind really. You have been very kind to me—"
"Oh come off it," Inuyasha's scruffy voice broke through the air, "you can't possibly say you're not bothered by anything we said or how we acted."
"I do not mind if you do not wish to speak with me anymore," Rin went on, "but I would very much appreciate if you would not tell anyone about me... Humans are afraid of what they cannot understand. We have been to so many different families and towns that if this place fails, the government said they will not continue to help fund my upgrades."
"Upgrades?" Kohaku inquired. "What do you mean, upgrades?"
Raine stood up when the doorbell rang. "Consider them doctor appointments. If Rin's body fails, any part of her, then she could die...or worse. Excuse me." She walked away, heading for the door, smiling as she let in a man wearing a thick winter coat and a black hat reading "GUNNAR MARINE CORP" on the top in white embroidery.
An uncomfortable silence rang in the air again as Raine took the man's coat and hung it up. "Was Tea as rambunctious on the way to Sammy's this time?"
As Relic was removing his hat and gloves, sticking them in the sleeves of his coat, he noticed the company. "Company?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow. "I can come back."
"Hn. They're last minute guests of Rin's." Raine said and her tone suggested she was rather annoyed.
Relic took his shoes off at the door and set them by Inuyasha's sneakers. "Oh, alright. Well, it wasn't Tea that was rambunctious really. Sammy apparently got a new job and had been so excited she invited her boyfriend over for dinner. The two were neck and neck when I arrived, so I'm not sure I want to leave Tea there for the night."
Raine chuckled. "I can imagine him doing that too, which is just the strangest thing. He's a flirt with the women, you know."
"Who's that?" Sango whispered towards Rin.
"That would be Relic Johnson, her boyfriend. He goes to school for the same thing she does, but she has been going much longer to the college. It is much simpler to just ignore them when you get them together. Mum and dad seem to enjoy their conversation, but I am very much uncomfortable listening to how to create Anti-Viruses." Rin explained, loud enough for her sister to hear as she stood.
"Oh! Rin, before you go would you come downstairs with me?" Raine asked, startled by her sister's dismissive tone.
Relic sat down in the seat that Rin vacated. "Oh, hey, you must be Inuyasha!" he said to the silver haired boy with a grin. "Relic Johnson; I know your brother from the last college banquet."
"Er...okay." Inuyasha said, shifting uncomfortably on the carpet. He really had no interest in the current conversation and would have much preferred a different subject.
Thankfully, Sango provided that subject as she continued to rub her hands together trying to warm them up. Her cinnamon brown eyes surveyed Relic while she spoke, drinking in his appearance, memorizing his face for future reference just as she always did with a new person she met.
"So, Relic, what are you going to college for?" Curiosity might have killed the cat, but everyone knew the dog made the car swerve. Sango was like the dog, just as curious as any cat, but everyone loved dogs. "If you know Sesshoumaru, he's going to be a doctor, wasn't he?" Truth was she really wasn't sure though she had heard rumors.
"Yeah, he's going to be a doctor but from what I saw, he doesn't really put forth much effort. It's like he's not really in to what he's doing." Relic ran his hands through his hair and then scratched the back of his neck.
"Not much you can do about that, though is there? It's all up to him. Anyway, I'm graduating from Sunset College at the end of the semester, and will move from being a part-time Seed at the SPD to a full-time Seed."
"Sounds like boring stuff if you ask me." Kohaku muttered under his breath.
"So how was class tonight?" Sammy asked Sesshoumaru, kissing Tea's forehead as she tucked the five year old girl in to sleep, making sure the stuffed bear that Tea loved so much was covered when Tea complained, "Mr. Bear wants his blanky!"
Sesshoumaru shrugged, his long silver hair falling over one of his shoulders as he bent down and scooped up a toy fire truck and three books, replacing the books on the shelf and walking over to the toy chest to open it and replace the tin truck.
"Professor Gregory wants a report on Osteodystrophy, no less than one hundred thousand words; he also wants me to come in for extra lessons." His golden eyes scanned the room, a sigh escaping his lips as he crossed to the dresser, beginning to refold a messed up drawer filled with clothes.
"Mommy, can you get me my blanky?" Tea begged. Her mop of curly copper-blond hair was messy and stuck out in several places, though she obviously only cared about having her baby blanket.
"Sure, sweetie," Sammy told her, "in a moment." Sammy walked over to Sesshoumaru and peeled the tee-shirt out of his hands that he'd been folding. "What's the matter? You're edgy; you've been bothered all night." She kept her voice low so Tea wouldn't hear. Tea was currently making Mr. Bear do flips and then praising the bear for what a good acrobat he was.
