Sango awoke from her nap with an embarrassed jolt and hastened to put distance between herself and Shunusuke. How on earth had her head gotten on his thigh?! Oh yeah. She put it there. BLUSH. She hazarded a shy peek at his face only to discover with a horrified lump in her throat that he was awake and looking at her.
        "How’s that headache?" He asked solicitously before she died of embarrassment.
        Sango blushed some more as she brushed her hair behind her ears and tried not to meet his eyes. Gods he was handsome—and such a nice guy. "It’s gone now. I feel much better now…thanks…um, how are you?" AUGH! That sounded so stupid! Her flush deepened, and Sango turned her attention to Shippo and Myouga, who still dozed at the other end of the porch.
        Shunusuke tried not to smile at her mortification but failed horribly. "I’m good, thanks." He realized how idiotic that sounded and quickly changed the subject. "So! Think it’s safe to go back inside?"
        Sango groaned. "What’s your sister’s problem, anyway? I know what Miroku’s is: He’s a pervert. But Yuki seemed really nice."
        Shunusuke frowned at her. "Yuki is nice…"
        "She’s a slut," Sango told him bluntly, then seemed to remember all of a sudden that she was talking to the girl’s brother and tried backpedal. "I—I mean, she’s, well…" she hung her head. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t talk about your sister like that."
        He sighed heavily and slouched a little lower against the condo wall. "You’re not the first to call her that," he confessed quietly. He massaged his palm nervously and wouldn’t look at her. "Yuki…really likes men. A lot."
        Sango snorted: "I guess she and Miroku really are made for each other, then."
        Shunusuke shrugged. "I worry about her. She could get diseases, or pregnant…"
        "Doesn’t she respect herself at all?" Sango asked incredulously.
        Her sharp tone made Shunusuke flinch. He’d wondered the same thing himself many times and had even talked to Yuki about it once or twice, but she always got angry and told him it was her life and her body and she could whatever she wanted with them. The truth was in her mind, though: Yuki was painfully lonely, which utterly mystified him. She had dozens of friends, an attentive family, made good grades, was pretty and popular. He didn’t understand why she felt so isolated.
        "I—I’m sorry," Sango apologized in a small voice, "it’s none of my business what she does. After all, she’s a grown woman, isn’t she?"
        "Actually, she’s only seventeen."
        Sango looked confused. "Isn’t that an adult?"
        They stared at each other in puzzlement for a few moments, then Shunusuke chuckled. "I think people grow up faster in your time than in mine. People here don’t usually even consider getting married until they’re out of high school, at least."
        "’High school’?" Yuki repeated slowly. "Is that where Kagome has tests?"
        Huh? How did she know the English word for tests? Oh! Kagome! Why didn’t the girl just use the Japanese word when talking to these people from the past? Probably wasn’t thinking. He translated the word for Sango, then explained: "Kagome’s in junior high school. That’s a level below high school. It’s about time for her to be taking tests to get into high school, though. Is that what she tells you? She has to take tests?"
        The demon hunter nodded. "I thought my life was complicated. Do your people spend all of their lives in school?"
        He laughed. "It sure feels that way!"
        "Are you in school, too?"
        "University," Shunusuke nodded, then anticipated her next question: "It’s where you go after high school. Not everybody goes on to university, but many people do. In our world, you need to be well-educated in order to get a good job and be able to support yourself and your family. So…we go to school to learn to read and write and to learn math, science, literature, art, athletics—anything we might need to know to function in society."
        Sango got up and stretched, then commented with a grin: "Sounds like you have a rough life!"
        He shook his head as he rose and opened the door. "No, not really. Life’s not as hard now as it is in your time. We live better, I’m told, and longer."
        That killed her mirth in a snap. "Really?" She followed him into the condo and shut the door behind them. "I’ve only seen a little of your world: Here and that city, Tokyo. Well, not much of Tokyo, actually," she admitted then brightened. "It’s the biggest city I’ve ever seen! I couldn’t believe how many people there were—and those machines…um…cars! It was amazing!" She pinched her nose. "And smelly, too, but cities are smelly where I come from, only it’s a different kind of smell. Is everybody here rich?"
