Aurellia sighed softly and turned another page in her book. She was draped across the big, comfortable armchair sideways, her feet dangling over one arm and the other arm supporting her shoulders. The library was quiet, as always. She wasn't sure where her 'roommate' was at the moment, but she didn't care. She tucked a stray section of hair behind her ear when it tumbled over her shoulder and onto her page, and then just kept on reading. It was a good book and Aura was in her happy place, darn it. She had a good book, a soft place to read it, and all the time in the world.

At least, she thought so.

Kristine was out at a youkai party, disguising herself as a full youkai. Though she didn't have the power of a full youkai, she made do, disguising herself well with what power she had, mingling with the other kitsune and the few wolves and dogs that she saw. Since she was half-kitsune herself, it was easy to blend in. For a while anyway.

And then she got kicked out, her gold-red ears pressing flat against her skull. She'd gotten four tails over the past couple centuries she'd been around, and she was damn proud of it. But she couldn't fool people forever.

So, with a sigh, she tucked her red-blonde hair back behind her and started walking back towards the house she shared with a human. A human who had managed to befriend her over the years, which she still thought kind of hilarious.

Aura looked up from her book briefly when she heard the front door open. It was either later than she thought, or Kris had gotten kicked out of another party, one of the two. Getting up from her chair, she marked her page and set her book down. Then she opened the door of the library and stepped out.

Picking her way delicately along the hall, managing to avoid at least eight individual shoes and a studded belt, she poked her head out onto the porch.

"Welcome back," she said when she saw her roommate. "How'd it go?"

"Eh." Kris shrugged. "I managed just fine for a few hours, until one of the wolves figured it out. The kitsunes probably wouldn't have cared, but the wolves kicked me out. Freaking wolves."

Looking sulky, she stepped inside, idly kicking aside one of her shoes when it got in her way. "You hungry? I think I'm gonna bake something." She always did that when she was feeling at all grumpy or depressed.

"Damn those wolves," Aura agreed obediently, trying to suppress a grin. She wasn't trying to tease her roommate... entirely. She knew very well what Kris thought of wolves. "Sure, bake away. If you get any more tense you're going to start shedding again."

She followed Kris into the kitchen and perched herself on a corner counter, out of the way. Sure, there were chairs she could sit in, but she could watch better from the counter, and she wanted to see how long it would take her roommate to tell her to get her ass down. She blinked when she saw the red light on the answering machine blinking. She hadn't realized they'd missed a call. Hopping down from the counter again, she went over and pushed the playback button. Her mother's voice issued from the machine.

'Aura, dear, sorry to have missed you. I just wanted to let you know that I've finally come up with a solution to your little organizational problem. Well, a pair of solutions, really. I've heard they're the best, and they specialize in extremely disorganized houses. I really hope you listen to them, dearest!'

-BEEP-

Aura blinked.

What. The. Hell?

Kris paused half-way through putting flour into a big bowl, turning to look at the answering machine with wide eyes. Then she looked at Aura, her eyes wide.

"What does she mean, a pair of solutions?" she asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. She liked her mess. She liked her den the way it was, without anyone else interfering, thank you very much!

She managed to get the flour and things in without spilling anything in her anger, and mixed it all by hand. It helped keep her temper in check.

"I'm really sure I don't know," Aura replied. The message, and the idea behind the vague statements, came very much out of the blue, and Aura had no idea what her mother had planned. Her mother hadn't even been to the house in ages, although the last time she'd been there, she nearly fell down the stairs after tripping on a wayward shoe. "I swear, I have no idea." And really, Aura didn't mind the mess... much. It was familiar and almost comfortable, in a way. She didn't like the idea of anyone else trying to 'clean' for her.

Kris huffed and mixed the cookie dough, shaking her head and muttering about meddling mothers. Although she was one to talk, since her mother had been human. Shaking her head, she got out cookie sheets and started to place the cookies, setting the oven to preheat while she did that.

"I swear if your mother hired a pair of maids for us, I am not going to be pleased."

"Somehow, I don't think that's what she did," Aura replied. If her mother had just hired a pair of maids, she would have said so outright. No, this was something else, and Aura didn't like the sound of it. "I'm not entirely sure what she's thinking, but I'm betting we'll find out soon enough." She watched as her friend portioned out cookie dough, but restrained herself from stealing any. She wasn't fast enough to get past Kris, she knew that.

Kris left some in the bottom of the bowl and handed it over to Aura before she put the cookies in the oven. "Well, no use worrying about it, I guess," she muttered. "We'll find out sooner or later, whether we want to or not. I can probably run off whoever it is, if we decide we don't want their help."

"Meaning you're already planning to," Aura translated as she accepted the bowl. She dug a bit of cookie dough off the bottom with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. "I would say something about canines and protecting homes, but I want cookies, so I won't," she added teasingly.

