InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fire and Ice ❯ Promise ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: Well, it finally happened. My muse went on strike. No warning, no two week notice, just walked off in the middle of a chapter. Grrrr. I've been poking away at this, but nothing. Finally started to get rolling again, and I ended up with this monster chapter. All character development, but for the life of me I can't cut any of it out! So, it's in two parts, but they go together. After this? Violence! Ha ha! My muse doesn't abandon me when I'm wrecking mass destruction. Anyways, hopefully this won't bore the pants off of everyone and I'll be all done setting up. If you're really lucky I'll finish up the third part of this today and post it as well. 30 pages will help to make up for my extended absence. Don't worry about Mizuki getting all nice on us. She wouldn't be any fun for me then! And don't worry about Merk and Yuriko. They are on their way. All right, Mr. J, I suppose I deserved that, but I'm still going to thwap you on the head. *thwap*

 

----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------

 

 

“Ki-chan! You're alright! Don't ever do that to me again! I told you to come inside, but noooo, not Ki-chan! She had to finish her little fight with Shippou and get stuck outside. How old are you? You know better! Where have you been?”

 

Mizuki dropped through the window, pulling the screen closed behind her. Shou barreled into her chest, sniffing her over with a concerned expression. Across the room Katsuro was glaring at her with dark brown eyes. If he had his usual fluffy ears, they would have been pinned flat against his head.

 

“I was detained.” Shaking some dirt from her kimono with one hand, Mizuki used the other hand to scratch the unhappy dragon under the chin.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Seiji found me.”

 

“You have no luck with him. You know that, right?” Katsuro dropped onto the futon he had dragged into Mizuki's room. “Is he going to tell?”

 

“He gave me his word that he will not. And I believe him.”

 

“Then what took so long?”

 

“He interrogated me.”

 

“Nani?”

 

“He decided to take advantage of my lack of control as a ningen and asked questions that I would not normally have answered.” Mizuki dropped onto her own futon, mimicking her brother's exhausted position. Shou settled on the pillow next to her head, still sniffing her over.

 

“Questions? Like what?”

 

“Why I have been avoiding him, what I want from this relationship.”

 

“He's braver then I gave him credit for.”

 

“Has father arrived yet?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

Sesshomaru still made a habit of staying with his offspring on their human night. Kagome was fascinated that they had their human night on the same night, and she wanted to give them a sibling if for nothing else then to see if the third pup would have the same pattern. The third pup had not appeared, so the miko had to guess why they fell on the same night.

 

“I feel like I could sleep for a week. This is worse then having father just beating up on me.” Katsuro rolled over to look at his sister. “Can we just sleep through tomorrow?”

 

“I doubt that would be allowed, but a very tempting thought. I believe I have it worse then you do, at least in terms of injuries.”

 

“It will feel better after you've trounced Seiji.”

 

“Hai.”

 

Katsuro's foggy hearing made the change in Mizuki's voice hard to pick up, but he took a guess. “What is it, Ki-chan?”

 

“He does not hate me.” Mizuki pulled the tie from her hair, letting it fall down her back.

 

“Well, yeah. I never thought he actually hated you. Lots of dislike, disappointment, a little threatened, sure, but I never thought hate.”

 

“I believed that he did.”

 

“So you don't want to beat him anymore?”

 

“Oh, no. I wish to defeat him more then ever.”

 

“Then what's so different?”

 

“I am not certain. It just seems different. These damn ningen emotions!” Flinging a pillow across the room, the ningen glared into the dark.

 

“You're always so much fun on these nights.” Katsuro retrieved the pillow and threw it back to Mizuki. “What do you want? You can blame it on the whole ningen thing tomorrow.”

 

“Approval.”

 

“What for?”

 

“I do not know!” The pillow went flying across the room again, upsetting the rack with her weapons on it.

 

“Knock that off, Ki-chan!” Retrieving the pillow again, Mizuki's brother marched over and whacked his sister on the head with it. “I didn't mean let off some steam by destroying your room.”

 

“I have destroyed nothing.”

 

“You need to get rid of some of this anger on other nights of the month. Really, it's not healthy for you and just dangerous for me. You'll get me all wound up and we'll end up fighting again.”

 

“And what are you unhappy about?”

 

“Shippou and Cho are getting close. Really close. I've been too busy to spend any time with her, and days go by without even saying a word to her. It's frustrating.”

 

“I will talk to father and free up some time for you. I believe that Cho would enjoy spending some time with you again.”