        Shunusuke put a kettle on to brew them some tea. Sango leaned with her elbows on the counter on the living room side and kept the questions coming. "What’s school like? Do you like it? Were all those people in Tokyo going to school or work? I didn’t see any farms, or anything. What do all those people do?"
        "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" Shunusuke turned around and leaned his back against the counter. He was about to say something else but the words died in his throat as the force of her unguarded feelings hit him full force. Loneliness, isolation. She was trying hard to be cheerful, but she was really afraid of his alien world. Her smile was genuine enough, but her eyes betrayed her.
        He hesitated too long and got caught. Her smile faded. "What’s wrong?"
        Blink. "Oh! Uh, nothing, I was just thinking about, uh, how I’d explain it all," he lied and laughed to cover his awkwardness. "And also…" he gave her an uncertain little smile and ran his hand through his hair, "well, you’re really beautiful when you smile like that."
        Her expression darkened.
        "I didn’t mean it as a come on!" Shunusuke stammered, waving his hands between them in a hurried attempt to calm her down before she lumped him into the same category as Miroku and Yuki. "It was just a compliment. It’s just…well, it’s just the truth! A man can tell a woman she’s beautiful without meaning something else—"
        She smiled and cocked her head to the side in a very cute way that made him forget where he was going with that explanation.
        "…um…uh…what was I saying?"
        "Kettle’s boiling."
        "Right. The kettle’s boiling, and you shouldn’t take that to mean—yipe!" The kettle’s whistle startled him, and he jumped to pull it off the burner and turn off the stove.
        Sango giggled. Men could be so weird.

        And speaking of weird men, Miroku was sunning himself on the beach in a pair of Shunusuke’s swim trunks, watching the girls go by, his eyes hidden by dark sunglasses. Yuki tanned on her belly beside him in a tiny g-string bikini with the top off so her back wouldn’t get funny tan lines. Frankly, the priest had never felt so content and fulfilled in his life. The only thing spoiling it was his curse. He held up his right arm to grimace at the sheath and prayer beads that kept the air rip from opening up and sucking in everything in range.
        And killing him in the process.
        Miroku squeezed his eyes shut against the sting of tears and took a deep, calming breath. He finally found the girl of his dreams, and if he failed to kill Naraku before the year was out the air rip would suck him in to his death before he could really enjoy—
        "Hmph. Enjoy what, you stupid asshole?" He asked himself bitterly. She was from another time! Her world was so different from his, more advanced he supposed. The people all seemed to have money and expensive things and time to enjoy life. Where he came from, the people he was seeing on this beach would be too busy breaking their backs in the fields to pad some shogun’s coffers to play in the surf and go to parties. Why would Yuki want to leave a world like this to be the wife of a humble priest who could only offer her his undying affection and a roof over her head? Here she could have water by turning a handle, keep food for days in a cold box, be entertained by pointing a little box at glass screen and get from place to place in a matter of minutes in a magical carriage. And she came from a wealthy, important family, too. Who was he to think a girl like that would give it all up to be with a guy like him?
        Or he could come here and live with her in her world. Would her family accept him? Certainly not after the time he was spending fighting them. He groaned inwardly at the thought of trying to win Yuki’s hand from the Great Demon of the Northern Lands (surely Hisui would want a say in her granddaughter’s marriage plans). He didn’t relish the idea of approaching Yuki’s daddy about it, either. All things considered, the only nice people in Yuki’s family seemed to be Yuki and Shunusuke.
        What if Yuki didn’t want to get married at all? Not to him or anybody? Sigh. Well, even if she did, Miroku reasoned sadly, she’d be better matched with someone from her own social class than with him. No, her family would never consent to their union. That said, he’d already ruined her for anybody else, so what did he have to lose? He was dead anyway, thanks to Naraku’s bloody air rip curse. All Hisui and Mikoto could do was kill him—big deal. And why hadn’t Shunusuke done anything more than pound on the bedroom door? He was her brother, after all!
