Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, anything with Forgotten Realms, or Inuyasha but I love playing with these characters!
Chapter 1
Kagome let out a sigh. They were no closer to finding Naraku than they had been for the last several weeks. Things were too quiet as far as she was concerned too, but she was going to take the opportunity to go home for a few days and catch up anyway. There was no telling when she might have the opportunity again.
She had said goodbye to Inuyasha and the others in Edo. The well wasn't too far from Kaede's but heading there alone always gave her more time to fret over everything.
She was still only paying half a mind to her surroundings when she reached the well, a bad habit but one she was too preoccupied to care about currently. She was forced to start paying attention soon enough though.
When she threw her bag into the well she quickly followed it, but she heard a thump instead of seeing a blue light. Before she could make sense of the sound she fell hard to the ground as well.
She shakily got to her feet and looked up only to see the bright sky still instead of the ceiling of her family's shrine. She looked around briefly and saw her bag next to her in the bottom of the well.
Confused and a little worried she headed back out of the well. Once she was out she concentrated to see if she could feel anything different in the area but was coming up blank. She was debating on whether she should try one more time when she suddenly noticed something strange.
She almost didn't notice it at first, but there were wisps of neon green… something, coming out of the well. They got thicker and thicker, until it was a steady stream of green rising higher into the air. It was a lighter color than Sesshomaru's poison, but she had never seen anything else close to it. If she concentrated on it though, it had a vibrant feel. It was full of life.
After rising several meters into the sky in a thick, swirling column, the whole thing seemed to collapse. Almost like a giant wave, it splashed back to the ground. Kagome gasped, but she didn't have time to even try to avoid it. She crouched down and covered her head in an attempt to avoid the worst of it.
Surprisingly, she only felt something like a warm wind rustle through her hair. Once everything was silent again she dared to look up. She was amazed to find she wasn't hurt at all or even wet. Whatever it had been passed right by her.
As she turned around the clearing to see if anything was out of place she stifled a scream as her eyes landed on a person lying in front of the well. She cautiously approached but it looked as if whoever it was, was completely unconscious.
As she drew nearer she was beginning to wonder if this person could be a youkai. Kagome could tell they were male at least. The black coat he had on was open and he had no other shirt underneath. Her doubts came from two things though. He looked to be incredibly tall. Since he was lying down she couldn't tell exactly, but if she had to guess, she would say he was at least as tall as Sesshomaru. Also, his hair was long and silver.
She knew the inu weren't the only youkai that had the signature silver hair but that was the most common. As she thought that, an uneasy feeling grew in her stomach. Many of Naraku's incarnations had also had silver hair. She was already backing up unconsciously when she backed right into something. This time she didn't bother holding in her scream.
Much to her relief though, she was greeted by Inuyasha's gruff voice. "What the hell is going on woman." She couldn't help but turn and throw her arms around her friend even though he pushed her away immediately.
"Feh, can't you be alone for more than a minute without causing trouble?" Kagome was already feeling better with Inuyasha's normal behavior washing over her. It was about that time that he finally noticed the stranger in the clearing. She could immediately tell the difference in his posture.
"Who the hell is this?" Inuyasha had crouched down and started sniffing around the unconscious man. He wrinkled his nose and stepped back. "He smells weird. This whole place smells weird. Seriously Kagome, what happened here!"
She rolled her eyes at his exuberance. As much as it reassured her to have him here right now, she was reminded again why she needed a break occasionally. "I don't know. I tried using the well to go home but it didn't work. Right after I crawled out this green… stuff… came pouring out of the well and when it cleared out he was laying there."
After her brief explanation they both just stared at the strange man until the silence was broken by the rest of their friends running into the clearing. "Kagome! Are you all right? We all saw a strange green glow coming from this direction and Inuyasha took off. What happened?"
Kagome pointed to the stranger and gave Miroku and Sango the same brief run down of what had happened. As she was giving the explanation, the stranger finally started stirring. His brief movement caught everyone's attention but he didn't wake.
Now that everyone was in the clearing with her and it seemed as though the threat of violence from the stranger was lessened, Kagome took the opportunity to observe him a little closer.
As she drew near she saw his breathing was shallow and he had a deep wound in his stomach. She wasn't sure how she had missed that the first time but his blood was still oozing from it. It troubled her that it wasn't bleeding any worse than it was and it made her wonder if he had already lost too much blood.
Instantly her instinct to help kicked in. "Inuyasha! He's injured pretty badly; can you carry him back to Kaede quickly? I'll be right behind!"
