Chapter 1: Interesting Night on Patrol
"Well I don't care if I haven't slept in a week I am patrolling." Miyango said, grabbing her weapon, a long handled bone ax with two blades. For the last half an hour my brother and cousin had been arguing about who should patrol as the evening sun slowly slipped over the horizon. It had been a long week, us three and the rest of our rag tag band had been fighting against demons that had attacked a village. Our parents had decided about ten years ago that half-demons like my brother and I needed to learn to fight, and our always faithful friends had stuck by our sides through the grueling training and bloody fights, just never when it came to cooking duty.
"Well I do care!" Riku, my brother, glared at her. "Sit down and don't be stupid. Just cause we killed those demons doesn't mean that every single one in the world is gone. You need your sleep if we're gunna have to fight again. I'll patrol" I sighed as the two continued to glare at each other, sleep deprivation aggravating already hot tempers.
"Both of you, shut up. You're both being stupid." The pair looked at me with tired but stubborn eyes. "Shippo and I will patrol and you two short-tempered, sleep-deprived idiots will sleep. We all know I won't doze off at all, not tonight anyway." Being half-demon I turned solely human one night of every month. Unlike my father and brother who were weakened by the new moon I lost my powers when the moon was full. Already my hair had lost its silver streak, and the small dog ears that gave away my heritage had faded.
"But you need me." Both warriors protested at once, glaring simultaneously at me and each other.
"For your information Shippo and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves, and we don't try to knife each other every five minutes." I pulled my naginata from it's carrying pouch and strapped the sheath on my back. "Besides, I saw something earlier I wanted to investigate, and Riku, Mizori wants you to stay." About a year ago my brother had saved a baby water sprite and ever sense she had adopted us. Riku had a soft spot for her, and the would do anything for her. Currently she was sleeping on his lap.
"Fine." He said, leaning back against a tree. "But if you get hurt I'll kill you, you know you aren't as strong right now." I rolled my eyes. Miyango was about to start protesting again, but decided just to sigh and lay down instead.
"Let's go Shippo." I walked out of the clearing, leaving my brother to argue with Miyango. At least I knew they would enjoy themselves. Shippo, a fox demon who looked to be in his early teens, walked beside me, slowly spinning a top on his palm.
"So what was it you wanted to explore?" After about five hours of us walking with nothing hapening Shippo broke the silence that hung over the forest.
"There was this pool." I slid between two tall trees. "It looked like it was surrounded by the remains of steel demons." Shippo gulped, for all he was older than me in demon terms he was still a kid, and a fox at that. Large demons, even dead ones, were not exactly his idea of fun. " I didn't really get a good look at it though." I said, trying to see through the thick forest "It could've been anything I guess."
"I hope they weren't demons" He said after a minute, his voice soft. "I know you're a great fighter and all, but tonights not the best for you and I'm not sure that I would be able to protect you. Maybe we should wait till daylight to explore this pool you saw." I shook my head.
"Riku is going to try to hurry us home in the morning, you know him, and besides, my coat will protect me, and I can still use my weapons just not my claws." He nodded, accepting my answer, and we kept moving forward.
It took us about half an hour to reach the pool I had glimpsed earlier. Scattered around the edges and out into the trees were skeletons of great metal demons. Shippo hung back, his fox fire at the ready. I went forward though, whatever they say about a cats curiosity I can tell you a dog is ten times worse. Ever few demons that I found contained the body of a slayer. The slayers were all dressed strangely, I didn't recognize their armor from anywhere, and very few wore the same uniform.
"The skeletons get fresher closer to the pool." Shippo noted, pointing to a skeleton with less rust on it. I nodded. "I'm gunna stay on the outskirts then." I just rolled my eyes, ineffective though it was, and climbed over more bones to the inner part of the graveyard. As I climbed over the last bit of bone I got my first good look at the pool and its banks.
"Shippo!" I cried, my voice darting up almost an octave. "Look at this." On the bank of the crystal water lay a man, though he was not like any man I had ever seen. He was tall, easily taller than my brother, and was wearing the strangest clothes I had ever seen, or rather, lack of clothes. He wore something that looked like pants chopped off above the knee. They were a strange pattern of colors and did not look to be made of any material I was familiar with. His chest was bare, except that across his stomach was what looked to be a painting of a golden dragon. Then there was his hair. It was the color of straw that had been left in the sun, a light golden yellow that would not have been to strange, except that he was not a demon. It was shot and choppy, not tied back like most mens, and looked like it had just dried from a swim.
"What is that?" Shippo climbed up beside me and got his first good look. "Is it a demon?" He ducked behind my back.
"Really Shippo, you should know he's not a demon. He's human, I can smell that from here." I jumped don onto the moonlit sand and started walking toward the man.
"But you can't smell good tonight." Shippo protested, charging after me. "You're human, it's not like you have your dog nose anymore." I stopped and sighed.
"Well then tell me, oh smelly one, is he a demon?" Shippo gulped and reluctantly sniffed the air. He looked down at his small feet and mumbled something. "I didn't think so, let's go see if he's alive." I continued my walk down the sand.
Kneeling beside the unmoving body I shook him. My best efforts got no response. Shrugging I took my canteene from my belt. "Last chance to wake up dry." I said, uncorking the gourd. "No? Okay." I upended the water onto his face. Spluttering he awoke, screaming something in a language I didn't understand. "It's okay we're not trying to kill you." I said, mumbling "yet" under my breath. I took a step back. He stared at me for a moment, then glanced around the semi-clearing, as if trying to take in what was goig on. For a moment I was thankful it was a full moon, the dog ears probably would have freaked him out. He didn't seem to have any clue where he was. Finally, he spoke.
"Do you speak Japanese?" His voice was shakey and indistinctive, almost like a childs. I took a guess that he was new to the language. With a sigh I sat down across from him and nodded.
