Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha :( But if I did I would be a very happy human.
Summary: AU. When Kagome thinks she hears a dog barking near a "haunted" shrine on her way home from school one day she goes to check it out. The shrine grounds have been cursed to remain in the same time period for centuries. Unknown to Kagome, when she passes under the shrines archway she becomes trapped there as well. Along with a dog-eared half-breed who guards the grounds.
Chapter 1: Time is but a fantasy!
Kagome Higurashi walked leisurely home from school. A serene spring breeze tussled the bottom of her green school uniform skirt as she walked. She lived on the grounds of the Sunset Shrine, further away from school then any of her friends. Kagome hated the solitary walk to and from school every morning and afternoon. It was long and boring and there was never anything interesting to look at. Most of the walk consisted of a half mile deserted street that wound around the hill before her house.
She groaned inwardly as she looked up at the hill. I seriously need to get Mom to let me bring my bike to school, She thought. This hill takes forever to walk up.
Begrudgingly, she started the annoying trek upwards. There were no shops or buildings around this area and very few cars ever drove by. Kagome was always told that at the top of the hill was another shrine like the one she lived in. It had been abandoned for as long as anybody knew. Once, as a middle schooler, she and her friends told her grandfather they were going to go ghost hunting at the abandoned shrine.
She rolled her eyes at the memory. Her grandfather had completely lost his cool and terrified them all by saying demons lived there and if they ever visited they would surely be eaten.
"Crazy old man. Still believes demons exist." She said to herself.
The faint sound of a dog barking off in the distance snapped Kagome out of her day dream. She stopped walking and looked up. Directly to her right was the set of stairs that supposedly lead up to the abandoned shrine. Thick, dense trees covered the area and made it impossible to see anything at the top of the stairs. The area had such a strange feeling to it that it gave Kagome the creeps.
The barking started again. The sound echoed through the trees and down the stairs.
What on earth is a dog doing up there? She wondered.
More barking echoed down the stairs. This time much more frantic than before.
Kagome loved dogs. Her little brother Souta had allergies to dogs so she had never been allowed to keep one as a pet before. Her enormously fat cat named Buyo was wonderful for snuggling with during winter but lacked in physical activity and affection.
Suddenly the barking ceased. Kagomes heart sank; unable to bear the thought of something bad happening to the dog she didn't even know.
Without a second thought she raced up the stairs to the abandoned shrine. The higher up the stairs the climbed the darker everything got. Trees blurred in her peripheral vision as she dashed to the top. With no end to the stairs in sight her heart started pounding in irrational fright. She ran faster and faster until she tripped over the final step and crashed into the flat pavement.
"Owww..." came out as an out-of-breath sigh.
Picking herself up off the ground Kagome took in her surroundings. Barely three feet in front of her was a red, traditional, shrine archway. From the sight of the weather beaten wood and peeled off paint Kagome wouldn't have been surprised if the archway was older than her grandfather. Despite its old and worn exterior there was something very powerful about the archway. It looked as though it demanded respect and obedience.
Past the archway was the old, dilapidated, shrine Kagome had heard so many stories about. The wood was rotten and some panels were missing. The small staircase leading up to the walking deck had collapsed. Only a small portion of the left side of the stairs remained intact. For better or worse, it looked like a grungy old shack.
Find the dog and get out of here, Kagome. She thought to herself urgently.
"Here...doggie, doggie, doggie..." She whistled to try and get its attention.
Kagome walked forward timidly. Keeping her eyes fixated on her surroundings for any signs of the dog.
"This is so creepy!" she whispered to herself. Trying to calm her own nerves. Where the heck was that dog? Didn't it know she was here to help it!
She stepped under the archway to the shrine and immediately regretted it. The wind suddenly kicked up and shoved her forward. Kagome thought she heard herself shriek but it was lost in the rush of the wind. Spooked beyond all repair Kagome turned sharply in the direction she came and raced down the stairs even faster then she had come up.
