Ch. 26 – Duel

A servant walks into Khan's room. She starts humming to herself as she begins cleaning. "This is the worst room! I swear it is!" She talks to herself. "Honestly, the children's room is cleaner then this!" She leaves the room for a minute and comes back with a small cart. She gingerly picks up a piece of clothing off the floor. "One day I'll find something living in here! Most likely a rat, because everything else wouldn't last one night in here!" She tosses the blankets on the bed onto the already full cart. She remakes the bed with new blankets, picks other stuff up off the floor and puts them away. Oliver watches her from underneath the bed as she attempts to scrub the floor. Her gray kimono sleeves are tied back so they're not in the way and her long light brown and slightly blond hair is pulled back into a bun with a pair of chopsticks going through it.

-She's beautiful…- Oliver thinks to himself. –Wait! What if she sees me!? That might not go over well. 'Lady Kagome! I found a male demon under Khan's bed! He was staring at me!' I can see Khan just laughing his ass off in the background! I'd die of humiliation! I can't let her find me!- He turns into a jaguar and moves away from the edges of Khan's bed, blending into the darkness.

Elsewhere in the castle

"I'm lost again! Damn it!" A male, black jaguar demon enters another room. "Well this is the first library I've found. But still no sign of my brother." He notices a black female wolf demon sitting in a chair reading. –Hmm…- He sneaks up behind the chair and gets ready to jump out.

"Don't even think of trying to scare me." He's pinned to the floor with a dagger.

At first he's shocked and scared, but then his expression changes as he turns his attention from the woman's face to the dagger she is holding. "That's such a cool dagger! Can I see it? What kind of design is that? Did you make it? Are you going to kill me with it?"

"Who are you?" She asks coldly.

"I'm Tayasui Touketsu, Lady of the West. What is your name?"

"Kagome." She answers as she lets him get up off the floor.

"Well, Lady Kagome…" He bows. "I have a serious question for you."

"What?"

"Have you seen my brother?" He sounds a bit hyper.

"Who's your brother?"

"Oliver, ice master and top healer of the Southern Lands!"

"Yes."

"I don't know why they let him be the ice master! I wanted to be the ice mater! Watch, I'll conjure up a giant piece of ice!" Nothing happens. "Where's my ice!? Damn it! Now just isn't the right setting, that's all." He looks over at Kagome. "Oops." She's frozen in a solid block of ice. "Oh crud. I thought I had it that time too! I've gotta find Oliver." He runs out of the room, yelling down the hall. "OLIVER!"

Outside

"So do you accept my proposal?" Kurai stares at Khan who is practically mummified with rope to a tree.

"You're an evil fox-girl. I refuse to comply."

"Suit yourself. You're not coming off that tree until you say yes."

(10 minutes later)

"How about now?" Kurai asks innocently.

"Never!" Khan remarks.

"Oh well, your repeated 'no's don't really matter. I've got all day to spend with you." She smiles.

In Khan's room

The servant starts to pull things out from under the bed. Oliver tries to stay out of her way. All of a sudden he's yanked out from under the bed, the shock changing him back to human form. They meet each other's eyes and seem to have a staring contest. She blinks and bows slightly. "Master Oliver! I'm sorry I didn't know you had taken up residence under Khan's bed."

"I'm not living under there!" He defends.

"Then were you hiding from something?"

"…I guess you could say that."

"Why didn't you tell me you were in here? I would've waited to clean."

-I was too busy watching you.- "I didn't want to disturb you. Can I have my tail back please?" –Unless you want to keep it, by all means don't let go.-

"Oh!" She releases her grip on his tail. "I'm sorry!"

"That's ok." –It's fine with me. You can have my tail anytime.-

"I didn't mean to hurt."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it." –Ow. My poor abused tail. On the other hand, if you're the one who wants to abuse my tail then do so whenever you wish.- "What is your name? If I may ask."

"Hoshi, Master Oliver. I am the Chief of Staff for the servants."

"Would you –"

"OLIVER!" Someone shouts outside the room. Touketsu pokes his head through the doorway and spots Oliver. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

-Note to self: kill my brother.- "What do you want Tayasui?"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Whatever."

"Why didn't you return home? You've been gone for over a month! Why are you still here!?"

"Because I stayed."

"Why!?"

"Because I can."

"Why aren't you home!?"

"Because I didn't feel like leaving."

"Ok."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Well… uh… I…"

"What did you mess up this time?"

"I tried to conjure up a giant block of ice and uh…"

"And? What happened? You didn't cause a massive flood again did you?"

"No! That was a long time ago!"

"That only happened last year."

"It's still considered a long time ago!"

Oliver sighs. "What the hell did you do?"

