XXIV
Midnight Meetings
Under the thin light of the waning moon, far in the north under the golden ghost-glow of a foggy sky, black shapes like winged shadows were moving. They blotted out the blue-burning stars, gathering in ones and twos and threes; by the midnight rise of the thickest darkness, there were a thousand eyes glittering from the bare branches and the hard ground, each a jeweled point – topaz, ruby, sapphire, ice.
In the night-quiet there were only whispers, soft questions, but an hour passed, and then two, and finally the hushed talk gave way to open agitation, the loud call of a question that encompassed them all.
"Who was it that summoned us, the lords of the Dragon dens? Who was it that called?"
No one answered; there was silence except for the sound of breathing.
"Who – who summons us?"
"The House of Fire – "
"Yes, that was the call, the old call, the old summons. Only from the House of Fire – "
'The House of Fire is dead! We should never have come!"
"Who? Who was it? One of us, or another?"
Finally, when the noise and the recrimination had reached heights of violence, a voice moved around them and through them, not loud but perfectly clear, captivating in its purity and intensity.
"I called you! I, and I will seek among you for the strongest – for the one who will be Dragonlord!"
Kasuka came with that voice, born on wind and power, surrounded by a tall and silent bodyguard, Dragons all, each one with an eerie blue shimmer of glacial eyes. She expected surprise or astonishment from those who listened, but there was only silence, even heavier than her presence, and one voice that spoke in the tones of mocking laughter.
"A Dragonlord? It has been more than two thousand years since the last Dragonlord was put under the ground. The House of Fire is dead - the end of its Blood withers in that Tiger, Kinawai, and he is not even one of us! Who are you, to –"
Wrath blazed at them, crackled, beating like blue-violet lightning.
"You have forgotten? You no longer know my name?"
As one, the Dragon lords stepped back from the flickering of her power.
"I am Kasuka, and I am the last of the House of Fire! I am the last, not the Tiger who is my mate! My father fell, the last Dragonlord, and when he died all of you fell with him!"
She used her anger like a whip, and struck hard.
"And you forget my name; you say dead! Do you forget my father, and the pride of your own place, the honor of it, as well? Do you?"
Her questions beat on them like the heat of a terrible fire.
"You, who are kin to the Dragonlords, the mightiest among us - now, you sit in Council – now, you debate like humans! Where is your Dragon heart?"
Cautious, unsure, they murmured among themselves and fell back from the rush of her power. It was dangerous – she was dangerous, and by her danger she intimidated them.
"We do not forget, but those days are faded and gone. We are not strong enough to bring the Houses of the Blood under our will. We remember the Godslayer, the Inu no Taisho – and his son..."
Kasuka did not see the one who spoke, but there were nods all through the watching circle, whispers of agreement. Without a word, she held up the mirror from beneath her cloak, and the bodyguard that had come with her stepped away so the assembled Dragons could all see. There was a collective inhalation, almost a gasp. A whisper moved among them, a susurration of breath:
"The Mirror…the Mirror!"
And Kasuka smiled; their reaction was more than she had hoped.
"Now, do you understand? There is no lessening of our strength, nor our will – not for those who remember, those who know where to look. I have been in a place of power, and been rewarded for it. I ask for nothing that I do not give back a hundred-fold."
Gradually, the murmurs faded into silence. Kasuka stood alone in the center of the group, felt a hundred eyes perusing her, thinking...thinking.
Finally, one Dragon leapt from his place amidst the trees and stood still and calm in front of her, watching warily. Respectfully, he bowed – and then took one step back.
"Lady, you have not yet asked for anything - and I have been waiting to hear what it would be you might want from us. Once before you came to me and mine, in the days when you were Storm Flower. You came to us, asking for aid – we paid in Blood, and kept your secrets from the Inu, but we learned his strength. Can that Mirror stand against the son of the Inu no Taisho? Can it stand against Sesshomaru?"
Kasuka's eyes became narrow, darker, and she allowed half of her smile to sink away from her face.
"Your name, Dragon – what is your name?"
"Tatsuya is my name, Lady. I am lord of the Silent House – what is left of it. It was my father who did your work when last you came among us seeking help, and for a century he lay sealed by the power of his defeated foe, until the half-blood son of that foe killed him. Long before that, in the first days after my father was sealed, Sesshomaru, the elder son, slew my brothers and hearth-brothers, the sons of my father and his mate."
