Blue moon and Red Fire

Chapter 13: Bad dreams

He couldn't move.

It was as if he was bound by some invisible force restricting every part, every muscle of his body. Inuyasha awakened to find himself completely inhibited. His golden eyes drifted half way open and was greeted with that familiar vision of Souta's ceiling, he felt the same clothing against his skin, the same softness of Souta's bed at his back. The only thing different was that he couldn't move, at all.

'Damnit...' Inuyasha attempted to move every everything in his body movable, nothing would respond to him, he was paralyzed. 'Not this again...' His eyes shifted frantically around the room, looking for someone, anyone else. 'Damnit!' His mind screamed, but the sound make it to his lips as much as he willed his voice to call out. Maybe it wouldn't have done any good anyway, he was completely alone. 'No...'

He began to panic despite his general calmness and he was suddenly gripped by an irrational fear. 'No!' He never understood this! He'd fought demons taller then buildings in this time, put in some of the worst situations, and this made him afraid and he didn't know why. '!!' Inuyasha suddenly felt something heavy, some unseen weight pressing down on his chest making it hard to breath. '!!'

And with the weight came the realization that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was, he saw it with out actually seeing it. Something was here, something malicious! 'No!' He screamed again but the words didn't come to his lips, he couldn't breath! And it was coming closer! 'This isn't real goddamit!' He rationalized, but his lack of air and fear didn't listen. 'No! L-Leave--!' Inuyasha yelled and gasped for air that didn't come to his lungs. He could feel it, standing right above him, and he was helpless 'No!'

The soft touch of a hand came to his forehead, the soft jostle released him and Inuyasha immediately bolted upright, panting and sweating. "!!" He immediately looked over to a half startled Houjo who pulled his hand back. "It's you..." Inuyasha said with light relief as he looked around the room for himself. Souta was still gone, and by the looks of it Houjo had fallen asleep on the ground nearby.

"Inuyasha?... Are you ok?" Houjo asked reluctantly, the way Inuyasha had jumped up he was relieved he hadn't accidently hit him.

"Yeah." Inuyasha sighed and reluctantly scratched his head, his ears twitched lightly as his hand brushed over them.

Houjo lifted his hand to his mouth with a light yawn, holding all of the sleepiness that came with this time of morning. He wasn't a morning person, by any right he hated getting up early. But being a faithful student he was used to waking up at this time for school, and after years of doing so he was used to it, he even got in the habit of it. Which is why he woke up now. "You looked like you were having a bad dream."

"Tch." Inuyasha wiped the sweat from his eyes and pushed himself out of bed, it was almost unbearable how hot he was. He immediately drifted over to the open window and pushed his head out into the cold air, gaining some relief.

"What were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing." Inuyasha said, clearly on edge by his tone.

Houjo just lifted his hands defensively and backed off, he was so temperamental. "Fine, fine."

Inuyasha slumped weakly in the window frame and looked up thoughtfully at the clear morning skies just after sunrise. "..." 'Why...Do I keep having these dreams?'

'I should find Kouga...I hope he's alright.' Houjo rubbed his neck and shifted nervously at the thought of Kouga jumping off the roof, 'Kouga..." With the hope that the wolf demon was down stairs, Houjo headed for the door.

"I couldn't move."

'?' Houjo stopped and looked back when he heard that, "Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha shook his head, on second thought, he didn't want to do this. "Nothing."

! - ! - !

"Kouga..." Souta sat down on the living room floor, letting his head fall against the couch and his eyes roll sleepily over to the fully awake Youkai above him.

Kouga obviously had been awake long before Souta had been, from the looks of it he probably hadn't been asleep at all. He laid nervously on the couch, curled into a ball with his legs hugged closely to his chest and his knees tucked beneath his chin. His eyes were narrowed sleepily, staring at the cushion with an uneasy gaze, and his tail twitching behind him every so often.

Souta climbed on his knees and slowly peered over Kouga's shoulder. "Kouga? Are you alright?"

Kouga shifted his eyes over to the boy then focused them back on to the back of the sofa. "I'm fine." He snorted out in a tense voice, though he obviously wasn't. He was really hating this.

"I'm really sorry about this Kouga." Souta said sympatheticly, he honestly wished that he could do something about his, help him out some how.

"It's not your fault." Kouga said, his voice showed just how anxious he was, even though he was trying to hide it for appearance sake. "Nothing you can do about it, so stop worrying about me. I'm fine." He reassured him. He hadn't tried to dig his way out in at lest 4 hours, that had to count for something.

