Onegai - Please

Hebi - Snake

Neko - Cat

Kitsune - Fox

Matte - Wait

Gomen nasai/ne - I'm sorry

I don't feel like doin' anymore. I've translated all these words too many times now anyway.

Nightmare! Sanctifying the Hotspring Sanctuary!

Part 2

Kagome had begun to kiss his mouth repeatedly, her lips growing slightly parted as her kisses grew in numbers. She began to speak urgently between kisses, "Inuyasha...I-- want you--- to take me--Make me--yours---Inuyasha--"

Inuyasha spoke just as urgently. "No!-- You don't -- want this! --I--can't!

"Inuyasha!" She pleaded. Then her voice began to change...her calls became softer, calmer...curious, even. "Inuyasha...? Inuyasha..." He could feel her pushing on his shoulder a little.

Inuyasha opened his eyes. In an instant the hazy darkness was replaced with the bright rays of the sun. On the walls of the room he could see the silhouettes of other guests walking past. The faint creaking of cart-wheels, tapping of footsteps and chirping of birds could be heard. It was morning, and he was awake.

A dream...? Inuyasha still heard the soft call of his name in Kagome's voice, though. He could still smell her...still feel her touching his…shoulder... The boy looked over to his right. This put Kagome right in his face. Of course, Inuyasha's eyes bulged to the size of dinner-plates. In in instant he was on the other side of the room, still in his sitting position...as if he'd slid over on a greased pan. This sudden action instantly threw the girl off balance, and Kagome's expression went from inquisitive to downright startled and perplexed as she landed on her tailbone. After a brief wince, she swiveled herself around to look at Inuyasha. "Anou..."

Inuyasha was pushing himself into the far corner of the room, breathing to the same insane rhythm as his heartbeat. With eyes still at an enormous size and pupils no bigger than pencil-points, the hanyou looked like a dog that was about to be neutered. Kagome was pushing herself up, keeping her eyes on him.

"Inuyasha...Daijoubu?"

"WHAT." Inuyasha blurted out. He was giving Kagome a big fat "BACK OFF OR I'LL RUN LIKE HELL." kind of look.

...

Kagome sighed and stood up, dusted herself off, and complacently left the inn. Once outside, though, her brow furrowed in a mixture of annoyance and concern. What is wrong with him...?

Inuyasha took a few minutes to straighten himself out, once Kagome was gone. Shook his head a little, slapped his cheeks a little...got down on all fours and shook down his whole body a little...

I was dreaming. Only dreaming. That wasn't Kagome. I was dreaming.

Inuyasha was in there for quite a while.

Meanwhile, outside, the rest of the group was growing a little antsy. They were under the impression that they would be out searching yet again for the elusive spring-youkai. But the member of the group who was always first to be hurrying everyone else out was taking ridiculously long to leave.

"He shouldn't complain about Kagome taking too long ever again," said Shippou grumpily as he folded his arms and looked down as his growling tummy.

"Maybe you should go check on him again, Kagome-sama." Miroku suggested. Kagome sighed, leaning against a nearby tree.

"I don't know...he seems kind of...put off by me. He must have had a dream where I punished him a lot or something," she concluded dryly. Sango scratched idly behind Kirara's ear.

"Well if he's in a bad mood either way, he'd sooner bite any of our heads off than yours, Kagome-chan."

"That's true..." Kagome admitted. After a moment's contemplation, she pushed off of the tree and strolled back to their room's doorway, giving a little knock. Inuyasha didn't answer. A scraping sound could be heard from inside. Kagome paused a moment, a sweatdrop appearing on her temple.

"Anou...Inuyasha...Daijoubu ka?"

Inuyasha gave no answer.

"...May I come in?"

Inuyasha gave no answer.

"...Please answer me, at least."

...

"Fine then, I'm coming in." Kagome carefully opened the sliding door, and peeked inside. There she found Inuyasha tearing up bits and pieces of the floor with his claws. He'd already dug a mini-ditch in the very expensive matting. Biting his lip, he was growling steadily the whole time. There was also a dark circle on the floor from where the hanyou had been pacing. His attempts to keep his mind set straight had gone slightly too far.

