______"This is ridiculous!" Inu-Yasha's 'legendary' patience had snapped long, long ago.
______"InuYasha," Kagome said calmly. "Stop over-reacting."
______"Over-reacting," He fumed. "OVER-REACTING! KAGOME! I CAN'T WALK! WHO THE HELL'S OVER-REACTING!?"
______"InuYasha," Kaede began.
______"DAMN YOU WITCH!" InuYasha screamed at the top of his lungs. "FIX THIS NOW!"
______"I can't," Kaede said quietly "You have to wade it out. It's wearing off."
______"That girl has gotten away by now," InuYasha growled. "The longer I have to wait, the harder it will be to track her."
______"What about SesshouMaru," Kagome said. "He was there, and he did follow you two. And you're safely here. Obviously, he wasn't after you."
______"Maybe," InuYasha mumbled.
______InuYasha hobbled outside Kaede's home. He was on crutches. He had enough
strength back in his legs to move around on these, but not on his own yet. It had been
a week since the attack, and it was only getting less likely that they could locate the girl.
He growled and balled his hands into tight fists, his claws cutting crescent moons into the
palms of his hands.
______Inside the hut, Kagome sighed deeply, "Kaede what're we gonna do?"
______"I'm not sure," Kaede shook her head slowly. "An old friend of mine, a traveling priestess, will be here tomorrow. Perhaps she will know something about this."
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______SesshouMaru smiled and sat back to relax in his father's old throne in the main hall.
Jigokuyari was at the main residence, keeping an eye on SesshouMaru's lands. Storm had
been here a week, and he had been showing her as much as he could about Japanese culture.
He remembered her face after he had taken her to see a theater performance, such joy. Now
that he thought about it, the few times he had caught her off guard, she was sad. She had a
lot going on back home though: being a half-blood, destined to lead a powerful clan, an
arranged marriage, a dangerous, energy-draining sword, and that was just what she had told
him... She didn't like to talk about her home, and typically avoided the subject when he
brought it up.
______His smile had faded. He knew she had to head back to her home soon. He didn't really want to see
her leave. He was a demon lord, where did this weakness come from? Then again, by his position alone,
he could force her to stay. He didn't want to be her people's enemy, no matter how far away they were. He
didn't want to be her enemy...
______"Stuck between a rock and a hard place," he muttered.
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______Storm sat on a tree limb in the forest outside SesshouMaru's lair. Her feet hung over one side and
she leaned her back against the trunk. "What's my problem," she whispered to the surrounding trees.
______She had remained in SesshouMaru's land for quite some time now, longer than she had remained
anywhere throughout her travels. She couldn't help picturing his face when she had first attempted to walk
away from him. She found that every time she needed to walk away and continue her journey, her heart
ached. She never cared so much for anyone as she did for him, but he was a demon, and despite the
similarities between his race and hers, she shouldn't trust him so much.
______"When did I become so weak?"
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______SesshouMaru sat on a coushin in one room of his lair, carefully examining Storm's journal. He still
had no clue as to how to read her language, but the drawings showed him an entire world of creatures that
he had never encountered. Storm entered the room quietly, wearing the green tunic and brown pants that she
had bee wearing during their first encounter.
______He looked up at her and smiled, "Good evening Storm."
______"To you as well," She spoke softly as she took a seat next to SesshouMaru. "About time I tried to
teach you how to read this, isn't it?"
______"Yes, I suppose so," He said. "I had lost track of the days."
______Storm reached across his lap and turned the pages in the book to the one with the deer and began
to read the notes around the picture to him, pointing to each word as she read it.
______It was extremely late in the evening when SesshouMaru closed the book and smiled at Storm. "I
think I have learned as much as a Youkai can in one evening. Thank you. We should continue tomorrow."
______"Sounds like a good idea to me." Storm replied as she stood up. She began to walk towards the door
of the room to head to her guest apartment.
______"Storm," SesshouMaru's voice stopped her in her tracks. "How long do you suppose it would take for
me to learn your language?"
______"With about two weeks of instruction like this evening, I could teach you the basics," She paused
to do some mental calculations, "And with the journal you could probably almost master the language within
a few months after that."
______"I see," he said. Standing up, he took a couple of steps to put himself behind Storm. "And what
if you were to remain to teach me the entire language yourself? How long then?"
______Storm squeezed her eyes tightly shut, surely he didn't mean for her to stay that long. She had to
return to her people. "Probably fairly close to the same."
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______"Lady Kaede!" one of the local youths came bursting into the hut, an urgent look on his face.
______Kaede stood quickly despite her age and reached for her bow, "What is it child? Where?"
______"I'm not sure, but there's a weird-looking lady who just came into town. An', her clothes are almost as weird as Priestess Kagome's!" the child exclaimed in nervous excitement.
______"Ah," Kaede nodded and put her bow back in it's place against the wall. "I've been expecting her."
______"Really?" The child's eyes grew wide, "She's not a demon or nuthin'?"
______"No she isn't," Kaede answered in a motherly tone. "Shall we go greet her?" The child nodded and ran out of the hut; Kaede started to follow.
______"Hey, Hag!" InuYasha inquired from the floor, "This that priestess friend of yours that we've been waiting on?"
______"Yes it is InuYasha," Kaede said in exasperation. "We'll see if she knows anything, and Kagome will be back this evening, and perhaps she will have learned of something in her time."
______"Feh." InuYasha snorted. "As soon as my legs work properly again, i'm gonna kill that bitch; I don't care what she or that sword of hers are."
______"Maybe you should care InuYasha." Kaede shook her head and walked out of the hut.
A few minutes later . . .
______"FEH!" InuYasha used the crutches Kaede had gotten for him to stand and get out of the hut, so he could hear what the old hag's friend had to say.
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