by
Anaphalis
Summary: Kagome's got a horny kitsune, an invisible 'friend' and a kamikaze quest with a five hundred year deadline. Oh yeah, and she's disguised as a boy. But when did that ever get in the way of "twue wuv? Let's just not answer that... Rurouni Kenshin X Inuyasha crossover. Drama/Romance.
Chapter Summary: In diplomatic circles they call it a �conflict of personalities�. Of course, diplomats don�t normally carry kodachi or purify demons.
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Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Shonen Jump. Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and Jump. Brushes on this page courtesy of Pure Anodyne.
Quick Vocabulary:
Shi- death
Kage- shadow
Kodachi: �small sword� with a blade between twelve and eighteen inches
Youki: really roughly translated as �demon energy�, sort of the demon equivalent of the miko spiritual energy
Gallantry to women - the sure road to their favor - is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it.
-William Hazlitt
The footsteps have barely faded down the hallway when Shi pulls back and places his hand over mine.
"I think he�s gone now-can you help me focus the energy"
I squeeze his hand and he reaches over to brush back the hair that has fallen out of its holder.
"I'm so sorry, Kage- I know you're almost completely drained, but you're too badly infected for me to only use the herbs."
I try to relax and focus through my massive headache. I close my eyes, reaching out with my mind to touch that part of Shi that makes him kitsune with the part of me that makes me miko.
Technically this should fry him.
Technically we shouldn't have had that nasty incident two hundred years ago that makes my miko energy think that his energy is just another part of me.
See? Technicalities always cancel out!
As long as the energy enters my body with a "miko energy" chaperone, he's just considered extra power. And my body likes extra power. I can feel the warm brush against me, feel myself getting stronger as he starts channeling energy into me, mending bones, closing wounds, making skin regrow.
It's the part of his power that he should be using to make plants grow, to commune with nature. Instead he's perverted it to become "Kage's Sooper Sekret Energy Source".
I'd like to think that I�m prettier than the vines anyways.
He shouldn't be doing this- he's far too close to collapse himself. But if I don't help him, he'll try anyways and we'll both end up in far worse shape. That and some part of me really enjoys feeling Shi's energy like this- just as long as we don't have a repeat of The Disaster. Or should I say The-Disaster-That-Didn't-Involve-The-Jewel-Or-"Her"-Or-Psychotic-Priests-Or-Spiders-In-My-Futon.
Yes. Spiders.
Hey- we've all got phobias. It's just that most people aren't able to fry their objects of phobia along with everything else that may or may not contain demon blood/ be alive/ move in the surrounding neighborhood.
Stupid spider. Good thing that everyone else in the neighborhood was an evil youkai in disguise. I'd like to call it intuition, but Shi says it was just blind luck. Personally, I kind of agree with him. Just like technicalities, my luck that there are always youkai/evil humans/spiders wherever we travel had to eventually cancel out with my random frying of things in my general area.
I haven't always been so lucky.
But I don't really want to think about that.
I slowly open my eyes- Shi's still working, but my part is basically done.
He looks so old right now.
I feel a little sad- those faint scars that even his youkai healing abilities can't erase are all because he chose to stick with me after the curse. Hell, he even had to change his name when we started traveling- in those early days "Shippou" was a little too obviously not-human. Not many kids named "Tail".
Ironically it was the youkai who renamed both of us. Among the politer names they had for Shi was "Death" and I was Death's shadow. I needed a guy's name; Shi needed a new name period. Most people don't mess with a wandering swordsman named Death. Works out pretty well, huh?
"Is everything okay, Kage?"
I squeeze his hand again. Obviously he must have finished and wondered why I still looked glazed over.
"Are you strong enough to ward the room"
I nod and he lets out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god." I feel the brief flare of youki as he lowers the disguise spells. He's asleep within seconds.
This is how I like him best, four tails flopping lazily on the futon, pointy ears and cute little fangs peeking out as he snores. Even though I can always see through the disguise spell, it still seems so much more natural when he drops it and there isn't that annoying shimmery effect if I stare at him for too long. I carefully put the shielding spells back up over both of us- there aren't too many people left who can sense youki or spiritual energy, but you can never be too careful.
"Is something wrong?"
Aw hell. I should have known tall and brooding was a sensitive. I still can't talk and Shi's out for the count. I'll have to focus some of my remaining energy into healing my throat.
"Everything...fine..." Okay. That really hurt. Now please just go away.
"Are you the broken one?"
Broken one! "Yes... Shi...asleep..."
Oh hell.
He's opening the screen.
Now I'm not panicking as hard as I could be. Even if Shi's stopped focusing energy on the disguise spell, Okashira here should still see a human swordsman. Shi's disguise spells work as suggestion spells- the person sees what they expect to see and, after that, they continue to see the image even if the disguise isn't active.
