But sometimes you manage to somehow get a good-sized bite out of the bear’s ass in return. I am pleased to report, for any of you that haven’t seen the news in her journal, that Kenihiko has arrived safely back in Michigan. More importantly, in a strange turn of events, her stepdad picked her and Nick up from the bus, and the person that was taking up space in her Mom’s house, making it so that there was not enough room for her and Nick to stay, has ended up leaving suddenly…for , err, incarceration. Heh. So Kenihiko’s mom has told her she can stay as long as she needs to until she can get back on her feet. Let hallelujahs and huzzahs be sung by one and all… The mechanics, karma, and irony of all of this are all just strange beyond contemplation, but the important thing is that she and Nick are safe and warm for the approaching winter, and she can now start rebuilding her life.

As I said to her in her journal, it all reminds me of the opening line of my favorite movie:

“The strangeness of this life cannot be measured…”

Many many thanks to all of you who have been so supportive to her and me both during this trying frustrating period. It's times like this when you truly find out who your friends are and how much they mean to you. Moral support may not seem like much, but it is actually a whole lot when it's all you have. You all are the best.

This is probably the hardest journal entry I have ever made, other than mentioning my brother's death, and truthfully there were more redeeming aspects to be found in that. Kenihiko is in trouble. I am not asking for money now, because right now at this moment I truthfully don't even have any way to send it to her. Nothing went right in Florida, despite the best of our efforts. It's a long story, but it just didn't work. Social services resources down there are strained to the breaking point all around, her father can't take her in, she is out of money, and the only thing she has been offered by anyone is a bus ticket back to Michigan by a homeless group. Where she has nowhere to go, noplace to stay. She is probably taking it, because she simply can't stay there. She is, needless to say, completely disheartened, as am I. I have no idea what will happen to her when she gets back to Grand Rapids. No that's not true. I do have a pretty good idea, she and Nick will probably end up on the streets, to compete for homeless resources with all the people that are being laid off from Ford and GM right now.

She has a few minutes left on her cell phone, and I have asked her to call me whenever she gets somewhere. She can't even take paypal donations anymore because he bank account is screwed up. I feel like I have let her down, all the things I gave her to look into down there, and none of them worked. She feels like she is letting Nick down. I feel like society is letting us all down, letting a wonderful bright woman like her and her sweet son fall through the cracks, and end up coming to this, with so little to offer her by way of a helping hand, when she asks so little.

Well, I promise it’s not going to be a “never-ending” saga, but for those who are keeping up, here’s the latest installment in the Kenihiko story. It’s been a very frustrating process of one-step forward, one step back, driving me nuts, and needless to say, wearing her nerves to their last fine frazzle. Since the last time I posted we had just enough donations come in to continue to cover the rent at the Motel 6 and food for her and Nick, keeping them off the street. Then one wonderful Saiyuki-lover, who choses to remain anonymous but who will forever be on my friends-list, donated enough to cover the cost of the bus tickets. That was most wonderful, until MK called her father to let him know she was coming and he started hesitating- she talked to him again today, and he simply doesn’t have space in his tiny trailer for two more people, plus has major health problems, and she just doesn’t want to stress him. One step forward, one back.

So with a good suggestion from a friend, I started looking into hostels down around that area Thursday, and found we can get her into a hostel for around half the rent per night of what she is paying now- maybe less. I sent emails to a couple of them explaining her situation, asking if they could maybe even cut her a break on a rate for a whole month, but haven’t heard back yet. Her stepdad made noises about driving her in his van for a day or so, so we got excited about that: cheaper, and she would be able to take more of her stuff, but that didn’t pan out – no big surprise if you know anything about her family. Meanwhile these three nights have eaten up $150 more of the bus ticket money! *Sigh.*

There are two more bits of good news. She did find an excellent rate on a rental car today, $200 bucks, from Alamo. Even with the gas calculated in she will come out with a cost comparable to the bus with $4/gal.gas and the car getting 25MPG highway. Plus she can take more of her things, and thus save on shipping them later or buying them down there, and it will be so much easier on her and Nick than two days straight of riding on a bus. She is more than ready to leave Monday if she can get the money together to go. She is sitting down tonight to figure the finances – what she will have left after paying for tomorrow and Sunday night (she can’t get the bus to the airport to get the car or money out of the bank until Monday) and what she more will need to get there.

