InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Flame ❯ Surprise! ( Chapter 8 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Water Sprite 
Tra-la-la, ookay, Kagome's birthady is coming up... what could happen here??? And what does udon have to do with anything?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.28.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Work In Progress
Tra-la-la, ookay, Kagome's birthady is coming up... what could happen here??? And what does udon have to do with anything?
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.28.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Work In Progress
A/N: I'm not gonna lie to ya, the last chapter got really messed up at the end. So, I'm gonna rewrite it right here before I give you the long awaited seventh chapter! Anywho, bonappatiete.... (I don't even speak French... not that you could tell or anything -_-V). Oh! I almost forgot the most important part here! This chapter is dedicated to Miroku's Wench! She was the one who gave me the idea for it in the first place and she's been waiting for forever for it to actually be in one of my fics... so here it is Excel! All for you...
Disclaimer: So, what would happen if I actually said that I owned all of these characters? They gonna sue me for all I've got? Do they REALLY want my two paper clips and the purple button in my pocket? I suppose they can have them... if they're /that/ desperate, that is... Okay, so just to clear all of this up, I don't own them -_-V... I like my purple button...
Chapter Seven- Surprise!
~*~
BUT FIRST!! A REWRITE/RECAP!!! (If no one remembers Rin just dumped a bunch of flour and water all over Kagome. Sesshoumaru got a pretty good laugh out of it aaand Rin has proceeded to run away and leave Kagome standing in the middle of the room with gooey shtuff all over her, Sesshoumaru was just beginning to recover from his laughing fit):
This was just as soon as Sesshoumaru was beginning to compose himself, small sporadic chuckles still coming from him as he stood. He walked over to the still giggling Kagome and wiped a bit more off of her face, stating as calmly as he could, "You missed a spot."
She looked up at him with a sarcastic smirk spreading across her face, "Oh really? I think you may have missed a spot too."
Sesshoumaru couldn't help it, his eyes widened in a surprised kind of question, he hadn't gotten any on himself had-- his thoughts were cut short by the sight of Kagome's hand nearing his face. Before he was able to do anything else Kagome was in the process of smearing the dough all over his face, nary a spot was missed by her goopy hand. "Yah, just a little bit, right there," her smile began to grow.
He couldn't believe his eyes, had this little girl just spread a messy substance over /his/ beautiful face (okay, kinda arrogant but... he can't help it if it's true can he??)? No one, /no one/ had ever dared to do anything of the sort to him, the great and powerful Lord Sesshoumaru, then again, if it were anyone else, they would have probably been dead at this very moment. But something stopped him, something in her eyes, the very same eyes that had warned him when she became angered were now communicating something that not only could he not understand but also that held him back. He couldn't grasp any particular reason as to why though. Her eyes were sparkling, they glimmered, shimmered (Ewwww-- Glitter.... didn't that movie completely bomb?), and they pulled him into their grasp. Her smirk was sarcastic and her eyes were happy, those caramel orbs were laughing, they made him feel the sudden urge to laugh also.
He stood back, a bit unsure as to what to do with this daring move and even more daring eye contact. He soon overcame this and a slow smirk made its way to his lips, "Really? Did I now?"
"Oh, yup, you most certainly did," Kagome laughed.
"Yes, well it seems that there is just a bit that you have missed yourself," Sesshoumaru pointed out.
"No, really?" Kagome looked around herself, in mock surprise. "Where is it? I don't see any at all!" she exaggerated as she stood in a pool of whatever she had "not seen."
"Yes, really," Sesshoumaru closed the distance between them and lowered his voice. "Right here," was accompanied by a light graze of his thumb over her lips, wiping some of the sticky substance off and lowering his own already clean lips to hers. Kagome had no time to think before he had already claimed her lips and she was off in another world, lost in the sweet feeling of a small, chaste kiss. His thumb was gently resting on her jaw line, and to her heightened senses, the contact felt heavenly.
Sesshoumaru was a little taken aback at how welcoming her lips were and how he soon forgot that the kiss was initiated to stop the smirk on her face from growing any further-- or that's what he told himself anyway. He was not expecting to feel her lips and become addicted to them, and so quickly too! Their kiss was about to enter a new level without either of them really thinking about it when a shrill and definitely unwelcome voice pierced the air, "Sesshoumaru-sama, I can't find the little bra--? Sesshoumaru-sama?! What is going on here? What are you doing?" Jaken screamed at the top of his tiny, but obviously well equipped lungs.
Sesshoumaru pulled away from Kagome, sighing and resting his forehead on hers, muttering in a dangerously low tone, "I was just pondering how many different ways there might be to grill anything by the name of Jaken, on a stick. I was heading towards flame broiled."
"Oh, he, i-is that all," Jaken asked nervously, backing away a bit at a time. "If that's all then, I-I think that I should go find that dear little human brat, Rin. Rin?! Rin, where are you?!" his voice echoed through out the hallway as he ran as fast and as far away as his stubby legs could carry him.
~*~ End the new and only slightly improved... end of chapter six...
Chapter Seven- Surprise! (No really, I mean it this time!)
At the sound of a small, green, gutless wonder nearly flying down the hallway Sesshoumaru snapped out of whatever little world he had let himself wander into. He jumped up from his resting place on Kagome's head, and stared sternly down at her.
"Oh no," Kagome said, throwing her hands up and backing up a half a step. "You are NOT pinning this one on me, that was all you, bud."
Sesshoumaru scoffed, "I said nothing of the sort. But," his voice was sharp, he turned so he was not forced to face her and crossed his arms across his chest, "there will be no more talk of this incident."
Kagome's brows furrowed and her hands flew to her hips in the classic nagging-wife stance, 'What does he mean, "no more talk of this incident?" He was the one who started it, and besides, I wanna know why! No fair cutting off the information before I get to it! Oh, he'll talk about it alright, whether he knows it or not, he'll talk about it!'
"What are you doing, just standing there?" Sesshoumaru said, his head turned over his shoulder so he could make eye contact with her, telling her in his own "male species" (Yes, I do mean as a whole other species... that's correct, right?) way that he would not acknowledge that anything out of the ordinary had happened between them. "Go clean up, I promised Rin an outing, remember?"
Kagome rolled her eyes and let out a large exasperated sigh, her arms flopping to her sides out of pure frustration with this particular male. She spun on her heel and marched up stairs to the room that she had come to know a little bit better in the past two days. As soon as she was out of sight Sesshoumaru turned around and sighed, "Why is it that she can walk away from me and yet I cannot seem to walk away from /her/?" But this, of course, was the least of his worries. The biggest thing that lay on his mind was WHY?
He looked around to see if anyone was near, he could neither see nor detect anyone, so he flopped against the nearest wall and slid down it until he was seated on the floor, the wall being the only thing keeping him up. He set his head in his hand and his elbow on his knee, and the thought process began (Uh-oh... thinking is NEVER a good thing!). 'What was that for? Why did I do it?' he sighed. 'Simple, you wanted to.'
'No, you did not! You wished merely to wipe that silly smirk off of her obstinate face!' another sigh was given from the great lord of the Western Plains.
'Uh-huh, sure that's the reason, I wanted to wipe a smile off of her face. There are two faults with that theory,' he told himself. 'First, if I had truly wanted to "wipe a smirk off of her obstinate face" then I could have just smacked her across the room. Second, and most important, not to mention confusing, I really have no desire whatsoever to banish a smile of any kind from her face or-' he opened his eyes to stare down at the floor, 'or, her dancing eyes.' One more sigh and a muttered "D**n" flew from his lips, lips that were still tingling pleasurably from their recent encounter with Kagome's.
With a few moments of silence he thought, thought on everything and at the same time, nothing at all (OOO, I like doing that one! Nothing at all is what I do best!). During this awkward moment of silence with himself he stumbled across something that wouldn't solve all of his problems but did help him feel a little better. 'I do believe I said that I would let this go and see where it would lead me. It would make no sense to do that and then berate myself for doing so. Everything has lead me to this very place and I must find something to do about it, good or bad. The question is, do I wish to continue with this strange rush of emotion that just moments ago overcame me? Or, on the other hand, I could merely shove all of these worthless emotions aside and continue with my life in the way that I know it was meant to go,' he turned these thoughts over.
As his thoughts turned and turned and turned he came across yet another little something that might help him in his time of difficult decisions, when this hit him his head popped up, causing a few strands of his hair to become stuck in the bits of dough still on his face, long forgotten by now though. His eyes lit up as his thought matured into a full blown revelation, 'If I knew where I was meant to go, would I be here now?' (This may be loosely translated as "I was wrong," but then again, we may never hear these words uttered by one so great 9_9 <-Look! I'm rolling my eyes! ^-^). 'My life is going not at all as it was "supposed" to go, so why do I insist on believing what I can merely assume?'
The other part of his mind quietly answered for him, 'To remain safe from a great hurt that has been felt before.'
He nearly winced at the cruel point, bringing up many painful memories of a heart so fully given and so easily broken by the one who supposedly held it safe for all time. 'That very well could happen again,' he thought gravely.
