#soup and llama have made me insane

[mushiewrites]

I just thought of this as I was falling asleep. Sapnap wrecking Dream on his bed, taking his time, dragging it out. Dream says things like "You're being mean" and "you said you'd be nice this time" which earns him either a "you wanna see mean?" Or a "this is nice, would you rather I wreck you the same way you do me and George?" And next thing you know the only thing coming out of Dream’s mouth after that is frantic apologise

oh dweamie dweamie dweam. when will he learn? i guess it doesn't matter since sap will teach him anyway (:

sap has one of dreams out to the side, his own hand pressing against dreams wrist to keep it down on the bed as sap traces his free hand gently over his tummy. he would pay attention to the spots that make him jump and squeal, and do the same with the spots that make him giggle and melt. he's using a fair amount of both, switching between wanting to make dream cackle and wanting him to make little chirpy giggles ):

surprisingly dream blurts it out while sap is being gentle - his pointer finger grazes a little too close to the middle of his tummy, right on the edge of the lil dip, and dream can't help himself. "s-sahahpnap! y-you sahaid you'd behehe nice thihis tihime! y-you're being mehehean!"

and from the look on saps face dream knows he fucked up. in fact he knew it the moment the words passed his lips, already being knowledgable on how cruel sapnap can actually be when he tries. but for whatever reason he says it anyway and now sapnap is just smirking down at him, his hand frozen on the warm skin of his tummy while the hand gripping his wrist slowly tightens, pressing it more into the bed

"this is mean?" sap would swipe his finger again closer to the side of his tummy and it makes dream squeak, slightly squirming to the side but not enough to truly get away. he'd squeeze his eyes shut as sap moved his hand off of his tummy, scared to see where it's going to touch down next. he doesn't feel anything though, and after a minute he hears sapnap mumble "I'll show you mean."

and that is just a tactic to get dream to open his eyes, which he does. they actually snap open, the fear in them causing sapnap to burst into giggles because "holy shit dude, your face!" which only makes dream blush harder than he had all night. it takes him a second to register but sapnap is hovering his hand over his vulnerable armpit, and it's only when he pulls at his wrist and finds it doesn't budge that dream truly realizes how much worse it could be

just as he starts to relax though, sapnap quickly kneads his pointer and middle fingers under his arm, wiggling them quickly with pressure to make dream scream. he nearly bucks sap off, which then prompts sapnap to make an offhand comment about how it feels like he's "back in texas riding the bulls!", but dream can't help it. he tries to turn his body onto the side to block his poor lil sensitive armpit but thankfully the fingers are gone as quickly as they appeared

"so we understand now that this isn't mean, right?" sapnap would go back to running his nails over dreams jumpy tummy which would send dream back into lil squeaky giggles again. he'd nod his head at sapnap and look up at him through his squinty eyes, giggling a little louder when sap starts giggling with him as well. sap would roll his eyes, bc of course he'd be giggling at dream, how could he not when he's that adorable? but he'd really wanna drive the point home, so he'd lean down close to dream's ear, letting his stubble tk the shell of it before he spoke

"good. because if you're still having trouble understanding, I could always call george (:"

[born-in-hell]

q!BBH's Desert Lore is eerily similar to a scene in Salad Fingers Episode 10 "Birthday" ─ and other coincidences

WARNING: Salad Fingers is a gore web series. Therefore, All pictures here are going to be censored as to not havily disturb anyone. The links for the original pictures will be listed at the end for whoever wants to see them in full.

While reading this, its good to keep in mind that cc!Bad has made references to gorey underground web series before, such as "Llamas With Hats". Therefore, it wouldn't be a big stretch for him to have used Salad Fingers as inspiration for his character's lore, or as reference.

Also huge huge huge thanks to @demodraws0606 for listening to my insane thoughts and helping me w this go give them some love !!

On the day 26/nov/2023, Badboyhalo opened stream in the desert for the last time. Most people started comparing this scene to the Pinkie Pie birthday scene. But i could not help but think "huh, this reminds me of that salad fingers scene. I might be insane". so i went to look and.....:

U can't say they arent similar. An immense desert with a clouded sky and a wooden table with 6 places, which are taken by copies of the main character. The only difference is, besides the obvious gore, that one of the chairs is empty for q!BBH, while all are taken in Salad Fingers.

Another simmilarity is that Salad Fingers tries to interact with the clones, but just as q!BBH's, they neither aknowlege him nor respond.

Demo noticed how the scenery is really similar between the two:

Despite all this, the episode has no narrative connection to q!BBH's lore. It revolves around Hubert Cumberdale's (a finger puppet created by Salad) and, later on, Salad Finger's birthdays. Generally, i understood it is about the passage of time, together with childbirth/motherhood.

But, right before this scene, still on episode 10, Salad Fingers goes to the doctor. Eventually the focus changes, and the doctor is now examinating a horse while Salad Fingers watches. The horse seems to represent Salad Finger's child. When q!BBH lost his memory, he kept talking obsessively about taking Dapper to the doctor.

Another curious coincidence is that, on the same episode and same scene as the table, "Birthday", Salad Fingers is gifted a tophat as his birthday gift:

Demo pointed out, aswell, how on epidsode 13, named "Harvest" salad fingers is walking through the deserted wasteland towards a glowing circle in the sky (the Sun). During the first desert stream, q!BBH is seen walking towards the Sun aswell. Here are some screencaps from said Salad Fingers episode:

The "Edge of Forever" name is also funny considering q!Forever's and q!Bad's close friendship. But i personally think the usage of the word "forever" is only a coincidence. Or it could be related to q!Bad's immortality, the Edge of Forever, than, being where bbh goes to be reincarnated.

On the end of this same episode, "Harvest", Salad Fingers dies and is substituted by Boy Fingers, who is essentially a clone of Salad. This might be relevant, regarding q!BBH possibly dying, but i dont really know how to fit this into a complete theory. Although, since Salad dies from being boiled in a soup and consumed by Boy Fingers, there might be some connection to q!Bad's theme of gluttony.

The way both Salad Fingers and amnesiac Q!Badboyhalo behave also overlaps a bit. The constant jumping from subject to subject, a certain level of innocence and naiveness, a detachment from reality and unacknowledgement of death and violence.

Overall, the themes that Salad Fingers explores ─ birth, motherhood, fatherhood, conflituous familial relationships, some may say xenofobia or racism, and the 1st World War ─ arent at all related to q!Bad's story. I don't believe cc!Bad used Salad Fingers for anything other than inspiration ─ if it was even used. But, i still found all of this curious and interesting, and i wanted to share with all of you.

If u have any thoughts, feel free to share them! I personally am not a fan of gore, so i haven't seen all of Salad Fingers. This is another reason i'm writing this, so ppl that know more than me can share what they think.

Ty sm for taking ur time and reading this !!!

Uncensored Pictures:

─ Table Scene

─ Tophat

Banners/Dividers by @/inklore

[powerpointprofessor]

May I ask what mythical creatures each of the characters in the Fantasy AU are?