 

“Are you sure? She seems quite happy with Shippou.”

 

Grabbing her other pillow, Mizuki hit Katsuro. “Just talk to her tomorrow, baka.”

 

“Baka? Who's the one throwing stuff because she wants her future mate's approval?”

 

“Future mate?” Mizuki wound up and hit her brother harder with the pillow. “Who said anything about future mate? I have agreed to nothing!”

 

“Then why do you want his approval?” Backing away, an evil grin lit up Katsuro's features as he held up his pillow like a shield. “You have a crush on Seiji, don't you?”

 

“Die, shetai!” Flinging herself across the room, Mizuki abandoned her pillow and tackled her brother. They both tumbled across the room and into a table.

 

“Well, it's not the most romantic start, but we are talking about you after all . . . “ Katsuro dodged his sister's fist that was aimed for his temple, trying to get free from her. She could be a treacherous opponent, and her dull nails could still leave long cuts on his ningen skin.

 

Mizuki got a handful of his hair and yanked. “Silence, shetai!”

 

“Not the hair! Ow!” Katsuro tried to wiggle away, pinching his sister to distract her. It worked and he was able to get his hair away from her. “Where's that famous control, Ki-chan?”

 

The downed female kicked her brother in the stomach, finally silencing him and dropping him to the ground beside her. “My control may be altered, but my aim is not.”

 

“Stop.”

 

The siblings froze, slowly turning their heads to see their father standing in the doorway. Releasing each other, they stood up and looked at the ground like a pair of young pups that had been caught stealing.

 

“Every month.” Sesshomaru settled against the wall, taking his usual position between the door and window.

 

“Gomen, father.” “Gomen, father.”

 

Slinking to their respective futons, the siblings prepared for sleep. Exhaustion was quickly on them once their fighting had ended. Soon after they had settled in, the only sound Sesshomaru could hear was quiet, even breathing.

 

`Every month. You would think they would grow out of this behavior eventually.'

 

----

 

`That's one thing I love about my sister. She always keeps her word.' Katsuro crouched in a tree, watching Cho in the distance as she collected flowers with Shippou. `Okay, now what? I need to give her the book back, but I need a conversation to go with it. But about what? Maybe she'll ask me what I thought about it. That could work, or I could ask her about the other stuff she's read. This is awful, I need something else to talk to her about! What else do we have in common?'

 

Laughter echoed across the gardens as Cho laughed at something Shippou said to her.

 

`And there's that other little problem. Shippou's my best friend. I don't know what to do about that. He always has some lady he's head over heels with, but I've never given them a second glance. Now we both want the same lady, and I can't tell if he's serious this time.'

 

The young couple in the gardens was bowing to each other, and Shippou was heading off.

 

`Probably off to practice with Ki-chan. Well, this is my shot to talk to her, since Ki-chan did arrange for me to have some free time just for this. Now what do I do? Act like I'm surprised to see her? Tell her I'm looking to return her book? Surprise her with a flower and quote poetry? Even in my head I'm gagging. I hate this fluffy stuff! Why can't I just talk to her? Why does my brain turn into sludge around her? Okay, stop panicking. I could just walk up to her and say hi. Or return her book. Or . . . `

 

“Katsuro-san, could you please join me?”

 

`That works.'

 

Katsuro dropped from his perch, his eyes on the smiling lady carrying a basket of flowers.

 

“I thought I had caught your scent, Katsuro-san. How have you been? I have hardly seen you since you started to help Mizuki.”

 

“It's taken up a lot of my time. I brought your book back.” Holding out the little volume, he moved to just within arm's reach.

 

Delicate fingers took the book and tucked it into the basket. “Arigato, Katsuro-san. I have not finished in the gardens. Would you consider joining me?”

 

There was a slight hesitation as Katsuro's conscience picked at him. “If you would like, or I could grab Shippou. I don't want him to think that he has to take off in the middle of talking to you to help Ki-chan. I could cover for him.”

 

Cho's bright smile threatened to turn the hanyou's usually quick mind to stone. “You are so sweet, Katsuro-san. However, I wish for your company. If that is acceptable to you, of course.”

 

“Hai. What are you up to out here?”

 

“Kagome-sama has been working very hard lately, and I know that she loves having fresh flowers around her. I was going to surprise her by bringing in flowers for her study and a few other rooms.”

 

“Ah, then you are in luck, for I am an expert in flowers for Mama! Not only do I know what her favorites are, I know where they're growing and which ones don't drive father up a wall so she can use them in her room.”

