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ssukidesu · 8 months

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Inextricably Knotted (an Inukag + Jane Eyre AU) [Chapter 7]

Summary: Kagome Higurashi was orphaned as a baby and raised by her cruel aunt until the age of ten, after which she went to school and learned the art of service and self-suppression. Now eighteen, Kagome takes a job as the governess of Shippo, the young ward of the great and mysterious Lord Inuyasha Taisho.

But as Kagome gets to know her bemusing master, a ghost seems to haunt his estate, hinting that there is a long-lost secret hiding on the third floor.

(Read on AO3)

tag list: @heynikkiyousofine @xanthippe-writes

Chapter 7: Portraits and Wings

The presence of guests at Jidai-Ju Hall persisted into the following weekend. The days were not much changed—Shippo received most of her attention, even though she received very little of his. Despite his fascination with the goings on of the company, Kagome managed during most lessons to wrench some productivity out of him.

During the evenings, Kagome would sit as she was bid among their company silently. Her presence clearly disconcerted everyone—except him who ordered it, as he instead preferred to ignore her altogether. Kagome would pretend not to notice as she read lines of whatever book she chose to accompany her that night, with varying degrees of success.

The group would often play games—cards, billiards, darts, guessing games, and so on. Tonight—which was a misty Saturday night that hinted at spring's approach—it appeared the game of choice would be charades.

It was Mr. Taisho’s idea. “Let us test the skill of our silence,” he had proclaimed dramatically as he came into the parlor last, as he always did. The room bustled in anticipation, and during the commotion, he walked over to grab a book off the shelf adjacent to Kagome’s seat.

“Will you play?” he asked simply, gaze flicking to her face for a brief moment.

Surprised by the address, Kagome only shook her head.

To her relief, he did not insist. He returned to the heart of the room and declared himself the partner of the woman of the hour.

Lady Yura sported a fine dress of pale blue, floral buds of beads and lace decorating the sweetheart bust and form-fitting sleeves. Her short hair was distinctly straight, and a dainty white ribbon worked to frame her face as a headband. The other women in the room donned similar, though less remarkable, attire. The men wore typical vests and shed their coats once the fire’s heat permeated the room. Mr. Taisho shared the fashion.

The other pairs were named: Kagura with Ayame—the young demoness with brown hair—and Naraku with Kouga—the unfortunate recipient of Ayame’s too-frequent affections. In the last few days, Kagome had learned that both Ayame and Kouga were wolf demons, and Naraku and Kagura were some other type seemingly unassociated with a specific animal. But whatever they were, they were indeed kin of some sort, though the precise kind evaded Kagome still.

With the parties ready, Mr. Taisho opened the book, which housed charade prompts. “Who would like to go first?” he asked.

“I think we should, dear Inuyasha,” said Yura. “Someone must show everyone how it’s to be done.”

As Kagome’s grasp of the nuances between each relationship deepened, she found Yura’s air of confidence surprisingly fragile. The woman’s beauty proved unmatched; however, whenever her desired devotee did not fully satisfy her with their attention, her expression became strained, and her smile fabricated. And worse for her, Kagome thought for certain that Mr. Taisho noticed, too.

Perhaps more than anyone else, Kagome watched her master as he navigated through the weeds and waves of whatever bog this party was proving itself to be. But he did not miss a beat—every joke, he built upon masterfully; every flirt, he returned with charm. And yet, Kagome was becoming less and less convinced of the truth of her master’s affections for the woman.

When she first arrived, Kagome bristled and flinched at Mr. Taisho’s smiles and trifles with Lady Yura. But Kagome’s observations—once she gained the courage to allow them—revealed that their companionship was quite hollow.

And this was not merely the hopeful opinion of a naive girl. Kagome watched herself just as carefully, and she was confident that she was seeing with the undeceived eyes of a self-controlled woman: indeed, Kagome saw that Lord Inuyasha was going to marry Lady Yura—for rank, for family. But not for love.

And this game of charades, with all of its coquetry and costume and comedy, was nothing more than the ironic pastime of the larger parody between the players.

What frustrated Kagome the most was that, where Lady Yura failed to genuinely please Mr. Taisho, Kagome saw where she would have succeeded. Lady Yura was all too upfront: where she brushed the master’s shoulder, a subtle smirk would have proven more effective. Where she feigned bashfulness, a statement of distant confidence would have won. With the certainty of a woman, Kagome now knew what her heart had felt from the beginning: it was she who understood Mr. Taisho best. He was not to them what he was to her. They were akin to each other—more than any pair with so different experiences could be. Kagome was certain that she and Mr. Taisho shared more sympathy in a single passing glance than Yura could manage wrangling out of an entire evening.

And with all of this, Kagome remembered his words to her so many months ago: You’ve never felt jealousy, have you, Miss Higurashi? Of course you haven’t—for that would require that you experience love, first. When the day finally comes that you feel the prick, you’ll learn that one can only feel jealousy when the person usurping your love is truly better than you.

Kagome indeed did not feel jealous of Lady Yura. But the heartbreak was no easier. Perhaps if the woman had been a lady of grace and kindness, of wit and wisdom, Kagome would have been capable of blessing the union with all her heart. But it was the inferiority of Lady Yura—her inability to earnestly charm him—that kept Kagome discontented with her impending union with her master. Because he was going to marry her anyway.

Thus, she sat silently in her seat and watched as Mr. Taisho and Lady Yura, now dawning half-complete costumes relating to whatever their prompt was, enacted some sort of ceremony. The lady wore a white curtain about her body over her dress, and she draped a corner of it over her head and face like a veil. Mr. Taisho had restored his black coat to his person and added his top hat to the mix, and he filled his hands with the contents of a now-vacant flower vase and offered them to her on bended knee.

“Proposal!” cried Ayame.

“Love,” said Kouga.

“Groom!” tried Kagura.

“Bride,” concluded Kouga.

Naraku sat absently, seemingly uninterested in the game.

The two actors signed that Kouga’s latest answer was the first word in the phrase. They then disappeared behind the makeshift curtain to prepare their second performance. In the interim, Kagura leaned over to Naraku from her place beside him for a curt whisper, most likely a rebuke for his lack of enthusiasm. He met her scowl with equal fervor.

When Mr. Taisho and Lady Yura returned, their appearances had changed. Some Middle Eastern fabric had been retrieved and fashioned into scarves, which draped about the lady’s head and the master’s neck, respectively. The pair proceeded to mimic the Genesis meeting of Rebecca and Eliezer at the well—another allusion to matrimony. The only things missing were the camels.

“Bridewell,” said Kouga pridefully, and the players assented. Kagome smiled at Kouga’s obvious self-satisfaction, and she flicked her gaze to Mr. Taisho, who also seemed amused by his friend's joyous victory. Her master’s dark brows quirked, and his lips twitched into a subtle smirk.

It was then the turn of the two gentlemen, who halfheartedly managed to perform “French Ballroom” with an abundance of proud jabs at the invoked inferior country. Ayame and Kagura somehow enacted “Aurora Borealis”, the revelation taking many hard minutes of struggle from all parties.

The game ended around midnight. Kagome could not have guessed the time, as she felt so far from sleepy that she wondered if she would get any rest at all after retiring. She kept picturing Yura in her blue dress, fingers pressed against Mr. Taisho’s shoulder as they conferred together during the other pairs’ performances.

Kagome would not paint tonight, the mess seeming burdensome, but she could make do with the colored pencils that Lady Kaede had brought her alongside the paints. She began at her own desk, her draft sketches swirling and scraping on the first white page. But soon, the window above her space was abandoned by the moonlight. She had only one candle to spare, and though it had another couple of hours remaining, it was not enough.

It was likely around one thirty. Everyone would be asleep, she assured herself. Kagome gathered her materials—the pages pressed between her arm and torso and the pencils clenched in her right fist—and gripped her candle. She departed from her room and turned down the westward hallway. She came upon her desired place—a large bay window that would bear moonlight for another hour or two. Its cushioned bench was large and would fit her easily. She settled herself, placed her candle on the sill, and continued her work. She completed the final version of the first piece—its flawless face, shining black hair, and pale blue dress filling the page masterfully—only thirty minutes after; she filed it beneath her new page and began working again. She would not use color for this one.

Kagome did not know how much time it took, but she was soon finished with her own portrait. She raised and compared the two—submitting to her purpose in drawing them. Lady Yura’s was titled: “An Accomplished Lady of Rank.” Her own, which brought a cringing curl to her lip and an emptiness to her chest, was titled: “A Governess, Disconnected, Poor, and Plain.” Kagome exhaled, satisfied with her efforts in humbling her recent illogic.

“What are you doing up at this hour?” inquired a voice from beyond the raised portraits.

She managed to smother her squeal of surprise. Lowering the papers and inhaling deeply, she admired Mr. Taisho’s curious face and ruffled sleeping clothes—his white shirt again open near the collar, exposing the top sliver of his muscled chest, and loose red pants—akin to his red coat, she noticed. As frightful as his appearance often was, there was a beauty to his ruggedness, to his long hair and wrinkled shirt, to his broad shoulders and strong legs. But she was forgetting herself—forgetting already the lesson to which she had dedicated the last few hours.

She cleared her throat and brought her legs closer to herself. “Just drawing. I couldn’t sleep. And you?”

“I walk the grounds sometimes, when I’m restless. Such is part of my duties as lord here, anyway.”

“I see.”

A beat. “Can I look at them? Your drawings.”

Kagome swallowed hard, panic swelling in her chest. “I don’t know…”

Her hesitance brought a challenging look to his face. “Come on, where’s the harm? Have you made something horrible? Intimate, perhaps?”

“All my works are intimate.”

“Yes, but none have been so much so that you’ve hidden them from me before.”

“And how would you know that?” she shot back. “If I’m hiding some, by necessity you would know nothing about them.”

His smile was wolfish. “Ah. An admission?”

Kagome scowled. “A criticism of logic.”

Air left his nose in a puff. “Do you mind if I light a cigar? You’ve your creature comforts; I’d like my own.”

“I don’t mind,” she said.

He sat himself on the other side of the bench, situating his legs so that they mirrored hers. Kagome suddenly felt bashful about her slipperless feet. He seemed to notice them simultaneously, and she slid them backwards to hide them somewhat under her night gown. He made no comment, himself having bare feet, opting instead to place his cigar between his lips and pull a match from his pocket. The movement jostled the sleeves of his shirt, and Kagome noticed a single thin bandage wrapped around his forearm—exactly where he had been burned. Kagome would have asked him how it was possible that he had not fully healed after so many weeks, but the words would not form. The match’s fire erupted passionately when it scratched against his flint, then soothed to a subtle flicker. Once its duty was fulfilled, Mr. Taisho snuffed the flame. The first ring of smoke obscured his piercing gaze like a ghostly curtain.

Kagome peaked back down at the portraits in her lap. She pulled Yura’s out from beneath her own and studied it. What would be its effect on her master? The curiosity came upon her like a muse. “I don’t mind if you see this one,” she said finally, pulling it out and handing it to him.

He looked surprised at her acquiescence, his golden eyes flicking down to the paper only after he was assured by the certainty on her face. A moment passed before he spoke. “A beautiful picture of Lady Yura. You’ve captured her essence, certainly.”

Her toes curled beneath her dress. “But do you like it?”

His eyes flicked up at hers for only a second, a strange lilt in his brow forming at her inquiry. “As well as I like the person whom it depicts.”

Kagome puzzled at the riddle. She didn’t dare question his meaning further with words; instead, she felt a sudden courage unfolding in her ribs. “If I show you the other one, would it receive a more detailed review?”

Inuyasha smiled, then released a puff of smoke from his pursed lips. “If you wish.”

Wordlessly, Kagome unsheathed the second page from her lap and handed it to him. His clawed fingers took hold.

The silence was unbearable. She bit her lip and shrunk down to hide herself between her shoulders and behind her knees. Her elbows dug into her ribs like a clamp.

When he looked up, the reproachful disappointment on his face made her feel her own adolescence more than she had in years. When he spoke, his voice was slow, calculated. “The one of Yura was nothing short of perfection. This one, on the other hand… I must withhold my praise.”

She could have thrown up. Averting her eyes to the window, she focused on the moon as it peaked and wove through wispy clouds. “Why?”

“Because this is the only work of yours I’ve seen that houses a lie.”

Her head whipped back to face him. His look was serious, if not a little irritated—probably mimicking her own. “And what lie is that?”

Inuyasha retained his harsh expression, but he leaned forward till his elbows draped over his knees. “You dishonor yourself.” He brought a hand to brush an orphaned lock of hair from her face, reminding her that this was the second time he’d seen it down. His voice quieted for their increased proximity. “Do you want to hear my criticisms in greater detail?”

Kagome felt her jaw clench. She remembered the purpose behind her two drawings, and she could not help but feel that he was spitting on her efforts of self-preservation. Her words were clipped. “You may find fault with it, but a piece cannot be criticized for reflecting an artist’s thoughts and feelings. Such is the nature of art.”