Houjo finally made his way down the stairs with hard, sloppy steps, and Inuyasha followed behind, much better at becoming alert quickly after waking up. "Kouga..." Houjo sat down beside the curled up wolf and laid his hand on his shoulder. "Feeling any better?"

"No." Kouga snorted resentfully.

Houjo sighed, he hoped that after this much time he would have gotten a little more used to the situation. But by the look on Kouga's face, he may have felt even worse after being trapped for such a long period. 'Worse? How does he end up feeling worse?'

"Geez, your such a crybaby." Inuyasha snorted, folding his arms and looking away with distaste.

Kouga slowly shifted his eyes toward the direction of the voice. "Nobody asked you mutt."

Inuyasha folded his arms and leaned against the back of the sofa, his eyes fixed on the wall of half frozen snow blocking the window. "I still don't see what your so scared of."

"Scared?" Kouga seemed to take offense to that word especially.

"It's just snow. But I guess a weakling like you would be afraid of something stupid like that."

"Inuyasha please-" Houjo attempted to intervene, but before he could Kouga abruptly sprang to his feet and pushed him out of the way.

"I'm not scared you idiot!" Kouga growled fiercely, with his speed he was face to face with Inuyasha before anyone could really tell that he'd moved at all.

"All of that wining you've been doing!" Inuyasha yelled back. "Sounds pretty scared to me!"

Houjo rubbed his head with the beginnings of a headache and lifted his hands in defeat. "Why I do I even bother?" Houjo glanced over at Souta who only shrugged.

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

It wasn't to long before Inuyasha and Kouga separated, both of them saying neither of them had the strength to be around each other. It was quiet after that, the hours after the morning drew on longer then usual, the knowledge of their confinement made time pass slowly.

"Hungry~!" Kouga groaned in annoyance, he plopped down on the tiled floor of the kitchen and dropped his head. His stomach growled loudly, and the sound immediately made his tail sag weakly behind him.

"Yeah, me too." Souta leaned against the cabinet under the sink let his hands fall to his stomach. It was considerably colder down here, and he never realized how dark it was. In the living room the windows were long enough to at lest peak over the piled up snow and allow some light to come though. In the kitchen the windows weren't as high, so no light came through at all, and it was nearly pitch black.

"You know..." Kouga started hintingly, "If you let me start a fire I can cook something."

Though Kouga's cooking sounded really tempting, Souta didn't like the idea of his house being burned down. "No fires." He shook his head for the countless time. He couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy in the dark, he flinched at every sound that wasn't Kouga's voice, unable to shake the sense that something would come out and grab him like last time.

"What about in there." Kouga pointed to the refrigerator, "Will it work with out the power?"

"No." Souta dropped his head back against the wooden surface and stared at the ceiling. "You should keep it closed, or else all the food will go bad."

Kouga shrugged, by the time Souta looked down at him again he was digging through the dark appliance. He couldn't really see anything, but it would have did little good anyway, Kouga couldn't really smell anything that didn't require cooking. With aggravation he closed the door and sat back down on the ground, maybe it was better this way. He could always focus on his hunger to distract himself from his entrapment. "..."

It had only been a day, he'd live. Souta let himself sink to the ground, if Kouga and Inuyasha could do it, then he could to...

It wasn't long before simply focusing on his state of hunger didn't work for him, Kouga felt the nervous energy growing inside of him begin stirring again. His tail twitched around uneasily behind him and his hand begin shifting around, his fingers playing with themselves. 'Damnit...' With the familiar sense of decreasing space starting to rise in him, Kouga stood to his feet and paced out of the room.

Souta watched curiously but didn't say anything, he just hoped Kouga was alright.

! - ! - !

"Damnit, damnit, damnit." Kouga mumbled to himself under his breath as he walked with quick steps into the living room. He knew what was coming, the tension, the excess energy, the panic, and maybe even the flashbacks ...

"Kouga."

Kouga flinched at the sudden voice and jumped back when he realized Houjo was standing right in front of him and he never even noticed him. "Houjo!"

"Wow." Houjo smiled. "I scared you for once."

Kouga smiled with light amusement. "Heh Heh."

"Thinking?"

Kouga folded his arms and tilted his head back towards the ceiling, but even as he stood there his foot tapped against the ground and his tail wagged enough to be mistaken for excitement. "Not really."

