Summary: The group comes upon a beautiful little inn with a hot spring, what could be in store for them? Rated M for later chapters
A/N: This is because I friggin' love Inuyasha. I watched the whole anime and read most of the manga. I'm addicted and wanted to express it…that and I have no inspiration for anything else.
Warnings: Sadly, for this chapter, none, other than I typed it, which is bad enough on it's own
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my mind! I am poor and bored, which is why I create fanfic
Time Taken: a little over 3 hours (while babysitting so props to me!)
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"I can't believe it…A hot spring!" Kagome cried joyously as they neared the inn, which was an older style, even for the natural feudal era dwellers, Miruko, Sango, Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara. It was nestled between two rocky hills and in front of a small mountain of green, gray, and brown, making it's stark, white, stone walls stand out even more, though its sloped, brown roof blended in, hiding it well from flying demons. The windows had the water proof paper to block out the rain, on thin wood rims to make it run back and forth to let in the breeze when it was too hot; all of the windows were cream colored with flowers painted in various colors with brown steams. Silvery steam rose up from behind it in constant clouds.
Inuyasha, the silver haired, half dog demon, turned his gold eyes to the strange girl that he felt so protective of and looked so much like his once beloved Kikyo and opened his jaws, revealing his pointed canines, but then closed it, shaking his head. He'd let them stay under a roof tonight, since she hadn't complained yet, even though normally she whined more about traveling for days on end. It was obvious that even if she didn't voice her thoughts, she was getting home sick for her mother, brother, and grandfather.
"We have one problem, everyone. We're out of money," Sango said, clearly not rejoicing in being a joy kill, as she gazed at the rolling vapor with blatant envy. Her armor was starting to stink even to her, but all of the streams that they had passed by had been laden with bodies of villages slaughtered by demons, so she couldn't bathe in them. Her obsidian locks hung around her shoulders in dirty waves, making her long to cut them off, though she knew that she'd immediately regret doing so.
The raven haired girl looked totally defeated as she looked at the demon slayer and the other girl longed to reach out and comfort the miko, but before she could the lecherous, purple eyed monk set a hand on her shoulder and declared in ringing tone, "I sense an evil spirit there."
For a moment, silenced followed his bold statement, and then both girls giggled, leaning towards each other to hide their mirth from any prying eyes. Both knew, from past experience, that 'evil spirits' appeared whenever Miruko or the group was low on gold, and though they knew that they should disapprove, at times like this, it was really hard not to kiss him and be thankful that it wasn't just them and the dog-demon, whom openly disliked everything about the monk, though seemed to get along with him rather well anymore. Maybe it was the fact that the human knew so much more about females than the clueless, naïve demon and could teach him about how he was feeling.
The monk lead the way with Sango walking behind him and Kirara nestled in her arm, against her chest, purring contently. Inuyasha and Kagome walked side-by-side and Shippo riding on their shoulders. Everyone in the party wondered where the cowardly Myoga was and if his absence meant trouble was on the way for them, but none added voice to their thoughts, in hopes that they would be alone and wrong.
The sliding, front door was opened, at the top of the wooden steps. Artistically, two blooming cherry trees were on either side of the steps, making it look warm and welcoming, and the pale, pink petals adding color to the almost bleak landscape. Once they were in the main and entrance hall, the place opened up in front of them; the floor was wooden, with interlocking panels that clearly had a lot of work into making, and the same paper that was used to cover the windows was made into walls, to create the individual rooms, though on the walls of the main all, the painting was of a dragon, both sides mirror images of the brilliant sapphire, emerald, and crimson dragon, it's fierce face and blood dripping claws not challenging, but flat and declaring something. As Kagome followed its flowing body, she realized that both dragons were curled around something, one a house, and the other the around the figure of a small child.
On the floor were cushions of various pastel colors and in the very far side of the room, between two long hallways, was a low, wooden table, with a maiden seated behind it. She smiled at the group as they approached and greeted them with a pleasant, "It is so nice to see travelers this far in the wilderness."
"Ah, it is nice to see such a beauty in this rough terrain, but I'm afraid we come baring bad news," Miruko replied, as he approached her, eyeing her openly, with his usual lewd mannerism. In a very theatrical way, he rapped the bottom of his staff against the wooden flooring, making the rings bounce against each other with an almost musical jingle, as he declared, "I am Miruko, a humble Buddhist Monk and I have sensed an evil spirit lurking within these halls, as I happened upon them in my journey!"
The group waited for her fearful reaction, but instead she had to cover her mouth as she laughed quietly. Shaking her head, she answered, "Dear monk, you are mistaken. Though a spirit does wonder the halls, it is no more than my mother's spirit, here making sure that I take good care of the family inn."
"Oh," Miruko said, deflating from her flat out rejection of his talents and the futuristic girl threw her head back laughing at him and the demon slayer had to hide her face from her own laughter, even Inuyasha found himself fighting a grin.
The innkeeper rose to her feet and said, offering them more than just her pretty smile, "I can see that you are travel weary, so I'll allow you to stay one night free, but I won't be able to provide much of a meal, since I haven't been able to make it to a market recently." Her nose wrinkled as she caught the scent of them and she added in a tactic manner, "You'll of course want to bathe?"
"You are truly a god send," Kagome told the girl, bowing at the waist so that her hair flipped forward, making Sango smack Miruko when he leaned back to look at her arse. Again the maiden laughed at the group and gestured for them to follow her, before she headed down the left hallway, her footfalls silent, even to Inuyasha's keen ears.
She lead them down the dark, hallway and a prickling feeling went through Kagome as she realized that there were no doors along the walls here. Though she normally wasn't claustrophobic, she felt amazingly so in that hallway and walked as close to Inuyasha as he would let her, which surprised her when their elbows were brushing and he didn't protest that she was cramping his air space. He seemed to be able to sense that she was uneasy and let her take her small comfort, but once they were lead out of the hallway, Kagome relaxed and he moved away from her again.
They stood before a wall of logs, with two entrances cut in them, and the innkeeper bowed to them and said in a polite, hostess tone as she gestured, first to the right one and then the left, "The men's bath is that one and the women's that one. There is an area where you can remove your clothing and fold it, away from the water. If you like, I could come wash them. Also, there are sliding panels, so that you may converse unhindered, but don't worry, it has two slides, so either of you can hide yourselves from the others. You can see them clearly when you walk in. Please enjoy yourselves."
"Thank you, kind innkeeper," Sango said, bowing to her and the others followed her gesture, except for Inuyasha, whom always had his nose in the air, but he did manage to nod respectfully.
The two girls, demon slayer and miko, went through the entrance that the maiden had pointed to and disrobed where she told them to, before going to the water, Shippo and Kirara chasing after them, as the shrieked with joy at the warm water, and the males, though quieter, did much the same.
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A/N: Wanna know how much I love reviews? So much that the first three people to review and request their favorite pairings from the people present, they will get them (and a cookie of course). I will do couples or threesomes (though I don't think I can make a way for all four of them to make with the smuttiness, lol). So we can have KagomexInuyasha, SangoxMiruko, SangoxInuyasha, MirukoxInuyasha, . whatever. I won't include Shippo or Kirara, because one is a cat (and bestiality isn't my style) and the other is a kid (child molestation, not cool as well), but otherwise, it is all game…I might also work in Koga if you ask nicely, lol