Inuyasha: To the End
Chapter One: Feudal Era…Here Mei Comes!
…hnnn…
My hands are shivering…
I must be…
Cold…
I imagine if I stay like this in the snow, I'll die…
…I can't move.
I'm going to die…
But…but I can't…
No, I can't die.
I just can't…
Not yet…
I can't die yet.
I can't…
Huh?
I feel like I'm floating…
…but my body isn't moving.
Hold on a second.
If I'm floating without moving, then that's bad.
This is it!
This is death!
But it can't be!
This isn't my time to die!
I must live!
For Inuyasha…
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Yellow eyes slowly opened, and a sharp breath was inhaled. She could breath.
Warmth flooded her senses, and she woke to find herself safe and snug in her bed.
'What a weird dream…'
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"Hey! Hey Mei! Wait up!"
Mei turned to see her younger sister race up to her, her backpack strapped to her back.
"Are you okay?"
Blue eyes met hers, and she sighed softly. Saka was such a sweet little girl, with blue eyes that looked exactly like Mom's and Dad's golden blond hair.
She didn't fit. People marveled how her Japanese/American parents had a daughter that looked almost completely Oriental, with hip-length black hair and strange yellow eyes. But her parents never treated her any different; they loved her exactly the same as they did her sister.
"Why do you ask Saka?"
"'Cause you were quiet at breakfast. You weren't the same cheerful self as you always are."
Mei smiled…for an eight-year-old kid, Sayo seemed strangely perceptive and old at times.
"I'm fine. I just had a bad dre…night's worth of sleep."
"Oh. Are you going to go to work at the movie theater after school today?"
"Yes."
"CAN I COME!?"
Mei had to laugh at that, her little sister's face had such a pleading look upon it that she couldn't help but to accept.
"Of course!"
"Yay!"
The bus slowly rolled up, and the two sisters climbed aboard. The next stop…school!
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Deep within the shadows deep within the theater, an evil emerged.
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"Hello! Welcome to Mekzoi Movie Bonanza! How may I help you?"
"Um, yes, I would like tickets to see Movie number three."
"Here ya' go. That'll be six dollars."
Taking the money, Mei handed over the tickets and then handed the money to her sister. Saka knew what to do; she placed the money in the cash register and then smiled up at Mei.
"You're so lucky to have a job. What are you going to get with your money?"
"You'll see. It's going to be your birthday next week, so I'm gonna' get you something extra special!"
"Oh, really?! You don't have to do that…"
Mei knelt down to her sister, yellow meeting blue.
"I want to. Now go and find a movie to watch, 'kay?"
"'tay…"
Saka walked out of the ticket booth into the movie theater; Mei watched her go with a strange feeling.
'Why do I feel like I'm never going to see her again?'
Mei shrugged the feeling off, and then turned to the growing line of people waiting to purchase tickets.
"Hello! Welcome to Mekzoi Movie Bonanza! How may I help you?"
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By closing time, Mei was worried about Saka. Unless the girl had been absorbed by all the movies that were playing, she normally checked in several times every few hours with Mei.
"Saka? Saka!"
She called as she wandered through each of the movie rooms. All of the people had already left, and she was getting even more unnerved by the second.
Silence answered.
"Saka please! This isn't funny!"
"…whimper…"
'What was that?'
Mei froze…that sounded like someone crying…like Saka crying!
"Saka, I'm coming!"
She yelled as she ran to the very last of all the rooms, the one that no movie had been playing in that day.
There was nothing, but the whimpering continued.
Mei couldn't see very well because of the pitch black of the darkness; and she could only stumble closer to the stage with the viewing screen.
"Saka? ...Saka-chan…please…"
"Muwahahaha…"
"YAIIIII!"
Mei shrieked at what she saw. There was some beast, some freak of nature of some sort; a man with tentacles, and he was holding her little sister in a crushing grip.
"Saka! NO, you freak, let her go!"
Her terror overridden by her maternal and sisterly instincts, Mei curled her hands into fists. The man merely laughed harder at the puny efforts.
"Pitiful girl. You want your sister back?"
Mei nodded.
The thing suddenly tore open a rift in the air beside him, and thrusted the little girl into it.
The last view of Saka Mei had…was a pair of terrified and lost blue eyes before the void closed over her.
"SAKA!!!"
"If you want to see your sister again…you'll have to find her yourself."
That said, the man stepped into the rift himself and vanished.
"Saka. Saka, Saka…please…no…"
Mei slumped to the floor; her mind echoed with all the pain and torment of her helpless situation.
"Why…why Saka…why?"
She was so innocent, a bright and cheerful soul, but now…she was gone…
Looking up, Mei noticed that the dark rift was slowing closing. And if it did…than she would never have the chance to save Saka again.
Mei threw herself at the rift, expecting to find resistance. But there was none, and she was pitched headlong into the waiting darkness.
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"Hey. Kagome, she's wearing clothes like you."
"You're right! She must be from my time. But I wonder how she got here? I mean, that man found her miles away from the Bone Eater's Well."
"Child, ye know well that there has been more going on lately than normal. Naraku has new allies, and has been gaining in strength. Ye need to be out finding him; not bothering with this here child. She'll be fine under my care."
"Aw, damn, is she going to sleep much longer? I mean, it's been four days since that traveler stumbled over her and brought her here."
Voices. Dim…yet they were voices all that same.
Mei flinched and a cool and damp cloth was placed upon her forehead and she stirred slightly. She opened her eyes into mere slits, and then flinched again and shut them when that sudden piercing light blinded her.
"Look! She's waking up!"
"…water…"
Mei's voice cracked slightly as she struggled to sit up, but two hands stopped her.
"Good. Hold 'er down. Ye need to drink this."
Water. Fresh, life-giving water.
Mei gulped down the liquid greedily, not caring that some was spilling out of her mouth and down the side of her cheek.
"She's thirsty."
Mei once again opened her eyes…and she saw a pair of golden ones staring right into hers…
"Hey, you awake now?"
The person who the eyes belonged to tilted his head slightly to the side, and that's when Mei noticed that he looked funny.
He had dog ears.
Wait half a moment…dog ears?
Yes. There were two furry dog ears on top of his head, and they twitched slightly as he gave the human girl a curious look. He'd never seen a human with that shade of eyes before.
Mei couldn't resist. She reached her hand up and…
TUG!
"Oh my god; they're REAL!"
She exclaimed, her eyes growing wide as ever. The guy leaped back, cursing as he held his poor pulled ear in agony.
"Yes, dammit, they're real! What did you think; they were just tied on?"
"Well actually…yes."
Mei looked as all the other people in the room, who were cracking up. There was an old woman wearing a kimono and a girl who was wearing a green and white school-girl uniform.
"Um…where am I?"
"Welcome to Feudal Japan!"
"…huh…?"
-End Chapter One-