Hey girl. Yo girl.

Halloween has gotten so commercialized.

So many commercials.

Let's get back to what it's really about?

What's it about Boo Boo?

Love.

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I Love You So Much

It's Scary

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Isao had worked for the National Park Service for close to thirty years. Procedures had changed, naturally, over the course of that time. People had come and gone. The world carried on around him and yet he stayed in the same park that had become his second home. Fall saw the decline of summer tourists and so it was his job this fine morning to place closure signs over the majority of campgrounds. It was a mundane job, full of mind numbing repetitive actions. Still, at least he could do it at his own pace, which in his old age was something for which he was grateful.

The first few dozen campsites seemed well worn with some few trash articles lying about but nothing out of the ordinary. Despite multitudinous signage instructing people to pick up after themselves, in multiple languages no less, some people had no consideration for others and did as they wanted. With a heavy sigh, Isao trudged along the marked path, disturbing the settled leaves and debris as he went to the last campground. It was a little farther than the others. More remote and isolated. They hardly ever used it since the landslide last year. Being this close to the mountains was treacherous at times but, for the most part, pleasant if only for the hot springs that littered their humble park. A piece of heaven in Tokyo.

As he glanced around at the general splendor of the forest, a small colorful spec in the distance caught his attention. Rolling his eyes, he sighed and changed course. It wasn't uncommon for tourists or college kids to buck authority and hold parties in the woods without getting proper authority. They usually left a mess too and as he drew closer, he saw they had acted as to be expected. Beer bottles and discarded trash littered the area surrounding the lone tent which must've served as some kind of home base and which the entitled little shits cleared felt was worth discarding. It was always near hot springs too – drunken fools wanting to make the most of their trespassing. Apparently the parks meager fee was too much for them to bother paying. For the life of him, he'd never understand this…generation's….what happened here?

The tent, as it turned out, wasn't red as he'd previously thought. At one point it must have been white or perhaps cream given the patches that weren't covered in that thick copious crimson. Staring down at his feet with wide, horrified eyes, he realized that the moisture he'd been stepping in wasn't mud at all but blood. Too much blood to be from just one person. Swallowing thickly, the old man fought back bile as he stumbled backwards and reached for his walkie talkie. Now that he was paying more attention he saw evidence of claw marks on the nearby trees and several bloodied trails where at least one unfortunate victim had been dragged unceremoniously into the tall bushes nearby.

"Come in headquarters," he whispered shakily into the walkie talkie as he backed away from the scene – his terrified eyes trying to look everywhere for a possible animal, "Send back up to Hot Spring KP 45. Now! It's a massacre up here."

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As InuYasha angrily gutted the fish he'd just caught spraying the air with a spray of crimson fluid, InuYasha growled in his confusion and frustration. Truth was that he felt as confused as a homeless man learning he'd been sentenced to house arrest. What the hell did she mean she accepted an escort for that stupid party? Yes, he'd learned what a date meant over the years. Just like he'd learned the meaning of the word boyfriend. Both of which he'd taken to mean, since the latter was often thrown around when her friends spoke of him, that she knew of his claim on her and, although she kept saying he was rude and violent, that she was his and his alone. To be fair to her, she usually complained about that after he'd gone to see Kikyo or they'd had a fight. Not that it didn't sting but the important thing was that she knew she was his. And to be fair, he wasn't supposed to know that's what she was going home to do tomorrow. He'd overheard her talking to one of those so-called friends of hers on the phone a few weeks ago when he went to spy on her like he always did whenever she went home. Not that it was creepy. He...he just wanted to make sure she was safe is all. Still, he couldn't understand why she'd do it. After all, they were pretty much engaged. He'd even asked her mother for permission to build her a house not too long ago. Not that she'd given him her permission. Yet. She had to graduate first.

"Stupid woman," InuYasha huffed in frustration as he gutted yet another fish with gusto, "Won't matter if she's finished school or not. She doesn't need it. Not here. And not that it matters because apparently I'm just an idiot hanyou who doesn't understand a damn thing. I thought...I thought..."