His eyes seared into her own despite their focus out the window. His voice carried a firmness that reminded her of a lost friend. “A romantic attitude. But while an artist may claim immunity to mechanical criticism for such reasons, they cannot claim immunity to criticism of the perceptions themselves that produced the piece. No one is ever immune to being critiqued for their thoughts and feelings. In fact, it is these things alone that are worth criticism. All else—social rank, familial history, physical characteristics…” he paused, finally succeeding in regaining her strangely watery gaze, “…are arbitrary. Wasn’t it you who said you cared far more about judging me for the characteristics of mine you couldn’t see?”

As if struck dumb, Kagome only nodded. He tilted the page to make it visible to her, and she relented, leaning forward to join his scrutiny.

He spoke slowly, “Here, you’ve intentionally emphasized the slightest trace of defect and neutered every point of expression that gives life and light to your countenance. You’ve drained your color, dulled your eyes. Your lips have been dried out. Your lashes thinned. I have not once seen this expression on your face; even now, as annoyed as you are with me, your cheeks are alive, your eyes large with lighted emotion. Your lips…” His gaze traced her physiognomy as he spoke. Reorienting himself at her eyes, he concluded, “And you’ve left something out.”

When he didn’t elaborate, she bemoaned her curiosity and took the bait. “What have I forgotten?” Her voice sounded strange to her own ears.

His smile was half tender, half menacing. “Your wings.”

Kagome couldn’t help the tension-relieving laugh that escaped her upturned lips. Whatever he said about the color in her face, she was sure it was growing now. She folded her arms and situated her unburdened legs to cross beneath her. “My wings are retractable. I save their exhibition for times when they’re needed.”

He was pleased with her play, and he scooted forward to chase her, knees bent and closing in like a cage around her. “Oh? And what sort of times are these? I would love to see them one day.” His posture had him so forward that his face was a mere foot from hers, their lines of sight equal. The smell of his cigar, forgotten in his fingers, curled around her nose.

Kagome’s smile grew, but something in her words pierced her own heart. “Impossible. If I’ve unsheathed them, I’ve done so for flight. I’d be gone long before you could notice.”

His eyes carried a strange emotion. “And what of my traps? The invisible nets I’ve splayed out in the sky to catch runaway fairies?” At the word catch, he again intertwined his finger with a lock of her hair.

“You of all people should know that you cannot confine such creatures.”

“I said nothing of confining,” he began, leaning in even closer. Kagome watched his mouth intently, gaze locked on the points of his teeth past his lips. He continued with a whispered sardonic lilt, “I only wish to study one of God’s highest creations. After which, if she wishes to go, I’ll pack her bag myself out of good will. But only after appealing intently for her permanent residence, and sulking petulantly at my failure.”

Kagome was sure she’d turned scarlet now. She pushed his left knee with the tips of her fingers, breaking his cage. She ignored the rough intake of his breath at the contact. She cleared her throat and said, “I’m afraid I can script our play no further, Inuyasha. I was never one for theater.”

“Nor I,” he said with a grin, seemingly pleased at her using his name. His finger relinquished her strands. After a moment with no response from her, he added, “No more of this.” He dropped both papers back into her lap. “If you’re going to steal my supplies, you’ll be sure to not use them for blasphemy. I order you to fix it.”

“I’d much rather destroy and forget about them altogether, sir. Additionally, though I am your employee, I don’t see the propriety of such commands that have nothing to do with my employment as Shippo’s governess.”

If he noticed her jocular tone, he didn’t show it. “I’m not commanding you as an employer.”

Kagome’s mouth sealed shut. She waited for him to explain his meaning, but he never did, opting instead to kiss his cigar once more. His golden eyes had caught fire, their glow outshining that of the candle on the sill, whose flame flickered from the easy draft and made their shadows sway together. Scared of his elaboration should she invite it, Kagome decided that the late hour demanded her retirement, even if it meant ripping her away from this dreamlike exchange. “As you wish.”

She saw the irritation on his sharp features at her obvious self-censorship. But he let it go. He reclined to his original place leaning against the wall. “You’re tired. If you’ve any desire to sleep tonight, you must go this instant.”

If he meant it innocently, his frustrated expression and clenching fists did not help depict it. Kagome felt a ghostly finger trace up her spine at his gaze, which fought to force its way into the depths of her own to assess its secrets.

Gathering up her things, Kagome stood, holding her papers flush to her chest to hide her unbound breasts which had before been protected by her dress’s loose drape. “Goodnight, sir. You might consider trying to sleep again, as well.”

“I’ll consider it,” he said, eyes flicking down to her bare feet and the lower half of her shins, now exposed by her night gown.

Blushing bright, she bowed her head in goodbye. “Till morning,” she said.

#inukag #inextricably knotted #fanfiction #jane eyre #inuyasha #this chapter makes it officially the longest fic I've ever written!

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inukag-on-ao3 · 9 months

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Inextricably Knotted (an Inukag + Jane Eyre AU)

by ssukidesu

NEW STORY!

Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M

Fandoms: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale

Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha

Characters: Higurashi Kagome, InuYasha (InuYasha), Kikyou (InuYasha), Kaede (InuYasha)

Additional Tags: inukag - Freeform, jane eyre au, i'm so excited about finally publishing this, it's been in the works for a long time, i hope that eveyone realizes that this is just one long plea to read jane eyre if you haven't, plus 4 more

Words: 1,557 | Chapters: 1/? | Language: English | Private: No

#inukag #inukago #InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale #fanfic #ao3 #bot #latest #fanfiction

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phoenixtakaramono · 1 year

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Writing Pattern Game

Thanks for the tag, @deliciouskeys (♛) and @plasticfangtastic (♛).

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Ah…. *side-eyes my total AO3 WIPs and Twitter threadfics* I can scrounge up 10. My “writing style” tends to reflect whose character’s POV it is and the atmosphere/ setting of the writing itself. Looking at these listed below from an objective standpoint, I think my pattern is the typical writing strategy us writers try to use to hook readers in. 🤔 I’dunno if it comes off that way on your guys’ side when you read through my stories. But I usually view the first paragraph as a window of opportunity to grab the reader's attention and have that hopefully stir enough interest to lead them right into the story. It is your first impression after all. :) I’ll show the first sentence to abide by the rules of this game (hehe)—but then strikethrough the following sentences after that, if it’s in the same paragraph, so you can see the following context.

(Symbol Key: ♛ - direct links you can click)

AO3 Stories

The Name of the Game (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

Fine coils of gray smoke spiraled from the end of a dying cigarette, the ember buffeted from the winds by a black leather gloved hand. In the frigid overcast sky, the little ember sparked across half of the person’s sharply defined features. Rooted in place, this man was a sculpture hewn from rugged granite and adolescent dreams.

Truce (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

When Homelander had first heard the news, he’d laughed. When no one joined in, his smile dulled. Looking Ashley Barrett in the eyes, he’d said, “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me.”

The Untold Tale (♛)

SVSSS: Original Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū

Let it not be said that Shen Yuan didn’t know how to be an accomplished—arguably better—writer than his nemesis Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky.

A Prince and His Baron (♛)

Helluva Boss: Blitzo/Stolas Goetia

It was undeniable that there was an upcoming new threat in Hell, rivaling some of the realm’s most ancient fiends in ruthlessness despite his pedigree. Like a chaotic storm, his killing efficiency—a startling track record of a hundred percent hits and zero failures—made waves in demon society. His calling card was left behind at every crime scene: a business card or a horned smiley face doodled with the victim’s blood on the corpse. With the amount of dark energy consumed and the carnage wreaked and demonic pacts made, they cemented his candidacy as a new, potential Overlord of Hell.

Green and Gold (♛)

HP, InuYasha: Harry Potter/Sesshomaru

"We've arrived at the Higurashi Shrine, Pottā-sama," the Asian wizard moonlighting as a Muggle taxi driver said respectfully, pulling the car to a smooth stop along the curb. The stars stood out among the dark night sky, beautiful in this wondrous occasion. Dark eyes surveyed the still figure in the back seat, said infamous wizard who had his eyes closed throughout the long drive from the Apparition Point in the Narita Airport. With an awed smile, the young man lowered his gaze reverently from the Boy-Who-Lived. Turning the ignition off, he added, "I shall accompany you to the spiritual grounds as per Shacklebolt-san's request."

Finders Keepers (♛)

Borderlands, TFTBL: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)

The storm of profanities died on his lips as Handsome Jack immediately performed a double-take at the man he’d nearly tripped over on his way to Hyperion’s artificial intelligence branch. The ECHO devices he’d been carrying were strewn all over the floor, with the bright light of personnel photos and the information he’d been reading now glaring up at the ceiling of the space station.

Twitter Threadfics

M3GAN AU (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

One day, CIA agent Billy sees a life-sized male android from the company Becca works at. It’s handsome, it’s blond, and Billy’s creeped out that it’s in his girlfriend’s flat.

Fix-It AU (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

The first time Homelander met William “Billy” J. Butcher isn’t the romantic spy thriller the media thinks it is. It’s not what his now-fiancé thinks either.

Sugar Baby AU (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

It’s months in, and Homelander’s discovered the pleasure of being catered to by a handsome British expatriate whose c*ck is worth $7K per night.

Vampire & Lycan Hunter AU (♛)

The Boys: Billy Butcher/The Homelander | John

Chains rattle when Billy hears the screeches. Dark hair and loose articles are sent flying as a maelstrom of golden bats eclipses the balcony view.

Thoughts: Comparing the two categories above, I tend to get straight to the point for my threadfics—since I’m constrained by the wordcount—whereas for my AO3 stories I like to tease my readers in (hopefully hook you in and guide your eyes to the second paragraph and so on). At the very least, my sentences tend to be descriptive (lol, my word salads, haha) so I think I tend to describe the main character, give the first insight into the main character(s)’ personality you’ll be reading about, or tease the worldbuilding/ setting/ premise. I do see it as the introduction into the story so my thought process essentially goes: 1) it’s gotta be intriguing, 2) it gives the reader the general gist of what you’re probably getting yourself into, or 3) it ironically foreshadows a big narrative device later so if you wanna see how we get there, ✨you should follow along and read the story✨ hint hint nudge nudge.

I tag: @fuckingpajamas, @kosmochlor, @tzeentchs-secretary-tea-time, @officially-tilly, and feel free for anyone who wants to do this!╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ Only if you wanna!

#writing meme #writing #my writing #writing pattern game #ask #deliciouskeys #phoenix talks #I notice I have a lot more butchlander fics in my portfolio than in any other fandom I’ve written for *amused*#my brief impromptu vacation in the rarepair hotel somehow extended into what it is today haha #if you wanna see how I handle purple prose TUT is the golden child in my AO3 portfolio #after that is G&G (which is essentially a crackship that we treat seriously; it’s the reason why I made an AO3 & was my 1st popular fic)#TNotG is how I handle purple prose through a Western style & not the stylistic Chinese light novel style in TUT #G&G reflects modern juxtaposed against Japanese feudal fantasy #FK is my attempt at sci-fi #the threadfics are just how I usually write—but pared down to fit the twitter wordcount

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tsukiyadori · 8 months

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Reading Log 2023.12-2024.01 - December-January

Previous: Reading (+Watching) Log 2023.09-11 - September to November

Reading languages: German, English, Japanese, not listing which was what

Titles are as I’ve read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads

Cursive titles have been completed

——————————————————————————

DECEMBER

Managed zero anime again...

Hovered before Jeweler Richard and bolted out from reading again for health reasons and upholding certain deadlines...

Novels:

The Old Man in the Corner

Light Novel:

86: Eighty-Six v12 Anime Supremacy v1 Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki v7-V8

Manga:

100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi ch14.1-2 A Couple of Cockoos V7 A Side Character's Love Story Ch15-25 After God Ch40-39 Ano Ko no Kodomo v1-v2ch8 Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch13-14 BL Game no Shujinkou no Otouto de aru Koto ni Ki ga Tsukimashita ch18 Boku no Diamond Star ch14 Brutal Ch8.2-14 Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch32.1-2 Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch12-13.2 Dein Verlangen gehört mir v2-4ch33 Dein böser Blick v1-2ch7 Delinquent Daddy & Tender Teacher v2 Der Duft der Apfelblüte v1-v2 Dienerin des verfluchten Kindes Ch39.1-46.1 Fall in the Night with You Ch46-45 Fuck Buddy Girl Crush ch58-59 Harebare Biyori ch22 Hari to Hitsuji no Fune bangaihen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri ch17.2-18.4 I don't want to work anymore Ch12-19.51 Inked: Unter deiner Haut Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch15 Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch8.4-9.4 Kakegurui Ch104-105.2 Kemono to Waltz ch19 Killer in Love Ch31-39 Knitter's High bangaihen1-2 Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch75-76 Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch10 Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa ch28 Love you till you die v1-5ch24 Mehr als Tausend Worte Meine Wiedergeburt als Schleim in einer anderen Welt V12 Midnight Secret Sex Minikui Yuukaku no Ko ch1-13 Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch3.1-16.3 Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode ch22.3-23.2 Oshi no Ko ch133-135 Phantom Seer V4 Requiem of the Rose King V9.half Sakura Saku v1 Scroll of the White Silk Cloud ch24-58 Shangri-La Frontier v1-v3ch25 She is also cute today Ch48-51 Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita. ch6-8 Shuumatsu Touring ch33-34.2 Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch59preview, ch60-63 Sweet & Tart Boyfriend Ch6-9 Taberare Usa ch80-83 Tales of Reincarnation in Maydare: This World's Worst Witch Ch1-2.2 Taste of Desire The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Ch1-11.3 The Mermaid Wears a Dress Ch26-37 The Saint's Magic Power is Omipotent bangaihen5, ch38.1-2 To be Winner Ch49.1-71 To the Abadoned Sacred Beasts v10ch52 Together Forever Ch17-28 Und jeden Tag liebe ich dich mehr Unnamed Memory ch33 Watashi wo Tabetai kaimaku1-2 Yomei Ichinen to Senkokusareta Boku ga ch9.1-2 Yuna aus dem Reich Ryukyu V7-8

Webtoons:

A Royal Princess with Black Hair Ch50-59 AoT no Requiem ch1-3 Beauty as the Beast Ch16-35 Breed my Dear Enemy Ch44-76 Can the Grand Duke and the Marquis be Friends? Ch1-12 Corridor of Mirs Ch20-55 Marry my Enemy Ch1-7 Spirit of Peach Blossom Ch28-47 The Giantess wants Love Ch61-72

Notes:

86: Eighty-Six 12: It feels a bit like a sort of extra quest, but it weaves itself very nicely into the world building.