Inuyasha had been sniffing around the clearing and was on the other side of the well when she called out to him. At her call he was back by her side giving her a dirty look. "Do I look like a pack mule to you?"
"Jeez, quit complaining for once. Can't you see he may not have much time! Please!?" Kagome just gave him a pleading look, hoping he wouldn't take too much longer to decide. The stranger's breathing was getting shallower by the minute.
"Feh, whatever. Just hurry up. I'll tell Kaede you'll be right behind me." Inuyasha picked the stranger up and started to throw him over his shoulder. He stopped at the sight of the stomach wound and just gave Kagome another dirty look as he took off with the tall man in his arms.
Kagome ran back to grab her back before following after Inuyasha. She didn't have many first aid supplies left but something had to be better than nothing.
As soon as her hand touch the strap of her oversized yellow bag however, she fell back with a scream. The second surprise of the day had her covering her face as she landed on her bottom.
A bright white flash of light burst from the well. It only lasted a few seconds but it still caused spots to flicker in Kagome's vision and she had to blink several times before she could see anything at all.
She got up gingerly and looked around. She found her remaining friends helping each other up a few feet away and hoped Inuyasha hurried to drop that man off, since there was no telling what was going on now.
Once she was on her feet she looked around to see if there were anymore strange people and was relieved to find it was just her and her friends in the clearing. Her relief was short lived however when she heard groaning coming from inside the well itself.
Giving Miroku and Sango a look to make sure they heard it too, they just nodded back and they all cautiously approached the dry well. The groaning was intermittent but only got louder as they got closer.
Once they were all gathered, Kagome counted to ten and took a deep breath for courage. She finally peeked over the lip of the well and had to bite back a scream. There was another man in the well and he looked like he was probably a youkai as well. He was slumped over but the little bit of light that reached the bottom of the well glinted off his silver locks.
Kagome knew there was no way she could carry him out, but she couldn't leave him down there is he was injured. She didn't think twice about heading down to help the man, even if he might be youkai and she motioned Shippou to follow her down. If it got dangerous he wouldn't be much help, but he could get her out fast and he would be the best way they currently had to get the man out as well, unless Inuyasha made it back in time.
By the time she made it to the bottom of the well the man was starting to come to. She kneeled down in front of him but her muscles were tensed to jump at the slightest sign of provocation. She could see he had two curved swords lying next to him and after her experiences with Sesshomaru, she wasn't too keen on repeating them.
He finally opened his eyes and Kagome was surprised to see they were lavender. Even in the youkai she knew, that was an unusual color. They both sat there and stared at each other for a moment before Shippou finally broke the silence. "Hey are you okay? If I help you up are you going to attack me?"
Kagome watched as the stranger's eyes shifted to the little kitsune standing just behind her. Hid eyes widened when they took in the furry tail and ears but he quickly focused on her once again. She watched as he looked around, his eyes narrowing when he found his swords but that seemed to be quickly pushed aside as well.
Finally, he moved to stand, grabbing both swords and sheathing them in one quick, fluid motion. Kagome couldn't help but compare his grace to their sometimes-nemesis, Sesshomaru. She was just thankful that his movement was to sheath the swords and not to attack. With that kind of speed, she wasn't sure if even Shippou would have been able to get them out in time.
She wondered if he could tell she was spooked a little since once he was on his feet he didn't move immediately but stood still long enough to let her know he wasn't planning to attack. Once she started to relax he finally held out his hand. Kagome looked at it for a moment, since she didn't think youkai shook hands but shrugged and grasped his hand anyway.
He gave her a little bit of a funny look when she grabbed his hand but allowed her to shake it, finally speaking up. "Alae, I am Drizzt Do'Urden. Thank you for your offer of assistance."
She just gave him a smile at his polite greeting. She didn't understand that first word but from the rest of it she gathered it was part of the greeting process, she hoped it was anyway. Now that she was relatively certain she wasn't about to be killed in the next few seconds she turned her focus to getting everyone back out of the well.
She looked up briefly to see Miroku and Sango nearly blocking the entrance. She gave them a quick wave to let them know everything was fine and turned back to the stranger with another smile. "You're welcome! Do you think you would be able to climb out of the well on your own or will one of us need to help you?" She gestured back to Shippou as she spoke, who was still mostly hiding behind her.
The stranger gave the kit another strange look but only shook his head. He turned to the vines Kagome herself used and pulled himself up and out of the well.