Kristine shot her a slightly evil smile. "Foxes are extremely protective of their dens," she said, her voice quiet. "Normally, the den is a secret to anyone but us. So whoever it is your mother thinks will 'help' us might find more surprises than they like."

Okay, so maybe she was being kind of vaguely threatening. It was her home too dammit.

"Oh come on," Aura said. "That's not what I was teasing you about and you know it." She set the empty dough bowl down on the counter next to her, but didn't jump down just yet. She was taking a moment to decide whether Kris was genuinely annoyed at the moment, or just acting. Her friend was a fluffy pushover when she was in a good mood, but when she wasn't in a good mood, Aura tried to stay out of the way. Even a hanyou was highly dangerous to a mere human, and Aura never claimed to be anything but human.

Kris huffed, her ears keeping track of Aura's movements. "Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. "I don't want people invading my den." And she actually pouted. The five-hundred-year-old kitsune hanyou pouted.

But she'd deny it to her grave, of course.

Aura raised an eyebrow when Kris pouted.

"How old are you, again?" she asked rhetorically. Rolling her eyes, she braced herself on the counter with one hand and leaned forward, reaching out to rub one of Kris's ears with the other. Then she pulled her hand back and hopped down from the counter, covering a yawn. "I'll get a cookie in the morning or something. I think I'm going to get some sleep. I lost track of time reading, I didn't realize it was this late."

Kris rolled her eyes at the question, and relaxed a little at the familiar touch. Aura had already had to suffer through several grooming sessions, so that she'd be familiar with Kris's touchy-feely tendancies.

"Alright. I'll leave them out for you. Sleep well, dear." She shot a smile at Aura, even as the smell of cookies started to permeate the kitchen.

"You too," Aura replied, leaving the kitchen. She picked her way back down the hall, somehow managing to avoid every single shoe that put itself into her path, and went upstairs to her room.

Her room was a veritable explosion of clothing and personal items. There wasn't a single surface that was clear. The dresser was covered in various bits and pieces; from half-used candles to a mason jar full of pocket change. Her desk seemed to play host to everything except a computer; silk flowers rested on one shelf, a few stuffed animals were sitting next to them, and a large cork board rested on top of all sorts of miscellaneous things. The only seemingly-clear space was the bed, which wasn't even made. There was a narrow path leading from the door to the bed, and that was all.

Somehow, between the door and the bed Aura managed to change into pajamas. Then she straightened the blanket on her bed, turned out the light, and snuggled in to sleep. She'd worry about whatever it was her mother had planned in the morning.

Kristine finished the cookies and set them in a bag to cool and to keep the ants away before she headed up to her room, deftly avoiding the shoes, pants, shirts, and single bra on the floor and on the staircase.

Her room was just as bad as Aura's, with clothes all over. A few pairs of underwear hung from a coat hanger over her door, and while she didn't have as many clothes as Aura did, she had more knick knacks, things she'd collected from all her years. And they were scattered over every available surface, including on top of her bookcase and in front of her books, sometimes perched rather precariously.

She was old enough that she didn't need to sleep every night, so she settled down to relax and read for the rest of the night.

Which is why, when someone rapped sharply on their door at precisely 9 that morning, she was awake, and immediately went to go check it out, knocking on Aura's door so that she would start getting up too.

Sesshomaru glanced over at his old teacher, quirking an eyebrow. He knew the cat had been able to smell and sense the youki inside, but it wasn't strong enough to belong to a full blood. A hanyou, then?

A faint smirk touched his lips. Oh, this was going to be very interesting.

Indeed, Hisoka was able to tell that a hanyou lived in the house. A hanyou, and the lighter, fainter smell of a human as well. That was interesting. It was rare for hanyou to live with anyone once they were of an age to live on their own, let alone live with a human. He glanced a bit sideways at Sesshoumaru.

"Remember yourself, my lord," he said softly. "It would not be wise to annoy the one who lives here, if we end up staying here for as long as I suspect we might."

Aura blinked when Kris knocked on her door, but wasn't fully awake yet. She glanced at the clock. Nine? Why was Kris waking her up at nine? Did she forget about something she needed to do today? Getting up, she stretched a bit and tugged her blue tank top down again to cover herself decently, and then pulled on a pair of gray yoga pants. She paused when she felt the distinct fizzy feeling of youki skittering across her skin. She wasn't spiritually powerful, by any means, and was only just sensitive enough to be able to detect youki, but to be able to feel it clear upstairs? That was strange. Curious, she opened her door and went downstairs to see what was going on.

Sesshomaru nodded, glancing at Hisoka. "I am sure you will be your usual diplomatic self," he said, sounding fainty amused. He always pulled rank on his clients, as it were, to remind them that he was in charge. This hanyou would be no different.

Kris opened the door, glancing at the two of them warily, fox ears pressed to her head unhappily. "Can I help you?" She kept her youki tightly reigned, trying to get the measure of the two of them first.

Sesshomaru held out a business card to her. "Miss Patton?"

