AN: It's going to be long, so I will not cluster the beginning. Please refer to the end. There's the reason why I haven't updated in ages, and it's as annoying for you as it is for me.

Always, Thank you to my beta Sharibet. Hope you're enjoying Japan.

The first part of Saturday:

Saturday

Nuya and Shou, coming down the stairs for breakfast, could be heard bickering long before they came into the chalet's eating room.

"You were the one who cut your hair, ototo!"

"But you didn't have to cut it, too!"

"OF course I had to! You knew me and dad would have had to!"

"It's not my fault you're two fanatics!"

"It's family tradition! And now Rin's complaining I cut my hair because of you."

And this was how the little 'family' sitting at the breakfast table was introduced to early morning Ayami brothers.

The children were already hyperactively running around the carpeted lounge area, which connected to the eating room Kagome, seated at table already, could see her mother and Akake sitting on one of the many rug covered couches that were before the fire place and chatting while keeping one eye on the boys.

"I needed a haircut, what's your point?" said Nuya "At least I got Rin to cut mine.". He seated himself in front of Kagome as he gave his brother a wide, naughty grin. Shou looked at him with an icily jealous glance that only made the other grin wider. Heck, Kagome was feeling jealous too.

"Well, Nuya," said Shou, slyly "Why didn't you have Kagome cut it for you?"

"Exactly" she said before she could stop herself, then hiding the blush rising to her face behind her big coffee bowl. She hadn't realised that would come out of her head.

"Sorry Gome-chan, I would have asked you if I'd known you could," he said

"In fact she can't." Kagome blushed deeper. "Look, we've been through this, ne? Nuya needed a haircut, and I offered-" She turned to Shou. "And I only complained that you didn't let me cut it."

"That's not what you said last night"

Instantaneous universal red face. Everyone around the table found the food, the wood of the furniture or the coffee very interesting. Miroku spluttered onto his cocoa, and Sango beat his back with her head still looking straight ahead and her cheeks glowing. All this while Rin nearly shone alight and was repeatedly kicking Shou in a steady rhythm under the table in what seemed to be pure, raw embarrassment.

"Thank Kami Mamma wasn't here to listen to that," muttered Kagome into her mug.

"Sure, although I hope her room isn't underneath Rin's. Mine is near it, and I got little sleep," commented Miroku innocently, drinking his tea with wisely closed eyes. Which was a good thing. He would probably have, Kagome chuckled, embarrassed himself with the emptying of his bladder at the look Shou was giving him at that very moment. He succeeded in embarrassing the rest of them pretty properly, however.

For want of something better to talk about, Kagome cast her eyes around the room quickly. The back of her mind denoted her beloved youkai- yes, she could call him that at least in her mind, if she could not anywhere else- was missing again this morning. He hadn't been in her room, and she had felt him go out the night before. Where was he now?

"Speaking of noises, what was with the screaming in your room yesterday night Kagome? It sounded like you found a bear sleeping on your bed or something," asked Sango suddenly, looking genuinely worried.

"Nothing!" said Kagome- and to her surprise, Nuya- together. She stared at him for a few seconds before attempting to look normal, but he was irrevocably red, and if her hot cheeks were any indication, so was she. What did Nuya know? Oh dear, how did he know it? Had Inuyasha told him! It was not the first time that Nuya mentioned being his friend, his confidant, close with him- surely Inuyasha wouldn't tell him something like that, though.

Kagome noticed Sango looking at the both of them suspiciously, and ducked her head again.

But they had been in the bathroom, and that was only a door away from Nuya's room. He must have heard, and maybe caught Inuyasha and asked- who in confidence had said-

Oh dear oh dear, this was too embarrassing to think about. What was with the topic this morning, nothing but shame for the victims? What had Inuyasha told Nuya? Had he told him that she saw him naked- that she had stared at him, not able to take her eyes away? That he had done the same, scanned her with his eyes as though he couldn't see enough of her. Had he described her to Nuya- had Nuya been angry? Jealous? Had he liked what Inuyasha had told him about her? He had once said she was beautiful when she danced . . .

