Dying to Live

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi, but as always, I do claim all the unique plot and original characters as mine.

Miroku tried to reposition his backside on its hard resting place but to no avail. The branch of the huge pine tree may have been strong enough to hold a grown man, a small cat demon, and a lazy raccoon dog youkai, but it was definitely too narrow for sitting comfortably. Taken with the damp, cold night; the sharp odor and sticky feel of pine sap that clung to the three of them at Kohaku's expert demon slayer's advice; and the pounding headache Miroku had been nursing since the late afternoon, the monk was getting very impatient for the sight of the rising sun. Too bad the night wasn't even nearly half way over. Their vigil still had many hours left, and there hadn't been the slightest sign of the objects of their watch yet.

The poor monk allowed himself to rest his tired grey eyes for moment. Unthinkingly, the fingers of his left hand reached for the familiar set of sky blue prayer beads wrapped around his right wrist. Though he no longer needed them to bind his now-gone kazaana, his arm had felt completely naked without them, so he still wore them wrapped around his wrist. Out of more recent habit, he slipped the strand from his wrist and began rhythmically passing the time-worn beads between his fingers, one-by-one.

Normally, one might softly speak or mentally repeat a certain calming mantra for each passing bead, but without thinking, Miroku automatically pictured Sango's sweet face. He imaged how nice it would be if he could only lay down in her loving arms right then; touch her silken skin; hear her soft, little moans in his ear…

Woah, the needy monk's eyes snapped open. Certain parts of his anatomy were presently threatening to stir most inconveniently. One glance down at the ground, nearly a fifty foot drop below, brought his arousal to a quick enough halt. He sighed heavily, deciding to save thoughts of his wife for another time when his heartbreak and other—uh—other associated aches… wouldn't be so distracting.

Speaking of which, turning his attention back to the task at hand, Miroku leaned forward carefully on their narrow perch. Breaking off a twig from their tree, he gave Hachi a sharp poke in the back where his demonic servant huddled just in front of him on the branch. After a few good prods, the raccoon dog at last snuffled loudly, mid-snore.

"Hey, Hachi, any sign of the wolves down there yet?" Miroku asked under his breath, still poking away.

Startled by Miroku's voice, the pudgy demon literally jumped awake, and automatically his mouth opened wide for a loud yelp.

Moving fast, Miroku quickly scooted forward and clamped a hand over the raccoon dog's mouth. He just barely steadied the clumsy demon from crashing down right into the middle of their stake out. "Shhhh! Hachi, how can you be sleeping? You're supposed to be watching what's going on down there!" Miroku hissed irritably into one of the ridiculous creature's fear-flattened ears. They had been lucky to find a tall tree at the southernmost edge of the village, so that they could see all the way down the main street between the huts; however, in the darkness and with no moon out tonight and at such a distance, both Hachi and Kirara with their demonic eyes could see far better than Miroku could.

Hachi gasped, now looking infinitely more awake, as Miroku finally removed his hand from the creature's muzzle. "Agh, M-master, your hands… so stickyyyy!" Hachi complained, pathetically rubbing sap residue off the end of his snout.

Miroku sighed. He had to agree that Kohaku's scent blocker was definitely a nuisance. He had sort of gotten the sticky concoction off his hands for a while, but in grabbing Hachi, Miroku must have gotten some on himself again. The stuff was everywhere on their clothes and in their hair since Kohaku had sprinkled all of them with the stuff; the demon slayer had excitedly spent the better part of the afternoon boiling the concoction from a mixture of nettles and other mysterious plant material. Kirara had immediately tried to lick it off of herself, but she'd apparently been forced to give up, unable to tolerate the taste. However, with the aura concealing charms Miroku had penned and tied to the branches all around them and the scent blocker, they stood a better chance of going undetected by their wolf demon visitors. He was about to silence Hachi further with another snappy retort about the necessity of staying covert, when they were both distracted by a sudden movement from Kirara.

Seated further out on the less sturdy end of their branch, the little cat demon had stood abruptly, twitching her two black-tipped tails in rapid alert. Reflexively, both Hachi and Miroku held their breath.

Miroku leaned close against Hachi's thickly padded, furry back and whispered lowly into the demon's ear, "Do you see anything?"

