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Twisted Hearts by Eternal fire1
Anime » Inuyasha Rated: M, English, Romance, Sesshōmaru, Kagome H., Words: 175k+, Favs: 3k+, Follows: 1k+, Published: 5/1/2007 Updated: 9/6/2008}
3,752 Chapter 31: if this isn't love
People, this is the last chapter.
No more chapters after this. No epilogue. No sequel. This is it. Maybe, if I get enough people that want it, I'll either write a Kikyo/Inuyasha one-shot, where we get to see what happened to them, or a Rin and Sesshouamru story, where we see more of Sesshoumaru's past. In the first, there would be some Kag/Sess, and in the second no. It's up to you. You decide if you want the one-shot, but I will definitly not add more chapter to this.
I will, however, write another story that is already being planned, but I will not post it until december because I have lots of work, almost no time, and I would only be able to update like once evey month or maybe two months, and I don't want to do that to you. However, I will put an advance at the end of this. Be warned, it's going to be a bit darker than this one.
To my lovely editors that made this story possible…
Fluffy's lady – Thank you so much for your help! And I'd be so honored to have you as my beta for my next story!
Collette – If someone has helped me with this story, it has been you. You've done so much for it, and I can't ever thank you enough, and we'll work on the next story and wow, can you believe this is over?
Victoria – You too have been a great help, and thank you so very, very much for my stressing over chapters and all that! Thanks for your patience.
Thank you three for making this story better, and making me a better writer. Those things can not ever be thanked for enough times.
My last thank you's…
jaylin cage – Oh my, I loved that last part of your review. So…emotional.
ReedyRulz – Yey! So happy this was your first story!
TrueGemini – Definitely worth it.
MidNite Phoenix – I totally agree with you on the 'Edward' actor, and I'm dying to read 'Breaking Dawn'.
Hattaru – To make people like Sess/Kag is my price, and I'm glad I did it with you!
Spirit's Fire – You bet I'll write another one!
Lady Sann – I know! I was, am, so not ready to let go of this story!
Autumn Misery – It's part of me, too, and it is over, but hopefully you'll leave with a good taste in your mouth?
Sakura Taisho – We all weep L
Mlmonty – Thanks for the congrats, and…you'll have to read to find the happy ending.
Angelo Mist – Oh, that song is…yeah, and thank you for finding such interest in the story that you related it to a song! Really, thanks.
Kelly Locise – Thanks for the vote of confidence in my abilities.
Dawns Heart – Your review is, by far, one of the best I've ever gotten, and I can only hope this last chapter is worth of such a great reader.
Poisonflower – Thanks for the add. Really. And I'll add write another Sess/Kag story, so maybe you can read that one.
Lovemeprincesskagome – As a writer, I appreciate your reviews, and I'm pleased you love it enough to print it.
Attackedbyangrysocks – I know! I just couldn't see him asking her to marry her. He had to do it with that question.
Zero-serenity – I love that passage, too, especially the last lines.
Sayuri-girl . I wanted Kagome's love for Sesshoumaru to be different from her love for Inuyasha. I wanted it to be special, to be something she could only feel with one man and not ever feel it for another one. I wanted it to be the love of a woman, and not a teenager.
REWOFF – Thanks for being such a loyal fan.
Shakespeareismyhero – Every single review you gave me has been…educational and moving and simply wonderful. As for Kag/Sess…I think for their love to be truly transcendental, they have to realize that no, they won't die without each other, but yes, they're better when they're together, and they have the choice to not want to be in a world without the other. It's a decision, not a necessity, and isn't that love? Choosing to be with someone because you want to and not because you need it? In my opinion, that is what Sess/Kag could have, and what Inu/Kag could never.
Sesshy's Princess Kagome – You live in Montreal? I was born there! And I love that city! I plan to move there after I finish my career, but yey, it must be great to live there!
Kelly – Thank YOU for reading it and appreciating everything I've put into this story.
EnchantressXofsouls – Of course I'll read your stories! Just give me a bit of time. I'm extra busy right now, but as soon as I find time, I'll give them some thought.
condemned-2-fate – Thank you for your offer. Right now, I won't need one (I'm not planning on starting a new, long story for a few months) But as soon as I do, I'll see how my editor situation is.
anime4mealways – oops, didn't mean to make anyone cry…maybe just a little, but hey, maybe you won't cry at the end of this, if I was in a good mood when I wrote this.
Jamilia Isabekova – You founf a way to make your review get to me! I can not say how wonderful that felt, and I truly do hope you enjoy this story from the first to the last word, and wow, it truly is amazing to find such wonderful reader and person!
Melantao: Sorry I couldn't update sooner, but this had to be edited, and some things (you'll see at the end) had to be done, but I did try. Just wanted you to know that.
To all those who read this story, cried, laughed, and loved with it. To you, who spent hours reading it, and hours wondering when the crazy writer would post again. To the people who have read this story from the beginning, or at the middle, or anywhere, really. To all the reviewers. To those who I did not reply back (trust me, I read every single review, and every one was read with care, and all of them made me smile, and wow, more than 2500 reviews). To all of you, who took the chance to find out what 'Twisted Hearts' was all about.
And finally, so that no one takes this story from fanfiction…
This contains a lemon. There is nothing signaling where it starts because it ruined the fluency of the story, but you have been warned.
Twisted Hearts
…if this isn't love
So here I am, and there you are, and only a few centimeters separate us, so let us stop wasting time, for even if we live forever, time will still not be enough for all the love we have.
ooOOoo
Life did not go on for Sesshoumaru.
True, his company had grown bigger in the last months, but it was as if his life was suspended. He only seemed to do two things now days: work and think of Kagome.
He hated that.
He figured distance was all he needed to forget her, and it was becoming obvious that not even distance would do the trick. He was also sure that time would not do it either.
Years went fast for youkai. Months were nothing to them. The last three months had been eternal to Sesshoumaru, and he was beginning to conclude that maybe he had made the wrong decision.
This did not please him at all.
He always did the right thing. He was never wrong. He could not be wrong about leaving Kagome. Because of him, she had been tortured, and it was for the best that he left. Except his body found it hard to sleep when she wasn't next to him, and he missed his midnight snacks. He tried to do them himself, but after a week, two stoves broken, and one exploded microwave, Sesshoumaru had to admit that cooking was the only thing in the world that he could not do.
In addition, the stupid hotel did not serve midnight meals. When he had finally gotten them available so he would stop terrorizing the employees, he was so disappointed that he gave up on midnight snacks.
He blamed it on Kagome.
That did not make her absence better. If anything, it made it worse.
So there he was, Sesshoumaru expanding Taisho Company to Canada, and he felt no satisfaction because all he wanted was to annoy the miko and touch the miko and kiss the miko. Well, he wanted to do more than kiss her, but Sesshoumaru refused to go there because that only made him more nostalgic, and he had never been nostalgic of anything in his life.
Except Rin, but that was another matter.
Because Rin had been a small light in his very dark world. She had been the innocence he had crushed when his father dismissed him with a look. She had been the tenderness he had forgotten, and she had, without trying at all, given him the one thing he had never had.
She had allowed him to take care of her.
Never, in all his life, had he ever taken care of someone. He had been the center of his own universe. He had forgotten his mother, his father, whatever friends he might have had. He did not know what taken care of someone meant. He hadn't wanted it.
But Rin had not cared.
Whatever he thought, whatever he felt about her, it did not matter to her. She had been dropped at his door, wounded and on the brick of dead, probably left there because the idiots had not had the courage to end her. They'd let her at his door, so he would finish what others could not.
He hadn't been able to end her, either. She had looked at him, smiled, and fainted, like she could finally let go because he was there, and everything would be alright, and how could anything go wrong if he was there?
Just like that, she had trusted him of sight. He had never been trusted in all his life, not by anyone that had not known him from when he was a child. Respected, feared, yes. Trusted? No.
She had. Something in him had refused to kill her.
She had become his adopted daughter, and for a while, having her had been enough. She had made him a bit more…human, and a bit less demon-like.
The small, brief, light of his darkened life. And when she had gone, when all his light was turned off, he had become even colder than before, refusing to ever again commit the mistake of caring after someone. Never again would he feel the devastating pain of having someone you cared for being taken away. Never again would he lose someone else because he would never again care for someone.
He was done with emotions. They did nothing but spat at his face. His admiration for his father had let to deception. His love to his mother had ended in devastation. The care he held for Rin left him blind in a world full of color-
If emotions liked to laugh at him, then he would laugh at them even more.
What good help it had done, what with Kagome in his life.
The woman respected no rules, no barriers, no self imposed codes.
He missed her, but he refused to go back for he had made his decision, and backing away from it would mean that he was wrong. Being wrong made Kouga and Inuyasha right, and he would rather never sleep well again than give them that satisfaction. They would not be right if he was wrong.
