Compass Ball

Angel Dust

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha or any of the other characters or the original story line. I DO own my characters, they're as obvious as the nose on your face.

Summary: Take a headstrong princess, surrounded by her five older and torturous brothers, a nosy and overly demanding mother, and a loving and over protective father. Throw her into a strange land with potential suitors abound to her mother's delight and father's dismay, take one of those suitors and have him not know what the hell he's doing with a female, a celebration for a new born pup, and the potential for an attack by usurpers and you have probably the craziest ball the Western Lands has ever known. Now, the real question is, can everyone survive or will heads roll?

The time for the ball quickly approached. The seamstress was forced to come in last minute for alterations for the boys, who had lost a large amount of weight and gained muscle courtesy of their punishment. Despite that, their father still had plans for them for the rest of the summer, when asked why he replied, "If you have time to torment your sister, you have time to clean."

Nikki had preoccupied herself with lessons from her mother, of which began on her eighteenth birthday, on how to be a proper mate and on how to run a large castle of a home. Fully enveloped in her lessons to be a proper mate, Nikki usually was found keeping a journal of her mother's rules and lessons. All in all the kittens were kept busy, so time seemed to move quicker than usual for them all.

"Alright, the maids have packed all of the necessary items for you to take with you," Mai told them all at dinner the night before they left. "Make sure you either bathe tonight or tomorrow morning before we leave, but that means wake up earlier." A few of the boys groaned at the thought of fighting off each other for the bathroom or waking up earlier to fight each other off for the bathroom.

"We're leaving early, so if you're the last one to wake up, it had better be soon after the rest of us or I'll let your brothers and sister, because we all know Nikki doesn't sleep, have at you." Higashi said with a sneer. Nikki just smiled innocently as thoughts of past tortures came to mind. Everyone's favorite was when she somehow managed to slip a koi into Ryo's bed while he slept. He woke up screaming as something slippery, slimy, and ice cold flopped around his bed.

They finished dinner and separated to their rooms, Nikki beating her brothers out for the bathroom. Enjoying her small victory, she made them wait about an hour before exiting and the rest could wash up for the next day.

The next morning Nikki was up at the crack of dawn. Part of her reasoning for waking up early is, well, she doesn't know. She always wakes up early; it's a natural part of her daily lifestyle. The other part is because she can usually get an equally cruel prank on one of her brothers, it's what they would do to her.

So Nikki got dressed and went to breakfast as she always did to find her mother, father, and two of her brothers eating. She sat down among them and smiled as she was served some food before digging in with the rest of them.

"Good morning, kitten, did you sleep well?" her father asked her in between bites.

"Yes, you?" she asked politely. Her father smiled and nodded. "Seiji, Rinji, and Ryo are still asleep?"

"Yes, though I heard some movement from Rinji's room, so I'm sure he'll be awake soon." Shinta told her. Nikki nodded as she thought about it, Rinji would be hard to prank anyway, as generally he sleeps in the buff. This horrible fact was in fact found by Ryo when he was younger and attempting revenge for a prank involving a snapping turtle.

"Well, it's either Rinji's waking up, or Seiji and Ryo are awake and they're plotting against him," Higashi said amused. He always encouraged his children to pick on each other, just not to the point of hurting one's feelings, body, or anything around them. Nikki's fish in the bed was a perfect example of a harmless prank. Mai didn't approve of the pranks at first, but when she saw how carefully her mate watched over the pranks pulled by their kittens and ensured their safety and the safety of others and objects, she didn't seem to mind them as much and in some cases laughed with the rest of the family at them. In a way, this taught the children some humility.

"Good morning," Rinji muttered as he stumbled into the room moments later.

"Good morning dear," Mai said smiling, "there went your plan mate." Higashi nodded as Rinji looked at them confused. "Nothing, did you hear your brothers moving about?"

"Seiji's in the bathroom preparing for the day, Ryo's out cold." He reported as he sat down. "I was thinking of just pouring some cold water on him."

"Should have done that last night," Nikki muttered as she thought. Nikki became the queen of pranks, as she generally had more time to plot them against her brothers. Occasionally she'd plan one against one of her parents, but it was usually a goofy one that involved either a birthday or holiday and was in good fun for all.