Anime Supremacy: 2/3 in, I'm already liking it ten times more than I ever did Shirobako. There is less pathos, more just passion and sincerity. .... And a strange view that not even takes the working conditions cynically, but rather as a matter of a fact.

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki: V7 has been an excellent read. At beginning, I was once more crying hell, that I did not want to see a Tomozaki-Aoi ship sailing as an endgame, because really Aoi is everything anti-cheese there is so far. But everything is littered up for this to happen, but if it manages to either make a twist with that or make it organically happen, I suppose that'll be fine, too. Anyway, as for this book's main plot, it was quite beautiful with all its allegories that transported across all the characters. What I found most mesmerizing was how this certain mid-term ship sailed. I say mid-term, because I can't really see it as anything else. Fuka even says as much, while both the female characters in the play loved the guy, he was the only one the one who wins her love in the play, which was Hinami not herself. Tomozaki breaks that, but he's also bringing up how they started at opposite ends and are now meeting halfway. They are definitely a good match, they vibed from the start, but somehow there is also a sort of time-limited beauty to it, and it's not entirely normatively (and me tooth-crunchingly thinking Aoi so much looks like the set-up endgame). It's like they will live their lives and in the future will diverge again, simply because their lives will move away from each other. But just now it matches, and it doesn't make the time any less precious, and certainly it will be a valuable experience to build on for anything that comes after and a treasure memory to look back into. This somehow reminds me a lot of the charm the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button postulates with the "meeting in the middle of their lives" notion, but didn't really pull off even half as beautifully for me. But the other motifs are very high up there, too. The allegory of firelings and the outlook of 'finding your own', the internet as one chance for that and just this whole pointing to a sense of 'the world is vast, much bigger than this one little place (school)' is quite a nice and healthy one. Actually, the biggest plot contrivance may not that Tomozaki gets to have an Aoi in his life. It's everyone else getting to have an improved Tomozaki in their life. If Aoi is a sort of catalyst trigger, Tomozaki is in many ways a sort of enabler. Characters like these are rather exceedingly rare in both fiction and reality, imo.

A Royal Princess with Black Hair - I caught up ._. But the titular princess is a kinda cool. The hazardous-sort of cool and the two definitely have a nice chemestry of bantering. (Also Tsundere-in-denials features.)

After God - The plot is a bit… ok, I guess, and the characters bar maybe one across the board awful (even the bunny-moonface one), but then after some 40+ pages some strings come together and they make a few of the characters into far more complex creatures. There is also the whole absurdity of things (gummy bears, really?). The art has always been the thing that drew in with its mixture of macabre, morbid contrasted with and just really astonishing amounts of details. The chapters in Vollof's moon castle however, definitely had art that was positive stunning to look at. The sheer amount of surrealism, from classic paintings and contemporary things of civilization or nature, even just mundane little things just mixed in like that, it's pretty great….. It's just kinda missing actually interesting characters for me. But at least the plot finally started to have a real air of mystique about it that made me want to read more. And then that is when it's caught up on the latest chapters on Comikey. The Irony.

Ano Ko no Kodomo - Very educative and treats the emotions pretty sensibly. Although of course also obviously very Japanese, so now I kinda know more about getting a child in Japan than I do elsewhere...

Delinquent Daddy & Tender Teacher v2 - So v2 is actually a spin off bonus, while being a sequel in the timeline and I think you can really see that fanservice-y air about it. It doesn't have too much of a plot, the spice levels have gone up and otherwise it's mostly compf and cute. Looks like from the next volume on it was greenlit to be an ongoing series, so probably may get more cohesive after that. The series quite stands out for having an ongoing relationship as a couple after coming together (and a child at that), which is very rare. Other than that "gentle" is probably what fits its air best.

Dienerin des verfluchten Kindes Ch39.1-46.1 - How to read v1-6 in German print vols, go up to the penultimate chapter on comikey and going "oh I'll just skip to the last volume", you get the latest of those German print volumes and that one (v8) turns out to be the penultimate one, too. The stupidity… Anyway. Kinda nice drawings, but just so, so, so much pathos. Anyway, think i'll just consider it closed now even with half a chapter missing.

Girl Crush ch58-59 - Aftermath of the last climax in a new little climax, and it's just so good.

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch15 - yes of course. OF COURSE. Oh, but that twist is for the better, because now we're not in a problem of a triangle after all. Also, somebody license this already. :<

Killer in Love - Finished. Uh. Well. Erm. Last time I thought it was kinda like Azure and Claude that author (Sugaru)'s style of they are gonna be doomed, totally gonna be doomed, just in edgy. But Sugaru's style has a penchant is more like 'everything is gloom, but we desperately try to hold onto something to keep going, and maybe in the eyes of the world we failed, but we've found at least a little measure of happiness for ourselves'. So it's like very predictable gloom, but with a silver lining. This one is just them failing, and they had absolutely nothing. The end doesn't really leave much open, but I prefer to guess it was axed or some such. The message it tries to phone otherwise is kinda hard to swallow otherwise.

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch75-76 - We have moved on from the sorta Aishiteru Game-arc to a competition arc? And next it's school theater arc? It sure moved on quick, but it does so quite neatly without any of these bits getting too long and old.

Oshi no Ko ch133-135 Arimaaaaaaaaaaaa

Shangri-La Frontier v1-v3 - I think the gaming aspect actually works against its adventuring aspect for me. Now ok, fine, it's cool, that it's not yet another Isekai'ed-into-game plot, but also, with it just being a game the stakes also are… just a game. There are no real stakes in there beyond a sense of pride in what they themselves call "bizarre taste" and a stubbornness of conquest. If that was an actual fantasy world defeating the monsters would be meaningful for the safety of the residents in it, but with the gaming aspect it's literally just a game. And as somebody who doesn't game at all, it kinda stopped being interesting. Despite an actual bunny MC there…

Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita - Good heavens, it took its sweet time with the explanation arc and finally turning the asshole romance interest into not so assy-just-misguided poor fellow.

Taberare Usa - I do not know what this is anymore, but it still has buns. Some at least, right now.

(break because of tumblr complaining about max character limits per block)

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Ch1-11.3 - Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!! This is fluff paradise. At least for now. The series clearly is romance, and it's gonna go there, but the way it is right now in the beginning, that doesn't really have exactly something to do with just romance. They are drawn to each other, but it's expressly not because of the romance factor, they are attraction factors all over the place from every other realm and while there are romance sparks there, it's almost never just romantic/sexual attraction at play alone (and much less is it the driving factor). And even those, they are still very far and in between, but everyone else is already going grinny-grinny that they surely are dating. This is such a mood and if we remove a few of the more spefici sparks, it's almost a bit like my teenage dream incarnate, as in this is how I assumed a friendship looked like, if it was one that has any right to call itself an actual friendship. (Yes, my idea of that concept was a bit nuts at the time…) Now I am wanting both more, while I half dread that once it moves on to be just any classic romance and it is gonna move on for sure, but this is already perfect endgame mood for me. T_T

Original ramblings for the record: The two kinda vibe quite nicely, it didn't start with the sparks and feels, but really just how they complement each their needs. She in terms of all the practical things of cooking, cleaning and he at being introvert-style observant and emphatically being able to guess her needs without having to even think about it. All framed into how it expressly defies gender stereotypes (he doesn't expect much less asks for her cooking and she does it because she likes cooking and enjoys trying some out and serving it to someone happily chomping it down who is neither a glutton that is happy about anything or unable to do a culinary evaluation as to how things taste good) and just at its core it's about a safe space of just being free to be. There's already titbits of the bog standard cheese, but all those blushes of surges of happiness also overlap with something else at the same time, just simple embarrassment over unusual situations (she stumbling) or suddenly close distance (the back carrying), which just doesn't entirely scream cheese for the sake of narrative, but just also being unused to it, because they're introverts. His letting his chopsticks fall at her being happy after seeing him so happy about her food may be a breathtaking thing, but it may also be simply being awed by the sheer prettiness of happiness itself. It also goes an extra mile at how to distinguish that not any other girl/guy would do - the other guys just swoon over her, and he's too overwhelmed by the too extrovert girls - while it's also not it has to be her/him because of crush. It's also just funny how the prospect of a girlfriend gives him headaches thinking about how to explain a certain neighbour angel's presence rather then to go for the most "obvious solution" of just making her his girlfriend herself. Which isn't rooted in just denseness, it's rooted in respect for her boundaries. (And she gives the same air for him, altho obviously if badly made this can turn into a misunderstanding trope.) Some which he often questions just to be sure they are on the same page. (And then there's some delish soft tsundere.) And it's just, neither are going in there with any romantic ambition whatsoever, it just organically develops. and slow burn as it it is and with overlaps to it's also some other thing, this also just reminds me extremely of what was originally my idea of just friendship. (Just remove some of those physiological blushes.) Now I do have an urge to bury my head in my hands, because the idea was so wildly extremely off, but just right now, at this slow burn that probably is (obviously has to be) cheese, this is perfectly an amount that is… fluff. But I surmise it won't stay that way, eventually it'll have to move or any other average reader will just get mad at no development. This atm however to me almost feels like near-perfect endgame vibes. It… doesn't need much of anything more.

Und jeden Tag liebe ich dich mehr (a.k.a. Everyday, Love Me More in English) - What I expected: Dumpster Cheese. What I got when I read some preview of chapter 1 or parts of it a long while ago: Cheese train departing at full speed ahead What it was:

still cheese, but the cheese is, while entirely predictable, actually also surprisingly buyable.

MC has a friend who is touchy-intimate, and it's just a friendship like that with absolute no airs about it

has a fairly weird misunderstanding trope, but they were children nicely placed back into the plot to denote a change development manages to have some comedic situation comedy even in serious moments

the climax/penultimate chapter already feels like what would have been the ending of any other bog standard BL volume. (I totally was expecting the cursed spice extra chapter for checking of the genre checklist.)

turns out after that there is an actual last chapter, with a time skip, which is a a whole arc in at out itself, in any other bog standard volume this would have been an entire sequel volume. has some pretty sensible and mature approach to getting the spice woven into the actual relationship. (Just the mentions of of course you'd want to do such things can die already, at least as a justification of having such desires at all.)

there even is even an cursed extra chapter of spice, with yet some more time skip, which is to say, the reader gets to see them at three stages of their ongoing relationship (plus their childhood precursor one) IN ONE VOLUME. huh. How did this manage to be so compact. There's even plenty of side elements. Some homo jokes getting trashed in a badass-hilarious way, morphing from some childhood scar healing nostalgia to something else, some family drama, entrance exams, slight doubts about one's orientation or how to categorize it, but also it never becoming a focal point or identify crisis drama. Also nice, it has a whole self expression-honesty drama subplot but nothing about it has anything to do with the queer aspect of it all. Just why does this have to have such a damnable cover (that really only makes sense after reading and then is still just… not very eye-caching) and cheese ass title.

——————————————————————————

JANUARY

Managed zero anime again... Bar some zapping

Jeweler Richard v6 came out in English, I went to some favorite places and the translation of those places is a little bit errrr? And then it got stalled (next to having to put it aside for deadlines and I'm still not reading v13 for health reasons, despite the deadline now over...)

