Chapter Twelve: Aftermath

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Warning: Some swearing and violence.
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A big thank you to Karaumea who not only helped to edit this chapter, but also helped with a little writing as well.
Another rounding 'Huzzah' goes to Eggry who kept on prompting me to write and helped with editing.
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Special thanks to my awesome and talented betas: Karaumea, Eggry, SplendentGoddess, Kmoaton
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'Thinking'
"Speaking"
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Inuyasha was tired of being reasonable and patient. After his kidnapping and near death, he had seen a facsimile of himself come to life. As unnerving as that was, seeing Kagome standing next to that abomination made him feel both anger and betrayal coursing through his blood.

He didn't remember everything that had happened when he was drowning in Urusae's tub, but he did recall feeling very close to death. He also felt an unsettled demand from deep within that Kagome belonged to him.

The sudden realization of his ownership of the miko did little to quell the deep resentment that bubbled forth from him every time he was near her.

He knew that she was in mourning, she had told him to wait. But that one night when they had gone to the skyscraper together, for the very first time, Kagome had instigated a kiss. He had finally felt that his abused patience had finally ended, but instead it felt like their rocky relationship was starting over again.

After the fiasco, Kagome had become withdrawn. Instead of the lightness and smiles she had given him before that golem had come to life, she became pensive and distant. It was as if she was in mourning—for the second time.

Still, he refused to abandon her, despite both Hojo's and Eri's recent attempts to get him to leave the shrine and let the Taijiya take over the guardianship of the errant miko. As if he would let anyone else protect her…

Today, he was spending most of the day doing manual labor at the shrine. If anyone looked at him they would have noticed a teenager with long black hair, wearing red ceremonial robes. He was cleaning out a storehouse and moving some artifacts around. The work itself was fairly easy, since he was far stronger than a normal human being. But the grandfather of the shrine didn't help his uneven temper. The man wasn't bad, but was hard to please. He had just moved a statue three different times before the indecisive priest had finally told him to put it back in its original spot.

Hojo was spending the day manning the shrine sales booth where they sold good luck charms, prayer boards, incense and other items for the visiting public. At least today, Hojo wasn't trying to train Kagome again. Hojo seemed to love teaching Kagome any task that he could. His eyes seemed to alight in happiness every time she was near him, which made the disquiet within Inuyasha grow. Unfortunately for the kannushi, the miko seemed to have difficulty handling the phone, the cash register and the credit card machine. Kagome and the rest of the staff seemed to find that the miko worked best with customary priestess duties. Some traditions had not changed in 500 years; the duties of a miko were among them.

Today, she was collecting prayers that had been tied or hung on the trees. After gathering the items, she prayed over and burned the supplications, giving the requests up to the kami.

White smoke drifted from the burnt offerings, floating to heaven as she prayed.

Inuyasha paused as he caught her face. Her eyes were closed, she was deep in meditation, but there was sorrow there as well, a sorrow that he couldn't help and a sorrow he wished that he could simply disregard. Wasn't it enough that he had waited this long? It was almost as if he had waited over 500 years for her to make a decision. Now her indecision was grating on him.

He huffed and resumed his work, trying his best not to look at her. Trying his best to not think about her lips on his and how right she felt when he held her in his arms.

At least he was in her room every night. He smiled to himself for that small miracle. Even if he had to share the room with Shippo, at least it was the one thing that he looked forward to every day. It was the one thing that seemed right at this troubled time in his life.

