Yukio stood a top my house, binoculars up to his eyes scanning my land for any trouble. He only spotted the humongous crowd lined up outside the gates to my business. I was hosting a city wide Halloween party aimed at my customers and animal lovers. It took all year to plan this and over a month to decorate my business up with hand carved pumpkins, hay, set up booths for various other companies, and erect a stage for a few musical numbers. I also opened up a mock agility course anyone could take part in for five free bags of a big name brand dog food. Spirit and I would be running it first to show everyone how we did it. Yukio, Killua, and Rin stood as a group while three others were placed at points to keep an eye on the crowd. Inside my house, I dressed up and began painting Spirit, so he could match me.
"How come Mephisto doesn't have to do this?" Rin grumbled as Yukio reported his findings over the radio to the others.
He sat down next to Rin and sighed. "He's helping her get dressed I'm sure. His magic can transform her into anyone."
"I thought she said she made her outfit on her own?" Killua asked while glancing at the stars.
"Cause of last years war amongst ourselves."
"Aw, man, don't remind any of us. That was a bad day." Rin admitted while turning his head away. "I wonder who she is dressing as?"
"Ms. Kashi is coming out now. She looks marvelous!" Mephisto's voice excitedly called out over the radio. "You can get off the roofs now, the gates will be opening very shortly. I can't wait for everyone to see her when she gets on stage!"
"You heard him." Yukio grunted as he got up. "Lets go to the front and join the others."
Rin whined loudly, "But I want to see what she's dressed as!"
"We will!" Killua stretched as he got up. "On stage. Now get up!"
Rin grumbled, but did as told. Yukio snapped his fingers twice and the three were instantly transported to the front of the business and right next to Inuyasha's crew of himself, Gon, and Zidane.
It was no surprise when Blank, Ultimo, and Kenshin also appeared. The nine watched as my front desk girl(dressed as a nurse) answered a text that was sent from me telling her to open the gates and watched the crowds excitement increase as she approached them. Throwing the latch up in glee she shouted, "Come friends and furry friends! Come on in, the parties starting!"
She quickly got out of the way as people came running in, pets yapping and running alongside their owners. The boys didn't even try to move, the crowd going through them like ghosts. Rin shivered and complained about the feel of it, but didn't move from his spot. Soon, the last of crowd came wandering in and the boys let out a sigh of relief.
"Crowds clear." Yukio spoke into his radio. He shook the goosebumps away that he was also feeling.
"Bravo! Bravo! That had to feel weird! Head to the stage!" Mephisto commanded as they turned to walk. "She will amaze you now!"
Around the stage was packed, the crowd excited to see what was going on tonight. The guys walked through the crowd and to the front, hoping to see me soon, so they to could join in the festivities and dress up.
The curtain moved, Mephisto appearing, leading me on to the stage. The guys and most of crowds mouths dropped at the sight of my costume. Rin made a loud noise in his surprise. I was dressed as a female version Amaimon. Spirit trailed behind me painted as Amaimons familiar, Behemoth, complete with the harness and bite the little demon wears. Grabbing a mic from the front of the stage, I spoke into it to test it. The crowd went wild and I waved while saying hello.
"Happy Halloween everyone!" I shouted to the crowd. They went wild again. "I am the owner of Pawprint Inn, my name is Kasey! I come dressed this night as a demon from one of my favorite shows, Blue Exorcist! If you haven't watched it, go home later and do so! My dog, my prized pit bull, Spirit, is dressed as my characters familiar! We will be showing off our skills later on the agility course, but first let me tell you about the purpose of this bash and my business." I then spent thirty minutes explaining the charities this was helping and various other topics. My throat was dry when I finally finished and left the stage to cheering. I waved at the local band, dressed as a superhero group, as they passed me to set up for their set.
Rin was the first to greet me. "Holy cow! I thought you were him at first!" He shouted as Mephisto laughed.
"I told you she was looking marvelous!" Mephisto smiled brightly. "And she did most of it herself!"
