Author's Note. Hmmm... a number of you wondered why I titled the previous chapter "Nightmares". (I didn't think that people actually paid that much attention to the chapter titles...) As I said before, this is a three part chapter. Originally, "Nightmares" was one really long chapter, but when I posted it, I broke it into three parts: Nightmares Part I, Nightmares Part II, and Nightmares Part III. I'm just too lazy to think up separate titles for each part of the chapter (plus I'm no good at thinking up chapter tiltes...). The "nightmares" don't come into to play until later on... you'll see.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha (I only do in my dreams...) or any of the characters that the wonderful, talented, brilliant, lucky, magnificent, superb, and fantastic Rumiko Takahashi has concocted, but the character Rhiodoru is my own personal creation, along with Masaka, Shinobu, Akika, and Mutsu. (Haha, in your face Takahashi! I have my own characters now!) :D

( " " talking, italics thinking )

Nightmares (Part II)

(As they followed the woman inside, Inuyasha wondered what they were going to eat for the rest of the trip back to Kaede's village. They had barely any food as it was; feeding this human family was going to use up all of their supplies. Sometimes Kagome was just too kindhearted for her own good.)

The inside of the hut was just as dilapidated as the outside. It consisted of a rusty wood-burning stove in one corner and a moldy straw mat for a bed in the other. There were three kids: two girls and a boy. Inuyasha wasn't good at guessing human children's ages, but he thought they looked about seven, six, and four.

"My name is Masaka. These three are," the woman pointed to the oldest girl, "Shinobu," then the younger girl, "Akika," then the youngest one, the boy, "and the little one is Mutsu."

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

As the others greeted the children, Inuyasha found a relatively clean corner of the hut to sit in. Sango and Kagome joined Masaka at the stove and began discussing supper. Shippo, Kilala, and Miroku wandered outside again. The half-demon closed his eyes, half listening to the women chatter.

He stiffened. He was being watched. He could feel it. He cautiously sniffed the air. He could smell nothing but humans and food. Who or what was watching him?

He slowly opened his eyes, coming face to face the source of his apprehension. Mutsu stared at Inuyasha. Inuyasha stared at Mutsu. With a snort of disgust, the half-demon turned away, settling back into his corner. He must be becoming paranoid, getting worried over little human children.

The sound of a footstep made him turn back to the little boy. He had been joined by his two sisters. Three sets of eyes stared cautiously into his. They were standing about two steps away from him. Inuyasha glared at them. He didn't want to scare them, but he didn't want them to bother him either.

Shinobu, the oldest, slowly stepped forward. Inuyasha intensified his glare. It didn't faze the little girl in the slightest. She ever so slowly reached out and brushed her finger tips against one of Inuyasha's ears. A delighted smile spread over her face as she felt the silky-soft fur that covered his ears. The smile grew still larger when the half-demon failed to respond. Inuyasha realized too late that that had been a mistake. Feeling that all was safe, the children pounced.

Shinobu locked both hands around his ears, trying to yank them out of his head. Akika jumped on his other side, tangling both arms in his long silver hair and subsequently trying to rip that out of his head too. Little Mutsu toddled up to him and threw himself right into the half-demon's lap, grabbing the two long pieces of hair that hung in front of his shoulders and hanging off them.

Inuyasha froze. He was suddenly in a rather large amount of pain. But he didn't know what to do. How was he supposed to get rid of the children without hurting them? He gave one of the girls a gentle but firm push away from him. She merely clung to his hair tighter and began squealing. As Shinobu gave another painful tug on his ears, Inuyasha did the only thing he could think of.

"Help!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, startling everyone, and causing the kids to loosen their grips. He started trying to push them off him again.

"Help me! Kagome! Get the brats off me! Owww!"

The children, realizing that their new toy was about to be taken away, all hurled themselves at him, grabbing a hold of every part of him that they could reach. As they threw themselves at him, Inuyasha lost his balance and fell over on his side, unintentionally allowing the children to all pile on top of him.