        "Gods, I’m scum," Miroku lamented. Here he was so concerned about the recovery of Yuki’s honor when he was the one who’d smeared it in the first place. Of course, it wasn’t as if she’d been unwilling…or hard to seduce… Come to think of it, she’d seduced him. She really seemed to know what she was doing, too—not at all like a virgin. "I wasn’t her first?" He cast a suspicious glance at Yuki’s peacefully sleeping face and his heart melted. She really was very beautiful. It shouldn’t surprise him that she’d caught the eye of other men, and the other way around. She certainly was independent, and women in this time did seem much less…modest…than they were in his time. He watched a group of bikini-clad girls bounce a little white ball over a net, all of them smiling and giggling and not in the least bit embarrassed to be showing so much skin in public. Yes, indeed: Kagome’s world was as close to paradise as he was ever going to get.
        He rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on his hands so he could look at Yuki’s face. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself, thinking about marriage. After all, he’d only known Yuki for a few days. She’d probably just forget about him when this fight was over, and it was time for him to go home. Not liking that thought very much, Miroku closed his eyes and imagined Yuki marrying him and bearing his children instead.
        He’d just gotten to the part where his grandchildren were toddling about at his feet when a shadow fell over him, and the chill of a youkai nearby made him shiver. Both he and Yuki looked up with a paranoid start to find Inu Yasha and Kagome standing over them, looking rather annoyed.
        "Get off your lazy ass, Priest," Inu Yasha barked, "we got a new problem."
        Kagome smacked his arm with an impatient frown for his bad manners, then returned her attention to the sunbathers just in time for Yuki to start searching for her bikini top, leaving her breasts bare to the world. The boys’ eyes bugged out of their skulls, Inu Yasha turned bright red and turned his back on Yuki while she covered herself. Kagome rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to kick sand at Yuki for being so shameless. Yuki noticed their reactions and gave them an innocent look as she hooked her top: "What? You guys act like you’ve never seen breasts before!"
        Inu Yasha trembled with rage and mortification. "I HAVEN’T!"
        "Oops," Yuki giggled, "sorry, Inu Yasha."
        "What about that time you caught me bath—" Kagome started, but Inu Yasha didn’t hear her.
        He spun around and kicked sand at Yuki. "Sorry THIS, bitch!"
        Yuki snarled as she brushed sand off of herself and reached for a bottle of sunblock to throw at Inu Yasha, but Miroku beat her to it. He lobbed the bottle at the demon’s head with a pert chastisement for being rude to "a lady". Inu Yasha found that title absolutely hysterical, and soon the two men were shouting in each other’s faces about the quality of Yuki’s character. That pissed off Yuki, who jumped up to try and out shout the boys. Kagome screamed for them all to just forget about that and focus on a real problem, but nobody paid any attention to her, so she stomped off toward the condo with an angry: "I’ll be talking to sensible people if anybody needs me!"
        The combatants caught up to her after she’d stalked several yards. Inu Yasha ran ahead and trotted backwards so he could look at her when he demanded: "What’s your problem?"
        "Don’t talk to Kagome like that!" Miroku snapped from his place on Kagome’s right.
        From Kagome’s left, Yuki added: "Yeah!"
        Kagome threw up her arms with an irritated huff. "Inu Yasha, you’re gonna bump into something if you keep running backward like that."
        He looked over his shoulder too late to see the volleyball that rolled into his path and he went down with a painful yelp. A big, buff guy collected the ball with an apologetic smile. "You ok, man? Hey! You’re that demon dog guy!" He offered Inu Yasha his hand, but the demon got up without help and gave the boy a curt nod.
        "Yeah, that’s me," Inu Yasha grunted at him. He snatched the ball out of the boy’s hands and threw it to the other volleyball players who smoothly batted it into play.
        Kagome rolled her eyes. "Inu Yasha, you are quite possibly the rudest person I have ever known!" She bowed to the boy and apologized for her companion’s attitude problem. "Please forgive him. He’s a demon and can’t help himself."
        Muscle-boy grinned at Inu Yasha and said: "Cool!" Then went back to his volleyball game.
