Sengoku Otogi Zōshi: Buffy
By Abby Road
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the intellectual property of Joss Whedon and his talented writing staff. It is licensed my Mutant Enemy and Fox Searchlight Productions.
Sengoku Otogi Zōshi: Inuyasha is the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko. It is licensed in Japan by Shonen Sunday (Manga) and Sunrise0 Studio's (Anime) and by Viz Media in the United States.
Please support the artists by purchasing the DVD's and licensed manga translations as they become available.
I'm trying to resume this story after an extended hiatus. Please review. I'd love some feedback about how this reads for those unfamiliar with either Buffy or Inuyasha. All reviews are welcome...I thrive on constructive criticism.
Italics will be used for translated dialog i.e. the characters are supposed to be speaking Japanese and it is written in English. A very few Japanese words are in Romaji (untranslated) and, thus, will not be italicized.
CHAPTER 1
This boy moved with a casual grace that put her to shame. He executed a series of handsprings, launched himself off a tree to fly over Spike's head and twisted into an elegant breakfall – all while taunting and smiling like a giddy child. Spike wheeled vampire-quick to face the opponent at his back and Buffy was left utterly gobsmacked at this kid's speed.
Spike gave voice to a frustrated growl. The kid gave one right back. Maybe "kid" wasn't the operative word – not for someone who'd just flattened his pert canine ears until they were hidden in hair so blindingly white that it left Spike's Billy Idol dye-job in the dust. Buffy couldn't seem to recognize this particular breed of demon. These days, it was a rare breed of hell-beast that she hadn't either killed or gotten drunk with.
"Oy! Cut the wack-a-mole act and fight like a man, Fido. Or should I say "fight like a dog"?"
"Shut up already, ugly-bōrei. This isn't even fun if you can't speak plain Japanese. Feh!"
There she stood in stupefied indecision as they circled each other. This was obviously a horrible misunderstanding. Because, much as she hated being interrupted while she and Spike were…um…"sparring". She could totally see where it might be misinterpreted. And the "boy" was clearly trying to rescue her from the vampire. In that utterly bewildering moment after the blur of red cloth and too-white hair had supplanted her vampire, he'd made an adorable shooing gesture at her. She had no idea what "nee ge row" meant, but she could guess. She'd almost felt insulted that she wasn't recognized.
"Sankontesshou!"
"Bloody Hell!"
Oh. Shit.
"Spike!"
The remains of the towering statuary of the Hagel Family grave marker resembled nothing so much as a broken pile of rocks – which is what it was. And, unless rocks moaned, it sounded like Spike was under there somewhere.
She wasn't really sure what kind of magic the kid was using, but it sure didn't lack for raw power.
"Stop! Stop! Hey, Dog-Boy!"
He'd turned his back on her during the fight. How insulting. And, while his adorable dog-ears twitched toward her shouting, he didn't pause in his stalk toward her vampire. The frustration was almost worth the double-take she got when she appeared in front of him – faster than humanly possible.
The wide-eyed amazement didn't last long. His golden eyes narrowed in suspicion and he scented the air. Spike's supernatural sense of smell was annoying enough, but at least he wasn't so obvious about smelling her.
"What are you? You smell human, but…"
"Sorry. I don't speak…um…."
Her eyes flicked from his Asian features – not enough to go on – to the sword at his waist. 'Katana' her mind supplied. Ah-ha! Don't ever say she didn't know her weapons.
"…Japanese."
And she could only hope he wasn't speaking a demonic language and making a fool of her in front of Spike. Who, surprisingly enough, was a genius when it came to demon languages. She sure as hell couldn't pronounce Glarga'kul'gashmnik, or whatever.
"But I think we got off on the wrong foot here. My name is Buffy. Bu-ffy." She enunciated while pointing toward herself. "And that's my friend, Spike, over there under the pile of rubble. Neat trick, by the way!"
Clearly she was not making the right impression here, because the kid had taken a forward stance and put a sharply clawed hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Woah. Calm down. We don't need to fight. You seem like a nice kid. Why don't you uncoil yourself there for a sec' and we can get with the introductions."
His eyes flicked from her to where Spike was climbing to his feet and then back again, but his ears had turned to the right. Then she heard it too – a girl's voice, calling out.
"Inuyasha! Shippo!"
"Houshi-sama! Kirara!"
No, make that two girls. She startled when he shouted without turning from her.
"Kagome! Sango! I'm over here! There's a bōrei and some girl! There's something off about them!"
The girls came running into view behind dog-boy and Buffy suffered a serious case of mental whiplash. One girl wore a modest kimono, but carried a weapon at her back – some kinda boomerang shaped thing that was longer than she was tall. This outfit was not too out of place from what Buffy had expected, given dog-boy's hakama and hitoe. What really threw her for a loop was the girl in the absolutely indecent schoolgirl uniform – a longbow and quiver over her shoulder. As far as she could tell, both girls were human. Which just reinforced the idea that dog-boy fought for the forces of light and goodness and… God, she really needed to spend less time around Andrew.
"InuYasha! What happened?"
"That filthy bōrei over there was attacking this girl. But she stopped me from killing him. And she stinks like you, Kagome."
"What's that supposed to mean?! You said I smell nice!"
"No! I mean- What I meant to say was… They smell like they're from your time."
The schoolgirl looked her way and Buffy waved.
"Hi, I'm Buffy," she gestured behind herself to an uncharacteristically silent vampire, "and this is Spike. Do you speak English?"
The girl's face lit up a little before falling in concentration.
"I speak a little English" she answered. The accent was heavy, but understandable.
"I am Hig…ano.. Kagome Higurashi. It is a pleasure to meet you. This is Sango."
She gestured to the other girl, who made a slight bow.
"And InuYasha."
"Nice to meet you too. Think you could call off …Inuyasha?"
She glanced at InuYasha, but looked completely confused as well.
"Oy, Kagome! What're you saying?"
"Quiet, stupid! I'm trying to think! Why didn't I pay more attention in english class! And stop threatening them, dammit! What time…ano…what is the year?"
Well, that was a little odd, but who was she to judge? Whatever she'd said to dog-boy seemed to have settled him a bit. Or, at least he'd taken his claws away from the sword.
"2006."
If she kept it simple they were less likely to have problems with the girl's english.
"Thank you. Oh, good. InuYasha, we're in my time. We can just call home and… oh!…Where are we, Miss Buffy?"
"Cleveland, Ohio in the United States."
"Nani?!"
Well that wasn't the reaction she'd been hoping for…
