A/N: Long story short - I was going to post this chapter long ago, but I forgot. Sorry for so long delay!
Beta; Cstorm86

The Dog Goes To Hell

Inuyasha was in hell. It had to be hell, no other place could be so terrible. It smelled of foxes, the weird shrieks filled his ears and since Shippou had stuffed a fox treat in his pocket the little shits were practically hounding him, despite the fact that he got rid of the damn fox food.

On the other hand, Kagome seemed to have the best time of her life.

After Hiro learned how mischievous their guest was, Kagome had scolded Shippou to not prank the family. The boy had listened, but the next day he had pranked a couple of visitors, once almost being caught by an old lady's talisman.

Kagome had called the post office to ask about Shi the very next day and had learned that he no longer worked there. According to the woman Kagome had spoken to, the man was now employed at a different place. She had even supplied the miko with the address.

And so, with Hiro's blessing, Kagome had went on an adventure to rejoin the split family. Shippou hadn't wanted to go back to the Kitsune Inn, so it had been the only option, leaving him to roam the shrine freely would probably make Inuyasha's head explode.

Of course, the shrine guardian had went with her, refusing to allow her to travel alone.

Kagome glanced his way from where she was cooing at a particularly cute fox pup. He was standing a few paces away, arms crossed. He still l looked otherworldly, despite being dressed in jeans and a button up shirt. The top of his head was covered by a baseball cap, but it did little to cover the luscious thick braid of silver hair. Kagome glared at a girl standing behind him, who was obviously taking a picture of him with her phone.

'Can we go?' Inuyasha's voice was as close to a whine as it could get. The miko giggled and shook her head.

'Come on, it isn't that bad,' she replied. 'Can't you enjoy yourself just a bit?'

'Here?' he raised an eyebrow and glared at the pens and cages where young foxes were held. Their mothers were close by, observing him with intense eyes and perked ears. Pups were paying him little attention.

"What are you two doing, come on!" Shippou ran from where he had been talking to a staff member selling fox treats. "Ina says we can go and look around while she looks for my dad!"

"But..." Kagome started, looking towards a girl not much older than her. She had black hair with a few strands having white ends. Her green eyes were full of life and kindness.

"Don't worry, lady miko," she waved a hand. "Just enjoy our village and we will contact you soon."

"Thank you!" Kagome smiled and walked towards where Shippou was dragging her. 'Shippou told her I'm a miko?' she wondered, looking at the boy, who had his lower half covered by an illusion to hide his tail and paws.

As she turned around she missed the look Ina sent Inuyasha, one of utter mirth and curiosity. Then she shrugged, flickered her tail behind her counter and turned to greet the approaching patrons wanting to buy a fox treat.

Kagome happily allowed Shippou to lead her behind another set of doors that led to a wide open area with trees surrounding it. Paths were crisscrossing between the trees, signs pointing to various places tourists may want to visit.

And there were foxes everywhere.

The animals in various sizes and colors were warily and curiously observing the visitors that were focused on taking pictures and admiring them as they walked around. Kagome went to a board with a map, quickly deciding their route. Shippou was cheering on each and every stop she was pointing out while Inuyasha was glaring.

Inuyasha was more grumpy these past few days, thanks in great part to Shippou's antics, but Kagome was a bit surprised that he was still scowling, after all they reached their destination and soon Shippou would be with his dad while they'd be on their way back home. The young miko guessed the shrine guardian was like this because he wasn't used to leaving the holy grounds and the solitude of his forest. She made a mental note of trying to goad him out of his safe zone at a slower pace, not throwing him in the center of a tourist-filled zone again. 'Well, he could stay if he didn't want to be around so many people,' she thought. 'It's not like we're going to stay here for long. And the forest is really nice, not mentioning all those cute, precious foxes.'

And just like that the young woman's attention was drawn from the gloomy male walking a few paces behind her to the foxes playing around, digging fox holes, cautiously approaching some people, taking naps in spots of sunlight between the trees or doing other fox things. Shippou was also a part of this, happily posing for pictures, waving at some foxes and cheerfully chatting with her. They walked all around the kitsune village, admiring the shrine and other features.