But he missed her.
Sesshoumaru was not happy at all, and the only thing that comforted him was that his half brother was not happy either. He was looking for his mate. He hadn't found her. Sesshoumaru thought he would never find her, and that was Inuyasha's problem. Sesshoumaru had enough problems of his own, like figuring out ways to stop missing Kagome. In the past, he never had problems with happiness. He had not felt it, never touched by it, except for the few years that felt like seconds when he took care of Rin.
But the happiness Kagome brought him could never be compared to Rin's. Where Rin had been like the light breeze, Kagome was a storm, fireworks, warmth that threatened to burn him. He wanted nothing but to be burnt by it.
He was not making any progress.
Work did not do the trick for forgetting. His mind always seemed to find time to distract itself and start strolling to Kagome. He refused to entertain himself with other women. The thought alone made him nauseous, he would be looking for Kagome in them, no one would ever be Kagome, and he would just end up angry and kill someone. Kagome would not appreciate that. Even if Kagome wasn't with him, he was sure she would not take it kindly if he killed a human.
Drinking was also out of the question. Contrary to popular belief, Sesshoumaru did not like pain. He liked inflicting pain to others, but not pain to himself. He got enormous hangovers, and those included pain, so no drinking for him.
He was haunted by the image of Kagome.
Sometimes, he hated her for it. Most of the time, he just missed her more. Sesshoumaru thought if things kept going as they were, he would have to admit that he was wrong, and he had made a horrible decision.
Then, what would he prove going back? Kagome would stay by his side, he was sure. She had, after all, gone through so much for him. She cared, but if he went back, would she stay by his side because it was the easiest thing? Because there was nothing else for her?
Kagome cared for him, but did she care more than she had for Inuyasha?
He could not believe how insecure he felt. He could not believe that insecurity was part of why he was not going back.
He needed her to find him. He needed her to come to him this one time. He yearned for Kagome to finally look at only him, and he needed proof to that. How lame could he get?
Sesshoumaru could not believe what that small, clumsy, fragile, annoying, absurd, human woman had done to him. But he wanted and needed her to come to him, so he refused to go to her.
Kagome would be the end of him.
Life, too, seemed reluctant go on for Kagome, but she had known that since the beginning.
That would probably explain why she was in Montreal, had threatened a poor woman to tell her which room was Sesshoumaru's, and was currently trying to break in.
Sesshoumaru was a bad influence on her. Kagome wasn't concerned, but she did know one thing.
She did not want to be free of Sesshoumaru.
It had not taken a lot of thinking to get to this conclusion. Her body refused to let go of him. It longed to feel him by her side, to the point where she could not even sleep well in his absence. Her head kept going back to thoughts of him. Her heart just wouldn't allow itself to forget him.
In Kagome's mind, this was exactly where she was supposed to be. Of course, it would be better if she didn't have to break some laws to get to the annoying youkai.
"Excuse me; did you forget your key?"
Kagome turned, mentally swearing having been caught, but smiled at the young man in front of her.
"Ah…" She wondered just how suspicious she looked. "Yes?" Now she had blown it. To her utter relief, he smiled.
"Here, let me open the door for you."
Kagome's jaw dropped. "Really?"
"You're Mr. Taisho's wife," he said, unlocking the door. "I recognized you from some pictures of the wedding."
Kagome still could not get her mouth to close.
"So…" he said as the door to his room opened, "I hope you surprise him." He winked at her. "He hasn't been in a good mood. I bet he misses you."
He eyed her sensually, but Kagome was feeling too thankful to care. She was just glad Sesshoumaru wasn't there; he'd end the poor boy's life in the most horrible way.
"I would miss you."
Such a horrible death this boy would get. Kagome gave him a warning look, but he laughed.
"Good luck, Mrs. Taisho." He left, and Kagome stared into the room. Quietly, she entered it and closed the door behind her. She walked around, looked at the few things Sesshoumaru kept then promptly jumped in the bed he slept in.
She let out a loud laugh. The room smelled like him; she finally felt like she was home. She felt right where she needed to be. She felt closer to Sesshoumaru. She smiled. Now, all she had to do was wait.
Kagome was tired of waiting, and she would make damn sure to make Sesshoumaru understand that.
She would never wait for him again because he was not leaving her ever again. She'd be damned before she allowed it.
And she would give that dumb, stupid youkai a piece of her mind.
Her scent hit him before he was even close to the hotel.
At first, it was so, so meek he didn't pay it much attention. After all, he was used to thinking he smelled her scent, watching her black hair, or hearing her laughter. He supposed his mind was playing tricks on him again. But as he drew closer, the scent intensified, becoming stronger as the limousine got closer to its destination.
He ignored it. He refused to give into his mind games. His face went blank, like it had been since he left Kagome three months ago, as it had been before he met her. He kept his eyes on the view, but his expressionless eyes had a bit of a shine, an edge to them.
Kagome, or even the imaginary Kagome, tended to bring out reactions in him he did not even know he was capable of.
He arrived at the hotel, the scent hitting him so hard he had to stop for a moment. The limousine driver even had time to open the door for him, which snapped him out of his fantasy of Kagome being in this hotel, and he got out of the car, passing everyone without a glance as he went to his room.
And the scent found him every step of the way, stronger with each step he took.
He stared at the door, the key in his hand, unable to open it. He couldn't believe he didn't dare open the door to his own room.
If she was…maybe…really here…
She could very well not be here, and then Sesshoumaru would consider himself a fool, and he was no fool.
He would stay outside his room, or book at another hotel, or something.
He would not enter his room.
And he was not a fool.
Except, all his things were inside. Besides, Kagome was clumsy as hell. There was no way she could have opened the door by herself, and no one would dare help her.
So there, his imagination had finally gotten out of control, but there was nothing to fear, except perhaps finally becoming insane. Other than that, nothing. Kagome was not on his room.
His heart did a funny thing, practically squeezing itself, as if the thought of not being able to see Kagome could almost stop it.
He entered his room after twenty minutes of staring at it. The scent surrounded him the moment he opened the door. He ignored it, and then he raised his head, and…He could do nothing but stare…again.
His eyes refused to leave her figure, taking in all of her. Her long, black, hair, those blue, intense eyes, that pale skin, her small hands, the rosy tinge on her cheeks, he took it all in.
Kagome.
His Kagome.
He almost smiled at the way she had decided to wait for him, except he was not sure if he had finally lost it because she was too good to be real.
He stared at her, and he did not know if he was dreaming, hallucinating or if his mind had decided to play a joke on him. He didn't think that was very funny.
Kagome was there, in front of him, sitting on the couch like he had been the first time he saw her. Her scent, a mix between vanilla and something else, overwhelmed his senses. And he could not move because, for once, he was scared she would disappear.
He could only look at her.
Kagome could not believe he was finally before her. She had passed hours trying to decide what she would say to him and, now that he was here, she found that she could not do anything but stare at him, and her mouth would not work, and her eyes were fixed on him, and her body would not move. They both stayed right where they were, neither of them moving. They were both taking each other in, as if not believing the other was in front of them.
This was stupid on Kagome's part because she had flown here, and she had waited for him for hours.
They were there, immobilized by each other's presence.
'So like us', Kagome thought, 'not to run into each other's arms, or kiss, or say something cheesy. So like us. So like him…'
Then Kagome snapped.
"You ungrateful idiot!" She shouted at him because she did not know what to do, and shouting was the only thing that came to her mind. She yelled because it seemed like the thing to do if she wasn't going to through herself at him, and he would hear what she had to say, and he would pay attention, and she'd be damned if she didn't get it through his thick head the fact that she was staying by his side, even if he didn't want her to. "I can't believe you left me like that! And with that stupid note, as if, as if…"
Her eyes found his.
"As if I could move on, as if I would want to move on! Don't you know me at all?"
Sesshoumaru felt like laughing, which was weird and would only make her angrier. Still, to hear her voice again… It was just like her to shout at him instead of a confession, so like them to meet in the heat of an argument rather than the relief of reunion.
Of course, he had known she would probably not listen or do a thing he had told her to in the note. She never did. In the back of his mind, he was actually grateful that she had not followed his suggestions. He was sure he would have killed any of her suitors. Then she would have been mad at him.
"…you truly are something! You didn't even wait to see if I was okay!"
"I did." Sesshoumaru intervened, bringing his attention back to her. He hadn't been able to decide if he wanted to concentrate on the sound of her voice or what she was saying. Her last statement made the decision. Lies were unfair.
He had gone only after the doctor had told her she would be okay, after his half brother wanted a word with him and only after he had made Kouga keep him updated on everything she did. Of course, the wolf had somehow forgotten to tell him Kagome was coming. He would make sure to have a word with the youkai.
