Prologue: An Esoteric Crossroads

I could never forget the first time I saw her. The lustrous silver of her long gossamer hair flowing down her heavenly body as she drifted downward, seeming to blend into the pearly white of the cottony feathered wings that were bringing her to earth, to me. My thoughts came to a standstill for a moment I wished I could draw eternally across time, as my mind set in painful detail the beauty of my first vision of my sweet goddess. Viridian eyes a mask of brilliant judgment, emotions cruelly hidden deep beneath the nobility she so embodied. Armored in the holy colors of gold and blue she skillfully dispatched those that would dare sin against the gods…cutting into them with a vengeful sort of purification. If I wasn't so assured of my power over her I likely would have shivered in fear of her unquestionable virtue.

Though I still trembled for another reason, one that came as a surprise to me as much as it had my Valkyrie: For the first time in my existence I knew what it meant to love…to lust after one exquisite creature with the entirety of by soul -however black it might be-. I would have -and have- given anything for a whisper of her presence, a scent of her voice, for the thrill that the sight of her etched into the very core of my being. I adored each venomous word with which she graced me, each slice of her sword as she did her best to punish me for my various transgressions against her and the mundane world she seemed to so enjoy.

But therein my delightful distraction became my downfall; I didn't predict that she would join herself with those other lesser gods and that worthless mortal to try to destroy me. The unexpected strength left me with little I could do but jump into another dimension before they set my very soul asunder.

At least among my Lenneth's list of endearing traits her lack of memory while she's enraged had worked out to my advantage. She had forgotten in her haste to destroy me that my fate no longer lies in her hands, that my spirit lies outside of the balance of time and space. The gods cannot unmake what I took away from them long ago with the aid of the philosophers stone - my cursed soul is mine alone and even Hel herself has no claim to it.

Though in my weakened state I remained unable to set what path I would take, tossed into the endless dimensions and separated from the world that held my melodic angel…

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

It was an amazing storm.

Thunder crashed through the sky as lightning cut uneven streaks across the darkened horizon, the rain pounded a vengeful hum as it destroyed what little vegetation existed in the middle of Tokyo and was beginning to pool in the streets edges and every available surface it could possibly gather.

A soaked high school student bolted down the steps of the shrine where her family lived, puddles exploding with each footfall. Eyes so blurred it was a matter of luck that she hadn't tumbled headlong to a bruised finish, she only knew she wanted to be as far away as possible. From the well, from the portal to the old world that held the boy that had denied her love and broken her young heart. The salt in her tears washed away long before they had the chance to fall, mingling with the heavy precipitation as it fell.

Her uniform clung to her as a second skin, already completely soaked through in her short flight from the scene of her heartache. If it hadn't been for the warmer summer temperature she would have been half frozen already and only the exertion of her sprinting was keeping her from shivering. Her hair stuck to her face in the front and sloshed against her back with each step.

Her mindless fleeing of seeing her crush in the arms of his former lover…it was as if nothing would ever fix her selfish wish to return things to as they were before she'd arrived and Naraku had torn Inuyasha and Kikyo apart.

She'd just reached the bottom of the steps when an electric streak of malicious energy cut across her consciousness and gave her so much pause she stumbled to a harsh fall on the slick pavement of the sidewalk.

Her breath came unevenly; not only from the exercise – to a point her adventures in the feudal era had been amazing for her physical health. It was the sudden dark presence she felt from the shrine behind her. So much like Naraku for a moment that fear had grasped her lungs in it's merciless talons for those first few seconds that she'd forgotten to breathe.

She pushed herself back up, blinking at the scene above her. The storm almost seemed to cocoon itself about the area of the shrine where she felt the presence. As if nature itself was being some sort of herald via tempest for whatever it was that had just entered her world.

Once she'd gotten past the shock she headed back up the steps she had just fled from, if something was entering the well she had to face it and see what was happening. The well was supposed to have sealed itself after her disappearance from the feudal era and if some sort of demon had made its way through then she was the only defense this world and time had…

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

Pain wasn't something he was used to and it didn't inspire him to move any faster from wherever it was he'd ended up in the corridor of dimensions where he was haphazardly flung. The raging weather above him didn't quite manage to do more than create a small lull and in fact if it weren't for the interrupting thunder he would have let it draw him back into the comfortable nature of unconsciousness.

He could feel the soft dirt of the deep earth below his back. He could pick up scent of ozone, which with some sort of floral perfume and the coppery scent of his blood all mingled in the air. Despite the rain that wanted to draw him back into compassionate slumber he didn't feel as if he was wet, save for the slight stickiness where his blood had stained his fine velvet garments.

He hadn't been able to fully avoid that final strike from the creature Alicia had become, that accursed girl that had absorbed his beloved and used her godly powers to strike him down. Taken as he was with thoughts of vengeance he hadn't realized that someone had settled themselves near him. At first the voice was distant until he grasped it as a point to concentrate on and pull himself back out of the threatening unconsciousness.

"Oh my…" The first words were a whisper along with a gasp. "Hello? Are you all right?"

The voice that reached him was strangely accented and he only barely recognized the language thanks to his years of studies in the philosopher's stone. More detailed conversation would take him time to pick up on but at least he did recognize the local tongue of wherever he'd ended up.

The thought of sleep was still tempting but the blend of holy power in the spirit that approached him gained his interest and he wearily opened one of his eyes.