Kasuka's eyes narrowed on the face of this Tatsuya. She knew him now – the last son of Ryuukotsusei still living, a powerful youkai in his own right.
'That is why I ask you, lady - what is it you want of us? Can the Mirror stand against the Inu?"
Kasuka drew in a deep, silent breath.
"Have I not already said what it is I desire, why it is I have come? I want the one who will be Dragonlord and your aid to restore what should be, that one to his place. As for the Mirror…tell me, Tatsuya, how many guards have I?"
His eyes flickered, counting.
"Eleven, lady."
Swift as thought, her arm shot out, deep into the flesh of one of her silent bodyguards. Still he did not make a sound. When her hand returned from his chest, it held a motionless heart, a heart that did not beat, and the Dragon did not crumple, or fall, or scream. He stood for a moment longer...and then disappeared, like a mist of red dust, heart and all. Not even a stain was left on her hand.
There was a collective gasp from the surrounding Dragons, but Kasuka continued her calm questions.
"Now how many, Tatsuya?"
"T-Ten, Lady – but why? What does that prove?"
Carefully, lovingly, Kasuka teased a single drop of blood from her finger, and let it fall onto the flat surface of the mirror in her other hand. The silver surface rippled, and was replaced by the rich red color of her blood. As though he had never been gone, her Guard returned, even to the place he had been standing; there was an outcry from the watchers and Tatsuya started backward violently.
"What – What?"
Kasuka's smile grew wider, and she tucked away the mirror.
"This is the power I have woken, the power of the Mirror. They die and leave not a trace behind; they live as though awakening from a long sleep. I called them from the Plains of Hell – warriors, Warleaders, the hope of ancient days. Do you see now?"
Her lips curled in a calculating smile.
"Who could fight against such an army – an army that will not stay dead?"
Reverently, his eyes half on her and half on the warrior-bodyguard that surrounded her, Tatsuya knelt and bowed his head.
"Kasuka-sama, I will believe in you – in this power, that not even the Inu no Taisho himself could fight! For my father and brothers, for vengeance – you have my sword, Lady, but I am not worthy to be Dragonlord."
He stood, and looked across the gathering.
"None of us is worthy – only you, lady, have the power and the right of Blood. If you –"
But Kasuka stopped his words with a violent motion.
"No! I am female, and it is not the Way. I will hold this place; if it is the will of you all, I will be Warleader, but I will not rule over you. That is not what I want; I want…only vengeance."
The watchers had returned to silence.
"For now, I need only a few of you. You, Tatsuya – do you desire real vengeance against the slayer of your father, the slayer of your brothers?"
This time when he spoke, Tatsuya's voice was dark with blood. Lightning simmered in his gaze, touched the youkai red with storm yellow.
"Yes."
Kasuka smiled.
Mine.
"Then you shall lead these Guards of mine; you shall be my first lieutenant and bring back a trophy for me."
"Yes, Kasuka-sama. What is it you desire?"
Her smile became flat, almost ironic.
"Bring me the hanyou's head; I desire the death of Inuyasha! After all, it is vengeance I have offered you..."
Tatsuya's eyes were hungry for the death that had been promised to him; Kasuka laughed, delighted with the expression, and the sound poured over them like cold oil, clotted and dark.
"Now, listen to me carefully – this is what you must do, but not before I tell you – not before it is time."
When the morning had brightened itself over the clearing, it was empty. For the sake of ancient days, messengers were sent from the dens of many Dragons who remained unsure, remembering too well the power of their allotted enemy - north and west they ran, to the expanse of glittering forest that was the Dreaming Wood. They went into the forest searching for Eldest, last of the Dragon-miko, most ancient Mother in the line of the House of Fire.
They found nothing but dreams, and could not know if they were her power, or some property of the ancient wood and its long thoughts. Those that went in did not come out; the shadows under the trees swallowed them in silence.
The growing whispers among the Dragon dens spared no more thought or attention for her after that; if she chose to live away from them, if she would not aid them, they would not bother her. Their heads were still ringing with the chime that had called them; their eyes were still blinded by the brightness of the Mirror; their hearts had been awakened to a thirst for vengeance full of two thousand years of longing. They wanted Kasuka's promise, and the memory of greatness.