Or maybe not. His mind was running with thought of abducting Kagome and taking her somewhere where there would only be the two of them.
Kagome shot him a deadly glare, as if reading his mind.
"That's not the point! So you made sure I was okay. The deal is that you left, and I…" And Kagome wanted to throw herself at him, and kiss him, and assure herself that he would never let got of her. She was tired of not having what she wanted.
"I only want you, and if I can't have you, I might as well cease to exist," she finally said, anger leaving her body, a small plea in her last word and her eyes fixed on the only youkai that would ever hold her entire being.
She had once loved his brother, but that was in the past, and Kagome only cared about the present and the future. Sesshoumaru was just that to her. He was her present and her future.
"So you either take me or leave me, but make it definite, Sesshoumaru, because… I'm very tired of simply waiting."
Kagome finished her speech, crossed her arms over her chest, and waited for Sesshoumaru to say anything to assure her that she had not crossed an ocean for nothing. She waited for him to do something that would make her trip worth it.
To her utter surprise, he laughed.
He tilted his head back and laughed. Laughter… She had come all the way from Japan, poured her heart out to him, and he…laughed.
She wanted to cry, but, instead, she just smiled.
Because this was Sesshoumaru, and laughing was so rare of him, so strange and comforting, that she could only close her eyes for a second and surround herself with the strangeness of laughs.
Sesshoumaru could not believe her. It was very like Kagome to just say something like that and give him an ultimatum. She had to be the only living being that was brave enough to do that, and Sesshoumaru could hear any words that came out her mouth.
She was here.
She wanted him.
That was all that mattered. Sesshoumaru was tired of waiting for what he wanted. He would have her.
"Stupid miko," he said and Kagome's eyes snapped back to him.
"Who the hell are you calling stupid, idiot?"
Sesshoumaru walked towards her. The distance between them was almost unbearable.
"Will you marry me?" he asked her, his eyes deathly serious on her blue ones.
Questions long ago asked…
Kagome thought he had probably gone mad in the last months. "I'm already married to you."
"But would you marry me now?"
"Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"Would you?"
And it suddenly became clear just what Sesshoumaru was asking. She looked into his golden eyes.
The first time she had seen them, she had thought they looked like Inuyasha's. The thought nearly crushed her, back then. Soon, Kagome had decided that his eyes weren't like his brother's; Sesshoumaru's were cold like ice. As time passed, Kagome saw emotion in them. After that, she had seen his eyes grow warm when he looked at her, and Kagome had learned to trust them. She felt safe knowing those eyes followed her everywhere. And now…
"Why would you want to marry me?" she asked her, her voice soft and warm and in need of some sort of confession.
"Because…"
Kagome just had to look into his eyes to find the words that had never been said.
"I would marry you," she said. Then she smiled. "If you mate me." God, what she wouldn't do for him.
Her hand slowly went to his cheek, shaking as she felt the skin under her touch, caressing it, and he grabbed it and brought it to his lips.
"But only if you promise me forever," she told him.
And he gave her the warmest of smiles, such a big smile that it reached his eyes, and Kagome thought if he said no, it would be okay. Everything was worthy of that one smile.
Just to see him this happy.
She would be tortured repeatedly if he promised to give her that smile at the end.
"I would not give you less," he said, his voice as warm as happy as his smile.
Tortured again and again for that answer. For him. For them. For this.
Different answers…
And then Sesshoumaru pulled her closer to him, and the next thing she knew he was kissing her fiercely, their lips meeting again after so long, and Kagome could do nothing but get lost in the kiss and give him all the passion she had. His tongue was dancing with hers. His hand was going up and down her arms, on her neck, before settling at both sides of her face, cupping it. Kagome could feel all the love he had for her in that one kiss and she could only hope he felt the immense love she had for him and only him.
Forever for him and no one else.
She would forever belong to him, just as he would forever belong to her. This time, they would be together until he died. She was surrendering her whole being to him, but it wasn't that bad. It was not bad to go to the unknown with him. It wasn't bad to give in to him.
She had been his a long time ago, anyway.
"You are so pompous," she mumbled between kisses. Her hands were at his chest, feeling the strong muscles under them, at his powerful back, at every part of him that she could get. His hands, she noted, were exploring again, and Kagome arched against them, wanting him to touch more, to touch everything, to just touch…
"I knew you'd come for me."
Kagome could imagine his smirk, but he was kissing her neck, and her blouse was being opened by his elegant hands. Kagome's mind was becoming more incoherent with each caress. He was melting her very thought by just being there.
This, Sesshoumaru thought as he felt her soft skin beneath his fingers, was what he wanted. Her breath was hard, becoming harder. Her chest went up and down. He pulled back to watch her. He let her unbutton his shirt and kept his eyes on her as it slid off his shoulders and onto the ground. Her eyes, darker with lust, traveled over his well-toned chest. She blushed, and Sesshoumaru chuckled at her reaction, at the innocence she seemed to carry around her no matter their situation.
He would have her do more than blush.
He pulled her close against his naked chest, and she moaned when they met. He trailed kisses down her neck, to her chest, his hand at one of his breasts. She moaned and arched against him.
"Sesshoumaru…" she breathed, her voice husky, making him harden like rock.
She had always been a fire to him.
He lifted her up, putting her legs around his waist.
They stayed there for a moment, just looking at each other.
Kagome was blushing furiously. She could feel every part of him against her body, and he was definitely ready for her, and…
God, what if I'm not good?
What if she didn't give him what he wanted? What if…
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice tender, caring, for his soon to be mate. Kagome melted at the tone of his voice, and she had to put her arms around his neck to not fall.
Like he would ever let her fall.
"Yes," she managed to answer.
"Do you want this?" She pulled back to look at him with incredulous eyes. Did she? Did she want to join him forever? Did she want to make love to him? Did she want to give her body, the last thing left to give, to him?
But the question warmed her very heart, and she was sure, in that moment, that if she said no, he would stop, deny himself his very wish and instinct just for her.
She had never felt more loved.
"Idiot, as if I would say no."
His eyes warmed, then his face got serious. "This is forever."
And she laughed, her body moving with it and against Sesshoumaru's.
"I won't take anything under forever."
He maneuvered her to the bed and let her fall on it. Slowly, he undressed himself, letting Kagome's eyes wander as each piece of cloth fell. Kagome gulped as the last part of his clothing fell to the floor. Her eyes grew wide as she finally managed to see just how big he was, and how perfect all of him was, and how those purple marks only brought out his beauty.
He was perfection, and Kagome had no idea how she had ended up with him, but she wasn't complaining. Besides, she was worrying about something else entirely.
'How will he fit in me?' She asked herself as she gulped, but she had no time to think much. After all, Sesshoumaru was completely naked in front of her, letting her take him in.
His purple marks stood against his pale body. His muscles moved as he breathed. His white hair surrounded his impeccable face. His golden eyes were obscured with desire.
He was gorgeous, godlike gorgeous.
Kagome felt inadequate compared to him.
He moved to her, slowly, as if to not scare her. Once he reached her side, his hands went towards her unbutton blouse to remove it.
Her hand went to his to stop him instantly
"I…I don't want you to…" She didn't know how to explain this. "I mean, you won't like it, and I…"
He stopped her by delivering a small kiss to her lips. Kagome looked down, refusing to look at him.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I…" She fidgeted with the cover. "My back…" How could she show him how bad her back was after…after Naraku was done with her? How could she show him all her scars when he had this unmarked body that was just so…perfect?
How could she expect him to conceal the disgust by it all? He had felt them, earlier, and had not said anything, but feeling and seeing were not the same. She did not want to see the disgust in his eyes.
He pushed her hand away from her blouse.
"No…" she answered immediately, but he ignored her, slowly removing the blouse from her body.
It fell from her shoulders.
Kagome burrowed her face against his shoulders.
"Don't…" She wanted to beg him not to feel disappointed or appalled. She would not be able to get over it if he did not want her because of…
She stopped thinking when she felt his hands over her marks. She looked up to him, but he was already moving to stand behind her, kissing every single one of the horrible marks with such tenderness that Kagome could not help but be reassured.
Sesshoumaru was horrified.
He was disgusted.
But it was not because of what she was thinking.
Every single scar was his fault. Each one had been pain she had endured because of him, for him. This was the representation of her torture.
He hated himself at that moment as he had never before, and he wished he could bring Naraku back to life, only to kill him in a more painful way this time.
He concentrated on her, though, because he could not bring Naraku back to life, but he could treat her as she deserved. He traced every one of them, laid his lips on them, as tender and reassuring as he could be.
He would not have his mate feel wrong about something that was not her fault. He would do everything to make her feel loved and cared for.
