InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dial "H" for Hentai! ❯ Nightmares ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

~*A/N: I know some are confused about the title, but for the person who figures out what I was thinking when I thought it up, I'll give you a cookie. Or pocky, if you'd prefer. Hint: Think of titles of well-known murder mysteries... Enjoy!*~

DISCLAIMER: I don't Inu-Yasha, but I do own Hironobu, Rei, Tetsuo, his wife and children. So there! :P


Chapter Two: Nightmares
At the mention of "ramen," Inu Yasha dove for Kagome's bag, throwing textbooks and articles of clothing as he searched. "Inu-Yasha!" Kagome yelled, gathering up the discarded items. He paid her no attention; he had found what he was looking for. He turned, an ear-to-ear grin on his face, four cups of instant ramen in his arms. "SIT!" He slammed into the boards of the hut's floor, instant ramen flying from his arms.
"Wha'd you do that for?!" Inu-Yasha grumbled, pushing himself up to a sitting position.
"You were throwing my stuff everywhere! That's MY bag, let me go through it!" she fumed.
"Uh, Kagome," Miroku interrupted.
Ignoring him, Inu-Yasha argued, "Well, you asked 'Who wants ramen?' so I assumed that was an offer to"
"Uh, Kagome," Miroku interrupted again.
Ignoring him as well, Kagome raged "To what?! Go through my personal things and"
"KAGOME!" Miroku yelled, exasperated. They both turned to look at him, Kagome's face changing from anger to embarrassment, Inu-Yasha's to confusion. In Miroku's outstretched hand he held a pair of her panties that had flown into his lap. He had thought for a moment of keeping them, but decided he'd better not.
"What're those for?" Inu-Yasha asked, curious about Kagome's red face.
"Nothing!" she snapped, grabbing them and quickly stuffing everything into her bag.
Sango cleared her throat, cutting off Inu-Yasha's next question. "Perhaps someone ought to start a fire?" Remembering their hunger, the boys soon forgot about Kagome's "unmentionables." Kagome shot Sango a look of thanks. Sango just smiled in return.

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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village, Kaede was asking questions, Shippo at her side. Kirara was curled up outside Kaede's hut, standing guard. "So, ye did not see Hironobu last night? At all? But ye share the same hut?" Kaede asked Hironobu's granddaughter, Rei.
Rei blushed, "Grandfather hasn't slept well in years, so it's not unusual for him to be walking around outside after dark. I had eaten dinner with my sister's family, and upon returning for bed, he was gone. I thought it not unusual, so I slept." She glanced sheepishly at Shippo, then bowed her head.
"I see," said Kaede, rising to leave. "If ye should remember anything else, let me know," and with that, she rose to leave the hut.
"Actually," Rei called out to her, "I did have a terrible dream that demons were attacking the village." She quickly averted her eyes, her cheeks turning crimson.
"A nightmare, ye say? Hmm." And with that, Kaede left, Shippo behind her.
"Kaede," Shippo said, jumping to her shoulder so they could speak more secretly, "how many people do we have to talk to? Wouldn't it be easier to have them come to you?"
"Ay, Shippo, that it would. However, I cannot use my hut, and this is not a line of questioning to be pursued in the open." They had reached the hut nearest to where the body had been found. Earlier, Kaede had blessed the spot after the body was removed. The soiled dirt had been dug up, and new dirt replaced it. It appeared as it always had. Kaede walked to the mat hanging over the doorway and knocked on the hut's wall. The mat was pushed aside, and a woman stepped aside to admit them without question.
"Where are your children?" Kaede asked after being seated and surveying the room.
"Off playing," the man replied. "This is no talk for young ears."
"Ay," Kaede nodded, "but young eyes and ears oft see and hear things they should not. I will not say or ask anything that may upset them, I only wish to know if they saw or heard anything strange last night." The man thought for a minute, looking hard at the old priestess, but then nodded, and his nervous wife went out to find their children.
"Don't lie to me, old woman. It was that damned half-breed, wasn't it? We were fools to trust him!"
"Tetsuo! I helped to bring you into this world, and I am a yet a priestess, despite my age! I deserve the respect of an elder and a priestess! I have neither gone soft nor incompetent! You forget yourself."
Tetsuo bowed his head, hiding the shame in his eyes, "My apologies, Lady Kaede. I do not know what came over me." At that moment his wife and four children piled through the door, running up to him.
"Papa, Papa! You're not working the fields today?"
"Are you ill?"
"Yay! Papa's home! Papa, come play!"
"Papa, is it true Lady Kaede is here?"
Kaede chuckled from her seat, "Yes, child, Lady Kaede is here."
Tetsuo cleared his throat, "Children, please be seated. Lady Kaede has a question to ask you. An important question, so you must answer truthfully, understand?"
"Yes, father," all four answered in unison, seating themselves and lining up in front of Kaede. Three boys, one girl, ranging in age from four to eight. Their eager faces turned to Kaede, occasionally glancing at the small kitsune on her shoulder. The youngest, the daughter, squirmed a little in her seat, eager to please the priestess.
"Now then," Kaede cleared her throat, "do any of you recall seeing or hearing anything strange last night?" All four seemed to sit and think for a few moments before looking at her and shaking their heads.
The eldest looked at her and said, "Well, I had a nightmare, and woke up from it. Then I looked out the window because I couldn't fall asleep. I saw the shadow of a man walk by, I could hardly see him in the dark. He stopped in front of our hut, and slapped his neck. I giggled at that, and Mama heard me, woke up, and told me to go back to sleep. That's it."
"A nightmare, hmm?" pondered Kaede. "Did any of you others have a bad dream last night?" All three nodded their heads vigorously. "What were they about, children?"
"Demons!"
"Big, hairy demons!"
"With tails!"
Kaede nodded to all this, then looked up at their parents. "And you two? Did you dream as well?" The couple blushed, eyes studying the floor.
"About demons?" piped up Shippo, who had been silent thus far. The parents simply nodded their heads.
"Thank you," Kaede said, rising. "You have all been a great help to me." With that, she left, Shippo now silent on her shoulder. The children beamed proud smiles to one another, and turned to their parents.
Tetsuo chuckled and shook his head, "So, what did you four want to play?"

