Scroll 9

Inuyasha awoke to find himself curled up at the end of a bed like a dog. Realizing he was oddly sleepy, and the bed was unusually comfy, he decided to do something that, although he didn't know it, had only happened a few times. He moved toward the pillow, which was perfectly fluffed, and snuggled underneath the covers. Soon, loud snoring filled the room.

The owners of the house must have been away, for if they were home, they wouldn't have allowed Inuyasha to stay, and would have kicked him out immediately.

((Change in time))

"Ah…" Inuyasha sighed in delight, "That must have been the best sleep I've had in a long time!" He paced around the small room, and as he did so, he heard his stomach rumble. Only now realizing how hungry he really was, he stated the obvious, "…Now, I'm hungry." He headed down to the kitchen; even though he had never been in this particular house, he found it very easily (having a demon dog's sense of smell can do that around food).

He helped himself to a gigantic breakfast. It contained: scrambled eggs, perfectly cooked bacon, a bowl of cereal, a few random food items like pickles and sugar, and inuyasha's personal favourite; instant cook noodles. And he didn't skip on the mess, either.

"Mmmm!" a muffled moan of joy escaped his lips as he slurped up the last clump of the delicious noodles. Soon he was finished his unusually large breakfast, and had come to a decision.

He got up from his seat at the table and made his way to the front door, leaving the enormous mess behind him. He opened the door, which creaked a tiny bit, and stepped outside. He was uncertain of where exactly he would go, but felt that he needed to leave nonetheless. He had walked halfway to the sidewalk at the end of the property when he randomly stopped.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something…" he said as he turned on his heel and entered the house, which he noticed was just a bit run-down, for the first time. He looked to his side at a mirror he had spotted as he had walked out and instantly realized what was wrong. He grabbed a hat that was lying on a table nearby and placed it neatly on his head.

Satisfied, he said, "Good, that looks better. I'm not sure what reaction my dog ears would get…though I seem to faintly remember someone telling me what it would be…oh well. I think this will solve the problem and hide my ears. Why do I have dog ears in the first place?" Not thinking of anything else to do, he continued out the door and on his way. He didn't bother to close the door on his way out.

((Change in time and focus))

"Chocobo," the middle aged woman called her husband by his high school nickname, "did you remember to lock the door before we left?"

"Yes. You saw me do it, then you checked to make sure I didn't screw it up, just in case. Why?"

"The door's wide open, and as far as I can tell, it wasn't forced entry. It looks as if it was opened from the inside."

"Hmm…" came the reply as the man dropped what he was doing and went to help his wife investigate. He saw nothing unusual, and his wife was better at this sort of thing, so he ventured inside to investigate on his own.

"Jenise…you know what's weird?" he called out to the lawn. His wife poked her head around the corner and gazed at her husband. There was a long pause.

"What's weird, Chocobo?" Jenise, the man's wife, replied.

"Nothing of value is gone. Just almost all our food, and my old BC Lions cap."

"WHAT? Oh, well…why don't we go upstairs and…you know…"

"Quit fooling around, this is serious!"

"Fine, I was just trying to keep in the mood of our vacation. Remember what we did at night in Paris, Hun, with the…you know?" Chocobo said with a heardy laugh, referring to the crazy night when they had explored different parts of being married in Paris.

"Chocobo, not now!"

"Fine. Just one more thing, OK?"

"Fine. What is it?" she said with a sigh.

"Willy's Wang."

Jenise burst out laughing and fell to the pavement, gasping for breath.

((Change in time and focus))

Inuyasha walked down the empty street. He had been searching for something to do for some time now, and hoped to find that something before he died of boredom. To his relief, the answer stared him right in the face. Across the street from him was a gigantic sports store.

He walked out onto the road, but jumped back just as quickly when a semi blared its horn and almost ran him over. The passenger shouted a bunch of insults at Inuyasha, but he paid no attention.

He tried to cross the street again, though this time he was a lot more careful. He got halfway across when he stopped short. He heard a disturbance behind him and turned to see a bunch of kids running out of a toy store, followed by a little boy with pointy ears and a fluffy tail. Except for thinking that the creature looked familiar, he didn't take notice, and continued to the sports store.

Inuyasha walked in to the sports superstore, and, to his amazement, he discovered an entire section that was dedicated to swords and sword fighting. He saw long swords, short swords, skinny swords, dull swords, thick swords, pirate swords, and all swords in between.

As he gazed upon the rows and rows of fabulous swords, a random name popped into his head. Tetsusiaga. 'That feels important…' he thought, though he was too busy looking at swords to think about it much. He saw one particular sword and picked it up. Though he handled it expertly, he attracted quite a lot of attention.

"Hey, you! Put that down! If you want it, you gotta buy it. I don't want any decapitations in my store," the store manager fumed.

"Feh. Whadya want fer it then?" Inuyasha asked.

"That thing you're swinging around, that's 20647.54 yen."