She was perfect, and her scars were just proof of how much they deserved to be together. This proved how much they suffered before being able to find their complement.
Kagome closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his lips against her back, the way his finger moved and the pains he was taking to make her feel okay within her own skin and with him.
"Sesshoumaru…"
He was at her lips again.
"You are beautiful," he told her simply, purring against her neck.
Kagome felt her heart beat faster. She smiled. "You are not so bad yourself…"
He started kissing her and touching her again and Kagome could not stop touching either, and she brought his lips to hers and their tongues met, fighting for control, not letting the other win.
…It doesn't matter, our differences…
He finally managed to get the bra undone, and his mouth found her left breast while his hand played with the other. Kagome gasped, moaned and arched against him, one of her hands running past his back while the other hung onto his shoulder for support.
She had never felt such pleasure. This was beyond anything he could imagine. She moaned again and he growled approvingly.
How he had dreamed to do this…
How he had dreamed to have her, to feel her, to possess her. She felt so good against his hands and her taste went beyond anything he could imagine; she was the heaven he had never believed in. Her scent clouded his mind as much as her moans did.
Kagome was feeling too much, could not think clearly at all and just wanted him to never stop doing those wonderful things but, of course, he stopped. When his eyes met hers, Kagome gasped. They were intense with lust, but beneath all the raw lust, there was another kind of warmth that Kagome had longed to see reflected on those eyes. Her hands went from his strong abs, following the marks on his chest, to his face.
"Will it hurt?" She couldn't help but ask. He chuckled a little.
"I'll make it so it doesn't hurt that much."
"You'll have to deal with me for eternity."
"Unfortunately." There was a smile on his face.
"You are everything I never wanted."
"You are everything that irritated me."
He lowered her to the mattress, slowly taking off the rest of her clothes. His mouth traveled from her foot to her leg to her thigh, while his hand followed the mouth's path.
Kagome closed her eyes, not knowing what to expect next…
She let out a gasp as she felt one of his fingers entering her.
Kagome couldn't help it. She let out one loud moan, and arched against him. Sesshoumaru pushed her down, keeping her against the mattress as he started to move his finger.
"Oh God…!" Her nails clawed at his back, leaving red trails. It was all she could do to keep from exploding with all she felt. He growled again and entered a second finger, followed shortly by a third, hitting her in all the right spots.
"God, Sesshoumaru…"
He only smiled. Today, it was all about her, and he would make damn certain to put all his experience into giving her the strongest of pleasures.
Disliking, understanding, caring, loving…
He captured her lips again, not removing the fingers, and Kagome thought it was almost sweet, but it soon turned passionate again, and Kagome went with him, letting him do as he pleased, doing as she pleased herself. His touch was addictive, and his kisses were the only thing that could satiate her hunger.
God, how she had missed him! She had missed how his gaze burned into her, and how he could make her nothing and everything with just one touch.
Her hands felt along his marks, and Sesshoumaru groaned as she touched a sensitive place. She bit him on one of his shoulders, making him groan again.
The fingers left her. Kagome felt disorientated for a second, but before she could ask, she felt him at her entrance.
"Sess…"
He kissed her, his hands at her hips, and entered her in one motion. Kagome closed her eyes, but it did not hurt as much as she thought. She hadn't even had time to think about how much it would hurt. He just kept kissing her, not moving, giving her time to adjust to him. To her surprise, he fit just fine.
Sesshoumaru was in bliss. He had known being with her would be good, but he had never thought it would arouse so many emotions and feelings, or that it would make him this hard, this desperate to take her and make her his.
He felt possessive of her, and he wanted to protect her from everything. His instinct yelled at him to care for her, to look after her every need, and his heart pounded in his chest, begging to never be rid of her. She was the only one he would take as his mate.
"Mine," he murmured.
"Only yours," she agreed before giggling.
The movement almost made Sesshoumaru lose it.
He was desperate to mark her, and Kagome was panting, her lips red, her eyes full of love and lust. He needed to feel more of her.
"Please, please move," she pleaded.
And because Sesshoumaru wanted to go back to what he was doing, he looked at her once more. She groaned a little at his lack of touch, and he smirked, but then his smirk turned into that small smile that was only for her, and if Kagome hadn't been on the bed, with his body over hers and inside her, which, by the way, felt delicious, Kagome thought her knees would have given in.
Her heart skipped a beat anyway.
He started to move slowly while he trailed kisses on her face. She moved with him, meeting each stroke with one of her own. Slowly, at first, faster as time passed, and with each stroke she felt closer to something. She could feel him move, in and out, in and out, faster as the minutes passed. She moaned, he groaned, and they both met each other in perfect synchrony.
Sesshoumaru would not be able to stand it for much longer. Any second now, and he would lose his pace.
"More," Kagome hissed against his neck. Sesshoumaru fastened the pace, and Sesshoumaru moved deeper into her, accelerating the pace, and they could not be closer, they could not feel more.
Sesshoumaru gave one more trust, and Kagome yelled as she felt like something was breaking in her, shaking all of her body. And, as she exploded, she screamed his name.
Sesshoumaru followed her soon after that, finally losing his control over his body. Just before coming, he bit her neck, forever putting his mark on her. Then, he let his orgasm ride him to the very end.
Kagome smiled as Sesshoumaru came back to bed after washing. He slid under the covers and lay next to her. His hand reached for her, bringing her close to him. Kagome happily snuggled next to him.
Sesshoumaru nuzzled his nose at her neck, right over the purple crescent that had appeared on it, forever marking her as his. His scent was already mixing with hers.
"Mine."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." Inside, she felt like exploding with all her happiness.
They stayed there, satisfied in each other's presence, in comforting silence for a while.
Kagome could not believe she was finally back in Sesshoumaru's arms, and they had just mated, and she could already feel herself closer than ever before. She was starting to feel his emotions, his presence; his self as she had never thought was possible.
As much as she had loved the sex, she loved this quiet even more.
Until she broke it.
"How did you know I would come?"
"Excuse me?"
"How did you know I would come looking for you?"
"You talk too much."
"To make up for your lack of talking. Please…"
Sesshoumaru looked down at his mate. He looked at the woman that would forever be by his side. A sense of protectiveness and possession invaded him again. "I didn't know," he answered truthfully.
"But…"
"I hoped," he said.
To Kagome, that simple answer meant everything.
Because he had once said that he would never hope for anything, but he had hoped for her, and it made her heart thunder with happiness.
She gave him a small kiss on the lips. "You know, you are great in bed."
He looked almost insulted. "Did you expect anything else?
She just rolled her eyes at him. "Then again, I have no one to compare you with…"
He growled in warning. "There is…"
Kagome laughed, and finished for him. "…no one I would take that is not you. Besides, I'm sure you've had enough practice for the both of us."
"There are a lot of things I can teach you," he told her in a husky tone.
Kagome just laughed. "I would love to learn…"
Sesshoumaru made her more than happy. Kagome made him complete, satisfied in life.
He kissed her feverishly, and what was left of Kagome's mind quite simply crumbled.
And as she kept exploring, and he kept feeling, and they kept finding each other again, she realized he made her ecstatic.
Kagome had never felt better in her whole life.
And she was now his mate, and he was her mate, and everything was just as it had to be.
Sesshoumaru placed a tender kiss on her forehead. Kagome closed her eyes and enjoyed him, her, them.
And, finally, they stopped wasting time.
Morena mía, si esto no es felicidad,
Que baje dios y lo vea,
Y aunque no se lo crea,
Esto es gloria
Love, if this is not happiness,
Let God come down and see it,
And even if He doesn't believe it,
This is glory
Oh God, this is over! I'm depressed and extremely happy, and still can't believe this is over, after more than a year. It's been one great ride, and we'll meet again for another one in the near future. Review people! This is your last chance, and come one, I finished this incredibly long story, and I believe it deserves for you to review. Love you all, you have been great, and we won prices, got nominated, but over all, we enjoyed this story. We lived through it, with it, and if not, it at least made us past a good time (I hope), and that is the most important thing ever.
My editor, Collette (you are an angel), made a web page for this story (isn't it existing), and she is also goin to make a video (probably on youtube) about it. So you can go there, because there is where I will tell you when my next stories will come out and all that. I will also post the first chapter of my new story there. You can ask for requests about stories there, and you can tell me there if you want a one-shot or short story about Inu/Kikyo or Sess and Rin (their story), there, I will do it if I get enough people that want me to. And you can make graphs about the story and post them there and all that.
The url is:
Ok, so, finally, and to end this, I leave you with a few lines of what's to come…
She lies on a pool of blood, piercing him with her blue eyes. He knows he is too late. Life is already slipping away from her body. Her blood is everywhere. Her eyes are starting to dull, and she has to do a lot of effort to bring air into her lungs.