In the back of his mind, he was counting the hour until they would be alone together in her room. For now it was nothing more than guard duty, but he knew it was so much more than simply a duty to him. It almost felt like his life's destiny and he doubted that Naraku would lie in wait for much longer before attacking again.

~~~oo0oo~~~

The half-moon hung low in the night sky. Soft white light streamed in, diffused by gossamer curtains, before falling onto the pink bed where a young woman lay. Her raven hair fell around her like a dark halo and within her arms was a small kitsune fox. Sitting next to them, on the floor, was a dog-eared hanyou with red robes. Inuyasha's Tessaiga was propped up against his legs and his head was dropped to his chest.

The curtains fluttered in the breeze, bringing in delicate, misty sounds that wavered in the wind. Inuyasha's ears twitched at soft noise, but his body remained still.

Kagome's grey-blue eyes slowly opened. If she heard the gentle whisperings, she took no notice of them. Instead, she gently placed Shippo beside her as she sat up, revealing a lavender top and long legs. Her body shifted out of the covers before gliding beside the bed. She was careful to not disturb her hanyou protector and walked languidly out of her room.

When she had passed the threshold of her bedroom door, golden eyes slowly opened and then narrowed. The hanyou picked up his sword and moved silently to follow the errant miko.

The miko weaved her way through the house in eerie silence, before opening the front door. She stood at the entrance, wavering or perhaps pondering her next step before walking forward and leaving the door ajar. In an almost trance-like state she walked barefoot toward the Goshinboku tree in the middle of the Sunset shrine.

Standing against the ancient tree was another silver-haired hanyou wearing red robes and an impassive visage. The only difference between him and the man she had left behind is that he did not wear a beaded necklace around his neck.

The hanyou seemed to be patiently waiting for her. He stood mutely, his arms folded over his chest, his hands tucked into his sleeves and his eyes closed.

Ash cursed silently to himself. He never thought that the golem Inuyasha had really died, and this confirmed his suspicions. The thing had only snuck away in order to approach them while they were unaware.

The golem Inuyasha's golden eyes suddenly opened with sharp clarity. A smile tugged at his lips as he spied Kagome walking toward him. His body shifted as he opened up his arms in welcome.

The pajama clad miko wavered as she looked at the hanyou next to the tree. Her eyes were wide open, yet they seemed to not truly comprehend what was before her. Then a smile blossomed on her face as she stepped forward.

Inuyasha was about to move to stop her, when something slithered behind him. Just as he was about to yell her name, a green snakelike creature wrapped itself around his mouth. Simultaneously, green coils wrapped around his arms and legs, pulling and tugging at him.

The coils convulsed, dragging him to the ground as he tried to flex his hands. Lashing jaws with small fangs dove into his skin, leaving green poison in their wake. He let out a cry, but it was muffled by the snakes wrapped around his mouth and neck. Inuyasha's claws tried to grasp the Tessaiga, but the demonic snakes that had ensnared him seemed to know what he was reaching for. With an almost unnatural intelligence, they pinned his right arm behind his back. He tried to scream curses, but the scaled reptiles squirming in his mouth drowned out the sound.

Inuyasha rolled on the ground, squirming against his reptilian ropes as he looked on in horror at the scene unfolding before him.

Kagome stood passively before the other hanyou, not even noticing that the modern Inuyasha was watching. She seemed mesmerized by the presence in front of her, an ethereal smile on her lips.

The golem's arms outstretched and the petite girl rushed into his embrace, her arms wrapping around his waist and her head nestled against his chest.

Like a gentle mantra, the golem only repeated her name as he held her close. He seemed content to have her in his arms. However, eventually it was not Kagome, but the golem who noticed Inuyasha struggling with the snakes a few meters away from them.

With Kagome's back to Inuyasha, the golem only smirked at his reincarnation's strange plight. The golem's eyes bore into Inuyasha, his eyes narrowing with derision, before returning to the miko in front of him. Instantly, the golem's eyes softened when he looked at Kagome. Her eyes were closed as his clawed hand stroked her cheek. He paused momentarily, as if savoring her form, before his fingers brushed against her lips. The girl's lips tugged with a glimmer of a smile as the pads of his fingers traced the curves of her mouth.

"Kagome, look at me," he whispered.

