Thanks to everyone who bothered to click the little purple button at the bottom of the screen which makes Umineko san so happy. Arigato. (bows)

Disclaimer: I own squaddlethwarsts and nincompopsicles. But not Inuyasha….yet.

Home sweet Home

Inuyasha heaved the luggage with great difficulty up the last few steps leading up to the mansion, he was evidently exhausted but kept on insisting that nothing could be easier. Kagome tutted at his stubbornness.

"For heavens sake Inuyasha let me carry my own luggage!"

"No way! Gnah! You're too weak, I can do it- gneee- this is too easy"

Kagome sighed exasperatedly and began to climb the stairs quicker, and so did everyone else, leaving the poor struggling hanyou behind. When they finally got to the top – well, apart from Inuyasha – it suddenly came to their attention that they had no keys or means of contacting the owner of the mansion to notify that person of their arrival.

"Maybe there's a doorbell?" Sango suggested. They all scanned the enormous oak door for one but found none. Knocking seemed to be the most obvious solution but the door was so huge in height and in width that it was likely that they would shatter their knuckles if they tried. The inutachi simply stood there wondering and listening to Inuyasha's grunts coming up from behind them. Then an annoyed sigh was heard from somewhere to their left and Sesshoumaru stepped out in front of the gang and the faced the door. He raised his right fisted hand and rapped on the door importantly. There was no movement to be heard from the inside indicating that Sesshoumaru had been heard.

He raised his fist again but before he could bring it against the door, a loud screech which sounded like a big metal bolt being slid could be heard from the other side of it. Sesshoumaru took a step back and signalled for the others to do the same, they waited for something to happen but nothing did.

"Great. Okay everyone get your sleeping bags out, looks like we're gonna be out here for a while – " Kagura began but was interrupted by the loud sound of both doors slowly creaking open, revealing the interior of the mansion.

Inuyasha finally caught up with them and dropped the luggage unceremoniously on the ground, he brushed his hands off and wondered why his companions were open mouthed and staring inside the mansion with wide eyes (except for Sesshoumaru of course who remained expressionless.) The unknowing hanyou blinked at them and turned around to face the inside. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped just like everyone else's.

They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid gothic hall; the floor was made of a poorly polished dark wood and huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The walls on each side were panelled in dark dusty wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them, all of which lit up with blazing fires as soon as the front doors were closed. They found that they had unknowingly shifted inside, drawn by the magnificence of the antique mansion.

A small raspy voice snapped them out of their enchantment.

"Excuse me; are you the winners of the competition?"

They all turned around to see the source of the voice but saw no-one, Kouga then felt a sharp poke in his side and yelped, which caused Kagome, Sango and Shippo to scream. Kouga whipped around and searched for what had poked him when he heard someone clearing their throat, he looked down and saw a small bald hunched back man with a large nose, greenish colored skin and bulgy watery eyes. Kouga felt incapable of pounding such a disgusting looking goblin-like man. Instead he asked roughly,

"Who are you?"

"Ahem, let me introduce myself" he said greasily, "My name is Igor and I will be your humble servant during your stay. Anything you need, dirty laundry, dusty belongings, aching feet; just call for humble Igor and he will be at your service." He gave a small bow and put on a foul simpering smile. No-one felt comfortable around this Igor and certainly didn't feel like entrusting him with anything.

"So…where are we staying?" Kagura asked. Igor's eyes widened as if he had just remembered and bowed again.

"Infinite apologies my good ladies and gentlemen, please let Igor escort you to your quarters."

Kagura rolled her eyes and picked up her luggage along with everyone else as they prepared to climb the many dark wood spiral stairs up to their rooms.

666-666-666-666

As they climbed the last step; Inuyasha, after stubbornly protesting that he was perfectly capable of carrying his and Kagome's luggage himself, dropped it all and slumped against the cobweb infested wall, clutching at a stitch in his chest. Kagome who was also exhausted did the same while saying with great difficulty,

"See…I….told….you…gasp…you…couldn't…do…it….ha…ha…ha."