Justadreamjustadreamjustadreamjustadreamjustadream...

Kagome's mouth turned into a tiny equilateral triangle, and her eyes shrank to tiny dots. Her nose was gone.

"I--Inuyasha?" Kagome was now positive that he was either completely unaware of her presence, or pretending to be. So she closed her eyes bracingly, and then opened them again to walk over to the hanyou and tap him on the shoulder.

"GACKT." Inuyasha's hair, be it on his head or on his fire-rat robe, all stood directly upward. One might almost have expected him to have shot up and clung to the ceiling like a cat. His hair settled upon his shoulders an instant later and he whipped his gaze over to the girl. "KAA, Kagome!"

"...I hope you plan on fixing the floor for our hosts."

Inuyasha had disappeared by the time she finished her sentence. Kagome sighed yet again, and then took in a deep breath. "Osuwari." A large crashing sound followed by a raspy cry of shock could be heard echoing from just outside the inn. Kagome hastened to jog outside and around the building to the place where Inuyasha had fallen. The others had already migrated the short distance to the racked hanyou.

...

And everybody looked impatient. Kagome took her place standing in front of and over the hanyou.

"Inuyasha...please tell us what's going on." Inuyasha lifted his face from the ground and regained his composure, standing. He basically ignored everyone else as he passed by them. His path was headed for the forest.

"Nothing's going on."

Kagome folded her arms and watched Inuyasha skeptically, "Why are you running away?"

Inuyasha didn't answer as he continued walking. "All of you, hurry up!" Nobody moved.

"Inuyasha, we're supposed to go speak to the village elders again this morning, while they treat us to a meal."

"You go on and do that, I'm gonna find that youkai!" Inuyasha called over his shoulder without stopping. Kagome opened her mouth as if to say something else, but then just let another sigh exit instead. Her shoulders drooped a little as she turned around in a mildly exasperated manner. And in a chorus of rolling eyes and confused sighs, the shrunken group went to procure food and more fine-tuned instructions for the day's endeavors.

Inuyasha spent a good deal of the morning off on a futile search, while the rest of his party fraternized. They were served a good deal of food, which Shippou gladly overindulged in. Miroku was seated near the village heads to discuss their mission in a little more detail, but he seemed to be paying more attention to the women serving him. This of course made Sango stew silently in her seat, while Kagome did her best to keep her friend's temper from rising.

"I'm afraid that your dog-eared companion will not have much luck in his search. The youkai has only appeared in the springs to beautiful women." One of the village heads explained to the houshi. Miroku nodded and smiled at the head's daughter every few syllables. Kagome was listening in, and sighed, Inuyasha wasn't really looking for the youkai anyway. He already knew it was a peeping-tom. He just wanted to get away from us.

"None of the girls are safe...not even you ladies. Why, my Kaiya says that the monster has even started to invade her dreams." The village head gestured toward his daughter. Miroku's smile faded to concern, as he took the hand of the girl that was now looking down at her own lap with wide eyes.

"He invaded your dreams? Are you sure it wasn't just a natural nightmare? Please, tell me what happened."

"For many nights I've been having...odd dreams where the youkai appears to me. At first he appears as a handsome nobleman, but as the dream goes on...Oh, I can't talk about it. It's too embarrassing." The girl turned her head away, blushing.

Miroku nodded sympathetically, and then looked to the village head, "Have such dreams been plaguing other women as well?" The older man nodded.

"They have. It must be another of the youkai's powers."

"That narrows it down to a neko, a kitsune...maybe a hebi..." Miroku turned back to the girl, a sagely air about him. "I do have a remedy that will ward the spirit away from your dreams at least."

The girl gasped happily. "Do you really, houshi-sama?" Miroku nodded, smiling.

"Yes, I do. But first I need to know...would you be willing to bear my child?" Her hand got a little squeeze. Sango gave a horrible twitch.

"Oh, houshi-sama, you're so funny!" The girl giggled. "Of course you know I am already betrothed."