He slowly tilted his head as an alluring sound reached his sensitive ears, the sweet melody was coming from a few rooms down, it was Rin, humming one of her favorite songs. A happy little tune that never failed to bring a smile to Sesshoumaru's mental visage, but this time the smile turned slightly bitter. 'She has given her heart many times, and it has been broken in many of those instances,' his brows furrowed as he remembered the story of Rin's family and how abandoned she had felt once she was on her own. 'So many times for one so young and yet she continues to give and give. She has given her heart to this Sesshoumaru and the young Kagome,' this thought triggered another thought. 'She has given a little piece of her heart to Kagome, if Kagome leaves, that little piece shall be broken,' and even though he did not wish to admit it to himself a small part of him whispered 'As would a piece of mine.'
With this, his mind was made up, even though he wasn't really sure as to what he had made up his mind to do. In a flash he was up and on his feet again, his regal stance showing no signs of having been left for any amount of time. He suddenly became very aware of the rapidly drying flecks of dough on his cheeks and he began to wipe them off with the back of his hand, which of course was covered by his sleeve (What else are sleeves for? They're just giant napkins if ya ask me).
As he did this Rin streaked across the room and headed for the stairs. Sesshoumaru followed her movements with his ears and found that she was bound for the room that Kagome was presently bathing in. He waited to see where this would lead, since, of course, he would be able to hear whatever would be said...
~*~ In the room type thingy that they've been staying in...
"Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan!" Rin yelled as she raced into the room.
Kagome, being done bathing poked her head out of the washroom and smiled at the little girl waiting quite impatiently in front of the door, "What is it Rin?"
"Rin was wondering when Kagome-chan would be finished, 'cause Rin is really excited to go out and play with Kagome-chan!"
Kagome smiled again and replied, "No worries, Rin, I'll be out in just a-" she cut herself off when she spied her uniform sitting, folded and clean, on the table in the middle of the room. "Haa (supposed to be an intake of breath... shoosh! It was the best I could come up with at... AAHHH! 3:21 AM... -_-V no, no, don't worry, I'm not sleep deprived at all...), Rin! Could you do me a favor and hand me those clothes on the table?"
Rin nodded and grabbed the uniform and handed it to Kagome who promptly snatched it out of the child's hands and excused herself to put her clothes on. Kagome came out sighing with relief, "That's soooo much better!"
Rin smiled happily, she thought that Kagome-chan might like to have her clothes back, she looked all stiff and uncomfortable in the ones that Sesshoumaru-sama was letting her borrow. Rin had asked someone in the house to clean them for her, she was glad that Kagome-chan looked so happy in them. Rin looked on and her keen eyes caught a sparkling object around Kagome's neck, she pointed to it, "Kagome-chan, what's that?"
"Oh, my necklace? It was a birthday present from my mom last year," Kagome said, tenderly fingering the trinket.
"Really? When's Kagome-chan's birthday?" Rin asked excitedly.
Kagome smiled and almost said something, but she stopped before anything came out, her face froze with her eyes wide open and her mouth forming a little round "o" in shock, horror, and/or disbelief. "Oh my gosh! It's tomorrow! My mom's expecting me home! Oh," she groaned smacking her forehead with the heel of her hand. "I completely forgot, with all that's been going on. Awe man, she's gonna be so disappointed."
"Is Kagome-chan sad?" Rin asked worriedly. "Rin can make it all better! Pretty flowers always make Rin feel better!"
Kagome smiled lovingly at the little girl running around the room, trying to find the fresh bouquet of flowers that she had picked only a few hours ago, and that she had been clutching ever since. Rin ran past Kagome and into the closet, she came out beaming, "Rin found them!" She stopped suddenly and furrowed her brows in thought, "But how'd they get there?" A bit more thought, "Oh! That's right," followed by a giggle.
Rin ran to present her beloved flowers to Kagome. Kagome looked at them at nearly laughed but she managed to hold herself back as she looked down to the bouquet of wilted and half-dead dandelions, some of which had already reached the point that they were white and ready to be blown to pieces. She reached down to take them and gathered Rin into a giant bear hug, "Thank you Rin. These make me feel so much better, thank you /so/ much."
"Welcome, Kagome-chan," Rin replied. "Rin just doesn't want Kagome-chan to feel sad, 'cause Rin knows how sad feeling sad can make you feel."
Kagome hugged Rin even harder, "Well there's no reason for me to feel sad right now and I don't, so don't worry about me, dear."
"Good!" Rin hugged back.
"Yes, good indeed," came a voice from the doorway. Rin and Kagome turned to see Sesshoumaru catching their touching "moment" (GAG! Sorry, the only thing that a "moment" has ever been able to touch with me is the back of my throat... as we have all been plainly able to see -_-V). "I'm sure there will be nothing wrong with Kagome. Although it might become very hard for anyone to travel if we do not start out now, in fact we may not even be able to play if we don't start soon."
At this Rin jumped up and ran out the door and left Kagome just sitting on the balls of her feet and staring up at Sesshoumaru. She glared at him and got up to follow Rin out the door, 'If he's not gonna tell me what happened in the foyer (I know, I know, not the best word buuut... too bad ^-^) then I really don't think that talking to him would be the best idea right now,' and she brushed right past him.
Sesshoumaru followed behind her at a safe distance and smiled secretly, 'She won't be so cold after I give her-- her birthday present.'
~*~
(A/N: *Gasp* 0.0, Sesshoumaru's gonna give a birthday present to someone that's not Rin???? And he's happy about it??? OOOO, better keep reading to find out what happens! And support these random moments by reviewing. There very well might be more of these random interruptions in the future if no one reviews... But I do thank those that do review regularly! You are the fuel for my fire... EEEEWWWWWW! That was mooooooshy!!! >_< But thanks for reviewing all the same! Now back to our regularly scheduled fic...)
~*~
"Keep up mutt-face!" Kouga yelled as he ran ahead of InuYasha, he looked back and laughed.
"Hey, you stupid wolf! Stop lookin' at me, just slow down and watch where you're go-" InuYasha was cut short by a loud thumping sound. He found Kouga face first in a tree trunk, embedded quite deeply. InuYasha laughed, at the sight of Kouga making an entirely different type of mark on a tree, than he was accustomed to.
"/That/ is why we look where we're going, aho," InuYasha was near to rolling with laughter as Kouga fell backwards out of his specially shaped indent onto the ground (Tee-hee, this is starting to sound like a Bugs Bunny cartoon...), letting a cloud of dirt fly up around his form.
As InuYasha continued his hysterical laughter Kouga began to regain a few of his senses (Not that he had many to begin with... okay, that was kinda mean, I really do love these guys, it's just that they're soooo much fun to screw with!!) and he sat up a little unsteadily. With his hand on his head he looked back at InuYasha who was barely able to keep himself standing up right, he was so shaken with laughter. Kouga glared as he tried to stand, and the promptly fell back onto his butt as a stinging pain went through his leg, causing another bout of laughter to come from the hanyou behind him. Kouga cursed loudly as he examined his leg, he had hurt it pretty badly, walking might turn out to be quite a chore for a while but they needed to find Kagome as soon as possible.
"Cut it out, mutt-face," Kouga snapped. "I think we have a little problem here."
InuYasha stopped laughing and went immediately to a straight face, "What do you mean, 'a little problem?'" (Whatchyou talkin' 'bout Willis?)
"I mean, I think I injured myself," Kouga said harshly.
"No duh! Really? You think you might have injured yourself by running into a tree going heavens knows how fast? You think that could do it?" InuYasha asked sarcastically
"Cut the s**t, dog-boy and help me up, we gotta figure a way around this, quickly you idiot, we don't have all day to waste!"
"/You're/ calling /me/ an idiot? I don't think so, you're the one who ran straight into the tree. You really should be more careful," InuYasha admonished as he walked over to the injured wolf demon.
"I'll be fine, you just gotta help me up," Kouga snapped.
InuYasha lowered his hand and let Kouga take it, Kouga put most of his weight onto his left foot when he finally got up and the rest on InuYasha's shoulder as he leaned on it. He shook his head, "C**p, I can't walk like this."
"So whaddaya wanna do about it?" InuYasha asked, looking down at the injured leg. "'Cause unless you got a horse hidden in your skirt, I don't see a way around just waiting it out."
Kouga looked down at his leg and thought for a moment (WHY does everyone wanna think here... what is it with this concept??), "I know!" Kouga shouted.
"What?" InuYasha asked, genuinely curious to know what kind of idea Kouga had.
"Gimme a ride on your back," Kouga commanded.
"WHAT?" InuYasha screamed.
Kouga rubbed his ear, "Not so loud, my ears are pretty sensitive ya know." InuYasha began to walk away, letting the wolf drop to the ground with another loud thud, "What the h**l was that for?"
InuYasha stopped and turned to look at the wolf with disbelief all over his face, "What do you mean ride on my back? Do you think you're gonna use me as a pack horse?"
"No, of course not, I don't have any stuff for you to carry. If I did, /then/ you'd be a pack horse, this is just a ride, it should be no biggy. Heck, didn't I give you a ride earlier?" he reminded InuYasha.
"Yah, but I didn't want a ride, you just threw me onto your nasty back and started runnin' (See-- or don't-- chapter four)! This is completely different! You were the one who volunteered, now, you're volunteering ME!!!" InuYasha was heaving deep breaths of anger at the thought of giving Kouga a ride. A human who was incapable of running as fast as himself was okay to give a ride to, but not someone who could run faster than him, in truth, it was a matter of pride.
"Come on man, loosen up, this is so we can find Kagome, remember?" Kouga pointed out from his place on the ground.
InuYasha squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, through clenched teeth he seethed a very small and poisonous sounding "Fine."