Anime:

Sailor Moon Cosmos (quick tapping and watching 1/3-half)

Light Novels:

Anime Supremacy v1 Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki V8, v8.5, v9

Manga:

100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu ch14.3-4 A Side Character's Love Story Ch26-35.1 After God Ch51-52 Blank Canvas v3-5 Boruto: Two Blue Vortex ch4-5 Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki Manga Ch1-7 Dance Dance Danseur v1-2 Girl Crush Ch61, ch79 Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch16-17.1 Kakegurui Ch105.5 Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch78 Liebe in Zeiten der Taisho-Ära v2 Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch29 Love you till you die ch34 Mine est Asexuel v1 Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch16.4-17.4 Mr. Mallow Blue ch28 My Summer of You v3 My Ultramarine Sky v1 Noragami ch109 Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru node Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch23.2-24.1 Oshi no Ko ch136-138 Parasyte v7-8 Queen's Quality v18ch81 Reincarnated as the Daughter of the Legendary Hero and the Queen of Spirits Ch1-19.3 Sakura Saku v2 Sweet & Tart Boyfriend Ch10-30 Taberare Usa ch84-88 The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Ch11-13.2 The Giantess wants Love Ch73-97 The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl Ch1-11 The Moon On a Rainy Night ch1 The Witch and the Beast v2-3 Together Forever Ch29-36.1 Und jeden Tag liebe ich dich mehr v1

Webtoons:

Breed my Dear Enemy Ch76-91 Fall in the Night with You Ch65-68 Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira Ch1-7 To be Winner Ch72-76 Westwood Vibrato v4

Notes:

Sailor Moon Cosmos - Galaxia is bdass cool to look at, and Cosmos is also cool and just like most of everyone is darn cool, but as a fairly faithful adaption (that actually looks good) it just has the same issues as the manga as in, it's very, very Usagi-centric and everyone else is downgraded to almost just being cameos (although that moment with Rei and Minako still rocks). There's minimally more Galaxia flesh outs in her flashback, and it's a welcome addition to imply, she originally probably had died, that's how ultimately she wasn't so different to all her underlings who were at the mercy of needing the bracelets to survice. And so she gets killed the moment she's purified. Misguided, probably manupulated and cruel as she is, I still think she is a really great villain. She comes from a place of despair seeking nothing more than a home, but nowhere in the whole universe can she find it, so she sets out to just create it. But also knows how powerless she actually is, despite the vast amounts of it she does have in comparison in face of a true enemy. So then you have somebody who really just wants a glimmer of actual hope struggling hard (and in a few wrong ways), but also while at it, uses not just vast overwhelming powers but also psychological tactics. The old anime always had her sit on her throne, while the underlings did their monster of the week, but this incarnation, she's on the frontline right from the beginning. And she doesn't reply on those underlings, they are just an optional nice to have extra she doesn't care about and remains true to them. They fail and they don't deserve anything but disgust. Also she she is just so darn badass, like whoever other villain literally walks up in her (technically) negligle dress to the battlefield and then she just rocks the place so hard. ..... Sailor Moon the manga is flawed in so many ways, but like, how come we've never seen any other so badass female characters that transcend frills of justice, since? And I'm not even asking for an assembly like this franchise has but like just one would be could that comes even close the the epitome of elegant badassness. (The closest is probably dark Homura in Madoka Magica Rebellion and upcoming Walpurgis Night.)

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki V8 - If v7 was beautiful, this was more of a low point for me. But also has probably the nicest Tomozaki-Hinami moment in there. It's back to focusing on games, which I accept is part of this serie's DNA and not neglecting it is fine, but it's just also the least interesting bit of it. Rena otherwise can go screw herself. As for Fuka and Tomozaki I'm kind of surprised just how quick it moves on to start having things fall apart again. But yeah, it's distastefully teenage-romance-waffling, that just doesn't do anything for me....

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki Manga - i was a bit turned off about the artwork, turns out the insides look better than the key illustrations in color. I think it is worth mentioning how much effort it tries to make it visually entertaining for a series that is just really lots and lots more of talking. It just sometimes feels like it's overdoing it a bit...

Dance Dance Danseur - This is a very good series. But also like every single ingredient in there is one that impulsively makes me want to run. Ouf.

Girl Crush - I found out there's some other place than geolocked line where the JP chapters show up, so can read those now. It's gooood. But chapters are always so short. ;_;

Mine est Asexuel - I bought this in Japanese a good while ago and then dragged my feet around reading it forever. Which is funny, because I have read reviews etc about it, so I perfectly knew what it was about and how it ended and it's basically the manifestation of one of my worst nightwares. (That IRL I never allowed to happen at least.) Now the JP doujin book kinda just went MIA in my piles and Irodori's French translation was on sale, so, duh, let's just get over it. And like. It's just really really exactly that: A personal nightmare.

Original Ramblings for the record: He starts with suggesting, that she may be better off with somebody else, but at the same time she is kinda deperate, so if yourefuse you are causing heartbreak. If you don't you know fully well that she'd surely have certain expectations that you aren't going to be able to fullfill like that. He then proceed to explain what he is like, what consequences that is to inform her of what she'd be getting into. She says she gets it, but she actually doesn't (like hell that scene where she worries about her underwear....) although she respects it. Which is already very grand, but ultimately just inevitably raises false hopes. But as she says to her friend which he accidentially eavesdrop (which he probably didn't even need to, you'd pick that up anyway), it is to her just so very lonely. And there's nothing he can do to alleviate that. Like even if he engaged in all those acts, it would come from a different place of motivation, which isn't what she wants, as long as she knows it and if she didn't he'd be lying which is also nothing he'd like. And they got along with everything else, it mostly failed on this one bit, but it was crucial. It's a try as you may do, it was bound to go wrong and there was no way to prevent that beyond not letting himself into a relationship to begin with, but that still would mean causing heartbreak and on top it's not like he's not liking her either - the JP title says nonsexual, so for a change this meaning asexual actually a correct translation and he's ace not aro - so no matter what he would have done, it would have always being a pain.

"I don't think I can give you a day as you wish for". That whole admission of hoping for something that just was impossible and also why?. Nobody's fault but tragic all the same. Those are the worst cases, because there is nothing you can do to fix it. And yeah that whole thing about her condition to breaking up. While she thinks hell refuse and she'd still get stay at his side. And the whole air about that. How that that even sound to him? It's just looks like from all the things to connect one another to her this was the most paramount important thing, something he can't and everything else she shared (which was a good amount), has the weight of less than smoke. And to her it's just like how serious he really was all along with what he said and probably that is the first time it actually sunk into her what this even means. That he'd be so desperate to get out of her expectations that he'd do what he hates so much just once. And also the final line, this experience lingers, and while it isn't exactly a trauma given how they moved on and apparently found what they needed and not all of it was bad, but at least to her it's established that it has left a mark on her heart forever. Over something like that. This is not a way I want to be remembered at all. (Especially not, as I probably am anyway over some other traits of mine already.) And well, some other to-be-expected comments, like what that friend of her says or the author depicts in the afterword. All a can of worms.

Which is to say

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten GIVE ME MORE FLUFF. This manga runs at a snail's pace. I wanna more like it, in this exactly bracket why this is fluff perfection, but I just can't find any. ;_; Just one chapter a month is cruel, but I am suckering up like nothing. I mean. Just look at this FLUUUUUUUFFFFF!!!!

My Summer of You - I had to chuckle how there was a scene, that's basically the same as in I hear the Sunspot Limit v1, except here they go for it whereas Sunspot went "it's not wrestling", lol. I still marvel at how the character templates look so incredibly similar in both series. Overall I think Sunpot has more to offer, but that includes a lot of thorns that make it into a heavy read at places. This one's more softer in that regard.

My Ultramarine Sky - Good heavens, this is I became an Omega today levels of there would be absolutely no plot, if they actually talked. Except it coems around to have a very grounded, buyable and sensible depiction of why now that is anchored in teenage confusion x internalised homophobia. As in the internalised taboo sort, rather than actual external pressures happening. Those friends of them they actually see like pretty good, supportive guys, and the whole BL joke makes for a nice contrast that not everything is active oppression. It's also jokes like these that may hurt that have no malicious intent behind it at all. They just don't know and nobody's told them. Original ramblings for the record: It's like The Two Lions, but each with way less personality and character, absolutely no side plots and the characters aged down. In terms of cheese it's kinda structured almost the same way, except that since it has really nothing else going on there's a lot of sentimental cheese waffling filling in. While a case could be made that it's just teenage confusion and anguish and just lotsa cheese angst, to me that just felt super like Today I became an Omega since you already know the obligatory ending anyway so is rather patience wrecking. In terms of actual cheese dosing it's not all that heavy tho so no cheese deaths happened It attempts some allegories with the ultramarine sky, but I think that one failed pretty much. It shows up fairly at the end, suddenly out of nowhere (or if it was there previously, it was so irrelevant it dried up from memory immediately.) There's some more attempts at allegories with shogi, but I think that didn't work out all that great either, as the shogi never is never really firmly part of the setting (more like a btw. happenstance) and much less does it establish what shogi lingo there is, so that last page so feels kinda errrrrr. …. sounds probably more negative than it should be… Think that bit about "It's not funny at all" was well hit, and the whole air of internalised or passive homophobia despite no active external pressure feels well grounded and kinda also comtemporary with the BL tropes jokes. And the cheese waffling is probably decent, if you have anything to resonate with it, but as we previously already established, puberty probably just flew over my head at the time together with the cheese instincts. Feel like it does hide a lot behind that confusing age era thingy. Conversely it just reminded me of the Lions even more by contrast, because that one didn't have any of that ready as an excuse and didn't even allow it and like it entirely doesn't help that this pair and that pair look rather very similar, both in visual setup and character (minus Leo's angry face, outspokenness and fighting skills). But well, I guess, it is an earlier work, so probably a sorta prototype Think also at this point the following Nagisa Furuya Bingo can be made: Blond hair vs. dark haired, bad with booze, drunk mumblings, one has a few self-control dilemmas, one of them has a need to run away, the other one comes chasing, talking is important!!!! but they have to learn that the hard way-patience wreck, low cheese calories, innocent Zzzs, sleeve/hem tugs, wrist grabs My summer of you also still feels a whole lotsa lot like a I hear the Sunpot, but without the disability plot and Taichi having a need to be obnoxiously loud (which he has in that plot, because that's why Kouhei always hears him) and extra denseness (where one may or may argue ace-vibes) to combat Kouhei's everlasting gloom-tendency. A deal more toothless, but also a deal more even in exchange.

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tsuisou-no-despair · 3 years

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Higurashi TEN - Collected Links

So I figured I'd do a little bookkeeping and put links for everything I've posted related to my role-swap AU, Higurashi When They Cry - TEN (ひぐらしのなく頃に転), in one place so that anyone new to the AU can look through everything in a reasonable order.

The Cast

The Games Club The Takano Clinic The Rest of the Cast

The Question Arcs

Chapter 1: Seigoroshi-hen (Calmness Killing Chapter) Chapter 2: Tsuminagashi-hen (Sin Shedding Chapter) Chapter 3: Dokukoboshi-hen (Poison Spilling Chapter) Chapter 4: Rikakushi-hen (Motive-Hiding Chapter)

TIPS

Tip #1: Notes On The Curse (Chapter 4 TIPS) Tip #2: An Idle Conversation in the Sea of Fragments (Chapter 8 TIPS)

Other Information

34 Random Facts About The AU A Brief Character Note on Akasaka and Teppei An Interlude

#higurashi ten au #table of contents

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iblue-kitzune · 5 years

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Of Rising Calamities Beyond the Cosmos: Chapter 10

A/N: And now we have arrived at the final chapter guys! This one is a bit special because it serves as both a regular epilogue (NOTE: There’s a bit of time-skip in here just to let y’all know) and a Halloween chapter, so it’s a half-and-half kind of deal if you want to look at it that way.

So, with that out of the way now, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Happy Halloween everyone!

Droplets of water fell from the air and onto the rocky floor below, which was littered with puddles in every direction Jane looked. And the young woman took care to avoid stepping in one as she walked deeper and deeper into the darkness, a single blue flame lit in the palm of her hand to light her path up ahead.

“[Tell me again why are we exploring this dingy and damp dungeon?]”

“[Jane said she wanted to investigate this place a little bit more thoroughly this time.]”

“[Then why did she send a clone in place of herself and have the three of us accompany it?]”

“[Maybe she thought the monsters and wild animals wouldn’t dare approach her at the sight of us being by her side? I don’t know! I’m not exactly a mind reader or know the woman’s thoughts like you two think I do just because I spend more time with—]”

“Raiden! Gale! Inferno!” the three great spirits went quiet at the sharp voice of the clone and looked up. “I can hear you three you know...despite your whispering,” the trio sweat-dropped and turned their heads away from the moody half-spirit.

‘Finally...’ Jane let out an inaudible sigh when her great spirit companions switched to a different topic. Thank god for that. She didn’t have to listen to either of them complain anymore—even though most of it came from Raiden.

But she wasn’t focused on that. Right now, she just wanted to pass this section of dungeon and get to the next level.

And sure, it’s been a while since she’s last been down here, but it’s not like Jane had forgotten the layout of the cavern.

The floor above her, she knew by heart now. This one, however, not so much.

‘All the more reason to check it out.’

When the young woman found this cave two months ago and started to explore it, she made sure that she memorized all of the pathways and secret crevices in this area—well this floor at least, before she left. But now that there weren’t any pressing issues at hand here or any type of commotion happening outside of the cave, she was free to investigate this place without worry for the time being.

There was just so much energy she could feel in here, and so many shiny objects she could see around her, twinkling within the cracks embedded into the walls, and ceiling. All of them had an iridescent glow to them, and all of them were glowing a different color—from golden white, seafoam green, and baby blue to periwinkle, alexandrite, and coral pink. Any one of these could a rare item or ingredient for something; however, Jane wasn’t so sure about that.