P.S. FAU!Milo’s design looks absolutely amazing-

I forgot about the fantasy au but

Heres the list of the fantasy au species

Keep in mind that this AU is a work in progress and i have not worked on it since february

Also this list is outdated

Jesse- just a human girl with no crazy ears or anything (the jesse i used for the au is the fuchsia/purple hairclip jesse though in the au she has purple/fuchsia dyed hair)

Reuben-an ordinary little human boy with a pink pig hoodie

Petra- a cat thing

Olivia- owl with robotic parts

Axel-minotaur?? (I might change into deer though)

Lukas-ocelot creature

Aiden-monster eel

Maya-cat

Gill-dog

Gabriel-dragon

Ivor-has a spinning orb for a head (i have to show a picture of him to explain)

Magnus-impish thing with horns with fire

Soren-dog (again)

Ellegaard-gryphon

Isa-fantasy bird (i have to show a picture because she looks cool)

Reginald-a rooster

Founder/benedict-a small fantasy bird

Milo-fluffy dragon

Cassie rose-a cat

Winslow-small cat

Harper-has kind of a solid mask like face with glowing orange eyes with no mouth she has antlers and hoof hands and a fennec fox tail and also branch like wings

PAMA-PAMA in the au is robot with a computer screen,redstone heart,winglike razors and a scorpion like tail

Otto-similar face to harper only with a glowing yellow eye and a glowing green eye and has a mouth and antlers and wings and is covered in flowers

Mevia-a demonic light blue centaur thing (might redesign)

Hadrian-purple monster snake with claws (not redesigning i hate him)

Nell-made out of water

Radar-a bunnybat hybrid with a long tail

Stella-a peahen with the peacock feathers because its cool and she also has pointy animal ears (i love pointy animal ears) she does have bleached feathers and hair

Lluna-a girl with llama ears long white hair that covers one eye

Jack-a wolfy lion creature with pointy lynx ears

Vos-a cat critter

Admin Romeo-a huge dragon like beast (i drew before and its so detailed)

Admin Xara-more tiger like beast with also insane details

Fred-another beast more wolfy to me and also has insane details

Warden-a clock head but has a human body

Binta-she has animals ears and a fox like tail with a curved horn

Cam-mouse critter

Hilda-fox

Kent-jackalope

Willy-dog

Wanda-dog

Soup & val-both robots. Val has a knife hand

[ruddcatha]

Guardian Chapter 12

Thank you again to @heavenin–hell for your inspiration, I hope this story does your work justice.

posted on Ao3: Here

Posted on FFN: Here

Guardian has been Nominated for the Feudal Connection  2020 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards!  Thank you to all the supporters of this story!!  Voting will begin on July 29 and run through August 12, 2020.

Nominated for: Best AU/AR

If you would like to be added to the tags please let me know!

@willowandfog​  @smmahamazing @clearwillow  @sticky-llama-perfection @alannada @shinidamachu @cstormsinukagblog @superpixie42 @nartista @neutronstarchild​ @i-dream-of-soup​ @hnnwnchstr  @fawn-eyed-girl​ @ all-my-cuffs-have-buttons @liz8080

Kagome quickly realized that the first months of training had been nothing but child’s play.  The last few weeks were, quite frankly, kicking her ass, and kicking it hard.  

Kagome was no longer learning pure defensive moves; she was being taught throws and holds and attacks… which usually meant she was the one getting tossed.  She just… could not get it.  She had never been very coordinated, and that was becoming a huge hinderance.  Often, she would practice a move and trip over her own two feet. At least target practice had been going better, she was getting more consistent with a pistol, maybe she didn’t have perfect aim but at least the bullets were usually closer together than when she started.

But it was the training with Miroku that was really draining her.  He was trying to train her to use spiritual energy that three months ago she hadn’t even known she had.  And patience was not something she was entirely known for.  Sesshomaru led the training sessions, demonstrating physical attacks to be practiced and drilled under Inuyasha. He had turned into an extremely strict task master, drilling yokai and humans alike

And then there was Inuyasha. Their first date had been special, magical.  For the past three weeks he would do little things to make her feel special.  He walked her to and from her from classes, often bringing her a Mocha Latte on her longer class days, hold her a little longer than was needed during training, or steal a kiss when he thought no one was looking.  If she had to study for class, he would bring dinner over and sit with her in her room as she studied.  She smiled, one evening she had turned to ask him a question and found him curled up on her bed, dead to the world asleep.  The moment she had touched his shoulder to wake him up his arm had reached out to pull her close to him, his nose buried in her hair as he fell back into sleep.  It was the first and so far, only night she had spent in his arms.

He was slowly driving her insane. He made her feel like she was the most precious object in the world to him yet backed away when things got too heated. He was content to hold her in his arms, to kiss her, but would go no further.  A part of her appreciated the respect that it showed, the reverence, but at the same time…

Her boyfriend was fucking hot. And watching him on the training mat, demonstrating a hold, a throw, how to hold a sword… she wasn’t the only one who appreciated his form as she had seen more than a few admiring glances from some of the women… and a few of the men, who were with them for training. She had found out that this was one of seven training areas across Japan, and each facility could train up to 100 at a time.  

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had taken over leading the trainings as if they had been born for it, and in a way, she guessed they had been.  They had certainly changed the focus of the trainings from what she had overheard others say, but it only made sense.  Inuyasha, Toga and Sesshomaru were the ones most familiar with Ryukotsusei and his tactics, Koga had only gone against him a few times in the past.

Kagome was quickly learning the downside of having your boyfriend as one of your trainers.  She couldn’t keep up with him.  One moment his eyes were so heated on her that she felt her bones would melt, and the next he would snap out an order or a correction for the umpteenth time, and she would hear the obvious frustration in his voice.  When a training session ended, and they were walking back to her apartment building he held her to him as if he wanted to protect her forever.  In training though, when it didn’t go well, she couldn’t help but feel he was disappointed in her.

He never said anything, but she heard it in his tone, see the flash in his eyes that he would quickly ide.

That had been happening a lot in all her training sessions.  She watched Kikyo excel in creating barriers and manifesting her spiritual powers into her hands, while Kagome could maybe, just maybe, get her skin to glow.  Kikyo kept telling her she should not feel bad, Kikyo had been training ever since her spiritual powers had manifested and had been practicing for thirteen years, while Kagome’s had only appeared three months ago. Kagome heard the logic of that, but emotionally could not help feeling that she was disappointing her cousin and Miroku, who spent hours every week walking her through meditation and channeling just to watch her crumble.  

Inuyasha watched Kagome going through the drills for the day’s session, they were working on how to roll the body out of a toss to reduce physical injuries.  He had paired Kagome with Jaken, he knew they would both need to train with more advanced partners, but they needed to wait until they had mastered the moves.  He winced and had to force himself to stay still and not run to Kagome every time she landed wrong, even though every muscle in his body was fighting to scoop her up and run from the room.  

Kagome moved to toss Jaken, but her hand placement was wrong, instead of grabbing his arm and using her shoulder to force his momentum forward, she placed both hands on his chest, stopping his movement.  Before she could try and correct it Jaken had used her own inertia against her and she went flying, landing flat on her back with a loud “oof.”

“ENOUGH.” He roared.  He couldn’t watch any more.  He didn’t want to indirectly be the cause of her pain and bruising, but he knew it was necessary.