Sesshoumaru grasped a pair of pants and folded them neatly, replacing them in the drawer. "What is that on your neck?" His voice was caustic and exacerbated, it was as though he resented the very thought, and he did.
He didn't like the idea one bit because he knew exactly what it was and the thought of anyone touching his girlfriend that way, even though they had only been dating less than a month, angered him though he couldn't fathom why.
"Oh…that." Sammy said, just as Tea said in a hushed yell sitting up in her bed, "Oh no! Mr. Bear fell from the top of a building. Hang on, Mr. Bear! Doll will save you!" Tea reached to the end of her bed where Mermaid Doll was resting and made the finned doll walk towards where Mr. Bear was hanging off an imaginary building to lift him to safety.
Sammy began replacing Tea's things in the drawer, still trying to get Sesshoumaru to stop folding the clothes. They really didn't need to be folded again just because the drawer was a bit disheveled.
"Yeah, that." Sesshoumaru growled, lightly grasping her wrist and pulling her closer to him. His gentle grip reminded her that even though he sounded angry, he always kept a firm grasp on what he felt. The gentle touch of his fingertips to her chin sent shivers down her to a place somewhere in her midriff, making her feel warm and cozy.
He turned her face and brushed his other hand along the bruises lining her neck just behind her ear. They were a bright blue-purple in the light from the ceiling fan. "This is no fall down the stairs, neither is it anything you could have done to yourself."
"Oh... Sesshoumaru, don't worry about it. It's nothing, honestly!" Sammy blushed and her eyes looked at anything but him. She was strong and independent, so long as she remembered that. The problem was remembering that.
"Now if I had ever heard something dumber, I might have laughed." He said, removing his hands from her to favor rubbing his temples. He knew a headache was forming and this one would be a big one.
He didn't even notice the fact that he'd just used a ridiculous word like dumber when any number of words in his expansive vocabulary would have done quite nicely and made him sound more like the stiff personality that was generally him.
"Tea, go to sleep now, okay?" Sammy said, grabbing the little child's baby blanky from the top of the dresser and taking it to Tea. "Say goodnight to Sesshoumaru."
"Goodnight, Mr. Mommy's-boyfriend-who-is-named-Sess"—a sleepy yawn cut off the rest of what she might have said. She curled up with Mr. Bear, her blanky, and her thumb jammed in her mouth and was asleep within seconds. The blankets were already askew on her body, so Sammy had to cover her up again.
"Sammy, just tell me who did it." Sesshoumaru told her as they walked together into the kitchen, both sitting at the small island counter that was considered the table. Sammy poured him a glass of the wine that her mother had sent to her for her birthday, and then poured one for herself, replacing the cork on the bottle.
As she sampled the wine, Sammy weighed her options. She could tell him, and undoubtedly he'd do something about it –all her ex-boyfriends had been rather rash when she got hurt, some going to extreme lengths such as bashing the poor bloke's legs with metal rods until they were quite broken.
Or, she could pretend she hadn't heard him and their relationship would bend and fold in on it self. She certainly didn't want either of those options, and he presented a third when he spoke again.
"Has anything been done about it, at least?" Sesshoumaru asked softly, his golden eyes clashing with her light blue eyes. "Can you promise me that you'd tell me if it happens again?"
She smiled and tore her eyes away from his, resting her head on his shoulder. "Of course; no, it will not happen again either, but if it does I will tell you about it." When his arm snaked around her waist, her hand moved to cover his which rested lightly on her stomach. Her mind fluttered to the day they had met.
She had been waiting on his table almost a month ago; she'd been having a very bad day. She could honestly say it was one of the worst days she'd had at the restaurant.
She'd spilled coffee in one male customer's lap, dumped a salad in an elderly woman's wig, and tripped carrying a tray filled with soup, managing to soak six customers with tomato-and-pea soup before she'd even gotten to Sesshoumaru's table.
All of those customers had complained to the manager who worked that shift and she was on her last chance before she was fired. If one more customer complained, she would be sacked.
Sesshoumaru had been sitting in a booth with some of his fellow students who he'd been working on a project with and they'd been discussing some medical terminology when she came to get their orders, bearing a tray of four glasses and a pitcher of ice water.
Instead of managing to get the water into the cups, one of her fellow male workers who happened to not like her because she'd refused to date him had shoved her from behind. The ice water had ended up all over Sesshoumaru, not a single drop in any of the glasses she'd aimed for originally.
Sammy had clenched her fists, and just like many times before, had wondered why she ever left Relic. At least with Relic, she was safe from the world of hateful co-workers, vengeful bosses, and shrieking customers. She'd expected to get the boot then, but Sesshoumaru just sat there a moment and then spit something out in his hand. It was an ice cube.