Kouga slapped the ground, "Good, then help me up and let's get movin'." InuYasha fought back the urge to pound him into the ground as he aided the demon.
~*~
"Kagome-chan!!" Rin ran ahead of both Sesshoumaru and Kagome. "Come on! Rin will race Kagome-chan to the meadow!"
Kagome smiled as she nodded and left Sesshoumaru in the dust, running after Rin and yet all the while making sure that she never quite caught up. She needed to think a little bit about what all had happened today but at the moment she would forget it all and play. "Wow Rin, I can barely keep up!" Kagome said to Rin in the way that all older people speak to children.
Rin didn't notice or if she had, she played along, "Yah, Sesshoumaru-sama told Rin that she was gettin' real fast too!" A look of pure glee spread across her tiny features as she sprinted into the clearing. A gasp escaped her mouth followed by a shrill squeal of excitement, "Look at all the flowers!" She ran even faster than she had been going before and began to pick whatever she could grab in her hands: dandelions, daffodils, morning glories, daisies, and other various wildflowers (Okay, so truth be told... I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a maple leaf and poison oak, so don't even BEGIN to expect me to know what the heck grows in Japan! I'll figure it out by accident later...) that were growing in abundance.
When Rin had gathered more flowers than she could carry she plopped down in the middle of the clearing and began to meticulously separate the flowers into two different piles. Kagome held back and stood a little ways away to observe Rin in action. Sesshoumaru came up behind her to stand beside her. Not willing to tear her eyes away from the precious sight of Rin nearly buried in flowers, Kagome spoke to Sesshoumaru, "She really is an adorable little thing, isn't she?"
Sesshoumaru nodded, also never separating his loving gaze from Rin. She had successfully completed her task and was at the moment, gathering her two separate piles into each hand keeping them from intermingling. She began to skip towards the pair of onlookers and as she neared them her smile grew even wider. She approached Sesshoumaru first and handed him one of the large bouquets and then gave the remaining one to Kagome, after her task was completed she skipped off in the opposite direction to go and entertain herself.
Kagome sighed contentedly, 'Okay, so I may not have to play with her, but at least she can have fun by herself, although, I suppose this means I have time to... think,' she thought with a grimace (Yay! See! That's the kind of reaction I would give that evil, evil word!). She sat down on a moderately sized boulder (Wow, these things are very conveniently placed everywhere, aren't they?) and gazed (aka stared off into space) in the general direction of Rin.
Sesshoumaru sat down upon a little knoll that jutted out around the rock that Kagome had seated herself on. And there they sat, in silence, except for the sounds of Rin playing, that is. Kagome replayed that entire afternoon in her head, trying to figure out what had caused such a sudden switch in Sesshoumaru's attitude, and then, not to mention, the sudden change back, that was the part that confused her the most. No, correction, what confused her the most was the fact that she had only known him, excluding the times he had tried to kill her and her companions, for a grand total of about three or four days (Heh, I lost count ^_^V), but she had felt no qualms about the kiss that they had shared. She looked down at his head, since she happened to be a tiny bit higher up than he was, sitting on the boulder and all. He had clearly had problems with what had happened earlier, heavens he had told her never to talk about it again.
'Why doesn't he want to talk about it?' she wondered.
'Because, stupid, he's a /guy/. They don't like to talk about those kids of things,' her mind answered.
'Yah, well neither do I,' the other part of her retorted. 'It makes me all uncomfortable and what not. There are always loaded questions and lotsa feelings and... well, I just don't like to. BUT, at least I know when it needs to be done, sometimes it's just imposable too avoid it.' She glared, 'He doesn't have to take such measures to avoid it.'
Sesshoumaru could feel Kagome's glare, and he turned his head in question, wondering, 'What did I do this time?'
As he made eye contact with her, she realized something, 'What kind of measures did he take? What, a threat? Well, okay, so his threats can be kinda scary, but...'
"Time to talk," Kagome's eyes widened because, that's the line that she was just about to use.
"About what?" she asked innocently.
Sesshoumaru arched an elegant brow, "You know what."
Kagome rolled her eyes and looked off into the distance again, "Of /course/ I know what, but it's my job to play stupid and ask what. Then maybe you'll start the conversation all by yourself."
"Play?" her head snapped back and she looked at him wide eyed and incredulous. He was smirking. Great.
A slow smirk played on Kagome's own lips, "Yes, I only 'play' stupid. In reality, I am..." she paused for dramatic effect, "a super genius." Her hand went over her eyes in a mock faint. From which she quickly recovered to add, "But that doesn't mean that either of us gets to back out of talking about this." Her finger pointed accusingly at Sesshoumaru.
"I wouldn't dream such an indecent thought," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. His mood was brightening for the first time in what seemed to be-- well, it was a really long time, okay? It might have been a good guess to say that, at that very moment, they would have started their much needed conversation, but that was before they caught a little person crouching in the long grass, attempting to spy on them. Kagome giggled and gave a small nod of her head in the direction that Rin was hidden in. Sesshoumaru let her know that he was aware of the presence of extra company.
"Have you seen Rin?" he asked in an overly loud voice.
"No, where do you think she is? She wouldn't have run away, would she?" Kagome replied in the same volume and tone.
"She wouldn't have!" Sesshoumaru played along. "Whatever would I do without a Rin by my side at every waking moment?!" Kagome, in truth, was pretty surprised by this reaction, she had expected him to play along, but so well? Teasing seemed to come second nature to him, although, it didn't look as though it should have. Instead of showing her surprise she just smiled a secret smile and went along.
"Oh! If we do not find Rin soon, I fear that I may cry," Kagome yelled, becoming cheesier as the moment called for it.
At the sound of Kagome's loud, fake sobs, Rin jumped out of the brush and ran towards her, nearly knocking her down as she launched herself into Kagome's lap. "No! No Kagome-chan! Don't cry! See," she pulled back to show Kagome herself. "See! Rin's right here!"
Kagome took her face out of her hands and smiled brightly, "I know!" With that she tickled Rin a sufficient amount to show her that she was not at all really sad, and that she was aware that Rin had not really gone anywhere.
After Rin's tickle-attack, she pushed herself off of Kagome and fell into Sesshoumaru's lap. She looked up at him, her feet still in Kagome's lap but her head in Sesshoumaru's, "See, Rin would never leave Sesshoumaru-sama!" She pulled his face down to hers and placed a kiss on his cheek. As he pulled away Rin stifled a large yawn.
"I believe that that means it is time to go home," Sesshoumaru said.
"But Rin isn't sleepy!"
"I don't remember saying anything about sleep."
"Rin knows but as soon as we get home, it'll be bed time!!" she lamented.
"Okay then," Kagome piped in. "How about a bedtime story when we get there then? How does that sound?"
Rin jumped up, a large amount of energy still all bottled up inside of her (The kind that just doesn't seem to come with the caffeine... I wanna bottle her energy and sell it! ... Oh heck w/ that! I'd use it!), "YAH! Race! Race! Race!" and she was off, Kagome not far behind, but still, always a little bit behind.
~*~
"And they lived happily ever after, the end," Kagome had concluded her story seated next to Rin who was all snuggled up in her futon.
"Another one!" she called.
"No, rest now, another one tomorrow," Sesshoumaru said from his spot by the door, still standing nonetheless.
"Ooookay," Rin sighed as she cozied down into her covers. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.
Kagome looked at the sleeping child in awe, "Wow, I wish I could do that."
"Do what?" Sesshoumaru asked.
Getting up she replied, "Have all that energy and have it strong until I go to bed. You know, not have to slow down before resting, just poof, out like a light."
As they turned in through the designated door Sesshoumaru stopped short, "You go on, I shall be there in a moment." Kagome nodded and went in, Sesshoumaru slid the door shut behind her.
As soon as the door was shut Kagome smiled to herself, 'I only had the bucket for a grand total of a half a day!' she thought, readying herself for bed.
But on the other side of the door Sesshoumaru calmly called "Jaken."
"Yes mi lord!" came the grating reply.
"Quieter or I shall ensure your silence," Sesshoumaru snapped.
"Yes mi lord," Jaken said, just barely audible, but with his hearing, Sesshoumaru caught it loud and clear.
"Good. Now then, I need you to run an errand for me and if you foul this up, it will mean your head..."
~*~
Sesshoumaru slipped into the room stealthily, since Kagome was already asleep. It seemed she did have the same abilities that Rin did, she just wasn't aware of them, just as Rin wasn't. He was about to sit down in the corner that he had wanted to sleep in the night prior but the door slid open again. He had heard the tiny footsteps, he had just hoped that they might turn around-- they hadn't.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome-chan, could Rin sleep here tonight?" Kagome was automatically up and holding her arms wide open for the child.
"Sure sweetheart, come on."
Sesshoumaru was a little shocked at how quickly she had reacted and woken up to the cry of a child, but he shook his head and shut the door behind Rin. After which, he headed straight for the corner.
"Please Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin called. He knew exactly what she wanted, of course he would give in.
"Only once more, but no more leaving in the middle of the night, okay?" Rin nodded her head sleepily as she held her arms open and Sesshoumaru snuggled in next to her. They were all instantly asleep, no winding down for any of the three.
~*~
Sesshoumaru woke up to a familiar and yet unfamiliar warmth next to him, right next to him. It was Kagome again, he sighed. Rin had left early again and that left Kagome and himself to migrate towards each other, once again, sometime after she had left. He was once again faced with the decision of what he should do.