‘Maybe I should take a look first.’

The young half-spirit stopped to pull out an empty transparent container with a handle on the top, and set it on the ground. She kneeled, and with her free hand, Jane tapped on it. A small section of the container glowed white and opened up with a chilling swoosh. Then she carefully stuck her fireball inside before pulling her hand back out, watching the hole close up and disappear.

Satisfied with her work, she moved away from her makeshift lantern and stood halfway up, making sure to crouch on the balls of her feet. And once she did, the clone of Jane bounded high into the air with just a single leap and latched onto one of the stalagmites hanging from the ceiling.

‘Wow!’ her eyes turned into stars at the sight of many items and gems staring at her right in the face. ‘There’s so stuff...huh?’ she trailed off with a silent gasp. But that didn’t last long as the look of excitement entered her golden brown-amber eyes, and replaced her awe.

‘Oh my god! Is that what I think it is?!’

She was in heaven right now, and rightfully so because she could see a bunch of stuff on the ceiling and higher end of the walls ranging from bottle based items:

Holy Bottle, Dark Bottle, Life Bottle, Panacea Bottle, and Syrup Bottle

To tool based items:

Banrea, All-Divide, Hourglass, Spectacles, Dried Peels, and Goat Horn

And medicine based items:

Lemon Gel, Melange Gel, Miracle Gel, Pine Gel, and Elixir

It was hard to believe that she was seeing all of this in one place since they would normally be spread out throughout the cave, or just be hidden in some obscure spot no one would bother to check, especially if it’s not sticking out in the open. But Jane wasn’t like others, and she wasn’t the type to pass up on stuff like this just sitting out here.

She was like a collector of sorts, and sometimes she likes to stock up on these items for future use. And whatever’s left that she doesn’t use, she mixes them together—much to the surprise of her friends who thought she was crazy for doing something potentially dangerous like that.

To her and everyone else’s shock, the mixed components come out looking totally different. They become a completely new item, medicine, or tool. One with brand new properties that changes after each use. It was something her and her friends had never seen before, and Jane loved it—so did Tony, Bruce, Peter, Shuri, and Strange (to some extent), who were like scientists in their own way as they, too, tended to experiments with things from time to time, magic or not.

Plus, it’s not like she can help it. She was a scientist—and a brilliant one who won the Nobel Prize many years ago at that!

And as such, Jane felt obligated to mix components with others and see what comes out of it. If the experiment turned out to be a successful one, then the next logical step would be the test the bad boy out and see what it does. If she likes the results of her fruits of her labor, she will keep the finished product and think about making duplicates in the future—which, nine times out of ten, she does.

However, if the whole thing turned out to be a failure in the end, then Jane saw no reason to continue working with the components. She would just dispose of them in the biohazard bin she keeps in her lab.

‘It’s a good thing I found these things. I was just beginning to get low on all of this stuff,’ the clone said as she proceeded to pick them all out of the cracks of the walls and ceilings with her telekinesis.

Two minutes later after gathering all sixteen items and arranging them in a giant ball, the young half spirit took out a black-light blue accented bag that had a star shaped zipper on it, and unzipped the thing. The pile fell neatly inside, and Jane zipped the bag up before making it vanish back into her pocket dimension.

“[Are you done with collecting items, Jane?]” she heard Gale ask, and looked down at him and the other two great spirits, who were all patiently waiting on her.

“Yeah!” she answered and let go of the stalagmite. “For now I am,” the young woman quickly added once she landed safely on the rocky ground.

Raiden pinched the bridge of his nose while Inferno and Gale sighed to themselves.

The clone gave them an apologetic smile before she picked up her lantern, turned on her heel, and took off with a light dash, then heard the three flying after her seconds later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thousands upon thousands of miles away from Snow Lunar Island, and somewhere in London, two animals sat on the front lawn of a huge two-story, thirty-eight hundred square-foot home that had a large walkway area leading over to the garage on the other side, and leading down to the sidewalk where a mailbox stood in place.

The first animal was a large midnight blue and pale yellow dog with extra fur that was colored black on its back and fluffy tail, which was tipped magenta at the end, black hind paws, black tipped pointy ears, and magenta eyes while the second animal was a large royal purple and white bird with teal colored markings on the sides of its cheeks, the inner lining of its wings and the tips of its feathered tails, which were also tipped white, yellow talons, and teal eyes.

The two were currently playing a game of fetch with Darcy, who decided to come out here and play with Jane’s pets. No offense to her friend or anything, but she got tired of waiting in the lab on Jane to finish streaming the mini expedition her clone, Inferno, Gale, and Raiden were on.

As exciting as it was to see what the inside of that mysterious cave was like on one of the three twenty-four inch screen desktop computers of Jane’s, she got really bored thirty minutes into the video when nothing of interest was happening. And so, she told Jane that she’ll be outside with Luna and Raymond, who is called Ray for short, sometimes—but only by his owner and her closest friends.

And that happened an hour ago.

“Luna!” she shouted, grabbing the dog’s attention, “Fetch!” and tossed a red ball with a white strip filled with black diamonds on it up in the air.

Luna barked and ran after it; however, Raymond, who she thought of like a little brother to her, swooped down and quickly yet carefully caught the ball with his talons. She stared in disbelief at the bird, who gave her a bird-like cry of laughter, and flew over to the human woman.

Darcy sweat-dropped and caught the ball Raymond dropped in her right hand. “Sorry Luna! I guess Ray beat ya to it!” she said to dog and almost rolled her eyes at the display of Ray puffing his chest out in pride. “Wanna try again?”

Luna narrowed her magenta eyes and nodded in determination.

“Woof!”

Before she could get ready, however, her ears perked up at the sound of an engine from a vehicle pulling up in front of the house. When she turned around and saw a dark haired man and light haired woman get out of a red SUV, her eyes lit up at the sight of them and three other people climbing out from the backseat.

“Woof, woof!” she ran over to them with Raymond flying overhead not too far from her.

Darcy looked up to see the two getting petted by Kagome, Sota, Morgan, Pepper, and Tony. Then all of a sudden, she remembered what today was and what was supposed to take place at the Devil May Cry shop tonight.

‘Oh shit! I totally forgot about that!’ she panicked a bit on the inside, and before she could say anything, the Stark family walked up to her with Luna and Raymond in tow.

“Hello Darcy. How are you doing this evening?” Pepper, who was dressed up in a modest-looking devil costume, greeted her with a small smile.

“Splendid,” she answered part truthfully before looking down to see Morgan, who was in a cute little fairy costume. The little girl ran up to her and hugged her. “Oh you look adorable, Morgan!” she cooed.

“Thank you Auntie Darce!” the little six year old said with a big smile on her face.

The young woman grinned down and patted the young girl on her head with her left hand. Though she laughed when Morgan pulled back and gave her a pout before deciding to turn away in the other direction, as if she was saying “don’t look”, to fix her hair.

“So are you, Jane, and Lady ready for the Halloween party yet?” Tony, who was dressed up in a handsome pirate costume, asked, raising a brow at her casual state of her appearance.

Darcy sweat-dropped. “Eh, not exactly,” she said with a slow shrug until she brightened up and waved her hand in reassurance. “But you guys can wait inside the living room while Jane, Lady, and I go get ready.”

The Stark family looked at each other then back at the young woman.

“That’s fine with us,” Pepper replied.

Darcy nodded and led the family along with Jane’s pets up the walkway to the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jane stared at her desktop monitor, watching her clone and the three great spirits arrive inside of a brightly lit room filled with shiny gems that were embedded in the stalagmites hanging from the cavern ceiling. There was also some kind of runes, black in color, etched onto the walls, giant potholes that were either filled up with water or had a large glowing gem stuck inside of it on the ground, and a bunch of floating platforms gathered around a circle of sharp pillars that contained an unidentified rune inside.

“I sense a large amount of mana and some other kind of energy in this room,” she heard her clone speak.

“[Yes, I sense it too. And it seems to be coming from both the rune behind those pillars and further down the path I see up ahead.]”

‘In that case...’ Jane narrowed her eyes before pressing a button on the side of the wireless headphones she had on her head. “Alright, listen up you four!” she spoke into the built-in mic of her headphones. “Inferno, I want you and my clone to stay there and check out the rune. Run an analysis on it with the Magi Analyzer Spectro-Rod. And in the meantime, Raiden and Gale can go further into the cave and check the other sections out with the other six MASRs. Got it?”

“Yeah! / [Yes!]”

The young half spirit watched her clone pull out twelve intricate-looking silver and violet colored rods with shiny red gems on top of them, and distribute the items amongst her companions evenly.

With their equipment in hand, the group fanned out and got to work.

‘This will take a while.’

Jane pushed away from her computer desk and leaned back in her rolling chair. Seeing as the young woman had no further instructions to give to the group, she was in the mood for a little break. Maybe she can sneak in a small nap while she was at it too?

“Hey Jane!”

Well so much for that idea.

‘Aw screw it! I’ll just have another me take over.”

With a few simple gestures of her hand, Jane summoned another clone, making it appear by her side in a flash of red flames. Then she took off her headphones and turned to face the second clone. “Since there’s a high chance that Darcy is calling me to either come do something for her or drag me out of the house with her somewhere, stay here and watch the video and the other desktop monitor. Give more instructions to the group if you have to, okay?” she told her and handed them over to her.

Her second clone nodded and took the headphones, putting them on right away.

“Jane!”

A small sigh left the young astrophysicist’s mouth as she rolled around in her chair and faced her ex-intern and best friend, who was standing in the doorway of her lab and panting out of exhaustion.

“I thought you said you were going to be outside with Luna and Ray for a while? And why in the world do you look so out of breath?” she frowned at her.

“I was at first but then Tony and his family stopped by, so I told them they can wait in the living room while I come get you,” Darcy answered. “Oh and the reason why I’m so tired is because I ran up the stairs to put your pets in your room then ran back downstairs and came over here.”

Jane sat up. “Huh? Why didn’t they call—oh...” she leaped from her chair, her eyes wide in shock. “Oh god! They came to pick us up for the party at Dante’s place tonight, right?” the young woman grabbed her clone, who was looking so puzzled by what was going on, and sat her down in the chair. “Darcy! Why didn’t you remind me?” she moved away and rushed past her best friend.

Thankfully, Darcy moved out of the way in time to avoid getting ran over by her former boss who already bolted out the door and into the hallway.

“Hell if I know! Look, how the heck was I supposed to remind you if I forget about the whole thing myself?” she whined at the older woman and ran after her, but not before shutting the lab door closed.

“That’s surprising to hear coming from someone like you who loves parties,” Jane said over shoulder at Darcy, who caught up with her.

Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Let’s just hurry up and get dressed in our rooms then see if Lady’s up yet—”

“There’s no need for that,” came the muffled voice of Lady.

The two women looked up to see their other roommate standing at the end of the hallway, already decked out in an elegant kitsune costume she was wearing for the night. And to complete the look, she had a mask on her face that came with it too.

“You two are the only ones that are not ready. We have three hours until the party starts at seven. I suggest you hurry up on upstairs to your rooms and get dressed so that all eight of us can leave the house and get there on time,” she continued and turned around. “I’ll be waiting in the living room with Tony and his family in the meantime.”

Then she was gone.

“Let’s go before she comes back here and yells at us.”

“Yeah, good idea.”

The two quickly made it out of the hall, passing through the lobby area, and headed up the long stairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours have gone by since Lady had last seen her two roommates on the first floor hallway, and she was starting to get a little anxious now. They were starting to run out of time. Sure the drive from here to the shop wasn’t far—just a thirty minute drive...if you don’t count running into any traffic along the way, but she rather be safe than sorry, and show up at the party on time. It was a routine of sorts she got into since she started working as a devil hunter all those years back and had to meet up with her clients at the destination on time, something that they —and even Vergil, who teamed up with her a few times in the past on missions, and he always made a point to meet up with her halfway so that they can head over to their client’s destination together— appreciated her greatly about.

‘Unbelievable...what are those two taking so long for?’ Lady thought to herself in irritation as she sat on the couch in between Kagome and Sota, who were watching and laughing in joy at their little sister standing in the middle of the living room, posing for the pictures that Pepper and Tony were taking on their phones.

Just when the devil huntress was thinking about getting up from the couch to check up on Jane and Darcy, she felt both of their presences walked into the room.

“Okay guys, we’re ready!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the two, a collective gasp leaving their mouths at the sight of them.

First up was Jane. The young woman wore a long dark robe with pale yellow accents and a star symbol on the hood over a midnight bluish-black skin tight sleeveless tunic that had a glowing white star (with a black diamond inside of it) marking on top of an upside glowing white crescent moon sitting on her chest, which had a few stars scattered about. She also wore a full lavender and glowing white accented waist cape-like cloth —that had a slit in the front, back, and both sides— with an intricate pale yellow metallic belt on top, some black tights that were tucked into her tall brown heeled boots, and a long light purple vest with a pale yellow accented high collar that also had a transparent vest in the form of a cloth attached to it on top, and it stopped just a few inches above her ankles.