She isn't fighting back.
He can read her story in her eyes. He can read her pain. He can read how tortured her mind and body is. He can read her want to die, and as he stares at her, he wonders if the trouble of saving her is worthy at all.
He thinks not.
But he promised.
He promised a young girl that was the most important thing to him. He promised his child, who he was too late to save, too late to avenge, to late to do anything.
He promised to save this excuse of a human to a child who will never have the chance to grow up, to love, to live, to have wrinkles, to…
She lies on a pool pf blood, and he stares at her, wondering is the trouble of saving her is worthy at all.
He takes his father's legacy out anyway, the sword already shaking in its shield.
So, this is it, and it has been fabulous to write this and have you as my readers.
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Q: VI3 hosts cannot be added if vCenter is licensed but License Server is not Configured When trying to migrate from vCenter 2.5 to vCenter 5, I removed an ESX 3.5 host from vC2.5, and attempted to manage it with my new vC5 server. I received this error message, and the attempt fails:

VI3 hosts cannot be added if vCenter is licensed but License Server is not Configured

(VI3 refers to Virtual Infrastructure 3: ESX 3.x and vCenter 2.5. Most significantly in this context: their special, special license server that installs with vCenter 2.5)
My searches found examples of people having to install the old VI3 license server on their vC5 servers, but I still have a working VI3 license server with all of the licenses I need on the vC2.5 box.

A: Go to the Administration menu, vCenter Server Settings.
In the Licensing section, at the bottom (below the "modern" licenses) there's a place to configure the location of your legacy license server.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The problem with how world media treats Jews and Israel (Seth Mandel and Stephen Daisley)
Seth Mandel wrote an important thread on Twitter:
Editors at major publications for years have treated this person as representative of the Jewish political world.
Said it before and will say it again: There needs to be a massive reformation in how the US media talks about Israel. Who they publish, who they run to for quotes, who they rely on as experts. Top-to-bottom--if indeed there is a bottom--bedikat chametz.
If your opeds and guest spots are going to someone who says Jews are Nazis, if your 'experts' are the ones who predicted Armageddon for recognizing Jerusalem's Jewish connection, etc., you really need to understand how deeply you've defrauded your readers/viewers and atone.
How many ppl are in your 'Israel & US Jewry' rotation who denied Jewish peoplehood simply because Trump recognized it? How many 'No, the Jews aren't a nation' tokens do you still publish? It's gut check time, folks.
Every oped you gave to Mairav Zonszein instead of, say, Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll is another al-chet you owe the heavens. How you've distorted a great religion because someone's name sounded Israeli enough for you to make them your token.
The worst part is, you don't think the Jews deserve more than this.
Stephen Daisley added:
A righteous thread, but I'd go further than @SethAMandel. There is a real problem with non-Jewish editors consistently, almost exclusively, commissioning those willing to vilify the Jewish mainstream, Jewish communal groups, Israel etc. I question the motives of those editors.
Dissonant voices naturally capture the attention of an editor. That's why e.g. the NY Times is far likelier to publish a Catholic priest defending abortion than one denouncing it. This is not that. This is more deliberate and more targeted.
There are respected liberal newspapers whose commentary on Israel is largely written by people most Jews have never heard of and who espouse views most Jews do not share. Yet non-Jewish editors hold them up to non-Jewish readers as representative.
This is not about identity politics. Anyone can write about anything as long as they know about it. (As a non-Jew who does just that, that's kind of a 'duh' point from me.) The problem is one of distortion and misrepresentation.
When your good, progressive newspaper consistently presents a distorted view of Jewish thinking (and treats no other community that way) you should stop and ask yourself exactly what you're up to. Because what you're up to isn't good or progressive.
I'm not sure this is only a problem with non-Jewish editors. I think there are a high percentage of Jewish editors who have swallowed the "progressive" Kool-Aid and think that the people they follow on Twitter are representative of Jews as a whole. (This happens on other topics as well.)
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Elder of Ziyon at Wednesday, April 29, 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When I began teaching at The College at Brockport, SUNY over eight years ago, I wanted my students in my Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class to have the experience of using eHRAF in researching their papers. So I made it a requirement for their papers that they use our recently adopted eHRAF. At first, I was flexible in the structure of their papers. But I quickly learned that students who selected more than one topic and/or more than three cultures tended to do rather superficial work, while those who selected only one culture did not have the ability to do a cross-cultural comparison of their research findings.
So I set up fairly strict guidelines for students to do their papers while using eHRAF. They could only select one topic, not more, from a long list of approved topics (see below). I eliminated topics that weren't particularly anthropological (such as those that concerned the weather or topography), and also topics that were too broad in scope (i.e. most of the OCM numbers ending in a zero). And they must select exactly three cultures (see below for a list of cultures), not more and not less. This would give them an opportunity to look for cross-cultural comparisons from among these three cultures, and gain a deeper understanding of the selected three cultures in the process.
The cultures could be from the same or different continents. Students could pick cultures that they may have heard about and would like to know more, or they could pick cultures that they never heard about at all. But it was strongly recommended that they look for cultures that had a sufficient number of both paragraphs and documents in order to do their research for each of the three cultures. A culture that only had a few paragraphs from one or two documents for their selected topic would not give them enough information to write about. One the other hand, students are cautioned to avoid cultures with too much information, as well. A culture with hundreds of paragraphs and dozens of documents would overwhelm them.
In order that the students become somewhat familiar with the three cultures that they had selected, they would also need to read the Culture Summaries in eHRAF for each of their three cultures, and provide a written brief summary of one or two paragraphs in their papers. Students would also need to go outside of the eHRAF system, and research their selected topic in an anthropological or social science encyclopedia (such as the Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology and the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences) to learn what anthropologists have written about on their topic.
A one session workshop is conducted by a librarian at the college library to instruct the students on how to effectively use eHRAF. Students are encouraged to organize their research by first selecting their topic, then selecting their three cultures, then reading and taking notes from the encyclopedia about their topic, then reading and taking notes from the three Culture Summaries in eHRAF, then reading and taking notes from the paragraphs within the documents for each of the three cultures in eHRAF, and lastly – developing from eHRAF a full bibliography of references used in conducting their research. Students are required to list the full reference for their references cited page(s), not just state "found in eHRAF," so that they would be aware of the original source of the material they are using.
The eHRAF User Guide shows where the Culture Summaries can be found in the Browse Cultures section of eHRAF World Cultures.
In organizing their paper, students are encouraged to begin, in their introduction, to summarize the material about their chosen topic from the encyclopedia, and summarize the material about their three cultures from the Culture Summaries. In the body of their text, they should discuss the material from the paragraphs separately for each of the three cultures (under three separate subheadings). In their discussion and analysis section at the end of their paper, they should compare and contrast their three cultures from the evidence they found. Their paper should have text citations within the body of their text keyed into their reference cited page(s).
I have found that eHRAF can provide undergraduate students in an introductory course the opportunity to have – through a carefully structured paper – a unique learning experience on their chosen topic. It has been my experience that the quality of the student papers is greatly improved, when compared with simply letting students put their anthropology papers together from a general search engine, or by Googling it.


Then, there's no reason to let a breakup keep you from taking another chance to make things work. It's not every day that someone comes around who you have instant chemistry with and connect with emotionally.
In fact, when you think of all the people you meet on a daily basis, it's actually quite rare. That definitely makes it something worth fighting for.
If you want to jump right in and get to the nuts and bolts of getting your ex boyfriend to want you back, then click here to see what people are calling the "one last shot formula" created by relationship author and ex back expert, James Bauer. Otherwise, keep reading, and I'll explain in more detail how to get your ex boyfriend to want you back.
But before I do, I want you to answer one question. Think about this for a minute: what's the one obstacle that keeps you from getting back together with your ex boyfriend? What is it that gets in the way?
One thing I've learned from James who spends hours upon hours consulting with women on a daily basis is that the biggest challenge most women face when it comes to making an ex want them back is a man's emotional walls.
If you've ever dealt with an emotionally unavailable man, then you already know what that feels like. And if not, a breakup can turn just about any man into an emotional icicle – and that makes it nearly impossible to repair the relationship.
It has nothing to do with making him love you again. You already have lots of chemistry and the attraction is obvious, or he wouldn't have ended up with you in the first place. So it must be something else.
The real problem when it comes to getting your ex boyfriend to want you back is that he won't consider it to begin with. He's already shut his mind off to the idea of being with you again. In many cases, you won't even hear from him – he doesn't contact you and he simply ignores your messages.
Basically he's already decided not to give the relationship a second chance.
That's what you're up against – the emotional wall that he won't let you get past.
In reality, his emotional wall isn't really a wall at all. It's more like a mirage – an illusion of a wall. And there's actually a way to get past it once you know how.