"Yes, I only had him touch up the wig, do my nails, and touch up my makeup, but I made everything else. He was also helping me paint Spirit." I told them showing off the nails that were one inch long past my finger tips. Spirit walked up beside me and spit out his bit, allowing it to dangle around his collar. Spirit was painted a forest green color with a single yellow swirl going down his legs. Around his eyes were also painted yellow. He looked weird, but that was the purpose. Hobgoblins didn't look like dogs.
"I'm impressed Ms. Kashi! You mimic the Earth King quite well." Yukio complimented as Rin walked around me, inspecting the outfit.
"It won't cause any issues this year." Gon laughed. "No bickering who you should dress as this year."
"Yes and I purposely chose another character for that reason." I clicked my tongue and played with my nails. "Now all I have to do is master these nails so I can eat candy in funny ways."
"Funny... Ways?" the boys questioned my wording.
I nodded and dug through my coat pocket, retrieving a gumball colored to look like an eye. Using my long pointy nails, I tried to hold it and attempted to eat it. I heard Mephisto chuckle as I struggled, the damn thing slipping between my nails and finger tip. I finally gave up and ate it normally.
"See funny ways!"
"I will teach you! Our nails can be tricky at first. You'll have to master them before the end of the night so you can write your number for more clients." Mephisto gathered everyone around. "We see how Kashi is dressed tonight. Let's go by her example and dress as something else!" He snapped his fingers and his regular outfit was replaced with an pumpkin themed suit complete with a jack-o-lantern tie clip. Uttering a countdown in German, he snapped his fingers again and the boys outfits changed as well. Zidane was dressed as a King, Rin as a cat boy(Kuro to be exact), Yukio a surgeon, Gon a dog, Killua as a tiger, Kenshin as a police officer, Inuyasha a dog as well(oh my god, he was wearing a collar!), Blank as a noble, and Ultimo was a waiter!
The guys gasped at the change, most happy with their costumes. "Looking snazzy guys!" I complimented noticing a group of people approaching me. I recognized them as family, "Family alert guys! Go have fun!"
All but Mephisto slithered away as my brother, his wife, and my niece approached me. My nieces eyes locked on Mephisto excitedly though he pretends not to notice the 8 year old. She had always been able to see them, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru being the first she had recognized.
"You're getting good at those outfits. You look just like Amaimon if he was a girl." My sister in law snickered as I gave my niece a lollipop from my shirt. She laughed as she took it. "Are you wearing contact lenses?"
"Nope, I'm as blind as a bat right now!" I admit happily. "I've gotten used to it now. I really don't squint now as long as I don't need to read."
"Can I play with your puppies?" My niece asked me when her mother laughed at me. I nudged Spirit towards her.
"Yes, you may. If it's alright with your parents." I knew she was asking to play with Inuyasha, always referring him to a puppy or puppies as a guise.
"As long as it's where we can see you." My brother allowed knowing full well. We watched as she ran off.
"She gets cuter every time I see her." Mephisto claimed, staring at my brother. "He has yet to be able to see me?" My brother was a bigger nerd then me and I did not understand why he was unable to see any of the characters, but his daughter could.
"You guys excited for tonight? Plenty of candy and lots to see! Look how many pets are dressed up for this!"
"How long did it take to paint Spirit?" My brother asked watching Spirit follow my niece protectively. "That looks like it took all day."
"Most." I answered simply. "Going to go hang with clients! You guys enjoy yourself." I skirted away from them before they started bugging me about the outfits any further. They already thought I was crazy because of the Convention Mob and they were searching for more to get on me about.
They said nothing as I slipped away and disappeared into the crowd, doing a funny jig as I did.
Later in the night, I sat among a hill of hay, eating caramel filled chocolates, practicing the technique in holding them. I was getting frustrated though. I ended up just stabbing them and popping them into my mouth. I was currently alone with Spirit, resting before we made our debut on our agility field. Mephisto's radios crackled to life every so often, mostly the boys complain they were hungry. Finally Rin was sent home to make them dinner so they'd stop complaining. They were switching shifts right at the moment, Rin calling the next group happily.
"There you are Kashi!" I heard Valiant exclaim excitedly.
I choked on my current ball of caramel when I heard her, not expecting her at all at my shindig.
Tsukasa was what she was dressed as. I didn't know the character personally so I didn't recognize her at first. I stood up to greet her, Mephisto appearing by my side.