Her mind played along the same music for most of the rest of breakfast. She could see in Sango's silent eyes that the topic would be drilled later, and Kagome knew that she couldn't tell her friend the truth. Rin was too engrossed in her own embarrassment at their uncomfortable discovery of her and Shou's- er- activity to notice what was happening. She was still periodically leaning sideways, which meant that she was still kicking Shou under the table for the "open mouth, insert foot" tactic he had just proved being well versed in. Although Nuya answering Sango like that gave him second place, no kidding.

And her eyes followed her thoughts and settled on Nuya. The sunlight was sneaking through one of the windows and landing delicately on one side of his face. Like a kiss, a delicate brushing of fingers. Oh great, she thought suddenly to herself as a now familiar knot formed in her lower stomach, now I'm jealous of the sunlight. She averted her eyes from him, but soon she found herself unconsciously tracing the lines of his face with her eyes, every angle, every little hair that strayed out of the rubber band, again a wild side of him filtering through. His brows frowning slightly in concentration as he looked at the PDA he was working at on the table, pressing the sensitive liquid crystal screen with the proper pen.

His hands moved incessantly over the surface of the screen, and Kagome found herself interested in what he was doing. From what she could gather of the quick flicks across the screen, he was dealing with prices .

"At what point are the shares?" asked Shou absently, tracing a finger along the rim of his mug

"Not bad. Ritzuko was right for once. These Pocky sweets seem to be going strong on the American market, but I don't know if I was to take them over to Europe yet. A couple of promotions first."

Rin slammed a hand down on the PDA. Nuya yelped and snatched it back.

"Wall Street is opening in a few hour's time, Rin, and I have to get these placings on the Japanese market and orders on the American made before then," he said in annoyance, "Don't start on the 'you're working too much' routine."

"You are," she said.

"Oh shit," he said looking at his PDA. "I just bought three containers of plushies, thanks to you."

Kagome couldn't help but splutter into her coffee and then laugh as she wiped her mouth.

"Kagome loves plushies. That was a very nice thought, Nuya-san," Rin said with a grin. Kagome blushed and so did Nuya

"But I think that three containers are a bit too much even for her." said Sango, with a lilt in her tone. She put the mug to her lips, drained it, and then turned around fluidly and brought it down onto Miroku's head. The mug, being wooden didn't crack. Miroku's head might have, and he even fell forward onto the table

"Sango, that hurt," he moaned, blinking his eyes many times, and seeming to try to focus.

"It wouldn't hurt if you could just keep your hands where they should be," said Shou, proceeding to put a protective arm around Rin, who was seated on the monk's other side. Miroku rolled his already swirling eyes. Apparetly, mused Kagome, even though he frequently endured Sango's responses to his 'advances', he'd had no intention of going up against a fully grown man by touching Rin.

"Oh, dammit," sighed Nuya, closing the pal at last and turning to his hot cocoa "I didn't manage to get rid of all the plushies. I'm still stuck with one of the containers. Guess you're going to need a plushie room, Kagome," he said with a laugh, while she couldn't help giggle. It was nice to receive this kind of attention, if not a bit awkward in front of all the others.

"She's not your garbage bin, you know," said Sango, sounding annoyed "You don't have to dump the lot on her." Kagome looked at her, slightly confused. She participated openly in the plushie joking earlier.

"I never said that!" replied Nuya, looking rather taken aback by the implication.

"What are our plans for today Nuya-chan?" asked Kagome firmly. She rarely used the suffix to his name even though they were a couple. In this case, it meant- 'stop it, both of you.'

"Well, Shou and Rin suggested a nice skiing lesson. It wouldn't make sense to have you leave here without learning to ski when we have all the snow we want, out of season, to boot," he said with a grin. A big lock of his hair, that always sneaked its way to rest on his chest when his hair was undone, finally shook free of its bond to find its favourite place. Nuya impatiently flicked it back, and a twinkle of silver caught Kagome's eye.

His face had engrossed her so much that she hadn't taken any notice of what he had been wearing. Her mind had subconsciously assumed the presence of the usual suit, if only a shirt and trousers- although his clothes yesterday had been all but suit.

