"Ah, morning!" Kagome yawned and stretched, exiting the hut. Miroku and Sango followed her. Shippo was sleepily lying on the monk's shoulder and Kirara on the demon exterminator's. They looked around as if searching for someone, but didn't seem to see him.
"I don't understand Inuyasha..." Shippo said to no one in particular and yawned. "When he's human he comes after he's transformed and leaves before..." the small kitsune's head started spinning from too much thinking in the morning and just looked at Kagome. "Why is he doing that?"
Kagome was just about to answer when out of nowhere the hanyou jumped on the roof of the hut and then in front of it. "Doing what?" he snapped and eyed the ever annoying 'runt' suspiciously.
"Acting like an idiot..." Shippo said and yawned again, missing to see a fist heading straight toward his head. "Ow, ow!" the kid squeaked and Miroku wobbled, while Inuyasha 'feh'ed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Kagome, he hit me again! Sit him!"
"You deserved it this time, Shippo-chan." Kagome smiled and took the sulking kid from Miroku's shoulder.
"Inuyasha," the monk turned to the hanyou, rubbing his bruised shoulder. "There's a rumor of a strange monster attacking a village not too far away from here."
"Yes, we think it might be related to Naraku." Sango continued instead of Miroku. "We..." she started to say but was cut off...
"When exactly did you learn that?" Inuyasha asked and that question seemed strange for the others, not to mention the calm tone he used.
"Yesterday morning." Sango made the mistake of answering him.
"And why the hell didn't you tell me?" Inuyasha yelled at his friends. "I don't think we have so much time to waste in just sitting around."
"Inuyasha, you weren't in best shape yesterday." Kagome said a little annoyed and he glared at her. "We would've reached the village by nightfall. We couldn't have done anything while you are human." she hoped to calm him down with that last sentence but it just made things worse.
"You knew about that too?" he yelled at the girl and she sighed in defeat, going inside the hut. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" the hanyou yelled after her but didn't dare to follow her.
Kagome went to take her bag and returned to the others. Inuyasha was going to shout again but she passed by him and held her hand on his mouth. "Let's just go." she said and after the inevitable 'feh' he crouched down so she could climb on his back.
The group traveled until noon when Inuyasha stated that he was hungry and wanted to eat at the very moment, not caring what the others thought or if they were stopping on a safe enough place. His behavior, of course, caused him a few sits and half eaten meal by Shippo. With that the kitsune earned himself a punch on the head and Inuyasha another sit. Being smart enough not to interfere, Miroku, Sango and Kirara sat aside the whole time. After all the mess from Inuyasha and Shippo's fights was cleaned the group was off again.
Just like Kagome had said earlier, they were at the village by nightfall. According to what Miroku and Sango had heard about the demon it was a dream monster – a creature that feeds on human emotions while they sleep, draining their energy until they die. And since the energy they spend is bigger when they have nightmares, it is clear what the demon's special ability is – to create nightmares.
Miroku and Sango had warned Inuyasha not to underestimate the demon and as usually the hanyou made no sign to be worried. But that was about to change. As the group entered the village there was no one on the streets. It was dark but it wasn't that late. At least the village guards should be outside.
"Miroku, how did you learn about that demon?" Inuyasha asked while stepping in front of everybody and sniffing the air.
"A wandering monk told me." Miroku answered. "He said that he couldn't chase away the demon and the villagers asked him to find a more powerful monk or a demon exterminator."
"What is it, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked him as after Miroku stopped talking the hanyou growled.
"All the people here are dead." the hanyou answered and placed a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt.
"Everyone?" Kagome asked and shivered.
Hearing Inuyasha's words Sango and Miroku were immediately ready to fight. The hanyou noticed a change in Kagome scent and quickly spun around to face her – she was afraid. Suddenly, noticing the strange look she was giving him, he turned his back to her and mentally cursed himself. He had always noticed when she was afraid and had always pretended not to have noticed but now...
'I'm loosing my composure!' he thought in panic. 'I have to tell her soon or I'm going to go crazy...' lost in his own thoughts Inuyasha missed to notice a new scent. And the one whom it belonged was heading toward him and his friends pretty fast. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Inuyasha, are you alright?" it was Miroku, who had come to him, seeing how strange his friend was acting.
Startled, Inuyasha turned to face the monk. "I... um..." suddenly the new scent struck his nose and he growled. "Fuck, the demon is here..." he said and turned toward the main street of the village.
"Are you sure?" Sango asked and looked at Kirara, who immediately understood what was wanted from her, and transformed.
"Yeah, it's coming from there." Inuyasha pointed the far side of the main street and drew out Tetsusaiga.
"Miroku-sama, what is that demon going to do?" Kagome asked, her voice a little too shaky than she wanted, which made Inuyasha flinch involuntary. "I hate nightmares..."
"Don't worry, Kagome-sama, this kind of demons only materialize when they have had enough energy." the monk explained and Kagome felt a little relieved.
"It will be just fighting today." Sango said and then turned to Inuyasha. "Is it coming fast?"
Before the hanyou could answer a strong wind blew around them and they shielded their eyes. A terrified shriek was heard when something lifted Kagome off the ground and took her high in the sky. "Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted and tried to see where she was, but the wind was making too much dust.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed and desperately tried to free herself from whatever was holding her.
A loud and earthshaking roar was heard, witch muffled Kagome's screams. Inuyasha's ears and head hurt to the point of loosing consciousness but he desperately tried to stay awake. Although Kagome was sure nobody could hear her she continued screaming. The wind became stronger and sent Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippo flying back.
The four landed on their backs and when they lifted themselves, in front of them was an enormous tornado. It had destroyed the whole village and wooden material from the houses, weapons and dead human bodies were spinning around in it. The monk involuntary said a prayer to the gods to save his friends, Sango clutched his hand and Shippo hugged Kirara who had transformed to her smaller form.
When the winds had become stronger Inuyasha had flown a little back but had managed to dig Tetsusaiga in the ground. He shouted Kagome's name but he couldn't hear even his own voice anymore. Trying to steady himself Inuyasha barely managed to dodge a large rock, flying toward him, which resulted in severely wounding his right hand – only his small finger remained unbroken.
Suddenly the winds felt kind of strange to him and realization hit him – they were result of the demon's youki. 'If I can see where Kagome is...' Inuyasha thought and tried to look through the dust and his own hair. '...I could make the Bakuryuuha...' then he spotted her. She was just lightly floating in the air, kicking and from the way her mouth moved – shouting. 'Ok, here it goes...'
With his last strength Inuyasha managed to steady himself and raised Tetsusaiga. He aimed for Kagome and unleashed the Bakuryuuha with a loud battle cry, which he couldn't even hear himself. Being a sort of tornado itself the attack didn't hit Kagome. It formed a round corridor and Kagome passed through it, falling in Inuyasha's arms. He wasted on more time and jumped away from the tornado.
Just when the two were out of the tornado it exploded and Inuyasha landed on the ground with Kagome on top of him. They rolled a few times and this time he ended on top of her. Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippo immediately rushed to their friends.
"Inuyasha, Kagome-sama, are you alright?" Miroku asked, seeing that the hanyou wasn't standing up.
"Kagome-chan..." Sango started but heard Inuyasha speak.
"That was close, wasn't it?" he said and moved to stand up but once he was off of Kagome he slumped back down on the ground, loosing consciousness.
TBC