        Inu Yasha gave Kagome a smug look, but before he could open his mouth, she reached out and flipped his rosary necklace, a subtle hint to shut up or get the Sit treatment. He shut up.
        Kagome smirked to herself and resumed her determined trek to the condo where she hoped to find Sango at the very least but hopefully Shunusuke, Shippo and Myouga as well. After a moment, Inu Yasha and the others started after her.
        "So what’s the big deal?" Yuki asked as she caught up to Kagome. One look at the expression on Kagome’s face, and Yuki’s tone changed dramatically to one of deepest worry. "What did my father do?"
        "Not your dad," Kagome corrected her, "Shinai and Tsurai."
        Yuki was puzzled. "What did they do?"
        "Shinnai wants us to help him split up Sesshomaru and Hisui," Inu Yasha explained sourly. "Tsurai wants us to leave them alone. Shinnai says he’ll protect Kagome’s family if we help him, Tsurai says he’ll hurt Kagome’s family if we help Shinai."
        Yuki grinned. "Well, I can solve your Tsurai problem pretty easily."
        They all stopped short to gape at Yuki. "You can?!" Kagome exclaimed in disbelief. "How?"
        Yuki flipped her hair and gave them a sexy look. "He’s crazy about me. All I have to do is seduce him, and he’ll do anything I ask!"
        Miroku choked.
        Kagome’s eyes narrowed, and she growled under her breath: "I can’t believe you just said that in front of Miroku…"
        "You bitch…" Inu Yasha added.
        Yuki looked in confusion at the devastated Miroku for a few seconds, then seemed to realize what she’d done. "Oh! Nononono! That’s not what I meant! I didn’t mean get him bed, I just meant make him think I would sleep with him…you know, string him along. He does anything I ask him to when I get like that."
        Miroku’s face fell even more, while Kagome’s and Inu Yasha’s expressions got darker and darker as they glared at Yuki. "That is so cruel," Kagome breathed in horror. She couldn’t even imagine toying with a man’s emotions like that. Especially not…sexually. She was actually feeling a little sorry for Tsurai—and very much sorry for poor Miroku, who looked like he’d been hit.
        Yuki shifted her feet uncomfortably. "Did I say something wrong?"
        GAWK!
        "Did you say something—" Inu Yasha sputtered.
        "—wrong?!" Kagome finished.
        "YOU ARE SUCH A SLUT!" Inu Yasha roared. He threw his arm around Miroku’s shoulders in a big show of male solidarity. "You spend all night in Miroku’s arms, then turn around and talk about sleeping with some other guy!"
        "Right in front of him!" Kagome shrieked in Yuki’s face. She shook the other girl by her bikini straps. "What kind of a girl are you?!"
        Everything stopped when Miroku shouted: "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Then more quietly: "Let her go, Kagome."
        Kagome let go in shock. "B-but, Miroku—"
        "It’s just the way she is," he explained in a tight voice and roughly shook Inu Yasha’s arm off his shoulder. "I’m the same way, so I guess we’re made for each other."
        Yuki bit her knuckles and looked like she might cry. Then with a delighted sob, she threw her arms around Miroku and covered his neck with happy kisses. His arms went around her, and the two of them clung to each other and wept for joy at finding other people who actually understood them.
        Inu Yasha and Kagome were now totally confused.

        Later…

        "Miroku," Kagome warned with a nasty glare, "don’t make me say it…"
        The priest cowered on the couch, clutching Yuki’s hand. Around his neck was a rosary that looked a lot like the one Inu Yasha wore. It was the fruits of an experiment Kagome had been wanting to try for some time. Yuki had one just like it.
        "You and Yuki will stay right here and behave yourselves while we figure out what to do about those stupid kitsune!" Kagome wagged a threatening finger at the two lovebirds. "Or I’ll say The Word."
        Miroku and Yuki gulped and nodded obediently.
        Sango gave Kagome a teasing elbow in the ribs and joked: "Why didn’t you think of this sooner, Kagome?"
        Kagome shrugged. "I wasn’t sure it would work."
