Scary stories

Kagome stared outside from her threshold. She smiled. The weather was chilly, not too much but enough for certain people she loved to want something warm.

She was so ready for this, it was finally fall, with it's soft wind, the warm colors and the sometimes creepy shadows. She couldn't stay still from the excitement.

Kagome waved her hand as the figures she was waiting for appeared on the road. A few years back she would have jumped in her place, but she had learned to avoid such displays of emotions around her easily excited children.

By the time they washed their hands with the water she had left them outside, and cleaned their feet, Kagome was sitting in her usual place in front of the fire pit, serving dinner.

She was so ready for it.

"Mommy! I found this pretty flower on the way home. I didn't bring it because dad said that if I cut it, the pretty flower would wither and die... and I don't want the flower to die..." Izayoi, their youngest explained with her soft voice. Her huge grey eyes stared at her mother anxious as she fiddled with her silver hair. Kaede always said she looked like the cloud that hides the sun, silver and bright.

She raised her hand to gently cup the four year-old's cheek. "Thank you for thinking about the flower, baby."

Izayoi smiled brightly at her mother knowing she did good. "If you want to see it, I'll show it to you tomorrow!"

"Sounds like a plan! Now, let's have dinner" Kagome winked, "Yours is already waiting for you."

The girl went to her usual place and started eating as her brothers passed their father inspection before entering.

"Satsuki, your face is still dirty. Wash it again!"

Kagome smiled at the sound of a grumpy Inuyasha giving the same order he gave everyday to their elder. Satsuki, named after her own father, was way too comfortable in the wilderness and the open field for her liking, and he saw no problem in being covered by dirt, leaves or even having insects on himself. Kagome shuddered at the memory.

Even if he looked like a replica of herself with the addition of the two triangular fuzzy ears atop his head, and his eyebrows, that boy had a delicate face with strong eyebrows and even stronger temper.

"Now? Dad, can I go inside noow? I am clean! See? See? See?" The pouty note in his voice meant the boy was hungry.

The sliding door opened again and the boy walked inside with his brows low and the six year-old's version of 'the Inuyasha stomp' in his step. She had to bite-back her smile.

"Mommy, dad wanted me to take a bath! I was clean and he said I was dirty!"

Kagome smiled gently, "But you look so clean and handsome now! He wanted you to look amazing for dinner."

Satsuki looked away finding difficult to continue to stay angry at his dad. "... I'm hungry" he mumbled as he walked to his place around the fire after giving her his version of a 'hello kiss', something between a nuzzle and a kiss to her cheek.

The door opened again and now it was Inuyasha with one of the twins under each arm, the boys were having fun squirming and playfully trying to escape his hold. "Stay still, runts."

"Mom! Help us! A strange man is trying to take us away!" Yukio shouted as soon as he saw her.

"We need help!" Yelled Yuuki from the other arm. At the same time Inuyasha dropped them in front of her.

"Ouch!" they mumbled.

"Done! All the squirts clean and ready." Inuyasha said with a grin before leaning down and doing his version of a 'hello kiss." Dipping his face into the crook of her neck to take a long breath in as his nose traveled across her cheek to end with a fast peck on the lips. In reality it was a fast and delicate action, too fast for her but never failed to give her the best kind of shivers down her back.

"Good job!" She answered with a smile at the same time the twins chirped "Can we go eat, mom?"

"Go ahead!" She smiled at the pair, who stood up, gave her a quick kiss and walked to their place."

They looked the same, and they were the only ones that inherited their father's eyes, and most of his features, only their hair was like her own. The oldest of the pair, Yukio, had been the noisiest and strongest willed of the four, always wanting something and only being happy with a 'no' when the reasons behind it were to his liking. And Yuuki, the calm yet bubbliest of her kids, he was the easy going, observing and most of the time the one with the complicated questions. And between them they had the most interesting relationship she had ever seen, they argued, fought, made up, and discussed what happened before telling their parents what happened and admitted whom-according to them- was responsible for what happened.

They were almost done with the stew when Izayoi raised her nose and sniffed a couple of times before asking carefully "Mommy made cookies?" Instantly the other three started to sniff the air.

Inuyasha hid his smile behind his bowl. Izayoi looked like the most delicate of his bunch but she had the sharpest senses and instincts of his children, and when things became physical between the four of them, she was the one to keep them controlled.

Kagome kept eating, ignoring the questioning looks of those excited eyes. "Yes, I made scorched rice cookies" before they could get excited and ask for some, she declared "For dinner, that means after dark."

They went back to eating with a disappointed pout.

-.-.-.-.-.-

It was finally time, the children were wearing their night clothes and were ready for what she had prepared. They knew mama wanted to do something new today, something they were finally old enough to participate in.

And that was the main reason they were behaving. Their parents had called them 'old enough' for something instead of the usual 'You are too young to go on a trip alone', 'No, you are too young to live on your own. Yes even if you meant living on a tree', 'You are too young to hunt alone, and we don't eat rats, baby,' 'No, you are too young to marry the stupid monk's brat... You will NOT marry that brat. Ever', and the most common 'You are not old enough to be outside at night!".

