InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dial "H" for Hentai! ❯ Demons... With Tails? Part Two ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

~*A/N: Yay! Another chapter done. Now go read it.*~

DISCLAIMER: Yet again, I do not own InuYasha... *sighs*

Chapter Four: Demons... With Tails??? Part Two

Kaede lay on the floor of Hironobu's hut, Shippo curled up on the opposite side of the fire. Rei had decided to move back into her parents hut, now that her grandfather didn't need to be looked after, and the family was more than willing to let Kaede stay there until things were sorted out. Kaede's thoughts wandered back to that morning, when they had buried her childhood friend. She then flashed back through her life, remembering playing with him as a child, archery competitions as an adolescent, dinners with him and his wife, the births of his children, and later, his grandchildren. A tear escaped her eye, her sorrow overwhelming. Her mind then switched to last night, the nightmare she herself had.

~*KAEDE'S DREAM*~

'Damn these old bones,' Kaede thought, stiffly standing and walking from her hut. All was peacefully slumbering, soft moonlight filtering through the trees. "Not as spry as I used to be, ay," she admitted to herself, a slight limp in her walk as she strolled to her sister's grave. "Kikyo," she breathed, grief in her voice. 'After fifty years, for Urasue to disturb your rest, it's abominable!' A tear escaped her eye. She heard a cackling laugh behind her, and turned to see Urasue, alive. "But I thought ye dead?!" Kaede gawked.

"It takes more than a disobedient golem to kill Urasue!" the old woman laughed, raising her scythe high, running at Kaede. Kaede grabbed for her bow, only to realize she had left it behind. Suddenly, Urasue was pelted by multiple, synchronized attacks. An arrow struck her head just as hiraikotsu disconnected it from her body. The arrow stuck in the dirt, holding the head above, grey hair turning red with blood. Before the body could touch the ground, two figures attacked it, one bludgeoning it with a staff, the other tearing at it with razor-sharp claws. The body fell then, beaten and torn. Blood splattered and pooled around the body. Kaede looked up from the body, still on the defensive, to identify the attackers. The four stood grouped together, smiling at her. She breathed a sigh of relief, recognizing them.

"Kagome, Inu-Yasha, Sango, Miroku, you - you saved me. Thank you." Inu-Yasha stood profiled in her vision, one hand gripping the wrist of the other, flexing his bloody claws, moonlight glinting off ears and fangs. Kagome stood next to him, right knee slightly bent, bow lowered, her right hand still pulled back where it had released the arrow. Miroku leaned against his staff next to Kagome. Sango, next to Miroku, left foot cocked behind her, held hiraikotsu over her shoulder with her left hand. Kaede's eyes blurred with tears, the joy of having these people in her life, people who she could trust and depend upon. When her eyes cleared, they had gone. Kaede stood in shock, her eyes returning to the body of the witch. 'Wait, what be this?' she thought, noticing something new. She stepped closer, focusing on an appendage she had not noticed before. "A tail?" she whispered, her eyes going from it to the head nearby. But the grey hair was no longer loose and wild, it was shorter, and secured in a ponytail at the nape of the neck. The body was no longer that of a plump woman, but that of an old man, drowning in his kimono. She approached to see the face, fear pricking between her shoulder blades. As she looked into it's contorted features, she recognized them as all-too-familiar. "Hironobu!" she gasped, looking up to the stars. They started to spin, and the world faded to black.

~*END DREAM*~

Kaede shook her head to dispel the sight she had seen not only in her dream, but in real life. She could still smell the blood, and fear once again pricked her between the shoulder blades. She glanced around the room, and noticed the kitsune missing. "Now where could he have gone to?" she wondered aloud.

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Shippo was running back to Kaede's hut, taking advantage of the priestess's distraction. He believed her to be asleep, or at least, so lost in her grief his disappearance would go unnoticed. 'These dreams,' he thought, 'it can't be coincidence, it just can't! There has to be more to it! And what's with these tails everyone keeps mentioning?' He then remembered the details of his own nightmare, his pace slowing to a walk, and then halting altogether. Kaede's hut was in his field of vision, but he didn't see it. All he saw was the fearful images burned into his memory.

~*SHIPPO'S DREAM*~

Shippo woke as Kagome rolled over, a squeal escaping his lips. "Whew," he sighed, wiping the back of one hand across his brow. 'That was a close one,' he thought. 'She could've crushed me!' He looked from one to the other of the sleepers, checking to make sure his distress hadn't awakened Inu-Yasha or Kirara, both with super-sensitive hearing. Satisfied that he hadn't disturbed anyone, he quietly slipped from the hut, sitting on the steps outside. He looked up at the sky and saw thunderclouds rolling in, blocking out the moon and stars. Lightning bolts danced from cloud to cloud. *Gulp* "Maybe I should go back inside," he thought, standing up, as everyone rushed from the hut past him. "Kagome! Sango! Kaede! Miroku! Inu-Yasha! Where are you all going?" he chased after them. But they were much faster than him, even with his demon speed. "Damn these short legs," he mumbled to himself, watching them slip away into the thick darkness. He stopped running, trying to see through the inky blackness. Lightning flashed, showing them grouped far away, in the center of the village. He could see four of them attacking someone, Kaede watching nearby. "Must be a demon," he mumbled, running towards them. He paused between flashes of lightning, unable to discern their location in the dark. When he stood twenty paces away, he saw them all staring at a body on the ground, it's head removed, blood looking black in the low light. He followed their gaze to its body, seeing a small kitsune lying dead. A knot formed in his throat, surprised at their violence toward one of his kind. It went dark again, and he flailed helplessly until another lightning bolt lit up the sky. The kitsune was now a human, an old man by the looks of it, and his friends had disappeared. There was no more lightning; he was alone in the darkness. He sat on the cold ground and started to cry.

~*END DREAM*~

Shippo shook his head, combining the final scene with the dead human body lit up by lightning to that of it close up in broad daylight. There was no mistaking it, it was the same man. He began running for the hut again. He had to tell them, and to ask them if they had dreamed. 'What's with the tails?' he wondered again.

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~*A/N: Hmmm.... all starting to make more sense now? Don't worry, I'll throw you a curve yet... Keep reading, onegai?*~