EPILOGUE: "The Beast is Awake at the Onsen Lake"

Scooby slept—until he didn't anymore.

He wasn't sure what woke him, at least not at first. Shaggy snored on the futon at Scooby's side, sprawled halfway onto the tatami mats with blanket draped haphazardly across his chest. But Scooby was accustomed to Shaggy's snoring, and he knew it was not to blame for his lack of sleep. Fred slept more quietly on another futon, blankets neat atop his prone form. His hair was disheveled, but Scooby hardly cared about humans' looks. Fred was not what had awoken Scooby, either.

Scooby tugged the blankets back over Shaggy, got up, and left the room on a whisper of quiet paws.

Velma and Daphne slept in an adjoining room; neither of them stirred when Scooby gently slid the door aside, listening in the dark to the sound of their subtle breathing. Sometimes they stayed up late to giggle and chat (typically about Fred and Shaggy), but tonight, they only slept. They were not what had awoken him, either.

Was it hunger, then? Scooby was always hungry. A murmur of hunger nipped at his belly, so he dutifully heeded its call and walked the halls of the onsen toward the kitchens, ears pricked for any sound of humans stirring. The inn had been quite busy when Mystery Inc. pulled up in their rented van, but now it slept just as Scooby's humans slept, low human breathing and snores filtering through sliding paper doors and into the corridors where Scooby tread. No one awoke on his way to the kitchens, for which he was grateful. He had expended quite a lot of psychic energy that day; he did not want to exert more, forced to sway the minds of strangers to accept his oddities without question. Better, then, that they remain asleep, so he could recover undisturbed.

But in the kitchens, Scooby did not find the relief he was looking for. He made himself the largest onigiri in recorded history, filled with every last scrap of food in the refrigerator and pantry, but it quieted only the rumble in his stomach—not the disquiet in heart. An unusual occurrence. Food was his favorite balm, but it did not bring comfort that night. Restlessness pinched his heels, and soon he found himself wandering toward the baths.

They were deserted at that time of night. Steam rose in billowing drafts from the surface of the cloudy hotspring, mist smelling faintly of sulfur and the sandalwood soap from the showering area. They had soaked in the spring earlier; it had taken more energy from Scooby to convince the onsen's manager to allow a dog into the bath, but the bath had still been nice. Should he have another soak, he wondered? Walking to the edge of the spring, he dipped his prehensile tail into the hot water and swirled it in small circles, watching as ripples edged slowly across the surface of the spring. Scooby inhaled deeply of the steam-laced air, taking in the aroma of sandalwood… and something else. Another scent it took a moment for him to place—char instead of sulfur, distant but unmistakable.

Ah. So that's who had woken him up, them.

"Rello, Riei," Scooby said.

'Riei' appeared in a flash of black beside the spring, crimson eyes gleaming sullen and withdrawn. He stood with hands in his pockets, glaring at Scooby-Doo over the mound of snowy scarf wrapped around his neck. It was the first time Scooby had seen the demon, but not the first time he'd sensed him. Hiei had watched the entire debacle at Onigumo Manor from afar. Scooby had felt that Evil Eye trained upon him from the moment Yusuke and his friends arrived; it had not been hard to pick up Hiei's psychic scent, given enough time. But what did the demon (a fire demon, by the smell of him) want?

"You're a fool," said Hiei.

Scooby looked around, confused. "Roo, me?" he said, pointing at himself with his shockingly dexterous paws. "Re? A rool?"

Hiei scoffed. "Who else could I possibly be addressing, dog?"

"Rog?" Again Scooby looked around, feigning confusion. "Rhere?"

Here Hiei rolled his eyes. "You certainly play the fool well enough. But then again, I'm not surprised." His chin rose, starlight and moonlight a blade in the glitter of his cutting gaze. "It takes a real fool to miss what's right in front of your eyes."

Scooby dropped the comedy routine; Hiei's glare demanded it, and Scooby knew Hiei would see through any of Scooby's attempts to obfuscate. Scooby and Hiei stared one another down in silence cut only by the sound of the wind in the trees and the small trickle and pop of a nearby shishi-odoshi. Steam turned Scooby's fur slick, damp fingers creeping under his coat, but he didn't move. There was something strange in Hiei's gaze—a kind of raw nerve, open to the air and stinging, that Scooby dare not irritate.

"You have nothing to fear, you foolish demon." Hiei's voice came softer here, though no less cutting. "I read what lay within your humans' hearts when they broke through your psychic haze. They were surprised. Shocked. But beneath that—affection." His chin lowered, scowling mouth hidden by his scarf. "Affection… and burgeoning acceptance."

Scooby's heart leapt. Hiei's eyes fell shut, hiding that raw nerve from view.

"Demons aren't all lucky enough to receive as such, and you're a fool to waste it," Hiei said, brusque and bedrock hard. "Perhaps you should think about being honest with your humans. The results may surprise you."

Hiei turned from Scooby-Doo with a snap of black cloak, boots striking stone without a sound. Scooby considered the demon's back for a moment in silence. Soon, he cleared his throat.

To Hiei, Scooby said, "Rounds rike you reak rom rexperience."

And Hiei stopped cold, mid-step. One scarlet eye turned back over his black-clad shoulder. His gaze was livid, fury both burning and freezing at the same time—but Scooby didn't shrink back in fear. He knew a kindred spirit when he saw one. Much as Scooby needed advice, so too did Hiei. They were both psychic enough to see that, although Scooby suspected Hiei would never admit it.

"Raybe roo rould ronsider raking rour rown radvice, Riei," Scooby said. "Re results right rurprise rou."

Hiei regarded Scooby a moment longer—and then he turned his head.

"Feh," he said, but the dismissal lacked venom. "You don't know what you're talking about, dog."

Hiei didn't waste time on further chatter. He flitted away, a flash of black disappearing too fast for Scooby's eyes to follow.

Scooby stood there, silent, for a time. Then he walked back indoors to curled up against Shaggy's side, head pillowed on his chest as he snored. His eyes drifted shut, the disquiet in his heart at last relieved. He would consider Hiei's words another day—perhaps the next day, after breakfast with Shaggy, and Velma, and Daphne, and Fred.

After breakfast with his humans.

In the darkness, Scooby heaved a little sigh, and then (bit by bit) he fell into deep, contented sleep.

NOTE: I told you this was full of FEELS.

This is the last chapter we'll see of Scooby (*cries), and it's the epilogue proper for this wild ride of a fic. BUT there's one more "bonus" epilogue to follow, and it's for the readers of my other fic, "Lucky Child." Stay tuned, and thanks!