And if you were able to get past it, that would change things, right? A LOT probably. You'd have a much better chance to get him back.
I already mentioned that his decision to not give you a second chance is the biggest obstacle to getting back together. And I want you to focus on the word "decision", because that's the key here.
Decisions don't come first. They are the end result. They are the output, not the input. To put it in math terms, the decision is what comes after the equals sign.
Why is this important? And what does it have to do with getting your ex boyfriend back?
Because you'll almost never change someone's mind if you focus on the decision directly. If you attack his decision, you'll never be able to convince him to change it.
Decisions aren't final. They change all the time when new input becomes available.
In fact, scientists recently discovered something very interesting about humans. When humans are relaxed and our minds are free to wander, we think about the future 80% of the time and the past and present only 20% of the time.
Thinking about and predicting the future is something humans do on autopilot – and we do it nonstop. We can't help it. And that provides an incredible opening for you to get a second chance with your ex.
Unless your mind is consciously focused on something in the moment, there's a really good chance it's contemplating the future and picturing the things that will make you the most happy and the most fulfilled.
With that being the case, getting your ex boyfriend to want you back comes down to changing what he feels when he thinks about the two of you being together.
In his amazing ex back course designed specifically for women, The Relationship Rewrite Method, James Bauer refers to this as the movie trailer method.
It's a step-by-step method that changes the "movie trailer" that plays in your ex's mind every time he thinks about you. For example, when he sees your name on his phone, receives a text from you, hears a friend mention your name, or comes across your post or picture on his social media feed.
The goal is to change the dominant emotions he associates with you. Right now those dominant emotions might be anger, frustration, or resentment. But you can change those emotions to happiness, interest, love, and even gratitude when you know how.
When you do it right, he's no longer stuck inside his head thinking about past arguments, frustrations, and pitfalls of the relationship. He's no longer thinking about a future without you.
Instead, he starts imagining something entirely different. Something new. Something better. Something amazing.
And suddenly all sorts of amazing possibilities with you open up.
So now you're probably wondering how you do it. How do you get inside his head and change how he feels about you? How do you affect his "movie trailer"?
Inside the Relationship Rewrite Method, James explores this concept in great detail, starting from the very first text you send to your ex and ending with advanced techniques and strategies that make your ex want you back.
Before I end this article, I want to touch on one idea I think is really important.
It's all about choosing the right target.
Don't focus on "fixing" the relationship, or "convincing" your ex to take you back, or solving problems and "giving things another try".
Instead, zero in on all the opportunities to change the way he feels when he thinks about you.
Remember, emotions – not logic – run the show. That makes these opportunities extremely important.
One of the biggest mistakes I see women make time and time again is spending way too much energy on trying to "fix" the relationship, which only ends up backfiring. Instead of making him feel better about the relationship, it only reawakens his reasons for shutting you out and pulling away. It just reminds him of all the things that went wrong, and justifies his decision to not give things another chance.
Instead, focus your energy – ALL of it – on just one thing and one thing only: the primary emotion he feels whenever he is reminded of you. That could be when he receives a text message from you, sees you out with mutual friends, or hears your voice during a conversation.
When you change the emotions he associates with you, the mental images running through his head change all on their own. His emotional wall comes down, and you get a second chance at a great relationship.
I'll leave you with one more thing about humans and human nature. We tend to do much better and are much more likely to follow through when we have step-by-step guidance to follow.
So if you'd like to make things much easier on yourself by using a step-by-step method for changing the way your ex boyfriend feels about you, click here and let James give you everything you need to be successful.


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Moses: America's Prophet
That's the title of Bruce Feiler's fun little book. He details how the character and actions of Moses run throughout American history-- from Columbus and the Pilgrims to Hillary & Obama in the Democratic primary, including George Whitefield, Thomas Paine, Harriet Tubman, Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, LBJ. He was the subject of a Thomas Mann novel and a famous film by Cecil B. DeMille. He's in Washington's letters; his writing is on the Liberty Bell. Moses is even a long-lost cousin of Superman. ("Americans may or may not have noticed Superman's Jewish identity, but Hitler sure did." [p. 225]) It's been used to promote civil rights and gay rights-- and it's been used to bring attention to the plight of Soviet Jews. It's been used to describe Bill Gates against IBM and then, Steve Jobs against Microsoft. Reagan was the Moses of conservatism and Clinton had his New Covenant. And so on.
Feiler argues that "no single thinker has had more sustained influence on American history over a longer period than Moses...You can't understand American history...without understanding Moses. He is a looking glass into our soul."
Off-and-on throughout the book, Feiler wrestles with why the touchstone is Moses more than Jesus. He provides a few reasons-- his humanness, his universality, and specific references like Washington crossing the river as Moses had crossed the Red Sea and Lincoln sees the Land but is unable to cross over to the other side. He even provides data on, for example, pastors who invoked Moses vs. Jesus after Lincoln died (34 vs. 16 with 113 vs. 42 references).
My favorite quote on this comes from his interview with Allen Guelzo, responding to whether he would have eulogized Lincoln with Jesus or Moses: "If Lincoln's greatest achievement was emancipation, then we're going to talk about him as Moses. If we think Lincoln's greatest achievement was redeeming the country from the onus of slavery, then we're going to talk about him as Christ...The Moses-Jesus track comes down to which is more important: deliverance or redemption...The private Lincoln is more like Jesus, but the public Jesus is more like Moses."
Feiler points to three themes that underline his application: "courage to escape oppression and seek the Promised Land...the tension between freedom and law...[and] the building of a society that welcomes the outsider and uplifts the downtrodden." (298-300). On freedom and law, Feiler describes this combination as covenant vs. freedom, responsibility vs. bondage, law vs. slavery, the desire to build a just society while holding onto the importance of individual responsibility.
Feiler concludes with three lessons he learned about Moses and those who invoke him: the power of story; the American narrative of hope; and the need to act (306-308).
A few other nuggets:
-I was not aware that American Jews had invested so much in the Civil Rights of African-Americans. It is that much more bizarre that there have been a handful of notable awkward moments between African-American leaders and Jews (253-256).
-A great observation and quote about Thomas Paine (60): "Paine was the anti-religious zealot who continually cited religious examples. He hated Scripture but quoted it relentlessly."
-Union troops were buried at Gettysburg with their feet pointing downhill, so that when the dead were resurrected, they would overlook the field where they had died.
-After averaging one per year, in the decade after the Civil War, there were 94 books published on heaven.
-DeMille had Paramount put granite monoliths of the Ten Commandments on public property to promote the film. The one in Austin later became the basis for the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that banned such displays in courtrooms.
-DeMille opens his film with an extended monologue, comparing Pharaoh to the USSR and Moses to America. (I remember being shocked when I saw that on video!)
-More evidence that the 1950s were a period of spiritual lukewarmness. Eisenhower once said: America "is deeply founded in a deeply felt religious faith-- and I don't care what it is." In the 1950s, "under God" was added to the pledge and "in God we trust" was added to the money. Which God? The god of civil religion opposed to godless communism.
It's an easy read. If you like history with a little bit of religious and cultural flair, pick it up!
Wickham's Folly: revolution without revolutionary ...
Six Days in June...well yes, I'm posting this in J...
Brad Snyder's "interests": school district vs. chi...
is ObamaCare unconstituional (cont'd)?
An intro to "Why Jerry Coyne is False" OR why his ...
an awesome cartoon-- and brief reviews on two book...
cause and effect: sticking to "rule of law" vs. wo...
who wants to be a millionaire? retirees...
the perils of direct democracy
deadly laws vs. deadly liberty


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Raytown South High School Cross Country team members Norman Schneider, Tahleel Althalathini, and Ali Hoffman all earned Second Team All-District honors.
The head coach of the Raytown South High School Cross Country program is Sean Nunn.
Raytown South High School football player Quinton Rowell earned Second Team All-State honors at punter.
Raytown South High School football players who received First Team All-District honors included Quinton Rowell at wide receiver and punter and Marcus Foster, linebacker. Second Team All-District honorees included Wayne Vai, offensive line and Cedric Townsend, offensive line.
Raytown South High School football player Quinton Rowell earned First Team All-Conference honors at punter and Second Team All-Conference honors at wide receiver. Raytown South High School football player Marcus Foster earned Second Team All-Conference honors at linebacker.
Raytown South High School football players who earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors include Wayne Vai, offensive line; Cedric Townsend, offensive line; Manny Burnett, quarterback; Chris Lemons, defensive back; Logan Lanear, defensive line; and Robert Everette, defensive line.
The head coach of the Raytown South High School football team is Nick Adkins.