"Ahh, of course..." Miroku gave a shaky laugh. Kagome sighed.

Inuyasha, far from everyone else, was trudging away from one of the hot springs, grumbling to himself. Not only was he splashed and soaked in many areas, there was also a large lump settled between his ears. The hanyou had decided to search the wrong spring at the wrong time apparently, and a large group of girls had shown their dismay by throwing rocks. Hells. Why are women so damned stupid? The boy's thoughts stewed furiously in his mind. Always findin' some way to piss me off...even in my freakin' sleep. Inuyasha recalled his dream for the umpteenth time that day. He shuddered.

Just a gods damned dream. Nothin' to freak out about. I'll find that bastard youkai and we can all get the fuck out of here. Inuyasha's thoughts were interrupted as his nose caught wind of the various scents belonging to his friends. Ears twitched. They were approaching. And of course...one scent was that potent one he'd been trying so hard to avoid all day. The one that made him think of last night's frightening dream...

Inuyasha swallowed hard. He made absolutely certain to be standing up straight and firm while they all came nearer. Kagome and that dream had spooked him enough today...it was time to just get over it. Kagome herself was also making absolutely certain to look cheerful and inviting...a stark contrast to the monster she imagined that he dreamt about last night. And Shippou, without realizing, was making absolutely certain that he would aggravate the tender situation as much as possible. Once within sight, he hopped over to Inuyasha, landed on his shoulder, and whispered,

"So you dreamt about Kagome?" Inuyasha's hairs all stood on end, once again. Sweat began to form. He spoke in a croak from the corner of his mouth.

"What-did-you-say...?"

"What happened?" Shippou asked. "Was she angry because she caught you cheating again, or was it something else?"

"How---" Inuyasha's visage gradually mutated from utterly frozen shock to a sparking fury. Gripping Shippou by the top of his oversized head, the hanyou held the little kit face-to-face. "You need to mind your own damn business, you bastard." Shippou's eyes stretched out into long, sideways U-shapes. His mouth mimicked them, turning into a cucumber shape. His huge eyes blinked a couple of times, and then closed bracingly.

Inuyasha dropped him to the ground, rather than throwing him. Shippou's eyes remained closed halfway down, before popping open and sending his arms flailing. Scrambling up, he skittered over to Kagome, who had caught up by this point and had been watching Inuyasha carefully.

"Did you have any luck out here, Inuyasha?" Sango inquired.

"No, damnit. I ain't seen hide nor hair of it. I've hardly even caught a scent." Inuyasha scowled.

"Maybe it's only active once evening sets in..." Kagome suggested.

The hanyou sighed irritably. "So what did all of you find out? Anythin'?"

"It has been entering women's dreams to violate them in their sleep," Miroku responded with a serious tone. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Keh, like that's any help."

"It is helpful, Inuyasha. There are only certain kinds of youkai that can enter dreams like that. We've narrowed it down to a Hebi, a Neko, or a Kitsune." Kagome's eyes lit up, a silly, enthusiastic smile washing over her face,

"Ahh! Maybe, if it is a kitsune, Shippou-chan can try reasoning with him!" And suddenly everybody was looking at Shippou, who was hiding. But before anyone could say anything further on the subject, a voice was heard calling out to the group from a distance. It was accompanied by frantic footsteps.

"Houshi-sama!" A villager was making a clumsy dash for the group. "Houshi-sama, the youkai has been spotted near the far side of town!" Kagome could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. This meant they were about to face that...worm again. She swallowed hard and resolutely tightened her fist around her bow as she moved towards Inuyasha. The villager stopped but a few feet from the group. "You must hurry! The rest of us can't stand up to it!" Inuyasha's expression indicated that he was ready. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to build already...but at the same time, a sort of aggravation. This was seeming an awful lot like yesterday.

"Come on, everyone." The boy said as Kagome climbed to his back. "Let's get on with this damn chase."