"Alright, calm down, we'll give Ryo some time to wake up and get dressed before plotting against him," Mai said as her mate nodded in agreement with a wink. Basically the wink meant I'm not truly agreeing, plot away. "Higashi…"

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "Listen to your mother, no plotting for half an hour." Mai nodded as if that were an acceptable time limit. The group sighed and nodded, though they were already planning on what they could do to Ryo for sleeping in so long. They had figured, by the speech they were given the night before, their parents wanted to leave early. Ryo's sleeping may prevent that and as such he was the free target of his siblings, at least. If he slept beyond even that, his father would get involved and they would be more than happy to watch that.

They finished breakfast quietly, each tiredly wishing they could go back to bed and yet not being able to. Nikki yawned a little, catching her mother and father by surprise, but continued eating all the same.

"I know you're all tired," Mai said as they ate, "so you can resume resting once we're in the carriage." They all seemed to sigh in relief that the carriage was a prank free zone. "Once we leave the house you're all to be on your best behavior."

"Yes, mother," the four droned bored as she smiled and nodded, it was the best she was going to get this early in the morning.

"Also, we want you all to socialize with the other children of the other lords; it'll be good for you to meet each other and attempt to get a long." Higashi told them sternly.

"Yes, father," the four droned bored as he eyed them suspiciously. Higashi knew his kittens would ignore some of the things he said.

"Let's put it this way, if you do not socialize and try to make friends, you'll be working those stables for a year." He growled, immediately all four looked at him surprised. "And yes, I'll be giving Ryo and Seiji the same speech." They nodded enthusiastically this time and finished off their food more quickly. Just as everyone got done breakfast Seiji walked into the room to eat his own breakfast.

"So, who's the victim this morning?" he asked casually as if he had been up for a while.

"So far no one, though Ryo's got another ten minutes before he's the victim." Jiro said tiredly a he rested his head on the table. Seiji nodded as he looked around and started to pile food up on his plate. "The carriage is off limits and we're to be on our best behavior pending dealing with father and the stables for a year at this ball thing."

"Wow, big deal," Seiji said surprised before starting to eat.

"Yeah, big deal," Rinji added with a yawn. "So, we've got no word on Ryo yet? I say we go in there with spiders and dump them in his blankets." A few of the brothers chuckled.

"Could just let a water snake have at him," Nikki said sleepily, "that'll wake him up when it slides along his leg. It'll feel like a fish." They chuckled as they thought about it; Ryo would panic at the thought of another fish in his bed.

"That's cruel, Kems, snakes can be mean creatures." Shinta said uncertainly.

"Only if you attack them, granted Ryo might in his sleep, but that's more fun to it," Nikki said as she thought about it. "Fine, we won't do anything with snakes. How about frogs?" They all laughed at the idea of frogs hopping around the room. "Then he may end up covered in warts, but it's better than a poisonous snake bite." They nodded in agreement as they thought of what they could do to Ryo in the last few minutes before someone rushes upstairs to enact one of these plots.

"Frogs? Is that the best you can come up with?" Ryo demanded as he walked into the room, causing them all to groan annoyed. "What? I wasn't asleep, I was waiting for Seiji to get out of the bathroom, he's worse than Nikki." Nikki and Seiji just scowled at their brother as Mai and Higashi sighed and shook their heads.

"Alright, boys eat so we can get going," Mai said as she looked at the others. "And the rest of you get ready to leave." The first four trooped out of the dining hall as their father started on the speeches they got while eating. Nikki changed into a more proper outfit and sighed as she accepted a fan from a servant while walking downstairs. Outside she noticed the carriage get filled with items they would need on this short trip.

First their mother got in, with help from their father, then Nikki. Their father climbed in third and then the boys smacked each other a little before climbing in on their own so that they were facing each other. Nikki just leaned her head against the side of the carriage, prepared to rest on this journey.

"How long does it take to get to Lord Nishi's castle?" Shinta asked curiously.

"We'll get there by nightfall," their father responded. Nikki groaned with her brothers at the knowledge they'd be trapped in the carriage together for the entire day. They were unofficially doomed.