"No. That's my roommate," Kris replied carefully.

"Hnn. Mrs. Patton hired us."

A quick glnce at the card showed that he, and his friend apparently, were professional organizers. She tamped down her growl of annoyance, instead nodding her understanding. "Very well." She stepped aside for them to come in.

Sesshomaru stepped inside gracefully, glancing around with mounting horror and interest. He hadn't had to deal with more than one client in a long time, and certainly not as messy as this house was. He glanced at Hisoka for his evaluation of the place.

Hisoka watched his step carefully as he ventured through the door. The house was a disaster, worse than he'd seen in quite some time. He nudged aside a high-heeled boot with one foot, raising an eyebrow when it flopped aside to reveal a bikini top. Clearly, there were no males living in the house at all, or even visiting on a regular basis. He knew enough about the female mind that, had there been males in the house, such things as the bikini top would never have made it down the stairs like that. Two females, then, and clearly comfortable enough with each other to leave intimates dangling half-way down the stairs.

"It will be... a challenge," he offered at last.

Aura got even more curious as she went down the stairs and heard male voices. That was new. She got about half-way down the stairs when she saw the two youkai and stopped. Well. That would be the source of all the fizzy youki in the house. She wasn't entirely sure what species the two were, and they were clearly different, but one of them had markings, in addition to his almost egotistical posture and unfairly lovely silver hair. Aura knew enough about youkai to know that in this day and age, usually only taiyouki had any sort of markings like that. What was a tai doing in their house?

"Um... Kris?" she asked, glancing at her roommate. She had a sinking suspicion that this was what last night's missed call was about.

Kris's eyes narrowed a little when she took them both in. Her nose told her that she had a cat and a dog in front of her. The two didn't normally mix, so she was rather curious about that. But they were in her den, and she was not pleased.

"This would be your mother's doing," she said, her voice tight. "Here." She held out the business card to Aura, looking between the two and trying to decide who was leader.

Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow when he noticed Kris's youki starting to flare. She was clearly unhappy with their intrusion. But he ignored that for the moment, heading farther into the house to find a good spot to start. Perhaps the living room table?

Kris actually growled quietly when he moved farther into the house. He was the leader, then. All she had to do was scare him off and she'd be on her way to being rid of them. "I appreciate that you've been hired to do this, but we do not require your help."

Aura glanced at the card briefly before looking back at the two youkai. Oh she would definitely need to talk her mother out of this... insanity.

"I don't know what she was thinking," she said. She was certain that no goodness could possibly come of this. She descended the rest of the stairs and neatly stepped over the empty purse at the bottom.

Hisoka followed Sesshoumaru into what might have been a living room in a past life. This room wasn't much better than the foyer; in all fairness, it was probably worse. There were still more shoes in here, although they were at least grouped in pairs this time, and there were socks strewn about the floor. The table was covered in books and papers that seemed to have no discernible order to them, and the tablecloth was just off-center enough to be distracting.

"Perhaps," he allowed carefully, "however, Miss Patton's mother felt the need to hire us." He didn't add that it was best to just go along with it; he knew better than that. Likewise, he didn't say that he disagreed with the hanyou whole-heartedly.

Kris eyed them both carefully, trying to figure out what she could do. She could try to convince them to leave, and she could do a lot towards hindering their actions, instead of helping. Maybe that would be best. Pretend to comply, but not let them get anything done.

"The moment, I give you my permission to remain in my den," she grumbled. "For now." She glared at them both for a few long moments.

Sesshomaru paused. This was why he didn't work with youkai very often; they were more likely than humans to get very territorial. Apparently hanyou were the same way. She still believed herself dominant, and perhaps she was in this little arrangement with the human. But he couldn't have her still thinking that while he was in charge of this project.

So, he looked at her calmly, meeting her eyes and flaring his youki, trying to push her into submission. Most hanyou were not powerful, and were fairly easy to topple once they knew the extent of his power.

Kris wasn't like most hanyou though. Instead of retreating, she flared her own youki, meeting his look with her own glare and pushing back. Sesshomaru was slightly stunned.

"God, both of you stop it," Aura broke in suddenly. She was rubbing her arms and neck, and just about all of the skin she could reach. "You're making me itch. I feel like I'm about to break out in hives or something." All the youki being thrown around was making the hairs on her arms stand on end the way it kept skittering over her skin. It was like a cross between feeling like there was a stray hair on her skin and being bitten by mosquitoes. She couldn't pick out what was Kristine's and what belonged to the taiyoukai, but it didn't matter. All she knew was there was too damn much of it being tossed about.

Hisoka glanced at the human after her outburst. Interesting. Clearly, she was sensitive to the energy being moved around, but wasn't able to do anything about it. That meant she wasn't any sort of sorceress or priestess, at least, which would make the job a bit easier. Still, it wouldn't do for one of the clients to be so uncomfortable that she refused their help.