It was a brief battle...in which Kagome was not white as abysmal as she had been in the previous bout. This time she did not make herself into an easy target...and she even shot a couple of arrows. Of course, she was quaking in fear so much that her arrows hardly went twenty feet...but at least she did better this time. Oh, who am I kidding...I still have a long way to go... Kagome thought to herself as the group made its way back to the center of the village.

They had only taken a few steps on the main road when yet another villager came running toward them, looking frantic. "Everyone! The youkai has attacked another group of girls!" Kagome briefly gave in to the urge to squint her eyes shut in a moment of apprehension.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, and then began to run towards the baths,

"Inuyasha, Miroku-sama, you stay here!"

"Matte, Kagome-chan!" Sango yelled as she dashed out atop Kirara, stopping to pick up the schoolgirl. Inuyasha stood in utter befuddlement.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing!" He called to the retreating women.

"You can't come, it's a girls' bath," She called back reprovingly. Inuyasha's shoulders slumped while his upper lip gave a little jump-twitch.

"Girls' bath..."

Kagome was holding onto Sango's shoulders a little more tightly than necessary as they quickly closed the distance between the reception building and the girls' baths. "Sango-chan, I'll try my best to be more helpful this time..."

"I'm with you, Kagome-chan. We'll be fine." Sango reassured. Kirara bounded to the wooded entrance of the springs, passing a few hastily retreating girls. Kagome leaned over, calling to the girls they were getting ready to pass,

"Is he still there?"

"He's still in there!" One of them squealed. "He was calling after us when we ran!"

"Kirara, hurry!" Sango urged her feline partner, who roared in understanding and picked up her pace. The large nekomata weaved her way swiftly and gracefully through the trees, and finally came to a halt in the middle of the dirt path separating each of the different bathing springs. Sango gripped Hiraikotsu in her right hand, casting wary looks over both her shoulders. "I don't see him..."

Kagome could feel her knees quacking a little as she fumbled off of Kirara and staggered a few steps forward. Her head was whipping around like a nervous squirrel, ready to run away at the sight of any movement. "I-I do-on't see it either."

Sango was just stepping back onto solid ground when she suddenly felt a very...invading touch on her hind-regions. "I don't like thi-IIIS!" She shrieked. Kagome jumped when she heard her friend yelp, her eyes growing to the size of softballs and her mouth shrinking into a squiggle. She spun about 240 degrees clockwise, then 170 degrees counterclockwise, then 370 degrees clockwise, and finally another 50 degrees counter clockwise, just for good measure. Kagome looked absolutely retarded, of course. Sango spun around in a fury. "Houshi-sama! --- ..." She blinked perplexedly at the empty air behind her. "That's right...he's not here. Then what was--"

Through the course of this, something was making its way to the schoolgirl. It was her turn to be violated yet again, apparently. Soon she started to feel something unpleasantly familiar wiggling against her shirt. Long, black, leathered fingers were curling over her breasts and systematically squeezing them. Nestled in her cleavage was a wriggling serpentine body, which held itself in place by gripping the girl's waist with feet that were remarkably similar to it's hands. A long prehensile tail curled around the poor girl's thigh. To top it all off was a large fuzzy head that looked something like a cross between a withered old man and a monkey. The unsightly head was currently in the process of nuzzling Kagome's collarbone as it crooned, "OOh, you came back to me! But why did you come wearing this terrible garment? It's in the way!"

Kagome's knees buckled, and her eyes rolled upward for a few moments as incomprehensible fear overtook her, courtesy of her phobia of writhing worms. The perverted approval, however, angered her enough to snap her out of the irrational fear. Without realizing it, she was handling the youkai the way Inuyasha had handled Shippou just an hour ago. She grabbed him by the head, yanked him off of her, and threw him out of sight, bellowing a mighty Kagome war-cry. "HAAAH!"

The schoolgirl stood there, panting furiously and glaring off in the direction that she had sent the vermin flying. Sango and Kirara were only left to blinkblink in shock at their friend after her brash act of righteous fury.

...

"Kagome-chan..."

"Nani!" Pant, pant.

"We...can't exterminate the youkai...if it gets away." Sango still spoke in a dumbfounded voice. Kagome's eyes and mouth shrank to the tiniest of dots.