"Aaaaaaah! Let go! Help! Get them off!"

The women finally came to his rescue.

"Get off him right now! Shinobu! Akika! Mutsu! Behave yourselves. You know better than that!"

Masaka lectured in a voice bursting with laughter as she hauled the kids off him. Kagome started prying Mutsu's pudgy little fingers out of his hair.

As the last of the children was herded away, Inuyasha sat up and brushed himself off, trying to maintain at least a semblance of dignity. It didn't help that Kagome was covering her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle her giggles as she watched him.

"But mommy!" Akika whined. "We want to play with the doggy!"

Doggy?

Inuyasha started to rise with a growl, but Kagome pushed him back down with a growl much fiercer than his own.

"Don't even think about it." She hissed under her breath.

"He is not a doggy, Akika." Masaka glanced at him as though considering the truth of that statement. He snarled fiercely at her, starting to stand up again.

"Sit!"

Inuyasha's face smashed into the floor of the hut. He swore violently.

"Stop swearing Inuyasha, or I'll say it again." Kagome looked at him furiously. He stopped immediately.

Sango laughed. "Okay, let's get a few things straight. First of all, yes, Inuyasha is a dog demon, but, no, he is not a dog. Second, Inuyasha doesn't like kids, so you three will have to leave him alone. And thirdly, Inuyasha, you had better not even think about lifting one claw against any of them or else you'll have to answer to me... and to Kagome." She added a moment later as the girl continued to glare at the him.

He scowled. "You keep the brats away from me and I'll keep my claws to myself. Got it?"

Kagome smacked him again. "Be polite, Inuyasha. No wonder they think you're a dog."

With a snarl at all the humans present, the half-demon rose to his feet and stomped out of the hut. He had no desire to remain in there with three touchy women and three undisciplined brats.

As he passed Shippo and Miroku, who were lounging by the woodpile, the monk smirked at Inuyasha.

"Having fun in there? We could hear you crying for help. Did the little kiddies hurt the big bad demon?"

Shippo sniggered. Inuyasha simply punched Miroku in the stomach as he walked by, heading for a nearby tree. With a lazy hop, he jumped onto the lowest branch and sat down. He gave Miroku a haughty smirk. Not only was the monk doubled over with the wind knocked out of him from Inuyasha's light punch, but that effortless jump had been about twenty feet high. Even in his wildest dreams, Miroku couldn't even jump a quarter of that. At least, not from a standstill.

Inuyasha settled down and closed his eyes again, intending to finish his nap before dinner. His head didn't seem to want to cooperate though. His thoughts kept turning back to Kagome. She really had had fun playing with him and she wanted to play again. A smile involuntarily spread on his face. This was definitely a good thing.

He let his thoughts wander in whatever direction they wanted. For some reason they kept wandering back to Kagome. He started to scowl. Why was he suddenly so obsessed with her? His frown deepened. He did not need this right now. It was not a good time for him to get all emotional over Kagome again. The last time that had happened had been way back when he and Kagome had first met, before Kikyo had returned. His emotions had gotten so screwed up that he'd nearly been killed a dozen times because he had been too distracted to notice any demons' presences. Then Kikyo had showed up, and he had gotten preoccupied all over again.

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on pushing his emotions very deep down, burying them behind his inner barriers. He needed all his concentration for the coming days. It was impossible to know when Naraku would set another trap for them. Plus that demon Rhiodoru was still out there. And there was Sesshomaru, Kagura, Kanna, Koga; the list just kept going. He had too many enemies to be daydreaming about Kagome. He had to focus and keep his guard up. He had to expect the unexpected and watch for danger everywhere. He would deal with his feelings for Kagome when it wouldn't put any of them in danger. He would have to wait until they had collected all the shards of the Shikon jewel and destroyed Naraku.

A sudden thought occurred to him. If he waited until they had collected all the shards and killed Naraku, then Kagome would no longer have any reason to stay in this time. She would go home, and his chance to be with her would be gone forever.