He had been speaking with Sesshomaru and Toga, they had no clue when the actual fighting would begin, and that concerned him.  But the thought that Kagome wouldn’t be ready, that she could be vulnerable? That fucking terrified him.  He wasn’t sure when she had become so important to him, he had gone from wanting to spend time around her and get to know her to wanting to hold her in his arms and protect her from any possible danger, but he knew that he couldn’t.  

The thought of her being hurt was bad enough, but the thought of her fucking dying?  Of not being able to see her, smell her, hold her in his arms ever again? Kami, he had woken up in a cold sweat several nights at the thought. He closed his eyes, holding back a groan.  He had seen the flash of hurt in her eyes when he had snapped before, but he could not coddle her, as much as he wanted to.

Toga stood at the edge of the training room next to Totosai and just watched his youngest son with a look of concern.  Something was troubling him, and Toga had started to see signs of instability in his son’s yokai.  That needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.  He knew what was causing it, he had been the same when he met Izayoi.

Kagome was a puzzle to him. He had caught flashes of power from her, and if she had been able to break their seals she had to be very powerful, but it was untrained, and she did not know how to call it out.  The brief flashes he had felt seemed… familiar… to him, he had felt that power for almost a thousand years, and if it was what he thought… no, he wouldn’t consider that without more than just an inkling of an idea.

Sesshomaru walked away from the floor to join Toga and Totosai.

“What do you think?” Toga asked.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at his father. “I think if we had more yokai to train, it would be much better.”

Toga saw Inuyasha finally move towards Kagome, reaching out a hand to help her up from the floor. Inuyasha tugged a little longer than he knew he needed to, just enough to throw Kagome off balance towards him, and his arms quickly closed around her, holding her tightly to him.  Kagome stiffened for a moment before wrapping her hands around his waist with a sigh, nuzzling her cheek against his chest.  

Toga watched the exchange, a haunted expression in his eyes.

“Kagome.” Inuyasha’s voice had deepened as he held her, sending shivers down her spine.  “I … I have something I need to show you something tonight.”

“Tonight?”  He nodded slightly.

“It... it has to be tonight Kagome, just… just come meet me here just before sundown.”

Kagome was surprised, he seemed almost nervous.  When she nodded, she watched his face visibly relax.  She reached up to touch his cheek, a soft smile forming when he nuzzled her hand before placing a kiss into her palm.  

She felt the tension that had formed around her heart ease a little.  

“How about I cook dinner for us?” She asked.  “You’ve been bringing dinner to me, how about I make you one of my favorite dishes?” He had left his glamor ring off that morning, and she giggled as his ears perked straight up and started twitching with excitement.  Her hand left his cheek to slide up and stroke the soft fur of his ear. He twitched it away from her hand as he pulled her closer.

“Not here woman.” He growled against her hair.  

And just like that, all was right in her world.  At least for a moment.

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

Later that day Kagome stepped out of the elevator to Inuyasha’s level to find him pacing anxiously.  As soon as he saw her, he darted forward to take the bags she carried from her and grabbed her hand.  

“Inu?” His behavior was confusing her.  

“Keh.” Was the only response as he pulled her away from the elevator and towards the kitchen area, he seemed anxious to get away from an open area and towards the living quarters.  She could feel the tension growing around him as they moved, even in trainings she had never seen him quite so agitated.

“Inuyasha stop.” She pulled back on her hand, forcing him to turn and look at her.  “What is going on?”

He sighed.  “I wan… gah… well, you are about to see anyway but I wanted to… keh.”  

He let go of her hand and pulled away, standing in front of her.  He looked at the clock on the wall then looked her square in the eye.  

“I don’t understand Inuyasha, what is…oh… oh my…”  As she watched Inuyasha’s hair began to darken, first to gray then deepening into black.  His eyes began to swirl, a blend of gold and deep purple and his puppy ears seemed to shrink as human ears appeared.  His eyes never left hers as he stood before her completely human, a look of worry in his now purple eyes.

Kagome stepped closer to him, her hand reaching out to trace the lobe of one ear. Inuyasha stilled, as if waiting for … something.  She ran her hand through his raven locks before standing on her toes to press a soft kiss to the underside of his chin.  With a release of his breath he grabbed her against him with arm not carrying a bag, holding her to him in a crushing grip.  She pulled back slightly and pushed back his banges.  

“Want to tell me about this while I make dinner?”  He let out a choked laugh before releasing his hold on her waist to capture her hand in his and lead her to the kitchen.  He watched as she rinsed vegetables and set them on the counter.  He watched as she chopped ginger and garlic before adding them to a pot on the stove.  As she stirred the mixture, she gave him a pointed look, smiling as he dodged her gaze.

“Sooooo.   Is this what you wanted to show me?” She teased.  

“Keh.” His soft grunt was answer enough.    He watched her pour a mixture of chicken broth, mirin, and soy sauce into the pot before she lowered the temperature.  

“How about you chop these for me and tell me about it?”  She handed him a bunch of scallions, showing him how she wanted him to chop them before handing him the knife and pushing the cutting board towards him.  As he chopped, she took out another pan and began to cook pieces of chicken.

“Well, I’m a half yokai, half human.  So, one night a month, on the night of the new moon like tonight, I lose all my yokai and turn into a human.”

“Why is that?” She asked as she flipped the chicken over.  Even with his dulled senses the combination of the cooking broth and chicken smelled amazing.  He walked up behind her at the stove and wrapped his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder and watched her movements.

“You would have to ask dad on that, I’m not quite sure.  I am pretty sure it was a shock to him and mom the first time it happened, I don’t really like my human night now, I can’t even imagine how bad it must have been when I was a baby.”  

He reluctantly loosened his hold when Kagome pushed back with a shoulder before taking the skillet of the chicken off the stove to it to the oven that she had pre-heated before adding a container of dried mushrooms and added it to the broth.

When she stopped adding spices to the broth, he gently pulled her into his embrace again, holding her against his chest, her head tucked under his chin.  He told her stories of his human nights growing up, playing hide and seek with his mother and the other children when there were no features to distinguish him. One hand absentmindedly caressed her back as he told her about the first time he had disobeyed his parents and snuck out of the village on the night of a new moon, his terror when he realized he couldn’t fight back against a yokai that had stalked him.  His hold on her tightened as he told her how Toga and Sesshomaru had found him backed against a rock formation, a snake yokai about to strike and how his father had physically shielded him with his body as Sesshomaru had removed the head of the snake mid strike.  

Inuyasha was pulled out of his thoughts by Kagome’s thumb stroking his cheek.

“You are ok Yash.” She whispered. “You are safe.”

He looked down at her, his eyes intense.

“But you aren’t.”  His voice trembled as he said it.

Inuyasha abruptly loosened his embrace and stepped away from her, his hands running though his hair before he turned and stalked away and towards the fridge.  Kagome watched as he pulled out a bottle of water and drank half of it, never turning back around.  A sizzling sound behind her pulled her attention to the stove, and she quickly added blocks of dried noodles to the broth and pulled the chicken out of the oven to cool.

“Yash.” She said softly, waiting for him to turn to her before she continued. “Do you want to help me get the food together?”  