 

“Then I am very glad the wind shifted and I was able to track you.”

 

“Track me?”

 

“I thought I had caught your scent, so I tried to follow it but lost it. When the wind shifted I was able to pick it up again.”

 

Katsuro crossed his arms. “Are you trying to tell me that a taiyoukai was having trouble tracking my scent at that short of a distance?”

 

Cho crossed her arms in reply. “I do not have much practice.”

 

“Even if you don't like to fight you should be able to track someone. It's convenient if nothing else.”

 

“Very well, then. Teach me.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Teach me, Katsuro-san.”

 

“Uh, sure. It's more practice then anything.”

 

The basket of flowers was set aside. “Then we shall practice. What would you like me to do?”

 

“Well, let's see if I can get a trail for you.” Backing away a few feet, he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.

 

Like a rocket Shou exploded through the garden, not bothering to slow down as he slammed into Katsuro.

 

“AH!”

 

The pair went flying through the air to land in a carefully shaped shrub, flattening it.

 

“Mama's going to kill us, Shou!” Katsuro tried to shove the wolfhound sized dragon off, but was not having any luck. Shou pinned him down and grumbled happily at the hanyou's struggles. “Get off!”

 

“Shou, can you help us?”

 

The soft voice achieved more then any of Katsuro's yelling or threats. Shou landed in front of Cho and waited for instructions.

 

“Traitor.” Pulling pieces of bush out of his hair, Katsuro climbed to his feet. `Again, not a good impression. I think I'm cursed.'

 

“Katsuro-san is going to teach me how to track.”

 

“So, can you leave a trail for us, and wait at the end?” Giving up on his hair, Katsuro moved next to Cho.

 

Shou gave a nod and took off across the grass, leaving his claws on the ground for once. In seconds he had disappeared in the trees.

 

“You missed some.” Cho reached up and started to tug twigs out of the long, black hair. `And it is every bit as soft as it looks.'

 

“Uh, arigato. Let's give him a couple of minutes, and then we'll set out after him. Nothing too tricky.”

 

“As you say, Katsuro-san. You are the instructor today.”

 

Cho was still running her fingers through his hair, making his heart race. After a very short moment he decided to set off. “We can just go now. You lead the way.”

 

“And what am I supposed to be doing?”

 

“You know what Shou smells like, right?”

 

“Unfortunately, I am quite aware of what Mizuki's form of transportation smells like.”

 

`She could've just said yes.' Katsuro rolled his eyes. “Then find him. He was just here, after all.”

 

“Well, I can smell him.”

 

“Then go where the smell is the strongest.”

 

“I will try.” Hesitant, Cho set out. She knew where Shou had been, so she took advantage of this to figure out what her nose was telling her. “This is not as easy as you are making it out to be.”

 

“It will be if you just practice. It's not like we have to teach your nose what to do, you just have to figure out what to do with what your nose is telling you.”

 

“Why thank you for that amazing insight, Buddha-sama.”

 

“No need for the attitude.”

 

Cho sighed as she started to make her way through the woods. “I know. I just get frustrated when it seems so simple but it eludes me. I am fortunate that he is a rather strong smelling target.”

 

“He doesn't stink, he just doesn't smell like anything else around.”

 

“However you wish to phrase it. It makes him slightly easier then tracking you.”

 

“Slightly? Are you saying I stink?”

 

“Hold still for a second, I've lost him.” Cho turned her head from side to side, sniffing quietly. “This way, I think.”

 

Setting off again, Cho tried to keep her kimonos from snagging on branches and twigs. “I do not think I am dressed appropriately for this.”

 

“No kidding. How many kimonos are you wearing?”

 

“And what kind of a question is that to ask a lady?”

 

“Huh? Hey, you know what I meant!”

 

“Hai. But it was so very amusing.” Cho shrugged out of her unbound kimono and set it on a tree. “We must remember to retrieve that on the way back. I would rather not have it torn.”

 

“Well, that's one layer down.”

 

“I will not be removing any other layers, Katsuro-san.”

 

“Quit putting words in my mouth.” Making a face at Cho's back, Katsuro continued to follow her. `But it did improve the view.'

 

“With such graceful manners, it is a wonder that the ladies are not falling all over you.” Cho tossed a sly look over her shoulder. “And how are the ladies reacting to your graces, Katsuro-san?”

 

Katsuro stuttered and blushed. “What are you talking about, Cho-san?”