But his clothes today were really not Nuya. At least really not her image of Nuya- but now that she looked closer, they were more 'Nuya' than a tie and suit. What had caught her eyes had been the metal spikes on a strip of black leather he wore around his wrists. And he had a chain around his neck with the Final Fantasy Greaver on it. And a Pink Floyd t-shirt. And a black shirt over it that wasn't the same one from yesterday. There was a twisted sort of teddy bear with pointy teeth embroidered on the pocket overlap in white thread.

Trying not to look obvious, and getting the distinct failing that she'd failed, she twisted around to try to spy his trousers beneath the table, and sure enough, there was a nice chain strapped on one side and they were leather. Wow . . . . why hadn't she noticed that before?

"What do you think Kagome?" he asked, turning to her.

"Wha- What?" she said, snapping her head up and chewing her lip at being caught.

"What do you think about me being your instructor? They dared me and Miroku to teach you and Sango how to ski," he replied, giving her what could only be describe as a pleased smirk. That meant that he had caught which direction her eyes had been sneaking. Oh great, what was he thinking of her looking under the table at his pants? Or under the table at all?

My, were those military boots gorgeous. . .

"Not usual to see Nuya in that style isn't it?" smirked Miroku flicking a peanut in his direction (Why on earth was he having nuts for breakfast?) "But he does whenever he gets the chance. All you have to do to get on his bad side is say something about Jim Morrison and you've had it for life with him."

"I didn't know you liked classic rock," said Kagome with a smile, although she couldn't help staring at the little pointy-toothed teddy bear. It looked somewhat evil and cute at once.

"It's the ONLY thing he likes!' sighed Miroku.

"Not! I like REM and Radiohead too, and Skunk, and Adagio. Those aren't classic, they're alt," he said, and Kagome seemed to spy a 'here we go again' look on Shou's face.

"All classic is alternative," said Miroku.

"Can you cut it out, you two?" said Sango impatiently. "I want to go skiing already!"

"So do I," agreed Kagome with a sound nod. They both looked expectantly at their respective 'instructors'.

"Ok, grab your ski jackets and we'll go to the shed" said Nuya, standing up. Yes, he was wearing leather trousers. Was he planning to ski in THOSE? Oh dear, oh dear, out of my head, out of my head!

"Before we all lose each other," said Shou suddenly "Does anybody want to go to the Matsuri this evening?"

"There's a Festival here? Tonight?" said Sango excitedly.

"Yes, the spring Matsuri down at the skiing village. We've been here a couple of times, and it's very nice to watch," said Nuya.

"I'd love to go," said Rin with a smile.

"So would I!" exclaimed Sango, looking very happy. "Father's often told me that Matsuri in a skiing region were spectacular to watch."

"Me too, but I haven't brought the proper clothing. A kimono wouldn't even have fit in my luggage" said Kagome, and Kyoko came up behind them.

"Do the Kimono I have found in my wardrobe have anything to do with this? Terada kimono too."

"You're joking!" said Kagome. "Not Terada kimono! Those are- well, they're-" expensive and beautiful as . . .

"You all have three to chose from, although they're all yours at the end of the day. Me and ototo knew there was going to be the Matsuri, and mother insisted that we all be adequately dressed."

"Although I'm not wearing that ridiculous Kimono dad made us get. All red and huge," scowled Nuya

"Neither am I," laughed his brother, standing up "You honestly can't believe I'd wear that white thing don't you?. Very well, I suggest we all return to the chalet to get refreshed and change about an hour before the Matsuri starts. See you all here at 5, then."

"Off we go! I'm going to learn Skiing!" said Sango happily.

Many a controversial human theorist have debated the possibility of animals being guided but not solely instinct- and then further debated by WHAT animals were, in fact, guided. What the human theorist did not know, or refused to acknowledge more likely, was the fact that all they had to do to clear this debate was to ask the strongest youkai.

He often mused about how ridiculous it was, while he went about his duties at the shrine, or at the firm.

The species of youkai that had developed from the oni and further evolved to the major success in nature before the human rebellion had been the youkai that had an animal ancestry. A common ancestry with the animals, which had in turn lost their youki in favour to environmental adaptation.

