Ghostly Loners

Disclaimer: The original isn't mine, but this story is.

Chapter 10 - In The Dark

(^.^)

Inuyasha brushed some salt off of his sleeve and glanced in the mirror. He ran his fingers - though he always thought of them as claws - through his hair.

'I officially hate food fights.' He thought to himself, picking a ramen noodle from a crease in his shirt. He smiled to himself, though, one last time before he walked back into the lobby of the restaurant.

"Hey Inuyasha! Come here!" A small, high-pitched voice called from the dining room. Inuyasha groaned and walked down the thin, photograph-covered hallway.

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango were all cleaning the mess up; the other patrons had left over half an hour ago. The runt that had called for him was sitting on one of the tables in the center of the room, acting like he was the king of the world. Inuyasha glared at the tiny redheaded boy, who, at Jennifer's convincing, had let down his concealment spell.

Jennifer herself had left with Kaede over an hour ago, promising to be back when they were done cleaning up the mess.

"Inuyasha, grab a pair of gloves and get to work!" Miroku griped, bending over and scooping the equivalent of a bowlful of ramen into a large bucket.

Inuyasha sighed and got to work.

(^.^)

At the top of the hour, they were done, sitting around talking, waiting for Kaede to pick them up. The little boy was telling the others about the first time he had met Inuyasha, and how mean he had been. Miroku was laughing, but silently and to himself, while Inuyasha resisted the urge to slap the little fox.

"That is so mean, Inuyasha! You should never pull on someone's tail!" Kagome berated him. She was holding the little boy in her lap, like a pet. Miroku burst out in actual laughter that was quieted immediately a glare from Inuyasha.

"Shippo was being a brat. He also left out the part where he bit my ear - which hurt just as much." Inuyasha was feeling like a normal teenager, though he knew it wouldn't last long. Soon he would have to go home and remove the spell and go to sleep - hopefully soon, because it was already nine o' clock.

Shippo was the son of the previous owners of the restaurant, both of whom had died in a robbery the last year. Inuyasha was close to the boy, mostly because he reminded Inuyasha of another little lost boy… And he was the sole heir to the Red Fox's famous ramen recipes.

He knew the boy was living all alone, but he didn't know what he could do about it. Kaede couldn't just adopt the boy out of the blue. There was also the issue of getting the boy to leave the restaurant.

Jennifer poked her head in the door, stating loudly that it was time to leave. She said a good night to Shippo before going right back out the door. Kagome and Sango hugged the boy one last time before they followed Inuyasha and Miroku out the door. Shippo stood by the door and waved, saddened that his new best friends were leaving.

"Koga called a while ago. He gave us the address of your new home… but you aren't going to like it much." Jennifer said. Kaede was busy driving, so she left the explaining up to the ghost girl.

"Why?" Miroku asked.

"It's a Shinto shrine, on the outskirts of town. Very large and spacious home, but one of the six bedrooms is already being occupied by a very grouchy, superstitious old man." Jennifer turned around and read the address of to the teenagers in the car.

"Wow… That is odd." Sango said. She did some quick calculations in her head; out of the five remaining rooms, Ai would get one to herself, so would Miroku, and Sota; that would leave two, one for Kagome and one for her.

Sango and Kagome appeared to have been following the same train of thought as they turned to each other, saying in complete synchronization; "We get our own rooms!!"

"The bad news is that it is heavily warded. The old man did them himself, he says. That means that Inuyasha and I can't visit. At all."

They mulled over this for a while; that hadn't occurred to them. Miroku looked to be on the verge of asking something when they slowed and stopped, pulling to the side of the road.

Everyone looked out the windows to the curb they had stopped beside; a tall, cement brick building stood, dark and imposing.

"I don't think that's a shrine…" Miroku said doubtfully.

"That's because the shrine is on the other side." Jennifer said helpfully.

They turned their heads at the same time towards the other window, before collectively groaning and looking at their knees.

"That is a lot of steps." Kagome said. Sango shook her head.

"That's alright. At least we don't have to move our own luggage, huh?" Sango said, trying to lighten the mood.

Everyone was exhausted by the time they reached the top. Kagome walked through the gateway, looking at all the streamers and wards that surrounded the area. She didn't feel anything as she walked past one of the heavily warded poles, though. She glanced around in concern.

"Did either of you feel anything?" She asked, turning around. She rotated just far enough to see Sango and Miroku shaking their heads before a loud pop sounded and she lost her sight. The wards on either side of her were glowing, turning bright yellow as she stared at them. Finally, the light was too bright, and she shielded her eyes, as more pops sounded from everywhere around her.

"Demon, Be gone!!"

Kagome felt something tap her shoulder, and she turned around, watching through the glare as an elderly man attacked Miroku with more paper. She could actually feel his disappointment as the paper fell away, not even sticking.

More popping noises came, and Kagome noticed they were getting closer. She turned just in time to see the five overloading wards on the pole disintegrate with such a loud noise it echoed through the valley below.

"What in the world happened?" Kagome shouted over the still popping wards. She felt her hair caught up, as if it was being torn out by the breeze.

As suddenly as it had started, the noise stopped, followed only by the rustle of leaves, so ominous that Kagome shivered.

"I don't want to stay here…" Kagome whispered, looking at the clouds closing in overhead.

Sango and Miroku came up beside her, Sango holding Kagome's shoulder reassuringly. They jumped when Inuyasha's voice came from right beside them; they looked over as he and Jennifer arrived.

"The wards… they were attacked from that side of the property…" Jennifer said. Kagome's eyes grew even wider.

