"Okay. G'night," Kris said, watching her leave. Then she got up, starting to clean the dishes and humming to herself as she worked. She didn't look over at the other two, her eyes half-closing as she worked, the motions soothing her frayed nerves.

Sesshomaru watched Aura slip upstairs, shaking his head a little. He'd have to get up to her room someday to inspect it, and clean it. One of these days. He just wasn't sure how soon.

Once Aura got upstairs, she turned on the light and closed her bedroom door. Without even thinking about it, she threw a couple of stray shirts into the hamper at the foot of her bed, and was about to toss in a pair of jeans when she stopped. She looked at the hamper, and then at the jeans, and blinked. What was she doing?

While Sesshoumaru was otherwise occupied, Hisoka started to thumb through the pile of mail on the table. It seemed to be just a jumble of different things, with no real trend to anything. After a moment, he stopped. There was too much there to start on that evening; it was almost time for them to leave for the night. Getting up, he went to the door of the kitchen.

"We will be leaving soon," he said. That should perk up her night, at least.

Sesshomaru waited by the door, content to wait for Hisoka. He'd give the cat some time to try to get through to the hanyou. Besides, he could smell that something was confusing Aura, but he wasn't sure what.

Not that he was about to go check. He didn't know her that well yet.

Kristine nodded to show she'd heard, carefully drying the dishes before putting them away in their proper places, in cupboards and under the sink. Then she glanced over at him.

"Good. I need to check on Aura and get some sleep."

"Alright," Hisoka replied. He was about to turn to the door, and then paused. This might be an ideal time to try one more tactic... He turned back to Kristine. "Before we depart... If I might make a suggestion, there is mail on the table in the other room. Perhaps it would be a good idea to sort through it?" He phrased it as a question on purpose, to see her reaction. "Just to be sure there is nothing important that might have been missed."

Kris paused at his phrasing, considering him carefully. He wasn't quite insinuating that she hadn't kept up with things, but even so... She grumbled something unintelligible, putting away the roasting pan.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "Least I kept track of the bills..."

"Which is a good thing, I assure you," Hisoka replied. "Anyway... We will be back in the morning. Sleep well." With that, he left the kitchen, heading out to where Sesshoumaru was waiting by the door. He wasn't entirely sure if his plan would work, but he would be able to tell either way in the morning.

Kris nodded. "Night," she said, watching him go. She waited until she was sure both of them were gone before she went up to her room, getting dressed for bed.

After a little while she went backdownstairs, sorted the mail, and then went back to bed after the mail was all relevent.

A week or so later, Aura was stuffing a couple of new thrift-store shirts into her bag. She needed to put them into her stash at work, so she had spares to change into as they got ruined. Never let it be said she wasn't prepared for her job.

Kris sidled over to her, already dressed in a pair of well-worn work jeans a thick t-shirt. "Hey Aura?" she said, her voice already cajoling. "Can I go to work with you today?" She looked hopeful.

She'd already been to the daycare twice more in the past week, and each time she'd gone straight to Shippou and the other little hanyou, Inuyasha. Never let it be said she had no mothering instinct.

"Only if you get into the car with me so I don't have to keep track of you," Aura replied as she tied her hair back. Once it was secure, she pulled on her shoes and grabbed her keys.

Kris pouted but agreed, getting into the car almost hesitantly. She didn't have a purse or anything, but her ears went flat against her head in displeasure. She'd never liked cars.

"Oh, the things I do for the pups..." she grumbled, buckling herself in.

Aura rolled her eyes and got into the car as well.

"Honestly, it's a ten-minute drive," she said as she started the engine and backed out of the driveway. "Not even, if there's no traffic."

Kris grumped. "I liked horses. Horses were much more dependable, and they didn't involve screaming metal death traps." But she settled in for the ride, bracing her feet against the floor of the car. Because she was just the teensiest bit paranoid.

"Hey, if anything DID happen, you're more durable than I am," Aura pointed out as she stopped at a red light. "So you have nothing to worry about."

"Humph." Kris glanced over at her. "Your driving is better than most, at least. Small favors." She sighed and looked out the window, watching the scenery go by as Aura drove them towards the daycare.

As soon as Aura parked, she jumped out, intent on going to find the little fox kit. She'd already discovered he didn't have anyone else.

