Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.
Written For: biochemical, for leaving the 100th review on Tales of the Night.
Prompt: "The fairground was full of noise and colour."
Word Count: 3174
!Warning!
This fic is/contains: crack, some swearing, some and various forms of deconstruction and reconstruction, somewhat metafiction, somewhat Alternate Reality, the loss of a fourth wall, and parody at its best...
If you do not like this, you can not say I did not try to warn you. But if you do not know if you will like it or not, feel free to give it a chance.
Weaving Legends
In a time not so long ago or perhaps even in this very year, there is a young woman who lives in Tokyo. Now, readers, she is not quite a beauty but neither is she homely. Though I do think to those who suffer from a fetish for Asian women, she is quite beautiful. Though she has to be special and unique in some way, so let us say her eyes are blue which adds all the more to her appeal. Yet we can also leave her eyes as brown as she is a miko—or what we call a priestess, a shrine maiden, or a shaman. She already has all the makings of a very certain kind of character without the exotic eye color. Not to mention her name makes her stand out even more than that: Kagome. And she was born with a very special artifact called the Shikon no Tama, or the Base of the Soul... Or Jewel of Four Souls. Take your pick, readers, either one works.
As she was born with it, it is her responsibility to keep it safe from the clutches of youkai and humans. Even though humans do not believe in it anymore, and it is not like Kagome or others believe in youkai. Save for her grandfather, but his sanity is questionable. Highly questionable, in fact. When one's grandfather keeps mummified body parts and tells fictional histories about everything, it is hard not to question the state of his mind. You know you would, too, readers.
Perhaps, though, Kagome should have listened to some of his stories instead of staring at him with a humoring smile.
As it is, a day before her fifteenth birthday, she chases Buyo close to the miniature shrine enclosing the well of bone-eating. Before she can enter, her grandfather, appearing out of nowhere as kooky grandfathers are wont to do, stops her. "The well shrine is prohibited from visitors," says he, "and that includes you. Children these days, don't know how to listen to their elders."
"Oh, Jii-chan, it can't be that dangerous," Kagome says. "Buyo ran in there and it doesn't sound like he died a horrible death."
He still refuses to let her go. "In the era of the Warring States, villagers would deposit the bodies of slain youkai in it. And it would devour the bones for they would be gone before morning. They believed it housed evil spirits, and so the shrine was built around it in the hopes of purifying—"
And that is when Kagome stops listening. It is not the first time she has heard this story. Thirty retellings later, it manages to become even more boring. It is rude to say such things to him, and Kagome is nothing less than an upstanding Japanese female, so she stays. She is not listening, of course, but wondering if she can manage to find enough money to buy a new pair of loose socks. Or rather, she would have been if she was a typical Japanese school-girl, as it is she is not. So instead let us say she is thinking about Buyo and how if she does not get him, her little brother will end up doing so later. Because, yes, she is that lovely and altruistic. Even before she learns to be.
"—And that is why we watch over the shrine, and no one goes in there," he finishes.
Kagome rocks back on her heels, trying to make sure Souta is nowhere nearby so he can not find out that Buyo had run into the little shrine. "Uh-huh, Jii-chan," she says.
He shakes his head and mutters some more about ungrateful children who do not listen to or humor their elders before sweeping the courtyard of all leaves and blossoms. He does not take his eyes off the mini-shrine which means Kagome can do little more than look longingly at it. Buyo's rescue would have to wait until tomorrow as she did have school, and a little brother to walk with.
Yet Buyo would rescue himself later that day. Only to run back into the well-shrine to vomit up the mummified hand that had been Kagome's birthday present from Jii-chan—willingly fed to the cat in front of Jii-chan, no less—with Souta watching.
This time, Jii-chan was too busy sulking in the house to his daughter-in-law to stop either Souta or Kagome from going inside the well-shrine. However, Souta is young and gullible and can not find the nerve to enter; even his voice shakes as he tells Kagome that he saw Buyo run into the shrine.
"Oh, Souta," teases Kagome, "you're such a scaredy-cat!" And she fearlessly slides open the shrine doors just to prove to Souta that their grandfather is crazy and has spent one too many nights reading stories because it is just a shrine in need of some repairs, not haunted like he would have them believe.
Though the shrine is dark and dusty, and the wooden boards creak beneath her loafers, and this has all the makings of the beginning to a murder mystery, Kagome ventures in. After all, how would it look if she backs out after calling Souta out on his fear?
Buyo can be seen peeking out his head from the other side of the well, and Kagome snatches him up before he can run. She turns and begins to head out, and suddenly the shrine is not so scary. "See, Souta," Kagome says. "It's not so bad or scary in—"
Souta screams as the wooden cover of the well blows off.
"That jewel... I can taste its power! Give it to me!"
Buyo's job done, he leaps out of Kagome's arms as the decomposing youkai grabs her and pulls her down the well. Kagome knows of the Shikon no Tama, as she has heard the tale so many times that she can recite it while asleep, but does not know why that thing is demanding it of her. She screams as much about her lack of knowledge, and unwittingly releases her hama no reiryoku, destroying a few of its limbs. Though it has about ninety-seven more of them.