If they don't know what to look for, they won't see it.
It's gotten easier and easier as the youkai fade away and people don't expect to see a four-tailed sword-bearing kitsune.
My problem is that I don't think the Okashira got a good look at me.
I mean I have some bindings and stuff to make me look young and male. But if anyone's going to take a real close look it will become pretty obvious that I'm er... minus a few pieces of equipment.
I can't really move right now, but apparently Shi pulled up the blanket when he was healing me. My breasts are bound really tightly and it's kind of dark in here anyways- I think the light went out while I was thinking.
Well, I can see big guy's light as he opens the screen, but it should still be okay unless he gets really clo-
Wow.
He's gorgeous.
So much for a pockmarked sixty year-old.
Drooling equals not good.
Drooling equals not manly.
Stop drooling, Kage.
It's not as if he'd notice anyways.
He's completely focused on checking the corners of the room, running his light over the walls and-
I felt that!
Damn. Damn. Damn.
People in this era aren't supposed to be able to probe for spiritual energy like that!
Good thing my shield held, but I'm starting to think that staying here is a really bad idea. Shi and I need to have a good talk tomorrow morning.
"Did someone else come into this room?"
"No."
Okay, he's got gorgeous eyes, but it's a little creepy when the light's casting shadows on his face and he doesn't blink or change expression while he Keeps. Staring. At. Me.
"Was there any movement in this room other than your companion?"
"No."
Does this guy ever smile? Is he hiding some kind of monster in his mouth that will escape if he cracks a grin?
"You are both too weak to have produced the energy I felt. Whatever was here must have been outside and left. I don't know why it would have been attracted to low-strength couriers."
Okay, that would be "yes" to the demon-in-the-mouth.
I think I can see why he doesn't talk much. I mean, it takes talent to make someone so gorgeous seem so absolutely unattractive.
"Wouldn't... know... strength... if ...jumped up...bit your... arrogant-"
I just said that out loud, didn't I?
Aw hell.
This is why Shi generally handles the diplomacy. And hey- it's been an awful day.
Fortunately luck is still with me. Although Okashira does not look amused, our little guest agreement is going to save my life. Man- his fingers are twitchy over that kodachi. Good thing he�s leaving the room now.
Or maybe not.
He's pausing in the doorway. "You can talk now. Tell your companion I want the reports that the Okashira sent tomorrow morning." And then, more quietly, "Damn Misao for sending me fools and weaklings."
That's an impressive slam for a screen divider.
Jerk.
But wait a minute... You said 'Misao'. Without an honorific. Now while you seem like a condescending jerk, even condescending jerks wouldn't want word getting back to Misao-san that they were being disrespectful. She's scary.
So Shinomori Aoshi, Kyoto Okashira- what's your connection to the Tokyo Okashira again?
Let me think a minute.
Oh... OH!
You're the one who broke Toyama Misao's heart.
Oh don't worry- she wasn't the sort to kiss and tell.
But I didn't live four hundred years without learning to read between the lines- especially when I can really, really empathize.
What were the lines again?
"Aoshi-sama, he... made it very clear to me that there would never be anything between us, even if he ever considered me an adult. And Toyama-san was so kind and he loved me and it felt good to be loved and then I woke up one morning and I was married."
Okay, so maybe there wasn't much reading-between-the-lines.
People tend to say things they probably shouldn't say when they're half-drunk and asking a priest for spiritual advice. I heard about everything- about Okina, about the deaths of your men, about your desire to be strongest. I heard about how you decided to connect with all of the old members of the Oniwabanshu to form a new organization dedicated to intelligence gathering for the highest bidder, about how you moved headquarters and left Okina behind. I heard all about how Toyama-san was the Tokyo representative and when Misao left with him it was decided to have two Okashiras- Misao in Tokyo and... you in Kyoto. And about how this time you didn't fight the return of the title.
Oh yeah- did I mention that you came off sounding like an obsessive jackass?
So maybe I'm not the most unbiased witness. But hey- darn it if she wasn't almost scarily like the old me, or maybe like a me who had been raised by ninjas and a perverted old man.
I really liked Toyama Misao and Toyama-san was almost disturbingly close to a Meiji-era ninja Houjou. Maybe that's why I didn't make the connection until now- I had been expecting another Inuyasha, not a Sesshoumaru.
I mean you're good-looking, but you've got all the personal appeal of a large block of ice. How could someone as alive as Misao-san be that warm for you, even after marrying someone else?
What sort of man are you Shinomori Aoshi, to inspire that kind of devotion?
And more importantly, why would you choose to throw it away?
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