The young woman looked up at him in wonder. Her face alight with hero worship. "Yes, Inuyasha," she replied as her eyes opened drowsily.

"Kiss me," he ordered.

The words made the modern Inuyasha struggle even harder against his demonic bonds.

Kagome blinked, almost in confusion as the golem Inuyasha smiled at her in approval. She gazed at her suitor, wetting her lips before her mouth opened in question.

"Yes," he intoned as his hand moved under her chin, bringing her lips closer to his. He stopped to gaze, almost helplessly into the miko's curious eyes. A bitter smile was on his lips. "I have waited five hundred years to kiss you, Kagome."

The woman in his arms sighed as she closed her eyes and surrendered to his embrace. The man holding her seemed to be surrendering as well, his eyes awash with both fear and abject worship. He seemed to tremble as her lips rose to meet his.

Slowly, tenderly their lips touched. The man's body shuddered at the contact, as her mouth opened, acquiescing to his. With a surging rush of emotions, the golem Inuyasha tightened his grip about her waist and delved as deeply as he could into her mouth, never noticing the girl's eyes fluttering open, as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep.

"Kagome," he moaned against her mouth, his voice a mixture of both pain and passion.

The bound Inuyasha bit down with his fanged teeth onto the writhing snakes in his mouth. Poisonous, black ichor oozed, which he spat out.

Inuyasha pulled his arms away from the reptilian cords that bound him with a swift tug. Splattered bodies of the broken snakes writhed in his wake and fell on the concrete. Inuyasha wiped the ebony poison from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Kagome!" he bellowed in anger.

Kagome blinked with bewilderment and her arms moved against the golem's chest, pushing them apart. Their torsos separated first, but the man's lips couldn't help but to trail after Kagome's.

"Who…what?" she asked as she touched her mouth and looked up in confusion at the hanyou in front of her. "How did I…?"

"Kagome!" yelled Inuyasha as he bounded to the couple that had been kissing. "What the fuck do you think you've been…"

The golem stepped forward, shoving Kagome between himself and the Goshinboku tree. When he spied the angry Inuyasha moving toward them, he only wore a sneer.

"She was kissing me," stated the golem hanyou. His eyes bore anger at the unwanted intrusion.

Kagome's eyes widened in confusion as she looked at the livid hanyou charging at her and the back of the silver haired, dog-eared hanyou on front of her. It was only Ash who saw Kagome shake her head in bewilderment. She touched her lips. "I thought it was a dream…" she murmured.

The golem hanyou glared at his opponent, while keeping his back to the miko. "No, Kagome. It was real. I am real." He paused with deliberation. "And I have come back to claim my fiancé."

Kagome's eyes lost the veil of sleep. It seemed as if she had been rudely awakened. Shock seemed to course through her system. "But…I…"

Ash was seething in anger as his Tessaiga was pulled from its sheath, glowing and gleaming in the silver moonlight. He advanced so that the tip of his sword was less than a meter away from the golem's face.

Frosty light bathed the golem's face, like a flashlight in the dark of night. He stood in front of the sword, immobile. "That sword is mine!" he spoke with conviction.

"Then why did the Tessaiga chose me, asshole?" answered Ash in derision.

"I'd never put Kagome in harm's way," intoned the golem. "Put the sword away."

"Not until you leave, bastard!" yelled Ash as Kagome visibly flinched.

A small smile tugged at the corners of the golem's mouth.

All Ash could see was Kagome's horrified look as she screamed, "Inuyasha, look out!" Though exactly which hanyou she was referring to was not clear.

Suddenly an avalanche of forest green and black snakes fell and writhed upon the hanyou with the sword. Inuyasha cursed as he fought the biting, coiling snakes. Then just as quickly as they arrived, they disappeared, slithering away into the darkness.

The golem who had stood before him was now gone. Only the lingering sound of a snake hissing reverberated in the cool, still night. Inuyasha sheathed his sword. The glow that had alighted on the small clearing faded into darkness.

Kagome stood mute in front of him. Ash managed a litany of curses as he walked toward Kagome. He took her hand in his clawed one. "Are you OK?" he managed to spit out gruffly.

She looked up at him, tears pooling in her eyes. She shook her head. "I don't know, Inuyasha. I don't know…"

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Inuyasha was stabbing at his rice bowl during dinner, a few vegetables and slices of fish were also butchered by his chopsticks.

Around the low-lying, black lacquer table were some of his family. Sesshomaru sat regally and was ignoring Inuyasha's antics. His mother was wearing a light green kimono, her brunette hair pinned back with flowers. She would occasionally glance up at Inuyasha and would look at him with sympathy.