When the fight ends, Kagome is alone at the bottom of the well and unable to see the shrine roof. She knows her grandfather will be pissed that that youkai had destroyed the shrine, yet she finds it strange that no one has come to investigate. Not even her little brother, the chicken!
And when she calls out, no one answers.
Huffing at the lack of response and attention, she uses what little upper body strength she has to climb out using the vines growing on the sides. All the while she mutters about the sweat, the work, the potential for bug bits and splinters. As, readers, she is a modern woman unused to such work. And it is not like climbing out of dry wells is something school prepares one for either.
At the top, she does not see her house, Tokyo, or any sign of civilization. She does not hear noise pollution; she does not smell air pollution. That is when she realizes she is not in Tokyo anymore.
It is minutes later that she finds the half-youkai called Inuyasha sealed to the Goshinboku, and she tweaks his ears. It is an hour later that she finds herself bound and gagged by villagers at a village called Edo, only to be proclaimed a reincarnation of Kikyou and told she has been dragged into what modern Japanese people call "Sengoku Jidai". The era of the warring states. It is a very promising era for a long life, no, readers?
By nightfall, she has reversed and broken everything her former incarnation had done. She awakens the long-sleeping Inuyasha and frees him. She, in her ignorance, allows the youkai that dragged her to the past to rip out the very jewel it had been looking for from her body.
Not even three days later, a group of bandits kidnaps Kagome and steals the Shikon no Tama. Another thing her former incarnation would have never allowed to happen. Especially when a small bird youkai steals it from the bandits, and Kagome ends up shattering it into what could be called a thousand little shards trying to get it back. They do not fall to the ground, but scatter across Japan as it makes for a much better tale. And thus, she wishes she had heeded her grandfather's warning about the shrine. Because, as every good reader knows by now, every story is simply a fairy tale until someone has a jewel filled with world-ending power ripped from their body.
And here is where the story of their travels is cut because those stories are not the focus of this story. Though it is more than acceptable to assume that not only does Kagome team up with Inuyasha, but they find quite a few other orphans on their quest to reform the jewel to stop an unloved evil orphan from reforming the Shikon no Tama first and using it to destroy the world. Possibly. What he wants the jewel for is up to speculation as it seems that not even he knows. But that is all right as, like all villains in such tales, he dies. Though that is jumping ahead, so forgive me, readers.
Kagome, on the other hand, knows why she needs to reform the jewel. Firstly, because she does possess a sense of responsibility even if it is just the rule of "You break it, you buy it," and because the destroyed jewel has destroyed the lives of two of her friends. Secondly, because the Shikon no Tama is necessary to use the well. Without the full jewel or a shard of it, she can not return home. She knows she should stay until she has found the thousand shards, yet she is impatient and homesick and has a life back in the future. So she often leaves for her home in the future.
Meanwhile, in a time long ago, perhaps just a few days after Kagome has broken the Shikon no Tama, there is a young man who travels the realms of humans and youkai looking for the home he has been banished from and power. His name is Hiei, and he is quite the dark anti-hero. He is arrogant and cruel and callous as only a youkai can be.
One day as he is rushing past a human village listening for new rumors about jewel shards that can grant untold power—which is just what he needs he thinks—Hiei discovers exactly what he is looking for. On the bank next to a river, there lay three jewel shards on top of a pile of the strangest clothes he has ever seen. He wants it badly, so using his inhuman speed, he pockets one of the shards. Hiei is not stupid and knows what happens to youkai when they possess more than one of the shards, and Hiei prides himself on being smarter than the average youkai.
"Excuse me!" A voice calls out after him.
Hiei pauses and looks back toward the river. A human woman wearing the skimpiest pieces of clothes glares at him from her bathing spot in the river. "I know you've taken one of the shards. It's mine, and I need it. So give it back or I'll call Inuyasha."
Normally, he would have killed a human for talking to him. Yet the fact that she dared to order him around while dressed worse than a whore was amusing. "You couldn't sense me approach and you have no proof I have one of your precious shards. What use is a broken thing, anyway?"
She narrows her eyes at him and attempts to deepen her glare. "I can sense it on you. So just put it back where you found it!"
"Come find me and get it if you can," Hiei says.
Kagome shouts for Inuyasha as Hiei runs for safety. He does not go far, but he stays close and watches as they fight. It becomes their game for the next few months of her adventure. Though he comes to stay longer and longer, and she all but stops calling for Inuyasha when he leaves. They grow to enjoy the company of the other, perhaps falling into something similar to love. They will not call it love as Kagome fancies herself in that with Inuyasha and Hiei deems it too human for he to feel. Yet, readers, you all probably know by now that denial is one of the first steps of love.
One night they spend it together. No, not in that way as this is not a story rated for Mature audiences. Instead they talk and enjoy the night and company. Let us say, Kagome has sneaked away and Hiei has been injured—it is more plausible than the truth which both characters will deny. In the early morning, Kagome's fingers brush across the shard hidden in the folds of his cloak.
"I knew it," she murmurs. "He really did have it... And I do need one to go home."
She steals the shard from him and debates on whether or not she should leave before he wakens. Before she comes to a decision, he does wake.