        Inu Yasha slouched in a chair, not daring to gloat since he, too, sported a magical control-necklace. Kagome had a different word for each of her three victims: Sit for Inu Yasha, Lay for Miroku and "Down" for Yuki. Dog obedience words, the demon realized with a nervous gulp.
        Yuki cleared her throat and suggested hesitantly: "Don’t you think these would be better used on Shinai or Tsurai?"
        "Or Hisui and Sesshomaru?" Miroku added cautiously in a tiny voice.
        Kagome gave that some serious thought. "I do have more rosaries…"
        Shippo perched on the arm of Inu Yasha’s chair but didn’t dare speak lest he find his own neck festooned with a magic necklace. Shunusuke, too, seemed to have decided silence was the safest option until Kagome got over this control freak phase she was in. He sat in the other chair and wracked his brain for a way to convince Kagome to remove the necklaces (from his sister’s neck, if no one else’s).
        "You’re a cold woman, Lady Kagome," Myouga huffed from Shippo’s shoulder. "Is this really necessary?"
        Kagome turned on him with a wicked grin that made the flea rethink the wisdom of speaking his mind. "If I didn’t do something, they’d just spend all their time in the bedroom when we need their help to deal with this latest problem." She raised an eyebrow at Yuki, who shrank against Miroku’s shoulder. "These kitsune work for her family, so Yuki has to help us figure this out. It’s… insurance."
        Shunusuke decided now was a good time to speak up. "They’re my family, too. Are you going to collar me, Kagome?"
        "As long as you don’t lie to us or betray us again," Kagome told him coolly, "I see no reason to resort to such drastic measures."
        Ouch. "Even without threats," Shunusuke retorted in a calm voice, "I won’t do that again. I told you how I feel about my father’s plans, the same goes for Hisui’s. Now take off their rosaries, Kagome. I’m sure we can trust them to stay put and not get fresh with each other while we sort this out."
        Kagome glared. Shunusuke glared back. Nobody spoke. Finally, Kagome turned to Yuki and Miroku and wagged her finger at them. "Will you two behave yourselves?"
        They nodded vigorously.
        "Promise?"
        Nods.
        "Ok." Kagome took off their necklaces and put them over her own neck for safe keeping.
        Yuki growled: "You are so dead, Higurashi. I’ll get you for this."
        Kagome had her collared again so fast it made Yuki’s head spin. "Lay!"
        From her face down in the carpet position, Yuki muttered: "I thought we were friends…"
        "No threats, no rosary," Kagome chirped.
        Mutter-mutter. "Fine."
        Kagome took off Yuki’s necklace again and declared to the rest of the room: "Anyway, it was an experiment to see if I could even do it on my own. Now that I know I can, we can use these on the kitsune twins!"
        Inu Yasha crossed his arms and frowned. "I agree with Miroku: Use ‘em on Hisui and Sesshomaru—or even Mikoto."
        Kagome’s shoulders drooped. "I don’t think I’m fast enough to collar a full-blooded demon and get the spell out before they can get me. Especially demons as old and experienced as Hisui and Sesshomaru. If I miss, or I’m not fast enough, they could kill me and get the jewel!"
        "Then I’ll do it!" Inu Yasha shot back. "I’ll put on the necklaces while you cast the spells!"
        Kagome sat down on the couch with her erstwhile victims to think about that idea. Inu Yasha certainly was fast, there was no arguing that. And he’d proven his ability to evade Sesshomaru in the past—but that was a younger Sesshomaru than the one they faced now. She knew little about Hisui’s fighting ability but assumed it was formidable because of her reputation.
        Everyone else gave it a good think, too. "I wouldn’t try it on the older demons," Shunusuke said thoughtfully. "They might have the power to break your spell. Certainly they’ll kill you if you fail. I side with Yuki: Use your spell on Shinai and Tsurai. They do seem to be the ones causing your immediate problem."
        "We don’t know they’re not doing it on Hisui’s orders," Shippo cut in, "or even Mikoto’s. This could be a trick."