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Back at Kaede's hut, the four sat silently eating ramen. Myoga, now his normal size, sat in deep meditation on Inu-Yasha's shoulder. Inu-Yasha finished his ramen, setting down the cup and standing. He walked over to the wall and punched it. Hard. The hut shook, rousing Kirara outside. They all looked up at him, gaping mouths full of ramen. He whirled around, "We should be helping her! No way that old woman can do this on her own!"
"But Inu-Yasha!" Miroku gulped, swallowing his food. "We're suspects!"
Inu-Yasha snorted, crossing his arms. "Suspects, my ass. Do you really think any of us are capable of that, that cruelty?!"
Miroku stared, "W-well, no, but..."
"But what?!" Inu-Yasha snarled.
"But I do remember waking up in the middle of the night and finding you gone from your usual corner," Miroku replied sheepishly, focusing his eyes on his ramen cup. Sango and Kagome's mouths had dropped open into little "O"s, chopsticks forgotten, raised halfway to their mouths. Inu Yasha glared at Miroku.
"Why didn't you say anything before?!" Sango and Kagome yelled in unison.
"I didn't think of it until now," he bowed his head.
Inu-Yasha's eyes glistened. "Ha," he laughed, "that's nothing. I hear you all get up so often in the night, in fact, we all left the hut last night, including Kaede."
All three looked at him in shock. "All of us?" Kagome whispered.
"Yeah. At first, I followed you, made sure you were safe, although you always take your weapons with you. After I noticed all you usually do is, um, 'go to the bathroom' as Kagome puts it, I stopped following. Not that I'm some hentai, or anything, I never got close enough to see anything," he hastily added when he saw the repulsed look on their faces.
"I don't remember getting up last night," Kagome puzzled. Sango and Miroku nodded. "All I remember is a terrible nightmare. Then I woke up, looked around, and fell back asleep."
"I don't remember leaving either," Sango agreed, "but I do remember the nightmare. I was so... frightened." She whispered the last word, hesitating to admit it.
"I have to agree with the girls, Inu-Yasha. I never left the hut, but I do recall a nightmare, the worst I've ever had."
"How about you, Inu Yasha?" Kagome looked up, innocently. "Did you dream?"
Inu-Yasha looked down, his face turning red. "Yes, I dreamt as well. My neverending nightmare. I hadn't had it for almost a month, and I thought I might finally be rid of it. But I didn't think anything odd of it."

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"Nightmares," Kaede mused.
"What's it mean, Kaede? Everyone we talk to had bad dreams last night, including you and I! I bet Inu Yasha and them all did too! What's it mean?" Shippo whined from her shoulder.
"I am not sure, Shippo, but I intend to find out."
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Duhn, Duhn, Duhn! Stay tuned for another exciting chapter of "Dial 'H' for Hentai!"
Sorry this chapter was so short, but I can't go on too much longer.
Thanks for reading! *smiles* Review, onegai?