The biggest good news at this point is I had a great phone conversation on Friday with Daxzia, one of our LiveJournal Saiyuki friends, who lives down in the area near Kenihiko’s dad in Central Florida. She has been overwhelmed lately with problems with her friends and family, but very much wants to help her with her transition, and really resolved some of our worry with her determination to help out once they get there. She has lots of connections throughout the community, and seems confident she can help Kenihiko and her son find temporary free or cheap shelter somewhere and an affordable place they can rent to live in as well. I told her that at this point the way Kenihiko and I were looking at it, it had come down to “close your eyes and jump”: she has to be somewhere, and she would much rather be there, at least if, god forbid, she ended up on the street there she wouldn’t fucking freeze to death! (That’s gallows humor, folks – something she and I have always had in common. ^__~ ) But Dax put my mind to rest more than it has been since this started, saying she would make sure that it didn’t ever come to that. It’s SO good to know there will be someone down there ready to help them when they get there – the first month will be the hardest.

And many blessings upon any of you that have helped Kenihiko and Nick already – I don’t know what would have happened to them if it wasn’t for all of you. She told me today that her online family was more family to her than her “real” family. I know the feeling. I know you all are tired of me putting the touch on you for this, but if there is anyone who has been meaning to help her out and just forgotten, or hasn’t gotten around to it, now would be a good time. She has got to get out of that motel and on to Florida, and to get by between now and the first when her checks come when she gets there, which is still ten days that she and Nick have to eat, regardless of wherever they end up staying. She is going to be packed and ready to go Monday morning; she is talking about doing one of those “cash advance” things just so she can get the rest of the cash to go (I hate to see her do that because then she will just be short later next month, but I guess if it takes that to her down there, hey, whatever works.) Any money any of you could come up with now would help her get on the road and to Florida, and that’s what’s the most important at this point.

Hopefully the next update you get from either of us will be one letting you know she’s there and all is well. And thanks again from both of us to all of you, not just the ones that have donated, but also all of you that have emailed and msg’d your love, moral support, and helpful suggestions. This really could have easily been any one of a number of us – what happened with the economy this week has pointed that out very vividly. It just happened to be her, and she needs all the help we can muster as she tries to start life all over again for herself and her son.

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#**#*#*

UPDATE: 9/25 - They are on the road!!!!!!!!

Until I get it posted here, which I may or may not manage to do, anyone who is interested is welcome to read my most recent post on my LiveJournal account at [link] for the most recent info on kenihiko and her son, as well as a few random thoughts of mine on her situation and recent events in my life. It is not friends-locked, so anyone can read it. Thanks, y'all. Peace.

Anyone among the community of Saiyuki lovers on DeviantArt, LiveJournal, and y!gallery is bound to have encountered devoted fan, gifted writer, and all-around deviant missingkitsune, or kenihiko as she is known here on DA. Her wonderful fanfics as well as her wit, and tales and pics of her beloved cats are familiar to all, and kenihiko, or Bobbie to use her RL name, has been a good friend to us all over the years despite her many problems in her life. Bobbie was one of the first people that befriended me when I found DA, LiveJournal, and the wonderful world of Saiyuki yaoi, and it was so nice for me to find someone that I shared so much in common with - she was closer to my own age (I was beginning to think I was the only anime fan over the age of thirty) and like me she has a number of health issues, including spinal problems and fibromyalgia, that are painful and make day-to-day life frustrating and challenging.

Unfortunately as is happening to far too many people at the moment, Bobbie is a real-life casualty of our crashing economy, and through no fault of her own, and despite doing everything she can do to prevent it, she has lost the little home she was trying to buy to house herself and her adult son, who, like herself is disabled. Bobbie's only income is the disability payments she gets for herself and her son, and I have been amazed at how well she has kept it together this long on so little. But as the inflation rate soared, she like so many others got further and further behind - we all know how easy it is to do, especially now. She was evicted Wednesday morning, and she and Nick are living in a Motel 6.