"Hey girlie friend! I thought you couldn't come?!" I hugged her happily.
"It was a surprise! You really thought I would miss your first Halloween party at your business?" She asked me sarcastically, her hands going to her hips in agitation.
I twirled around, a look of wonder in my face, "I thought you wouldn't be able to get up here! But I'm glad you're here! You can see Spirit and I run! How'd you find me anyways?"
"Mephisto!" She chirped happily, nodding to him. He nodded back and smiled.
I blinked in surprise, "You can see him?" Last convention we were at, she couldn't see him. Both her and Whassup were blind to them, but over the convention season they had become aware of presences around then and could identify the person around them from how they felt. To hear she could see Mephisto was big news. I wondered when she would be able to see the others?
"She can see me, but can't hear me still." Mephisto told me proudly.
"Yeah, I can see him, he fades in and out a lot and when he moves his lips I can't hear him, but yes, I can see him finally!"
I couldn't help, but scream in excitement and jumped around her. "Yay! I'm not insane."
"I'm pretty sure you still are." Mephisto stabbed jokingly. "You fanatic of dogs."
"Hey, you feed that love, so don't you say another word." I pointed at him. I was going to insult his obsession with human culture, but Killua and Yukio interrupted me over the radio. They were asking me to come to the agility course, so they could prepare for the competition.
Curious, I asked, "How many people are there?"
"About half of the crowd and our sign-up sheet is full as well." Yukio sounded excited. "I have Killua typing them up for us as we speak."
"That's thirty people! Before they even know how they are running it!" I couldn't help being excited to. I squealed happily and looked at Mephisto and then Valiant. "I'm on my way."
Grabbing up Spirits leash, I ran to my own course to address everyone.
The crowd around my agility course was huge and it took me some time to get through it to get to my microphone. Spirit lay obediently at my feet while I talked and explained my course and its rules. Because most of the dogs were doing this dry and not practiced, I took away faults(when they miss a task, drop a hurdle, or simply don't do as commanded), but they'd have to make it up and do another hurdle or any other task they thought of doing. I took a breather before I ran the course as a preview of what they were to do. All the men were there to see me run, even Sesshomaru who looked rather bored next to Kakashi reading his book.
Laying Spirit down at the starting line, I left him and walked a couple of feet in front of him. With a wave of my hand, we were both off like a shot, Spirit solely following my hand signals. I usually shouted out at him during real competitions, but we ran this course a million times and he didn't need the extra instruction. He gracefully completed all the twists, turns, hurdles, see-saw, chutes, and even the dreaded obedience table and we finished in under four minutes. The crowd cheered loudly as he jumped into my arms and we twirled in celebration.
"Not bad third-in-command." I heard a male voice snicker after I announced the starting time of the competition. I glanced around until I found my new neighbor, Shadow Run's eldest son, leaning on the fence of the course. "I didn't recognize you at first in that outfit. You're out of your norm."
"That's cause a girl needs some change every once in a while." I responded walking over to him. I didn't really want to talk to this man, but it wouldn't look good if I shouted my insults at him. "That and Spirit is adorable all painted up."
"That has to be animal cruelty."
"Your face is animal cruelty!" And the bickering started.
"Nice comeback." He chuckled and shook his head.
"Not my best, but at least I didn't stutter or have a pause." I stood proud.
"What's he doing here?" I heard Rin ask angrily if his brother.
Yukio fixed his glasses before answering, "This party had an open door policy even for the enemy."
"So what made you mosey your evil butt over here?" I asked trying to drown out my guardians whining.
"Couldn't sleep, too much noise."
"It's like 8 o'clock!"
"I have to get up early in the morning for PT. Personal training before you ask."
"I know what PT is you jerk. My brother was in the army and they used that term as well."
"And you wake up at what noon everyday?"
"I wake up at six every morning, I just don't leave the bed half the time 'til then. There is perks to being a boss with good staff underneath you."
"So you skip out on most of the cleaning?"
"Again perks. I'm not afraid to get in on the action if I'm short handed. It is what I enjoy doing after all. I don't see how you enjoy your work. All those little demons running around."
"I thought you liked demons? You dress up as many of them."