Youkai with this ancestry were a mixture of reason and youki governed instinct. A mixture of behaviour that derived out of the natural inclination of the stimuli of survival, of feeding, of resting, or reproducing. A mixture of behaviour that branched out of the rational mind, the thinking self- the I, the me and the id, the many different theories that separated the mind from the brain and tied to explain it.

He'd read them all in his youth, trying to understand who and what he was. Freud, McDougall, Hutcheson. Even Darwin. The mixture of behaviour brought about by the emotions; the youki. The youki and the emotions, same thing for both; same meaning for twain; two words for one sense. He'd read them all, these great human men's theories, and still didn't know the difference.

All the parts of him still strove to control one another, contending the leadership over the self- the conscious being. Leaving the conscious being in a conscious confusion.

But nobody had asked the youkai, so the youkai had not told. Although many a youkai text existed.

So ultimately, what was the difference between youkai and humans? Darwin gave the boundaries of speciation to be hormonal, genetic, and especially reproductive. But youkai and humans interbred successfully. There was living proof. He was living proof.

He wasn't even infertile. No mule. And blood was exchanged during the mating without any rejections. His father, his brother and himself were not the first in history to have mated a human female. Nothing had ever happened through the exchange of blood and youki. And he himself was fertile.

Did that mean that humans and youkai were actually one species? Stronger youkai families such as his were said to be on a higher evolutionary level. Mating with oni produced infertile offspring if offspring at all. The cruel forced mating human scientists made had proved it enough. Who knows how many a hanyou such as himself were kept in cages in laboratories. Some maybe even unfed and uncleaned. Uncivilised.

What was the degree of learning and the degree of instinct? Again the older youkai could define it. His father could. A mixture. He had seen Kagome in the chalet library, peered at her from a tree outside, through the window, in the warm sawara chalet while he waited outside on the snowy tree, awaiting her descent to the living room to make his entrance. Entrance as youkai. He had seen her take one of the philosophy books and had wondered at her. She didn't usually like it. He wondered until he saw what it was. It was Locke.

So she was looking for an answer to her questions on her own baffled internal conflicts. One book wouldn't help her. One dip into the sea wouldn't make her know it. He'd swam long and deep- but he still didn't know. The mind against the emotion and the instinct. The me, I, and self in conflict. Well, just like him. Were youkai closer to humans genetically and mentally then? Did humans have youki too, hidden in most only to come out in certain individuals? Maybe even in the form of miko powers?

Now, he watched her laugh and giggle as she tried to slip on her huge skiing jacket, and he wanted to hug her and hold her close and be rid of all but the lulling of her scent. It was desire and drive; emotion and instinct. But human males had them too. He tasted both. When he was human, he still wanted to hug her and lose himself in her, to forget all the rest of the world in favour of one moment.

She turned to him and smiled, nervously asking for help with it. He blinked out of his reverie and smiled back at her, teased her a little too. He couldn't help the desire to feel her hand batting him on the shoulder lightly. He guessed the id won over the ego to control the superego here. Freud would have been pleased to know that in inuyoukai mating many of his theories stood; although he didn't exactly see his mother in Kagome. The mother of his litter maybe.

The moment they were out of the shed the mating ritual would start. Three steps to the preliminary mating, then five encounters to the complete mating. Usually once the tests to the mating had been completed perfectly, the preliminary mating and the five consequent steps were followed through in one, long night. A night that would last days. But his lovely aite was fertile. And his lovely aite would kill her aite if he dared in-pregnant her already. Not that he would mind, hehe. Of course, his father would then kill him a bit more for breaching the hierarchy of the pack.

She wobbly stepped out trying to balance on the long skis, and laughed as she went.

"I look like a duck!" she squealed as she nearly fell. He caught her just in time.

"Don't get hurt" he told her soothingly, holding her up by her shoulders.

"Well, you won't let me fall, no?" she said with a smiling mildness, and a security. He smiled widely at her. The tests hadn't started and she had already passed one of them. He looked around at Shou and Rin, and they were smiling, then at Miroku, who openly gave him the thumbs up. Nuya rolled his eyes and wanted to kill him at Sango's inquisitive glance.