"In order to disintegrate all of them…" She began, pausing and turning off to look at where the popping noises had originated.

"The spell - or entity - must have been incredibly strong." Miroku finished. He looked at

Sango, worry and stress showing clearly on his face. "If only we still had our weapons…" he mumbled. Inuyasha and Jennifer heard him clearly, but Kaede and the old man were far enough away, introducing themselves, that they couldn't hear.

"I can run ahead and see what it is." Jennifer offered, but Inuyasha stopped her.

"Kagome's mom is already here. Did you have weapons with you when you came here?" He asked Miroku and Sango. They shook their heads, eliciting a curse from Inuyasha, who also had fighting experience. He lifted his head up, getting a good whiff of the wind that was coming from the back of the grounds.

He didn't know what caused it, but a growl rose from the back of his throat and he tore off, through the woods and brush, and was out of sight in an instant.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome and Kaede shouted. Jennifer, however, was more proactive in her response to his take off, and she followed him, not even animating her legs, but seemingly hovering, zooming through tree after tree until she caught up with him.

She was surprised to see the spell that covered his demon attributes had been dropped. Pulling ahead of him, she kept going until she had reached what a courtyard, with a small building erected on the other side of the path. She turned around, preparing herself to stop him, when a crash sounded behind her.

She was almost done turning around when Inuyasha hurtled out of the trees, cleaving the monster in two. She saw the grotesque, deformed, writhing mass hit the ground and she covered her mouth, even though she couldn't get sick as a ghost.

Inuyasha's chest heaved, and he tried to get control of himself, but there was another scent on the air that made him sick. He turned to the half-destroyed building, where the monster had stupidly crashed into, and, almost calmly, walked up to the place where he could smell blood.

He moved the boards out of the way, shifting them cautiously, and reeling from the scent when he finally uncovered what was bleeding. Jennifer was standing beside him by then, and she gasped when she saw the prone figure of a boy.

"Oh my goodness…" She turned to Inuyasha, who wasn't really paying attention, and practically shouted, "You have to get him back! He won't make it much longer…" She could feel the spirit seeping out of the boy, little by little.

Even if they ran like the wind, it wouldn't be enough; Inuyasha just knew. The boy had lost too much blood already. He stood still as Jennifer knelt down, and watched as the semblance of tears ran down her face and fell onto the boy's. She put her hand on his face, gently, and traced his eyebrow. She looked up into Inuyasha's eyes, imploring him to do something - anything, to save this boy's life.

Thirty seconds later, they were flying through the forest again, and Inuyasha had uncorked more speed than he knew he had. He kept on running until they reached Kaede, who was standing at the top of the steps. She gasped, taking the boy's flaccid hand and feeling for a pulse.

"He's still alive." Jennifer said. Kaede shook her head, but Jennifer pushed harder. "He's alive! The spirit can still hold on, all we have to do is start his heart!" The tears were still flowing, growing more crystalline in appearance, as if they would have caused physical harm to slide down anybody's face. Kaede shook her head again, but this time in defeat. She laid the boy down on the ground and called Kagome over from where they were standing in the doorway of a shrine.

Some brief instructions and they were both healing the small boy, as Kagome whispered "Sota, you stupid little brat…" over and over again under her breath.

Half an hour later, Kaede and Inuyasha were driving back downtown to the small row house they lived in. Jennifer was with them too, but she was relaxing on the top of the car again. And, technically, she didn't live there.

Jennifer was deliberately pushing the near death of the boy out of her mind; he was at least seven years older than she had been, but she, too, had almost given up hope for the small boy. It remained to be seen whether or not the boy would be himself when he woke up - they had managed to bind most of his spirit, but Jennifer wondered…

How much had gotten away?

(.)

Rubbing the remainders of tears from her face had made Kagome very, very red. She was practically rubbed raw, because every time she thought she had it under control, the sights of Sota's white striped shirt ran through her mind, soaked with blood, and she would start up all over again.

A mew came from beside her face, as she was lying on her stomach on her bed. She turned to see the fattest cat she had ever seen beside her. She giggled and wondered how the cat had even managed to get on the bed.

She started petting it, first behind the ears, which was Kirara's favorite spot, but apparently not this cat's. She moved her hand down the cat's neck, and stopped when a rumbling like a broken muffler erupted from the cat.

Again, she smiled to herself, relaxing as the cat started to fall asleep. She stopped petting him momentarily to read his nametag; she giggled again, sleepily, when she read it.

"Buyo…" She mumbled, smiling to herself. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. The cat didn't bother moving from the warmth of the new comforter.

Ai Higurashi closed the door and smiled to herself. Her daughter had always been a cat person… just look at the ears of that boy from earlier today! She walked down the hallway to check on her son, the poor boy; he must have gotten lost on one of the paths and ducked inside the shed.

As she closed his door as well, she smiled. Maybe, now that that madman was dead, her family could rest for a while. Maybe they could go home soon. She remembered her husband fondly; she wanted to visit him someday. He was so clever, though; he might even find them soon.

She started down the stairs, still smiling.

Sota began to toss and turn in his sleep. Sweat poured from his forehead. His face twisted in panic, and he finally woke up, gasping, in the bedroom his mother had left him in.

The posters on the wall looked vaguely familiar; the television, the dresser… he had seen it all before.

But he didn't know where he was.

(.) (.) (.)

A bit of amnesia? Maybe. Just for kicks, though.

Thank you to the two who reviewed! I appreciate it. While it's taking a while to get there, I do have a definite ending; the reviews I get help push me down the path I need to go.

I'm going to stop that there. I appreciate you guys reading this story; remember, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thank you and good night!