Disclaimer- I don't own Inuyasha.

Nightmare

Ch.2

"How are you doing this morning Kagome?" asked the white haired hanyo.

"I'm doing great," Kagome felt herself answer. "Look what I have. Mushroom Ramen! I made it just for you." She poured some of the soup into a cup and gave it to him. He ate it within a matter of seconds and then went for the rest of it in the pot over the fire. When it was all gone he kissed her. "Thanks," he said. "It was great."

They sat for a while around the fire and talked about the future. When the hanyo said he wanted her to be his mate, she laughed. "I'm a little young to get married," she told him. He gave her an odd look. What's she talking about? he thought. "Who said anything about getting married?" he asked, truly bewildered. He looked over at Kagome. She was giving him a death stare. He hastily said, "I mean, you're right. We should wait a month." She laughed. "More like 5 years! I'm only 17 and I want to go to college before I settle down."

He looked hurt. "I want you to stay here with me, though." What am I doing? Kagome thought. I can't ask Inuyasha to become human. Kikyo tried that, and that ended with her dead and Inuyasha stuck to a tree for 50 years. But I can't keep going back and forth between my world and this world forever. Slowly she said, "Maybe you're right. I'll tell you what. I'll turn 18 in five months. Give me until then and I'll marry you." Inuyasha smiled triumphantly, but then turned pale. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Five months isn't that long a time to wait." "I-" he collapsed. "Come on. Stop kidding around. I mean it, Inuyasha!" She shook him, but he didn't do anything. "Sango! Shippo! Miroku!" Kagome yelled. They came running. "What's wrong? What happened?" Everyone asked at one time. Frantically, she said, "Inuyasha collapsed!" Miroku bent down to smell the man's breath. He gasped. "I know that smell! A very deadly type of mushroom has poisoned him! He-" Miroku looked at Kagome with pity. "He doesn't have much longer. I'm sorry." Kagome began crying. Just then the hanyo regained temporary conciseness.

"I…love…you…Kagome," he managed to choke out. "I love you too, Inuyasha," she answered through her tears. He smiled and then went limp in her arms.

As she woke up, Kagome screamed. Her mom came running. "What's the matter, Kagome? Did you have a nightmare?" Kagome nodded. But it didn't feel like a nightmare. It felt real, she thought. She calmed down a little bit, then asked, "Mom, do you think hanyos actually exist?" Her mom looked nervous, then said, "Um, of course not. They're just creatures people told stories about a long time ago to help pass the time." She winced at her own words. After all, Inuyasha had been more than just a creature. He had been like family. Too late to correct myself now, she thought. "Anything else?" Kagome shook her head. "No. That's it." She kissed her mom goodnight and turned the lights back off.

Except that wasn't it. She was wondering who Inuyasha was. She remembered that name from that weird trip to the psychiatrist's office last month. She didn't know him, or at least she didn't remember him, but she knew what that emotion was that was in the dream. It was love. She had loved him. But how? How could she have felt that and not remember it? There were too many questions. She decided to just go back to sleep. As she slipped quickly into unconsciousness, she heard the whispering voices. It's coming, they said. It's coming. What's coming? She wondered. Evil, they answered in a happy chorus.

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"What an odd dream, Kagome said to herself the next morning when she woke up. "I actually dreamed of voices saying that evil was coming. I guess I shouldn't have eaten that pizza before bed." She looked outside. There was a moving van next door. Someone must have bought that house, she thought. It had been vacant for as long as Kagome could remember. Just then Sota burst into the room. "Come on Kagome! I want to go over to that house next door. Someone just moved in!" Irritated, Kagome said, "I don't want to go over there so leave me alone!" Kagome didn't know why she was mad, but for some reason that house gave her a weird feeling. Just after lunch a small car pulled up. A woman got out. There's something very familiar about her, thought Kagome. "Can we go over and say hello?" Sota asked. He kept bugging his mom until finally she said, "All right. Kagome, you go with him." So off they went.

"Hi! My name is Kikyo," said the woman. Kagome introduced herself. "I'm Kagome Higurashi and this is my brother, Sota." The woman seemed nice enough. She wasn't very old, only about 23 or so. When asked why she had moved into such a big house all alone, she explained that her grandfather had recently died and left it to her. "His name was Myoga." She said the name casually, but Kagome felt an odd twinge. Hadn't she known a Myoga once? No, it couldn't be. She was imagining things. Still, it hurt her somehow, and a pained look crossed her face.

Kikyo smiled. In that instant Kagome knew where she had seen that smile, that face. Kikyo looked almost exactly like her. Kagome was thinking about this as she left a few minutes later, so she didn't see the arrow coming. It flew across her path, pinning that Inuyasha guy from her dream to the ancient tree in her yard. "Die, Inuyasha!" Kikyo screamed from a few yards away. This can't be happening, Kagome thought in horror. Then suddenly it wasn't happening. Everything was like it should be. As she walked inside she thought she heard laughter from next door, but maybe it was just the wind.