"Wet dog!" One of his fellow students joked.
"Watch out, he might shake!" said the second, and all three of his student-partners laughed at him.
"Nice aim." Sesshoumaru had said to her, popping the ice cube back into his mouth. "At least it's only on my shirt. If you mind going to get us some fresh water, I'll deal with the other waiter after I eat." He had known about how her co-worker had shoved her.
Sammy's jaw had dropped when he had acted so casual about the whole thing. "What?" She asked her voice filled to the brim with incredulity. "Excuse me?"
He shrugged. "Well, I suppose if you have no water, I can wring out my shirt." His eyes were laughing yet his lips were in a serious straight line. His student-partners burst into another round of laughter and she felt her face flush transparent.
"Oh, we have... I'll be right back." She could hardly believe he was going to let her off the hook. She'd been moved shifts after that, working two pm to eleven pm. And things got better too because two days later, he'd come to find her and asked her out on a date.
"It was my intention to actually ask you out two days ago, but 'wet dog' is not a great first impression." He'd joked, sparing no expense to himself to bring her to his level. He wouldn't lower himself to another's level, he raised her own personal standards; or at least that was how she felt when she was talking to him. She felt level with a prince, not the other way around.
Sammy had stared at him then. "You saw me once and wanted to ask me out?" she'd asked him.
"Oh no." he promised her. "You served my table thirteen times before I got the nerve up." His smile had melted her heart. Was this true equality?
She'd wanted to ask him how a prince could get nervous, but then remembered he was only a man, whether he had silver or copper hair, blue eyes or gold eyes, human or demon; it didn't matter because everyone was the same in the end.
"Sesshoumaru..."
"Hmm?"
She felt him lifting her; simply cradling her to his chest as he walked towards her bedroom. Exhaustion swept through her as she noticed how tired she was. He laid her in her bed, fully aware that she was still in her day clothes.
"Thank you..." She didn't say I love you. She always said Thank you. It might only have been a month, but Sesshoumaru understood her quite well.
As he pulled the covers over her and lay next to her on the bed, staying above the covers, he whispered in her ear, "Thank you, too." He would wait there, watching her fall asleep, until it was time for him to head to work.
A smile spread across his face as he noticed the serene look on her face and he brushed an awkward curl out of her face that had escaped the bobby pins that held her hair in a firm bun almost all of the time.
Somehow, though he disliked it, the image of a girl named Kagome Higurashi poked into his mind. Just like the awkward coppery curl that had escaped its confines, Kagome Higurashi had a way of making sure he never forgot her, even if she apparently did nothing to encourage this behavior.
Sesshoumaru was gone when Sammy woke up, but she was not surprised. She was also not surprised that she was in her bed even if she didn't remember how she got there. If she fell asleep anywhere but in her bed and Sesshoumaru was with her, she always ended up in her bed, covered up but not in her pajamas – still in the previous day's outfit.
She went out into the kitchen to find Tea making a bowl of cereal in a bowl that was large enough to hold half a box of the Grim's Gram Cereal and over flowing with milk. "Oh, Tea. Why didn't you wake me?"
"You were asleep!" Tea said, as though it should have been obvious. She was as of yet unaware that the milk that was dripping to the floor was soaking Mr. Bear. He would have to be washed, and she would have a fit about it too.
A knock at the door made Sammy veer off course. She found a letter taped to the outside of the door and guessed it was a bill for the apartment. She found it wasn't when she opened the envelope. The penmanship was neat and curly, which meant that Mrs. Olivia Obit probably was the one to write it, but the fact was disregarded.
Dear Sammy-
You have been late on the last four of your monthly payments. I understand you were working hard in two jobs, but I heard you quit your job yesterday at Sunset's Family Restaurant. This is not an eviction notice; it is in fact quite the opposite.
The apartment you currently reside in is a two bedroom apartment, with a loft that could be a third room if needed. I am going to be coming through the apartment at 12:30 PM with a potential renter. Please clean the apartment up before then if necessary. You may choose to be in the apartment or not at the appointed time.
Thanks-
Management
Rachis Obit
Sammy sighed. She'd have to move everything of Tea's to the loft, no doubt, but she didn't want to. Perhaps she might be able to request that the person who would rent the apartment would take the loft? Oh, but what if they wanted a closed door? Or what if there were two? Tea might even have to move into Sammy's room.
The morning was spent wisely, for Sammy anyway. She cleaned up the spilled milk, then grabbed Mr. Bear and the dirty laundry basket and went down the hall to the laundry room that she shared with the other apartments on the floor and put the load of laundry in, making sure Tea did not see her put Mr. Bear in the laundry, and then flipped the Open—In Use sign on the laundry room door to In Use.
