For those of you wondering why the long absence... My grandfather passed away a few days ago. He had lung cancer,and was given 4-6 months to live,so I took time away from my story,and did what I could... I am greatly saddened by losing such a wonderful member of my family...but enough of that,I don't want to cry anymore.. so. This spider has returned, and I warn you. Don't expect too much from this chapter. I am just now getting back into writing, and am still mainly distracting myself.

-4 days-

They still hadn't been able to open the chest,though not for lack of trying and Kagome was getting rather frustrated at the newest quirks said chest had developed.

After reminiscing about a certain dog-eared hanyou everyone had gone to bed,godawful cracking and shrieking noises from a probably cursed chest be damned. As a matter of fact,they had all forgotten about said occurence until Sesshoumaru awoke the next morning...

X day 1 X

The morning started off normal,Kagome almost skipping out of bed,in agood mood despite everything And Kouga stumbling down the hallways whining about coffee and why anyone would wake up and decide to skip down a hallway. But the whining trailed to grumbling then to silence as he threw himself on the couch and stretched,staring at the still glowing chunk of doom in front of him. at least,that is what he decided to call the thing..he didn't know what Kags or Sess would want to call it,or why he was even naming it in the first palce...it was a glorified coffee table after all.

And that is when the screaming began. muffled at first,it had started when Sesshoumaru's door opened and closed with a soft when his footsteps became louder, the screams from the chest became as loud.

When he appeared in front of the wolf laying on the couch,the chest had actually let out a skull splitting scream,and rocked itself causing Kouga to jump with a yelp and land on his face behind the couch and Kagome to run in the room thinking someone was dying. And upon entering the room and seeing no one dead she walked up and kicked the chest. only to have it hum,bang,jump around,and much to everyone's annoyance, scream again. Which gave her an idea. Not a very good idea,but still it was something.

"Kouga! Sesshoumaru,Give me hand!"

And with those words,Kagome jumped onto the chest,sitting on it and holding tight. Kouga sighed and jumped on as well, and Sesshoumaru followed suit a couple seconds alter after an eye roll. the chest,however screamed again,and jumped around,managing to buck them all off.

"Was there a point to this,Miko? Or did you just wish to play rodeo? I'm sure the wolf would have let you ride him."

"SESH-urgh,that! I AM GOING TO PRETEND YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!" Kagome yelled as a blush started to stain her cheeks.

"The point of that,was...well, I don't really know..I just wanted to see what it would do."

"And now that you know,Kags?" Asked kouga as he smirked.

"I...well..err...that is...I'm out of ideas."

Sesshoumaru sighed,narrowing his eyes at the wolf and miko before him.

"Perhaps remembering the riddle your grandfather told you would be a good place to start,Miko. Or,if you prefer we could not worry about opening it,and just continue to ride this thing around the living room."

Kouga snickered as Kagome stomped off,doing a rather impressive version of a growl. the rest of the day was spent getting things in order for the shelter to open while ignoring the enigma in the living room and the night went much the same way as the one before it,sharing stories and memories,and drinking tea. It was the next morning that brought the strangeness to light.

x Day 2x

Were the Chest's newly acquired,and peculiar aversion to Sesshoumaru not enough,the energy it was putting off now,something none of them could even begin to name,was beginning to make the resident demons itchy in a literal sense,Causing both kouga and Sesshoumaru a flaky,itchy rash that rather resembled psoriasis.

Kouga only had the rash in two places,the first one being the tips of his ears,and the second being in a rather embarrassing spot at the base of his spine,just an inch or so below his waistband.

Sesshoumaru was'nt so lucky. He had it on his forehead,ears cheeks wrists,hips, ankles, shoulders and a couple places he did'nt even want to think about.

Kagome and a few other workers that had shown up seemed to be immune,or so Sesshoumaru believed,and he should tested it,rubbing the rough scaly patches of skin against anyone within reach. He was slightly disappointed that it didn't catch,but was far more curious as to why it didn't. And why it only got itchier around that chest... He was really starting to hate that thing...

X Day 3 X

If the first and second day hadn't gone badly enough,with newfound rashes and annoying noises,the second day was far worse,with Kouga lapsing into moments where he could no longer speak,but could only whimper,whine or growl occasionally. Kagome had tried to avoid him after the early morning incident of finding Kouga,Unable to speak,dragging his rear across the carpet like a dog to scratch it. it didn't help he was making pathetic whimpering noises at the time.

Sesshoumaru had stayed hidden for most fo the third day,as he had lapsed back into growls and grunts and was doing no better than Kouga when it came to Language issues. Also the scratching,but he wasn't so careless as to get got dragging his butt across the living room floor like a common mutt. No,he rather liked the back scratcher he had swiped when kagome had been looking the other way...

X day 4 X

Possibly the worst of all the days.

Sesshoumarus face was peeling,large chunks of flesh falling away revealing raw new skin beneath. A blue mark on his forehead,barely visible and faint purple lines in various spots that were gradually darkening throughout the day. they still itched. But,it was nothing compared to Kouga,whose scaly skin patches were dropping off to reveal hair. Sesshoumaru had actually choked on tea this morning when Kouga's pants slipped,revealing a dark tuft of fur sticking out of his rear. He hadn't stopped snickering since.

And then,when everything else was making him have to fake cough to hide his laughter,he realised Ginta and hakkaku the two wolves, had begun to lose mass amounts of fur, leaving random bald spots in various patterns across their bodies. He didn't even try to hide his laugh when he saw this,though it had unfortunately distracted him enough for Kagome to come in and catch him with her back scratcher stuffed in his pants.

the day continued on getting worse as large clumps of hair from two balding wolves were found everywhere. Kagome wished this hadn't started happening. Especially at this certain time. after all, they were supposed to open tomorrow! How was she supposed to explain fur clumps,random banging and shrieking noises, and an overly hairy man dragging his butt across the floor to her investor when he came to the opening tomorrow?

Kagome could only bury her face in her hands and hope this was some strange nightmare...

"Why me?"

"Because,Kags...you're lucky." Kouga said, scooting himself across the floor in front of her.

"Kouga...drag your rear across one more carpet in this place,and I will personally give you a flea bath and shave you head to toe."

"Promise?"

"AGHH,I QUIT!"

"no quitting Miko."

"Seshouma-..ohh." Kagome could only gape at the being in front of her, hair once again a shining silver white, Gold eyes glowing like the embers of a fire. And..oh!

...

...xX End Xx

dun dun dunnnn..

Okay, maybe not so..surprizing...little bit of a cliff hanger..maybe? And I am not really happy with this chapter,but hopefully the story will get better as I get back into writing it..more..idk...urgh..

Until next time lovelies.

-Spider.