Then finally, to top the whole look off, Jane wore some large curled dark horns on top of her long stylized white wig, pale yellow contacts over her eyes, and fake elven midnight blue ears over her real ones. She also painted her eyebrows white, painted both her face and whole body midnight blue, and painted some white stars on her bare arms, hands, cheeks, and the bridge of her nose.

“So, what do you think?”

Up next was Darcy. She wore modest-looking one-piece black tube top and purple tights outfit that had small violet bat symbols on her legs, brown arm warmers with white fluff over her bare arms, and some black high-heeled boots on her feet.

Then to top the whole look off, Darcy wore some black-purple bat wings on the sides of her long stylized green wig and her waist, and green contacts over her eyes.

“Beautiful / Pretty costumes!” Pepper and Morgan cooed in unison.

Sota, who was dressed up in a jester costume, and Kagome, who was dressed up in a witch costume, looked at the two with impressed eyes.

“So cool! You nailed that one star-touched dude from The Dragon Prince down pretty well, Auntie!” Sota said with a grin.

Kagome rolled her eyes at her brother, “His name was Aaravos I believe, Sota...” and turned to her other aunt with a smile. “Anyway, your Morrigan looks wonderful, Auntie Darcy.”

The two said nothing as they beamed under their praises and compliments.

“Well...” Lady began as she and the Starks stood from the couch. “I think it’s about time we head out now.”

They all nodded and headed out of the living room, making their way over to the front door. Jane opened it, letting everyone else out first before stepping outside herself and locked the door behind her. Then she ran to catch up with the others who were waiting for her by Tony’s rental SUV.

It only took a few minutes for everyone to pile in the vehicle and buckle themselves in before taking off down the road.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The made it to Devil May Cry, which had been heavily remodeled since anyone’s (except for Lady) last been there, with two minutes left to spare. And the group met up with Nero along with Jude, Elize, Teepo, and Alvin, who were all wearing costumes, inside.

Then after walking further into the shop, they came across the Sparda twins, Trish, Patty, Nico, Nero’s wife: Kyrie, Jude’s childhood friend: Leia, Kagome’s friends: Shippo, Miroku, and Sango, Clint and his family, Bruce, Bucky, and Peter hanging out in the huge living room.

And since everyone was here now—at least the ones who were invited and able to attend, music started blasting through the speakers that were set up by the wall, signifying that the party has begun. It was also at this time the kids and teenagers went upstairs on the second floor to have their own party in one of the back rooms while the adults stayed downstairs and had their own.

Throughout the whole night, Jane and all the other adults played many games:

First, they bobbed for apples. And Dante was the only one out of everyone else that was able to snag the most apples from the bucket with Nero coming in second place, Clint in third, Tony and Jane tying in fourth, and everyone else following up after.

Second, they had a drinking contest. And surprisingly enough, Jane and Lady —who weren’t really casual drinkers compared to some of their friends— along with Bucky drank those who participated (Nico, Nero, Alvin, Clint, Tony, Miroku, Sango, Leia, and Trish) under the table.

Third, they all participated in a dance off competition that was held in one of the rooms next over after drinking some water and eating some snacks, which were laced with magic, that sobered them up. Too bad the whole dance thing ended up being awkward for some since they weren’t dancers; however, Dante, Darcy, and Sota slayed the competition with their smooth moves. So in the end, they ended up out dancing them and the ones who already knew how to dance.

And finally, they held a quick costume competition to see who had the best one of them all. It was no surprise that Jane ended being first place winner with Lady coming in second place and Darcy coming in third place.

The party started winding down near ten o’ clock, and by the time eleven o’ clock rolled around, everyone started cleaning up their mess. Due to their combined efforts, the whole group finished putting everything back where they belonged twenty minutes. Then everyone said their goodbyes to each other, and the Sparda twins along with Trish escorted their friends out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Hey Jane...”

The young woman stopped in her tracks, letting Darcy and Lady walk past her towards their home, and turned around to see Tony rolling the passenger window down.

“Yes?” she asked, walking up to the vehicle. Then she blinked in shock when the man picked up a metallic case and held it out to her out the window. “What’s this?” the young half-spirit took the case and looked at it curiously. “What’s in here—” Jane trailed off with wide eyes when she felt the familiar presence of a certain infinity stone inside.

“Think of it as a “trick-or-treat” from me. I want you to look after the thing from now on—at least for a little while until we find a better place to stash the stone...” at Jane's confused look, Tony went ahead and told the woman point blank, “Reindeer Games’ been looking for it. Well, only after he left that morning before you and the others did and came back two weeks later.”

“I see...” Jane mumbled, taking a look around the area to make sure there weren’t any lurkers nearby. When she sensed none, she vanished the case away and asked, “Has he been causing you guys any trouble or bothering you?” in a serious voice.

Pepper frowned from her spot in the driver’s seat. “Other than the few unannounced visits he’s made here and there at our home, no. He’s been strangely compliant with us after Tony and I discovered him playing with Morgan out in our front yard, disguised as a black cat with green eyes no less, one day. Then, we sat him down before he could make his escape and had a nice, long chat with him after that,” she explained.

“That is strange,” Jane looked down with a muse.

“We haven’t heard anything “disastrous” on the news this past month-and-a half, so we assume the guy isn’t causing any trouble,” Tony added. “Then again, as long as Rock of Ages isn’t trying to cause chaos anywhere, take over a city, or kill anyone, Pep and I don’t care what he does in his free time. He can stay here on Earth without any complaints from us. And we won’t take any action against him either as long as he doesn't do any of those three things I listed there.”

Jane nodded. “Do the other Avengers know? And did they agree with this decision?”

Tony gave her a sly smile. “They do now. I told them during our little “get together” kind of meeting we held at the Tower last week, but that was only after the guy appeared and played a little harmless prank on us before disappearing. The gang weren’t too happy about it in the beginning, which I can understand. But in the end, they reluctantly agreed with my wife and I’s decision,” he explained. “I have no idea what Reindeer Games wants with the Tesseract—which the team also knows about too by the way. But anyhow, that’s not the point! From what Nero, Lady, and Kagome told me, he seems to gets along with you pretty well...�� there was something in his tone of voice that made Jane want to glare at him.

But before she could do so, Tony continued on—and in a normal voice this time. “So, if you happen to run into him in the future, can you try to get an idea of what his motives for the stone are?”

Jane looked up. “I was already thinking about doing that actually,” she replied, repressing a sigh back.

“Oh good!” he sighed in relief. Then he cheered up and gave her a grin. “Well, have a good night Jane!”

“You too! And thanks for dropping me and the girls off, Pepper!” she waved at them both with a smile on her face. “Have a safe trip back to the hotel!”

The two waved back before the window rolled up and the SUV took off.

Three minutes passed by with nothing but serene silence. And once she no longer saw her friend’s rental vehicle in the distance, Jane turned around and started walking towards her home, the one she shared with Lady and Darcy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The clone slowly looked up at the sound of door opening up behind her, and she turned around to see Jane, who was still in her Aaravos costume, standing in the doorway of the lab.

“Did you capture anything good?” she asked, watching over to her.

Without saying anything, the second clone nodded and stood up from the chair, removing the headphones from her head as she did so with a sleepy look on her face.

Jane took the headphones from her then walked right past the clone and stopped in front of the desk. She raised a brow and leaned down to take a closer look at her screen monitor. Even though there was no video showing now, she could see that it had been downloaded and saved right to her desktop along with a new file that she never seen before right next to it. “Hmm...” her eyes narrowed at the title typed on it. “Data Findings from The Cave on Snow Lunar Island,” she quietly read out loud.

‘This will be interesting to look through...’

The young woman placed her headphones down before straightening herself back up. And she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, slowly going over what she read in her head. ‘But I’ll do that another day. Too damn tired at the moment to do really anything productive,’ she said to herself while covering up a yawn. ‘Now then...’ she uncrossed her arms and turned her attention back on the silent clone. “Since I felt my first clone dismiss herself about an hour ago, I’m gonna assume that Inferno and the other two went home already. Am I right?” at her nod, Jane continued. “Alright then, nice work. I don’t need you anymore for the night,” she said to the clone before sending her off as well.

Once she vanished, Jane shut her computer down and turned it off. “Time to go shower now then head to bed,” she mumbled, sleepily, and walked away.

However, in the midst of her wanting to hurry up and leave the room, there were a few strands of black fur and faint claw marks left behind on the floor, sitting oh-so innocently next to the computer desk that she completely missed earlier.

CLICK!

The door shut closed.

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petri808 · 2 years

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“ you wanna cuddle, or some shit? “ “ i guess, seeing as we’re already here… “ for inukag? 😁

Oh that so matches Inu lol! Here you go Nony! Hope you like it. 😊

Inukag Modern AU drabble w/a touch of Mirsan

It had been Miroku’s wish to marry at a very specific shrine in Shimane Prefecture called Izumo Taisha. Why that one? Something about the oldest in Japan, and special to his ancestors. Which also meant the entire wedding party needed to travel from Tokyo. The plan was to fly into the small Izumo Enmusubi Airport. Miroku and Sango were going a few days early to meet with the priest, while their best man and maid of honor, Inuyasha Taisho and Kagome Higurashi would fly the day before the ceremony.

Well… that was the plan…

“What do you mean the plane is down?!” Kagome snapped at the airline clerk. “But we’re due for a wedding!”

“I’m very sorry,” the clerk apologized, “but the mechanic has downed the plane due to mechanical issues. We hope to have it fixed in the next couple of days.”

“That won’t work for us.” Kagome checked the time on her phone and another groan escaped her. “There isn’t a train until tomorrow afternoon as well.”

“That’s too late.” Inuyasha muttered.

“Obviously,” she rolled her eyes. “What’s next that could go wrong??”

The only option left for the pair was to drive, and so after renting a vehicle, they headed out in the direction of Shimane prefecture. It was a ten-plus hour drive from Tokyo, and because it was already the later part of the afternoon, stopping somewhere along the way was inevitable. They made it as far as Osaka before finding the first place they could which turned out to be Hotel Nikko Osaka.

Kagome groaned loudly. “What do you mean that’s all you have available?? One bed??” The hotel was a modern one. Instead of futon beds, they were the regular western style queen-size.

“Very sorry, ma’am,” the desk clerk apologized, “but there is a convention nearby, as well as a concert going on, so all the rooms are booked.”

Inuyasha chimed in to try and smooth out Kagome’s anger. “We could look for another hotel…”

“No. It’s fine, it’s just one night.” She let out a long sigh as she rubbed her temples. “I just want to get some sleep.”

Over the course of five years, Inuyasha and Kagome had learned enough about how to deal with each other, and he knew not to push things if she was annoyed. Besides, this wasn’t his fault, so there was no sense in becoming a target. He quietly grabbed their bags and headed to their room.

For the rest of the evening Inuyasha did everything he could to soothe the maid of honors anxiety. Reminding her that since this was a traditional Shinto ceremony, their roles were easier and the temples staff took care of almost everything. After a long hot shower and dinner with wine, she finally started to relax. Which meant so could he.

Oh, who was he kidding! Sleeping next to an unrequited crush did not make for a relaxing time! This was a scenario he’d played out in his head too many times to count. To hold Kagome, to snuggle and wake up with her in his arms the next morning. He’s loved her for awhile now, but couldn’t tell how she truly felt about him.

Coward! His inner turmoil taunted. Only a fool would let this opportunity pass by! After a few growls in his head, Inuyasha turned over to face Kagome who was on her side facing away from him.

“Are you awake?” He questioned hesitantly.

“Yeah…” she responded with a questioning tone.

Inuyasha swallowed slowly, almost choking out the question he was so desperate to ask. “Um… you wanna cuddle, or some shit?”

It felt like forever as the silent response from Kagome made Inuyasha think he’d made a huge mistake. He was about to turn back over and cry when he heard it.

“I guess, seeing as we’re already here.” Kagome turned over to face him, propping her head up with her hand. “You know, I’d been wondering if you’d ever ask…”

#hahaha Inu almost died right there lol #and they lived happily ever after #inukag #inukag drabble #inukag ficlet #inuyasha #inukag fan fic

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sereia1313 · 2 years

Text

Bus Stop

🌷Hanakotoba Matsuri Week 04: Support & Friendship🌷

Prompt: Pink Tulip (friendship), School AU Level: Bloom Inspiration: "Bus Stop" by The Hollies

Summary: A ten-minute walk to the bus stop, a seven-minute wait, then an eleven-minute ride. It was always the same. Today would be no different.

Read it on Ao3, Dokuga, and FFnet.

Sneak Peek

Water sprayed his face as she clapped her hands together in excitement. "You want to work with kids? Me too! Well, I'm studying to be a surgeon, but I'm hoping to specialize in younger patients."

That caught his attention. Surgeons were another breed, having to think on their feet if something went wrong in the middle of a procedure. It had been Sesshoumaru's first choice, but his goals had quickly shifted after Inuyasha had been born.

"That is a noble profession," he said, finally turning towards her. The woman's hair was matted to her head, and the collar of her jacket was pulled up to protect her from the rain, but happiness shone out through piercing blue eyes, and Sesshoumaru found himself captivated.

