Chapter 4 is uploaded and I've finally got over 10 reviews! Woot! (Yes, I do realize that the fact that I'm happy over this is incredibly sad).

Special thanx to all those who took a minute out of their day and actually commented on this story: you guys are awesome.

The rest of you people: please review and express some sort of viewpoint. It only takes about a minute and, if you don't, I'm going to assume you all have no opinon (which probably - hopefully - isn't true).

Anyways: here's chapter four. Remember, I don't own Inuyasha.

Have fun!

Ignorance is Bliss

Chapter 4

"Kimura village," Shinichi easily responded, "It's not too far from Lord Tukuzi's castle, but you've probably never heard of it: no one has."

Kagome's search wasn't going well. Old Myouga the flea, true to his nature, was nowhere to be found. She had searched under every rock and cranny and, in a brief moment of thoughtlessness, had even gone so far as to ask Inuyasha if she could search his body.

That had warranted a raised eyebrow and a barely visible blush, followed by Inuyasha scooting as far away from her as possible. By the time Kagome had thought back on the implications of what she had said, Inuyasha was a good yard away. Kagome had flushed to the tips of her hair: turning redder that Inuyasha's hatori, and attempted to stutter an explanation.

It was hard to believe that a flea could cause so much trouble.

Finally, getting tired of walking around and looking ridiculous, she returned to Lady Kaede's hut to clue her in on the recent developments in what she had dubbed 'the Tuzuki Mystery'.

She saw Kaede standing in the doorway of her home, apparently deep in conversation with the strange boy from earlier. Kagome raised her arm, about to call out a greeting, but Kaede beat her to the punch.

"Kagome, could ye and Inuyasha come here? I need to speak with ye." Kaede looked troubled. Kagome felt a pang of sympathy as she walked over to the hut, Inuyasha trailing behind her: this couldn't be easy on the old priestess's health.

"Whadda ya want, old hag?" Inuyasha crossed his arms, starting the conversation with his usual tact. Kaede gestured toward Shinichi and nodded encouragement. The silver-haired boy bravely stepped forward: and expression of mixed determination, awe, and fear on his face.

"My name is Shinichi and I have come here to seek the help of you and your friends," Shinichi bowed his head in respect, ever polite. "Please, word has spread to my village of the power of you and your band of demon slayers. My village in under some sort of demonic attack: my people have been acting so strange lately that that is the only plausible answer."

"And what's that got to do with me?" Inuyasha elegantly arched an eyebrow, like an emperor passing judgment. Shinichi paled, doubtful. Kaede opened her mouth, exasperated and about to step in, but Inuyasha's counterpart spoke again.

"I've heard rumors that have said," and here Shinichi seemed to hesitate for a split second, "that you used to live in our village. The elders won't talk about it, but there are records. That why I sought you out: surely you wouldn't turn your back on your own village?" By this point, a pleading tone had entered the young boy's voice.

Inuyasha seemed to freeze.

"Name?" He growled, forcing the words from his lips. At that instant, he seemed more dog than human.

"S-Shinichi!"

"Not you, you idgit! Your village."

"K-Kimura. Kimura Village! Near Tuzuki Castle!"

Inuyasha flinched: a miniscule tensing of the muscles that would only be noticeable to those paying close attention. Kagome flinched too, a much more noticeable action than Inuyasha's tense. Surprisingly, Kagome's shock was largely unnoticed by Kaede and Shinichi, who were paying direct attention to Inuyasha. Inuyasha, however, had seen Kagome's odd behavior. There was a pause: a heartbeat.

"Yeah," Inuyasha's expression was a stony type of scornful. He had apparently recovered from his momentary lapse of character. "I've been there a couple of times. Wouldn't say I was ever welcome much, though; It sure as hell ain't my village."

"Does that mean you'll help?" Shinichi looked hopeful. Inuyasha's stony expression seemed to melt a little as he looked at the younger boy. Shinichi reminded Inuyasha of an old childhood memory from long ago: of climbing trees with another silver-haired companion. Inuyasha snorted: Hibiki had been Inuyasha's only childhood friend until his parents, in a last ditch effort to keep their son away from the 'demon child', had forced him to go into training as an artisan hired under Lord Tuzuki. He'd shown considerable talent and quickly moved up the ranks. Hibiki's old friendship with a certain dog-demon was soon forgotten. That had been over 50 years ago: Hibiki was either old or dead by now.

But Shinichi looked so much like Hibiki: they had the same hair color and same style of dress. Inuyasha wouldn't have been surprised to find that Shinichi was Hibiki's blood relative. Silver hair was, after all, fairly uncommon. Even including demons, Inuyasha had only seen a handful of people with that kind of hair strand.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome. She seemed puzzled by something. He turned his head to look at Kaede. She was looking at him in a stern manner: her expression silently promised no end of death threats if he didn't at least try to help the younger teen. He inwardly gave a 'feh': he always knew the old hag had a soft spot. Just about all priestesses (with a few notable exceptions) seemed to. He glanced again at Kagome.

Making a split second decision, Inuyasha nodded. After all, it couldn't hurt to pay Kimura a visit. It had been a long time since he'd last seen his mother's grave, located on the fringe of the village. He was sure Miroku and Sango wouldn't object, especially if Kagome wanted to go, which she would: that girl was too tender-hearted for her own good. It would get her killed one day. Inuyasha felt a pang at that thought, which was quickly suppressed.

Kagome won't die: not if I can help it. This won't be like Kikyo.

Inuyasha looked away from Kagome and turned back to Shinichi.