...

" ...Gomen nasai...Sango-chan."she squeaked.

Sango grabbed her friend's hand and whisked her onto Kirara's back. "Come on, if we hurry maybe we can track it!" Kirara took off after the fading scent of the creature. Sango held Hiraikotsu ready. Kagome balanced herself on the nekomata and did her best to resist the urge to look down in shame. She kept her head up, looking around for any sign of the youkai.

Kirara came to a stop in the middle of the forest. She lifted her head, turned it from left to right, lowered it to the ground, then raised it again. Her ears lowered while a hissy-sigh escaped her nostrils. The trail had been lost. Kagome now let herself lower her head.

"Gomen ne, Sango-chan..."

"It's alright, Kagome-chan." Sango answered while scratching over Kirara's large head. "I doubt I'd have handled that any better than you did." Kagome smiled a little.

"Arigatou, Sango-chan."

Sango returned the smile. She then turned her attention back to her quadrapedal friend. "Let's go, Kirara." The large cat gave a growl of consent, whipped around, and raced back to the boys.

"You actually came face to face with it?" Inuyasha asked a while later, not sure whether to be infuriated that the youkai had gotten away again, or infuriated that it had violated Kagome again. Kagome sighed and twitched a bit,

"Gomen...it was just kind of how I reacted when he started groping me..."

"Damnit, I knew I should've gone with you!" The cranky hanyou griped while Miroku sadly shook his head.

"I'm GLAD you didn't come!" Kagome returned voraciously. Inuyasha looked taken aback when she said that. For a moment, he almost looked hurt.

"What? If I were there, that thing'd be history by now!"

"No, because you would have been standing still gaping at all the naked women!" Inuyasha got a brief flashback of the dream once more. It took him a moment to react.

"Y...you really think that's all I'd pay attention to!"

Sango hung her head. Either she or Miroku may have to intervene at any moment...

"Whether you wanted to or not, you'd be unable to fight ether because you were staring or trying not to stare. I remember how you've acted in the past!"

"You've seen me take down bigger, tougher youkai than that bastard! You really think I'd be thwarted that easily?"

Sango stepped forward, her eyes half lidded. She was wearing her 'cut the crap' expression. "Ne, Kagome-chan. Inuyasha. Shouldn't you give this a rest? It got away, there's nothing we can do about it."

Kagome sighed softly, "Hai...you're right..."

Inuyasha still gave Kagome a rather ill-tempered look. Was she trying to make herself even harder to get along with?

"Keh! Well what do you idiots suggest we do now, huh? The sun's almost down again, and we still ain't any further than we were yesterday!" Kagome did her best to ignore the animosity Inuyasha sent her. Miroku volunteered,

"Perhaps we should let our hosts provide us with a meal and rest, so that we will be ready to pursue this youkai again tomorrow. We can discuss the things we've learned in the mean time."

Inuyasha snorted. "Whatever. But wherever that thing shows up tomorrow, I'm goin' too!"

"Not if that place is full of naked women!"

Miroku's palm met his forehead.

"I don't care what it's full of! I'm going to catch that thing!"

"Well, I DO care! You can't just storm into a womens' bath!"

"Obviously you don't care! Forget about them, don't you give a damn about what happened to you? Why won't you just let me take care of that damned youkai?"

Kagome paused for a moment, caught a little off guard by what Inuyasha said. He really wants to avenge me, doesn't he...

...

She reprimanded him more quietly this time, "It still wouldn't be proper..."

"I have an idea!"

Inuyasha's ears flattened. "What?"

"If you can get it's scent, you could follow it by it's smell. That way, we could blindfold you before you went into the bath!" Kagome quickly untied the red sash of her uniform and handed it to Inuyasha. "He was rubbing all over this, so do you think you can get a trace from it?"

"Eh.." Inuyasha felt his own level of discomfort from the thought of submerging his senses in her scent again. "Keh. I can smell it from here."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." The rest of the group's eyes drifted back and forth from hanyou to schoolgirl throughout this interaction.