"I might of…" He pauses for a second. "IfrozeLadyKagomeinahugeblockofice!"

"What?"

"Ya, so… um… can you help? Please?"

"Dude I barely even heard what you said."

"I accidentally… froze one of your friends."

"Which one?" Oliver looks annoyed.

"Um…"

"Tell me which one of my friends you froze before I kill you Tayasui!"

"It was the wolf girl!"

"Which one!?!" Oliver starts to lose his patience.

"Um… the black one?"

"YOU FROZE LADY KAGOME!"

"It was an accident!" Touketsu tries to defend himself.

"Clearly that was a stupid mistake."

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize to me." –Yet.­- "Apologize to Lady Kagome when she regains consciousness."

"She won't still be awake after she's de-iced?"

"No. She's pyro. We'll be lucky if she's conscious by tomorrow."

Oliver heads to the door and then turns back. "I'll see you some other time Hoshi?"

"Ok."

Oliver runs down the hallway with speed, Touketsu right behind him. "Tayasui! Look what you did!" He points to the giant block of ice in the middle of the room, Kagome slightly visible inside.

"I know what I did! Just un-freeze her so I don't get in trouble."

"Go get Lord Sesshomaru while I try to get rid of all this damn ice."

'Sure!" Touketsu is down the hall in a matter of minutes.

-Lady Kagome! Can you hear me?!- Oliver tries to reach her telepathically. –Well that's just great. She's already unconscious from being in there too long. And my brother just HAD to ruin my moment with Hoshi! And that might've been my only chance! Grr…-

­Touketsu comes running back.

"What now?"

"I don't know where Lord Sesshomaru is."

"Go left down the hallway, up the stairs and take a right. It'll be the 3rd door on the left."

"What room is that?"

"Lord Sesshomaru's study."

"Ok!" Touketsu runs off again and Oliver goes back to trying to un-freeze Kagome.

Outside

(An hour later)

"Fine! But only because it'll scare Sesshomaru and Kagome and because I think it would be funny to see their faces! Now untie me from this tree!"

"I didn't hear a yes." She smiles.

"Oh for the love of the above! Untie me from this damn tree right now!"

"No, I don't think I will. Not yet."

"Kurai!"

"Yes? Do you have a different answer for me?"

"… I said fine."

"A 'fine' doesn't cut it. I want a yes. Alright?"

He mutters a yes under his breath.

"I can't hear you!"

"I said yes damn it!"

"YAY!" She hugs him.

(1/2 an hour later)

Khan is sitting against a tree with Kurai beside him, playing with a dagger. "So… I guess I'm your… boyfriend now."

"Guess so."

"So what should we do now?"

"How about we just hang out here for a bit longer?"

"Sounds good to me."

Back in the library

Sesshomaru walks in; he looks like he's been beaten or something. "What's so funny Oliver?"

"I'm sorry Lord Sesshomaru." Oliver laughs. "But you look like you were beaten with a stick, thrown into a tornado or zapped."

"It was worse before. I've actually tried to fix the image I appear to be. But when she's mad there's no stopping her."

"What do you mean?"

"Kagome completely dominates everything when she's mad."

"What happened, if I may ask?"

"Well… Khan happened."

"Huh?"

"He told her that I read her journal and she got quite upset."

"Oh."

"No what did you want me here for? I wasn't given any details. Whoever you sent to get me ran off. I'm surprised he's not here yet."

"That would be my brother, unfortunately. And I guarantee he's lost somewhere, again."

"Ok. What did you want Oliver?"

"Well, Tayasui accidentally froze Lady Kagome and I need you to bring her to your room. Hopefully she'll be awake by tomorrow." He gestures to a very blue-colored Kagome lying on a couch. "Her blue coloring should disappear by tomorrow."

Sesshomaru walks over to Kagome and gently picks her up. "I will notify you if she is still like this tomorrow." Sesshy growls slightly.

"If she is I'll do my best to help and you can punish my twin brother. How about that?"

"Very well." Sesshomaru leaves the room, taking Kagome with him.

"I think I'll go find Khan." Oliver goes outside and starts walking around.

(15 minutes later)

"There you are." Oliver finds Khan. Him and Kurai are still sitting against a tree. "Aww… they've fallen asleep. How cute." Oliver saves a mental image of this. He quietly wakes Khan up.

Khan looks up at him, unaware of the situation. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

Oliver points to Kurai and then falls over laughing.

"You didn't…" Khan growls, glaring at Oliver.

He just continues laughing.

"You did! You bastard!" Khan tries to attack Oliver but Kurai is sleeping on him. "Damn you!"

"I'd tell Kagome –"

"You wouldn't!"

"If she was conscious." Oliver finishes.

"What?"

"My brother's here."

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"He felt left out of all the fun here since I left him home." Oliver laughs.