"Hmm..." Houjo nodded understandingly and walked past Kouga, looking at the front door with a forlorn expression coming on to his face. "Have you always felt like this? I mean have you always felt this way when you were trapped?"

Kouga began pacing around again, walking back and forth behind the couch with quick steps. "...No." Exactly where was Houjo going with this?

"When did it start happening to you?"

Kouga shrugged. "I don't know."

"Come on Kouga, think about it." Houjo prompted.

Kouga, however, didn't want to think about it, infact it was the last thing he wanted to think about. He scratched his arm nervously and shook his head. "I don't know." He repeated. "I'm fine, stop worrying about me."

That was odd, Kouga was usually more outspoken and blunt about...everything, if he didn't want to talk about it then it must have been serious.

Houjo sighed, he wasn't getting anywhere with him either. 'Kouga...' He was worried about him, Kouga seemed was sad to him for some reason, and that was over shadowed only by his half panicked anxiety over the last day of being trapped. 'I wonder if something happened to him.' Houjo leaned against the wall and looked over the pacing wolf's form...then a pang of curiosity came to him. "Hey Kouga."

"Huh?"

"That sword." Houjo walked over to Kouga and looked down at the weapon sheathed at his waist. "Are you really good with it?"

"No." Kouga said truthfully, "I don't use it at all."

That was disappointing. "Oh."

"Why?"

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to use it." Houjo said with the same disappointment.

Kouga stopped his nervous movements and looked down at the weapon in question. "Really, this thing?" Then he looked up at his mate and smirked. "You don't need this, I'll protect you if anything happens." Kouga took hold of Houjo's hands and looked him directly eyes, a serious expression coming on to his face. "You don't have anything to fear, I promise you that."

Houjo smiled uneasily. "That's really comforting but I still want to try it." His desire to do this didn't start from worry over the demons that had attacked. Ever since he'd weld the blade before he was compelled by a strong interest to hold it again, to use it again. Everything that was happening was strange and confusing, but when he held that sword and he ran to Kouga's rescue, everything was completely clear, simple, he wasn't confused then. "So can I?"

'Why not.' Kouga drew the sword from his sheath and looked over it for himself. "Be careful with it then." He handed it over to the boy who took it thankfully.

"Thank you Kouga." Houjo held the sword outward and spread his legs lightly, his hands shifted around each other over the hilt, trying to get the best feel for it. Finally he felt comfortable in his stance and decided to take a practice swing, almost nervously Houjo lifted the sword above his head and thrust it down.

Kouga watched admiringly, though he couldn't sit still long enough to pay attention as he wanted too. He slid his fingers under the collar of his armor's chest plate and felt the growing sweat that resided there, even down here wasn't cool enough for him anymore. And he couldn't stay here, he'd get in Houjo's way, he had to work out this nervous energy some how, he had to move. He couldn't sit still... "Just don't hurt yourself." Kouga said, patting him on the shoulder lightly as he walked past and headed out of the room.

Houjo didn't bother him, he just nodded obediently and continued to test out the sword.

'It lest it's getting some use now.' Kouga slipped into the hall that stretched from the front door between the living room and the kitchen. Thinking mundane thoughts as he moved along. 'I wasn't paying attention to it.' Just keep thinking of other things, more important things, then it wouldn't get any worse then this, then he could ignore this.

??

A scent caught his nose as he approached the door to the basement, though it was hampered by the freezing air it was equally carried by the cold draft rising up from the lower level. 'Inuyasha?' With the familiar smell driving him, Kouga altered his course and slipped past the door, descending the stairwell. He could feel the temperature dropping lower and lower the farther down he went, he was immediately met with pitch black darkness.

Normally darkness alone was nothing to him, but now it only increased the feeling of anxiety he had. It was too much like...it was too much like what happened before. '...' Kouga's heart skipped a beat and began racing, 'No!' Kouga closed his eyes and and let his ears focus on the sound coming from the room down below.

At the bottom of the stairs his ears were met with the sounds of heavy breaths and swift movements.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha's voice called hatefully from some place in the darkness. With boredom as the cause he'd come down here to make some use of his time by practicing and training, and had been content for the 4 hours he'd been at it. Plus it was so cold down here that that he had to have some type of movement to stay warm, perfect for his overheated body.