Now on high-alert, the raccoon dog was squinting and craning his neck to see through the blackness. "I'm not sure…" Hachi trailed off uncertainly. Once again, Miroku cursed the Moonless Night, although on this particular night he hated it only for its extra darkness.

In front of them, Kirara began to emit a low, whiny-sounding growl, as she continued flicking her tales back and forth. "Kirara, SH!" Miroku hushed the little cat demon.

"Hachi!" Miroku pressed his servant again for answers.

"I think see it…" the raccoon dog finally replied. "Something dark, sorta low to the ground… at the far end of this street, near the opening in the trees up there…"

Following the direction of Hachi's pointed claw, Miroku narrowed his eyes rather uselessly when he felt a nervous tremor go through Hachi. "Oh, Miroku! It's them, it's them!" Hachi whined in a panicky whisper. "I can sense their aura now! It's building quickly! There must be a lot of them!" Kirara too resumed her agitated rumbling.

Though delayed by his weaker human senses from detecting a change, Miroku soon felt the atmosphere around them distorting rapidly. He sensed the demonic aura pushing into him as one might detect the presence of an overwhelming odor, suddenly and overwhelmingly. As with other powerfully evil demonic auras Miroku had felt in the past, Naraku's being one, the monk found the sensation vaguely sickening and knew that it had to be even more intense for Hachi and Kirara. Still, he knew they had to stay calm. Keeping his face cool and smooth as stone, the Buddhist motioned more gently this time for Kirara and Hachi to keep quiet.

Then, at last, Miroku's vision was drawn to the dark shape creeping unevenly forward along the main street. To Miroku's surprise, there only seemed to be one creature in sight. Somewhat hunched looking, it wasn't moving quickly, and the path it took seemed to weave oddly until finally it stopped and made the distinctly canine motion of sitting back on its haunches. As it looked around, its two eyes flashed an eerie, bright violet, briefly catching the dim starlight.

"M-m-miroku, I-I d-don't like this," Hachi breathed, his teeth chattering loudly. Miroku wished he could see what exactly they were dealing with a bit better.

Just then, the dark shape ahead of them threw back its head and released a first, long, silence-shattering yowl. Chills ran down Miroku spine, when one after another, similarly haunting calls emitted out of the depths of the forested shadows.

:

"I counted 42," Kohaku finally breathed into the cold darkness. His breath curled from his mouth in a small, ghostly whirl.

Shippou licked his lips. They had gone dry, as they had crouched in frozen, perturbed silence, counting the long line of crazy-looking, mutant demon wolves that had meandered beneath their tree just outside the north side of the village. The way that the phantasmal-seeming beasts' pelts, skin, and muscles hung off their bony frames like something that had been cobbled together from already half-dead things made Shippou's own skin crawl.

"Yeah, me too. I got roughly the same number. I didn't expect there to be so many…" Shippou replied, not hiding the worry from his voice. He hadn't liked the sounds of what they were dealing with from the very beginning, and now it looked like they were badly outnumbered as well. He was glad that they wouldn't need to face the creatures directly until tomorrow night, according to what Miroku had revealed of his plan.

"That's almost twice what Miroku and I deduced from the villagers' descriptions of the sounds they've heard and the damage that's been done around the village," Kohaku added, a far off, concerned look in his eyes before he was in motion once again. "Come on, we should get going, we need to start retracing their tracks before they finish ravaging the village," he reminded, lowering the tone of his voice. Soundlessly, the demon slayer dropped the rope they'd thrown over the high branch to climb up in the first place.

Shippou watched quietly as Kohaku untied the rope and repelled off the tree's trunk all the way to the bottom. A few rope fibers stuck to the kitsune's fingers, still sticky with the sappy odor repellant, when he took hold of the rope next. He scowled slightly as he struggled through the piney grime to pick apart the knot and throw the rope down to the ground. (Shippou tried to make a point of being helpful and not complaining like a certain hanyou-turned-dog demon he knew would… However, as Kohaku had showered all of them earlier with the repellant, the kitsune simply couldn't help himself from imaging the dramatics Inuyasha would've flown into at achieving the stickiness of a man-sized honeycomb.)

Shippou soon leapt down through the great tree's branches, and joined Kohaku on the ground. Wordlessly, they moved forward just as they had planned. In this part of the forest the trees grew too close together, forced to grow up rather than across. Though small, the plentiful early spring leaves all but blocked out the stars, the only source of light on the moonless night, so both youths kept close to the earth as they moved. Crouching here and there, Shippou led the way. He sniffed for the demonic pack's scent and felt for their residual aura, while Kohaku squinted through the heavy darkness to look for prints pressed in the soggy mulch and broken twigs.