Two siblings also garnered the other portion of the table. His older sister, Reika, had long flowing silver hair, golden eyes and looked almost exactly like her father, if it was not for her long, silver dog's tail that was curled around her legs. His older brother, Raiden, looked more like his mother, Rin. His hair was long and satiny brown. He looked almost entirely human, if it was not for his golden eyes and his elfin-like ears.

His sister, like her usual wont, was the first to break the silence. She shoved her surly brother by his shoulder. Some of the rice he was trying to destroy fell on the table and never made it to his mouth. "What's with you lately? Your lovely disposition…" Reika smiled with sharpened, white teeth. "…has soured."

His older brother, Raiden, was rarely one to speak. However, even his brother couldn't help but to get involved. "I bet it's a girl by the way he's acting…"

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise at the accusation, the tip of his chopsticks at his lips. The food he was eating went down his windpipe. He started to cough.

Reika almost squealed in delight. "Oh, it's true!" she exclaimed. Then seeing her brother continue to be choking on his food, managed to swat his back a few times until his lungs were clear.

Inuyasha only looked at his sister with a surly expression. He was going to get through this meal without saying anything.

"So, what's her name…?" asked Reika coyly. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with delight as she ribbed her younger brother.

Inuyasha only harrumphed and tried to stab at his rice bowl again.

Reika sat back and observed her churlish brother. A dainty smile played on her lips. "Oh…so she doesn't like you."

Inuyasha only glared back at his sister, but now it was his brother that was speaking again.

"No, Reika. I think she might actually like him." Then he smiled and jeered at his brother. "Kami knows why…" Raiden looked at his brother slyly. "There's something else that has his panties in a twist."

Inuyasha only shoved his bowl on the table and started to stalk out. His father's voice paralyzed him momentarily. "I will be talking to you in your room, son."

Inuyasha only nodded to his father as he backed out of the formal dining room and made his way to his bedroom.

He didn't see his mother gently put her hand on his father's arm. Rin looked directly at her husband with soulful brown eyes. The couple did not need to speak, her husband simply nodded and then turned to finish his meal.

Rin placed her chopsticks down on the black lacquer holder, tucked in her green skirts demurely and then unfolded her small body to stand. Sesshomaru only looked at her in acquiescence before she strolled out, following her errant son into his room.

Rin found him lying on his futon. The boy was staring pensively at his ceiling, as if he was trying to make out some mystery that was inscribed upon it.

She knelt beside his bed and smiled. "You haven't been home for a while, young man. What brought you back?"

Inuyasha only closed his eyes and muttered an indignant response. "I thought Dad was going to see me."

His mother's lips curved into a sly smile. "I thought it would be better if I came to see you. I think I am better at understanding your heart, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's eyes opened in something akin to panicked alarm. "What does this have to do with my heart?"

Rn settled back near his futon, relaxing onto the tatami mat floor. "Anything, everything… Why did you come back home?"

Inuyasha didn't want to answer her. He stared at the ceiling as if he was arguing with it.

A sad smile graced her lips as she spoke. "Does it have something to do with Kagome?"

The hanyou lying on his futon visibly flinched at the sound of her name.

"Ahhhh. I see," said Rin in understanding.

Inuyasha's angry and baffled eyes met his Mom. "See what?!" he accused.

Rin tucked in her green skirts around her legs as she sat mermaid style on the floor. She paused briefly before looking up at her wary son. "Your father cautioned you about your relationship with Kagome quite some time ago."

Inuyasha almost sneered as he stood up and picked up a paperweight. "So is this some attempt at 'I told you so…'?" he questioned in derision.

A gentle smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "No, Inuyasha. Unlike your father, I believe she is the one you should be with. I learned long ago, there is no fighting destiny."

His mother expected the words to give him comfort, but he only harrumphed. "Destiny, my ass!"

Rin blinked. "What do you mean?"

Inuyasha sighed and ran a hand across his face. How could he explain to his mother what happened? How could he explain that part of his soul had been ripped from him and implanted in some farcical being that was more dead than alive—a being that was currently his rival for Kagome's affections? Even worse, he had caught Kagome kissing that monstrosity last night.