They could not have imagined that Eldest would leave her sanctuary – that even as they gathered in darkness, she walked in the direction of the one they had chosen as an enemy.
Well-pleased with what she had accomplished, Kasuka returned to the fortress of her mate. It was required of her that she be at Kinawai's side when the Inu presented his new mate. Fifty, even twenty years earlier she might have worried, wondering if this female would give him pups, add more lives to the line of this House she wanted to destroy – but now it was too late, too late for them both.
It was a good beginning; it shows promise. Tatsuya has all the rage he needs to accomplish his task.
Carefully examining the rich cloth, Kasuka lay out the robes that were her potential choices for the Inu's gathering. Even as she ran her fingers ran through the silk her thoughts stayed with the Mirror, the Mirror and her kin.
But there is one more piece I would like to have in play...before the game begins.
Her features became dark; her smile was vicious, gleaming with the premonition of victory. She eyed the sky through the window, and made her decision quickly, leaving the clothes behind.
As darkness was falling over the southern forest, Kouga came loping back through the trees with the skinned and gutted carcass of a deer slung over his shoulder, wrapped in its own hide . It had been ages since he'd had a chance to hunt alone, to have some time to himself to think, and his thoughts were direct and to the point. It had been nearly a year since Naraku's death, nearly a year since he had last had word from Kagome, or the Inu-baka, or their friends. He was starting to think that it was time he went back for her; wasn't her quest over now - wasn't she a free woman?
He was encouraged, too, by the rumors that were circulating about the Inu's new mate; the invitation he had received to her presentation hadn't included any interesting details, but if it were true...
If he has taken a human! I wouldn't believe it, except he's had that girl for so long -
And another thought struck him as he dropped the deer in the circle of light exuding from the mouth of his den; a smirk tugged up the corners of his mouth.
And just imagine, if I showed up with Kagome at my side! She is human, yes, but she is miko, the guardian of the shikon no tama!
His pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a sudden and deafening pair of shouts.
"Kouga-samaaaa! Kouga-sama!"
Ginta and Hakkaku ran up to him as one flailing creature of four arms and four legs.
"I thought two heads were supposed to be better than one..."
"Kouga-sama!"
"Kouga-sama - "
Thud!
Thump!
"Quiet, you pair of fools!"
Kouga's fist remained threateningly close to Hakkaku's forehead; he quivered and tried to cover his head with his hands. Ginta ventured to roll over a little so he could pull his arm out from under him and hold up the piece of paper that was clenched in his hand. Scowling, Kouga leaned forward and plucked it from between Ginta's fingers, and then turned away. There was only a single line printed on the page, the black ink stark against the white paper; the characters had been set down by an unfamiliar hand.
"Await a visitor in darkness..."
Kouga turned swiftly, suddenly staring towards the trees with a suspicious expression. He held the sheet of thin paper in his hands, inscribed with that single line, a mysterious promise that filled him with sinister expectations. Ginta stood by his left side, waiting in the half-crouching position he had assumed when he handed over the message; Hakkaku stayed coweringly still.
Kouga's eyes dilated in the flickering starlight, became thin circles of reflective red around a wide, dark pupil.
First the Inu, with his mate and his presentation - and now, this!
"A visitor in darkness?"
Kouga growled as he repeated himself, tightened his fist so that the paper crinkled and tore, and turned so that his piercing glare fell on Ginta instead of the empty forest. He had only been gone for six hours, hunting - just six! Was that all it took for chaos to make its way in, for inexplicable occurrences to start bringing new trouble?
We are barely starting to recover – the new females, the new pups – and we have to protect them -
"When did this come? Who was the one who brought it - where did he go?"
"I-I- don't know! It came in the middle of the afternoon - the message isn't signed, and the one who brought it left before he could be questioned!"
Suddenly stiff-backed, Kouga whipped around and stared out into the night, the trees that surrounded them with whispering leaves and the nocturnal sounds of many beasts.
It was silent now.
"Go, Ginta, Hakkaku. Get inside. I think something is close, now…or someone."
The pair of wolves let out a relieved sigh as he turned. Both scrambled up quickly and left him standing alone.
In that same moment, a cold wind blew down from the north, a wind without scents in it. At first it seemed a cleaner wind, fresh and empty with the promise of the coming season, the promise of winter. For a moment, Kouga closed his eyes and felt the swift movement of that wind, and then the air around him became still.