"So now, can you try to shift your weight from one leg to the other?" he said as he turned to her again. She too was giving him that asking look, but he smiled at her and pretended not to see. "That would make you slide forward. Although I suggest you keep the skis as parallel as possible. If you don't, you just might swerve with one foot on one side and one on the other."

"That's encouraging," she said with a laugh, as still holding her by the shoulders and his own skis on either side of hers they made their slow sliding way out of the shed and down onto the flat slopes. She nearly topples twice in the same minute, and she continued laughing at herself, only making herself more wobbly still.

She fell around twice, once backwards and landing on Nuya, who told her to "be careful woman, if you want me to be a father someday,". If she hadn't got it wrong, it implied quiet a lot, and that thought had her giggling while trying to apologise. Which made it sound like anything but an apology.

"You could get up now if you want. Not that I'm complaining or anything," he teased, knowing very well that that comment would have her on her feet in seconds. Surprisingly it didn't have her shooting up as he expected.

"I would if I knew how to Nuya," she said, turning her head around to him with a pointed look. "I'm the student here, remember?"

"Well, I can't get up until you do," he said. Now his smile was a grin. Kagome poked her tongue out at him. He was enjoying this waaaay too much.

"So then we become Yeti food I guess, as we're stuck here until you decide to move off." He folded his hands behind his head and looked down at her with a cocky grin.

"You really want me to break my leg, don't you?" she said with a scowl, and began trying to sit up. Nuya gave a little laugh, and had nearly managed to sit up before Kagome landed on him again. Face down this time.

"I guess we really are Yeti food then," he grinned. Having her this close was always nice, even if they both wore so many clothes that he couldn't even feel her shape at all. She was groaning and trying to get up, and so was he, although he was laughing at her looking so distressed as well. Skis getting tangled, snow flying everywhere. They had both fallen for the third time, Kagome ending face down in the snow with her middle on Nuya's chest, when Shou and Rin found them. Kagome, blushing, tried to get up again. And fell again.

"I see the lecture's not going exactly as planned, is it, Nuya?" said Rin with a little grin "Although neither is ours, you know.". Shou and Rin presented their wrists to the sprawled couple, and they saw that they had been bound with a ski stick strap.

"What's that for?" asked Nuya with a weird expression. "Bondage?"

Shou clobbered him.

"Well, Miroku cooked up this strange game," he said calmly, lifting Kagome off Nuya, who finally made his way on his skis. "Compatibility."- the first test to mating –"Tie the couple together and see how they get along. Of course, he and Sango are having it the worst. Sometimes I think he LIKES getting hurt."

"I have to agree," smiled Nuya, dusting some snow out of his pockets, then reaching out to catch Kagome and steady her against him as she was about to fall again. Shou and Rin smiled knowingly.

"This is nothing like ice skating" grumbled Kagome "Mamma was fooling with me.". Nuya laughed at her again, and she batted him. At which Rin and Shou burst out laughing, much to Kagome's bafflement and Nuya's embarrassment. Did Shou have to tell Rin everything!

"Well, you have to be bound too, if we have been," said Rin, grabbing both their wrists and tying them together before they could protest.

"But we barely stayed upright when we weren't tied- now we'll never make a step standing- no fault of mind of course" he added. Scowl and poke.

"Sure you're not afraid of finding we're incompatible?" said Kagome

"No, I know we are" he said with a smile

"Incompatible?" Shou cut in.

"No, compatible. Shou, stop teasing baka."

An hour, two hours, three hours. Nuya knew that Rin and Shou were right behind them, downwind, looking out for them and judging their affinity through a forced situation. His father was going to kill him when he found out that Nuya had denied him the duty; the Inuhiko was the alpha male of their family- their pack- and it was therefore his responsibility and privilege to judge the mating couples of the pack. They, Shou and he, were not allowed to have any offspring yet as they were subordinate males in the pack, and until they devined a territory of their own, and became the dominant males of their pack, their family, they would not.

His reasons for not wanting his father there were obvious. With the alpha male went the alpha female. And mum would kill him worse than dad could, multiplied by x.