A tiny call saved him from having to choose whether to go back to sleep, wake her up, or just sneak out. He was forced to resort to the latter as Jaken continued to call his name while walking up and down the halls.
He swiftly exited the room and was in front of his servant with in milliseconds, "Jaken, I told you last night that I wanted no one awake for this." His death glare was evident, even in the lack of early morning light.
Jaken quaked a little and muttered an apology and handed Sesshoumaru the package containing exactly what he had ordered the night before. Taking a peek inside he smiled, "Perfect."
~*~
Hands were rubbing eyes and yawns were stifled as everyone sat around the breakfast table. Eating was a slow process for the two eaters at the table, but it did eventually get done. Sesshoumaru looked on with amusement, Rin sometimes took a while to wake up, sometimes not. Today was a day where it seemed that the waking up process would be delayed a bit. Sesshoumaru shifted his gaze, Kagome did not seem to be a morning person at all. Her noodles were hanging from her mouth, inching ever so slowly, upwards towards its destination. Sesshoumaru smirked a bit as he watched the two in "action."
"En-en (en is the Japanese sound effect for whimper... I didn't know how it would be spelled in English besides *whimper* so I looked it up in the back of a manga... ain't manga grand?)," Sesshoumaru's smirk was immediately wiped off of his face as his eyes grew wide and Kagome's head snapped in his direction.
"Did-did your fluffy thing just-- whimper?" Kagome squinted her eyes, her vision still blurry from just waking up.
Sesshoumaru held his regal bearings and looked down at her, "It is not a 'fluffy thing,' it is my tail."
Kagome un-squinted her eyes and looked at him instead of his tail, "Ooookaay, out of the kindness of my heart, I won't touch that one right now. But what I wanna know is, why did it just whimper?"
Sesshoumaru put an indignant look upon his face and replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about, but my tail does not whimper." He looked away and added, "No part of me shall ever 'whimper.'"
Kagome rolled her eyes but let the subject drop to continue eating her breakfast with the same vigor she had started it with. Rin was still eating at a slower pace than Kagome had seen before, so to liven up the mood, in secret hopes of waking herself up in the process, Kagome decided to suggest some more play time in the meadow, this time before they went out to practice more with her fire (Neh, they're not "practicing with fire” they’re playin' with it! O.O Mwahahahahaha! Burn baby burn!!!!)
This thought was very well received by some, "YAH!! PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!!" And only moderately well received by the rest as Sesshoumaru nodded his head in agreement, then again, this could also be seen as being well received considering the subject (person for those of us who didn't think that quite made sense w/o explanation).
So after breakfast they were off again, to the same meadow, and then ending up in the same position that they had been the previous night. Rin gathered more flowers and gave them to the two. This time though, one bouquet was bigger than the other, this one was given to Kagome and accompanied by a giant hug and a loud "Happy birthday, Kagome-chan!" and she was off again to entertain herself amidst the flowery plain.
Kagome sat there, sniffing her bouquet until she heard a whimper come from right beside her on the knoll. She slowly turned her head to Sesshoumaru, eyes wide, "What was /that/?"
Sesshoumaru looked at her in question, "What was what?"
Kagome was about to give her sarcastic remark when her eyes grew, if at all possible, even larger as she pointed at Sesshoumaru's tail. "Y-your tail! It's whimpering, a-and only a little bit of it is moving! Do you have like hundreds of little tails in there?! 'Cause that's the ONLY way that I can think of, that that would be even close to possible!"
Sesshoumaru was about to defend himself when his tail proceeded to let out a tiny bark. He sighed and did the most unexpected of all things, he pulled out a small white puppy from beneath his tail and handed it unceremoniously to Kagome. "Happy birthday," he muttered.
Kagome took the tiny ball of fur and gave stuttered thanks. She looked the puppy in the face and cooed, "She's so adorable, thank you so much."
Sesshoumaru said nothing but nodded and continued to pretend to watch Rin from a distance. Kagome would have none of it, she took the puppy in one hand and leaned down to Sesshoumaru to hug him from the side as best she could. "I mean it, thank you," she detached herself from a shocked demon lord. "I don't know why you did it and I'm pretty sure you're not gonna tell me, but thank you. I didn't know what I was going to do. I've never spent a birthday away from my family, I didn't know how it was going to go, but Rin did her best to cheer me up and it was working a bit, but this, this just takes the cake, thank you so much."
"The puppy is a he."
"Wh-what?" Kagome asked, a little confused.
"You referred to him as a she, he happens to be male."
"Oh, but still thank you," Kagome smiled.
Sesshoumaru seemed bound and determined to avoid the thanks that Kagome was avidly trying to give him, "What shall you name the pup? It should be something dignified, honorable, and above all-"
"Udon!" Kagome cried, holding the pure white puppy above her head, his tail wagging with joy for the fresh air that he had been denied most of that day.
"Noodles?" Sesshoumaru replied wryly. "You intend to name him after noodles?" Kagome brought the puppy close to her chest and nodded solemnly. "Are you hungry?"
Kagome nodded again, "Yah, I didn't exactly get to eat all of my breakfast before Rin decided that we had to leave."
"And whose fault is that?" Sesshoumaru asked, referring both to the general rate that Kagome had been eating at and the fact that it had been her idea to come to the meadow early in the first place.
"Yours," she stated, playing with the newly dubbed Udon.
Sesshoumaru looked at her in utter surprise, "What do you mean mine?"
"I mean, if you hadn't decided to work me so hard last night, I wouldn't have been so dead this morning, is all."
Sesshoumaru rubbed his temples, "I attempt to aid you in honing your new skills, give you no grief as you constantly set me ablaze, /and/ give you a birthday gift and all I receive in return is a complaint about working you too hard." He was teasing her, but Kagome never knew when he was kidding or being serious, it was an odd dilemma to have considering who she was with.
Kagome, feeling guilty, because kidding or not, he was right, slid off the boulder, set the adorable puppy down and stood in front of Sesshoumaru. "Could you please stand up?" Sesshoumaru gave her an enquiring look but rose nonetheless. "Thank you," was all that she said before she attached herself to his middle-- much like Rin had done when they had first met, she came to about the same place on him too.
Sesshoumaru's eyes grew, but they returned to their regularly slender shape as he smiled down at her and returned the hug, unable to resist. "You're welcome," he said tenderly, not expecting it of himself but letting it go anyway. He heard Rin come up behind them and Kagome felt her attach herself to them in a three way hug. Kagome pulled away a little and smiled down at her.
"Thank you both," they all released one another and Kagome turned to grab Udon, who was making it known that he was not partial to being left out of the hug. Rin squealed at the sight of the tiny animal as she played the twenty questions game with Kagome about it. Kagome answered them all, in perfect order too. Sesshoumaru was a little shocked, but truthfully, not too much, he had seen how well she related to Rin and how well every thing seemed to flow between them.
Sesshoumaru watched as Kagome nuzzled Udon and scratched him behind the ears, she even kissed his cheek (if that's what you call that part of a dog's face, 'cause I really have noooo idea...). But as he viewed all of this, the strangest thing happened, a new and entirely unpleasant emotion swept through him. He knew what it was instantly though.
'C**p, I should have gotten a female dog,' then he stopped himself. 'No, I need to calm down, being jealous off a dog is completely pathetic.' Kagome kissed Udon's wet nose and Udon kissed her back with his giant tongue, the feeling swept through him again. 'But he's moving in on my-' he cut himself off before finishing the thought. 'Oh c**p, not what I need to be thinking. She is /not/ mine, and I do not intend-" this he cut short also. He sat back on the knoll and sighed, not allowing himself to think anymore, and instead just listening to the pleasant chatter of Kagome and Rin. He would decide everything at a later date, or perhaps even just a later time. Things had progressed further than he had ever even dreamt that they might, several things had changed in the process including himself. He would need to ponder this one in depth, now was not the time, now was the time to relax and enjoy the jovial company that he had inadvertently surrounded himself with.
'Yes, this shall be sorted out later...'
~*~
"Miroku! I think I found something!" Shippo called. They had been able to track Kagome's scent much further than InuYasha and Kouga had been. In fact they passed their scent long ago, and both Miroku and Shippo had made much better progress.
"What is it?" Miroku asked, running to catch up to the little fox child. He had been a little ways away looking for the types of clues that he could find, not including scent, but not excluding the discovery of discarded wrappers from Kagome's time (*Gasp* 0.0... Kagome's a litter bug!!!).
"I think that they were headed in this direction," Shippo replied as the pointed in the direction that he believed Kagome and Sesshoumaru may have gone.
"Good, we'll follow that lead!" Miroku said as Shippo jumped to his shoulder-- since Miroku had a longer stride and was much faster on foot-- and Shippo proceeded to guide them to their target-- the missing Kagome.
~*~
A/N: Yay! It's all done... well, this chapter anywho. Wow, that would be a real sucky cliff-hanger... OoOo... No one knows if he will ever declare his undying love for her! Wow, how many flames would I get if I did THAT... Anywho, all decisions have been made, exceptin' one... and once again, I come before the great audience to ask their take on it.... Should there be a lemon scene? It would be tactful and probably only one, it would be used to... enhance? Okay, truth be told it would be one of two things, 1) my personal first lemon scene (I've started a few but never finished them) or B) <-Hahaha-- Mirokus Wench would be the author of the lemon scene... she's real good with 'em... I think... yah, so tell me... and in the mean time... REVIEW!! I got so few reviews last time... It's really sad when you start to lose an audience just because of one really sucky chapter... Please! Tell me what's wrong... don't just stop reading (this, my friends is the voice of desperation). Anywho, I'm gonna stop sounding so desperate and just say: hoped you enjoyed it and I think I've got a few good ideas for the near future! Thanks again and don't forget to
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T hanks ^-^!