"Thank you. I really want to help people."

"I'm sure you will." The words escaped without permission, but he found he meant them. Noticing she didn't have an umbrella of her own, he shifted his weight, holding his between them and sheltering her from the rain.

The woman paused in the middle of squeezing the extra water out of her hair, then gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks. I thought mine was in my bag this morning, but no such luck. I'm Higurashi Kagome, by the way."

"Taisho Sesshoumaru."

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inukag-archive · 2 years

Note

Hey there! Are there any soulmates recs for us? :-) thank you so much

In a thousand lifetimes we will always find you Nonnie-- you and your soulmate fics <3

But since we don't have a thousand lifetimes to read this list, we limited ourselves to one story per author, but note that many of them write for this trope more than once so be sure to check their author profiles!

A Thousand Golden Suns Ago by @inussunflower (T)

Long ago, Inuyasha—then known as Albinus—made a deal with Pluto, the Roman God of the Underworld in which he exchanged his soul for the return of his wife, Augusta. Thousands of years passed, and tens of women had come close but none were her. Until one day, while taking a shortcut to work...he met her. He met Kagome. And that, regrettably, was the beginning of the end for him.

In which Inuyasha gives up his mortality to see his wife one last time.

Taking Flight by @willowandfog (T)

Kagome has been struggling with her disability most of her life but she's never felt anything but normal with Inuyasha always steadily by her side. But when her neurologist approaches her with the chance to recover full use of her leg, she takes it.

A childhood friends to lovers, soulmates AU for InuKag Fluff Week.

Aurora by @thunderpot (M)

"It is said that a long time ago in the age of heroes — when Mother Earth was awake and the Gods walked among mortals — there was once a beast created by the Sun that fell in love with a great warrior."

A creative exercise from inuvember prompt: Myth Au

Cruel Summer by @akitokihojo (E)

What would you do if you met your soulmate at the wrong time?

Like the Setting Sun by Writers_411 (E)

Kagome juggles a workaholic boyfriend, overprotective friends, and her sub teaching job, all while looking forward to studying as a pastry chef in the fall semester. However, more complications pile on as she enters Takahashi Forest and meets the man who becomes the catalyst in unveiling history deep secrets, Inuyasha.

The Sound of Your Voice by @goshinote (T)

Finding a soulmate is already hard enough without the pressures of college, but when Inuyasha hears the sound of his soulmate's voice with no trace of a face or a name, he has to figure out how to track her down.

Color My World by @starlingchildgazingatthestars (G)

In a world where one only sees color after meeting their soulmate, Kagome, among most kids of the world, ponders what's was it that made "colors" so special. And then, Inuyasha shows up at her school as the new transfer student...

Soulmates by @inunanna (T)

AU. Every person has a Soulmate, with whom they share an unique bond, they can feel each other's feelings and the closer they are to each other the stronger it gets. Some people share a weak bond, that is barely there, they can choose to follow the bond or find the love of their life. Others have a bond so strong that it's impossible to avoid it. Inuyasha and Kagome share a strong bond. Inuyasha is looking for his Soulmate. Kagome is doing everything to avoid finding hers.

I Love The Flaws You Try To Hide by @cannibalsforbreakfast (M)

When Kagome Higurashi wakes up on the morning of her 21st birthday to find that she doesn't have a soulmate mark, she doesn't know what to do, or think, or cope. When a small lie spirals into something bigger, she decides to get a VERY ILLEGAL tattoo to cover for her mistake. What will she find when she tracks down an illegal tattoo artist? Love, perhaps?

In This Lifetime or the Next by @writemydaydreams (M)

The dreams have started. Inuyasha knows what it means, knows what comes next. His soulmate is alive and she’s ready to be found; but this time, he's not ready to find her. Because he's cursed. Because every time he finds her, she dies. Because she’s never lived more than a year after the first dream. But one phone call and a pushy friend changes everything and now Inuyasha is faced with his past all over again.

Into the Woods by @mamabearcat & @clearwillow (E)

When Kagome goes to visit her ill grandfather at his isolated mountain shrine in the woods, she didn't know she would be facing an ancient evil, or uncovering a shared destiny with a grumpy inuhanyou woodsman that would change everything. Modern InuKag AU very loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood. Rated E for slight horror, swearing, and full on first-time smexiness.

Sick of This S@*% by @fawn-eyed-girl (E)

Higurashi Kagome just wants to get away from it all: from her deadbeat ex-husband, her trouble-making kids, her mountain of bills, and the guy who keeps harassing her at work. She just wants to relax in her bathtub with a bottle of wine and good music.

Too bad that the yokai hiding out in her family's shrine's well has other plans. Plans that include Kagome, and some weird jewel being torn out of her body. Luckily for Kagome and her kids, her soulmate shows up just in time to save them.

The only drawback? Kagome's already lived an entire life without him, and he shows up now? Honestly? She's sick of this shit.

The End of What We Know by @jeremymarsh (M)

On the worst day of her life, Kagome remembers the legends her grandfather used to tell her as a child before going to sleep and which she has long since stopped believing. She is convinced that it is now impossible to leave the nightmare her life had become, but every cloud has a silver lining. A single event – however disastrous – has caused unthinkable consequences, and soon she will have to rely on hitherto ignored beliefs and values to survive, leaving behind everything known.

Shelter by @lavendertwilight89 (E)

Song fic inspired Stuck with You and Shelter

Inuyasha has been alone most of his life and one moonless night he gets caught up with a young priestess. She saves him and he, in return, helps her. What he doesn't realize is this priestess holds a lot of secrets which may or may not cost both of them their lives...

Soul Doll by @dawnrider (E)

Post Society Collapse AU - Kagome awakens to a nightmare. She can't move, she can't breathe and everything looks and feels wrong. Reincarnated as a living doll, Kagome must find a way to escape this place she has woken in, the body which is not her own.

Chaos Theory by @kstewdeux (T)

The things that really change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. Change one event, however insignificant it may seem, and the ramifications may surprise you.

Indigo Hues by @lemonlushff (E)

In a world where demons are color blind until they meet their soulmate, a painter has managed to beat the odds and rise to the top...but when he meets his soulmate and his world explodes with color he finds himself faced with a difficult decision: choose his passion and his career, or choose a life with his soulmate.

Always Saying the Wrong Thing by @superpixie42 (T)

In which a potty mouth hanyou almost fucks himself out of a soulmate.

Hanami Fortunes by @kawaiichan67 (M)

Taisho Inu Yasha is lonely. He has felt the tug of his Red Thread but can’t seem to meet his soulmate. Enter his interfering older brother Sesshomaru and best friend Miroku who decide that his best chance is to meet her at the company’s hanami. It’s his fate, after all. Too bad Inu Yasha has his eye on one of his co-workers.

Leverage by @witchygirl99 (E)

Kagome lowers her gun.

“Motherfucker,” Inuyasha hisses, glaring first at her and then at the dead body by her feet. “That was my goddamn kill. Again.”

That’s rich, coming from him. Kagome stares him dead in the eyes before shooting two more bullets into the chest of the target.

Everyone has a soulmate. Everyone has a soul mark to identify them with. For an assassin like Kagome, this form of leverage will leave nothing but blood.

#inukag archive #inukag fanfic #soulmate fics

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ssukidesu · 4 months

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Inextricably Knotted [An Inukag + Jane Eyre AU]

Summary: Summary: Kagome Higurashi was orphaned as a baby and raised by her cruel aunt until the age of ten, after which she went to school and learned the art of service and self-suppression. Now eighteen, Kagome takes a job as the governess of Shippo, the young ward of the great and mysterious Lord Inuyasha Taisho.

But as Kagome gets to know her bemusing master, a ghost seems to haunt his estate, hinting that there is a long-lost secret hiding on the third floor.

tag list: @heynikkiyousofine @xanthippe-writes

Chapter 14: My Love

The days that followed were chimeras of mundanity, bliss, and trepidation. Kagome seemed to oscillate between helpless happiness, fretful anxiety, and controlled resignation—usually in that very order. Signs of a wedding had somewhat stagnated, but her master still mentioned the occasion with frequency and certainty. However, the tone in which he did so was puzzling, and entirely dependent on her mood. He seemed to reflect the opposite of her own current feelings; when she was calm and collected, he seemed agitated; when she was gloomy and despondent, he seemed almost jovial.

(Read the rest on AO3).

#inextricably knotted #inukag #jane eyre #fanfiction #inuyasha

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inukag-on-ao3 · 4 months

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Inextricably Knotted (an Inukag + Jane Eyre AU)

by ssukidesu

UPDATE! CHAPTER 13 NOW AVAILABLE HERE!

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M

Fandoms: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale

Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha

Characters: Higurashi Kagome, InuYasha (InuYasha), Kikyou (InuYasha), Kaede (InuYasha)

Additional Tags: inukag - Freeform, jane eyre au, i hope that eveyone realizes that this is just one long plea to read jane eyre if you haven't, Demons, Religious Themes, plus 7 more

Words: 52,913 | Chapters: 13/? | Language: English | Private: No

#inukag #inukago #InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale #fanfic #ao3 #bot #latest #fanfiction

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mythicamagic · 3 years

Text

Beneath the Blackthorn Tree: a Sesskag fanfic

Summary: The man smiled then, in a way that seemed ill-fitting for such a blank, porcelain face- all white teeth and glinting eyes. It was not a smile that assured Kagome. "Well met, dear one," he uttered, voice gliding rich and velvety into her ear canal.

Something niggled in the back of Kagome's mind, blue eyes widening. "Well met." --- Or: When the Fae King is owed something, he will always collect the payment. Even if it takes centuries. Fae King Sesshoumaru fic. Sesskag AU.

---

Don't expect updates right away from this one- I just wanted to post it because I held a poll a while ago about more Monster Sesskag AU's and this concept won, so I wanna reassure people I'm working on it lol. Those who asked for it were: @missidiotmakka @saviorclaire @cookieasylum @aizawa-slaysmee @frost-guardian @liz8080 @vanishaa @akinaichan @all-my-cuffs-have-buttons @shamelessruinsfury @shastuhh @mrfeenysmustache @veroblubell @thesoaringaquila

Read here: Ao3, fanfic.net or Dokuga

Beneath the Blackthorn Tree

- chapter one -

"Buyo!"

Kagome huffed, lingering in the threshold of her home. Tightening a fluffy dressing gown around her, she shuddered a little from the chilly night air, closing the door behind her lest too much heat escape.

"Buyooo!" calling out again, she squinted, staring into pitch-black nothingness beyond the safety of their porch light. Silence answered her.

"Damn cat," grabbing her shoes with a string of grumbles, she roughly tugged them on and stepped outside. It was far too chilly to leave her out for the night, and besides, Buyo usually always came running the second they rattled her cat bowl.

The fifteen-year-old shuffled into murky darkness, making encouraging kitty calling noises and continuing to search for her dumb, sweet, dumpling feline.

Kagome shivered, rubbing her arms and glancing behind her. The comforting doorway of their humble house seemed much too far away, despite Kagome having not ventured too far into Higurashi Shrine's open courtyard. Everything lay far too still, quiet.

There were no insects chirping, no distant sounds from the city. It was as though someone had placed a huge dome over their house, sealing off all breezes or noise. It felt stifling; shadows hanging thick in the corners of her vision. Rippling. Expanding. Breathing.

Kagome turned her head slowly, staring into the endless void. Her heartbeat picked up. Quickening breath fanned out as visible plumes of mist. Goosebumps raised on her flesh. She gained the unsettling sense that she was being watched.

"Reow!"

Stiffening, she faced the sound's direction. "Buyo? Here kitty," she called, breathing a sigh of relief. Geeze, she'd gotten worked up for nothing. Stepping forward, Kagome wandered towards a large, lonely tree, guided by moonlight as it finally peeked out from behind thick, rolling clouds. Grandpa respectfully called it 'the sacred tree' but there was no need to heed any words from a guy who sold plastic charms and called them enchanted.

Reaching the Goshinboku, Kagome rounded its side, continuing her noises of encouragement to lure Buyo closer.

A strange luminous glow brightened the tree from within. Where before she'd thought it was moonlight lightening its branches, she stiffened upon realising how its bark radiated a soft blue shine. Power thrummed- pushing through her like a ripple on the tide.

Kagome stopped the second she caught sight of a child.

Their back was turned to her, hair short and snowy white. When they turned- startlingly clear, bright blue eyes immediately connected with hers. The boy shifted to face her, holding Buyo in his arms, who purred contentedly.

"O-oh...hello?" Kagome blinked, eyeing his clothing. What strange white robes. She got the sense he was Japanese, and yet his features were so pale and flawless. Not a hint of sunshine or blemishes touched his cherubic face- so much that he seemed eerily otherworldly. Too perfect. Human children didn't stand so completely still with calculating, predatory gazes, and was it her imagination- or were there tiny stumps peering out from his head? Like small, barely there horns.

The boy, who seemed to be around the age of six, stared at her quietly.

"Are you lost?" she asked, putting his strangeness aside. "I can call your parents to come pick you up if you know their number. If not, we should probably go inside," Kagome forced a smile. "It's chilly, right? You can keep holding Buyo if you want."