Sighing heavily, InuYasha let his hand fall limply by his side as he stared dejectedly off into the distance. He had been so sure of where he'd stood with Kagome. So sure. He loved her. She loved him. Simple as that or so he thought. Hell, he'd been so damned sure that he'd even informed Kikyo of his choice last time he'd seen her and that had to be one of the most awkward conversations he'd ever had in his life. But now….ah hell, now Kagome was allowing other men to court her. Really court her. Like he didn't mean a damn thing to her. Like she didn't know. Sure, Koga and even the annoying Hojo assholes had been trying for years now but…but she'd always made it clear she wasn't interested. And yeah – sure - she hadn't let him beat them to a bloody pulp but that was just who she was and it was only out of respect for her that he hadn't killed them. He had known where he stood and that knowledge had comforted him. She was his and he was hers. It was cut and dry. After all, she'd been treating him like her husband way longer than he'd treated her like a wife. He protected her. Provided for her. She cared for his injuries. She allowed him to touch her. Yes, she let him touch her. She rode on his back – her thighs clamped tightly down on his waist. Held his hand as they walked – their fingers intertwined ever so. Kissed his cheek. Scratched his ears. Slept in his arms. Cheeks flushing a light pink at the memories, he quickly stomped them out before they broke his heart. A heart that would never truly recover if it turned out he was wrong all this time. The incident with Kikyo was one thing but this? He'd never recover from this.

Finished gutting the last fish, he groaned once more in frustration before gathering them up and trudging back towards their campsite. It was all he could do not to run to her and beg her to take him back. To love him like he'd thought she did. To make it clear what he wanted in the event she really was that dense and he'd promise her he'd do better. Do whatever the hell she wanted or needed him to do for her to accept him. After all, it had to be that she didn't know. He knew Kagome would never betray him on purpose. Maybe she just really didn't know in which case all he needed to do was set her straight. That shouldn't be so hard and then she could let that unnamed bastard know she wouldn't be going on any 'dates' with him. Still, if she truly didn't know, then why would she hide it from him? Maybe she wasn't hiding it from him. Maybe she really thought it wasn't…

"You know how he is," he heard Kagome's exasperated voice filter through the trees from just beyond a nearby outcropping of rock, "If I told him, then he'd never let me go. He'd get all jealous and shut me down before I could even explain."

Blood freezing in his veins, Inuyasha tried to remember how to breathe as he mindlessly crept forward towards the sound of her voice. It was clear by the scent that she was with Sango in a hot spring a little ways beyond – something he already knew - but her words felt like a dagger in his heart. She was keeping it from him. She was lying to him. She…

"Why don't you start with asking him before trying to explain? Get straight to the point and get his answer up front," the hanyou heard Sango thoughtfully – bringing his downward spiral of despair to a strong halt as he swallowed thickly and strained his hearing, "Inuyasha has never has had a problem accompanying you before."

"He's never really gone with me to something like this," Kagome pointed out with a soft groan as hope bloomed in the hidden hanyou's chest, "Besides, I probably just need to go with someone else anyway. My friends will end up calling Inuyasha my boyfriend and I don't really feel like humiliating myself over that. S'not like he feels that way about me."

"He loves you," Sango chided gently – much to Inuyasha's relief that at least someone knew what should've been obvious, "I wouldn't say it if I didn't truly believe that."

"And I'm the empress of Japan," Kagome clipped back half-heartedly, "Maybe he loves me as a friend but if he really loved me…like that…why wouldn't he have said anything?"

"Inuyasha is not a man of words but of action. He's shown you how much he loves you through his actions," Sango sighed reassuringly as the hidden hanyou tried to hide his grin as his wounded ego healed and his broken heart mended, "I bet if you just ask him to accompany you to this festival then..."

"I'm not going to ask him to be my date! He'd never...he'd never understand. Halloween is, um, not exactly a traditional Japanese...thing and it'd be way too hard to explain," Kagome groaned as she gave Sango an imploring look, "I mean, what am I supposed to say?"

"I'm going to a festival and I want you to be my escort?" the slayer chuckled as she shrugged like it was just that easy to convince him to go, "Inuyasha...well, for all his bragging and the confident front he puts on is clearly insecure. Perhaps he merely hasn't told you because he's afraid you'd reject him. If you made your intentions clear then..."

"Oh yeah, that'd go over well," Kagome snorted derisively before groaning and sinking into the water, "Besides, it's just a stupid holiday and there's no real reason to celebrate it if I'm being perfectly honest. Maybe I just won't go. I'd just rather avoid the awkwardness my friends would cause anyway. I already told them I had a date and it's not like he'd actually go if he knew how I felt about..." Kagome began before freezing at the soft sound of the rustling of leaves from nearby caught her attention – followed quickly by a clearly impulsive and enthusiastic shout.

"Yeah I would!" Inuyasha suddenly blurted out excitedly from his hiding place atop the cliff before his eyes widened in horror. Clapping his hand across his mouth, he ducked down and prayed the ground would reach up and swallow him whole. At least they couldn't see him. Maybe they'd assume he just…

"INUYASHA YOU PERVERT!" Kagome screamed and closing his eyes, Inuyasha sighed in defeat and silently mouthed the word even as the miko screamed it so loud the whole of Japan probably heard, "SIT!"