"Oliver!" Khan roars and then remembers the sleeping Kurai, so he changes his tone to a firm whisper. "You're lucky I don't kill you."

"Which is why the image of you two is so nice." He smirks.

"Grr…" Khan glares at him.

"Why don't you sing your girl a song? Well all know you love howling."

"I don't sing."

"But we hear you all the time." Oliver teases.

"Damn you." Khan growls.

"Maybe I should leave you two along for some personal time."

"That's not how it is!"

"Maybe, but that's the way it looks."

"Perv."

"Like you wouldn't get the same idea." Oliver telepathically sends Khan the image of the two sleeping.

"I challenge you to a duel!"

"What?"

"If I had a gauntlet I'd smack you with it!"

"Not to the death."

"Chicken."

"No. Lady Kagome would be very upset if I killed you."

"Pft. Fine then, we'll duel tomorrow afternoon."

"In 24 hours. Alright."

"If you don't show up on time you forfeit."

"Alright. No water powers."

"Fine. No ice powers then."

"Fine. Will this be a hand-to-hand fight or are weapons allowed?"

"You get one weapon of you choice."

"Ok." He looks at Kurai. "You might want to bring her to her room. I don't think she's going to wake up and walk there herself."

"You shut up. Don't you have a betrothed to attend to?"

"No. She left a while ago."

"So what made you leave the 'safety' of my room?"

"Hoshi was cleaning."

"So she found you and made you leave."

"Well… no."

"Did you scare her?"

"No."
"Then what happened?"

"I tried to hide from her –"

"Did she attack you with the duster?" Khan inquires enthusiastically.

"No!"

"Then what?"

"Well if you'd let me finish you impatient wolf you'd find out!"

"Well I have a short attention span and you're not telling the story fast enough! You're being really boring!"

"How about I wake Kurai up then?"

"I'll behave, I swear."

"Good. I shifted to demon form and hid but somehow Hoshi was able to grab hold of my tail and she yanked me out from under your bed."

Khan starts laughing.

"It's not that funny. It hurt."

"What did she think?"

"She… thought I was… living under your bed."

This just makes Khan laugh even more.

"We'll see how funny it is now." Oliver tweaks Kurai's ear and she stirs a little bit.

Khan holds onto her protectively. "Back off she's mine." He growls, glaring angrily at Oliver.

"Have a nice night." Oliver laughs, waving and running off.

"You just wait! I'll get you tomorrow!" Khan carefully gets up and picks Kurai up. He brings her inside, to her room and then goes to bed.

(The next day)

Kagome stirs in the late morning. She opens her eyes to find herself in her room. She finds more blankets on the bed then usual, yet she feels like she's freezing. She gets up and looks in a mirror to find her skin a light blue. She surrounds herself with blue flames for several minutes before letting them evaporate in the air and looking in the mirror again. "Well the blueness is gone and I've stopped shivering. But I'm still cold… I think I'll go find Sesshy." She leaves the room and finds Sesshomaru in his study. "Whatcha doin' Sesshy?"

"Reading some papers." He puts down the parchments in his hands and turns towards her. "I'm glad to see that you're awake, and not blue anymore."

"I was when I woke up, but I fixed that. How long was I out for?"

"Only a day."

"24 hours!"

"Oh calm down. Be happy your unconsciousness didn't last longer."

"Fine." She walks over to him. "So what'd I miss?"

"You missed me." He smirks as he pulls her to his chair, into his lap and kisses her.

"Besides you!" She laughs.

"You can't say you didn't miss me." He growls affectionately.

"I didn't say that! You trouble maker!" Kagome accuses. "What else did I miss, Sesshomaru?"

"Khan challenged Oliver to a duel."

"What!?"

"Their match is this afternoon." He pauses for a brief second. "And they both decided on you as the ref."

"Grand." She rolls her eyes. "What are the rules?"
(That afternoon)

Kagome sits with Kurai and Ayame on the fence on Khan's side of the ring while Sesshomaru, Touketsu and Sen sit on Oliver's side of the ring. Rin and Lindsay-chan sit on the ground, outside the fence; near the middle of the ring admiring a few metal fans Kurai had given them.

Khan points a finger at Sesshomaru and Sen. "You traitors!"

"You might get your ass kicked this time." Sesshomaru states hopefully.

"It's only fair to see you lose at least once." Sen replies.

"You –"

"Silence!" Kagome yells. "The rules are as follows. No powers, you may have once weapon of your choice. Select it now."

"I choose my twin blades so that I may defeat you." Oliver states, brandishing his desired weapon.

"I choose my whip… because I can." Khan unhooks his whip from his belt.

"Ready…" Kagome waits a few seconds. "…Begin!"