Inuyasha let out a shuddering breath before he nodded and moved to join her.  Soon they were seated next to each other at the counter with steaming bowls of homemade ramen.  The scent of the dish was amazing, even to his human senses, and he could only imagine how much better it would be on any other night.  He tentatively took the first bite but knew that no matter what it would be amazing because Kagome had made it for him.

The first bite made his mouth sing.

“This is quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted in my life!” Kagome’s cheeks flushed with pleasure at his words and she nudged him with her leg softly.  

Inuyasha felt like he was in food heaven.  The flavor of the chicken had seeped into the noodles with a salty broth that made him want to lick the bowl clean.  Kagome giggled at his obvious enjoyment of the dish.  She brought him a second helping and watched with a smile as he devoured that as well.

When he realized his bowl was empty a second time he looked to the stove and realized that there was no more available, he released a slight whimper.  Kagome leaned over to nuzzle his shoulder and slid the rest of her bowl to him.

“Here, have the rest of mine.”

Inuyasha reached out to place his hand over hers, but she continued to offer him the bowl.  Her eyes turned puzzled as he grabbed a piece of chicken out of the bowl and held it out to her.  

“Keh, did you think I hadn’t noticed that you didn’t eat much today Kagome?” He gave her a soft smile as she opened her mouth and accepted the food.  He seemed to get as much enjoyment out of feeding her the ramen as he had eating it, and who was she to tell him no.  She knew he was right; she hadn’t been eating much lately, but she hadn’t realized he had noticed.

Inuyasha helped her clean the kitchen and place the dishes in the dishwasher after they had finished.  Well, helped wasn’t exactly accurate as he was more distracting than helpful Kagome found.  He seemed to find every reason to touch her hand, to kiss her head, to nuzzle her cheek.  She didn’t mind, not in the slightest, but it made it harder to focus on cleaning when all she wanted to do was kiss him.   It was strange, he looked so different, but his actions were purely her Inuyasha.  It was one more layer to the hanyou she was quickly beginning to…

She shook her head; it was way too early to think that.  ‘Wasn’t it?’

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

Kagome looked at the limited selection of movies in the living room, noting that clearly Miroku had been lacking in providing decent entertainment options.   They were usually at her and Sango’s apartment, so she hadn’t realized just how few options they had.  She finally settled on Robin Hood Men in Tights, one of her favorite comedy films.  When she went to sit on the couch Inuyasha promptly snuck his arms around her and cuddled her close.  

“Inuyasha?” Kagome asked softly halfway through the movie.  “Why did you want to meet here instead of at my apartment tonight?”

He leaned his cheek against her head and thought for a minute before answering.

“I’m vulnerable on these nights.  After the snake yokai I never left our house on my human night.  So now it’s… I guess you would call it a safety measure.  I don’t heal on these nights until the sun comes back up, so I stay home and don’t let myself sleep until the sun comes back up.”

He leaned down to place a soft kiss on her lips.

“Other than dad and Sesshomaru, you are the only other to know about this.”

Her eyes went wide at the confession before filling with tears.

“Then… wh… why tell me?”

A single finger titled her face upwards towards his.

“You know why.” He said softly before he touched his lips to hers.  He drew back and amethyst eyes met chocolate.

“Y..Yash.” she whispered as she raised her hand to his hair.  She gently took a lock and pulled him back down towards her. His lips brushed hers softly once, twice.  As he moved to place a third soft kiss, she captured his lower lip with her teeth and tugged it playfully.  She giggled as she saw him raise an eyebrow in exacerbation as she waited for the smirk she knew was coming.  She crinkled her nose at him before burrowing her face against his neck.  His arms pulled her close as he lay back on the couch, Kagome tucked onto his chest above him.      

“I... Wou…” She began, unsure how to ask. “Would you want me to keep you company tonight?”

He kissed her forehead as she looked up at him.

“I was hoping you would.”

Inuyasha held her close for the remainder of the night, as he told her stories of his childhood, pranks he had played on Sesshomaru, and how he felt when his mother passed.   One of his hands stroked her hair as she snuggled against him, a loving smile teasing his lips as he watched her struggle to keep her eyes open.  A quick glance at the clock told him there were still a few hours until dawn, she had surprised him, he had been positive she would have fallen asleep before then given how hard she had been training that day.

Kagome felt the comforting feeling of his hand on her hair luring her into sleep, she tried to fight it, but it was a losing battle.  His arms felt like home, the sound of his voice, slightly softer than she was used to hearing, soothed her.  

“It’s ok to sleep baby.” He whispered to her.

“Nnnn… I wanta stay up with you.” She murmured back. She could feel his chuckle before she heard it, and she shifted her head so she could hear his heartbeat.

“I get to hold you Kagome, that’s enough.”

She felt him place a series of kisses on her forehead as she drifted off.  In the moment before she slid into slumber, she thought she heard a softly spoken vow.

“I promise I will protect you with my life.”

The smile on her lips faded as the world around her slipped away.

[dramallamadingdang]

The longest reply post in the history of ever.

These go back, like, two weeks, because I am a very bad llama. An I should probably break this up into multiple posts, but I don’t wanna go through and select replies again. So...apologies to those for whom the “Read More” cuts don’t work?

These be for @getmygameon, @alicenorthernlights-blog, @eulaliasims, @penig, @tamtam-go92, @didilysims, @taylors-simblr, @mortia, @delicatesoul88, @twofingerswhiskey, annnnnnnd @immerso-sims...

getmygameon replied to your photo “Owen, running in terror from Olivia. …..Well, OK, really he was...”

Small miracles, dear. Small miracles ;) *pats*

Yeah. :) I’m actually surprised Owen made it to graduation. He didn’t have great chances of going to class/finals, according to my rules -- which is why he often ended up on probation -- but eventually his Fortune aspiration kicked in and worked in his favor. He rolled up wants to go to class because of it, and rolled wants override the manual rolls I do to decide that.

alicenorthernlights-blog replied to your post “I woke up this evening in one of those little dream-induced panicky...”

Hyperactive shield volcanoes. The scaries thing I can think about Hawaii.

I dunno...Hyperactive volcanoes aren’t bad. They are constantly letting off steam, quite literally, so they just kind of constantly belch instead of going, “Oh, hey, I think I’ll catastrophically explode this week.” I worry about the quiet ones. Like, the last time I was in Naples/Capri and visiting Pompeii/Herculaneum, Vesuvius -- which is overdue for explosion -- was all grumbly and belching smoke. Creepy! Or there’s all those up in the Cascades here in the States that are kinda overdue to explode. And then there’s Yellowstone, which is practically underneath me. If that thing ever goes, we all gonna die. :)

To me, the scariest thing about Hawai’i is...the cost of living. Yowza. Which, now that I think about it, might have factored into the dream. Cost of living at possible destinations is definitely a factor when it comes to emigration planning. :) Hawai’i would be a terrible option in that regard even if it wasn’t part of the US. :)

eulaliasims replied to your photoset “Oriana toddlerated into a crisp untextured white tux, some cheekbones...”

I love the combo of pure white tuxedo and enormous (for a toddler) bun. Oriana's got a real Look.