In the stillness, there was heaviness, a black energy that pressed against all his senses. The edge of the forest that overlooked the mouth of the den seemed suddenly to lean over him, the dark leaves unmoving and perfectly outlined, sharp against the silence.
Kouga breathed deeply and tasted something more disturbing than the general ill-scent of the air that had been bothering him, but found himself unable to define it. The wind that had brought it was still empty, but...
Slowly, he turned, staring into the trees and their suspicious shadows and behind him, at the rising crest of the rock that cradled his den beneath it. It was stark and craggy against the stars, but as he turned there was finally a sound behind him, the rustle of a cloak moving over dry leaves.
In a blur, he turned back; at the edge of the fern-brush, someone in a long, hooded robe and cloak was standing. The face remained in shadow; the figure was slender and moved gracefully, but Kouga was instantly aware of one impossible difficulty, and found himself struck blank by it.
No scent! Just like the wind – what is going on, here?
He recovered quickly. His face became hard; his lips, thin, bloodless, parted to show the points of white and shining fangs.
"You are the visitor I was told to expect?"
The figure nodded once. Kouga took a few steps forward, and his right hand tensed, his claws glittering in the faint moonlight.
"Who you are, I cannot tell. You have no scent, and that's impossible...but if you were meaning to impress me..."
He shook his head, bared his fangs.
"All you've done is make obvious how little I should trust you. Why have you come here?"
He sensed, though he could not see, that this unknown visitor was smiling, and the voice that spoke was rich and female...not quite familiar.
"I am only a messenger, lord, and being such I come but with a message. Yet it is a message you would do well to listen to."
The sound of each world was pulling, persuasive. Kouga heard sensuous overtones, and the first hints of a hidden lure.
"Only a messenger? So then tell me your message, and who it belongs to. They must be someone of unusual talents."
Through the listening stillness, the hooded messenger approached him and he found himself unable to move, all his senses tingling.
"I am sent as one who speaks for the Dragonlord. Do you understand? As it was in the most ancient days it will be again, and by the oath of your House I am bid to call you. You must serve as once your ancestors did - Wolf, lord of the Golden House, Guardian of the Silver Gate."
The thin smile that had spread across Kouga's face had not been enough warning to stop the messenger from finishing her speech; now he broke into rough and scouring laughter and reached out one pointing finger to silence her.
"You speak for a Dragonlord? You summon me – to be Gatekeeper and Guardian, to serve another?"
The laughter died from beneath his words as quickly as it had come into being.
"Even if I were to see someone stupid enough to claim that title, I wouldn't obey them - I obey no one!"
He fixed her with a hard stare, and his pointing finger became a fist, fell to his side.
"I will not be servant to anyone; I am the Lord of the Golden House, a Lord of Council! The Dragonlord and all his get are dead, and even if there was one left, one lord with the arrogance to call himself by that name, I would never bow to the last scion of that defeated brood!"
Kouga paused, smirked, crossed his arms across his chest.
"And neither would anyone else."
There was silence when he stopped talking, and he thought that perhaps he had left his strange visitor too shocked to speak. But when words finally came to his ears, it was obvious that it was not shock, but anger moving her tongue – and so darkened was this messenger by her anger that she did not appear to notice the slyness of the new smile that was spreading across Kouga's face.
I am beginning to think – do I know you, messenger?
"Defeated? Do you forget that it was the Inu no Taisho who defied the rule of the Dragonlord, as he led his dogs howling through the night until everything was broken? That it was he, who shattered the hatching grounds and the shining eggs, who brought the last dragon down forever, who –"
Her voice was no longer as disguised by sultry tones, even though she still bore no scent - and Kouga was tempted to attach an identity to that voice...so tempted! He interrupted her and his voice was black was an old anger.
"Why should I care about that ancient history? It was not the Inu no Taisho who set the events in motion that I care about - the events that led to my father's death...and his! It was not he who cast suspicion on my father and the honor of his last Challenge!"
Kouga took two steps forward; his visitor took three steps back.
"It was Dragon-assassins, and human gold, and Ryuukotsusei of the Silent House who did that!"
That it was those humans that killed the Inu no Taisho even I could not deny...but the origin of their attack! And - Dragons! To interfere with Challenge, bring those suspicions on my father…
"What is it you thought you would accomplish here, messenger? Who sent you?"