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Disclaimer: So, what would happen if I actually said that I owned all of these characters? They gonna sue me for all I've got? Do they REALLY want my two paper clips and the purple button in my pocket? I suppose they can have them... if they're /that/ desperate, that is... Okay, so just to clear all of this up, I don't own them -_-V... I like my purple button...
Chapter Seven- Surprise!
~*~
BUT FIRST!! A REWRITE/RECAP!!! (If no one remembers Rin just dumped a bunch of flour and water all over Kagome. Sesshoumaru got a pretty good laugh out of it aaand Rin has proceeded to run away and leave Kagome standing in the middle of the room with gooey shtuff all over her, Sesshoumaru was just beginning to recover from his laughing fit):
This was just as soon as Sesshoumaru was beginning to compose himself, small sporadic chuckles still coming from him as he stood. He walked over to the still giggling Kagome and wiped a bit more off of her face, stating as calmly as he could, "You missed a spot."
She looked up at him with a sarcastic smirk spreading across her face, "Oh really? I think you may have missed a spot too."
Sesshoumaru couldn't help it, his eyes widened in a surprised kind of question, he hadn't gotten any on himself had-- his thoughts were cut short by the sight of Kagome's hand nearing his face. Before he was able to do anything else Kagome was in the process of smearing the dough all over his face, nary a spot was missed by her goopy hand. "Yah, just a little bit, right there," her smile began to grow.
He couldn't believe his eyes, had this little girl just spread a messy substance over /his/ beautiful face (okay, kinda arrogant but... he can't help it if it's true can he??)? No one, /no one/ had ever dared to do anything of the sort to him, the great and powerful Lord Sesshoumaru, then again, if it were anyone else, they would have probably been dead at this very moment. But something stopped him, something in her eyes, the very same eyes that had warned him when she became angered were now communicating something that not only could he not understand but also that held him back. He couldn't grasp any particular reason as to why though. Her eyes were sparkling, they glimmered, shimmered (Ewwww-- Glitter.... didn't that movie completely bomb?), and they pulled him into their grasp. Her smirk was sarcastic and her eyes were happy, those caramel orbs were laughing, they made him feel the sudden urge to laugh also.
He stood back, a bit unsure as to what to do with this daring move and even more daring eye contact. He soon overcame this and a slow smirk made its way to his lips, "Really? Did I now?"
"Oh, yup, you most certainly did," Kagome laughed.
"Yes, well it seems that there is just a bit that you have missed yourself," Sesshoumaru pointed out.
"No, really?" Kagome looked around herself, in mock surprise. "Where is it? I don't see any at all!" she exaggerated as she stood in a pool of whatever she had "not seen."
"Yes, really," Sesshoumaru closed the distance between them and lowered his voice. "Right here," was accompanied by a light graze of his thumb over her lips, wiping some of the sticky substance off and lowering his own already clean lips to hers. Kagome had no time to think before he had already claimed her lips and she was off in another world, lost in the sweet feeling of a small, chaste kiss. His thumb was gently resting on her jaw line, and to her heightened senses, the contact felt heavenly.
Sesshoumaru was a little taken aback at how welcoming her lips were and how he soon forgot that the kiss was initiated to stop the smirk on her face from growing any further-- or that's what he told himself anyway. He was not expecting to feel her lips and become addicted to them, and so quickly too! Their kiss was about to enter a new level without either of them really thinking about it when a shrill and definitely unwelcome voice pierced the air, "Sesshoumaru-sama, I can't find the little bra--? Sesshoumaru-sama?! What is going on here? What are you doing?" Jaken screamed at the top of his tiny, but obviously well equipped lungs.
Sesshoumaru pulled away from Kagome, sighing and resting his forehead on hers, muttering in a dangerously low tone, "I was just pondering how many different ways there might be to grill anything by the name of Jaken, on a stick. I was heading towards flame broiled."
"Oh, he, i-is that all," Jaken asked nervously, backing away a bit at a time. "If that's all then, I-I think that I should go find that dear little human brat, Rin. Rin?! Rin, where are you?!" his voice echoed through out the hallway as he ran as fast and as far away as his stubby legs could carry him.
~*~ End the new and only slightly improved... end of chapter six...
Chapter Seven- Surprise! (No really, I mean it this time!)
At the sound of a small, green, gutless wonder nearly flying down the hallway Sesshoumaru snapped out of whatever little world he had let himself wander into. He jumped up from his resting place on Kagome's head, and stared sternly down at her.
"Oh no," Kagome said, throwing her hands up and backing up a half a step. "You are NOT pinning this one on me, that was all you, bud."
Sesshoumaru scoffed, "I said nothing of the sort. But," his voice was sharp, he turned so he was not forced to face her and crossed his arms across his chest, "there will be no more talk of this incident."
Kagome's brows furrowed and her hands flew to her hips in the classic nagging-wife stance, 'What does he mean, "no more talk of this incident?" He was the one who started it, and besides, I wanna know why! No fair cutting off the information before I get to it! Oh, he'll talk about it alright, whether he knows it or not, he'll talk about it!'
"What are you doing, just standing there?" Sesshoumaru said, his head turned over his shoulder so he could make eye contact with her, telling her in his own "male species" (Yes, I do mean as a whole other species... that's correct, right?) way that he would not acknowledge that anything out of the ordinary had happened between them. "Go clean up, I promised Rin an outing, remember?"
Kagome rolled her eyes and let out a large exasperated sigh, her arms flopping to her sides out of pure frustration with this particular male. She spun on her heel and marched up stairs to the room that she had come to know a little bit better in the past two days. As soon as she was out of sight Sesshoumaru turned around and sighed, "Why is it that she can walk away from me and yet I cannot seem to walk away from /her/?" But this, of course, was the least of his worries. The biggest thing that lay on his mind was WHY?
He looked around to see if anyone was near, he could neither see nor detect anyone, so he flopped against the nearest wall and slid down it until he was seated on the floor, the wall being the only thing keeping him up. He set his head in his hand and his elbow on his knee, and the thought process began (Uh-oh... thinking is NEVER a good thing!). 'What was that for? Why did I do it?' he sighed. 'Simple, you wanted to.'
'No, you did not! You wished merely to wipe that silly smirk off of her obstinate face!' another sigh was given from the great lord of the Western Plains.
'Uh-huh, sure that's the reason, I wanted to wipe a smile off of her face. There are two faults with that theory,' he told himself. 'First, if I had truly wanted to "wipe a smirk off of her obstinate face" then I could have just smacked her across the room. Second, and most important, not to mention confusing, I really have no desire whatsoever to banish a smile of any kind from her face or-' he opened his eyes to stare down at the floor, 'or, her dancing eyes.' One more sigh and a muttered "D**n" flew from his lips, lips that were still tingling pleasurably from their recent encounter with Kagome's.
With a few moments of silence he thought, thought on everything and at the same time, nothing at all (OOO, I like doing that one! Nothing at all is what I do best!). During this awkward moment of silence with himself he stumbled across something that wouldn't solve all of his problems but did help him feel a little better. 'I do believe I said that I would let this go and see where it would lead me. It would make no sense to do that and then berate myself for doing so. Everything has lead me to this very place and I must find something to do about it, good or bad. The question is, do I wish to continue with this strange rush of emotion that just moments ago overcame me? Or, on the other hand, I could merely shove all of these worthless emotions aside and continue with my life in the way that I know it was meant to go,' he turned these thoughts over.
As his thoughts turned and turned and turned he came across yet another little something that might help him in his time of difficult decisions, when this hit him his head popped up, causing a few strands of his hair to become stuck in the bits of dough still on his face, long forgotten by now though. His eyes lit up as his thought matured into a full blown revelation, 'If I knew where I was meant to go, would I be here now?' (This may be loosely translated as "I was wrong," but then again, we may never hear these words uttered by one so great 9_9 <-Look! I'm rolling my eyes! ^-^). 'My life is going not at all as it was "supposed" to go, so why do I insist on believing what I can merely assume?'
The other part of his mind quietly answered for him, 'To remain safe from a great hurt that has been felt before.'
He nearly winced at the cruel point, bringing up many painful memories of a heart so fully given and so easily broken by the one who supposedly held it safe for all time. 'That very well could happen again,' he thought gravely.
He slowly tilted his head as an alluring sound reached his sensitive ears, the sweet melody was coming from a few rooms down, it was Rin, humming one of her favorite songs. A happy little tune that never failed to bring a smile to Sesshoumaru's mental visage, but this time the smile turned slightly bitter. 'She has given her heart many times, and it has been broken in many of those instances,' his brows furrowed as he remembered the story of Rin's family and how abandoned she had felt once she was on her own. 'So many times for one so young and yet she continues to give and give. She has given her heart to this Sesshoumaru and the young Kagome,' this thought triggered another thought. 'She has given a little piece of her heart to Kagome, if Kagome leaves, that little piece shall be broken,' and even though he did not wish to admit it to himself a small part of him whispered 'As would a piece of mine.'