Kohaku bent particularly close to the ground to get a better look at one wolf's footprints. Were they possibly a bit larger than average wolves' paws? Kokahu wondered. He was not certain, but they did look disturbingly large and deep, suggesting that the creatures possessed a fair amount of heft despite looking like walking corpses. Not really looking ahead, Kohaku began creeping forward again. Then, he suddenly slammed right into the kitsune's back. Nervously, they jumped apart from each other.

"What happened? Why'd you stop?" Kohaku panted, getting his tense breathing back under control.

Clutching the cloth of his vest over his heart, Shippou looked around to make sure they hadn't drawn any unwanted attention. "Something's weird," the glamorized demon answered shakily. "Their soul signature and their scent suddenly… it's like they evaporated!"

"What do you mean?" Kohaku asked, his face going pale though it was less obvious in the blackness that surrounded them.

Shippou closed the distance between them. They each could see the tightness in each other's expression. "I mean, I can't smell or sense that they've been here at all."

"That's not right… that large a group of beasts? With that kind of demonic presence? It hasn't even been that long since they passed through here…" Kohaku ruminated, thinking anxiously and picking at the evening shadow of stubble that had grown out on his face that was no longer a young boy's face. Tonight, he certainly felt like a man with men's problems. They couldn't go back to the village without finding the creatures' nest. People were dying. People were depending on them. These were Kohaku's thoughts, as his eyes swept the forest floor hopelessly.

"At least we still have the prints," Shippou pointed out. When Kohaku didn't respond though, he asked, "What?"

"Look ahead," the demon slayer gestured weakly, leaning close to his friend so that the kitsune could see where his finger pointed. "The ground looks darker up there. Can you tell what's there?"

Shippou frowned and together they moved up the path. Able to see better than Kohaku, Shippou could soon tell what had engulfed their previously clear-cut path, but they moved closer still until they were standing right at the edge of the dark patch.

"Damn it," Kohaku cursed through his teeth as they stood inches from a sea of thick, leafy undergrowth. The plants were nearly knee high and yielded no easy view of the earth beneath their leaves. Moreover, they showed no sign of being trampled, and thus no sign of anyone or anything having already passed through the area.

Shippou's mouth turned down in an uncharacteristically Inuyasha-like frown. "I don't get it! Now we've got no aura, no scent, and no prints. What now? How can we possibly figure out where the den is?"

Both young men stood in defeated quiet for a moment, when Kohaku felt one last spark come to him. "Hang on, I've got one more idea!" Kohaku exclaimed quickly, already rummaging in the small leather pouch at his waist. Shippou kept watch over their location as the demon slayer sorted through small packets of poison antidotes, flint, folded sutras and scraps of maps, and mini smoke bombs. At last, he pulled out what he'd been searching for and practically stuck it right under Shippou's nose.

The object was not at all what Shippou had expected. At such close proximity, he could see that the item, which easily rested in the center of the slayer's palm was actually quite ornate. Carved from wood coated in dark lacquer was a figurine of a crouching, three-legged toad. Bulbous, blank eyes protruded, almost comically huge, from the top of its head and a glittering, honey-hued crystal was clutched in its mouth. Kohaku kept one index finger carefully pressed atop the tiny critter's ribbed back.

"What is it?" Shippou asked, curiously inspecting the odd little object.

"Supposedly a negative energy detector!" Kohaku whispered excitedly into the darkness, as he kept two fingers pressed to either side of the toad's wooden head. "I bought it from a traveling demon slayer who passed through Kaede's village a few months ago. He swore the stone in its mouth is attracted to negative auras, so when I release it, the figurine should point us in the direction of the nearest and largest demonic energy source. This is the first time I've used it," he explained in awe-inspiring tones, and Shippou nodded solemnly. Barely breathing, they both watched in silence as Kohaku dramatically lifted his fingers from the creature's tiny temples.

As predicted, the toad began to spin rapidly, the small yellow-golden stone glinting remarkably even in the low light. In awe, Kohaku and Shippou waited to see where it would stop in its rotation. They had easily lost count of the number of revolutions the thing had made when it stopped all of a sudden, crystal twinkling.