After three hours, they finally managed to ski softly and very slowly down a very soft slope. Tying their wrists together had proved to be ideal for Kagome's learning to muster skiing, although it did prove problematic for the inevitable tumbles.

Now Kagome was nicely sliding down in zig zags exactly in time with him. Most of their trouble had arisen from Kagome being slightly slower or slightly faster and taking them both down after she had taken in the basic concepts.

But now they had adapted rapidly to each other's abilities and were collaborating well enough; as it should have been. Nuya couldn't help beaming; no matter what else Shou could cook up, the most important trial to their mating had gone well.

Kagome nearly fell and caught herself in time, then looked up at Nuya proudly, who smiled back at her.

"Now we have to brake," he told her softly "Tilt yourself to the right, slowly, there." They had managed to halt in perfect synchronisation and they didn't even toppled.

"Kagome!" Rin came up to them and stopped a few steps away "You managed! That's great, you learned in only a day!" Shou followed her, just a few steps behind

"And you two are getting on very well even being bound like that" he said with a meaningful grin.

"Well it seems you two won, me and Shou got cut off when I went one way and he went another, and Miroku and Sango . . . well, I still think he enjoyed it, but at the moment he's back up at the chalet, out cold"

They had to laugh- Miroku would be his own death. Ironic thought, since he already had cancer.

"I don't see why you should remain tied," said Shou, taking out the pocket knife he had taken to carry round with him when he couldn't use his claws (it was one of his basic instincts to cut, so when he couldn't use his claws he attempted to re-direct his instinct before it gave him away with a swipe), and sliced through the ski chord.

"Thanks," said Nuya "It was starting to hurt Kagome."

"How did you-? Well, it was hurting you too, if that little frown on the last swerve was anything"

"Acute aren't we?" He grinned. Acute and compatible. Hay day.

"Well, we leave you here. We're going back up to the chalet to . . er . . see Miroku's ok" said Rin with a little smile. Yes, thought Nuya, and he was a human.

"Well Kagome, what about we test what you learned on a bit of a more open space? Up there- out of the trees?" he suggested. Time for test number two. This time, Shou and Rin actually had to keep everyone away. Sango had lent a hand, too, unknowingly. If trouble arose, there was his auricular and his pager- specially designed to catch any minimal amount of radio waves there were in the air- even in a cave.

"No problem- just don't make me break that leg, ok?" said Kagome with a smile.

"Off we go, then."

Fate had not been too kind to him. Of course not- what youkai's fate was benevolent? Well, there was one. Yes, there were three, and these three were now dispensing this benevolence to others- oppressed like they had been.

Only one of them had never been oppressed. Their Lord had been enslaved. for long years, and his first son had been abused also. His younger one, though, had been born a lord, hidden from the world. Taking advantage of his semi-human origins, he had been integrated into the human world of lords instead of the demised world of the slaves. He belonged with the lords of course. His Lord's family all did.

They in fact did now. Their long labours with that human monk had borne fruits. They all looked human now and it was fair.

It would soon be time, he realised, and set to reminding his brothers of the snow. Rather harsh a trial, but it was the nature of inuyoukai after all. Who they chose to take remained their choice for all mating, offspring and life.

He had heard it but hadn't believed it- now he had to, he had seen it. They had told in whispers that the second son of the Inuhiko had taken to court a human mate, and had renounced himself and his life of tasted lordship in favour of becoming her slave to saviour her presence and win her. He hadn't believed it. He knew the family of the Inuhiko had a preference towards human mates- Inuyoukai had teamed with humans since the time of times, and hanyou of such a pairing had been by far the strongest offspring when pit against other hanyou or even full youkai. He had not doubted that the mate the Inujoo would take would be human- he was half- human himself. But he had never thought he would take the matter to the lengths of sacrificing his position to her.

He had come up the slope, sword to his side, his hair disappearing against the snow. Hakami was a beautiful female- he had once changed to see her as he had worked on the large fridges they had beneath the mansion. She had graciously come down and asked if they wanted anything to eat. A human to a youkai! The lady herself to three nothings. He could have fainted, for all his hugeness. She had given the lord a valid offspring of no little regard, strong and able of incredible feats, he knew as he watched the Inujoo walk.