Ohgodohgod, 90s flashback to that Roxette song! :D 

When my son -- who’s now a big, bad Army Ranger who’s killed people -- was around kindergarten age, that was his favorite song, and he sang it (with all the wrong words) while doing this hysterically-amusing dance to it. Which of course I recorded to keep as blackmail material. So now it’s like, “Behave, or your unit commander -- or, worse, your unit in general -- gets a copy of this, bucko.” 

*ahem* But yes, she is totally fabulous! And Maxis fails at tuxedos.

penig replied to your photo “Amelia is Unthrilled about potty training. But at least she...”

Nobody's thrilled about pottytraining. Can't blame her for that.

But she’s a Family Sim! She’s supposed to love this stuff! She’s supposed to be so proud of her little precious darling using the potty! She’s supposed to be glowing with maternal contentedness that she gets to stand there and watch her kid poop! 

...OK, OK, so in game-reality Family Sims are THE WORST at actually raising and interacting with their kids as opposed to just making/birthing them. (I’m tellin’ ya: Pleasure Sims are THE BEST parents...and Owen has a Pleasure secondary.) But, you know, they’re supposed to like this stuff. Ideally. Or at least theoretically.

tamtam-go92 replied to your photoset “Owen is, of course, excited to have another baby to cuddle, now that...”

Love how oriana's Shirt matches owen's skin.

HAH! It does, doesn’t it?

Which reminds me that I need to get baby clothes working in my game again. Since I dumped all my custom clothing and just defaulted most of the Maxis stuff, I’m back to diaper-clad babies...

didilysims replied to your post “So sad about the deaths �� Why don't you use Comfort soup? What are...”

Wait, are *you* saying you caused this plague?? MURDERER!!!! (I'm kidding...sort of. ;) )

MEA CULPA! I AM A PIXEL MURDERER! :D

Although, I didn’t deliberately start the sickness in this household. Sage came home from work with it. So it’s all the game’s fault.

taylors-simblr replied to your post “So sad about the deaths �� Why don't you use Comfort soup? What are...”

I’m very similar to this. I get super attached to my sims, but I still don’t coddle them. I do allow them to plead to the reaper otherwise I’d lose a lot more sims and I only have a small population. I just get very sad when my sims die, have a break from playing, them get over it. I always have the clones of them to play with anyway

I imagine it’s hard when Sims to whom you’re attached die. I mean, there are players who avoid it entirely, never allowing Sims to age past adult (or to age at all) and who use mods to make things non-deadly because they’re so attached. I confess that I don’t understand the mindset, myself, especially because you can make clones of them or resurrect them at will or whatever, but it does exist and is valid and all that. 

But yeah, if you have or allow only a playable population, you don’t really need population control. :) I’m more of a “let ‘em breed freely, then cull the herd when necessary” sort of player, though.  

mortia replied to your post “So sad about the deaths �� Why don't you use Comfort soup? What are...”

I like this. I also use the Realistic Sickness mod but I DO get attached to my pixel people and find myself coddling the hell out of them the second they even start to sniffle. I need to stop doing that and just let life play out once in a while.

I can understand, intellectually, the desire to coddle. I don’t really feel it myself because I don’t “attach” to pixel people, but I understand that other people do. There are times when I’ve felt a need to coddle that have nothing to do with attachment, though. Like, if I really wanted a particular Sim to breed because of unique facial features or the recessive genes they have and stuff like that. And I think I have coddled a few of those at times, over the years. But generally, I’m of the opinion that it makes no sense to use Real Sickness if you’re going to coddle because it just makes the coddling more drawn-out and frustrating. :) Then again, I suppose I can see where you might want to coddle your faves -- or, say, those in higher classes who might have access to some sort of dubious “medicine,” in a medieval game -- and let everyone else die as they will.

penig replied to your post “But alas: It was not to be.”

What?! Nooooo!

YEEEEEES! :) Well, OK, kind of “no” because child ghosts are wacky in that they just teleport around instead of float because they don’t have the proper animations. (Which is dumb. I mean, they made it possible for children to die -- as opposed to the immortal babies/toddlers -- so you’d think they’d’ve given child ghosts the proper floating animations, but noooooooo!) So, I kinda wish she’d croaked after her teen age-up, but...such is my game.

didilysims replied to your photo “Yeah, that hike was definitely not a good idea. :( I’m bummed. :( Sage...”

Sickness is not to be taken lightly. You should know this!!!

Yeah, yeah, bad llama! BAD! NO PEAR 4 ME! 

(One of our llamas goes absolutely insane for pears. She adores them, has since she was weaned. If she sees that you have one, she will follow you around and stick her head over your shoulder and poke you with her muzzle and give you little hums and long-lashed puppy-dog eyes until you give it to her. Only for pears, though. Other fruit she can take or leave, but she’s a total pear whore. And you can’t even trick her with pears that are oddly-colored or oddly-shaped. Like Asian pears, which are apple-shaped. She knows the difference between an apple and an Asian pear. Llamas -- camelids in general, but especially llamas -- are kind of scary-smart that way. I wish they could tutor the super-stupid horses. Seriously, if horses hadn’t been domesticated, I don’t think they’d still exist. They’re great big idiots constantly looking for new and interesting ways to die. Deer are geniuses compared to them. Sure, they’re loyal as all hell, and very trainable, and I love them to death, but...Dumb to the core, all of them.)

didilysims replied to your photo “Meanwhile, Gwendolyn exists and got gave herself a promotion! We’ll...”

ALlamaInEveryHome would make an excellent username...

It would be! Wish I’d thought of it, when I made this Tumblr. :)

didilysims replied to your photo “Heeeey, Cherry! I totally just knocked up your daughter, man. It was...”

Umm...tell me more about this (harvestable?) peach tree please. :)

‘Tis one of Sun & Moon’s seasonal fruit trees, from this set here. 12/10 would recommend. :)

mortia replied to your photoset “To get everyone’s mind off Sage’s death, Emmy took the girls on an...”

Ooh these are lovely!

didilysims replied to your photoset “To get everyone’s mind off Sage’s death, Emmy took the girls on an...”

This is such a gorgeous lot--and the background too!

It is one of my favorite lots that I’ve built. But it’s also kind of annoying. Since it slopes so much from road to waterline, much of the lot is pretty much unusable. Like, Sims trying to talk to another Sim just do a lot of stomping and yelling because of the slope. I kind of hate that in Sims 2 Sims can’t really interact with each other on anything other than flat ground. (They fixed this for Castaway, which is one of the things I love about that game, but not TS2. WHY??!) It’s one of the reasons why I (usually) build only on flat lots and why I’m (generally) fond of flattening beach lots from road to waterline, too. So...Yeah, that lot is very pretty to look at, but it’s pretty much only usable in the 10-tile-wide strip of flat beach. The rest just generates lots of yelling and stomping. So, it’s also kind of wasted space. :\

penig replied to your photo “Annnnnnd a couple hours later, this happened. *headdesk* I kind of...”

Everyone grieves in their own way?

I suppose one could see it as doing something life-affirming in the aftermath of death. Especially when you’re sick and possibly facing death yourself. Although I gotta say that sex is not high on my to-do list when I’m sick. :) But, to each their own!

eulaliasims replied to your photo “Yeah, that hike was definitely not a good idea. :( I’m bummed. :( Sage...”