Raytown South High School soccer player Riley Mickelson earned Second Team All-Metro honors and Andrew Porter earned Honorable Mention All-Metro honors. Only 53 of the top soccer players in Missouri and Kansas were selected for this honor.
Raytown South High School soccer player, Riley Mickelson, earned First Team All-State honors and Andrew Porter earned Second Team All-State honors.
Raytown South High School soccer players who received All-Region honors included George Hanson, Riley Mickelson and Andrew Porter. Riley Mickelson was also named Offensive Player of the Year for the entire region.
Raytown South High School soccer players who received First Team All-District honors included Riley Mickelson and Andrew Porter. Raytown South High School soccer players who received Second Team All-District honors included Angel Hernandez and George Hanson.
Raytown South High School soccer players who received First Team All-Conference honors included George Hanson, Angel Hernandez, Francisco Hernandez, Riley Mickelson, and Andrew Porter. Riley Mickelson was named Conference Player of the Year and Andrew Porter was named Conference Offensive Player of the Year. Second Team All-Conference honorees included Kevin Frias-Jacobo and Rodrigo Torres. Honorable Mention All-Conference honorees included Raul Romero and Zach Schmitt.
The head coach of the Raytown South High School boys soccer team is Dan Porter.
Raytown South High School softball player who received First Team All-District honors included Na'Ryah Britton and Emma Shelley. Second Team All-District honorees included Tiahna Pickett and Taygen Summers.
Raytown South High School softball player Emma Shelley received First Team All-Conference honors. Na'Ryah Britton and Tiahna Pickett received Second Team All-Conference Honors. Raytown South High School softball player Taygen Summers received Honorable Mention All-Conference honors.
The head coach of the Raytown South High School softball team is Arianne Henry.
6325 Hunter St., Raytown, MO 64133
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text:
In San Diego, Trump praises border wall, rallies supporters, provokes outrage
President Donald Trump tours the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Otay Mesa.
President Donald Trump raised millions at a luncheon fundraiser at the US Grant Hotel downtown before touring the U.S.-Mexico border
Standing in the "no man's land" between newly fortified primary and secondary border fencing in Otay Mesa, President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the replacement barriers as "virtually impenetrable" and held them up as an example of the 400-plus miles of wall he wants to see spread along the rest of the southwest border.
"It's an amazing project," he said before gesturing to Tijuana a few hundred feet to the south. "There are thousands of people over there that had been trying to get in."
It was the second time the president had visited this spot on the U.S.-Mexico border in 18 months and followed an April visit to the nearby border city of Calexico.
The brief tour was the last leg of a nearly six-hour visit in San Diego, which kicked off with a fund-raising luncheon at the US Grant Hotel downtown that was punctured by a sometimes raucous crowd of supporters and protesters outside.
At the border, with fencing panels piled high behind him, Trump described in enthusiastic detail the design and construction of the replacement barrier he has touted as his wall.
The fencing replaces lower and weaker Vietnam War-era landing mats lining the 14 miles between the Pacific Ocean and Otay Mountain, where difficult terrain is often enough to deter illegal crossings.
Only perhaps "one of the greatest pole vaulters in history" would be able to breach the new concrete-and-rebar-filled steel bollards topped with metal plates, he boasted. The complete stretch of primary fencing, at 18 feet high, was finished last month. The $147-million project had been approved under the Obama administration and funded and built under Trump.
Construction on parallel secondary fencing, 30 feet tall, is still about four months away from completion. He was invited by a crew member to sign a bollard, a tradition of those who worked on its construction.
Trump said he'd initially asked if the design could be done cheaper, but he said he listened to what Border Patrol agents asked for and ended up with the "Rolls-Royce version."
"I hope you're impressed," he told gathered media.
In fact, the president said the improvements to border security are so impressive that he's been approached by three other countries wanting to study it. He declined to state which countries.
The president said he hoped to expand the southwest border barrier up to 500 miles in high-traffic areas over the next year, which would cover about a fourth of the 2,000-mile stretch. He did not give specifics on funding.
Trump last visited the same area in March 2018 to inspect eight prototypes he'd commissioned for future wall-building projects. None of the prototypes was singularly chosen for a design, and the towering life-sized models were recently demolished.
He attributed a drop in Border Patrol apprehensions over the past few months partly to the Mexican government's recent military assistance deterring crossings at its own southern border.
But he warned if that assistance were to disappear, he'd implement tariffs, as he's previously threatened. "If Mexico stopped helping us, that would immediately be on the table ... and that would pay for the wall many times over," Trump said.
In the San Diego Sector, apprehensions fell 43 percent — from 5,884 to 3,326 — from May to August, according to Border Patrol data released last week. While the summer months typically see similar slumps, Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said the Mexican assistance and the Trump administration's new stricter immigration policies, including the "Remain in Mexico" program, have greatly stemmed the flow.
The border tour drew both praise and ire, as expected.
Christiana Purves, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said Trump has delivered on his promises for a safer and more secure border, "and today's visit showcases his dedication to a secure America and the decline of crime and drugs flowing into our country."
Lillian Serrano, chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, called Trump's expected appearance at the border "political opportunism at its worst."
"Instead of meeting with Border Patrol and the rest of his deportation force, as well as the political insiders who benefit from caging people, he should listen to the voices from the region who are calling for an end to his harmful policies that threaten our binational character," Serrano said.
Trump first landed at 11:18 a.m. at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Lined up in a place of honor on the tarmac was Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, who greeted the president while wearing his signature cowboy hat, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who offered an outstretched hand still bandaged from wounds suffered in an anti-Semitic attack at his Chabad of Poway synagogue.
"It was kind of surreal," Vaus said. "He looked me right in the eye, and said 'I've been watching and you've been doing a great job.'"
President Donald Trump is greeted by Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, of Chabad of Poway, upon arriving MCAS Miramar for a San Diego visit. The rabbi was shot by a gunman who attacked the congregation in April.
(Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Trump called both Vaus and Goldstein following the April 27 attack, and Goldstein was invited to the White House days later for the National Day of Prayer.
Vaus said he thanked Trump for his support with a mayor's medallion.
"We give them to folks in the community who have really gone above and beyond the call of duty. I wanted him to have one of those, because he was with us in a critical time," Vaus said. Trump said thank you and stuck it in his pocket.
The rabbi, in turn, expressed his deep gratitude for the president's support, including ongoing discussions of ways to improve security at houses of worship, and Trump commented on "how beautifully the rabbi and his congregants have come together with the community and stayed strong," Vaus said.
"(Trump) and the rabbi clearly have a very special relationship: two New Yorkers that just click," the mayor observed.
After posing for a photo with the men, Trump spent about 10 minutes with a small crowd of military members staged behind a barrier nearby. He shook hands, signed hats — as well as someone's copy of "The Art of War" — and smiled for cellphone photos.
Trump's traveling companion for the day was Robert O'Brien, the State Department hostage negotiator just named as national security adviser.
"He's worked with me for quite a while now on hostages. And we've got a tremendous track record with respect to hostages," Trump told reporters at Los Angeles International Airport before the flight to San Diego.
He added that O'Brien has "brought a lot of people back home" without having to spend any money.
Raising money
Inside the US Grant, in an upstairs ballroom filled with about 400 supporters, Trump was cheered by an enthusiastic audience.
Upon his arrival, the president ticked off a litany of his accomplishments, mentioning tax reductions, improving employment prospects and immigration control. Trump peppered his talk with insults of Democratic presidential candidates, especially front-runners Elizabeth Warren and "Sleepy Joe" Biden.
He took an informal verbal poll of the audience asking if he should keep his campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again" or if he should change it to "Keep America Great." The loud cheers clearly favored "Keep America Great" and Trump acknowledged that looked like the way to go.
"It was great energy," said former Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who is running for the 50th Congressional District seat. "The president has a lot of faithful supporters that want to give him the resources to get his message out to the American people that progress is indeed being made."
The lunch, which was closed to the press, was expected to pull in $4 million for his re-election campaign. The money will go to Trump Victory, a joint fund-raising committee made up of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The event was Trump's last in California this week as part of a $15 million fund-raising push. There was a lunch in the Bay Area and dinner in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, and a breakfast in Los Angeles earlier Wednesday morning.
Attendee Peter Farrell, board chairman of ResMed and Arcturus Therapeutics, said Trump was less than complimentary about California, singling out the refusal of many jurisdictions to enforce U.S. immigration policies by assuming sanctuary city status.
Luncheon guests were asked to arrive at 10:30 a.m., and security was described as similar to that at a TSA airport checkpoint. Guests' mobile phones were sealed in secure pouches and returned to their owners who then had to get them unsealed as they left the event. Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle "warmed up" the crowd while they awaited Trump's late arrival, Farrell said.
