Chapter 6

"Grampa!" Kagome cheered as she raced toward her grandfather, her arms outstretched. Kagome visited him every weekend and spent most of the day helping around his huge shrine and listened to his fascinating stories. Her mother frowned at him for that, as it usually gave her nightmares- especially when he had an ancient artifact relating to it- but she would still listen.

It was Thursday, so Kagome was a bit confused why her mother decided to take her here, but she wasn't complaining.

"Be gone, evil spirits!" Gramps Higurashi shouted, picking up a bucket and splashed what looked like water onto her.

Shrieking, Kagome stopped, bringing her hands up futilely as she was soaked with sake. "Why did you do that?" she sneezed and plugged her nose, looking at her grandfather quizzically.

"Stay away from my granddaughter!" he yelled and poured a second bucket of purification sake over her head. Sputtering, Kagome cried for him to stop.

"Old geezer's finally lost it," Inuyasha commented, unhelpfully standing three feet upwind from her. "You're gonna smell for days," he told her with a wrinkled nose.

"Shut up!" she snapped at him, starting to cry as the strong scent of sake made her eyes burn.

Gramps followed the direction she was looking at. "There, ain't he?" he muttered before hurling the empty buckets in that direction.

Inuyasha ducked under one, scowling when a bouncing bucket went straight through him.

"Dad, can you help me unpack?" Seiko called from the shrine gates, flushed from carrying two duffel bags worth of clothes up the countless stairs.

With a glare sent in Inuyasha's general direction, he left, patting Kagome's head as he passed.

Kagome walked up to Inuyasha, not happy when he automatically plugged his own nose when she came close. "What's wrong?"

"Why am I so invisible sometimes?" he grumbled, leading her over to the Sacred Tree, the biggest tree that shaded over most of the small shrine. He drew back his fist and punched it, landing a solid blow against the bark. "I can touch this and I could touch most of the furniture back at home, but other things like that bucket and people go right through me."

Kagome looked at his hand, firmly against the tree. He looked so real that it still surprised her when something could pass through him like he was made up of nothing but air. Inuyasha didn't know it, but she spent everyday wishing he was truly there with her, physically visible and solid. Sighing, her head fell back to look up at the thick branches above, watching the leaves sway with the soft wind.

When everything was settled- and after Kagome had a bath three times over- her mother helped her settle in the spare bedroom. It was like she forgot everything she saw last night, which made Kagome worry. Though, she did put empty boxes under the full-sized bed until it was impossible for anything to live under there. For that, Kagome was glad.

"Look here, Kagome," her grandfather waved her over near the door. The light switch was different than before; it could be slid from maximum power to a very dim light before switching off. "Your mother told me you had trouble with nightlights, so I installed this just for you. At night, you can leave the lights on at it's dimmest."

Kagome beamed, awed at the new technology. "Thank you, Grampa!"

He chuckled and left. "Anytime, my dear."

"Something's up," Inuyasha muttered behind her. Kagome turned to see him moving the curtains aside. A strange device was hooked to the window. He tried sliding it open, but it wouldn't budge. "They locked the windows, stuffed things underneath the bed, and I wouldn't doubt that they did something to the closet as well."

Kagome slid one of the closet doors open, finding a bright nightlight plugged into the wall inside of it. "They're getting rid of the monsters!" she smiled at him, "They believe me now!"

"Hrm... I don't like it. Something's not right about this," he said, agitated that he couldn't find out what.

"But we'll be safe, tonight," her smile faded, growing concerned about his uncomfortable state, "Right?". He had been that way the second she woke up this morning, suspicious and grouchy, especially when her mother told her that they were going to her grandfather's shrine. They packed next to nothing and just left. Kagome didn't think anything was wrong, why did Inuyasha think so?

He was slow to respond. His eyes scanned the monster-proof room once more before they fell to her. "...Yeah. We will."

