Answers for alf_b

[savvyliterate]

alf_b submitted a really nice, long review for my newest fic, "Return to You: The Fate of the Shikon." I wanted to go ahead and answer her questions for her here. ::hugs ALF::



A lot of the answers to your questions actually come in chapter three. The reason behind this being, it's extremely redundant to explain everything to the reader, then turn around and explain everything to Kagome. So the reader learns the majority of what happens when Kagome does.

Why in the world would Sesshoumaru help Inuyasha, and monitor the activities of youkai pertaining to the Shikon no Tama? What happened over the years for such a thing to happen?

It's not because of Inuyasha specifically (though like Inuyasha and Kouga, their feud has cooled to a degree over the years. It's because of Naraku, or the perceived threat that Naraku will come again. A lot of this came about because of Ayame interpreting the history behind the Shikon no Tama and guessing what will come again because it hasn't been destroyed. Pretty much, everything that was happening could be right.

Why was Inuyasha and Shippou in Egypt?
Shippo, as he'll explain, is a pretty well-known, well-respected historiana and archaelogist. Inuyasha is his body guard/partner in a sense. That will also be explained to Kagome. One of my ideas is to eventually write a series of short stories detailing what Inuyasha and Shippo have been up to over the years.

And how and why is Kouga and Ayame able to detect the presence of a youkai through their computers? Shouldn't that youkai sixth-sense thing be enough?
Modern technology and a lot of money. ::grin:: There's more than six billion people on Earth now and not a lot of youkai. The "human stench" would dilute a lot of the youki generated by youkai to where it's hard to detect from a distance. Ayame, when she gets the reading, is underground at the time. I've also gotten the impression that unless this was a super-massive youkai - like Ryuukotsusei - that youki is hard to determine from a good distance.

Detailed explanations of what all the Sengoku Jidai characters looked like would have helped.
That's something else that will be mentioned in chapter three when Kagome actually takes the time to take a really good look at her friends.

{And in the scene where Inuyasha is finally in Japan and is rushing to get to Kagome, you describe Shippou clinging to the hanyou. If Shippou's the size of an adult, wouldn't such a description seem odd? I dunno, I'm still a little unclear about current character descriptions...}
Shippo, as an adult, still wouldn't be very tall. I estimated that he would still be shorter than Kagome. She's around 5 ft. or 5'1, somewhere in there. So I have Shippo around 4'9-4'11. Again, this is something Kagome will note in chapter three when she slows down enough to look. So, when it comes to try to catch up with Inuyasha or just hanging on for the ride, Shippo's learned to catch hold and ride. ::grin::

I had a hard time following who said what in the dialogue at the Cairo airport.
That was the segment written by kitesareevil and myself during an IM conversation one night on AOL Instant Messenger and it still reads that way in a sense. It also follows a style of writing used by J.D. Robb in her books where it is really dialogue intense. Besides, when you close your eyes and picture it, you can tell who's speaking. Other than the very beginning, it's back and forth between Inuyasha and Shippo. It's Inuyasha that the ancient Welsh god of fertility wanted to castrate, BTW. ;)

I hope that this answers your questions. ::hugs:: You know, you can tag me anytime you want on AIM at MegsLeigh. I'm usually around!