        "Well, no kidding it’s a trick," Yuki snorted, "they’re kitsune. You guys are all about tricks."
        "Oh yeah," Shippo chuckled self-consciously, "forgot."
       Suddenly Inu Yasha yipped and swatted at something dark and furry that appeared on top of his head. The black furball flew across the room to be caught by a very startled Sango. She looked down to find a cute, little black fox looking back up at her with big, dewy, innocent eyes. It gave her a doggy grin and pricked up its ears so it would look as cute and cuddly as possible. Then Inu Yasha grabbed it by its tail and would’ve thrown it against the wall if it hadn’t turned into Shinai, leaving Inu Yasha with his hand on a very embarrassing part of the kitsune’s anatomy. The demon dog turned bright red and was too flustered to even think about clawing the intruder.
        Shinai batted his eyelashes at him fetchingly. "Why, Inu Yasha, I had no idea you felt that way!"
        "DIE!"
        SWIPE!
        Shinai ducked, and Inu Yasha’s claws whistled harmlessly over his head. The kitsune giggled, turned into a fox, and jumped back into Sango’s arms to nuzzle her with a contented growl. Now that Sango knew who he was, she didn’t fall for it and threw him at Inu Yasha, who knew better than to try and catch him this time. Good move, since Shinai returned to his humanlike form in mid-flight and landed with a triumphant grin less than a foot from Inu Yasha, who chose not to waste his claws on him this time.
        "Heehee!" Shinai giggled. "You think you’re all so smart, don’t you?" Suddenly he felt something land around his neck. "What the--?!"
        "LAY!"
       SPLAT!
        "How did you--?" Shinai tugged at the rosary around his neck but couldn’t budge it. He rolled over and bared his fangs at Kagome. "You little bitch! I’ll get you for th—"
        "LAY!"
        SPLAT!
        Everybody else said: "Cool!"
        "Watch for his brother!" Shunusuke warned, though Tsurai was nowhere in evidence. He held up a finger. "Wait for it…wait for it…"
        "Release my brother immediately, you human whore!"
        "NOW!"
        Kagome faked a throw, shot a LAY at Shinai to keep him down, which distracted Tsurai for an instant. Inu Yasha grabbed his shoulder, spun him about and planted his fist in the kitsune’s jaw before Tsurai could evade him. In the second in which Tsurai reeled from Inu Yasha’s right hook, Kagome threw a rosary over his neck and screamed: "DOWN!"
        SPLAT!
        Now they had two very angry servants of demon lords face down on their living room carpet, vowing to personally tear them limb from limb, or failing that, sic their bosses on them.
        "Lady Hisui will hear of this!" Shinai swore.
        "As will Lord Asano!" Tsurai added.
        "Good," Kagome told them pertly, "then I can tell them how you were planning to ruin Hisui’s romance with Sesshomaru, Shinai."
        Gulp.
        "Which she probably already knows about, anyway," Kagome went on, "since she seems to be omniscient, or something."
        Based upon recent experience, the people in the room figured that was Hisui’s cue to appear in their midst. Especially considering what a slave to fashion Hisui was, and appearing on cue seemed to be the fashion of the day.
        Wait.
        No Hisui.
        "Hm," Inu Yasha grunted thoughtfully, "I was sure she’d show up right then."
        Shinai rolled over and blinked up at the demon dog. "Me, too."
        "It does seem to be de rigeur today," Tsurai added as he rolled over and cautiously sat up, keeping a paranoid eye on Kagome all the while.
        Kagome frowned and looked around the room, then stepped over Shinai and around his brother to go look out the door to the porch. No demon lords. She turned around to find Shunusuke had gotten up and was checking the bedrooms. Then he checked the bath, only to return to the living room with a shrug. "I can’t believe it," he said, "she’s actually not following the mode of fashion."
        "Red letter day," Yuki chimed in.
        "Yeah, better make a note of it," Inu Yasha smirked.
        They waited, feeling certain Hisui would appear now that they were insulting her. The phone rang instead. Shunusuke hurried over to answer it.