Kagome moves away from him when he glares at the shard in her hand. "I guess I won your little challenge," says she.
"Only because I was stupid enough to trust a human and let my guard down," he replies.
She shrugs. "Naraku has all but two shards. He would have found and killed you for it, you know. It's better this way, too."
"Yes, because I'm such an easy target your half-breed has been able to sense me this entire time," is Hiei's dry response.
Kagome blushes even though she is used to his sarcastic humor. "I needed it, too. It's my only way home."
She knows this is the wrong thing to say as home is a sore subject for him. He grabs his sword and scabbard and prepares to leave. "Enjoy your home. If you don't manage to screw it up like everything else and destroy it."
"Wait, Hiei," she says before he leaves. "If you live to the end of the twentieth century... You can find me in Tokyo."
He snorts and goes on his way. He does not believe that humans can live that long, even ones entangled with jewels and youkai.
It is two months later when he hears news of the destruction of Naraku and the Shikon no Tama and the disappearance of Kagome. It is not for any good reason.
As both events apparently happened in the realm of the dead, Enma-sama is beyond displeased as the ability for just anyone to cross over from realm to realm. Ningenkai, Makai and Reikai were all created for a reason. The fact that there are youkai and humans and objects powerful enough to cross the barriers pisses him off, and he decides for the barriers to be reinforced. Hiei, along with all the other youkai that Enma-sama can get his hands on, is forced into the Makai. He decides he hates Kagome for her involvement in the whole situation; if she had destroyed the Shikon and Naraku in the Ningenkai, Enma-sama would not have cared.
Yet Enma-sama, being the God he is, allows for youkai to cross the barrier into Ningenkai. Though if the youkai are caught crossing the barrier or terrorizing humans, they are sentenced to death. Hiei likens it to a game of cat-and-mouse for the bored god.
Though toward the end of the twentieth century, Hiei crosses over and manages to evade being caught. Until he attempts taking over the Ningenkai with a very hare-brained plot, and then he is caught by an even stupider teenage human with more luck on his side. He has to face the son of Enma-sama who is much more benevolent and gives him hard missions to do, hoping to make him miserable.
"You're lucky Yuusuke can use some help saving the world, Hiei. All you have to do is help him out, don't kill or torment any humans, keep him or someone else from destroying the Ningenkai, and I'll see about letting you go free," KoEnma offers.
Hiei has no choice but to agree or face certain death and torture at the hands of Reikai Protection Forces. He figures being miserable is better than being dead.
After three missions, though it is honestly four except Hiei does not count delivering a video to be a "hard mission", Hiei is granted his freedom. He moves between the Makai and Ningenkai freely as the game of cat-and-mouse has ended thanks to said son of Enma.
When there are only two years left to the twentieth century, Hiei hears word of how one of his former teammates has asked his younger twin sister out on a date to the Tanabata festival. Hiei is the epitome of an overprotective brother—never mind the fact that poor Yukina has no clue he is her missing twin brother and can not figure out why Hiei hates Kuwabara-kun so much—so he follows them through the bright and noisy Tokyo fairground.
He is surprised when, on the opposite side of the river, he sees a familiar face.
He figures he stared for too long as she looks across the river and smiles upon seeing him. She cups a hand around her mouth and he can almost hear her exclaim, "Oh, it's you!" Though, to be honest, readers, what she said is up for interpretation. Only Kagome knows and she possibly could not hear her own voice over the noise of the crowd.
She points downriver though and begins walking. Hiei, in curiosity and a desire to chew her out for Enma-sama taking power over the barriers, follows. To anyone who dares to look, it almost seems as though they are lovers meeting for the first time at Tanabata like a cliche romance novel. Thankfully, it is not entirely the case as, well, we have already been over their denial, readers.
It is only too soon that they come upon one of the many bridges over the river, and they manage to meet somewhere in the middle. As it is Tokyo, there are far too many people around and they are crowded together.
"It took you long enough to find me, Hiei," teases Kagome.
"Who says I was looking for you?" Hiei asks.
She bumps her shoulder into his. "Oh, you know you thought about me a lot over the past few centuries."
"An unfortunate affliction of the mind."
Kagome laughs. "It's nice to see you, too."
And thus, their unlikely friendship took up again. This time without any one of a thousand shards of a jewel between them, an old bone-eating well stealing one of them away from time-to-time, or an arrogant god trying to limit the interactions between humans and youkai to one day every year, or some other small amount.
I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot, especially you biochemical. I am so sorry this is out quite a bit later than I had intended, but when Real Life demands attention, one can not ignore it.
Also, for those of you who might have noticed... This is a parody/deconstruction/reconstruction of the Tanabata legend, InuYasha and Yuu Yuu Hakusho, but with Kagome and Hiei in the place of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The version of the legend I used is possibly a little different than the popular ones, but it is the one I always grew up hearing/reading about and I find it to be a bit clearer than some other versions. It can be found at: http: / / web-japan . org / kidsweb / folk / tanabata / tanabata01 . html
And yes, I do realize this is written in the present tense-there is nothing wrong with the present tense. Especially when you're a writer garbling good Japanese legends-might as well go all out.