And pointed directly at Shippou.

Slightly shocked, Shippou stared at the detector and then at Kohaku. "Is it… broken?" he asked feeling simultaneously disgruntled and flattered at being singled out by the device, as a 'large demonic energy source'.

"Damn," Kohaku spat. "I guess most demon slayers don't exactly work side-by-side with intermediate-level entity…"

"Oh sorry…" Shippou apologized, his shoulders slumping slightly as he deflated a bit at going from 'large demonic energy source' to 'intermediate-level entity' in one short moment.

"Hey, Shippou, don't feel bad," Kohaku added quickly, playfully tapping the kitsune's arm at Shippou's saddened tone. "It's just a dumb, generic classification term that youkai taijiya use amongst each other," he tried to sound reassuring. "Besides, it detected you! If you weren't here, I wouldn't have known whether it was working!"

"Mm, I guess…" Shippou replied emptily, obviously still a little wounded. "What should we do now?"

"Well, it seems like maybe we should split up. Then your youki wouldn't be blocking—er, I mean overwhelming it, and it might have a chance?" Kohaku suggested kindly. "You could keep trying to rediscover any sign of their trail, and I could use the detector? Then in ten minutes we could meet back up at this spot and share what we found? Whaddya think?"

"Mm, okay…" Shippou replied, a bit hesitant at the thought of separating but not wanting to look ineffectual on top of being labeled merely intermediate. "Then, I'll go on in my fox form: my sense of smell and vision are better like that."

Kohaku nodded and pocketed the little toad figurine, and the two friends headed in opposite directions to continue the search.

Rolling and flexing his shoulders, as if in a delicious stretch of his muscles, Shippou slunk down to the ground. On all fours, he had assumed the shape of a large fox, almost the size of a Great Dane, but longer, lither, and leaner than any clumsy dog. That's how Shippou liked to think of his "beast's" body anyway, though he imagined Inuyasha would strongly agree with the last part…

It really felt glorious to be back in this form, Shippou thought, reveling slightly in the transformation that he had perfected more than a year ago. Unlike, holding his human-looking glamorized appearance, the fox form was easy, almost natural to slip into once he'd augmented and learned to better control the abilities that came with being kitsune. How often Shippou still wished Father could see how far his smallest son had come!

Nearer to the ground, Shippou felt enveloped in the wet fragrance of moss and decomposing leaves. The darkness was hardly a problem at all for his beastly eyes. And under the cover of night and heavy foliage like this, he could move around nearly invisibly. His dark, auburn coat barely shone even on moonlit nights, unlike Father's which had been light and golden, like the summer wheat. Though Shippou still normally maintained a humanoid appearance around his mortal and close friends, he had been surprised at how he loved the sense of visceral power and stealth that came with being able to "go fox", as he called it. Inuyasha had once suggested to him that such new and unexpected feelings were associated with what it meant to grow up and grow stronger for demons. It was important to accept the inner beast on one's own terms, the older dog demon had told him one night a few months ago as they'd watched the full moon rise. And although Shippou and Inuyasha still had their disagreements on a regular basis, Shippou had appreciated this advice. Inuyasha had certainly had his fair share of struggles, and he would always have Shippou's unshakeable respect. In fact, after finally attaining, experiencing, and even cherishing his own beast phase, Shippou felt he could finally comprehend a bit of the sense of loss Inuyasha had been forced to endure over so many years of Moonless Nights.

Now, Shippou crept along the damp earthen floor, twisting easily over and around the thick stems and root systems of the tightly packed vegetation. He was now nearly impervious to the chill of left over rain drops splashing across his face and flashing, jade eyes. Though he could still capture no trace of the demonic wolves having passed through, he was alert to the chorus of night critters inhabiting the woods all around him. Even with one ear cocked in the direction of Kohaku's retreating footsteps, he couldn't miss the anxious, fearful tittering of the other nearby creatures. The forest's fear, still stirred up in the wake of the pack's dark demonic energy was almost palatable. He had found that when he was fox, he could practically taste and smell fear, like it was some kind of sixth sense.

He followed the path of disturbance deeper into the woods where the already weak natural light was all but entirely smothered. To his sharpened vision, however, it now only felt as if the normal darkness of night had set in. Pulled along by the compelling – it seemed wrong to think of it so, but to his inner beast, it seemed almost… alluring – scent of fear, he lost track of the minutes since he and Kohaku parted ways.