With this, his mind was made up, even though he wasn't really sure as to what he had made up his mind to do. In a flash he was up and on his feet again, his regal stance showing no signs of having been left for any amount of time. He suddenly became very aware of the rapidly drying flecks of dough on his cheeks and he began to wipe them off with the back of his hand, which of course was covered by his sleeve (What else are sleeves for? They're just giant napkins if ya ask me).
As he did this Rin streaked across the room and headed for the stairs. Sesshoumaru followed her movements with his ears and found that she was bound for the room that Kagome was presently bathing in. He waited to see where this would lead, since, of course, he would be able to hear whatever would be said...
~*~ In the room type thingy that they've been staying in...
"Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan!" Rin yelled as she raced into the room.
Kagome, being done bathing poked her head out of the washroom and smiled at the little girl waiting quite impatiently in front of the door, "What is it Rin?"
"Rin was wondering when Kagome-chan would be finished, 'cause Rin is really excited to go out and play with Kagome-chan!"
Kagome smiled again and replied, "No worries, Rin, I'll be out in just a-" she cut herself off when she spied her uniform sitting, folded and clean, on the table in the middle of the room. "Haa (supposed to be an intake of breath... shoosh! It was the best I could come up with at... AAHHH! 3:21 AM... -_-V no, no, don't worry, I'm not sleep deprived at all...), Rin! Could you do me a favor and hand me those clothes on the table?"
Rin nodded and grabbed the uniform and handed it to Kagome who promptly snatched it out of the child's hands and excused herself to put her clothes on. Kagome came out sighing with relief, "That's soooo much better!"
Rin smiled happily, she thought that Kagome-chan might like to have her clothes back, she looked all stiff and uncomfortable in the ones that Sesshoumaru-sama was letting her borrow. Rin had asked someone in the house to clean them for her, she was glad that Kagome-chan looked so happy in them. Rin looked on and her keen eyes caught a sparkling object around Kagome's neck, she pointed to it, "Kagome-chan, what's that?"
"Oh, my necklace? It was a birthday present from my mom last year," Kagome said, tenderly fingering the trinket.
"Really? When's Kagome-chan's birthday?" Rin asked excitedly.
Kagome smiled and almost said something, but she stopped before anything came out, her face froze with her eyes wide open and her mouth forming a little round "o" in shock, horror, and/or disbelief. "Oh my gosh! It's tomorrow! My mom's expecting me home! Oh," she groaned smacking her forehead with the heel of her hand. "I completely forgot, with all that's been going on. Awe man, she's gonna be so disappointed."
"Is Kagome-chan sad?" Rin asked worriedly. "Rin can make it all better! Pretty flowers always make Rin feel better!"
Kagome smiled lovingly at the little girl running around the room, trying to find the fresh bouquet of flowers that she had picked only a few hours ago, and that she had been clutching ever since. Rin ran past Kagome and into the closet, she came out beaming, "Rin found them!" She stopped suddenly and furrowed her brows in thought, "But how'd they get there?" A bit more thought, "Oh! That's right," followed by a giggle.
Rin ran to present her beloved flowers to Kagome. Kagome looked at them at nearly laughed but she managed to hold herself back as she looked down to the bouquet of wilted and half-dead dandelions, some of which had already reached the point that they were white and ready to be blown to pieces. She reached down to take them and gathered Rin into a giant bear hug, "Thank you Rin. These make me feel so much better, thank you /so/ much."
"Welcome, Kagome-chan," Rin replied. "Rin just doesn't want Kagome-chan to feel sad, 'cause Rin knows how sad feeling sad can make you feel."
Kagome hugged Rin even harder, "Well there's no reason for me to feel sad right now and I don't, so don't worry about me, dear."
"Good!" Rin hugged back.
"Yes, good indeed," came a voice from the doorway. Rin and Kagome turned to see Sesshoumaru catching their touching "moment" (GAG! Sorry, the only thing that a "moment" has ever been able to touch with me is the back of my throat... as we have all been plainly able to see -_-V). "I'm sure there will be nothing wrong with Kagome. Although it might become very hard for anyone to travel if we do not start out now, in fact we may not even be able to play if we don't start soon."
At this Rin jumped up and ran out the door and left Kagome just sitting on the balls of her feet and staring up at Sesshoumaru. She glared at him and got up to follow Rin out the door, 'If he's not gonna tell me what happened in the foyer (I know, I know, not the best word buuut... too bad ^-^) then I really don't think that talking to him would be the best idea right now,' and she brushed right past him.
Sesshoumaru followed behind her at a safe distance and smiled secretly, 'She won't be so cold after I give her-- her birthday present.'
~*~
(A/N: *Gasp* 0.0, Sesshoumaru's gonna give a birthday present to someone that's not Rin???? And he's happy about it??? OOOO, better keep reading to find out what happens! And support these random moments by reviewing. There very well might be more of these random interruptions in the future if no one reviews... But I do thank those that do review regularly! You are the fuel for my fire... EEEEWWWWWW! That was mooooooshy!!! >_< But thanks for reviewing all the same! Now back to our regularly scheduled fic...)
~*~
"Keep up mutt-face!" Kouga yelled as he ran ahead of InuYasha, he looked back and laughed.
"Hey, you stupid wolf! Stop lookin' at me, just slow down and watch where you're go-" InuYasha was cut short by a loud thumping sound. He found Kouga face first in a tree trunk, embedded quite deeply. InuYasha laughed, at the sight of Kouga making an entirely different type of mark on a tree, than he was accustomed to.
"/That/ is why we look where we're going, aho," InuYasha was near to rolling with laughter as Kouga fell backwards out of his specially shaped indent onto the ground (Tee-hee, this is starting to sound like a Bugs Bunny cartoon...), letting a cloud of dirt fly up around his form.
As InuYasha continued his hysterical laughter Kouga began to regain a few of his senses (Not that he had many to begin with... okay, that was kinda mean, I really do love these guys, it's just that they're soooo much fun to screw with!!) and he sat up a little unsteadily. With his hand on his head he looked back at InuYasha who was barely able to keep himself standing up right, he was so shaken with laughter. Kouga glared as he tried to stand, and the promptly fell back onto his butt as a stinging pain went through his leg, causing another bout of laughter to come from the hanyou behind him. Kouga cursed loudly as he examined his leg, he had hurt it pretty badly, walking might turn out to be quite a chore for a while but they needed to find Kagome as soon as possible.
"Cut it out, mutt-face," Kouga snapped. "I think we have a little problem here."
InuYasha stopped laughing and went immediately to a straight face, "What do you mean, 'a little problem?'" (Whatchyou talkin' 'bout Willis?)
"I mean, I think I injured myself," Kouga said harshly.
"No duh! Really? You think you might have injured yourself by running into a tree going heavens knows how fast? You think that could do it?" InuYasha asked sarcastically
"Cut the s**t, dog-boy and help me up, we gotta figure a way around this, quickly you idiot, we don't have all day to waste!"
"/You're/ calling /me/ an idiot? I don't think so, you're the one who ran straight into the tree. You really should be more careful," InuYasha admonished as he walked over to the injured wolf demon.
"I'll be fine, you just gotta help me up," Kouga snapped.
InuYasha lowered his hand and let Kouga take it, Kouga put most of his weight onto his left foot when he finally got up and the rest on InuYasha's shoulder as he leaned on it. He shook his head, "C**p, I can't walk like this."
"So whaddaya wanna do about it?" InuYasha asked, looking down at the injured leg. "'Cause unless you got a horse hidden in your skirt, I don't see a way around just waiting it out."
Kouga looked down at his leg and thought for a moment (WHY does everyone wanna think here... what is it with this concept??), "I know!" Kouga shouted.
"What?" InuYasha asked, genuinely curious to know what kind of idea Kouga had.
"Gimme a ride on your back," Kouga commanded.
"WHAT?" InuYasha screamed.
Kouga rubbed his ear, "Not so loud, my ears are pretty sensitive ya know." InuYasha began to walk away, letting the wolf drop to the ground with another loud thud, "What the h**l was that for?"
InuYasha stopped and turned to look at the wolf with disbelief all over his face, "What do you mean ride on my back? Do you think you're gonna use me as a pack horse?"
"No, of course not, I don't have any stuff for you to carry. If I did, /then/ you'd be a pack horse, this is just a ride, it should be no biggy. Heck, didn't I give you a ride earlier?" he reminded InuYasha.
"Yah, but I didn't want a ride, you just threw me onto your nasty back and started runnin' (See-- or don't-- chapter four)! This is completely different! You were the one who volunteered, now, you're volunteering ME!!!" InuYasha was heaving deep breaths of anger at the thought of giving Kouga a ride. A human who was incapable of running as fast as himself was okay to give a ride to, but not someone who could run faster than him, in truth, it was a matter of pride.
"Come on man, loosen up, this is so we can find Kagome, remember?" Kouga pointed out from his place on the ground.
InuYasha squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, through clenched teeth he seethed a very small and poisonous sounding "Fine."
Kouga slapped the ground, "Good, then help me up and let's get movin'." InuYasha fought back the urge to pound him into the ground as he aided the demon.
~*~
"Kagome-chan!!" Rin ran ahead of both Sesshoumaru and Kagome. "Come on! Rin will race Kagome-chan to the meadow!"