"How the hell am I supposed to get that?"

"Why should I care? Now buy something or get out."

Inuyasha, determined to get the sword, set out to find a way to get the money. He came upon an arcade; the type that's famous for loose change. He entered through the double doors.

The jingling of quarters and the sounds of many different games filled his ears as he walked around the interactive museum of retro arcade games. Using his heightened sense of hearing he found the kid with the most money.

"Hey kid. Gimme all your money," he ordered when he got to the kid.

"No! Go away, I'm about to beat the high score," the kid protested.

Inuyasha, driven by the need for power, grabbed the kid by the ankles and lifted him high in the air. He shook the kid vigorously until coins spilled from his pockets and scattered across the floor. Satisfied, Inuyasha put the kid down and began gathering the coins off the floor. Other kids went to pick them up, but inuyasha threatened them by cracking his knuckles, and showing his sharp claws. He stashed the coins in his pockets.

"Mister, it's not good to steal," a little girl scolded to Inuyasha.

"Feh. You think I care? Get lost, Creep."

Tears swelled in the girl's eyes. She ran out of the arcade, bawling all the way. Inuyasha's gaze followed her run to get to her mom, and he noticed that she ran past a little kid he seemed to faintly recognize. This little kid wore a tattered cap and a raggedy backpack.

That kid…he looks familiar…where do I know him from? Inuyasha thought as the little kid followed the crying girl out the door. Right then and there, out of pure stubbornness, Inuyasha decided that he would trail the kid. He had a suspicious feeling, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. It even seemed more important than getting a hold of that sword.

He secretly followed the kid, well out of sight.

((Change in time))

Inuyasha's ears twitched and he instantly awoke. He looked around the corner of the building he had been hiding behind to check on the little boy he'd been spying on. He didn't like what he saw.

"No! Stop it, please!" he heard the child yell, though his plea of mercy went unheard to the person who had him trapped. The girl who held him curled her hand into a fist and fiercely swung it at him. With a sickening thump, it made contact.

Inuyasha, who was sure that the young boy that was held before him was somehow connected with him, sprung into action. Threats spewed from his mouth, and eventually he got to her. The bully, obviously a bit scared, ran away. Once the girl was out of sight, the little boy spoke up.

"H-hey m-mister…are y-you g-going to beat me up l-like that little k-kid at the a-arcade?" the boy said with a heavy stutter.

"We'll see," Inuyasha replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "but first, I got some questions fer ya. Like, why do ya always wear that hat and backpack?"

Shippo's confident gaze faltered, and he paused slightly before answering Inuyasha's question. "How did you know I always wear them?" he answered the question with a question.

"I've seen you around."

"Fair enough…you really wanna know?"

"Duh. I wouldn't've asked if I didn't want to know!" he remarked, though he secretly knew what the kid was hiding. He just wanted proof.

A hint of sadness entered the young boy's tone. "OK…" he said. He pulled off the hat, and slipped off the backpack, revealing two pointy ears and a fluffy tail. "There. I'm a freak…" he added quietly.

"Don't feel bad. I have a secret too," Inuyasha comforted, making this one of his few sentimental moments. He took off the hat he had stolen; uncovering his two fuzzy white dog-ears.

"Oh…I guess we're the same then…" the boy started.

Suddenly, Inuyasha got an overwhelming urge to bop the boy on the head. He barely resisted, and all the while he was thinking, what does this all mean? Who is this boy? I just can't figure it out! And I can't hit him, either…if he turns out to be an ally, I don't want to ruin it.

The boy interrupted Inuyasha's thoughts. "Say, what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't. But I suppose I could. My name is Inuyasha."

((End of Chapter 9))

It looks like the chapters are getting a bit longer as the story goes on...hurray! At the moment, I'm still working on this fanfiction, as well as a few others...but at the moment, the others are just storylines and ideas...I have a very strong feeling that if I get started on the other ones, I'll end up forgetting about this one!

This may be the last chapter before the holidays, and I won't be updating durring the holidays...I'm be at my grandma's, and she usually doesn't let me use her computer...I didn't get my laptop because they jacked the price up at the last minute, so it's still going to go at about the same pace it's going at now. Maybe a little slower, as all the previous chapters I already had complete, and right now, I'm making them as I go. But I have a few chapters waiting to be proofread (THANK YOU SHEENA!!!) so I may get one or two more up before then.

Other than that, it's going really good over here. Thanks a lot for the advice and everything, and keep it coming, OK? It really makes me happy! Hehehe...someone told me that in Chapter 7, Miroku was OOC...but my thinking is, if he was in the real world, that's the kind of thing he would do! Anyway, that's about it...

...except for this! A random insight into this chapter! The whole thing with Chocobo and Jenise...those are my friends! I decided to put them in one or two random appearences, with anly a few minor differences from what they are now! I kind of got beat up for making them married and stuff...but it was worth it! By the way, Chocobo is a nickname...

Chapter 10 coming soon!!