"We'll go and take a look around," a pause after seeing Shinichi's delighted expression and Kaede's approving one, "I ain't promisin' anything though," Inuyasha warned.

"Thank you!" Shinichi celebrated. Inuyasha snorted: the boy acted too young to be a 14-year-old.

"Don't thank me, thank the old hag," Inuyasha jerked a thumb toward Lady Kaede's direction. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have given your request a second thought." Shinichi turned, about to thank the old priestess, but halted in his steps when a quiet voice spoke:

"I don't think you should go, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered. Inuyasha whirled around and even Kaede starred. Kagome looked reluctant, but determined, "I'll tell you later, but please don't go." She looked at him and he could see that her words were hurting her too. He nodded wordlessly and she looked relieved and guilty.

What the hell is going on?

While Inuyasha was talking with Shinichi, Shippo had taken free liberty of Kaede's empty hut to play with the pair of swords that the traveler had propped up and left at Kaede's home for safekeeping.

The young fox demon had hefted the smaller of the two swords and commenced staging an epic duel with his shadow on the wall. Of course, for safety purposes and because Shippo wasn't a dimwit, he kept the sword in its sheath.

Shinichi's sword was hundreds of times light than Inuyasha's prized fang, but was still fairly heavy from Shippo's perspective. It wasn't long before Shippo grew tired and, panting, sat down against the wall and leaned the sword beside him.

It was then, resting against the wall, that Shippo finally noticed the emblem on the sheath of the sword that he had been playing with. It consisted of strangely written Japanese characters, swirling in on each other and decorated with fancy borderlines.

"H..Hibi…Hibiki…" Shippo read out loud. He raised a small hand to touch the symbol, but quickly pulled it back when the emblem grew slightly warm under his touch. How had he not noticed this before?

Curiosity enticed, Shippo reached out again: this time coating his hand with a bit of foxfire. Instead of burning the sheath, the foxfire seemed to be absorbed into the emblem. Shippo's eyes widened in excitement: this was special! It was not nearly as good as Inuyasha's sword, but it was pretty amazing for a normal human to have. Actually, it was probably better than the swords of most lords.

Shippo experimented, touching foxfire to the sword again. His father had been a bit of an amateur metalworker and Shippo had inherited his parent's enthusiasm for strange swords.

He played with the emblem a little more, being careful not to break the sword. If he didn't know any better - because it just wasn't possible for a human to have a demonic sword and still be human - Shippo would have said that the sword and sheath had slight demonic powers.

On the other side of the well, a middle-aged Tokyo businessman was returning home from work, taking the subway. He blinked and yawned: tired after a long day at the office. His business was prospering, which was all well and good, but that meant more work for him. At least he got a nice pay raise, though.

Weary, the man was nodding off when he felt his mind blank for half a second. In that brief moment, as he looked out from the subway, his whole perspective changed.

Instead of the bustling, busy city that he had lived in his whole life, Tokyo became a wasteland, filled with debris and ruin. The underground subway disappeared and he was walking down a tunnel: the very floor he stepped on was moist and littered with skeletons and water puddles. . His wrinkled business suit disappeared and was replaced with an old rag that faintly resembled traditional priest robes.

His mind changed too: his memories of prosperity and a happy family disappeared and were supplanted with poverty and illness. His wife had died, consumed by the darkness that had first fallen on the world 500 years ago. The human race was barely hanging on: reduced to living underground and in secret societies to hide from Naraku and his hoard of demons.

The man shuddered, a chill running down his spine as he blinked again. As suddenly as it had come, that timeline disappeared. He stared out the window of the subway, wide awake now, and gazed at his reflection on the glass. He looked the same as he'd always had: there was no sign of the gaunt, starving face that he had caught a glimpse of in a stray water puddle. He shook his head, tiredness overwhelming him, and dismissed the brief vision as a stress induced hallucination.

Less than five miles away and above ground, a young boy named Souta had been chasing after his wayward cat, Buuyo when he'd been overcome by a similar vision. The shrine had disappeared, having actually never existed in the first place, and Souta had disappeared too, having never been born. A flash of horror and the vision cleared, leaving a thoroughly disoriented Souta standing halfway down the shrine's steps.

He looked toward Buuyo and was surprised to see that the cat was spooked: hair on end, pupils dilated, fangs bared at an unseen foe. Souta walked down the steps and picked Buuyo up. Attempting to soothe the cat with an ear rub, Souta started back to his house.

He paused as he approached the well: he needed to tell Kagome about that vision. Souta may not have been an expert on demons, but he knew more than most other 8-year-old boys. After the adventure with the Noh Mask, he had read up on the subject and was now well aware of what demons could do. Granted, most of what he had read had been fiction, but he knew enough to guess that that vision he had had wasn't normal.

He shuddered, goose bumps rising up on his arms. He had a gut feeling that something big was about to happen.

Ni-san, I hope you and Inuyasha are ok.

Author's note:

OK! We're finally starting to get in to the major plot of this story! If you're slightly confused: that's good.

Is anyone gonna try the challenge mentioned in chapter three? If so, there's some more clues in this chapter. Try the challenge: tax your brains a bit. The answer'll get more and more obvious as the story continues.

Also, there might be character death. Any guesses who?

REVIEW. NOW. ASAP. If you don't I seriously may not continue updating this story. If you don't I'm going to assume you don't like it or have no opinion on it , which means that there's really no point in me spending time to write this and update, so I'll move on to some other story idea. So if you actually want to read this, review. Not trying to sound mean here, but I'm not really sure if I want to continue.