Kagome smiled as she nodded and left Sesshoumaru in the dust, running after Rin and yet all the while making sure that she never quite caught up. She needed to think a little bit about what all had happened today but at the moment she would forget it all and play. "Wow Rin, I can barely keep up!" Kagome said to Rin in the way that all older people speak to children.
Rin didn't notice or if she had, she played along, "Yah, Sesshoumaru-sama told Rin that she was gettin' real fast too!" A look of pure glee spread across her tiny features as she sprinted into the clearing. A gasp escaped her mouth followed by a shrill squeal of excitement, "Look at all the flowers!" She ran even faster than she had been going before and began to pick whatever she could grab in her hands: dandelions, daffodils, morning glories, daisies, and other various wildflowers (Okay, so truth be told... I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a maple leaf and poison oak, so don't even BEGIN to expect me to know what the heck grows in Japan! I'll figure it out by accident later...) that were growing in abundance.
When Rin had gathered more flowers than she could carry she plopped down in the middle of the clearing and began to meticulously separate the flowers into two different piles. Kagome held back and stood a little ways away to observe Rin in action. Sesshoumaru came up behind her to stand beside her. Not willing to tear her eyes away from the precious sight of Rin nearly buried in flowers, Kagome spoke to Sesshoumaru, "She really is an adorable little thing, isn't she?"
Sesshoumaru nodded, also never separating his loving gaze from Rin. She had successfully completed her task and was at the moment, gathering her two separate piles into each hand keeping them from intermingling. She began to skip towards the pair of onlookers and as she neared them her smile grew even wider. She approached Sesshoumaru first and handed him one of the large bouquets and then gave the remaining one to Kagome, after her task was completed she skipped off in the opposite direction to go and entertain herself.
Kagome sighed contentedly, 'Okay, so I may not have to play with her, but at least she can have fun by herself, although, I suppose this means I have time to... think,' she thought with a grimace (Yay! See! That's the kind of reaction I would give that evil, evil word!). She sat down on a moderately sized boulder (Wow, these things are very conveniently placed everywhere, aren't they?) and gazed (aka stared off into space) in the general direction of Rin.
Sesshoumaru sat down upon a little knoll that jutted out around the rock that Kagome had seated herself on. And there they sat, in silence, except for the sounds of Rin playing, that is. Kagome replayed that entire afternoon in her head, trying to figure out what had caused such a sudden switch in Sesshoumaru's attitude, and then, not to mention, the sudden change back, that was the part that confused her the most. No, correction, what confused her the most was the fact that she had only known him, excluding the times he had tried to kill her and her companions, for a grand total of about three or four days (Heh, I lost count ^_^V), but she had felt no qualms about the kiss that they had shared. She looked down at his head, since she happened to be a tiny bit higher up than he was, sitting on the boulder and all. He had clearly had problems with what had happened earlier, heavens he had told her never to talk about it again.
'Why doesn't he want to talk about it?' she wondered.
'Because, stupid, he's a /guy/. They don't like to talk about those kids of things,' her mind answered.
'Yah, well neither do I,' the other part of her retorted. 'It makes me all uncomfortable and what not. There are always loaded questions and lotsa feelings and... well, I just don't like to. BUT, at least I know when it needs to be done, sometimes it's just imposable too avoid it.' She glared, 'He doesn't have to take such measures to avoid it.'
Sesshoumaru could feel Kagome's glare, and he turned his head in question, wondering, 'What did I do this time?'
As he made eye contact with her, she realized something, 'What kind of measures did he take? What, a threat? Well, okay, so his threats can be kinda scary, but...'
"Time to talk," Kagome's eyes widened because, that's the line that she was just about to use.
"About what?" she asked innocently.
Sesshoumaru arched an elegant brow, "You know what."
Kagome rolled her eyes and looked off into the distance again, "Of /course/ I know what, but it's my job to play stupid and ask what. Then maybe you'll start the conversation all by yourself."
"Play?" her head snapped back and she looked at him wide eyed and incredulous. He was smirking. Great.
A slow smirk played on Kagome's own lips, "Yes, I only 'play' stupid. In reality, I am..." she paused for dramatic effect, "a super genius." Her hand went over her eyes in a mock faint. From which she quickly recovered to add, "But that doesn't mean that either of us gets to back out of talking about this." Her finger pointed accusingly at Sesshoumaru.
"I wouldn't dream such an indecent thought," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. His mood was brightening for the first time in what seemed to be-- well, it was a really long time, okay? It might have been a good guess to say that, at that very moment, they would have started their much needed conversation, but that was before they caught a little person crouching in the long grass, attempting to spy on them. Kagome giggled and gave a small nod of her head in the direction that Rin was hidden in. Sesshoumaru let her know that he was aware of the presence of extra company.
"Have you seen Rin?" he asked in an overly loud voice.
"No, where do you think she is? She wouldn't have run away, would she?" Kagome replied in the same volume and tone.
"She wouldn't have!" Sesshoumaru played along. "Whatever would I do without a Rin by my side at every waking moment?!" Kagome, in truth, was pretty surprised by this reaction, she had expected him to play along, but so well? Teasing seemed to come second nature to him, although, it didn't look as though it should have. Instead of showing her surprise she just smiled a secret smile and went along.
"Oh! If we do not find Rin soon, I fear that I may cry," Kagome yelled, becoming cheesier as the moment called for it.
At the sound of Kagome's loud, fake sobs, Rin jumped out of the brush and ran towards her, nearly knocking her down as she launched herself into Kagome's lap. "No! No Kagome-chan! Don't cry! See," she pulled back to show Kagome herself. "See! Rin's right here!"
Kagome took her face out of her hands and smiled brightly, "I know!" With that she tickled Rin a sufficient amount to show her that she was not at all really sad, and that she was aware that Rin had not really gone anywhere.
After Rin's tickle-attack, she pushed herself off of Kagome and fell into Sesshoumaru's lap. She looked up at him, her feet still in Kagome's lap but her head in Sesshoumaru's, "See, Rin would never leave Sesshoumaru-sama!" She pulled his face down to hers and placed a kiss on his cheek. As he pulled away Rin stifled a large yawn.
"I believe that that means it is time to go home," Sesshoumaru said.
"But Rin isn't sleepy!"
"I don't remember saying anything about sleep."
"Rin knows but as soon as we get home, it'll be bed time!!" she lamented.
"Okay then," Kagome piped in. "How about a bedtime story when we get there then? How does that sound?"
Rin jumped up, a large amount of energy still all bottled up inside of her (The kind that just doesn't seem to come with the caffeine... I wanna bottle her energy and sell it! ... Oh heck w/ that! I'd use it!), "YAH! Race! Race! Race!" and she was off, Kagome not far behind, but still, always a little bit behind.
~*~
"And they lived happily ever after, the end," Kagome had concluded her story seated next to Rin who was all snuggled up in her futon.
"Another one!" she called.
"No, rest now, another one tomorrow," Sesshoumaru said from his spot by the door, still standing nonetheless.
"Ooookay," Rin sighed as she cozied down into her covers. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.
Kagome looked at the sleeping child in awe, "Wow, I wish I could do that."
"Do what?" Sesshoumaru asked.
Getting up she replied, "Have all that energy and have it strong until I go to bed. You know, not have to slow down before resting, just poof, out like a light."
As they turned in through the designated door Sesshoumaru stopped short, "You go on, I shall be there in a moment." Kagome nodded and went in, Sesshoumaru slid the door shut behind her.
As soon as the door was shut Kagome smiled to herself, 'I only had the bucket for a grand total of a half a day!' she thought, readying herself for bed.
But on the other side of the door Sesshoumaru calmly called "Jaken."
"Yes mi lord!" came the grating reply.
"Quieter or I shall ensure your silence," Sesshoumaru snapped.
"Yes mi lord," Jaken said, just barely audible, but with his hearing, Sesshoumaru caught it loud and clear.
"Good. Now then, I need you to run an errand for me and if you foul this up, it will mean your head..."
~*~
Sesshoumaru slipped into the room stealthily, since Kagome was already asleep. It seemed she did have the same abilities that Rin did, she just wasn't aware of them, just as Rin wasn't. He was about to sit down in the corner that he had wanted to sleep in the night prior but the door slid open again. He had heard the tiny footsteps, he had just hoped that they might turn around-- they hadn't.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome-chan, could Rin sleep here tonight?" Kagome was automatically up and holding her arms wide open for the child.
"Sure sweetheart, come on."
Sesshoumaru was a little shocked at how quickly she had reacted and woken up to the cry of a child, but he shook his head and shut the door behind Rin. After which, he headed straight for the corner.
"Please Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin called. He knew exactly what she wanted, of course he would give in.
"Only once more, but no more leaving in the middle of the night, okay?" Rin nodded her head sleepily as she held her arms open and Sesshoumaru snuggled in next to her. They were all instantly asleep, no winding down for any of the three.
~*~
Sesshoumaru woke up to a familiar and yet unfamiliar warmth next to him, right next to him. It was Kagome again, he sighed. Rin had left early again and that left Kagome and himself to migrate towards each other, once again, sometime after she had left. He was once again faced with the decision of what he should do.
A tiny call saved him from having to choose whether to go back to sleep, wake her up, or just sneak out. He was forced to resort to the latter as Jaken continued to call his name while walking up and down the halls.
He swiftly exited the room and was in front of his servant with in milliseconds, "Jaken, I told you last night that I wanted no one awake for this." His death glare was evident, even in the lack of early morning light.