Kagome forced a smile, uneasy at his reluctance to admit everything was alright. She went to her desk and picked up a stuffed animal out of the small pile of toys she brought with her. "Wanna play with me?"

Inuyasha gave her a deadpan look. "That wasn't fun before and it isn't going to be fun now." He backed up a step from her when she waved the dolphin to him. Giggling, Kagome followed him. "No. No..." he warned as he backed up some more. "I'm not degrading myself like that again! Get that thing away from me!"

With a wide smile, she chased him around the bedroom, waving and throwing her arsenal of stuffed animals as he dodged and evaded her. When she ran out, he grew a wicked smirk of his own and started pelting her with her own toys, laughing when she took cover under her desk. "How does it feel now, little mate?"

"Kagome?" her mother knocked. Inuyasha dropped the toy he was holding when she let herself in, not wanting to give her a scare again. She only glanced at the mess before disregarding it completely. In her hands was a colorful journal and a pack of sharpened pencils. Kagome crawled out from under the table as she walked up to her. "Here, I want you to have this."

Clueless, Kagome hesitantly accepted it, opening the blank notebook to look at the pages.

"Every time you're scared, I want you to write it or draw it down. Then cross it out and say 'it's not real, it won't hurt me', alright?" Seiko hesitated, biting her lip as she looked down at the journal. "Monsters aren't real, Kagome. Not if you don't want them to be."

Kagome slowly nodded.

Seiko sat down on her bed, patting the space beside her to signal that she wanted Kagome to sit next to her. "When you look into a dark room, what do you see?"

Her brows drew together before she recalled a time long before. A few months ago, she actually witnessed the bulbs to her nightlights shattering. But Inuyasha took care of it and the monster never revealed itself again, yet it still broke her lights from time to time. "The shadow monster," she whispered.

"But it's only a dark room," Seiko smiled tightly, "That's all that's really in there. It's just a room. You see? You over-think your nightmares and then you think the monsters from your nightmares are real, but they're not."

"Like Santa Claus," her grandfather added, standing at the doorway.

Kagome's eyes widened. "Santa Claus isn't real?!"

Her mother shooed the old man away. "Only if you believe, dear," she told Kagome. "Santa Claus is real if you believe."

"Oh...Okay..."

Seiko smiled once more before standing. "We have an appointment with a doctor tomorrow morning, so go to sleep early, okay?"

Kagome paled instantly. "Do I have to get another flu shot?"

"No! No..." she chuckled at her sudden outburst, "Don't worry, honey. They just want to check if you're healthy, that's all."

"...Okay..." Reluctantly, Kagome nodded in agreement.

Inuyasha frowned deeply when Seiko left, closing the door behind her. "I really don't like this..."

A/N: I'm really sorry that I posted this later than usual, I was just really busy today. This chapter was belted out in about an hour and a half (it's eleven pm as I write this). But thankfully, I managed to get this up just before midnight :)

Warm-Amber92- I had similar imaginings when I was younger, like hands under my bed ready to cut my feet off :'( And Inuyasha mentioned some 'window demon' last chapter. Supposedly, he went to chase that demon off.

InuEared Miko of Darkness & kkk: Thank you :)

j . wintercrow: I finally have some idea, myself. But I'm not telling~ ;)

xXxAddicted2ChocolatexXx: Totally agree with you there.

kittykritik: I think I'm going to switch timeframes when everything's finally, somewhat explained. Kagome has to grow up for her future-mate sooner or later ;)

DarkDemonWithinMe13: For now, yes.

darkcreeder: Do it. I love messing with the characters that way :D I wanted to write a story where Kagome suddenly turns to the size of Myoga but I'm unsure of how that story will be received :/

Sahora: I wouldn't say 'ghost'. In fact, I think everyone's been right all along. Screw your purple unicorn! I'm riding my dragon to my castle in the sky with flying mermaids everywhere! Oh, and monster under the bed said 'hi'.

They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, they're coming to take me away, ha-ha... I don't even know...

FxA