"Yes I do, do you?" I spoke slowly, trying not to confuse him. Silently I motioned for Shippo to go tell the others what was going on, I knew I was safe.
"A very little bit." He said, shaking off the last of the water from my wake up call. "My name is Jake." I nodded, it was a strange name, but, given the circumstances, I should have expected something similar.
"My name is Riyu." I said. "You are safe now, do you understand?" After a moment he nodded. I looked up to see the moon starting to slip down. "Things are going to get strange, do not be afraid. Do you understan?" I hated talking to someone who looked to be my age like a child, but I wasn't sure how much Japanese he knew. Standing I reached out and helped him to his feet, his hand was freezing.
"Don't be afraid. Okay." He grinned half-heartedly. We needed to figure out a better way to communicate, and what was going on.
"Here." I shrugged off my coat and handed it to him. I nodded when he gave me a questioning look and he put it on, only getting his arms stuck once in the sleeves. After he got it on we walked back to camp, Jake following me like a very noisy shadow.
"Riyu! What is this Shippo's telling me about you finding some gaijin human out in the woods?" As soon as we got to camp my brother stormed over to me. Everyone else, Miyango, Mizori, Shippo, and Katari, Miyango's younger brother, just stared at us with sleep filled eyes. "And where is your coat?" Riku continued. Then he caught a glimpse of Jake, who emerged from the trees just a bit later than me. "Who is he?" Riku's voice was bordering on anger now.
"Look, I found him out there, alone. He barely speaks Japanese and I can't tell what other language he keeps blabbering on in. We're only a day from home, then we an ask mom about him, she always knows about strange stuff, like that two headed frog you found once." Riku glared at me. "Now, please, keep him occupied for a minute, use small words." The first rays of sunshine were starting to show over the trees Riku glared at me but nodded and I slipped back into the trees. My transformation, like the rest of my families, was a bit dramatic, and I was trying to scare the foreigner as little as possible.
After I was myself again I walked back into the clearing. Jake sat staring at Riku, specificaly at his ears. Miyango and Mizori sat off to one side with Katari, whispering about something, likely Jake. I flopped down between my brother and Jake, catching the aura of contempt rolling off Riku. My apperance also gave Jake something else to stare at, my ears.
"Who are you people." He muttered in that strange language, except this time I understood it.
"What did you say?" I demanded, and without my mind ordering it to I spoke in his language. I clapped my hand over my mouth in surprise, not really sure what had just come out. Every one was staring at me like I had just grown another head.
"You speak English!" Jake jumped to his feet. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He screamed at me. "Here I was trying to speak in Japanese and probably makeing a fool of myself and you know how to speak it all along. Wow." He shook his head clearly distraught.
"For the record, as of this morning, meaning when the sun just rose, I did not speak whatever this is. I'm not sure how, but I just gained the ability to." I yelled back at him. "I speak Japanese! I have my whole life."
"Riyu, what the heck is going on!" My brother grabbed my sholders and pulled me to my feet. "Are you possessed by a demon?" I glared at him.
"Really Riku. I am not possessed by a demon, I am a demon. Demons don't possess other demons, remember." My language was back to normal, though I felt I could still speak like Jake, in what was called English, if I wanted to. Under his breath I heard Riku mutter "Naraku", I ignored him.
"So what's going on?" Miyango said. She had come over from the other group to ook me straight in the eyes. She put her hand on my forehead. "Are you sick? You were speaking in giberish a minute ago. I think we should get you back to your mother." Stepping back I sighed.
"I have no ida what's goin on, I am not sick, it wan't giberish, and yes, seeing mom might be a very good idea." Most of my family nodded, Riku just rolled his eyes and walked away, looking steamed. I turned to Jake again, slipping back into English. "Before you ask, no, I have no idea what is going on or how I am able to speak this language. We are going to see my mother now, she's the strongest priestess I know and if anyone can explain this it would be her. Any questions." It was still strange for me to speak coherently in a language I was so new to.
"Yes I have questions." He replied. "About a million of them. To start with who are you? Where am I? Why do you have dog ears? Why does he have dog ears?" Jakes eyes were confused, though he tried very hard to sound mad.
"As I said before, my name is Riyu. I am the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome, not that you know who they are I assume. The person with the temper," I jerked a finger at Riku, who had his back to us. "Is my twin brother Riku. Miyango is the tall girl wearing armor, she's basically my cousin. Katari is her brother, Shippo is the fox demon that's running around here somewhere, and Mizori is the little girl. As for the ears, my brother and I are half-demons, half dog demon to be exact. That's something my mother can explain better, and no, just because we're demons doesn't mean we'll eat you." Jakes eyes had gone wide with fright when I had said demons.
"This is crazy." He finally said, shaking his head. "There's no such thing as demons."
"There is." I leaned down and started packing up my things, not that I had taken out that much. "And I warned you it would get strange. Trust me, I'm not lying to you, you can feel the ears if you want, they're as real as the demons. And how do you not know about demons anyway, they're basically the bane of human existance, at least, most are anyway."
"Well we certainly don't have them in Washington." He grumbled, handing me something to pack. "Where am I anyway, you didn't answer that question."
"Japan." I said, tying the last knot on my pack. "Where did you think you were?" After staring at me for a second he started mumbling.
"Bermuda, the Bahamas maybe, America perhaps, but Japan..." I just stared at him, unsure of where most of those places were.
"Are you two comming?" My ever impatient brother trode over. "We're leaving now. Go get on the cat." Jake looked at Riku, not comprehending a word my brother said. I translated before tempers flaired any higher.
"The cat?" Jake asked as Riku walked away. "What cat?" Kirara took that oppertunity to transform into her full size. Jakes jaw hit the ground. "That's a big cat."