After that, she let Tea watch the morning cartoons while she swept and mopped the kitchen floor to make sure the milk was cleaned up.
After mopping, she vacuumed the carpeted floors, which included the living room and two bedrooms. She cleaned out the toilet and scrubbed the sink out, washing off the mirror even though it was perfectly fine, and then went to do dishes.
Relic would be coming at noon to pick up Tea, and since she quit her job at the Sunset's Family Restaurant, she didn't have to work until midnight yet. She had her first whole day free considering her job at Sara's Café gave her Monday nights off; thus why Sesshoumaru as able to just let her sleep.
Sammy was sure that if she asked Sesshoumaru, he would help her keep the apartment to herself, but she just couldn't bring herself to doing that. She knew what financial problems did to a relationship. She was just glad that he didn't ask more of her than she could do.
True to his word, Relic showed up at noon and picked up Tea. Twenty minutes after Relic left, Mr. Obit knocked on the door to the apartment.
She went and answered it, knowing that even if Mr. Obit's penmanship wasn't all that great, he was polite enough to knock to see if she'd decided to stay. "Good afternoon, Mr. Obit!" Sammy said brightly.
Whoever he was showing the apartment to was not within her line of vision, as walls do tend to be a barrier to human eyes, but still she stepped aside and allowed Mr. Obit to pass.
"Ah, Sammy, how are you?" Mr. Obit said waving the possible renter inside and following her in. "Oh that's good! Wonderful!" He had, as usual, not given her a chance to answer. He was a jumpy little man, slightly bow legged and flat footed.
He walked much like a duck, waddling here and there. He was bald, so it was easy to see the sweat on his head from shoveling snow off the sidewalks. Sammy's apartment was on the fifth floor, no elevator even for servicing, so he was quite probably also slightly exhausted from the walk up.
"Sammy, this is Kagome Higerush, the possible renter I told you about. Kagome, Miss Higerush, this is Sammy."
Kagome smiled at Sammy, recognizing her as the woman she'd helped from the restaurant. Sammy, on the other hand, was nervous because Kagome was the girl who had given her a check for five hundred dollars just so she'd quit her job, and if she couldn't get a job to replace it within two days had offered to pay her a salary and make her a full time worker in her business, whatever business that was.
"Sammy, do you have a last name?" Kagome asked, holding her hand out to shake Sammy's.
Sammy reached out and took the hand, knowing her hand would feel cold and clammy because of nerves. "Yes, but no one ever pronounces it right, so..." she trailed off and Kagome laughed and said, "It's the same with me. It's Higurashi, not Higerush."
Sammy relaxed a bit, noticing that Kagome was employing the same technique that Sesshoumaru did, not lowering to a level underneath her intelligence, but raising Sammy up to be level with her instead.
Sammy still had no idea how they could make someone feel so comfortable around them, but who knows? Maybe it was the strange moonlight-like eyes Kagome had, and the golden eyes of Sesshoumaru. Kagome's eyes were certainly weird; it looked like the stars actually lived inside the dark blue irises.
"My last name is Sahirah-Meneferphineas."
Again, Kagome laughed. "Well, you certainly have me beat I suppose, Miss Sahirah-Meneferphineas." She had pronounced her name right; had taken the time to think about the syllables and press them together in the right order. The name was a true tongue twister. "What origin is your name, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Egyptian. My mother was American; that's where I get my looks from, I suppose." It was so easy to talk with Kagome, once Kagome had brought her up to a level with her. Otherwise, Sammy knew she would have been a bumbling idiot at that very moment.
"Samantha Lapis Sahirah-Meneferphineas is my full name. My father's side of the family, when they got married, would combine names, so I have three generations of names to deal with. I suppose I can't complain though, because at least my father did not combine names with my mother. If he had, I would have been named something like, Samantha Lapis Sahirah-MeneferphineasAvariella-carrieann." She stuck her tongue out to show her distaste.
"I can only be grateful that it is not my name." Kagome glanced around the apartment, her eyes wandering to the stairs that led to the loft, following them up. "Is anything up there?"
"Oh good!" said Mr. Obit, glad to be back on track. He was tired of standing around listening to talk about names, but he was far too polite to say anything. "The apartment is a total of seven hundred dollars a month, but shared between the two of you it'd only be three-fifty a month each."
"Oh, no. I have a terrible fear of heights, so I've never gone up there." Sammy was hopeful. She was shamed to say she was.