Without warning, a new, wild scent blinded his senses. Shippou's muscles coiled and he flattened himself to the ground. Instinctually, his body read the approaching demonic aura, strong but not overpowering or particularly insidious. Yet, whatever it was, it was approaching his location fast. His keen ears rapidly recognized the sound of nimble limbs crashing through the thick undergrowth. The vibrations of footfalls told him there were two of these creatures nearly on top of him!

The fox braced himself and a second later, a tangle of feet and legs were stumbling over Shippou's hunched body. A high pitched yelp escaped its fallen owner, and its partner was immediately alerted. Seconds later, arms and legs fell upon and wrapped around Shippou's long, muscled body.

Growling and hissing ensued, as the strange demon tossed about on the muddy ground with Shippou. Nearby, the fallen demon moaned pathetically, but Shippou was too distracted by his attacker's strong limbs wrapping tightly around his chest and throat like two boa constrictors.

Enough was enough: in a moment, one set of incredibly sharp fox fangs sank deep into the demon's flesh, letting the stranger's blood and aroma inundate Shippou's senses. It appeared that the rusty-tasting blood was not toxic. Thank goodness! Shippou thought to himself, as the stranger dropped his death grip with a pained scream.

In fact, the stranger's scent and aura were not entirely unfamiliar. No, in fact, where had the kitsune met this demon before? He felt sure he had… But where and who…?

"Hakkaku?" a panicked voice breathed out of the darkness, and all of sudden comprehension dawned on the fox.

The wolves: of course!

Kouga!

:

Sesshomaru clenched his teeth in anger as the old men, women and children all around him let out scared, hushed cries. Near the walls closest to the end of the hall that backed up to the locked stable, the sickening scratching and dark, hungry growling grew louder. People were scooting quickly away in the opposite direction of the terrifying unseen beasts. Yet, as the demons' numbers obviously increased, the frightened, sweat-drenched villagers began to press into each other like excited molecules with no place left to go. The already sweltering temperature inside the building shot even higher with their fear.

However, the former Lord of the West didn't care about anything, with one exception: he only cared about the silent girl with her face buried behind her knees.

Rin!

To hell with preparing her to take care of herself after he was gone! he thought to himself. Right now, he needed to shelter her from whatever threatened to break through the relatively ramshackle walls. He knew all too well that the beasts' claws would tear through this weak flesh of his like rice paper, killing them both. He couldn't breathe as he imagined his and Rin's blood flowing together.

Something deep in his stomach clenched sickeningly. It wasn't The Death he had imagined for himself, but perhaps it was a death he would have to accept. At that moment, he could think of nothing other than that he needed—no, rather he positively ached in a way the once great Sesshomaru had never done before —to be by Rin's side.

As if his very body throbbed with magnetic energy, Sesshomaru's legs tensed, ready rise and go to her, when two, small hands encircled his bare wrist like an iron vice.

"Sessho-san," the pathetic voice cut in, as if disrupting the subliminal call of Rin's person to his own. Wild-eyed and confused, Sesshomaru looked down at the girl and her brother whom he had forgotten now clung to him like the sweat on his brow. He cringed as Tsukiko gave him the smallest smile. Had she somehow sensed that he was about to get up and abandon them? He wondered with unaccounted for paranoia. Why should he, Sesshomaru, care whether he deserted these people whom he had just met?

Tsukiko leaned into Sesshomaru as her younger brother nestled closer too. Sesshomaru was acutely aware of their bodies shuttering against his folded legs and chest. The boy, Kei's, hands were wrapped fearfully in the folds of Sesshomaru's dark blue hakama. "I'm so glad you're 'ere with us," the young woman breathed, her voice rough with emotion. Sesshomaru merely stared down at the top of her tousled hair, as her words of gratitude pinned him to the ground, as if by some magically increased weight. He thought of how he could toss the pair off in a moment and step over all the cowering fools with his long legs in an instant to get to Rin, but he knew somehow that he wouldn't desert Tsukiko and her brother.

Craning his neck, he looked longingly in Rin's direction. Sesshomaru felt almost as if he might be torn completely asunder by the conflicting sense of duty coursing through him, frustrating and frightening him almost more than the wolves possibly could.