Noooo, Sage. :(

I know. I was bummed. :( But, life -- or the game, in this case -- goes on. :)

tamtam-go92 replied to your photo “Stephanie does most of the gardening these days, while her dad’s at...”

What can you even do there?

Fishing, apparently. Which Sims can do pretty much anywhere there’s water, so what’s the point? :)

penig replied to your photo “Sage doesn’t do sitting still very well, and the next day he rolled up...”

This is what happens when you don't lock 'em in their rooms. You could have sent him out by himself, you know.

I could have...but my rule for hikes is that as many people in the household as possible go on them when any household member rolls a want for one and is able to take one. So, obviously toddlers get left behind as well as someone to care for them, and if anyone’s imminently due to go to work/school they don’t go, but everyone else, including pets, goes. Even if they’re sick. 

penig replied to your photo “Stephanie does most of the gardening these days, while her dad’s at...”

It has major routing fails and a fishing hole. Also the hydroponic garden for some reason.

Yeah, I’m afraid I’m pretty unimpressed with the hobby lots in general. :\ The only one I ever really use is the Cuisine one, and that just for food contests. I think what I’m eventually going to do, instead of fussing around to make over the hidden hobby lots, is just build all my own “hobby lots,” but just make them regular community lots and then use the Visitor Controller to limit their patronage to Sims for whom the dedicated hobby is their OTH. I think that would make them busier overall, which would be nice. They won’t have the hobby leaders...but if I wanted to, I could make them owned by the game-generated leaders, so they’d still be there...although I don’t know if they’d retain their “leader” functions, since I’d have to make them temporarily playable to buy the lots. It’ll be something to experiment with...one day. :) A large community-lot garden would be nice for Nature Sims to grow/maintain/harvest...although I suppose they’d have to stay on it for a number of days. And it’d be better if gardening was autonomous...And...

Well, anyway! it makes sense to have the hydroponic garden on the Nature lot, I suppose. I guess when the devs were building the lots, they just threw in anything that was related to (or “assigned” to, via the coding) that hobby that existed at the time.

delicatesoul88 replied to your post “So Tumblr decided to unfollow a bunch of people for me. :\”

It does that to me too! All the time! I really wish it wouldn't...

Yeah, I’ve seen people complaining about Tumblr unfollowing people as long as I’ve had a Tumblr. (Four years, geez!) Honestly, I always kind of suspected that people claimed that it did that in order to “cover up” the fact that they’d unfollowed people deliberately. But then it happened to me! And I didn’t even realize it! I just assumed those people had gone quiet for a while, as people do off and on...until I saw reblogs of posts that I didn’t recall having seen. And then I looked through the blogs I follow and, sure enough, they were no longer there. :\ I knew I didn’t do it, even by accident, because I don’t think I’ve ever unfollowed anyone, even when they announce they’re leaving... just in case they come back like, say, Trapping did. I’ll mute reblogs, sometimes, if they reblog a lot of non-Sims stuff, esp. real-world political/social things that I use Tumblr to escape from for a little while, but I’ll still want to see any original stuff they post. Otherwise I wouldn’t have followed them in the first place.

Anyway, yeah, it’s very, very annoying, and I wish that Tumblr would address whatever’s causing it. But then, Tumblr seems to like to try to control what we see, don’t they? :\ Thank God for Xkit! :D

eulaliasims replied to your post “Replies, yay!”

I love the graying snouts on the dogs too. :) Older doggos are great. Cats too! Kittens are lovely, but older cats are highly underrated. Grumpy old lady cats are the best.

Yeah, I have a huge soft spot for grumpy old lady cats. My own RL grumpy old lady cat passed away rather recently. (She was almost 19 when she got really sick and I decided to have her euthanized, so she had a good long, but always kind of sickly life, probably since she was a very runty runt of the litter.) Once she got past kittenhood, she wasn’t the cuddly kind -- she appreciated being petted and scritched and she would curl up next to you of her own volition, but would never get in a lap or tolerate being picked up or held -- but she was very chatty. She’d sit near me, and we’d have long cat-sound “conversations.” I often imagined that she was bitching to me about all the annoying young ‘uns and all the damn dogs underfoot.

I kinda wish the cats/dogs in game had more varied behaviors like that, but I understand the coding limitations and all. *sigh*

penig replied to your photoset “Samantha, childified. She looks just like Sage, down to the Vulcan...”

Bathtub piracy is one of the most important traits its possible to pass on.

YES IT IS! Bathtub piracy is probably one of those things that annoy a lot of people but that I just love, love, love. :)

penig replied to your photo “Later, the other Emmy GilsCarbo called this Emmy GilsCarbo. :) (The...”

You could start calling Simon's Emmy Em instead.

I could, yes...but I rather like confusing myself. Messing with my brain is so much fun! S’why I appreciate hallucinogens. :)

twofingerswhiskey replied to your post “SO MUCH DEGRASSED, THEY COULD CALL YOU DEGRASSI. okay there's my joke...”

The show is actually super popular, everyone I know has at least heard of it - it's been around for more than two generations, so I mean, yeah :D

Two generations? Really? I thought it was just a 90s thing. But then, I haven’t really watched TV since the early 90s, so there’s that. :) Anyway, I know the name of the show, but I know nothing about it other than that, since I never watched it. Seemed like it was aimed at a demographic that...isn’t me. :) My kids, maybe, but not me.

immerso-sims replied to your photoset “Annnnnd the younger daughter, Samantha. ”

Goopy and Sandy's genes still going strong!

They are! Goopy’s nose seems to override Sandy’s, but Sandy’s lips and jawline seem to override Goopy’s, so it all comes out even. 

immerso-sims replied to your photo “Heeeey, Cherry! I totally just knocked up your daughter, man. It was...”

I am laughing way too hard at this :D

Yeah, I think Sam is pretty much the most amusing Sim I’ve had in my game, ever, and he’s not even a playable. And really, I kinda hope he never becomes playable because then he’d probably become all boringly domesticated. It’s just, as an ex-llama-mascot, he’s freakin’ everywhere, and he’s apparently in a sort of eternally-adolescent hormonal overdrive. Don “Lothario” is a total amateur compared to this guy. Some folks will probably dislike him for that (and perhaps will dislike me “glorifying” or approving of his behavior or whatever), but I take this game not-seriously-at-all, and I have never had a Sim who’s made me laugh so much, sometimes in exasperation but also because he just does goofy things. I’ve had ex-llamas in my game before, but they’ve not been nearly so entertaining.

[ruddcatha]

Chapter 20 Teaser

Chapter 20 is almost ready, it will go live this weekend.  Enjoy this little teaser, and if  you would like to be added to the tags please let me know!

Kagome woke slowly to the morning light hitting her eyes.  She felt warm, safe, and protected.  She hadn’t felt that since… she opened her eyes, smiling sadly as she saw Inuyasha next to her, his eyes closed as he slept.  She let her eyes trail over his features, the curve of his jaw, the length of his lashes, the play of silver against his tanned skin.

He was so… beautiful. 

  She shifted to place a kiss on his forehead, tears threatening to fall as she felt the softness of his skin beneath her lips.  She didn’t deserve him, not after everything she had done.  She began to ease herself back, out of his arms.   She watched as his golden eyes opened halfway as his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

“Let me hold you for a few more minutes Kagome.” 