"You….gnah….shaddup…wheeze…" He gasped back.

The rest of the crowd followed in the same state, but Hojo was the worst by far. He ended up dragging himself up the last few steps gasping like a fish out of water. Sesshoumaru had walked the whole way up without showing the least sign of exhaustion while Naraku pretended to do the same but Kagura could see little beads of sweat forming under his bangs. Once most of them had lifted themselves off the floor and recovered their breath, Igor (who had waited patiently for them to do this) nodded and shuffled in front hunchbacked and slowly all the while muttering under its breath. They walked slowly through the extensive corridor staring at their surroundings with a mixture of awe and wariness. The walls were made of dark stone, dimly lit by torches and their footsteps resounded off them. The doors they passed were heavy wooden ones with iron bolts and keyholes; Igor slowed to a halt in front of one of these heavy doors and pulled out a large key ring with at least 100 knobbly old fashioned keys hanging from it. He chose a bronze one and shoved it into the keyhole; he then turned it three times. A sound similar to the one from the front door could be heard but on a lower scale. Igor gave the door a kick and a split second later the door creaked open. Igor stepped back allowing them to crane their necks to get a better look at the interior of the first room.

Kagome and Sango "oooh"ed as they saw what the spacious room contained. The floor was covered with a crimson coloured carpet which expelled little clouds of dust as Kagome cautiously stepped on it, the drapes were also crimson with a border of gold; a four poster bed stood in the middle of the room with silky red bed sheets and a small bedside table decorated with exquisitely hand carved patterns and an oil lantern placed on top. There was also a large dressing table and a rich dark wood closet with golden handles. Kagome looked at the ceiling and saw a dusty chandelier hanging from it. She dumped her luggage onto the floor and sat warily on the edge of the bed. When the bed did not fall to the floor in pieces she said happily "This is my room!"

The gang began to whisper excitedly eager to see their own rooms. One by one they claimed their rooms, each one as magnificently decorated as the last. Inuyasha (who wasn't fast enough to get a good one) was the final to follow Igor down the corridor to the final room. He grinned and tried to imagine what splendid accommodations awaited him. The door was a little tattered than the rest but no matter. Igor searched his large chain of keys and pulled out a rusty bronze one which he shoved into the lock. The door opened with a slow creak revealing the rooms' contents. Inuyasha's grin disappeared instantly as he observed his "room". At the far end there was small clouded window and next to it was an unstable looking four poster bed. The floor was a damp murky green carpet and there was a suffocating smell of humidity due to the leak coming from the crooked wooden boards which was the ceiling. Inuyasha approached slowly and stared up at the leak constantly dripping onto the grey pillow on his bed. He stormed out and yelled in frustration "WTF!? THAT'S NOT FAIR! HOW COME I GET THE CRAPPY ROOM???"

At that moment Sesshoumaru stepped out of his own splendidly mahogany furnished, white cream and gold room and said with a hint of mockery in his voice "Oh, so you didn't get your own master marble bathroom with a separate glass-enclosed shower, a deep soaking tub, and a private water closet?" He leaned against the door frame with a smirk enjoying the sight of Inuyasha grinding his teeth together.

"NO I DID NOT. But now that I know you have one I guess I'll just have to wash in your room" He said scathingly. Sesshoumaru's smirk vanished; he stepped back into his room and slammed the door with such force that it echoed throughout the whole mansion causing dust and small pieces of debris to fall down from the ceiling. Igor had taken advantage of the two brothers argument and had shuffled away to God knows where. Inuyasha threw his bags onto the bed which wobbled threateningly and he too slammed the door, unfortunately it didn't have the same effect as Sesshoumaru's but instead it fell to the floor in pieces.

Sorry for the short chappie guys too many people are bugging me about updating so I have. The next chapter will be HILARIOUS so I recommend reading and reviewing it! xoxoxoxoxo