The unkindest cut of all, as anyone who knows her will understand, was that she had to place her beloved kitties in a shelter – but it was at least a no-kill shelter, and our hopes are that they will all go to new loving homes very quickly, and we all know Bobbie gave them a great time and lots of love while they were with her. Just look at the number of kitty pics in her deviations and you will see how important those cats were to her.

When I talked to her last night (boy am I glad I had had the presence of mind to tell her she could call me collect!) her attitude was still amazingly good, despite the fact that she was down to her last hundred dollars, and she doesn't get paid until the first of the month. That will only cover two nights there, and doesn’t even begin to deal with other essentials of life like food for her and Nick, her meds, and bus transportation so she can get around town and check into the things needs to. Her real hope – her best chance, really – is that she and her son can somehow get the cash together to get bus tickets to get down to Florida (around $350 for both of them) where her dad is. He is the family member that has offered to help her out in terms of shelter until she can get on her feet, but she has to get there first. So she is really thinking about that, but she is more worried right now about just making it through the next couple of weeks … or even the next few nights.

Anything that anyone can do to help her financially, even if it is just sending her five or ten bucks via your paypal account, would be helpful. That would get her around town on the bus for a few days, or a copay on one of her meds. If you can do more than that, so much the better. Anything you can do, she and I both will very much appreciate. Having to ask for help is really hard for Bobbie – believe me, I know. I tried to loan her money one time last summer when I found out she was short the copays for her meds, and not taking them, and she flat wouldn’t take it from me no matter how much I pressured her. She wants very much to pay everyone back every penny they loan her, even if it takes her a long while to do it. I keep telling her this could be any of us, and probably will be more of us before this economic mess improves, and besides, we all know if the situation was reversed, she would give us the damn shirt off of her back, so get over it ^__~ !

Unfortunately, her computer was a casualty of the move, so she can only check email and such on the library computer at the moment for a few minutes here and there. Anyone who wants her number at the motel is welcome to "note" me here or email me, and I will be happy to share it with them – I’m sure she would be glad to hear friendly voices. As far as sending money, there is a paypal donation button someone helped her set up on her last post on her LiveJournal page([link]), but it may or may not be working. If it doesn't work all you need to do is log into your own paypal account, and transfer money to her account at her email: missingkitsune@att.net. If you want to Western Union money to her, email or note me, and I will put you in touch with Bobbie. The website for is [link], and the toll-free number is 1-800-CALLCASH.

Thanks y’all, from me, and most of all from Bobbie and Nick.

I have been absent from DA for most of this summer because of a series of serious personal & family trials and tribulations, and also because I have been working on a piece of Saiyuki fanfiction that ended up being quite lengthy. It was written for a LiveJournal giftfic exchange, where I happened to draw a prompt that was quite complicated (an AU piece based on "My Fair Lady", I won't even tell you the pairing! LOL)

As I got into it, it became clear to me (I have this compulsion to do things like this things right, even if it means lots of complications) that it couldn't be done in something short and simple, and it ended requiring a heavily-researched, over 120-page, 12 chapter story to really do the thing in what I considered the best possible manner. My best hope is that it was at least worth it - some of my readers have told me that it is one of the best things I have written so far, if not the best. Sometimes it takes a challenge to really show us what we can do - I don't know anymore, you read it and see what you think! ^__~

Because of the shortcomings of DeviantArt's text posting process, it is almost impossible for me to post the whole thing here, so instead I am posting only the first Chapter in a deviation here along with a description and a link to my journal in LiveJournal. It is not friends-locked there, anyone can read it, I only ask that you honor my request that you be over 18, it is rated NC-17, as it is a yaoi story. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them here on DA with the deviation and I will respond.

Normally I wouldn't do this, I would post the full story here, but with over 60,000 words full of HTML codes for italic, underline, footnotes, etc, it would take me weeks to enter those all in here in DA's antiquated system, and frankly I'd rather spend the time working on my next story!

Thanks and peace to you all.

hg