And as he spoke, Kouga turned toward the south; the old breeze had returned, carrying that horrible taste, so familiar, so painful in its ragged depth. The messenger-female answered him calmly, with studied patience that was almost patronizing.
"Have you not been listening - did you not here when I said who sent me? But...as to the other...we seek your aid only for the death of the Inu lord, Sesshomaru. Surely that is something we share…that desire."
The sultry tones were back in her voice. Kouga had looked away as he turned, but now he looked back at this strange messenger and his eyes were hard as onyx; the light of the late autumn stars shattered in them.
"No, messenger, if that is truly what you are. Never again will the Golden House rise in answer to any call other than mine! My debts are my own, and I will pay them…when the time is right."
The female stepped forward, and her voice was almost a screech of anger and displeasure.
"You will regret that you made this choice, when the time comes. Perhaps there will be another opportunity for you to rethink this – but when I exact payment from you, I will take it in full!"
She laughed, a sound like acid, and turned to stalk away.
With a flash, Kouga darted forward; his claws cut through the air, reaching, and he felt his fingers slide through silk. The tips of his claws sent a few strands of hair spiraling towards the ground – instead of skin, his claws had parted only her hood. Despite this, he heard a hiss of fearful, indrawn breath, and saw an ebony-green shine of hair beneath the sliding folds of cloth before the messenger shot away from him and disappeared into the shadow of the wood.
Swiftly, Kouga strode forward, but already there was neither sight or sound of the messenger. It was easy for her to vanish; without a scent, she left no trace behind.
"K-Kouga-sama?"
Ginta stepped forward from the mouth of the den and its concealing darkness, and his eyes were wide, his expression concerned.
"Should I send someone after that one?"
Kouga shook his head and stepped back from the forest edge. Ginta held a skin of dark leather that smelled of wine, and the sound of his voice had dispelled the unnatural stillness of the trees.
"No. There would be no point – she had no scent, Ginta. No scent – how is that possible? But I wonder...her voice was familiar..."
"Oh...well...does that mean that you know her, Kouga-sama?"
Kouga blinked, and his face brightened for a moment and then fell, becoming more shadowed than it had begun.
"I – no. No, I do not know her, or at least...I don't want to think so..."
His voice trailed off as he walked past Ginta into the den, and Ginta's eyes followed him, worried.
"So what is it you're carrying, Ginta?"
Ginta almost jumped, startled. As if nothing had happened, Kouga was glancing back at him with all the old arrogance and superiority.
"Uh, the - the new wine that's ready, Kouga-sama. Tokiko's kin sent it, as congratulations for the birth of her pups."
Without comment, Kouga took the skin and drained a long swallow. His eyes dilated and then came back to color, and he smiled.
"A good season - better than the last few. They managed a real gold off this pressing."
He grinned suddenly, and passed the skin back to Ginta.
"Send some of that to the Inu's presentation – perhaps it will lighten his temper."
The grin softened somewhat, and his steps became slower, more even.
"But how is Tokiko, and my pups? Is she well?"
Ginta smiled.
"Yes, well. She wanted to see you, and...uh, so does her father..."
Kouga's pleased expression faded away.
"He still tries to convince me to mate her – now that she has cubs, it will be worse. He thinks she has the strongest claim."
"Tokiko is a devoted female, high-born - and she is strong, to survive a birth of three pups."
A hand fell on Ginta's shoulder, and the smile was back.
"Yes, she is all that, or I wouldn't have chosen her to have my pups. But – she is not the one I want for my mate. She – is not the one."
His eyes glowed red-gold and shining in the fire-lit gloom of the den's passage.
"So you...you really still want Kagome-nee-san, Kouga-sama?"
Kouga closed his eyes, remembering. He could still see Kagome's face in his mind's eye, as she had been the very last day he saw her.
"Yes…my Kagome. Before this business with the Inu is over, I will go find her. I have waited long enough."
"Ahh..."
Kouga turned at the sound; he surprised a strange expression on Ginta's face, a look of mingled pity and sorrow.
"What is that face for, Ginta?"
Suddenly the other Wolf's features were smooth again – Kouga wondered if he had imagined the previous moment.
"I-It was n-nothing, Kouga-sama! N-Nothing!"