"I see." Kagome climbed the circular stair and stood at the top of them, looking around. She saw a wide empty space and a closet on both ends of it. There were two sun roof windows, considering they were on the top floor if you didn't include the roof, and electronic shutters to cover the sun roof windows. The space was large enough that she would be able to have a desk, a bed, and if she was lucky she could fit a book shelf up there too.
She went back down to the floor level where Mr. Obit was rambling off details about the apartment and said, "I'll take the loft for half the rent."
Mr. Obit was taken aback. He hadn't expected an answer so soon, but at least now he would be able to get back in time to eat a late lunch. His stomach growled to echo his hungry thoughts and he imagined potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and carrots, all swimming in gravy.
"Oh, well, welcome here, Miss Higerush!" He said quickly. "Rent is due the First of every month." He shook Kagome's hand with his stubby little pug fingers and ducked a little bow to the two girls, then left them to their own devices, closing the door behind him.
"I've got a few calls to make." Kagome said, taking out her cell phone from one of her pant's baggy pockets.
"Oh, right." Sammy nodded. She wanted to call Sesshoumaru and tell him, but knew he would be sleeping so had to refrain herself. He would probably stop by that evening, as he had been doing lately, but still she was feeling light headed, like she had to talk to someone before she exploded.
For some reason, she felt like a great deal had just occurred, and that now something was going to change in her life. Whether it was for the better or worse, she had yet to conclude.
"I got it!" Souta said, racing Kohaku for the phone hanging on the wall in Souta's room near the door.
"No you don't!" Kohaku said, yanking on the back of Souta's shirt to drag him back. When Kohaku tripped over a notebook lying haphazardly on the floor, he ended up dragging Souta down with him.
Sango got up from the couch in Souta's room while Yuri giggled silently and was sure that as she walked to the phone, she stepped on the tumble of limbs that was her brother and soon-to-be brother.
She picked up the phone and said into the receiver, "You've reached Sunset Shrine Psychiatry"—Souta got up and glared at Sango; Kohaku's stare could have killed a fly dead in its tracks—"Sango Ichiro speaking, how may I service you?"
"Let me guess; a fight over the phone between a certain two eager to speak to me boys?" Kagome's voice was an annoyed drawl, considering it had been five rings before anyone picked up. "No, wait, don't answer that one. Kohaku is currently giving Souta a black eye and Souta is stomping on Kohaku's feet; am I correct?"
It was true, Sango noticed. "How do you do that?" Sango asked.
"I'm psychic. It runs in my blood."
"Liar." Sango turned away from watching Souta and Kohaku smash the heck out of each other and instead decided to watch Yuri tap her finger steadily on her knee. "So who do you want to talk to?"
"No one. Just tell mama that I won't be there for supper, will you? I have a bit of stuff to do; she'll understand me."
"Sure, no problem. That it?" Sango began picking at her nails.
"That's all."
"Sure, Kagome. Oh, and don't forget you have to get measured for the dress. Rin guessed the measurements and made room for error, but she still would like you to come by, just in case. I'll talk to you later then."
"Bye."
"Idiots." Sango muttered hanging up and walking over to Souta and Kohaku, separating them. "She didn't even want to talk to you two! Cut it out!" Yuri wrote on her marker board and held it up for Sango to read.
No leave it, Sango. They're amusing!
Kagome blinked at the mediocre apartment and felt a surge of pride burst inside her. She felt glad that she was doing this, just like when she created her little business that turned into a slightly larger than expected business. She needed furniture to fill it now, and she could easily get some comfortable furniture at a decent price.
"Miss Sahirah-Meneferphineas--" she started, but was cut off when Sammy said, "Please, just call me Sammy. I know already that my name is awkwardly long."
She started over again, nodding her ascent. "Alright. Sammy, are you free for a few hours?"
"Well, yeah. I have the whole day to myself, actually... was there something you needed?" Sammy was currently putting a pot of water on the stove, which she began to heat up. She bustled about the kitchen with ease, knowing simply what had to be done.
"I have to go furniture shopping before the evening is done if I'm going to have a bed, yet I have no sense of taste for what goes well together." She blushed.
To say Kagome wished she had taken some sort of design class in college would be a lie, because she had taken a design class and managed to fail it resplendently. Kagura still laughed at her for it. Kagura was the Queen of designing rooms so they matched and she hadn't needed a course on it. It was a natural born talent.
Kagome's sense of "Furniture fashion" was about a negative eight out of a one to ten scale.
Sammy smiled brightly, turning so suddenly to face Kagome that she almost spun a three sixty. "Oh, I love designing rooms! Of course, of course I'll go with you!" She blushed then and said, "I mean, if that's what you're asking..."
"Yes, it is." Kagome assured her.