They fed the fox treats to the foxes, Kagome laughing at the animals trying to catch them in mid-air and then coming to sniff around her hands for more. The foxes were skittish if she moved suddenly or too fast, but when there was a possibility of food they were braver. Or maybe it was because of Shippou's encouragement, the boy seemed to have some power over the animals and briefly Kagome wondered if it was a youkai thing. Maybe kitsune could command foxes? She had to ask later, since at the feeding platform and around it there were too many people who could overhear them. 'I wonder if Inuyasha can command dogs...' she wondered and glanced back to where Inuyasha stood, his arms crossed, looking at the foxes pushing each other to get to the treats offered by a group of tourists nearby.

"What's wrong with you?" Kagome asked the hanyou when he glared at a staff member, a middle-aged man, that was walking nearby with a box, followed by at least five adolescent foxes hot on his heels. Shippou was nearby, snapping photos with her camera as they were standing on the edge of a big clearing with some people taking pictures of a couple of staff members fixing a fox house. The wary, agitated shrine guardian's aura was slowly making her own fun dwindle. "Relax, there's no reason to be so tense!"

"Use your damn reiki and look around," Inuyasha crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Huh?" Kagome blinked up at him. For a while she had forgotten all about things like youkai, reiki training and her usual worries, more focused on admiring the lovely woodland scenery, cute fox houses and even cuter animals slinking through the shadows of the trees, making those weird noises and playing around. Now she frowned, reaching inside herself to the energy in her core to draw it out, just like she had done during those few sessions with her grandfather.

She opened her eyes at the sound of a few gasps and at the sudden touch of Inuyasha's hand grabbing her wrist. He shook her, efficiently making her lose her focus. The power rising within her settled back down.

"Stupid!" Inuyasha hissed. "What do you think you're doing?" he glared at her, moving his face close to hers.

"What.. What do you mean?" Kagome glared back after a second of surprise. "You told me to!"

"I told you to look! I didn't tell you to purify the damn place!" Inuyasha growled. She could see Shippou looking at her from behind a tree and a few of the foxes were there with him. All the staff members working on the fox house were looking at her too and Kagome felt just like she had felt when a teacher had asked her to solve a hard equation on a board in front of the whole class.

Kagome was about to answer when she saw one of the staff members approach them cautiously. She blinked and blushed, hoping that they weren't too loud or something. Inuyasha didn't let go of her hand.

"Um..." the man with a short ponytail said, looking between the two. "Lady miko...?" Kagome looked at him in surprise when he addressed her. "Could you... um... refrain from using your power while visiting the village...?"

"Huh?" Kagome blushed. "Um, yeah, sorry," she added, her cheeks hot. She looked towards Inuyasha, who stepped a bit forward as if he wanted to stand between them. "I... Didn't expect that someone would notice..."

The man stared at her mutely.

"She's not able to see through your illusions," Inuyasha stated in a silent voice. "Your suppressing youki magic made her think there are only humans here. Do you have some glasses or something so she can see?"

The man tilted his head and then chuckled

"Oh, I see now," he said, less tense and uncertain now. He offered Kagome a wide smile and then pulled out of one of his many pockets a pair of glasses. "Here, you can use those during your visit, lady miko," he winked.

"Uh, thank you?" Kagome took the offered glasses and put them on, feeling as if she was missing something important in the conversation. As soon as the lenses were in front of her eyes she realized what it was.

Foxes were foxes.

But some were not ordinary animals, but youkai in disguise. And the staff members, including the one lending his glasses to her, were kitsune. Her jaw hit the ground when she realized that all those people looking at her were youkai 'And I probably scared them with my reiki while they weren't doing anything wrong,' she thought as guilt and embarrassment painted her cheeks pink again.

"Oh, goodness, I'm sorry for scaring you," she gasped out. The fox in front of her smiled and waved his two tails in a shrug. He looked just like Shippou, a man with fox paws sticking out of his pant legs, his fur much darker than Shippou's.

"It's fine. We don't have many reiki gifted visitors, I guess we could've warned you," he said and then looked at Inuyasha. "We're good, right?"