Kouga held his eyes a moment longer, and then nodded and turned away.
"Go for now, Ginta."
His thoughts lingered on Kagome, on the last day he had been with her – on the words he had spoken and her smile, her smile and her brilliant tears, tears she had refused to explain to him. 'I will be your friend – your good friend.' He had said it – he would find her, and make it more than true.
Kouga made his way to his own chambers and lay back on his furs and smiled to himself, thinking of her.
At the entrance to the den, Ginta stood alone breathing the strangeness of the night, and felt only pity for his hopeful lord and his dreams. There was a rustling behind him, and he turned his head quickly and looked away again when he saw it was only Hakkaku.
For Kouga's sake, he was trying to awaken doubt in himself – thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, there was some other reason for Kagome's presence in Sesshomaru's fortress than the reason he suspected – some other reason for the layers and layers of her scent. But as hard as he tried, he could not find any. He looked into the days to come, and saw blood – between Sesshomaru and his Kouga-sama, a river of Blood. If the message of his senses had been true, and Kouga went to that presentation and found Kagome already taken, he would Challenge. He would Challenge, and as his father had died, he would die – on the claws and fangs of the Inu, bloody and broken...
Hakkaku broke the silence of Ginta's thoughts with a low question.
"Still think we shouldn't say anything? Kouga's got that look on his face again -"
Ginta sighed.
"I know - but what can we do? You saw how he was with Inuyasha, even when Kagome-nee-san said that- "
"I know, I know. He is so going to hurt us when he finds out..."
"Let's hope he's still able to hurt us when he finds out! If Kouga-sama challenges that Sesshomaru - !"
Hakkaku shook his head, and shuddered; both of them shared the same thought.
What will be, will be.
But in the den of the Wolf there were no easy dreams that night.
A/N: Phew! Spring break - sleep is so awesome! So, presenting Kouga, getting to do something, finally – and being harassed by evil. EEEVIL! Heh. Also, I have fun with Ginta and Hakkaku - they seem so left out all the time, poor guys. This chapter was going to be completely different when I originally started it, but time and my brain have taken their toll. The good part about this is that it means the next chapter is mostly done already...hurrah! Now, reviews...
Little Miss Morphine: Aha! Yes! It took me a while to figure out how the two of them would play, let me tell you...I'm glad you liked it!
Kouga's Older Woman: yay! And a little bit of Kouga...poor Kouga. The more I write his parts the more badly I feel for him...ah well. He'll have his awesome moments eventually!
clara954: Much thanks! I try to keep everything pretty balanced so no one gets forgotten and things don't get too crazy!
AMUTOLOVER09: Aha! Naraku and Kasuka! You know, if he weren't dead already...hehe. But seriously, where would a therapist even BEGIN with her, psychotic thing that she is? I know I created her, but sometimes I read through it and I wonder...are there really vengeance obsessed people who get this scary? And then I think, wow, I reeeeeally hope not!
saymoney22: Stupid and Kouga is sort of a matter of degree, isn't it? I mean...he just never gets it! Ah, but it's alright. Like I said before, eventually he will!
lunarcat12: Ah, Kasuka...you know, the thing about her is that she's convinced herself that she's the only one with the right idea about what's going on...Kouga doesn't seem to be up for it, but that's just going to make her more mad, just wait and see! A slap would probably be a good idea...or a sword. Or some other way of causing death. And boy, are you anticipating! Let's try this problem...Sango plus Miroku multiplied by Sesshomaru's Mother...equals... :D Fun Stuff. (They were originally in this chapter, you know, but...Kouga won.)
Selene88Sakura: Much thanks! Yeah...Sesshomaru's gotta get his head around the whole idea of love...he doesn't really know what it is, you see...but guaranteed, Kouga will make it obvious enough.
Ichirei: Sickness! The most evil creation of the world...always feels like you're dying no matter what you have. Ech! Hope you're feeling better by now; one new chapter as promised, and more soon (because chapter 25 is almost done!) Oh! And much thanks for love on chapter 22 - I liked that one too! :D
Anon: Wow! Anonymous, but awesome! Much thanks for...well, a really great compliment! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
Lady Roaddog: much thanks for the comment! more soon!
Hopefully I didn't forget anyone - as always, Please Review!
Final Revisions...Complete! Yay! Onward! (R&R!)