Summary: Inuyasha and the gang are confronted with ... themselves! From an alternate universe. Needless to say, all chaos breaks loose rather swiftly after that. Rated for slight language, may go up for future violence, don't know yet.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the gang or the world in which they live. I do, however, own Aari, Rachel and the gang, and the world in which they come from, and anyone else from that world. They are mine. Noooo touchie. No touch.
A/N: Dedicated to my e-mail pal, Angelle, who read it first ages ago when I started writing it, and kept kickin' me in the butt to write more. And to the real Rachel, who unearthed it and encouraged me to continue. The plot bunnies love you guys!
Rachel was awakened by someone softly calling her name. "Rachel! Saria! Wake up!" called a tall, redheaded man from the door. She sat up groggily, her dirty blond hair falling into her eyes. "Martin!" she yelled at him for opening the door to the girl's cabin. That, in turn, woke up her cabin mate, Saria, a brunette with a temper.
Saria spotted Martin peeping in through the door and grabbed her javelin. "Pervert!" she screamed, a term she had picked up from Rachel, as she bonked the unfortunate monk in the head with the long pole.
Martin staggered out, shutting the door. Saria began to yank on clothes, muttering to herself. "Damn perverted monk . . ." Rachel managed to make out. "You know, Saria, he doesn't seem like he means to do half the things he does," she informed her friend.
Saria just snorted. "That's just what he wants us to think."
The door opened once again, this time to admit a young tanuki. The little raven-haired girl smiled and recited, "Martin says to get up, it's practically mid-morning, and he didn't mean it, really. I don't believe him," she added thoughtfully.
Rachel ran a brush through her tangled hair as the tanuki spoke. "Martin too scared to come in and speak for himself, Tala?" she inquired amusedly.
Tala grinned happily. "Yup! He said that Saria would just use her head-whacker on him again.
Both the older girls laughed. How many girls would consider this normal? wondered Rachel. I am, after all, at least five hundred years in the past, surrounded by monks, hanyous, tanukis, and warriors! And I seem to be a reincarnated miko priestess to boot! No, no one but she could consider this as normal.
She walked from the cabin onto the deck of their small boat, Saria close behind her, Tala running around in front of her, full of limitless energy as usual. Rachel looked around and spotted her most confusing companion, Aari, sprawled in a corner of the deck underneath a small canvas awning, totally asleep. Maps and charts, what ones they had, surrounded him - he had been attempting to figure out where exactly they were, after getting caught in that freak, terrifying storm two nights ago.
Aari was a panther hanyou. He had midnight black skin and long, silvery-white hair. He had recently acquired a red bandanna that was currently wrapped around the top of his head, just above his panther ears. His loose red shirt and colorful trousers marked him as a Gypsy. He also wore a string of turquoise-and-ivory prayer beads around his neck that allowed Rachel to restrain him with a single word. Rachel periodically swung between barely 'sitting' him and using it almost twice a day.
Martin walked over to the girls, sensibly staying away from Saria. "Morning!" he said cheerily. "I made breakfast!"
Saria's response was immediate - "Kill me now," she said flatly, and Rachel was inclined to agree with her.
There was a clatter behind them. They turned to see that Aari had woken up and was sampling Martin's pot of mush. The hanyou swallowed a sticky mouthful, and then turned to them. "Well, there's good news, and there's bad news," he informed them in response to their unanimous, unasked question.
"Give us the good news first," Saria commanded, kneeling down and sniffing dubiously at the goopy concoction.
"Well, the good news is that breakfast is edible, if somewhat tasteless," he replied, taking another bite. Rachel rolled her green eyes at him as Tala trotted over to fill her own plate. "And the bad news?"
"The bad news is," he paused to swallow, "I have no idea where we are. All the constellations have completely vanished. We were either blown half-way across the world, or into another one."
"Another . . . world?" Rachel repeated slowly, shocked. Utter silence followed, and Tala dropped a pin. Everyone heard it.
Feudal Japan:
Inuyasha was up a tree, sulking. Kagome had been gone for five days, and he was bored stiff. He snorted as he remembered her excuse:
"Inuyasha, I have to, my final tests are on this week, I have to go or it will totally ruin my grade point average!"
Huh! Kagome and her tests! He couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
Suddenly, there was a thud from the direction of the well, and a muffled "Ouch." Inuyasha sniffed the air, just to make sure. Yes, it was her! Kagome was back!
Down in the well:
Kagome thudded down onto her rear inside the well. She had lost her balance halfway through, and had fallen over. "Ouch," she started, halting the rest as she got up and dusted herself off, before beginning to climb up the wall.
"Kagome!" she heard someone shout, then a streak of orange fluff almost knocked right back down the well. "Kagome! You're back!" Shippo exclaimed happily. Kagome smiled and hugged the little kitsune as more shouts began echoing in the woods. "Lady Kagome!" called Miroku and Sango. Sango trotted out of the forest first, Miroku close to her heels. Inuyasha followed after, his typical 'As if I care' look on his face.
"Kagome? Did you bring me any candy?" asked Shippo anxiously. Kagome laughed as she handed over the sweets. Sango walked over.
"You're spoiling him rotten, you know," she commented dryly. Kagome chose to ignore that remark. "So, where to next?"
Kagome blinked, her eyes slightly unfocused for a moment. Then, a confused look entered her face as she came back to reality. "There's . . . something out there," she began, confused. "It's powerful . . . it could be a Shikon shard, but it feels strange..."
Inuyasha shrugged. "So? Maybe it's tainted," he commented, acting bored. "Let's just go and get it already."
Kagome wavered, still unsure. "Come on," Miroku urged. "If it feels like a shard, then that's what it is. It must be the way the holder is using it or something."
Sango glared at him, siding with Kagome. But in the end, Kagome gave in. "All right, let's go," she proclaimed.
Inuyasha led the way, Kagome directing him from behind. Miroku dropped back to Sango and smiled pervertedly as he groped her butt. Sango whirled on him. "HENTAI!" she cried, knocking his skull in with her boomerang. She shook her head. "Honestly, monk, you never learn, do you?"
Kagome giggled, and looked up at the sky. Dark gray stormclouds were brewing, hovering ominously. Inuyasha sniffed the air, and smelled the crackle of electricity. "Looks like a big storm is headed this way," he observed.
Sango looked up at the menacing clouds. "We'd better head over to the nearest village and get some shelter before the storm hits," she said urgently. The rest of them agreed with her, and set off to try and make it to the village before the skies opened up on them.
A/N: Yes, I do luuuurve Inuyasha. Review! Feed the hungry review machine! Make the author feel nice! All flames welcome, they shall be fed to my pet demon, Shetan, who shall stalk whoever sent them until they go insane. Muahahahahahahaaaa! I love evil laughs, don't you?