The audience included former Congressman Darrell Issa; John Franklin, who heads San Diego's New Majority chapter; developers "Papa" Doug Manchester and Tom Sudberry; and prominent GOP supporters. Rabbi Goldstein was asked to stand for special recognition.
Not participating in any of the festivities was Mayor Kevin Faulconer. However, Trump did praise his efforts on homelessness during comments at the border, directing his jabs at Los Angeles and San Francisco.
"They are going to ruin their cities," Trump said. "We are going to get involved very soon on a federal basis if they don't clean up their act."
Protest and support
Across the street at Horton Plaza, a crowd of some 200 supporters and protesters gathered, along with the massive "Baby Trump" balloon that has become a familiar sight at anti-Trump gatherings around the country.
"I am here because Donald Trump is not welcome in California," said protest organizer William Johnson of the Backbone Campaign, who drove down from Palo Alto the previous night to help fly the balloon. "He ranges from childish, which the balloon shows, to downright evil."
The scene was largely peaceful, although taunts were exchanged on both sides, with and without profanity. One Trump supporter was escorted out of the area by police after getting into a shouting match with Trump protesters.
Protesters came with a list of personal agendas — from the treatment of migrants in detention centers to the administration's plans to revoke California's authority to set auto mileage standards to sanctions against Iran. An "Impeach" sign was placed in a window across the street from the hotel.
"This is my one day off and I thought this was a good way to spend it," said Robert Biddle, who lives near San Diego State University. "I'm here to protest for my grandkids and how bad he is making this country with the Supreme Court."
Dangello Randolph, 23, is a barber on Seventh Street. "I'm here to get rid of Trump. I'm black and Mexican, and it's hard being a minority with Trump building a wall and all," Randolph said. "I don't know much about politics, but I'm on Twitter and he is horrible on Twitter."
Supporters, including one with a full-body cardboard cutout of Trump, sought to drown out the criticism. One wore a T-shirt of First Lady Melania Trump and a giant foam "Make America Great Again" hat.
They chanted, "Four more years" and "Trump 2020," recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."
San Diegan Carol Clark said she found out on television news last night that the president would be visiting and wanted to show support.
"California is an over-regulated state," Clark said. "I've got family members looking to move."
Another Trump supporter, Blake Marnell of San Diego, was seen on social media wearing a suit made to look like a brick wall, a nod to Trump's border wall-building efforts.
A large turnout of anti-vaccine protesters at one point took over the chants of protest for about two minutes. They were met with boos from other protesters. "Don't hijack the anti-Trump protest, you idiot," one yelled.
Trump's visit snarled traffic downtown nearly all day, beginning with the morning commute.
Staff writers Charles T. Clark, Abby Hamblin, Diane Bell, Andrew Dyer, Luke Garrett, Phillip Molnar, Deborah Sullivan-Brennan, Joshua Emerson Smith, Wendy Fry and Alexandra Mendoza contributed to this report.
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A system change has resolved this issue. Simply reboot your Mac to force the change. If you still have issues, please contact the HelpDesk (736-4357 or help@brandeis.edu). Thank you.
Update-MacOS printing: ITS has identified a fix to address the issue with MacOS printing to Brandeis Ricoh printers. We are working to implement the solution. For immediate assistance with MacOS printing, please contact the HelpDesk (736-4357 or help@brandeis.edu). Thank you for your patience.
Individuals on MacOS are reporting they cannot add the Brandeis Ricoh printers. In some cases individuals cannot print to these devices at all from MacOS computers. This affects a subset of individuals on campus. ITS has found a workaround by connecting to Pulse Secure (VPN) then adding a printer. ITS is currently investigating the issue and will provide updates as necessary. Thank you for your patience.
Users are reporting printing is working as normal, but some users adding printers for the first time on macintosh might still be experiencing issues. We are currently monitoring the situation.
We are working on an issue that affects staff using Macintosh computers and printing to Papercut. This is related to a recent DNS change made on the network side. We are working with the vendor on a fix, in the meantime staff can seek out a windows based PC for printing until this is resolved.
This incident affected: Brandeis Websites and Applications.
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Further to this blogger's ealrier post on Fashionista's report of the recent French court's decision in the dispute between Gucci and Guess, I wish to thank Pier Luigi Roncaglia (Studio Legal SIB), who acts for Gucci in the Italian part of this litigation, for correcting and bringing us up to date with the situation in Italy.
Pier Luigi writes that the Court of Appeal of Milan, via its desicion of September 2014 substantially reversed the decision of the Milan Court of First Instance and "held Guess liable for unfair competition through "parasitism". In addition, the Court of Appeal found that Guess' imitative conduct was intentional and caused Gucci detriment. The Court went on to establish that Guess will have to pay damages, based on the fact that the U.S. company "adopt[ed] signs resembling [Gucci's] commercial offer, but at a lower price". While this decision is subject to a further appeal before the Supreme Court, the appellate proceedings are now continuing to establish, by means of a technical expertise, the amount of damages to be awarded to Gucci.".


Get instant one-on-one help on your Unity project from community experts!
A simple project that uses Leap Motion to control the pages of a virtual book, that can have photos, video and even interactive webpages.
A Kinect Penalty Shootout game, made with Unity, to an event for Huawei. I was responsible for the gameplay programming and score system.


The ARRL Official Observer Program Explained, July 9, 2015, 6 p.m.
When: July 9, 2015, 6 p.m.
Location: Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security, 5300 Strawberry Farms Blvd, Columbus, OH 43230.
Questions? Contact Matthew Curtin KD8TTE, kd8tte@arrl.net.
Amateur radio is a flexible and powerful service, with licensed operators able to communicate locally, internationally, or anywhere in between even when regular communication infrastructure is unavailable. Operators must abide by technical and administrative rules to ensure that the service works well and does not interfere with other uses of the spectrum. What help to amateur radio operators have to ensure that they are operating well?
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors the Official Observer program, where experienced amateur radio operators help others to operate their stations in compliance with FCC rules. Official Observers act as "eyes and ears" of the FCC, listening on the bands, advising operators when their equipment or procedures are out of compliance, and recognizing good operation.
John Perone W8RXX serves as the Official Observer Coordinator for the ARRL Ohio Section. He has been a radio amateur since 1967. He will discuss the Official Observer program, what it does, and how it works. We invite all interested in what amateur radio can do and how operators help one another to operate well to join us.


Krishna University UG Degree 6th Sem March 2018 Exam Results are Declared on its official website and manabadi.co.in. Here you can find KRU UG 6th Sem Results 2018. The candidates who are looking for both regular and supply results can check them from here.
KRU is going to declare Degree 3rd Year 6th Sem March Results 2018. Candidates who had appeared for the exam can check the results from the direct link provided below which are expected to declare soon.
3. Click on KRU Degree 6th sem Results 2018.


A few weeks ago, I was with my husband in Porto, Portugal. During our stay we visited lots of different bars and restaurants and today I would like to tell you about our dinner at the Grande Hotel's D. Pedro II Restaurant.
Grande Hotel do Porto is located on a famous shopping street- Rua de Santa Catarina. The restaurant is located at the quiet area of the hotel-away from all the hustle and bustle of the main street.
The hotel has an exclusive décor and some beautiful pieces of art are visible throughout the communal areas. Many famous guests have stayed in this property. The restaurant is named after D. Pedro II – the former emperor of Brazil, who found refuge here during the fall of the Monarchy in that country. At the time, the royal entourage took up the entire first floor of the Hotel and stayed here for a while.
Antonio-our waiter brought us our menus in no time and that's when we discovered that the restaurant offers a great selection of dishes. Both myself and my husband are a massive foodies so we were looking forward to our meal.
To start with, we received a complimentary amouse brioche – a glass with some smoked haddock.
I then ordered a stuffed Portobello mushroom with truffle and vegetables cream and quail egg. It was really tasty.
My husband ordered some smoked ham cantelloni with arugula in pesto sauce, gratinated brie croutons with honey. He enjoyed it and finished it in no time.
For our mains we both decided to have a fish. I ordered some bream fillet with olive cream and roasted peppers composition. It was mouth watering!
My husband had some braised salmon with bread crust and chard sautéed in garlic sauce. Not only his main was presented nicely, it tasted even better.
Dessert is always my favorite part of any meal and I had some beautiful creamy coconut cake and fruit composition. It was delicious!
My husband ordered a cheese board with a nice selection of cheeses and finish his meal with a glass of traditional port.


OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER got off to a winning start as Cardiff manager at Newcastle – and put it down to being a super-sub for Manchester United.
Solskjaer's men came from a goal down to beat the in-form Magpies in their own backyard when substitutes Craig Noone and Fraizer Campbell got on the scoresheet.
Solskjaer, who scored a club-record 28 goals as a sub for United, said: "I know the value of good substitutions.