He had come and given him orders, precise to the second, tone of one who was used to commanding and being obeyed. But also tone of a friend- a comrade at arms- one of the same species who understood.

So he had dared to ask at the end. Dared to ask why his slavedom, why his collar, and even more, why his suit that to youkai meant nothing but pain and restriction without reason- most of the time guiltless demons taken in and tortured for lack of anything better to do. He dared to ask why his lord had abandoned his people to the point of fighting against them.

He hadn't yelled, hadn't called his brother or the other restrictors to come and seize the offending youkai. He had only sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders.

"You know what the last youkai I killed was trying to do?" he asked. He had no answer so he waited, although he imagined. Inuyoukai were naturally protective. "He wanted to kill me and my mate. Human, youkai, animal- nothing gets away alive after having done that."

Inujoo barely made it to his knee, but he still felt fear. He knew he could rip him there and then without the yeti so much as scratching him. And he was a yeti youkai. His Inujoo's mate was indeed beautiful, exuding power from every pore, and beautiful by human standards he had to guess. Just like the lord's second son was beautiful, and Hakami-hime was beauty itself. By time, mated humans became youkai themselves as the blood infused and the human was weaker.

But his Inujoo's mate was already nearly as youkai as the lord's second son himself. It was unusual and perhaps a bit dangers. It could be as much an ill as a good boding omen.

His Inujoo had then slapped him on the back- back of his calf that was- and told him not to despise humans so much, they could make one out of him yet. He warned his brothers of the snow. He had laughed at that, although he knew his Inujoo was serious. Human. Was he to die then soon? He wondered. He had always loved American football.

"Oh dear Souta, you have spilt hot chocolate all over you! Come on upstairs," said his mother looking very riled

"Can I come too, mamma?" said Shippo. It was strange to hear Shippo call her mother, but it wasn't annoying. She laughed when she remembered how the night before he had said that he had now three mammas; his okaa, Kagome mamma, and Souta's mamma. Kyoko didn't mind much of course; she was very fond of the little kitsune, even though she had taken pains to hide her deep motherly fondness as it was unbecoming for a mistress to care for her slaves, even if they were adorable little infant kitsune.

Akake was fretting about it until she realised her mistress wasn't frowning upon her son as she had expected her to do. Her mistress had indeed changed since she had come to know the Inujoo.

As Kyoko was scooting her son up the stairs, followed by a bouncing kit and his mother, the front door opened and in walked Sango and an unconscious Miroku.

Ganko, who had just finished admonishing his daughter with his disapproving glares for her acceptance and lenience towards her kitsune, now came out of the foyer and looked up with even more disapproval at the two youths. It was not enough that his grand daughter was being forced away from home and the shrine where her prayers would be the most natural and powerful, but she was also being forced into the company of this young man with debateable morals- although he claimed to be a trained monk- and also of a rich young man who had an unpleasing reputation and was, after all, twenty. All men over that age knew what a man of twenty wanted with a woman.

He had seen her pray this morning in the little temple there was at one side of the blasted chalet. He had gone down to see that she was fine, and most importantly that she was not foregoing her duty for petty reasons. And there at the door, he had found that darned slave of hers. His white hair flying around, looking at her sneakily through a cracked door.

He had tried to come upon him without notice, so that he could startle him and make him give himself away. But Ganko had know he lost the battle when one of the white ears turned, the youkai gave a sniff, and then relaxed the shoulders he had tensed.

"Good morning ojii-san" he said without turning round.

"What are you doing here youkai?" he said distastefully. He may be grateful to him for saving his little one's life over and over, but he was still part of the inferior race.

"WHAT are you doing here youkai?" he said distastefully again when no answer came, using a tone that was not questioning but accusing

"What does it look like I'm doing ojii-san? I'm looking out for Kagome. Going in there for either of us would only distract her. We must stay outside."

"Don't you think it would be better if you looked around for dangers threatening my granddaughter?" Ganko said accusingly again.

"You underestimate Kagome." he had simply laughed "If any youkai decided to come anywhere near here at the moment, attacking would be the last thing they would be able to do. I can barely stand myself ojii-san, and I am not the average youkai"

He had been gripping the door frame with a little excess strength. His muscles were bulging out and his knuckles were white.