He blinked long white lashes, expression unchanging. He shifted closer.

"Kairi."

The boy stopped, glancing towards Goshinboku where a silky, deep voice had resounded from. Magenta stripes curling around the wrist of a pale hand caught Kagome's attention as it appeared from behind the tree, beckoning him with a lazy curl of sharp fingernails.

"Leave her be. That is not your mother," amusement coloured the masculine tone. "At least, not as you know her."

Kairi sighed, pouting. He let Buyo jump down- his necklace swaying from the motion, catching Kagome's eye. It had a strange symbol on it. She got the sense it did not belong to her homeland.

Kairi reached out to the hand, accepting it.

"Wait-!" she called, hurrying closer. "Hang on a second!"

Kairi glanced at her, pretty blue eyes glinting, smiling. The ghostly, long-fingered hand holding his own tugged- causing the boy to disappear behind the tree.

Quickly rounding its side, Kagome stopped. He'd disappeared, leaving not a trace behind. Even the tree's eerie glow had died down.

She sucked in a startled breath, having forgotten to breathe. Buyo padded away towards their house, leaving the high school girl to gawk alone. Sounds started to filter back into her hearing, crickets softly chirping. Humidity settled into previously chilled air, as though warmth had been briefly stolen, and then returned to the night.

Kagome never saw the boy again after that fateful night in the middle of July, nor the pale hand with its striped magenta wrist. Nothing unusual happened with their old tree. Buyo was the only one who knew about the bizarre experience, which was hardly a comfort.

And so Kagome placed it into the furthest reaches of her mind, putting it on a dusty shelf alongside her unused algebra knowledge. For ten years it remained untouched. Unexplored.

Until one day Yuka, one of her close high school friends- was flicking through a magazine. She wanted to hold her wedding in Ireland since her fiance had family there on his mother's side and a change in scenery sounded exotic.

"What do you think of this venue? We decided on holding the wedding in this area yesterday."

Kagome looked up from her wedding duties that consisted of choosing flower arrangements, stiffening.

"C-can I see that for a minute?"

"Hm, sure?" Yuka passed it over, stretching atop her bed and sighing. "You're definitely coming, right? I know it's hours away, but I'm seriously so excited to hold the ceremony somewhere unique. Eri is going to be majorly jealous."

Kagome stared at the familiar symbol carved into a dead-looking blackthorn tree, sitting alone within a forest. It was such a strange, out of place photo amongst the ones trying to sell Ireland to foreigners as part of a holiday package. All sprawling green hillsides, cliff sides and groups of medieval buildings situated on an outcrop of limestone.

"Yeah…" she murmured, an old memory slightly shaking to life. "I'll come."

#Sesskag #Inuyasha #Sesshoumaru x Kagome #Sesshoumaru #Kagome Higurashi #sesskag fanfiction #Monster boyfriend

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witchygirl99 · 3 years

Note

finding a photo of your enemy as a toddler, inukag

Ask, and you shall receive.

1800 words under the cut. Not edited. Written at work so it was a shoddy rush job and everything is very vague and you'll just have to accept this.

I'll write a proper, better video gamer AU one day. For now though...

Won't You Say (You Love Me, Too)

The thing is—

The thing is that Inuyasha isn’t meant to be here. Sure, he’s a little drunk. And sure, Koga’s stupid face dared him, because Koga is both stupid, has a face, and that face is stupid. Inuyasha didn’t have to listen, though. Inuyasha could have done a billion other things, like walk away, or laugh the dare off, or – or – could have even gotten himself another drink.

That… That would have been the smarter plan.

Inuyasha hiccups, flinching at the noise. He is so not supposed to be here.

“Inuyasha,” stupid Koga hisses from below. It’s probably supposed to be a whisper. It’s not. It’s like…quieter yelling, but yelling nonetheless.

Haughtily, Inuyasha glares down at his teammate. The window that he’s jimmied open to break into the Priestess House is still open. It’s unseasonably warm for an autumn night, but it’s strangely comforting. At least, Inuyasha thinks so. That could just be the alcohol talking, though.

“Inuyasha,” Koga hisses again, “what do you see?”

He blinks, frowns, and then squints into the dark room. There’s not a ton of illumination from either the moon, or the streetlights. He thinks, dimly, that this is a…bedroom? A bedroom. This is not, in fact, the office that they thought they were breaking into.

[Read the rest below the cut.]

He takes in a deep breath, brain pinging at him worriedly. He knows this scent. It’s familiar. Too familiar. Inuyasha should know whose room he’s in and it’s on the tip of his tongue – his nose? No, that’s not a saying – when Koga makes another hissing sound.

Ugh.

“What?” Inuyasha snarls, so desperate to glare out the window at his stupid teammate and at said stupid teammate’s face that he nearly stumbles. Bracing himself on the little table underneath, he makes a point to roll his eyes when the wolf demon waves alarmingly at him. “What is so urgent that you need to—”

“I hear them,” Koga whisper-yells, because he’s stupid. “They’re just down the street.”

“What?” he exclaims, but this time it’s desperate rather than irritated. “I thought Miroku said the girls would be gone for at least an hour.”

“Well, his intel is shit,” Koga replies. “Now get out!”

So much for sneaking into their offices to find out if any of their playing strategies would be visible. The regional gaming tournament is only two days away, and every single member of the six-person Priestess team has been dominating the competition. Their battle strategies have taken weaker characters and turned them into something surprisingly efficient. It should be impossible. Character stats don’t lie.

And yet. And yet. The women of the Priestess House have made a mockery of nearly everyone there. And the worst of them?

Kagome Higurashi. The absolute bane of his existence. She came onto the scene about three years ago, rising up the ranks. Inuyasha hadn’t even given her a second thought until The Incident last year.

The Incident, in which she—

“Inuyasha,” Koga hisses again, like an angry cat. A cat. Not a wolf. Inuyasha should tell him this. Inuyasha is desperate to tell him this. “You need to jump out the window, you fuck.”

Right. The Priestess girls were coming back. Kagome would be with them and that would be— That would be bad. Not just because of the breaking and entering, or the trespassing. It would be bad because Inuyasha would have to be around her for likely more than a minute, which would mean that he’d have to stare into those dark eyes and that too-kind smile – like they’re friends, which they are not – and then—

“For fuck’s sake, I’m going to leave you,” Koga states, and that finally drills through Inuyasha’s pretty drunk skull. Can skulls be drunk?

No?

Maybe.

“I’m coming,” Inuyasha replies, pushing upwards, but he’s an idiot. The table underneath him isn’t that sturdy, and so his pressure on it to climb back out the window from which he entered sends a picture frame crashing to the ground.

“Inuyasha!”

“Oh my god, say my name one more time and I will murder you!” Inuyasha snaps. Koga is not helping, that fucking fuck. “Hold the fuck on, we can’t let them know—” And he bends down to grab the frame and put it back. Hopefully whoever’s room this is won’t notice.

And then he sees the picture in the frame, practically mocking him. It’s fucking Kagome Higurashi, no more than four years old and clinging to a small baby who looks distinctly unhappy by the entire experience. It’s undoubtedly her. While there’s more chub to her cheeks, those are the same sparkling eyes and that’s the same beaming smile. He would know that smile anywhere because it always makes him feel off-balance, confused. No one just smiles at people, at strangers. No one just smiles at you while they’re getting destroyed in one-on-one battle, and then shakes your hand with that same happy smile when they’ve lost. They don’t use that exact same smile when they see you again later in the year, at another tournament, and only stop smiling when they beat you so badly—

Oh god.

Oh fucking god.

This is Kagome’s bedroom. This is Kagome’s bedroom and he’s in her room and—

Kagome Higurashi at four years old smiles the exact same way, and she’s clinging to a little boy and that’s a big purple dinosaur right beside her on the couch. A dinosaur. She likes dinosaurs, oh god this is the worst—

“Godspeed, fucker,” Koga whispers-yells. “We hardly knew ye!” There’s the distinct sound of bushes rustling. His own teammate has abandoned him. Inuyasha is going to commit murder.

Firmly putting down the picture frame, Inuyasha starts the careful climb back out the window. He’s got one leg out, half of his body strained to reach the little lip in the brickwork he climbed up earlier. His hands grab at the sill, twisting him, and then he sees it.

It.

The purple dinosaur.

It’s on her bed, perfectly placed and disgustingly cute.

“Oh no,” Inuyasha groans, and then promptly shoves himself out the window. It takes him ten precious seconds to balance, and then another ten seconds to close the window and hide the fact he ever broke in in the first place. At the first sound of voices, Inuyasha freezes against the brick, propped up in a little corner and distinctly not looking down. It’s not a far drop, but the last thing Inuyasha needs is to lose his balance, topple into the garden, and then have the Priestess women come running to see what the fuck happened.

He waits, breath nearly held, until they start opening the door. There’s enough fuss and discussion that Inuyasha feels safe in making his escape, running away like the hounds of hell are chasing him. He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t look back.

When he finds Koga, lounging on the couch and drinking yet another beer at their shared gaming house, it takes a solid ten seconds of very slow counting to remind himself that murder is bad.

Besides, they have a tournament to win on Saturday.

X+X

The next day, Inuyasha finds himself looking for purple dinosaurs on Amazon.

This is, well, not ideal.

“What are you doing?” Hachi asks, eyes narrowed in confusion and then widening in concern when Inuyasha flinches to hide this embarrassing lack of restraint. “Wow, okay.”

“Fuck off,” Inuyasha replies, but he’s too mortified to even make it mean-sounding. He just comes off as pathetic.

There’s a snort in the doorway, and Miroku comes bumbling in with a clipboard. He takes his duties as team manager far too seriously. “What did Hachi do wrong now?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Hachi replies, eyeing Inuyasha again. “He’s the one that went all crazy when I asked him what he was doing.”

“And what was he doing?” Miroku presses. He’s grinning like a fool because he’s the worst. The worst best friend a guy could ask for. Inuyasha doesn’t know why he’s teammates with these idiots. It’s bad enough he’s got to deal with Koga.

“I wasn’t do anything,” he tries, but Hachi’s just shaking his head.

“Looking at his phone. I don’t know.”

Miroku turns to him, a shark that smells blood in the water. “Your phone? Who are you texting?”

“No one,” Inuyasha scoffs. “Fuck off.”

This gets a nod, and he has one moment of hope that Miroku won’t push the issue when his best friend hums. “You’re right. You have no friends outside of this team.”

“I’m not his friend!” Koga yells from somewhere else in the house.

Inuyasha sighs.

“So you must have been watching something.”

“No,” Hachi argues, “he was holding his phone like this. He was reading something, or maybe scrolling?”

“Inuyasha can’t read!” comes Koga’s voice again. They all ignore him.

“You’re not on Instagram,” Miroku hums, playing fucking Sherlock Holmes. “And you’re definitely not on TikTok. Discord is just another form of talking to people, so that’s out.”

Growling, he shoves his phone in the pocket of hoodie and gets up. “I am leaving.”

“Ooh, he’s leaving,” his friend continues, blue eyes alight with something dangerously close to glee. “Fuck, it has to be about Kagome then. That’s the only time you get this pissy.”

“Ha!” Hachi laughs because he, too, is the worst.

“That’s my future wife!” Koga yells from the other room, but that’s just because he’s delusional. As if someone like Koga could fucking rub two braincells together enough to impress her. Inuyasha’s face does a thing at the very thought.

“Oh my god, it is!” Miroku cackles.

“No,” Inuyasha answers, and he thinks he does a pretty good job of remaining calm. “But fuck you, anyways.”

“Are you reading her Wikitubia again?” his friend asks and that is it—

“One time!” Inuyasha yells, storming away from the main room. “That was one time!”

His teammates’ laughter follows him all the way back to his bedroom. Shippo, rubbing at his eyes after his nap – because he acts like a literal child, it’s embarrassing – just stares at him confusedly. “What did I miss?”

Inuyasha doesn’t stop walking. “Absolutely fucking nothing.” He gets into his room, shuts the door with a disturbing amount of care, and then leaps onto his bed to try and suffocate himself with a pillow. The walls of their gaming house aren’t that thick. If he tries hard enough, Inuyasha could hear the shit they’re undoubtedly still talking about him.

One time, Inuyasha pathetically whines in his head. He was only caught staring at her Wikitubia page one time. He was sizing up the enemy. Looking for weaknesses to exploit. That’s the only reason he did it. Just like that’s the only reason he watches her YouTube videos religiously, at least once a day, and always at night once everyone else has fallen asleep.

It’s not because of anything weird. It’s because she’s the enemy. She’s the competition. Inuyasha must figure out a way to destroy her.

Later that night, when he goes back to re-watching an old YouTube video of hers – one Kagome had posted within the first month of her rise to so-called fame – that he sees it.

It.

The purple dinosaur.

Sitting propped up on some pillows, like a prized treasure.

“Motherfucker,” Inuyasha snaps. He doesn’t stop the video, though. There could be secrets. Weaknesses to exploit. Yadda yadda yadda, he’s not in denial, this is only his third time watching it, blah blah—

Kagome smiles in the video and his chest does the thing.

Inuyasha sighs. Miroku can never, ever see his browsing history.

X+X

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