Just remembering her kissing that thing while he was bound up with snakes made bile burn in the back of his throat. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind he heard the taunting tones of his own inner voice telling him that she was no longer his, that she was never his to being with. He was just a facsimile of the man she had truly loved, the man she thought she was kissing when he first woke her up from her sleep, the same man she had been mourning since she figured out that she was no longer in the feudal era.

And now she had him back…

Inuyasha didn't notice that the metal paperweight in his hands was being squeezed like a piece of clay, his fingers causing indentations on the smooth, iron surface.

"Inuyasha!" exclaimed his mother.

"What?" he tore out in confusion as he stared at his Mom, but seemed to be looking past her at some place far away.

"You seem to think that destiny has nothing to do with you and Kagome?" she ventured tentatively.

Inuyasha only responded with a mocking laugh. "So Mom, how do you know when it is your destiny?" he asked sarcastically.

Rin smoothed her skirts again. She expected his anger, but not his derision. She turned her soulful brown eyes up to her son who was looming above her.

"Sit next to me, son," she said while patting the straw tatami mat next to her.

Inuyasha acquiesced somewhat reluctantly. He sat Indian style with his arms crossed against his chest.

Rin started up again. "Considering how your father and I started, you would have never thought that we would be together today, some 500 years after we had met." She looked at her son and gathered his hand in hers, pulling his arm away from his chest. She tentatively stroked his palm while she talked. "I was a human and a mere child when we met. Then I died, but I was the first one he ever saved from hell's clutches." She paused. "For the next ten years of my life, I was treated as a member of a youkai family-Sesshoumaru, Jaken and our dragon, A-Un. Sesshoumaru-sama treated me like his daughter, but I knew from the very moment he brought me back from the grave that he was so much more to me. I knew from that point that he would be the only man I would ever love."

Inuyasha harrumphed, the last thing he ever wanted to think about was his parents falling in love. It seemed so discordant.

Rin rubbed circles around his palm. "He didn't believe me. He told me that youkai and humans were not supposed to marry." His mother then continued in an imperial sounding voice and sounded very much like his father when she said, "Marrying a human is for the weak. This Sesshoumaru shall not deign to pollute his bloodline!"

Inuyasha didn't want to sound interested, but when she stopped talking and simply looked at Inuyasha pensively, he sighed and prompted her, "And how did you convince Dad otherwise?"

Rin smiled sadly. "I didn't have to convince him, destiny did…"

Inuyasha looked at her with a peculiar expression on his face.

"As you probably know, the Tensaiga can only be used once on a person." Inuaysha nodded. "Because I had pestered Sesshoumaru too much about marrying, he decided that I needed to live among humans." Bitterness seemed to creep into her tone. "That way I could better learn my place." Rin sighed and continued. "For a year, I was left without him or Jaken or A-Un. I lived with Kaede, Kagome's mentor, and started to learn the healing arts." She smiled softly to herself. "But such things were not to be. Rumors that the 'Jewel of Four Souls' was still in Kaede's village continued to circulate. Attacks were few and Kaede was powerful, but it only took one mistake for them to turn deadly. I was mortally wounded." Rin paused and looked into Inuyasha's eyes again. "I don't remember much, but I knew I was dying. I found out later that the Tensaiga could only be used once and that I had died."

"But how are you here and alive?" Inuyasha interjected.

"Somehow Sesshoumaru had managed to get a necklace from his own revered mother, one that would bring my soul back from the underworld. But it could only be done at a great cost. The price would be for your father to tie his soul to mine." She looked at her son with a wistful look on her features. "You father told me later that is when he knew. That is when he realized that he could not live in a world without me in it. That is when he realized that he had been lying to himself and that he knew a little girl had known the blatant truth all along—that we were destined to be together."

Rin wore a half-smile as she stood up and kissed Inuyasha's brow. "Sleep well, my son. Destiny doesn't always resolve itself overnight."

His mother exited the room. Though the deep pain in his chest had lessened, it was still festering, still sore and still desperate for a resolution.