"I have to take this pervert away from me, can anyone help me carry him? He's darn heavy" huffed Sango, shifting under Miroku's weight

"I'll help you, onna-shujin." smiled Akake. Her mate was upstairs, talking to the Tanuki about which one of them would stand guard over their Lord first tonight. She might just stay along and . . . distract him.

"Thank you Akake, this is getting OLD" she grumbled, as he came to with a mumble and let out an 'UUUUh' when he saw his view of Sango's chest from his dangling head on her shoulder.

So Akake unceremoniously threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, uncaring of his groans

"My mate may not like it if you grope my behind," she said lightly as she realized what view she had provided him with. "Kitsune are as possessive as Inuyoukai."

"Woe me, I have the worst of luck" he moaned.

"Hentai" grumbled Sango, following them up the stairs.

There you have it. It's been almost two months, and unfortunately, I cannot blame it only on my University and my life this time. Yes, there's something worst.

You see, DYT has been Plagiarised. Yes—that sort where another author uploads it under his name saying it's his.

Now no—I don't want a flame war to start. I caught this person all the way back in July, and me and my other internet friends, and the people on the forum I frequent have tried everything, to no avail. He (so we think) not only has refused to remove the fic he stole, but has been less than pleasant about his possessiveness.

I did not update because of him. Even after he had been caught, when I uploaded chapter 20, he 'uploaded' chapter 20 too. If this fic gets deleted over here, this Mr Sir will end up with the oldest publish date- which he no doubt hopes to achieve- and WILL have the gall of accusing me of copying him more probably than not. He's actually already done it.

All my author friends have sent a mail to AnimeSpiral, where the plagiarism has taken place, to no avail. Rozefire even contacted the server provider of AnimeSpiral for me, but we didn't even receive a snitch of a reply.

What I'm trying to say is this; I can't update until he's gone. He'll just keep leeching on me. But, I WILL keep updating on another site, which I cannot, for obvious reasons, disclose the name of until Mr Wanker's off stage. I ask you please, readers, if you care for this fic at all, to contact the administration of AnimeSpiral at:

admin (at) animespiral. com . Here, please, I ask you to report the author Kenshiro- which is the plagiarist- for plagiarism.

Do not- I REPEAT- Do NOT, PLEASE, leave a flame or even a review on this guy's board. It only adds to his review count, and it just makes the fic look better to the eyes of people who never bother to go peek into the review page before the fic. Then he gets the merit, and even dares to say thank you. Honestly, if you report him all together, perhaps AnimeSpiral will take him down, and it would mean so much to me.

This guy has anything but disappeared. Just a few weeks ago, he left me a review HERE (which I promptly removed) proclaiming I was being the 'bitch I am' and not updating. Yup, just that. So if he's removed, it would just be such a relief.

I thank any and all in advance who will send a mail. It would be such a help, and it would make us all happy, because I could then go back to updating here.

This is the last chapter I will be updating on FFN until he's taken down, unfortunately. And probably, he will 'update' again. Life's like that.

EDIT: I'm sorry, I think I messed up and didn't explain myself well enough. I can't send you the chapters by mail, for obvious reasons. How am I to know who Kenshiro is? He's left me reviews here, so he obviously follows. But for all I know, he might just open an account, or try to pass for a pleading reader, and get the chapter anyway, and the whole point of keeping everyone else waiting would be ruined.

I hate- hate- HATE doing this. That's why I'm really asking you guys for help now. I've known since July, but I didn't want a big deal to be made out of this. But now I don't know what to do. I'll also be contacting the Plagiarism Police on a friend's council, and maybe they'll lend a hand too. We want the same thing- this guy out, and chapters. I don't want to come across as some dictator or anything, I just can't risk my work being stolen. Please don't hate me for this. This may be just fanfiction and all, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lay back and be a door mat. I think six months time to bring it down was enough benefit of the doubt. I'm interpelling you, and BEGGING you, to ALL send a mail to the anime spiral admin. If their inbox gets flooded, they're BOUND to realise SOMETHING.

Thanks again

Midoriko.