"Nothing." Kouga leaned against the wall, wondering what kind of look Inuyasha was giving him right now. For once he really had nothing to say to Inuyasha, usually his intense dislike of the hanyou would guide some hateful remark to come forth. Right now it was doing nothing for him.

Inuyasha clinched his hands into tight fist and threw a hard punch forward at anything his imagination could render. From his silence he obviously was having the same mental block, he couldn't seem to find anything to say to Kouga either, and it was always so easy. Maybe he just didn't have the energy, it was his hunger, Yeah, that had to be it. "..."

"So, you gonna stand there by yourself or do you wanna fight a real live opponent?" Kouga couldn't find the words to bait Inuyasha into a fight right now if he tried, so he simply asked.

"Fine with me." Inuyasha dropped his hands to his side and turned to face Kouga, he wasn't too hard to find, Inuyasha could hear him clearly and smell him even more so. "We still haven't settled the score from last time."

"Heh." Kouga moved closer to Inuyasha, stopping just short of running into the half-breed. He was so close that he could feel the heat radiating off of his body. " 51 each right?"

Inuyasha clinched his hands into fist again and took a small step back. "Not for long."

! - ! - !

Souta emerged from the darkness of the kitchen, finally unable to stand it any longer, it was the dripping faucet that did it. At the moment Souta just wanted to think, to be dormant and allow his mind to freely contemplate. But since his favorite spot outside was currently inaccessible, Souta was content to stay in someplace familiar, even if it was cold and dark. He couldn't stay there any longer though, every drop of water made him jump, and he didn't know whether to be at ease or alert when the dripping actually stopped.

He really needed to think about some things, even though he wouldn't get anywhere with his own mind.

"Houjo?" Souta looked on curiously as he entered the living room, watching for a moment from the doorway as Houjo practiced with Kouga's sword.

Houjo glanced back over his shoulder. "Souta, Oh, I didn't know you were in there."

"Yeah..." Souta walked in front of him curiously, studying everything from his stance to the weapon. "Isn't that Kouga's?"

"Yes." Houjo rested the sword on his shoulder gently wiped the beginnings of sweat from his forehead with his wrist.

"What are you doing with it?"

"Just wanted to try it out." Houjo said simply.

Souta nodded, "I guess..." He'd let Houjo do it then, Souta didn't think he'd be able to use a sword, not on anything at lest. He admired Houjo a little, Houjo was able to use it with out hesitation or fear and to help him. He wanted to be able to do that, to just put his fears aside like that. "Man, it's so boring around here."

"Maybe." Houjo spread his legs again in his most comfortable stance in the open area behind the couch, his eyes focused on the blocked window as he lifted the sword and quickly thrust it downward.

"Your not?" Souta sat down on the couch, climbed on his knees and watched Houjo.

"Not really." He was much to busy with this sword, he just wished he had something to cut. Houjo drew the sword over his left shoulder then slashed it diagonally. Then he pulled it back at his side and thrust it forward.

"..." Souta rested his head in his arms against the back of the couch and watched silently, Houjo may have been content with his sword but he didn't have anything. "Geez...why did we have to be snowed in..."

"What would you be doing if we weren't?" Houjo began to began to grow confident in his repetition and moved faster, this sword felt inanely comfortable to him. He knew he wasn't that good with it, but he felt like he could be with some practice.

"I don't know." The boy shrugged, a forlorn expression coming on to his features. "Probably playing with my soccer ball."

"In the snow?" Houjo asked.

"Sure, why not."

"Well if you can do it in the snow, why can't you do it in here?"

"...?" Souta opened his eyes and looked up at Houjo "In here..." Why hadn't he thought of that! "But, all of this stuff is in the way."

Houjo rested the sword on his shoulder again and looked back at Souta. "I can move it out of your way."

Souta's expression brightened substantially. "Really?"

"Sure."

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Inuyasha reached out in the darkness and grabbed on to anything of Kouga he could, his hands seized the wolf Youkai by the waist and he immediately drew his other fist back and sent a hard punch into Kouga's stomach. When he felt the wolf keel over from the blow, Inuyasha wrapped his arm around his waist and slammed him to the ground hard enough to make the stone floors shake. "Inuyasha 64, Kouga 63." He mocked arrogantly, diving another hard punch into Kouga's jaw.

