bloodsong1 | If only to get a song out of my head...

"Good morning!" Kagome caroled, letting herself in Monday morning. She kicked off her shoes, nodded to the statue and hurried into the kitchen, where she found Reiki glaring into her tea cup. The children's voices filtered down the stairs, it sounded like they were racing to see who was dressed first. "Hi, Reiki! Ready to go shopping?"

"Of course, Kagome. Let's go shopping. Maybe we'll see some Shinigami or a Second Class Goddess or hey! We might even run into the hot guys from Descendants of Darkness fighting a corrupted soul. Anything's possible, right?" Reiki snarked back, her tone dripping with scorn. Kagome drew up short, blinked and looked at Shippo, who was cowering in the kitchen.

"What?" She asked softly. Reiki slammed her cup down and shot to her feet.

"KENSHIN! HIMURA KENSHIN! The BATTOUSAI! A bloody, bloodstained, half dragon assassin walks right up to me and claims I'm the reincarnation of the love of his life based on the illusion HE made! IN PUBLIC!!" Reiki shouted, pointing at Shippo. The kitsune whined and cowered. "I have been doing everything I can to not make ripples. I left Tokyo to protect the Senshi. I was cool with you guys, you're from the same general decade and hey, why not? House of the West alive and well in the twentieth century. Sure. No problem. I was seriously weirded out by Atsunobu, but I got over it. His fan talks and he's super cool and I was kind of hoping I'd see him. But KENSHIN?! He DIED! Death by leprosy, it's in the manga, it's canon. I could have forgiven a reincarnation, I've spent the last three weeks running around with a busload of them. But a dragon hanyou?!? One of the fanfic writers got it RIGHT?! Dear gods, did any of MY stories get it right? How the hell am I supposed to keep all of this straight?!" She ranted. Kagome looked at Shippo again, who shrugged and whined when Reiki's gaze snapped towards him.

"Are you going to be staying to watch the kids?" Reiki asked sharply. Shippo nodded, crouched behind the counter, only his eyes and nose showing.

"I will stay until Inuyasha arrives to relieve me."

"He should be here in an hour or so," Kagome offered. Reiki took a deep breath.

"I need...something. A map or a guidebook or a tracking device that shows me where all the Manga Come To Life shit is going to happen so I can avoid it. ESPECIALLY if it's Dragonball Z nonsense. I can't STAND that."

"Um, how about Nishiki Market? We can get everything you need for Ginta and Hakkaku, plus it's fun to people watch and there's a great tea shop."

"As long as we find a good patisserie within walking distance. I'm so chaotic right now, I need something sweet and heavy to ground myself. I'll get my purse," Reiki said, sighing as she went upstairs. Shippo slowly rose from behind the counter and looked sheepishly at Kagome. The miko frowned and folded her arms.

"You didn't warn her."

"How was I supposed to know?" Shippo whined. Kagome wagged a finger at him.

"You're Head of Intelligence! You're SUPPOSED to know these things!"

"Kagome. Really. What are the odds that ALL her popular fiction is real here?"

"From what I've seen? Pretty damn good! Have you even questioned her about her manga?"

"I wouldn't talk to him last night," Reiki said, jumping the last three steps and landing next to Kagome hard enough to shake the floorboards. "I'm still ticked, but I'm coming around. Once I've glutted myself on sweets, I'll be more amicable. Besides, it's not like I've seen EVERYTHING my Japan has put out. I'm still surprised at how much of it is based in Europe-esque or post apocalyptic Tokyo or even in space. Come on, Kagome. Let's go." Reiki turned and headed for the door, patting the statue on its bronze head. Kagome gave Shippo a warning glare and followed.

More to come once I figure out how to get to a nice patisserie from Nishiki and figure out the menus. Whee!