Around him everyone held their breath, one silently shivering mass. To his left he heard only one voice. With nothing else to distract him from his agitated thoughts and the terror outside, Sesshomaru looked to his left. Huddled in a shadowy crook in the wall, a girl about Rin's age sat rocking herself back and forth. Her greenish-brown eyes were wide, as a stream of audible but incoherent words flowed between her quivering, pale lips. Though her voice was not loud, Sesshomaru wondered why no one made to silence her. Then he noticed that like Rin, she sat all alone, and it dawned on him that she must be the orphaned highway trader's daughter. She looked positively haunted, most likely having watched the wolves destroy her family… In this, she was just like Rin, although Rin mercifully hadn't lost her mind… yet.

That monk! he seethed, still unable to move for the sake of the girl and boy clinging to him. I'll tear his fucking throat out if anything happens to Rin because of this!

:::

Note: And once again I leave you all with a cliff hanger! Ha ha!

And the review responses:

DaniHime86: Haha! I had to laugh at your comment about Rin staking her claim over her Sesshomaru! Yes, we all know he is her alpha puppy, and Sesshy better not forget it! Alas, poor Sesshomaru, he's just not used to all these role reversals in which he is not necessarily the dominant player and can do just whatever he wants. He's getting enmeshed in people's lives whether he likes it or not, and soon enough he's going to find that he especially can't dismiss the pull he feels toward Rin. Also, don't worry, the danger's not going away any time soon. There will definitely be more chances for Sesshomaru to be Rin's hero again!

Yuri-Ishtar:CONGRATS AND HUGE THANKS! You were definitely review #100! Woohoo! I have to say I must be sadistic too because I really enjoyed writing jealous Rin. Sesshomaru is still a catch even if he doesn't think so right now (which makes a handsome man even sexier, no?) and even if he's being a frustrating fool right now, Rin can't deny that she still wants him. And not to worry, we will be getting back to Kagura and Anurak. I love them too much not to return to them!

ArizonaBay: You asked, and you received: Sesshomaru is once again thinking of injuring a certain beleaguered monk, haha!

inuyashaskitten56: Glad you like the introduction of Tsukiko. Poor thing, Tsukiko's really not a bad girl, she's just inadvertently getting in the way of our favorite ship couple, RinSess. If she only knew the havoc she is playing on Rin and Sesshomaru's feelings for one another!

Taraah36: Definitely, it's yet to be seen whether Miroku has gotten his crew in too deep with this particular demon problem! And no doubt, Sesshomaru's not about to forget about Rin after just one day talking to some other girl. He's just new to the whole notion of acting upon and showing emotions. He'll get there!

hon-kyogen: I love that you brought up Sesshomaru and his "possessed hand"! He'd be horrified if he realized how much it sounds like Miroku is rubbing off on him! I'm happy that you appreciated Tsukiko's story of what happened to the village. I didn't know whether it would be wise to have her go so into depth about things; however, then I felt that the storytelling was also important for Sesshomaru awakening to a sense of sympathy, such a specifically human feeling. I think Sesshomaru did feel a twinge of discomfort at the possibility of defining his name, especially considering that they had not long before discussed Tsukiko's dead parents. Not to mention, he's also well-aware of the constant specter of the killer demon wolves. Under these circumstances, we'll give him credit for realizing it wouldn't be tasteful to boast the lethal connotations of his name. As in this case, I believe I've heard chotto used as a kind of filler expression when an awkward situation suddenly renders the speaker otherwise speechless. Sort of like saying "Um, well, about that… it's a little hard to say…" in English. You're right though, it's often used as "wait a minute", like from "chotto matte", I guess.

odango88: Yes, poor Sesshomaru. Imagine a dog losing his sense of smell or hearing: how cut off from the world as he knew it he would feel! Sesshomaru has lost a vital way that he had connected to Rin before. He's going to have to find some new ways to do it now! So happy to find that you are still reading!

kagomeLove2: Oh my goodness! Anurak and Naraku actually have all the same letters in their names, just rearranged! Are they the same person? I don't know! Haha, just kidding—I actually didn't notice that before, can you believe it? I chose Anurak's name because I liked the sound, and it means something like "guardian, protector, or male angel" in Thai, which is kind of a tip off that he's really not a malevolent character. However, clever guess!

SesshyLuver311: Thanks! I aim to make things exciting! Read on!