His voice was rough with sleep, the sound sending shivers down her spine.  Kami, she loved his voice.  She loved everyth…

No, she couldn’t think that.   Not now, not after… that.

‘A yokai will never abandon their mate.’

Shiori’s comment kept running through her brain. 

Kagome turned in Inuyasha’s arms to face the opposite wall.  Inuyasha immediately drew her back against his chest, holding her close.  He nuzzled her neck, placing a soft kiss at the junction of her neck and shoulder.  He curled around her protectively, sheltering her in the circle of his arms.  She could feel his breath on her skin, playing through her hair.  Even during insanity, in the depths of her anger at herself, he was the only one that made her feel safe, secure.

The scent of Kagome surrounded him, her soothing vanilla and rose.  Inuyasha pulled her closer.  The sour scent of decay had almost drowned out that scent when he had joined Kagome during the night, but as he held her the scent had faded.  He needed her natural scent like he needed air, and he relished the opportunity to hold it and her close. 

@heavenin--hell​  @willowandfog  @smmahamazing @clearwillow  @sticky-llama-perfection​@alannada @shinidamachu @cstormsinukagblog @superpixie42@nartista @neutronstarchild @i-dream-of-soup @hnnwnchstr @fawn-eyed-girl @ all-my-cuffs-have-buttons @liz8080 @pivora96

[ruddcatha]

Guardian Chapter 8

Inspired by @heavenin--hell​!

Guardian has been Nominated for the Feudal Connection  2020 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards!  Thank you to all the supporters of this story!!  Voting will begin on July 29 and run through August 12, 2020.

Nominated for Best AU/AR

Wall of tags, if you would like to be added, please let me know!

@willowandfog​  @smmahamazing @clearwillow  @sticky-llama-perfection @alannada @shinidamachu @cstormsinukagblog @superpixie42 @nartista @neutronstarchild​ @i-dream-of-soup​ @hnnwnchstr

Found on Ao3: Here

Found on FFN: Here

Kagome felt breathless as she watched the… she could only describe it as magical… scene before her. She could feel the ebb and flow of the energy around the room like a heartbeat, the golden light pulsing through the two statues.  At least now she knew she wasn’t insane; this was the same golden light she had seen the first day she had worked in the main room when she touched the wall.  Now the light seemed to sink into the forms, and she swore she saw the red handprints on the chests pulsing before the marks faded. As one, the two forms took a breath and their eyes flashed the same bright gold as Inuyasha’s.  A deep chuckle was heard from the … man… being… god… by the alter of the shrine.

“You did well pup.”  

The deep voice was soft but carried an undeniable tone of command.  This was a being who was used to being in control and obeyed without question.  Both men stepped forward, away from their platforms, towards Inuyasha.    Sango and Kagome held each other’s hand for support, and they heard Miroku’s slight gasp from beside them.

“Kami Kagome” Sango whispered, staring at the three silver haired men standing in the center of the room “you woke up the sex gods.”

Kagome’s eyes went wide as she looked at her friend in mock horror, and she suddenly found herself fighting to hold back a giggle.  

“I’m serious Kagome, look at them.  They are gorgeous… scary but gorgeous.” Sango smirked, then her face turned to shock as three shades of golden eyes turned to them.

“Shit” Sango swore nervously.

Miroku took a steadying breath before bravely stepping forward, turning his left arm to show the glowing tattoo located near his elbow.  He bowed low a few feet away from the three Inu yokai.

“My name is Miroku, my Lords, an apprentice member of the Human/Yokai Council, it is a pleasure to welcome you and pledge the allegiance of the council to your cause.”  Miroku stated clearly in late middle Japanese, completing the formalities of the counsel for the Great General and his sons.  An almost feral smile curved the lips of the tallest man in the group, his silver hair secured at the top of his head cascading down his back.  

“The Inu No Taisho accepts your allegiance and assistance.” His deep voice reverberated through the chamber.  “You may address me as Taisho or Toga.

The figure with the purple crescent moon watched the humans with a cold curiosity.  Toga turned to the silent figure, and Kagome saw a single eyebrow raise.  With a sigh, the last man looked at them and said a single word.

“Sesshomaru.” His voice seemed as cold as his expression.

Sesshomaru turned and focused his attention on Kagome. He made her nervous.  She felt that he was assessing and judging her, and that she had somehow been found wanting in some capacity.  The look of disdain in his light golden eyes made one thing clear, he did not care one way or another that they were there.  As he turned his attention back to Toga and Inuyasha she could not help but shiver slightly.  

Inuyasha began speaking quietly, quickly describing to his father and brother what had happened since he had awoken.

“What is this council and why was there a human and not one of the yokai lords here to greet us?” Toga asked, the plan that he had worked out with the lords did not involve humans.

“From what I have been told, the yokai lords form their own council, Miroku is a member of a second council of humans and yokai alike, to oversee the integration of the two, and were charged by the yokai lords to help when we returned.  All the humans have spiritual powers and are trusted by the lords.”

Kagome watched Inuyasha speaking with the other two Inu’s, seeing his shoulders relax for the first time in the admittedly short time she had known him.  She presumed that he had completed his story when all three turned to face her with different levels of consideration.  Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed as he began to walk towards her, his nose crinkling as if he smelled something distasteful. ‘Kami he can probably smell my fear.’ Kagome suddenly thought, clutching Sango’s hand tighter.  With a soft growl, Inuyasha was suddenly between her and Sesshomaru, and the later stopped.

“Brother” Kagome heard Sesshomaru say to Inuyasha before Sesshomaru turned and moved to the back of the room, away from the humans.  

Toga moved passed Kagome and Sango to move to the left wall, where he crouched down to look at the vessels and urns along the wall.

“Pup.” He growled.

“I know,” Inuyasha responded as he moved to stand next to his father “I saw.”

“What about the other seals?”

Inuyasha shook his head “Unknown.  I have not spoken with any of the keepers.”

“The Ookamis and Kitsunes would have been alerted the moment we were unsealed; I do not anticipate that it will take long for them to join us.” Toga said with confidence.

A shrill ringing sound echoed through the room, and all eyes turned to focus on Miroku.  With a sheepish grin Miroku pulled out his cell phone, making sure to keep it in sight of the two yokai in the room as he answered. After a moment he ended the call and looked to Kagome and Sango.

“Totosai.  He’s on his way with the second jeep.”

Miroku made his way towards Toga and Inuyasha, keenly aware that Sesshomaru was now slowly stalking in their direction.

“My lords” at the title Inuyasha let out a small growl and Toga’s lips quirked “That was Totosai, my mentor.  He will be arriving shortly with a second method of travel and asked me to inform you that the council will meet tomorrow.”

A short time later three silver-haired heads turned as one to the entrance of the shrine, alerting the humans to Totosai’s arrival. As Totosai descended the steps, Kagome, Sango and Miroku moved to meet him, with the Inu’s following slowly behind them.  Totosai paused as he saw the three guardian’s standing before him, Toga towering over his sons, though all three were an impressive height.  With all the courage he could muster, Totosai walked straight to the tallest figure, and gave a slight bow.  Toga looked down at the middle-aged man before him, taking in his balding head with white hair pulled behind him and white goatee.  Totosai’s eyes bugged out slightly at the perusal from the intimidating man before him.  