This was the first time they were old enough to Do something and somehow that included cookies. This was the best dinner ever.

"Are you ready children?" Kagome asked excitedly as the children sat around their father. One of the twins on each side of him, Izayoi on his lap, and Satsuki was beside Yuuki, but still at an arm's length from dad. They all nodded, even Inuyasha.

The fire, that was between them and Kagome and she knew the flames casted shadows on her face, just as she wanted.

"I'm going to tell you a few stories from where I come from."

"Mommy, where are the cookies?"

Kagome blinked at Yukio, who after asking was looking around trying to find them. Kagome handed the cookies, and the soy milk she had prepared from scratch to Inuyasha, so he could give them one by one as she looked for the cups.

She tried again after the munching sounds started and their eyes focused on her again.

Finally!

"These stories may scare you a little but remember we are here, and everything is alright." Kagome smiled, the children nodded and Inuyasha raised a brow interested.

"Ok. This story is about a little girl that liked to explore the woods alone..." She started the story with the complete attention of her family. They gasped, they nodded, they even groaned in the right places.

The children munched on their snacks as they looked at her, sometimes her voice went higher, sometimes it went lower as she created the character's voices. The children giggled and repeated part of the dialogue enjoying the show

Now was the climax of the story. The part that was meant to be scary, that will make them show that extremely cute face of tender innocence and then run to her to be pampered and cuddled. Something she missed doing now, her babies were growing up and she missed taking care of them as she did when they were babies.

"...and then the wolf jumped and ate the little girl!" she declared with a strong theatrical voice.

Instead of shocked faces, they showed disbelief and disappointed looks.

"I wouldn't be eaten by a mangy wolf!" Satsuki assured his parents "I would kill it with my claws!" He even made a small demonstration of how he would kill the big bad wolf.

"The girl doesn't have claws, she doesn't know how to defend herself," Kagome explained in the calmest way she could now that her story had been ruined.

Yuuki and Yukio huffed.

Izayoi looked at her father's face and whispered "She should have asked her dad to kill the wolf if it was too strong for her, right daddy?"

Inuyasha smiled and ruffled her hair. "Damn right, kiddo."

It was time for Yuuki to join the conversation "I'm sure dad could kill any bad wolf out there!"

His twin showed his agreement saying "One Wind Scar and no wolf would be left!"

Inuyasha only smiled smugly and nodded.

Kagome sighed; maybe she could think another story that they could actually think of as scary.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"... and the Ghost took the boy from his room. His parents didn't know how to fight the evil ghost"...

"But why didn't they call a priest?" Yukio asked as he munched on another cookie.

"Yeah, like uncle Miroku. He could help killing that ghost!" Satsuki said after gulping another cup of milk, stretching his empty cup to his father to get more.

Kagome counted to ten, then to one hundred as her kids discussed how they could not kill a ghost because it was already dead. She heard Inuyasha snicker and then mask his laughter as a cough, HE was having fun.

"I think mom still has other stories to tell us..." The father said trying to distract her before he became the target of her anger.

Instantly the kids looked at her again, waiting for the next riddle of how to defeat bad things.

She tried with demons killing people and they asked "is he a bad demon or he was attacked first by those people?"

And their discussion was about how mommy and daddy always told them not to attack people, even if someone did something bad to them. And how they were always supposed to call for help if that happened.

After they concluded the demon was a bad one- not like them or uncle Sesshoumaru- they asked why nobody like aunt Sango helped those people.

Now it was something personal. She was worried about how they weren't afraid of anything. That was dangerous, there were things they were supposed to fear, things that would help them to stay safe when their parents weren't around to point at the risks. This was not about them wanting to be pampered like babies anymore.

Now it was a lesson she needed to teach them.

And this was her last resort, the only kind of story they may fear.

"A little half-demon boy wandered away from his home following a beautiful bird, the sun was setting and he had forgotten that tonight was the moonless night..."

The silence around her was different this time, it was not joyful nor light. They were thinking about what that night meant for the five of them-and also the full moon for the four children-. It meant feeling half blind and deaf, weak as if they were recovering from a nasty flu, feeling slow and powerless... It meant feeling half lost even if they knew where they were.

"...the boy didn't know where he was when the change happened. And as soon as the boy felt his human half set on him, he realized he could not find his trail back to his home. He hadn't paid attention in what direction he had walked... but he knew he was far away from home. Nothing around him felt familiar..."

Kagome stared at the children before her. Satsuki had scooted closer to his father, who had thrown one of his arms around the child's small shoulders. Izayoi had nestled herself in her father's chest, pulling at his other hand to hug her close. And both twins were hugging one of their father's legs with one arm, with their bodies closer to their father than ever.

Kagome felt good about herself. They were finally paying attention the way she wanted, with caution. Thinking about the possibilities, the risks. Thinking what to do if they were in that same situation. A little fear was healthy, it helped them stay safe.