~~~oo0oo~~~

It was with a heaviness in his heart that Inuyasha managed to show up at the Sunset Shrine the next morning to resume his duties.

He was doing his best to not look like he was following Kagome's every movement around the shrine and he certainly didn't want her to know how much she was eating up his thoughts.

She approached him tentatively, a straw broom in her hands that she seemed to be gripping incessantly.

"Inuyasha?"

He turned to her, anger on his features. Then he couldn't help but to focus on her lips. He paused spell-bound, looking at rose-colored lips that had kissed him of her own volition less than a week ago. In spite of his efforts to do otherwise, an ephemeral smile tugged at the corners of his frown.

Nothing in his entire life had felt more right than when he had held her in his arms and his lips had met hers. It had been during his human night, which normally had him completely on edge, but with only her body next to his, he even forgot his very own existence.

She looked up at him, wondering if he would speak.

Hojo then yelled from the distance. "Do you need any help, Kagome?"

The miko winced at his voice and the bubble of tenderness that Inuyasha had found himself in quickly burst. Suddenly, all he could remember was those same lips that had kissed his had also kissed another man. A man who was no longer fully alive, but had the memories of the man she had loved. What hurt the most was that she had done this directly in front of him and seemed to not even be aware that he was there.

Did it mean anything to her? It certainly did to him, but the feelings of betrayal and the overwhelming urge to hurt her, as he had been hurt seemed to rise in a crescendo out of his chest.

The frown he wore deepened, his body stiffened with anger. It was difficult to keep his emotions reined in, when all he wanted to do was lash out.

He answered in lifeless tones. "What do you want, Kagome?"

She wavered in front of him, almost begging him for something. Forgiveness? Absolution? Perhaps to simply forget her?

Tears crept at the corners of her eyes and he almost forgave her then and there…almost…

"I…I have no right to ask anything of you, Inuyasha…"

The hanyou flinched at the name. "My name is Ash… Call me by the right name." He couldn't help himself as he grabbed the girl by her shoulders and had to stop himself from shaking her. "Don't ever forget who I am. Don't ever forget who in the hell it is you're kissing!"

Kagome gasped as she looked up at him in horror. "You…you think I don't know…?"

He let go of the girl; he couldn't rein in his emotions anymore. He was afraid he would shake her if this continued.

He turned his back to her. He never saw her forlorn eyes looking at him. "Obviously, you didn't. One minute you're kissing me and the next you're kissing…" He paused because he wouldn't say the words he wanted to say. "…that thing." He took in a shuddered breath. "Make up your fucking mind, Kagome. Until then…" He paused. He couldn't give up on her; she was like an addiction, despite the pleas of both Hojo and Eri that they should protect Kagome instead.

"I'll protect you until Naraku is defeated…"

He walked away, silence muffling his steps.

~~~oo0oo~~~

The Next Chapter: Mount Mitake. Naraku, Inuyasha and Golem Inuyasha… See you in a month.

Author's Notes:
#1: Yes, I know. I am horrible. Sorry for taking so long to update. Hopefully, this new chapter will make you happy. In the past months I have changed jobs and I had a lot of things to relearn. I will also be traveling more and I am looking forward to a work trip to Austria in August.
#2: Raiden and Reika are names that Karaumea used for the son and daughter of Kagome/Inuyasha in her wonderful story 'Heartless.' Raiden means 'Thunder and lightning' and Reika means 'Lovely flower.'
#3: I would like to publicly thank 'Glon Morski' for nominating this story for 'Best Inuyasha/Kagome Romance' with the Feudal Association. This story didn't deserve it, but I am happy to report that this story tied for first place with the awesome, "Blackout" by King Baka. (Go over and check out 'Blackout' now, if you haven't already!)
#4: The scene in this chapter where Rin describes dying a second time and where the Tensaiga cannot save her, actually did happen in the manga, however in the manga she was an 8-year-old girl, not the 19-year-old woman that I had in this chapter. I think an older Rin would have changed the manga tremendously.
#5: There were a couple of comical jibs in the story. I had to thrown in a line from 'Army of Darkness,' if you have never seen it you are missing out on the best 'B' horror/comedy movie that was ever created. "My name is Ash and I am a slave. Close as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this, I had a real life, once."
I also had to throw in 'farcical' in there, as in from 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (yet another great comedic 'B' movie). Dennis explains to King Arthur that a sword from the 'Lady of the Lake' doesn't make him King. "Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony." You have to love Dennis, the peasant!