Kouga reached up and grabbed him by the shoulders, the flipped him off with his feet, throwing Inuyasha some place behind him. "Whatever." Kouga flipped on to his feet and stood awaiting, try to pinpoint Inuyasha. As soon as he heard the slightest sound and felt the slightest shift of air, Kouga drove his foot backwards, directly into Inuyasha's stomach. 'Got him.' Then with his speed, Kouga leapt into the air, with a turn he gave a swift kick to the side of Inuyasha's face.

Inuyasha stumbled backwards and lifted his arm out of instinct, blocking another strike from Kouga, but he was quickly sent falling to the ground when a sweep kick knocked him off his feet. Kouga leaped outward to spring on Inuyasha, but Inuyasha flipped backwards and landed crouched on the ground out of reach. As soon as Inuyasha heard Kouga land he lunged outward for him with his claws, but blindly missed. '!' Kouga felt the disturbed air of Inuyasha's claws passing deathly close to his face, and with that as a marker, Kouga reached out, grabbing Inuyasha by the shoulders as he'd hoped, then jumped into the air lightly. Kouga thrust both feet into Inuyasha's chest in a powerful kick, sending the hanyou sliding in to the back wall and falling to the ground. "Kouga 64 you mean."

"Don't get cocky." Inuyasha rested his hand over the area where he'd been hit and pushed himself off the wall, spitting out the blood pooling in his mouth. "Arrogant bastard."

! - ! - !

Houjo couldn't help but smile as he watched Souta kick around the soccer ball contentedly around the living room. He was amazed at how that one simple thing had made him so happy. The only thing Houjo had to do was move the furniture to the side and out of the way, there was more room in here then he thought.

He sat back against the window, the sword peacefully in his lap. He contemplated joining in, but decided against it, there was far too little room for them to play a game.

Souta kicked the ball harder then normal, watching it bounce off the wall and come flying back at him. "..." Souta flinched and caught it with his hands, making sure to ease his kicks next time. "Thanks Houjo."

"No problem."

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Just as before, the darkness of night was much darker then normal on the first floor, but surrealy bright on the second. The moon light reflected off of the glossy snow into the window of Souta's bed room and filled it with a pleasing silver glow. Souta had fallen asleep down stairs with Houjo and Inuyasha laid alone in his bed, his arm draped over his waist and his other hand resting contently on his stomach.

Inuyasha let out a deep breath and his golden eyes slowly opened, '...I can't stand this heat.' His body was engulfed in this horrible heat, enough to make him consider strongly sleeping in the basement where he knew it was cold, even if Kouga was down there. He lifted his hand to his face.... '...No...' Inuyasha attempted to lift his hand again only to find he couldn't move. A frantic panic washed over him as attempted to move every muscle of his body with out success, 'No! Damnit not this again!'

His eyes rolled around the room, searching for Souta, for anyone, 'Souta!' "..." 'Souta!' "..." It was no use, no matter how much he called out no words would pass through his lips. 'Somebody! Anybody-...' "!!" It happened again as it always did, this unreasonable, unfounded fear washed over him like a rising tide and his panic grew 10 fold. He felt it again just like always, a sense of something malicious, something horrible in the room. 'No...No! N-!' Inuyasha tried to gasp for air when he suddenly couldn't breathe, an invisible force like an enormous weight began pressing down on his chest.

'No! No!' This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real! He knew it, so why couldn't he calm down, why couldn't this fear subside? In fact it was growing, growing stronger every second as he struggled to move. He grew even more panicked when his ears were filled with a strange sound, like he was standing in the middle of strong rushing winds. "!!" He couldn't hear, everything else, he couldn't hear his own breathing, he could barely hear himself.

It was coming! The sound grew louder every second, every single move it made closer to him, and suddenly he was like a frightened child, he had to run, he had to get away! Right now he couldn't even fight! 'Leave me Alone!'

Inuyasha struggled hard, fighting against this with all of his strength. 'No!!' He felt some small strength allowing him to lift his head slightly and he pulled with everything he had, slowly but surely his head began to rise weakly off of the bed though just barely an inch. "u....nn..." He kept going, fear drove him, it was coming! He could feel it standing right over him, and if he looked to the left as far as he could he could just barely see something, a shadowy frame, but he couldn't make out anything. 'No!!'

His strength gave out and he fell back on to the bed, unable to move again. 'Leave me alone!'

A sharp claw poked at his shoulder and suddenly he could move again, "!!" Fully awake, Inuyasha bolted upright with a deep breath and looked around franticly for the source. He was surprised to see Kouga standing over him, who inversely did seem mildly surprised at his reaction. "K-Kouga." For once he was glad to see the wolf , but he'd be glad to see just about anyone right now. "It's you..."