The girl appeared much like the few he'd witnessed in the orient during his travels, helping him to place himself a little more. Though her clothing choice was one of the most bizarre he'd witnessed. Perhaps his arrival had woke her and she was in her nightgown. The power in her was strong enough that it would pose a threat were it more refined, though the concern written across her pretty features let him know she didn't mean him any harm. At the time being he wasn't in the position to be choosy as to any help he would receive.

The look also spoke volumes as to just how grievous his injuries must appear. The alien torch she brought with her only served to further disorient his slightly reeling senses and he allowed his eyes to slide closed again.

"Hello?" She spoke suddenly louder when he seemed as if he'd passed out. "Can you hear me?"

She started to move away, likely with the intention of getting other help but he couldn't know who or what that was and if they might recognize him in his weakened state. He reached up, doing his best to ignore the agony that accompanied even that small motion and coughed once before he could manage the foreign speech.

"No…don't leave. I can hear you. Don't yell." His Japanese was broken but it would have to serve, it was better than not being able to communicate at all.

"You are really hurt." She was apparently good at stating the obvious. "We should get you to a hospital."

He could make an educated guess as to what a hospital was. "No. I…I'll be fine if I can rest…" He frowned at his struggle to find the correct words to use. With the dizziness and pain that was still hounding him he didn't dare open his eyes again.

"But…you are bleeding. You could be dying…" She seemed at a loss as to how to protest further but she still didn't move away from the light clasping of his hand at her wrist.

"Where are we?" He needed to absorb as much information as he could. This girl obviously had no idea of who he was.

"You must have fell…this is the bottom of a dried up well at my family's shrine." She stared in disbelief of how well he was doing, horrified and fascinated that he was conscious with the deep gash in his side, all the blood made it difficult to tell how deep it went but she was certain she didn't really want to know. "If you don't want me to get a doctor can I at least go get my first aid kit and do what I can for your wounds?"

"I'll be okay." He reassured, soaking in what information her words and tone offered. "Are you not trained in healing magic?"

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

It was already bizarre enough that she'd found the young man at the bottom of her well dressed in finery of the western feudal era but the fact that he was actually speaking and assuring his recovery with the grievous wounds in his chest made Kagome already suspect he must have been transferred here from the world she'd just left Inuyasha behind in.

When he asked her as to training in healing magics she knew for certain somehow the well must have allowed his passage to the shrine and with the dark feelings that had accompanied his arrival she didn't know how she should honestly proceed.

"I…not exactly…who are you?" She could barely offer a reply to his question as he mind was busy with possibilities. Would she still be able to visit her friends in the past?

"Call me Lezard." He replied, it didn't seem as if anyone here would know him and he did prefer his given name. "Have you healed people in the past?"

"Only very rarely." She admitted as she settled his hand back to the soft earth at the bottom of the well. "I never had formal priestess training."

It was almost impossible to tell what the young man was thinking. He was older than her but still very young. Short russet hair was disheveled and caked with dirt where his form had been pressed a little into the earth. He was a little pale but it seemed to suit him somehow. He reminded her with the glasses and hair style of Hojo…the boy she'd liked a little before the whole inuyasha issue had started.

He was a little older but had more western features, wider eyes, higher cheekbones, he seemed a little regal though the glasses softened that into more the look of an intellectual than a noble.

"Would you be able to help?" He was still frowning at his lack of any mastery for the language. His sentences seemed very much like the few foreigners she'd met, more forced than natural. "I could show you."

"How to heal you?" she asked curiously, she had been about to leave again for her first aid kit but the idea of training had always interested her and kept her in place for the moment. "I think it might be better if I try to bandage your wound."

"It's all right." His voice was soft, polite, strangely relaxed for the situation he was in. He was hiding the strain she figured to help her not freak out. What a strange person. "Give me your hands."

He winced when he raised his own gloved hands feebly so she could listen to his instructions and she frowned but accepted them gently. The smooth feel of the leather gloves was cold and immediately reminded her of the chill she was catching in the well while soaked to the bone. She shivered gently but ignored it as best she could, wanting to help.

"Close your eyes."

That instruction was easy enough and she did.

"Think of me, remember my form and my wounds." He was doing what he could to phrase the directions correctly. Perhaps just irritated he couldn't sound more intelligent than basic verbs and nouns…he was so used to using more intricate phrases he didn't appreciate not being able to use them now. "Listen to my voice. Find the part of yourself that draws on magic. Relax and repeat those steps."

She nodded once, doing her best to remember the grievous details of his bloody wound and his body and face, listening to him as he spoke and concentrating on the few previous times her power had come to her. All of those had been freak incidents surrounded by raging emotions of fear or anger and not the calmer setting he was making. Though she fought with herself and forced her mind into a state close to the meditation Kaeda had shown her several times.

She heard him speaking in a foreign language that sounded a little like the German she'd heard Era studying in school. It was a strange thing to hear and she felt suddenly as if she was being drained as her shivering paused as she grew warmer.

A golden glow was around her hands, though when she opened her eyes it faded almost instantly and the wound that had been closing slowly stopped. Getting distracted had ended the little bit of magic she'd manage to draw on and she wavered a little…the world spinning at her drawing on energy she'd never consciously touched before. She smiled a little, pleased by her achievement, before she felt the world falling away.

End Chapter

That's it for now, guess I'll continue it depending on what people think of it. I'm not actually sure if I'll pair up Kagome and Lezard in this or if they'll just somehow become really bizarre friends...though it'll be tricky as hell I'm gonna try to shove them together somehow.

-Nera