But the pride she felt was shattered as her eyes found Inuyasha's face. If the faces of the children showed caution and a little fear, Inuyasha looked down right terrified. It was both fear and anger, and impotence. He was also placing himself in that situation, in the place of the parent that lost his childre.

"His daddy found him?" Izayoi asked slowly.

Kagome opened her lips to answer, but Yuuki beat her to it, "his dad is human too, he can't track as human," calm and matter-of-fact was his tone, but it didn't soften the punch. Inuyasha winced at his words.

Kagome tried to speak again, this time Satsuki spoke, "but he only needed to hide until morning... then his mom and dad can find him." His tone happy as he found the answer.

Yukio was next, "But daddy could find us even as a human!"

If it was in another situation Kagome would have smiled at how the story changed from 'the boy' to 'us'.

Izayoi nodded in agreement as Yuuki tilted his head before nodding slowly.

"And if daddy can't do it, mom can go an find us. She always finds everything!"

The four kids nodded with a pensive frown in place. Knowing mommy knew where everything was. Always.

Inuyasha had been staring at the fire since Kagome stopped talking, without a warning his tormented eyes darted to her face and asked in a grave whisper, "what happened with the whelp?"

Kagome gave him a trembling smile. "He wandered alone and afraid for a while, but he knew how to hide and how to protect himself from the cold. His father taught him well. And with the help of his family their parents found him in the morning. And he learned not to wander alone without his parents permission."

Inuyasha stared at her for a while with a blank expression before shaking his head and saying "Time for you to sleep, runts. Put the dishes where they go and to your rooms!" with a note that didn't allow discussions.

Soon the kids were tucked in, ready to sleep even if they were still discussing the last story, giving each other advice to hide better and to choose a place to wait for daddy and mommy.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Kagome went to bed first, not waiting for him to finish his last surveillance round. She felt guilty and hated how the night had ended.

She was resting on her side, facing away from the door. Scared to see his face. Scared to find in his face pain that she was responsible for.

He plopped beside her and let out a long tired sigh. And before she knew what was happening she was not longer on her side neither was she on their bedding anymore.

Kagome looked up, finding his expressionless face close enough to feel his breathing fanning on her face, with their noses almost touching. He had pulled her close in a way she landed on his chest, with his hands around her. Not leaving her space for her to move, or escape.

"Did the night turn how you expected?" he asked softly, no anger or reproach behind it, only tender eyes looking at her and Kagome felt her eyes get misty as she shook her head.

"Why?" he moved one arm and brushed her bangs away from her eyes carefully, tenderly. "You made them think about important things."

Kagome bit back a sob as she hid her face on his chest. It was his sweet way to say he was not mad at her and he thought she had done nothing wrong. That he didn't blame her for hurting him, or scaring him.

"They need to be wary about some things... more so during the new-and full- moon. It's alright." He had started to slowly stroke her head and back.

"It's not alright... I didn't want to make you feel bad..." she said against his sleeping yukata.

He chuckled in a way that sounded more like a low rumble. "You didn't make me feel bad. It was thinking about those reckless whelps what got me all worked up." he kissed the top of her head and slid one finger under her chin to make her look at him.

"Don't feel bad for doing what needed to be done, alright?" She nodded, and Inuyasha reached up to kiss her softly.

"Next time you need to teach one of our pups about safety, just let me know beforehand so I can... prepare myself for it" he whispered when they separated. And she chuckled softly.

After a moment she blinked and tilted her head, "next time?"

Inuyasha looked away with a guilty face. "Umm, remember how we agreed on slowing this kids thing for a while?"

"Kids thing?" She repeated still confused.

He was playing with strands of her hair now, staring at everything except her. "Yeah, that we said that four kids was enough for now, that we needed to wait for them to grow up a little before having another... I think we won't be able wait a lot more."

Kagome had an idea what he was trying to say, and she could feel the pieces falling into place. "Yeah, I remember." Kagome said with a dry tone as she pulled herself closer to his face, "I also remember someone saying 'Don't worry you don't have the dangerous smell yet' during the last time Sango babysat for us..."

Inuyasha's panicked eyes darted to her with his face screaming 'busted' "Hey! I-I thought it was safe. It wasn't until later that I knew I fucked up..."

Kagome let out a tired sigh. She wasn't really mad about it, actually she had been missing having a baby, a real baby around. "Alright! Next time I will warn you about it."

Inuyasha stared at her smiling face long enough to make her wonder about what was in his mind.

"What?" she asked feeling her cheeks blush.

He gave her that open and child-like smile he reserved only for her, "... you know..." was all he said.

Kagome chuckled and reached closer to kiss him "Yeah, me too."

The end.

A/N:

A/N:

Thanks for reading, liking and reviewing! I appreciate the time you take to leave one of those.

This is a small drabble written for Inukag week 2017 on Tumblr on "Fear" day and I wanted to give it a little twist.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Love,

Nanna

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