Something was different this time. No matter how quickly she raced down the steps the light at the end of the staircase never got bigger. Panic fluttered in her chest again and this time she knew she wasn't being irrational. The wind rushed by her again. Leaves got tangled in her hair without her even noticing.
Kagome turned around sharply to look back at the direction she was trying to flee from. To her amazement and horror the archway that she had just been running away from was right behind her again. It was like she hadn't moved at all.
Whats going on!
Her gaze shifted forward so she could continue running only to find herself staring down from the top of the staircase.
She hadn't moved.
She had run all that way, she was sure she had, but yet here she was in the same place she started.
Deep down she knew she was trapped.
The wind slowly died down and the stillness slowly calmed Kagome's panicked heart. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
Think, Kagome. She thought to herself. There has to be some logical explanation behind all this.
Thats right, there had to be a logical explanation to answer what was going on. Maybe she was on one of those strange reality television shows where your friends trick you into doing strange things. Maybe everything she was seeing now was just an illusion created with mirrors or something. Yeah, that had to be it.
Kagome shook her head and sighed. She knew what she was experiencing now was real. A twisted feeling gnawed at the corners of her brain and told her what she witnessed was as real as anything could ever be.
Trying to keep her mind at bay she turned around stared at the broken down old shrine.
No sense just standing around here forever. She mused.
Taking carefully guided steps she maneuvered the rotting and crippled wooden staircase that lead to the shrines viewing deck. Each step she took caused the old wood to creak and whine under her feet. She didn't need to walk very long to find the entrance to the inside of the shrines building (if you could even call it a building anymore).
The entrance to the building was covered with two pieces of diagonal wooden planks that formed an X. Kagome snorted and the feeble attempt at boarding up the entrance. Whoever had done it must not have really cared to keep people out. Or left in a great hurry...
Ducking under the triangular opening at the bottom of the wooden X Kagome stared at the center of the room in silent curiosity. The room itself was mostly empty. A few miscellaneous wooden boards were scattered or broken in weather beaten corners. In the center of the room stood a single wooden pillar.
The pillar looked to be in pristine condition. As if it had just been built and maintained recently. A small, white, pillow sat evenly on top. It cushioned a perfectly round, pink, jewel.
Kagome walked towards the jewel; entranced with curiosity. She reached one hand out to touch it, mesmerized by its simple beauty. As her hand drew closer the jewel emitted a flash of bright, pink, light.
Surprised, Kagome leapt backwards. The jewels bright pink light filled the room and pulsated with power.
Without warning, the light vanished and returned the room to darkness.
Dumbfounded, Kagome's right eye twitched uncharacteristically.
Crazy, She thought. I must be going crazy. Thats the only explanation. I've lost it and now I'm hallucinating.
All at once she was shoved to the ground with such force that the air in her lungs was knocked out. Frantically trying to force herself up off the ground her efforts were met with intense resistance. The weight on her back seemed like it was getting heavier with each struggled movement.
Kagome tried to turn her head to the side and get a look at what was weighing her down. As soon as her head turned a large, clawed, hand crashed into the wood less than two inches from her face.
Eyes wide open in shock, Kagome stared helpless as the clawed hand slowly dragged itself up from the wood near her cranium.
"I didn't miss." Came a deep, snarling, voice from behind her.
The threat sent Kagome's thoughts into a wild frenzy.
I'm going to die here,
Her shoulder was yanked to the side by the same powerful, clawed hand. Forcing her to lie flat on her back.
Mom, Souta, Grandpa, I'm sorry!
Kagome's eyes closed tightly in fright. Just because she was going to die didn't mean she needed to see it happen.
A single clawed finger tip poked at the top of her throat. The terrified school girl stopped breathing. Slowly the claw trailed its way down her throat and to her collarbone. Her lungs started to burn so she took small, fleeting gasps.