"Inuyasha?" Kouga tilted his head to the side questioningly, he didn't expect to see this when he came up here.

Inuyasha quickly wiped the sweat from his eyes and pushed himself out of bed, pacing around in nervously.

"What the hell was that?"

"Nothing." Inuyasha said defensively, walking past Kouga and finally settling down as he forced himself to lean against the wall. "What are you doing up here? I thought you were sleeping in the basement."

Kouga's tail twitched at the thought. He wouldn't have normally even considered sleeping in a cold, dark place even more closed in then the reset of the house. But Inuyasha called him scared and he decided to stay to prove it to him that he wasn't, and he wasn't scared, but he couldn't do it, he got far to anxious and nearly lost it. So he came up here, just to see if Inuyasha was awake, simple right, he just wanted to see if Inuyasha was awake. Just curiosity and nothing more. He walked in on this. "I was. Geez what happened to you?"

"Nothing you annoying bastard!" Inuyasha grunted, he did not want to talk about this, he didn't even want to think about it...he looked back at Kouga suspiciously, "Why do you care?"

"I don't!" Kouga shot back.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

Kouga began looking around nervously, he didn't have to explain his self to Inuyasha! "No reason." He said defensively.

"Yeah right!" Inuyasha pointed at him accusingly. "You got scared!"

"I'm not scared!" Kouga shouted in his defense. "You call me scared? What about you!"

"What do you mean me?"

"Your the one that's scared of a little bad dream." Kouga replied, satisfied with his answer. He wasn't scared! He wasn't! Kouga snarled and let his eyes drift to the floor and out of Inuyasha's gaze, he wasn't scared.

Inuyasha flinched inwardly at the thought, ok, he was afraid, but he wouldn't admit that to Kouga! He folded his arms and looked away, it was hard just to admit that to himself. "That was nothing, I wasn't afraid of some stupid dream. Your the one afraid, you've lost it for the last 2 days." He couldn't seem to find the voice to shout any more, he was too embarrassed.

"Me? Your the one moving around like a terrified kid." Kouga half mumbled, scratching his cheek discardingly, still looking away. "Why don't you go back to sleep?"

"Why don't you go back to the basement?" Inuyasha snorted.

An awkward silence fell over the two of them, neither of them looked at each other nor spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Both of them were so close to something neither of them wanted the other to get into.

Until finally Inuyasha couldn't stand the heat any longer. "I-It's too hot in this room." He forced himself to move, taking quick steps toward the window and desperately prying it open, forcing his head out of it into the freezing air.

Kouga tilted his head back and closed his eyes, feeling the breeze wash over the room and cool his flesh.

"W-What the hell!!"

Kouga's eyes snapped back open as soon as he heard Inuyasha's voice, with his speed he was standing over Inuyasha's shoulder before the hanyou even noticed. "What? What?"

"That!" Inuyasha pointed down at the snow, no place in particular since it was happening everywhere. Impression lines formed like fractures d, spreading from every direction like rising vines toward the house, there were thousands of them and more spreading from farther off. The two of them immediately knew what it was, the scent was completely blocked by the cold and snow, but the sight was a give away. Those lines forming in the snow were something burrowing far below the surface.

"Fuck..." Kouga growled and bolted towards the door, Inuyasha directly behind him in the same haste. "This is ridiculous! They're attacking even more! Why the hell do they keep coming back?"

"Why do you think they keep coming back, guess who they're after!" Inuyasha shouted bitterly.

"I know they're going after Souta and Houjo, by why are they coming back so soon!" Kouga jumped down the stairs and sprang into the pitch black living room. Houjo hadn't moved the furniture back into place so the room was completely wide open. Houjo and Souta were asleep, sitting right under the window, Souta's head rested peacefully in Houjo's lap with the soccer ball still hugged tightly in his chest.

"Hey! Wakeup!" Inuyasha shouted, making the two of them flinch and sat up right at the sharp sound.

As soon as Souta was awake he caught wind of the approaching demons with a shutter that erupted down his spine and the static like feeling over his skin, over his whole body. "A jewel shard?" He rubbed his head sleepily... '!!" Then he realized what it meant "Oh man! It's back!"

Houjo reached back and fumbled around in the darkness until his hand found Kouga's sword sitting behind him. "Where?"

! - ! - !