        "Hello?" He turned to the others and rolled his eyes, pointing meaningfully to the receiver.
        They groaned. "I knew she couldn’t pass up the opportunity," Inu Yasha complained and flopped back into his chair to wait for Shunusuke’s report on the conversation. He didn’t expect the demon lord would want to talk to him, though.
        Shunusuke held out the phone. "I don’t know what she wants, she just wants to talk to you."
        Inu Yasha hesitated.
        "You better do it," Shinai warned, and got a sharp LAY from Kagome. "Shit, bitch, what is your problem?!"
        "LAY!"
        Mumble-mumble-mumble.
        Inu Yasha went over and took the phone from Shunusuke. "What do you want?" He growled into it. He didn’t care how rude he was to Hisui Oukami, nor what she’d do to him for it. She was a bitch who didn’t deserve (or want) any courtesy from him, and after what she was doing to Kagome’s family, she’d be lucky if he didn’t dedicate the rest of his life to finding a way to kill her (right after he got done with Naraku and Sesshomaru).
        Hisui clicked her tongue at him. "Shame on you, Inu Yasha, and I was calling to give you good news and make you an offer you can’t refuse!"
        "Yeah right."
        Pause.
        "You’re not a very nice young man, Inu Yasha," she scolded him affectionately, "I love that in a demon. Would you like to come work for me when you’re done with this little quest you’re on?"
        Inu Yasha gagged.
        "You’ll need a good job if you’re to support Kagome," Hisui continued cheerfully, "and you’re certainly not qualified to do anything else in this time beyond being a basic thug."
        Inu Yasha seethed. "I am not a thug."
        Several people in the room disagreed but rather wisely kept their big mouths shut.
        "Of course you are, darling!" Hisui assured him, as if she’d meant that thug-thing as a compliment. "Sesshomaru says you’re very good in a fight, and since he’s your brother I suppose he should know, shouldn’t he?"
        Inu Yasha muttered: "You have noooo idea…"
        Hisui giggled. "Think about it, darling. My offer may seem more attractive to you later. Now, I know what my little Shinai asked you to do and I know his creepy brother doesn’t want you to cooperate with him. I also know your deal with Shinai includes protection for Kagome’s family."
        Inu Yasha’s ears pricked up at that turn of the conversation. He had a sinking feeling about what she was going to say next, though.
        "He has no power to grant you that," Hisui said, not surprising Inu Yasha at all, "but I do. I’m bored with them. I’ve ordered Mikoto to withdraw his people, and I will withdraw mine. Kagome’s family is no longer in danger."
        Sure they weren’t. "What’s the catch?"
        "Work for me, and Kagome and anyone else you specify will live long, happy, safe lives."
        Inu Yasha’s mouth went very dry and he swallowed bile as he asked: "And if I don’t accept your offer?"
        "They die, you die, everybody dies." She sounded positively perky about that.
        Bloody hell. "Can I think about it?"
        Hisui giggled a truly terrifying giggle that sent shivers down Inu Yasha’s spine. "You may give me your answer at the Mermaid Ball tomorrow night. If I don’t have a satisfactory answer by the stroke of midnight, you all die. Ciao, darling!"
        Click.
        Inu Yasha very slowly hung up the phone and just left his hand on it while what Hisui had said sunk in. Work for her, or everybody he cared about would die. Wait a minute: Another party? Tomorrow night? His head hit the wall with a soft clunk as he did the math. Tomorrow was the worst possible night for Hisui or anybody connected to her to see him. His secret would be revealed to his enemies! But… He closed his eyes and balled his fist. Kagome was more important than his secret. Her family was more important. He sighed. Hell, all of them were: Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Myouga…even Yuki and Shunusuke, for he was quite certain Hisui was including them in her threat since the Asano kids had taken his side against her.
        Kagome’s gentle hand on his shoulder startled him out of his terrible thoughts, but he couldn’t look at her when he told her about Hisui’s proposition.
        "Work for Hisui Oukami?!" Kagome exclaimed.
