Disclaimer: Kagome and her family are not mine. Inuyasha and Hojo do not belong to me either. Neko is mine. And new characters are mentioned!!! That means they are mine as well.

"Spoken"

Thoughts

::Actions::

Chapter 22: Mama, I Had a Dream

Neko had not wanted to disturb the Higurashi family with her transformation. So she went outside and sat by the God Tree. Kagome hadn't woken up yet, but her breathing had evened out and she was still resting comfortably in the living room. The family was watching over her. Neko had finally met Souta. He had spent the night at a friend's house the night before. Cute kid. But he reminded her too much of Shinta. There was a dull ache in her heart from that encounter.

She breathed deeply the tree's fragrance. She had seen this tree many times over the years. She looked up at it and could still remember Inuyasha hanging there with the arrow piercing him. Still the smell was calming. She sat and meditated until her transformation was complete. Surprisingly it never had hurt. She knew she should go back into the house, but she was waiting for something.

The door to the house slammed. Hojo's voice carried through. Neko gave a slight moan. This was not a good night for the boy to check on his friend.

As she sat there in the dark in a relatively tranquil state, she heard a noise from the well house. It sounded like thumping on the well. She started making her way to the well house. Then she heard a loud thump and a startled yelp. She ran the rest of the way.

Slowly she opened the door and shone her flashlight on the kneeling form. Cautiously she said, "Are you alright? I am a doctor if you are in need of medical assistance." The form looked up at her. "Inuyasha?" In an instant she was kneeling in front of the boy.

Inuyasha looked up at the person in front of him. Kami, it was like looking in a mirror. "Nekoyasha?" he coughed.

The woman smiled at him. She pulled the boy into a hug. When she let go, "Are you ok?"

Had it been anybody else, he would have said, "Of course I am. Now leave me alone." But this was the one person that he could afford to show weakness to and she wouldn't think any less of him. "No. My sight is blurred, my head hurts, and I don't think I can get up."

Neko nodded. "We better get you into the house." She rose quickly and helped him to his feet. He wavered a little, but she kept him steadied. He draped an arm around her shoulders and together they made it across the yard to the house.

As they were nearing the door, Neko turned to her cousin. "Inuyasha, there is a person here that is not part of the family so just play along with me, okay?" Inuyasha didn't respond. "Inuyasha, did you hear me?"

She turned the boy's face to her. His eyes had glazed over and suddenly his legs gave out. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha, don't do this to me! Can someone give me a little help here?!"

*****

Souta was listening to Hojo talk about the various herbs he had brought over was getting a little bored with the whole thing. He had started playing with Buyo, when the cat looked towards the door. Souta looked that way as well, but couldn't figure out what the cat was looking at. A few minutes later he heard Dr. Neko yell for help. He ran out the door before anyone else could react.

Souta was slightly unprepared for the sight that greeted him. Two black-haired people stood in front of him. They looked like they were related. The male was wearing clothes that looked very much like Inuyasha's.

"Ah, Souta. Please help me with Inuyasha," Neko told the shocked boy. Souta nodded and went to the other side of Inuyasha and helped the doctor take him in to the house.

When they entered, all attention was turned to them. "Mrs. Higurashi, can you get another futon and some more blankets, please."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded and ran to get the bedding. Grandpa relieved Souta and helped the doctor lay the boy down when his daughter-in-law brought the bedding in.

Hojo just stood there. "Dr. Subaru, who is this person? Why is he dressed like that? What can I do to help? Why do you have black hair?"

Neko was not in a mood to deal with the boy right now. She sighed. There was no telling what Inuyasha would do when he woke up or what he would say in his sleep. "He's my brother and one of those Scadians I spoke about. Apparently there was an event going on now after all. Probably the best thing for you to do is leave. There is no telling what he will do when he wakes up, especially if he is in persona. I needed a change."

Hojo looked at the man that she brought in. He was kind of fierce looking. Hojo nodded his head and said, "Sayonara," and let himself out of the house.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that Hojo had left. They got Inuyasha settled on the futon. Souta noticed the blood on Nekoyasha's clothes.

"Shit," she murmured under her breath. She quickly undid the top part of Inuyasha's firerat kimono. She saw the blood was seeping through his under kimono. She took it off. "I probably had just washed these," she complained.

She inspected his injuries. Had he been in his hanyou form they would have been minor scratches. But his wounds had reopened and in his human form that was not a good sign.

"Baka," she muttered, "I thought I told you to be careful." She worked quickly to clean and bandage his wounds. When she was done, she looked up at Mrs. H.

"Do you have any clothes for him?"

Mrs. H. thought about it for a minute. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I never thought about buying clothes for him. He's never been here long enough to need them."

Neko sighed. "That's ok. I need more clothes anyway. I'll just make a phone call." The Higurashis nodded.

Neko dialed the well-known number. "Noelani? Hi, this is Neko. Is your brother there? Good. I need him to do me a favor. I need at least two more changes of clothes and two pairs of sweatpants. And two white undershirts and probably two regular shirts, preferably red. ... Because he is here." She held the phone away from her ear for the scream of glee. "No, I want Yoshi to bring them. ... ::sigh:: Because you look too much like your mother, and you know that Yoshi does not resemble anyone tonight. ... Just send him to over to the Sunset Shrine. Oh, and two pairs of boxers also. Thank you, Noelani."