The clawed finger moved past her collarbone and stopped in the center of her chest. The shocking stillness provided Kagome with the courage to open her eyes.
Liquid gold met wide chocolate brown eyes.
The room was to dark to see anything else. Kagome was enchanted by the glowing gold eyes that were looking down at her with all the distrust and fury in the world. Golden eyes narrowed down at her.
"Any last words, wench." Ground out the golden-eyed captor.
The clawed finger pushed harder on her chest, right above her heart, emphasizing the threat.
"Ka-kagome..." came out cracked and whispered.
Golden eyes blinked down at her for a moment in surprise before returning to there narrowed glare.
"I-I couldn't leave," she continued. "I tried but...but nothing changed."
Golden eyes widened in full shock now. Suddenly leaping off of her and relieving her of the weight Kagome sat up quickly and took several deep breaths. She could only make out the shadow of her captor as he stood in front of the X covered door.
It was obviously and he, with broad shoulders and long legs. From the way the shadow outline flowed together his hair was much longer than his waist. Squinting in mild confusion Kagome stared at the shadow outline of his head. Were those...ears?
"Why did you come here?" He suddenly demanded of her.
Her answer sounded relieved. At least she was being given the chance to explain.
"I heard a dog barking and I thought it might be lost. So I came up here to see if I could find it."
"Keh!" He sounded annoyed now, "Do you think thats funny?" he said.
She stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Considering I ended up trapped here because of it- no, i really dont think it's funny." She was getting annoyed now too. Who the hell gave him to right to demand answers after he nearly killed her? She didn't have answers!
The rustling of fabric indicated that he had crossed his arms. He probably didn't believe her.
"Look," she started, slowly standing up "I don't want to be here and you clearly don't want me here..."
His head turned slightly in her direction.
"...So lets help each other out and get me out of here, okay?"
"Keh!" It sounded mocking this time. "You think if there was a way out of here I'd a found it already, wench."
Kagome stepped closer to him. Details were beginning to form as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. He was wearing a traditional, red, haori. His hair was more silver then the moonlight and on the top of his head was a pair of unmistakeable, shockingly cute, triangular dog ears.
Kagome's mouth formed into a slight O at the sight of the fuzzy ears. He growled at her in response and took what she thought was supposed to be a more intimidating looking stance.
Her giggle came involuntarily to her throat. She knew why he didn't want her to see him now. His fuzzy pair of ears took away all hope of visual intimidation.
The man huffed and ducked under the X like he was walking away.
"Wait!" Kagome called, feeling slightly rude for laughing now. "What is your name?"
He turned around to glare at her. Kagome had to jog to attempt to keep up with him.
"None of your damn business." He replied.
"None of your damn business isn't a very pretty name." Came her slightly cheerful reply.
She didn't know why but the sight of his ears had suddenly made her feel comforted. They were so cute and unthreatening. No being with ears so cute could ever be dangerous.
"Don't get smart with me, bitch." He hissed at her.
"Kagome!" she retorted.
He clearly didn't give a damn.
With an unnatural grace and ease he jumped up into the tree canopy above her head. She couldn't see him anymore. Her foot collided with the base of the tree in frustration before she exhaled and sat down; defeated.
He was bizarre. In fact, this entire situation was completely bizarre.
Kagome curled her knees up to her chest and hung her head. Saline stung the backs of her eyes. Kagome shut her eyes tight- willing the tears to go away.
"Inuyasha." She heard from above.
Kagome's head snapped up quickly as she stared at the tree canopy with wide, curious eyes.
"Pardon?"
There was a slight pause before he replied.
"My name is Inuyasha." He said definitively.
Kagome bit back the onslaught of questions she had for him. After all, he had made two things absolutely certain:
For starters, there wasn't any known way out of whatever...mess she was in.
And second, they were undoubtably, and entirely, alone- together.
Authors note: So what do you think? ^_^. Let me know! I try to proof read as best as I can. Please review and leave any comments/suggestions you might have :D!