She frowned a little as she watched him. His pointed ears, silver hair and lavender eyes all pointed to youkai heritage, but she had never seen another youkai in all her time in the sengoku jidai with such distinctive ebony skin. He didn't have any crests either. She wondered if he might be some kind of hanyou but if he was, she had no idea what kind.
With a shake of her head she put the thought out of her mind and followed him out of the well. It didn't really matter as long as he wasn't inclined to eat her or her friends.
At the top she stopped to see him looking around with a confused look on his face and her three companions giving him a look of suspicion. She watched him for a moment as he was apparently trying to figure out what was going on, a feeling she knew quite well after coming through the well herself. At that thought, she wondered if he might be from some other time as well.
At the thought, she felt a little sympathy for him and decided to see what she could do to help. After all it was in her nature to help whenever she could. "Uh, you said your name was Drizzt, right?" His strange name tripped off her tongue, but he turned at her voice and nodded. The confusion still apparent in his eyes.
"Well, Drizzt, would you mind telling me what happened before you ended up in the well here?"
His eyes hooded partially and she could tell he was debating his answer to her request. "First, could you explain where this is?"
"This is Japan during the sengoku jidai." Kagome had no problem answering his question since she felt it might make him feel a little easier. She added the time period so he might be able to have a reference point if he traveled from somewhere in the future, like she had.
"Japan? Is that the name of this land?" The stranger gestured around them but his confusion only seemed to be deepening.
"Yes, this country is called Japan. We are near a village named Edo."
His only response was to lower his head in thought. Before he had much time to devote to further thought though, Inuyasha came crashing back into the clearing and was in front of Kagome with Tessaiga drawn. His low growl echoed through the clearing at the stranger.
The change in the stranger was instantaneous and shocking. Before Inuyasha's growl had even cleared the other man had both his curved swords in hand and was facing Inuyasha with a look that Kagome could tell meant business. He was shorter than Inuyasha by a little bit, but he was still intimidating.
Luckily neither male moved for a few moments which gave Kagome the chance she needed to get over her shock. She stepped next to Inuyasha and put her hand on his sleeve. "Inuyasha, he showed up like the last one, out of the well. Let's see what's going on before we just attack him, ok?"
She kept her voice calm and she hoped that he would at least try to listen to her. Finally, he relaxed his position and gave her a dirty look. She noticed he hadn't sheathed Tessaiga yet, but at least he wasn't waving it around threateningly anymore. "Feh, whatever wench. I was almost back to the village with the other one when I saw that light. I came back as soon as I left him with Kaede."
At the reminder Kagome suddenly remembered how severely injured the other stranger had been. She knew Kaede would probably need her help just keeping the man alive. At that realization she immediately turned to Inuyasha. "I need you to take me back to the village quickly!"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her sudden command but didn't argue. He kneeled down so she could climb on his back. Before they took off she turned back to the other man. "I'm sorry! I have to go help someone that is seriously hurt. Please follow Miroku and Sango back to the village and I promise we'll help you figure out what's going on!"
Inuyasha barely gave her time to finish and he was off. The stranger's eyes going even wider as he watched the speed of the inu hanyou that had just left the clearing.
No one said a word for a few moments. Each person in the clearing still caught up in their individual thoughts. Finally, Miroku broke the silence. He approached the stranger with a shallow bow. "Excuse me Drizzt-san, please allow me to introduce myself and my companions."
Drizzt gave him a wary look, after the reception he received from the other male, but this human was being more than polite. He never expected anything other than hostility from humans, but this situation had his nerves on edge. He had no idea where he was or how he got here so he would see if these people could help him find answers.
He was wary of their motives to help one of his kind, most humans that would help a drow were not 'nice' but these humans had not shown him any reason to run yet, despite the protective display of the male in red. He was at least willing to follow them to the village and see if he could find any answers. He gave the taller man a nod to let him know he was listening.
At the strange male's nod, Miroku stepped back so he could introduce the rest of the people left in the clearing. "I am Miroku. This is Sango and the kit behind her is Shippou. The girl that helped you is Kagome, she had leave as her miko powers were needed and the other was Inuyasha."
Drizzt couldn't hide his surprise. The young girl was a holy woman. Although he knew a few holy women that weren't what he considered 'holy', this revelation did serve to explain her helpfulness. It was not in his nature to trust easily but he was willing to see what could be found out by following these people back to the young miko. "Thank you. Will you lead the way to your village?"
Miroku gave him another quick bow and started back towards Edo and Kaede's hut. He gave Sango a look that could only be interpreted as uncertainty. He hoped that these two back to back occurrences weren't a bad omen, but he knew better than to make empty wishes.