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Sota wanted to go back to Kikyo's house the next day, but Kagome refused. Although Kikyo hadn't done anything strange, she felt uneasy around Kikyo. Unfortunately, Kagome's mom forced her to go. Sota was the baby of the family, after all. Kagome walked quickly with her head down over to Kikyo's house. She didn't want to see anything weird like she thought she had the day before. "Kikyo is so cool! She has cookies and milk and a PS2. What more could you ask for?" Sota babbled endlessly. She turned to him to tell him to shut up, but he was no longer there. In his place was a small boy with red hair and a tail. Then he turned into a big pink bubble. She blinked and Sota was back again. How odd, she thought. I could have sworn that- "Naa, it couldn't be," she dismissed it. "What couldn't be?" Sota asked. "Nothing. Never mind."

Kikyo was standing in the door when they got there. Kagome had an odd feeling that she had been waiting for them, but that was impossible. They hadn't called before they left. From behind Kikyo there was meowing. "When did you get a cat?" asked Sota happily. He loved cats. "I've had them for years," she explained. "When I moved I didn't have enough room for them in my car, so they stayed at my friend's house until I could come back for them. Today I had some time, so I drove back and brought them here."

They all went inside. "What are their names?" Sota asked. "Well, this white one is Naraku. The black one is Onigumo, and the bald Sphinx cat is Monten. Monten had a brother named Hiten, but he died." Kagome stared. She had heard these names before somewhere. "I also used to have a dog." She had a look of disgust on her face. "At first we got along pretty well, but then he ran off with a shaggy little female dog. You know what female dogs are called, don't you? They're called bitches. That description fit this particular female dog perfectly. That female gave him rabies and he died." She spoke with such distaste that even Sota couldn't offer his sympathy. With false innocence she continued. "So afterwards I tracked her down and killed her. After all, she did have rabies. I was putting her out of her misery." Kagome was in a state of shock. Those words had upset her more than they should have. Kikyo was looking at her as if she were the much-hated female dog.

While she was distracted with this thought, the three cats' ears went back against their heads. They started hissing at her. Before Kagome could get out of the way, they ran furiously at her throat. She looked around. Where were Sota and Kikyo? No one was helping her! She looked around frantically and saw them. Kikyo was holding Sota back. Why? Why wouldn't Kikyo help her? Is this it? Is this how I'm going to die? Kagome thought. She closed her eyes and thought she could feel them biting and clawing at her jugular. But wait. She couldn't feel their claws. What was going on? She opened her eyes. The cats went flying across the room. They all landed on their feet and ran out of the room.

They went home soon afterwards. After all, what do you say when your neighbor's cats suddenly try to kill you?

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"I can't believe I was that stupid," Kikyo said. "I got angry and tried to kill her in such an obvious way." She was talking to herself again, but she didn't care. She had been doing it since she had left the feudal era. At least there she could talk to her soul collectors. Here she had no one. "I had meant to torture her for a while. I wasn't planning on doing away with her until I had driven her completely crazy. I've had experience with that kind of thing, you know. Remember Naraku?" Naraku had been her greatest achievement. After she was done with him, he couldn't even use his various powers, so a group of townspeople had been able to lock him away from the rest of the world indefinitely. Kikyo continued her conversation. "But then that stupid dead mutt interfered. Now I'll have to get rid of her much sooner than expected. I can't have her hanging around to guess what's going on, can I? But this time I'll have to be more discreet." Slowly her evil mind hatched a plot. By the next morning, she had a plan. However, first she would do as much damage as possible.

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That night the whispers were back. He's coming! He's coming! They shouted. They weren't happy this time. They were scared. When will he get here? Why is he coming? Kagome demanded. By now she knew that if they were happy, she wasn't, and vice versa. You don't know? He is already here. She would have killed you by now otherwise. He's protecting you! They sounded outraged.

The next morning she couldn't remember the conversation. So when Kikyo called to ask if they could come over, she went on the condition that her cats were locked away. Kikyo assured her that they were, and they headed over. "This is Sesshomaru, but I sometimes call him Fluffy," Kikyo said when they saw the huge white dog. He looked ferocious. Not the type of dog you would usually call Fluffy except for the huge, fluffy, extremely cute tail. He had sharp teeth and a mark on his forehead in the shape of a crescent moon. There were also two stripes on each side of his face. All and all, he was a really beautiful dog.

Now Kagome was confused. "I thought you didn't like dogs. What about that other dog?" Through clenched teeth Kikyo said, "His name was Inuyasha, and I didn't like him but that doesn't mean I hate all dogs." She hugged Sesshomaru. "I love this dog." Sota tried to think of something to say. It had to be just a coincidence that she had a dog with the same name as the Inuyasha Kagome used to go see. The Inuyasha that had been his hero until he had died a month ago. Mom didn't think he would catch on, but he had. After all, he was a kid, but he wasn't stupid. Finally he asked, "So what breed is he?" Kikyo gave a fake smile and said, "He's a dog demon." Laughing nervously, Sota said, "Don't you mean that he's a demon dog because he's so wild, or something like that?" Kikyo didn't laugh. She just said calmly, "No. I mean he's a dog demon."

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A/N- Cliffhangers are so much fun. Sorry this isn't longer. I'm not very good at making fics last for a long time, so sorry about it. Anyway, I need more reviews. As of right now I only have one review, so come on people! *Puts on drill sergeant uniform and starts marching back and forth in front of readers* Alright people! I wanna see at least 5 reviews before I update! Now do 50 push-ups! In the mud NOW, soldier! *Is back in normal clothes* Plus, I'll cry if you don't. Waaa! Okay, I'm all right now. The point is to review and read my other fics also. Ja, minna!

~Lady Ryoko