"I run around with sophisticated-"
"Wait! Wait! Rin sophisticated? In what world?" He laughed mockingly.
"Are you done pestering me? I have a competition to judge and friends to hang with." I got annoyed at his behavior. I didn't need my rival hanging about bothering me while I tried to be professional.
"Ahh, you're no fun. I will go then. I'll see your bright shining face in the afternoon sun tomorrow."
"You to jerk!"
"You look adorable by the way. Amaimons outfit really shows off those fat curves of yours." He laughed as he walked away.
Hearing my weight being mocked, Rin ran up to me and shouted at him, "She's not fat you bastard! I make her healthy stuff!"
"Thank you Rin." I patted him on the head between his ears as he fumed.
The rest of the night went smoothly. The winner of my course was a young man and his Jack Russel that breezed through it in just above our time with absolutely no faults. When they received their prize they were even kind enough to say they were giving the bags to the local shelter, they didn't need it as badly as them. After that it became late and people started shuffling out. Unknown to me, or the other patrons, the boys started making a castle out of the hay barrels laying around and even made a throne chair out of it. I had noticed Mephisto sitting in a chair with the others sitting around him obediently, eating treats they pilfered from vendors, but I didn't put two and two together.
Only when I locked my gate and waved goodbye to my head of office, did I realize what went on. Mephisto beckoned me over when I stood speechless at the scene.
"Impressed?"
"Very!" I walked to him. "Anything for a throne huh?"
"It's for you." He smiled.
"For me?"
"For a party well done."
"Now, now, none of that! You guys were a big help!"
"And good back massagers." Valiant cooed happily from her perch where Yukio was rubbing her back.
"Anything to help." Yukio nodded his head pleased with the compliment.
"Just take the seat!" Inuyasha yelled from his perch. Spirit barked beside him and jumped down to run to my side.
Mephisto got up while I was distracted and moved away. When I noticed the seat vacant did he poof me into it with a snap of his fingers. At first, I stiffened at the feel of the chair, but it's warmth, borrowed from Mephisto made me relax and I placed my arms on the arm rests and looked out. The boys had purposely built this here, the view of my entire kennels and my large house clear from here. It wasn't as high as my house was, but I could still see my "kingdom" so to speak. Tonight everything was lined in lights and jack-o-lanterns and it was a sight to beheld. It made my heart stop.
"You guys have an eye for detail!" I couldn't help but gasp.
"Eh, we could have done better." Kakashi shrugged from his perch. "Had too many conflicts with ideas."
Ultimo appeared at my side, "It was fun! All those yummy treats!"
"You guys didn't steal much right?"
"Nah we just got these as they packed up. We were good." Killua snickered sharing a giant bag of cotton candy with Gon. Rin sat beside them with Zidane and Blank eating corn dogs and chicken on long sticks. Even Yukio showed he had procured a candy apple. Mephisto didn't say what he got, just looked proudly into the distance.
Suddenly feeling tired, I stretched and yawned. "I think this party was a smash! What about you guys? I couldn't thank you enough."
The boys yipped and hollered happily. I smiled my head getting heavy. "I think it's time to call it a night! We can clean up in the morning!"
"Ahh, go to bed princess, we can stay up and clean."
"Hey, hey! I wanna go to bed to!" Zidane argued hearing Mephisto's offer.
"With all of us it will be cleaned up in no time." Yukio argued back. Patting Valiant back softly,
he stood up and walked to my seat. "You won't need us in the morning anyways right?"
"You boys can do anything you want. I'm not stopping you!" I yawned again. "Sleeping all day isn't going to hurt me."
The boys whined, but got up and started cleaning up. "Be nice. Don't be afraid to leave stuff behind. You're not supposed to be cleaning elves." I giggled at Mephisto.
"Anything that pleases you makes them happy." Was all he said as he went down to join them. It was his favorite thing to say and his reason for whenever they did something more then asked of them.
Thankfully, even he would be making himself scarce for the day as well. He knew when I would be too exhausted for rowdy behavior and would want to chill in front of my T.V. for the day.
"I guess we should be going." I turned to Valiant tiredly. Taking her arm in mine, we walked down the lighted path to my home, Ultimo following along with Spirit.