 

“Are you truly that clueless, Katsuro-san? Do you make hideous faces behind the backs of all the ladies you meet, or is this simply because you hold a grudge against me still?”

 

“You saw me?”

 

“I may not be able to track well, but that does not mean that I do not have functional senses. Baka.”

 

“And now the name calling. Why do you care about how I act with the ladies?”

 

“I am only looking out for your best interests, Katsuro-san.” Ducking under a branch, she glanced back again and giggled at his expression. “Oh, the blushing is adorable. You should keep that.”

 

`I don't know if I want to kiss her or kill her right now. Bah.' Ducking under the low branch, Katsuro continued to make faces behind Cho.

 

“I think we are getting close. I can smell him quite clearly now.”

 

“I told him to wait at the end, so when you've found him you're done.”

 

“Hai, Buddha-sama.” Pushing another branch out of the way revealed the blue dragon, curled up in a ball and snoring. “My wily prey.”

 

“Now that's not surprising.” Katsuro gave Shou a poke. “Wake up, sleepy one.”

 

With a mighty yawn Shou climbed back to his feet.

 

“It would seem that I was successful.” Cho looked rather pleased with herself.

 

“You did just fine. Should we try again?”

 

“Not while I am dressed like this. I have already snagged this kimono, and I would prefer not to damage it any more. Perhaps you will have time tomorrow? I will discuss my choices in wardrobe with Mizuki.”

 

“Sounds like a plan. Okay, Shou, you're off the hook for the rest of the day. You better go back to Ki-chan before she starts to worry.”

 

Shou gave a nod and took off.

 

Katsuro gave Cho's snagged kimono a quick glance. “Let's go find your other kimono. You really do need to talk to Ki-chan about some different clothes. How can you even get around like that?”

 

“I can walk just fine, thank you.”

 

“But what about running?”

 

“And why would I need to do that? I am never late.”

 

“But what if someone does . . . this!” Katsuro suddenly had one of Cho's hair combs in his own hand with a cocky grin. “Now what are you going to do?”

 

“Give that back this instant!” Cho marched at Katsuro, who easily moved back. “What do you think you are doing?”

 

“Proving a point. Try to stop me.” Katsuro ran off into the woods.

 

`Why that bastard! That comb was a gift from father. I do not care what he thinks of me, but I am getting that comb back!” Rucking her kimonos up, Cho took off after him, but she went around the woods that they had been tracking through.

 

----

 

“She must be walking the whole way. She really doesn't run, does she?” Katsuro stood in the gardens with Cho's kimono over his arm. “I could be here for awhile if she loses her way.”

 

A force slammed into his back, sending him tumbling to the ground and holding him there.

 

“My comb, if you please, Katsuro-san.”

 

“How?” Katsuro twisted his head around to find Cho sitting on his back, her hair coming down and her kimono torn.

 

“The kimono is a small sacrifice in exchange for that comb. It was a gift.”

 

`Oops.' Katsuro wiggled an arm free and held up the comb. “Gomen nasai, Cho-san.”

 

“All is forgiven, Katsuro-san. I believe I got my revenge.” Cho jumped clear of the hanyou and started to pin her hair back up. “It is a pity, I was quite fond of this kimono. What will people say when I return with you, disheveled and my clothing torn?”

 

The blush was back with a vengeance. “It's going to be worse when I tell them the truth, that you knocked me across the gardens. Ki-chan will never let me live this one down.”

 

“As long as that is the story you wish to stick to.” The blue eyes peeped at him from under long eyelashes. “They may not believe you.”

 

“Are you looking to black mail me again?”

 

“No, just stating that they may question your story.” Cho moved a step closer, enjoying the way Katsuro's eyes widened. “What will they say about this?”

 

“Uh, I can make sure they don't say anything bad about you. I mean, we weren't doing anything wrong.”

 

Cho took another two steps, bringing her close to Katsuro. “So honorable.” Smiling as she heard Katsuro's pulse jump at her low voice, Cho reached out and took her kimono from his arm. Her fingers brushed over his arm, an intentional mistake. “Do not be concerned. This will keep our reputations in tact.”

 

`Can't . . . breathe!' Katsuro tried to force his lungs to work as Cho held eye contact and brushed her hand against his arm again.

 

“Arigato for my kimono, Katsuro-san. Shall we retrieve my flowers?” Slipping her kimono on, she led the way back.

 

`Air . . . would be . . . good.'

 

----