Neko hung up the phone and went back into the livingroom. She sat down near the sleeping pair. It was quiet for a few minutes. Then Inuyasha sat straight up and wide-awake.

"Mama, mama! Where are you?" he asked in childish voice. He looked around frantically. Mrs. H. was about to go to him when Neko held up her hand.

Neko sat down next to the boy and took his hand in hers. "I am right here, Inuyasha. It's okay."

Inuyasha looked at her. Frightened he asked, "Why can't I smell you?"

Neko laughed. "Because tonight your hair is black, sweetie."

Inuyasha frowned. He took one of his forelocks in his hand and looked at it. Sure enough it was black. Which meant he was human. That explained the lack of smell. He looked around at his surroundings. "Where are we, mama?"

"In a temple. We were travelling when you got hurt. So we stopped here for the houshi to heal you."

Inuyasha thought about this. It made sense. His body did hurt. There was something wrong though. "Where are daddy and Sessho no niichan?"

"On the battlefield still. We were going to go meet them, because they had won, remember?"

Inuyasha thought for a minute. He didn't remember. He shook his head. Neko reached over and hugged him. "It's okay. When you got hurt, it started another squrimish."

He nodded. He was quiet for a moment. "Mama, I had the strangest dream."

Neko raised her eyebrow. "Really? Do you want to tell me about it?"

Inuyasha nodded. He crawled over to her and sat in front of her. She scooted up behind him and put her arms protectively around him (similar to the flashback of what his real mother does in ep. 6, I think). He leans back against her and gets comfortable.

He thinks for a minute. "I was older. There were two girls that looked very much alike. One was a priestess." He frowned. "She pinned me against a tree. The other girl released me. I have to help her find some jewel. I don't remember why. We have travelling companions. A monk with some sort of hole in his hand, a female demon hunter with a really big ::spreads his arms out as wide as they will go:: cat, and a really annoying kitsune."

"A kitsune? Why is he so annoying?" Neko asked.

"Well, he's little. Like about my age... well, maybe he's older than 5, but still little. He likes to hang on the girl that released me. She wears funny looking clothes."

Neko laughed. But there was a part of her that was worried. He thinks it was all a dream. Of course he also thinks that he is five. This is not going to be good, when everything comes crashing down on him. "This girl, with the funny clothes, is she pretty?"

Inuyasha blushed, and then slowly nodded. Neko smiled. "Do you like her?"

"Mama!"

Neko giggled. "In your dream, sweetie. Do you like her in your dream?"

Inuyasha blushed even harder. "I... I... like both of them."

"Both of them?" Neko concernedly asked.

Inuyasha nodded. "The ones that look alike. But in my dream it feels like I have to like the priestess. I don't remember why. But the other one... she has stayed by me. It doesn't matter to her that most of the time I have white hair and sharp teeth and pointed ears. I've battled against demons to protect her. And she has helped me in battles, even against Sessho no niichan..."

Inuyasha stopped. His eyes got real big. He turned around to look at the woman that held him. With fear in his eyes, "Mama, why would Sessho no niichan want to kill me?"

Neko's heart broke at that moment. Tetsusaiga. And various other reasons. She held Inuyasha a little closer to her. "I don't know, Inuyasha. But remember, you said it was a dream."

Inuyasha thought he heard her voice break when she said that, but he didn't pursue it. It was a dream and right now he was safe in his mother's arms. He hugged her back. Neither of them heard the knock at the door.

Grandpa interrupted their moment. He cleared his throat. "Um... Doc- Milady... uh... Milady... Subaru. There is a person wanting to see you."

*****

Harm Marie - I know. I think they do it to give Neko a headache.

Dark Koorime - Don't worry. I still have a few more chapters that are already written. (The joys of being at my parents' when they have no cable.) Welcome to the story.

Turnings Ander - Welcome. I'm glad that you like my character. Thanks for letting me know that his name is Mushin. You want me to finish it? Why? I can tell you now that I have up to ch. 25 written and it is still not done yet. Hopefully no one will get me too far off track for the plan in my head.

A/N: Ack! A five year old Inuyasha. What's a cat demon to do?

Neko: Technically I'm human tonight.

Catleana: ::Gives Neko evil look:: Fine. Still what are you going to do?

Neko: Hope and pray that he is back to normal in the morning?

Catleana: And if he's not?

Neko: I guess I'll go play with the real five-year-old Inuyasha. ::Starts walking away:: Inu-chan!

Catleana: Arg! You can't do that. You'll run into yourself at five!

Neko-chan: Why is that bad?

Catleana: Time space thing it's too complicated.

Neko: We're in your head, so it really doesn't matter. ::Picks Neko-chan up::

Nekoyasha: So there is now three of us running around in her head? Hey, I was cute when I was little.

Neko: We're going to the park.

Catleana: Fine. Don't forget to take Inu-chan and Sessho-kun with you! Does this give anyone else a headache? Reviews are good! They make me happy!