"Mine and I mean you no harm as long as you behave," Inuyasha shrugged. "We're of Higurashi Shrine and we brought Shi's pup."

"Shi's pup? That's neat!" Kagome watched as the man clapped his hands. "Where's the little... Oh, you're so tall, young one!" he exclaimed when Shippou approached them, is bushy tail fluffed out.

"You know my dad? Is he here?" he asked, hopefully. The man grinned.

"Shi and I are friends and he showed me your pictures from when you were tiny. Yeah, he works here now and I'm sure he's on his way to see you," he said and ruffled his hair. Then he looked back up to Kagome. "He isn't in trouble, right?"

"No, not really," Kagome shook her head. Over the kitsune's shoulder she could see that the others stopped paying attention to them just after Inuyasha had assured the man that they weren't going to cause trouble.

"Did you see the whole village? Maybe we could go to a less... exposed place where we could wait for Shi?" the fox suggested. "By the way I'm Natsu. And let me add that mine and I obviously mean you and yours no harm. We're running a business here."

"Uh, alright," Kagome smiled and nodded. "My name's Kagome and this is Inuyasha." She blushed yet again when she noticed that he was still holding her hand. Sadly, he had to realize it at the same time, because just then he let go of her wrist and crossed his arms again as if pretending that he had never held her hand.

"Splendid! Now, let's go where ice tea and cookies are served," Natsu said generically snapping his tails and gesturing to a small path leading into the forest.

'Is that some kind of code or something?' Kagome asked as they followed Natsu, Shippou asking him for tales about his dad and him when they were younger.

'You can say it's a vow,' Inuyasha replied. 'You say it when you really mean no harm and don't want to fight. If you attack without a reason afterwards you get killed.'

'Oh.'

"Feh, don't worry, you don't need to swear this, it's a youkai thing. And I sure as hell won't attack without a reason. And, anyway, I would be the one killing, not the other way around,' he said with more than a hint of arrogance. She glanced at him as he walked beside her down the forest path, tall and handsome, his eyes focused on their surroundings.

'I don't want you to fight and get hurt,' she confessed softly.

'Silly miko, I fought and won battles before your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was ever born,' he smirked.

Soon after they reached another meadow, this one housing a few buildings that were clearly offices and other staff-only places. Natsu showed them to a small cafeteria where a couple of other kitsune were having a lunch break. There were a few vending machines and a coffee maker scattered under the walls and the window to the kitchen was closed, but on the sill under it Kagome spotted a big bowl with tiny cookies.

"We run the village in this world because, honestly, it's more fun," he was telling them as they settled down around a table standing near a coffee maker. "As I said, we're just doing our job and not even pranking humans that much, so not many reiki users have a reason to come over."

"Not pranking humans? This whole place is one big prank," Shippou giggled. "All those humans walking around and knowing no better!"

"We stick to harmless illusions. Well, maybe occasionally we steal stuff to bury it and let humans chase us for a while," Natsu pointed to the coffee maker and the vending machine that stood a few meters away from it. "If you want some you can use those. I'll just go quickly check where the balding tail wandered off to. He should be here by now!"

"Goodness, we pulled you away from your work!" Kagome covered her mouth with a hand when she realized it. "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry, lady miko. Skipping work is what I live for," Natsu said with a wink and left them in the cafeteria. The group of other kitsune gave them curious looks, but otherwise left them alone, talking quietly among themselves.

"So," Shippou looked at Kagome expectantly. "Buy me a coffee?"

"No can do, mister," Kagome wagged a finger at him. "You can get tea or soda."

"Oh come on, after the scare you gave me, flaring your reiki like that! You almost burned my tail off!" he pointed to his perfectly fluffy tail. Kagome could see he was exaggerating things, but she couldn't help the feeling of embarrassment and guilt. But before she could cave in, Inuyasha stood up from his chair.

"No guilt tripping the wench, brat. You get tea or nothing. Choose," he barked and ignored the tongue Shippou stuck out at him. Kagome nodded, agreeing with Inuyasha with renewed resolve. Coffee was bad for kids, at least that was what her mother always said.

"But I still can get cookies, right?" the boy asked after looking between the two.