        "But she’s the Great Demon of the Northern Lands!" Shippo added as he jumped up onto the kitchen counter to be closer to Inu Yasha. "And you’re the son of the Great Demon of the Western Lands! That won’t work!"
        Inu Yasha hung his head. "She wants me to give her my answer tomorrow night at something called the Mermaid Ball. By the stroke of midnight she said, whatever a stroke of midnight is."
        "Clocks chime the hour," Yuki explained, "like in the fairy tale ‘Cinderella’: The clock chimed twelve times at midnight, and on the twelfth chime, the magic spell broke, and Cinderella’s beautiful gown and fancy coach returned to rags and a pumpkin and she was just a scullery maid again."
        Now Inu Yasha was really depressed. His "spell" wouldn’t break at midnight, returning him to his normal, demon form. "Kagome," he whispered and glanced at her out of the side of his eye, "tomorrow…"
        She nodded, having already done the calculations: Tomorrow was the night of the New Moon, the night Inu Yasha’s youkai blood stopped flowing, leaving him almost completely human. If Hisui or anybody connected with her saw him like that… Naturally, Hisui knew what happened to half-demons, but when it happened was different for each one. Did Hisui guess when Inu Yasha’s time was? Was that why she chose the Mermaid Ball? Or had she chosen it for the drama of bringing her game to a climax at a black tie affair? Stroke of midnight, indeed!
        The only other people in the room who didn’t know about Inu Yasha’s time of the month were Yuki and Shunusuke, but with his ability to look into the minds of others, Kagome wondered if Shunusuke had taken the information from Inu Yasha as soon he noticed the demon’s distress. She didn’t dare ask but shot him a glance in spite of herself. No clue in his concerned expression. Darn.
        "What are you going to do, Lord Inu Yasha?" Myouga asked quietly from Inu Yasha’s shoulder. "Surely you don’t intend to—I mean, you won’t bow beneath that horrible woman’s threats, surely!"
        Inu Yasha glared at him for almost spilling the beans in front of Hisui’s grandchildren, then shrugged. "I have to go. I have no choice. By this…stroke of midnight…I have to give Hisui an answer of some kind."
        "How will you answer?" Miroku asked, joining the crowd by the phone. "You won’t work for her, will you?"
        Shinai and Tsurai snuck up behind the priest, and Shinai interjected dryly: "What difference will it make who Inu Yasha’s father is if Hisui and Sesshomaru get married? It’ll be all in the family, anyway."
        "THEY’RE GETTING MARRIED?!"
        Shinai grinned. "Not that I know of, but if nobody ruins their relationship," he glared at Inu Yasha and Kagome meaningfully, "they just might. That would mean a merger of North and West."
        Tsurai nibbled his claw thoughtfully. "That might not be a bad thing, brother. The two lands have been friendly since their leaders started sleeping together…"
        Shinai gawked in horror at his brother. "Usagi! Whose side are you on?!"
        "The side of logic and reason, as usual," Tsurai replied innocently. "What other side is there?"
        Shinai buried his face in his hands and sighed. "I can’t believe we’re related."
        "Yes, shocking, isn’t it?"
        While the kitsune twins bickered, Inu Yasha fumed at them. Finally, he could take no more. "WILL YOU TWO GET LOST?!"
        Shinai blew the furious demon a kiss and a saucy wink. "But we’ll be working together, Inu Yasha! Can’t we be friends?"
        "SHUT UP!" Inu Yasha shoved the humans aside and dove on the smirking kitsune bodyguard with a vengeance. Not willing to allow his own brother to get beaten up by a snot nosed kid, Tsurai joined the fray, claws and fists flying.
        "Leave my brother alone, you little whelp!"
        "I can take care of myself, Usagi!"
        "SHUT UP!"
        "You shut up!"
        "I said I can take care of myself!"
        "SIT! LAY! DOWN!"
        SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT!
        Kagome glowered down upon the tangle of demon limbs with her hands on her hips and grumbled: "Inu Yasha, why is it that every conversation with you deteriorates into a fight?"
        "Bitch."
        Kagome wasn’t entirely sure which demon had called her that, so she wielded her rosary mojo on all three.