Aura didn't mind that Kris jumped out as soon as the car was in park. She followed at a more sedate pace, although it meant she was only a few moments behind. She braced herself almost as soon as she was in the door, since she was typically jumped on by some of the kids before she even put her things down.

Kris was already busy snuggling with Shippou, since Inuyasha wasn't there yet. He was getting dropped off a little later than normal. But she and Shippou found a corner and sat down, and she started to check him over, tutting quietly at the state of his clothes and brushing out his hair carefully.

Sesshomaru glanced over at Hisoka. Normally he didn't mind taking his brother to and from daycare, but today had an added bonus. He could smell Aura inside, and a quick check told him Kris was there too.

"Perhaps you should come in today," he said to his companion, smirking faintly. "Might give you some insight."

Hisoka just raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He could also pick out a pair of familiar scents inside, although it took him a few moments longer to identify who they belonged to. His nose wasn't as sharp as a canine's nose, after all.

Aura was already getting into the swing of things inside. She'd barely been there five minutes before she had to start chasing around some of the kids. It was still early in the day, so she had the energy to do it.

Sesshomaru stepped inside and signed Inuyasha in. The hanyou was cuddled against his shoulder, still half-asleep, and Sesshomaru didn't try to put him down yet. He wasn't just going to go dump his little brother on Kris, after all.

Kris looked up when they entered but then went back to grooming the kit settled in on her lap, speaking quietly to him. He nodded, and she smiled a little, smoothing his hair down with all the care of a mother. She didn't even care if Hisoka or Sesshomaru saw.

Aura didn't look over as the door opened, she was much more focused on catching Tak before he started to climb the walls again. She barely blinked as she tripped over a toy on the floor and burned her elbows on the carpet, she just got back to her feet and pulled the squirrel-boy down from on top of a shelf.

"Gotcha," she said as she started to tickle his sides. He squealed and giggled before climbing over her shoulder so he was hanging on her back. Turning, she started to head back towards the other end of the room, and paused when she saw Sesshoumaru and Hisoka. That was interesting.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her, a tiny smirk tilting the corners of his lips up. Inuyasha was still cradled against his shoulder, since he wasn't willing to wake the little hanyou and pass him off to some stranger. So he waited very patiently for Aura.

Kris rolled her eyes and absently snagged a passing pup, handing him off to one of the other workers to deal with before she went back to Shippou. Although her eyes did keep flashing to Hisoka and back.

Carefully, Aura dislodged the squirrelly-kid from her back and passed him off to one of the others. She got off lucky this time: he hadn't left any holes in her shirt yet. Once she was sure she wasn't going to be kamikaze'd from behind by Tak, she went over to the two youkai.

"And this is what I do every day," she commented.

Hisoka went over to where Kris was sitting with a little kitsune in her lap. The kit already seemed very taken with her, and seemed to be drifting off into a light doze as she doted on him. That was interesting... It seemed like she was already trying to adopt him.

Sesshomaru shook his head a little. "I am impressed," he said quietly. "I did not expect you to be able to keep up well with youkai children." He shifted his grip on Inuyasha, absently letting him get more comfortable. One of his little ears twitched.

Kris glanced at him again before she looked down at Shippou again, her hand resting lightly against his back. Shippou squirmed around for a few moments before he got comfortable enough to drift off. She smiled a little and settled in there, looking at Hisoka as if daring him to protest.

"It takes a certain amount of practice," Aura admitted. "Not all of them bounce off the walls like Tak tries to, thankfully." She took a moment to examine her shoulders. "And I think my shirt is still in one piece." Then she happened to glance at Inuyasha, and her reaction was almost instantaneous: her posture softened a bit and she had to hold back a soft 'awwww.' The pup was just so adorable.

Hisoka shook his head a bit, returning her look with one of his own that said he wasn't going to do anything of the sort. Far be it from him to deny the two kitsune what they both obviously wanted.

Sesshomaru nodded. He could very easily make a comment about youkai-made clothes, but he didn't. Not yet. Instead, he just glanced over at Kris and Hisoka before returning his attention to his brother.

"If you think this is bad, he's even worse when he sleeps."

Kris relaxed at that, shooting him a quick smile before she went back to watching over the little kit. She didn't want him to grow up alone like she had.