"Okay..." Kagome said dubiously.

"So can we quit wastin' time over this bullshit and just get that thing killed?"

"We lost track of it earlier...and I don't think anybody's going to be returning to the baths again...so it probably won't be coming back out until tomorrow...unless..."

"Unless?" Everyone said at once, eyes on her.

Kagome scooped Shippou up, smiling sweetly, "Shippou-chaaaan"

Shippou looked up, as everybody began to look at him. "Ahhh?..." he replied apprehensively, backing up.

"Anou..."

"It would be very helpful, Shippou, " Miroku said encouragingly.

Sango joined in the smiles, once she understood. "You could be the hero."

Inuyasha blinked. "Huh?"

"Onegaiiiii, Shippou-chaaaaaaaan?" Shippou's eyes darted from face to imploring face.

"Ii...I-i-i I think that I will need good food and rest b-before I can hold such a complex transformation..."

Inuyasha finally seemed to have the situation click in his mind. "Shippou, you really need that much energy to turn into a pretty woman?" Shippou did not hesitate to nod vigorously. Inuyasha sighed heavily, with a good amount of agitation. "Just another reason to waste time, damnit." The hanyou didn't argue too much, though. Shippou had potential to be the perfect bait. The kit smiled nervously, still nodding a little bit.

"It's all settled then! " Kagome declared happily a she set Shippou down and started to put her sash back on. "I guess we let Shippou-chan relax now."

"And the rest of us can relax too." Sango said, sounding relieved as well.

Long after the sun had set that evening, Inuyasha once again found himself tucking his body up against the inside of the inn's wall, sliding to the floor, and lowering his head. Eyes scoped out the residents of the room. There had been no consoling talk with Kagome this evening...just avoidance and arguments. Tonight he could rest easier, without her on his mind...without that...stupid girl...on his mind... Inuyasha was asleep shortly after his companions. The course of the night passed onward, and everyone as at peace. Inuyasha, however, eventually began to feel himself coming to once more. Eyes fluttered, and then squinted, for they were filled by bright sunlight. The hanyou shook his head and blinked twice, finally opening his eyes all the way. Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kirara...they were all gone. Well of course they were gone...he was in Kagome's room now. They couldn't come here. Filling his nose were the scents of cooking ramen noodles, salty chips, and all other kinds of the ninja food that the boy adored. Inuyasha took a better look around and saw that the wide assortment of food had all been placed around him on Kagome's floor. Eyes brightened. Kagome must've gone and gotten all of this for him! With a grin widening over his features, the hungry hanyou made for the first bag of chips he could find and tore it open. Only a couple of fistfuls had made their way into his mouth before the inviting sound of Kagome's voice drifted to his ears.

" Inuyashaaaa..." Kagome called, her voice floating down the hall, "How do you like your present?"

"My...present?" The boy looked up, blinking.

Kagome appeared in the doorway in nothing but a fuzzy white towel. Her hair was still clinging and dripping onto her shoulders and back. A bemused smile played itself on her lips.

"Yes, your present."

Inuyasha gulped, swallowing something that felt a lot harder than a mouthful of junk food. "M-m-m-m-..." The stammering hanyou quickly raised a hand to his eyes and turned his head away. "Ka-agome! Shouldn't you get dressed?" Oh yes. Inuyasha was definitely dreaming again. But there was no conscious thought awake in his mind to tell him otherwise.

To be continued.

Footnotes:

Cue the "next time on Inuyasha music" now. Also play scenes of Inuyasha freaking out, Shippou turned into a woman, and the group facing down the little youkai. (Ooh, spiffy.)

Kagome speaks up. "Why is Inuyasha acting so afraid of me lately? Have I done something wrong?"

Inuyasha shouts. "That's not it!"

"We lay a trap for the spring youkai, thanks to Shippou-chan's transformation! But what's this…Inuyasha, you're letting him go?"

"Damnit, it's not what you think!"

"Next time on Inuyasha! Sanctifying the Hotspring Sanctuary, Part 3! O-tanoshimi ni!"