Jaken quaked a little and muttered an apology and handed Sesshoumaru the package containing exactly what he had ordered the night before. Taking a peek inside he smiled, "Perfect."
~*~
Hands were rubbing eyes and yawns were stifled as everyone sat around the breakfast table. Eating was a slow process for the two eaters at the table, but it did eventually get done. Sesshoumaru looked on with amusement, Rin sometimes took a while to wake up, sometimes not. Today was a day where it seemed that the waking up process would be delayed a bit. Sesshoumaru shifted his gaze, Kagome did not seem to be a morning person at all. Her noodles were hanging from her mouth, inching ever so slowly, upwards towards its destination. Sesshoumaru smirked a bit as he watched the two in "action."
"En-en (en is the Japanese sound effect for whimper... I didn't know how it would be spelled in English besides *whimper* so I looked it up in the back of a manga... ain't manga grand?)," Sesshoumaru's smirk was immediately wiped off of his face as his eyes grew wide and Kagome's head snapped in his direction.
"Did-did your fluffy thing just-- whimper?" Kagome squinted her eyes, her vision still blurry from just waking up.
Sesshoumaru held his regal bearings and looked down at her, "It is not a 'fluffy thing,' it is my tail."
Kagome un-squinted her eyes and looked at him instead of his tail, "Ooookaay, out of the kindness of my heart, I won't touch that one right now. But what I wanna know is, why did it just whimper?"
Sesshoumaru put an indignant look upon his face and replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about, but my tail does not whimper." He looked away and added, "No part of me shall ever 'whimper.'"
Kagome rolled her eyes but let the subject drop to continue eating her breakfast with the same vigor she had started it with. Rin was still eating at a slower pace than Kagome had seen before, so to liven up the mood, in secret hopes of waking herself up in the process, Kagome decided to suggest some more play time in the meadow, this time before they went out to practice more with her fire (Neh, they're not "practicing with fire” they’re playin' with it! O.O Mwahahahahaha! Burn baby burn!!!!)
This thought was very well received by some, "YAH!! PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!!" And only moderately well received by the rest as Sesshoumaru nodded his head in agreement, then again, this could also be seen as being well received considering the subject (person for those of us who didn't think that quite made sense w/o explanation).
So after breakfast they were off again, to the same meadow, and then ending up in the same position that they had been the previous night. Rin gathered more flowers and gave them to the two. This time though, one bouquet was bigger than the other, this one was given to Kagome and accompanied by a giant hug and a loud "Happy birthday, Kagome-chan!" and she was off again to entertain herself amidst the flowery plain.
Kagome sat there, sniffing her bouquet until she heard a whimper come from right beside her on the knoll. She slowly turned her head to Sesshoumaru, eyes wide, "What was /that/?"
Sesshoumaru looked at her in question, "What was what?"
Kagome was about to give her sarcastic remark when her eyes grew, if at all possible, even larger as she pointed at Sesshoumaru's tail. "Y-your tail! It's whimpering, a-and only a little bit of it is moving! Do you have like hundreds of little tails in there?! 'Cause that's the ONLY way that I can think of, that that would be even close to possible!"
Sesshoumaru was about to defend himself when his tail proceeded to let out a tiny bark. He sighed and did the most unexpected of all things, he pulled out a small white puppy from beneath his tail and handed it unceremoniously to Kagome. "Happy birthday," he muttered.
Kagome took the tiny ball of fur and gave stuttered thanks. She looked the puppy in the face and cooed, "She's so adorable, thank you so much."
Sesshoumaru said nothing but nodded and continued to pretend to watch Rin from a distance. Kagome would have none of it, she took the puppy in one hand and leaned down to Sesshoumaru to hug him from the side as best she could. "I mean it, thank you," she detached herself from a shocked demon lord. "I don't know why you did it and I'm pretty sure you're not gonna tell me, but thank you. I didn't know what I was going to do. I've never spent a birthday away from my family, I didn't know how it was going to go, but Rin did her best to cheer me up and it was working a bit, but this, this just takes the cake, thank you so much."
"The puppy is a he."
"Wh-what?" Kagome asked, a little confused.
"You referred to him as a she, he happens to be male."
"Oh, but still thank you," Kagome smiled.
Sesshoumaru seemed bound and determined to avoid the thanks that Kagome was avidly trying to give him, "What shall you name the pup? It should be something dignified, honorable, and above all-"
"Udon!" Kagome cried, holding the pure white puppy above her head, his tail wagging with joy for the fresh air that he had been denied most of that day.
"Noodles?" Sesshoumaru replied wryly. "You intend to name him after noodles?" Kagome brought the puppy close to her chest and nodded solemnly. "Are you hungry?"
Kagome nodded again, "Yah, I didn't exactly get to eat all of my breakfast before Rin decided that we had to leave."
"And whose fault is that?" Sesshoumaru asked, referring both to the general rate that Kagome had been eating at and the fact that it had been her idea to come to the meadow early in the first place.
"Yours," she stated, playing with the newly dubbed Udon.
Sesshoumaru looked at her in utter surprise, "What do you mean mine?"
"I mean, if you hadn't decided to work me so hard last night, I wouldn't have been so dead this morning, is all."
Sesshoumaru rubbed his temples, "I attempt to aid you in honing your new skills, give you no grief as you constantly set me ablaze, /and/ give you a birthday gift and all I receive in return is a complaint about working you too hard." He was teasing her, but Kagome never knew when he was kidding or being serious, it was an odd dilemma to have considering who she was with.
Kagome, feeling guilty, because kidding or not, he was right, slid off the boulder, set the adorable puppy down and stood in front of Sesshoumaru. "Could you please stand up?" Sesshoumaru gave her an enquiring look but rose nonetheless. "Thank you," was all that she said before she attached herself to his middle-- much like Rin had done when they had first met, she came to about the same place on him too.
Sesshoumaru's eyes grew, but they returned to their regularly slender shape as he smiled down at her and returned the hug, unable to resist. "You're welcome," he said tenderly, not expecting it of himself but letting it go anyway. He heard Rin come up behind them and Kagome felt her attach herself to them in a three way hug. Kagome pulled away a little and smiled down at her.
"Thank you both," they all released one another and Kagome turned to grab Udon, who was making it known that he was not partial to being left out of the hug. Rin squealed at the sight of the tiny animal as she played the twenty questions game with Kagome about it. Kagome answered them all, in perfect order too. Sesshoumaru was a little shocked, but truthfully, not too much, he had seen how well she related to Rin and how well every thing seemed to flow between them.
Sesshoumaru watched as Kagome nuzzled Udon and scratched him behind the ears, she even kissed his cheek (if that's what you call that part of a dog's face, 'cause I really have noooo idea...). But as he viewed all of this, the strangest thing happened, a new and entirely unpleasant emotion swept through him. He knew what it was instantly though.
'C**p, I should have gotten a female dog,' then he stopped himself. 'No, I need to calm down, being jealous off a dog is completely pathetic.' Kagome kissed Udon's wet nose and Udon kissed her back with his giant tongue, the feeling swept through him again. 'But he's moving in on my-' he cut himself off before finishing the thought. 'Oh c**p, not what I need to be thinking. She is /not/ mine, and I do not intend-" this he cut short also. He sat back on the knoll and sighed, not allowing himself to think anymore, and instead just listening to the pleasant chatter of Kagome and Rin. He would decide everything at a later date, or perhaps even just a later time. Things had progressed further than he had ever even dreamt that they might, several things had changed in the process including himself. He would need to ponder this one in depth, now was not the time, now was the time to relax and enjoy the jovial company that he had inadvertently surrounded himself with.
'Yes, this shall be sorted out later...'
~*~
"Miroku! I think I found something!" Shippo called. They had been able to track Kagome's scent much further than InuYasha and Kouga had been. In fact they passed their scent long ago, and both Miroku and Shippo had made much better progress.
"What is it?" Miroku asked, running to catch up to the little fox child. He had been a little ways away looking for the types of clues that he could find, not including scent, but not excluding the discovery of discarded wrappers from Kagome's time (*Gasp* 0.0... Kagome's a litter bug!!!).
"I think that they were headed in this direction," Shippo replied as the pointed in the direction that he believed Kagome and Sesshoumaru may have gone.
"Good, we'll follow that lead!" Miroku said as Shippo jumped to his shoulder-- since Miroku had a longer stride and was much faster on foot-- and Shippo proceeded to guide them to their target-- the missing Kagome.
~*~
A/N: Yay! It's all done... well, this chapter anywho. Wow, that would be a real sucky cliff-hanger... OoOo... No one knows if he will ever declare his undying love for her! Wow, how many flames would I get if I did THAT... Anywho, all decisions have been made, exceptin' one... and once again, I come before the great audience to ask their take on it.... Should there be a lemon scene? It would be tactful and probably only one, it would be used to... enhance? Okay, truth be told it would be one of two things, 1) my personal first lemon scene (I've started a few but never finished them) or B) <-Hahaha-- Mirokus Wench would be the author of the lemon scene... she's real good with 'em... I think... yah, so tell me... and in the mean time... REVIEW!! I got so few reviews last time... It's really sad when you start to lose an audience just because of one really sucky chapter... Please! Tell me what's wrong... don't just stop reading (this, my friends is the voice of desperation). Anywho, I'm gonna stop sounding so desperate and just say: hoped you enjoyed it and I think I've got a few good ideas for the near future! Thanks again and don't forget to
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