“Lord Toga” Totosai swallowed to calm his nerves “Please, allow us to escort you and your sons to a safe place to rest. The council will all be arriving tomorrow; I offer you a place to sleep and food to eat for as long as you desire it.”

Toga smiled broadly, the difference between his previous glower of intimidation and the smile was startling.  He threw back his head as he laughed.  Kagome saw Inuyasha watching his father with amusement and noticed that Sesshomaru had a look of pained embarrassment.  As he finished laughing, Toga reached out to clasp Totosai’s shoulder.  

“Thank you, after 500 years, I am starving.”  Toga strode up the stairs as he looked from side to side at the world around him. Inuyasha smirked at the dumbfounded look on the four humans before following Toga.  Sesshomaru was the only one who stayed downstairs, a low growl echoing through the entryway.

___________

It took close to an hour by Kagome’s estimate to get back to campus.  Sesshomaru had taken one look at the vehicles, raised an eyebrow and waited. Totosai quickly scrambled to open the back-seat door, and Sesshomaru lowered himself in the car.   Sango quickly chose to go with Totosai and Sesshomaru.

“I am not sitting in a car alone with that hentai.” She grumbled.

“Technically you wouldn’t be alone.” Kagome reminded her, earning herself a glare from her friend.

“Oh sure, except the ice man who would have no clue what was going on, that helps.”

Kagome just shook her head and moved towards Miroku’s vehicle.  Inuyasha was already sitting in the backseat of the jeep while Toga kept walking around it, his eyes shining like a young kid.  

“Remarkable.” He was amazed, he had anticipated that things would have changed, but not that much. To remove the horses from the carriage… Toga knew that he would enjoy learning more about this new world.    Miroku showed him how to open the doors, and Toga spent the next ten minutes opening and closing the door until Inuyasha growled.

“Kami, you are the parent, start acting like it.”

With a beleaguered sigh, Toga allowed Miroku to close the door.  Once everyone was securely in the jeeps, Totosai and Miroku made their way quickly back to Totosai’s office.  

Kagome learned more about her university on her way back than she had in all her research before joining the archaeology program.  Totosai told her that the university had been founded by one of the yokai lords, and he continued to subsidize it to that day.  The archaeology department was one of the pet projects, fully funded by the lords rather than having to seek grant funding or go through official state procedures for research approval.  That had allowed the archeology program to thrive, and members of the program were asked on every important excavation in Japan.  Totosai explained that it was how they made sure there was always at least one member of either council present on all archaeological projects just in case they came across the guardians.

Totosai’s office building had an underground apartment, one of several secured locations around town.  They did not appear on any maps and were not part of the official university plans or architectural records, and they were protected by complex wards that only allowed members of the councils or their guests through.  The archaeology program was very selective, applicants were screened for spiritual power during the interview process.  Kagome was surprised to learn that the only one in her program that did not have some latent spiritual power was Sango, however Sango was a descendant of what Totosai called the “slayers,” descendants of the original village, trained to fight and prepare to serve the lords who had once protected them.

When they arrived at the campus Totosai drove Kagome to her apartment complex.  She had insisted that she could walk back if he had wanted to get Inuyasha and his family prepared for the next day, but he would not hear of it. Inuyasha watched her silently from the backseat, his eyes never straying from her form as she moved towards the door. Kagome turned back as she reached the door, and she swore she could see the golden color of his eyes, even though she knew it was impossible at that distance.  With a sigh she made her way upstairs to her apartment, and Sango immediately pulled her into a tight hug as soon as the door closed.  The two friends stood there, their arms around each other in silence.

“Well today’s been a fucked-up day hasn’t it?”

Kagome burst out laughing at Sango’s statement, the humor breaking through the tension that she felt.

“Yeah, I say this ranks up there in the top 5 of fucked-up days.” Kagome agreed as she continued to chuckle.   She pulled away from Sango to move to the kitchen.  “And fucked-up days deserve wine.”

“Oh, you won’t get an objection from me on that!” At Sango’s response Kagome pulled down two glasses and took a bottle of white wine out of the fridge.  She poured two glasses and brought them back to hand one to Sango.

“To fucked-up days”

“To fucked-up days”

The girls clinked their glasses together and took the first sip of the wine.  Sango’s eyes took on a mischievous glint.

“To hot silver haired men.”

Kagome’s smile got dreamy as her thoughts went to Inuyasha. “To hot silver haired men and I will raise you with golden eyes that melt you.”

“Ooooh touché!” Sango giggled, drinking to the toast.

Kagome thought for a moment. “To… To dark haired men with blue eyes and a ponytail.”

“To dark haired men with blue eyes and…. Wait, what the fuck Kagome, I am NOT drinking a toast to hentai man!”

Kagome snickered at the indignation in Sango’s voice and on her face.  Sango continued to grumble “waste a perfectly good toast on that jerk.”

“Ah come on Sango, he wasn’t so bad, he’s been quite nice through everything today.  Besides, I saw the way you looked at him.”

Sango’s indignation turned into a blush.  “Shut up Kagome.”

Kagome just stared at her.

Sango sighed “… fine… to dark haired men with blue eyes who made a bad first impression but are still kinda hot anyway, there happy?”  Sango threw back the rest of her wine before glaring jokingly at Kagome.

“Yup.” Kagome smiled broadly as she snickered, the wine helping her to relax after the day.

Sango shook her head at Kagome.  “Alright girl, I’m heading to bed.  Thank god Totosai gave us tomorrow off.”

Kagome quickly finished her wine before taking the two glasses back to the sink to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher.  By the time she finished the door to Sango’s bedroom was closed.  Kagome made her way to her room; it was hard for her to believe that just a few hours earlier she had opened the door to find Inuyasha staring at her.  She quickly changed into her night clothes, exhaustion from the day and the wine both hit her at the same time.  Kagome fell against her bed, not even bothering to cover herself with her blanket.

Kagome turned to make herself comfortable, and her eyes passed the mirror on her dresser.  The mirror had taken on a hazy quality, and Kagome noticed that a fog seemed to be creeping through her vision.

‘I must be more tired than I thought.’  As her eyes closed and she began to drift off, she could swear she saw golden eyes in the haze.  A slight smile curved her lips ‘Inuyasha.’

As Kagome fell into a deep sleep, crimson eyes formed in the mirror, staring unblinkingly at her still figure.  Ghostly fingers formed in the mist and reached out towards Kagome.  As they drew nearer, Kagome’s face began show discomfort, and her body twisted, restless.  A golden aura formed around her form, the light blocking the fingers from reaching her body.  They withdrew with a hiss, and the crimson eyes narrowed in rage.  The mist began to swirl violently as the eyes brightened, anger making them burn like fire.  Shadowy shapes reached for Kagome time and time again, repelled each time by the golden glow.  Kagome jolted awake as the mirror cracked and shattered, shards flying through the room. A piece of glass flew past Kagome and cut open her arm.  She stared down with blurry eyes at her arm then turned back to the mirror.

“What... what just happened?”