A/N: Not much to say. But, I feel good about continuing this story in first person. I'm having quite a bit of fun writing this, so I hope you're having just as much, if not more, fun reading it. ^-^
Enjoy! I do not own InuYasha! Otherwise, it either would never have ended or it would be a much shorter story. XD I STILL haven't finished the manga. XP
Chapter 2: Demons and Denial
As the blue light faded I found that I had gently reached the bottom of the well. Except . . . everything smelled so different! Instead of the stench of the city, the air smelled clean . . . not . . . polluted.
Deciding to figure out where I was, I jumped out of the well, landing on the rim. "What the . . .?" I was at a bit of a loss for words. Instead of the Higurashi Shrine, or any sort of modern scene, I was surrounded by trees.
Something was very wrong here.
Deciding not to waste anymore time in the odd forest that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, I turned around and jumped back into the well.
"OH GEEZ! UGH! . . . Shit."
Did I mention I was expecting the soft landing from earlier? Yeah, well . . . I landed badly. My ankle rolled as I landed and I'm fairly certain it got sprained. First time I ever had to deal with an injury like that too.
"Ugh . . . ouch." I muttered as I gently poked and prodded the offended area. I could see that it was already swelling. Looking up I nearly swore again. Not only had I sprained my ankle, but I was still in that freaking weird forest!
Sighing I picked myself up and climbed out of the well, trying to keep off my injured ankle as much as it was possible.
Pulling myself over the edge of the well, I sat down on the grass beside it. The gravity of this whole situation was starting to sink in and I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes.
How was I supposed to get back home? I couldn't even get back to the Higurashi Shrine . . . And my mother! She'd have a heart attack when she checked in to wake me up for school! I couldn't even find her scen- . . . Wait a minute . . . Yes I could.
My mother had been here! And it wasn't a very old scent trail either! I could follow it easily!
With renewed hope, I ran through the forest, following my mother's scent. My ankle hardly twinged, I was so excited to be able to get back home. Other scents surrounded the distinctive smell that was my mother, but they hardly mattered.
My happiness broke off as an arrow whizzed past my head. I am ashamed to admit this, but I let out a rather high pitched yelp as I skidded to a stop.
"Halt demon!" A male voice I didn't recognize called out to me.
Demon? I looked around, not quite sure what was going on. They couldn't possibly have meant me . . . could they?
"Um . . . sorry . . . are you talking to me?" I asked, not quite believing what I was hearing.
"Come no closer to our village! Begone!" A different male voice, no less foreign, shouted out.
I felt something small and stinging hit my skin. Really, what were these people thinking? Plucking a grain of . . . I think it was salt, that had gotten caught on my green and blue striped jacket and wondered how they thought that this was supposed to scare me off. Yeah, it seemed to sting a little in my fingers, but it wasn't really an unpleasant feeling.
Brushing the rest of the salt off me, I looked towards where the voices were now whispering something about a person named Kaede and blessings and other such oddities.
"Um . . . excuse me? There seems to have been a misunderstanding." I said, putting on my most disarming smile. With a small laugh at the preposterous idea I clarified, "Just because I have a silver stripe in my hair doesn't mean I'm a demon." Seriously, traditionalists . . . can't stand something unusual. "I didn't dye it really! It's entirely natural coloring. I've always had it."
Now to get to a more important point.
"Listen, I-"
"If you're not a demon how do you explain the fact that you were running faster than any human could?" one of the two unfamiliar male voices called out.
I was doing what now?
"I . . . I don't think I was running any faster than usual . . . I know a few people who are able to keep up with my pace too . . . It's nothing demonic . . ." I was more than a little confused by these men, but back to the point. My mom's scent went past them, and they were stopping me from continuing.
"Anyways, I don't want to break any rules or anything, but I'm lost and I'm fairly certain my mother's in the direction you don't want me to go. So if you just let me pass I'll find her and be on my way back home. Okay?"
"There are no mothers of a demon like yourself in our village! Take your lies elsewhere!"
Oh that was it. I may have lied sometimes, but to be called a liar when I wasn't one . . . That raised my temper.
"Oh, just forget it." I mumbled and raced forwards, once more following my mother's scent. I heard the twang of a bowstring and, somehow, could see the arrow coming towards me slowly enough for me to dodge.
"Halt! Sound the alarm! A demon has come into the village! She's heading for Lady Kaede's house!"
They make me sound like I wanted to attack her or something. I've never even BEEN here before! I just wanted to find my mother and get home!
"HIRAIKOTSU!"
Something large, white, and spinning came at me, seemingly from out of nowhere!
It caught me right in the midsection and knocked me back, right into a tree. I had never felt such pain. I could have sworn I heard something crack as well . . .
I doubled over as soon as I fell to the ground. I couldn't breathe! A nasty coppery taste filled my mouth and I spat it out, my eyes widening as blood stained the grass underneath me, red. With a gasp, I found that my wind had returned but I soon wished it hadn't. My lungs were on fire! Every breath fanned the flames burning inside.
I barely registered the tears flowing down my cheeks as I curled up clutching my sides, breathing sharply through my teeth, hissing, from the pain. All I wanted to do was find my mother! I just wanted to get home! I didn't know where the hell I was and, I'll admit it, I was scared!
"Surely you needn't have thrown your weapon so hard, Lady Sango. She is but a child." A smooth tenor voice wafted into the air, and it seemed as though all my senses were both dull and flaring at the same time. I spat out more blood that had risen into my mouth. I felt absolutely horrible, but it seemed as though the attacks had stopped though I was still on edge, bracing myself for another blow. I could only stare down at the blood and grass beneath me, trying hard to keep myself from barfing.
"She's got at least some demon blood in her Miroku, and she didn't heed the sentries warning to leave this village. It's a good thing InuYasha and Kagome are in her time right now. For all we know, this 'child' could be looking to steal the Shikon shards." A female's voice, presumably the 'Lady Sango' the male, 'Miroku', had mentioned earlier, responded.
"She's got funny clothes like Kagome's though." This time the voice was closer and it sounded like a little kid.
Finding that the pain had lessened somewhat, I dared to look up. Standing a couple of yards away, a couple, I guessed it was 'Lady Sango' and 'Miroku', were looking at me. The woman was dressed in a pink and white outfit that looked like a sort of kimono. I was never really into the ancient stuff. I only studied enough to pass my history classes. I never really got into it though. On her back was a large white boomerang. I guess that was what hit me. She wore her hair loose though something in my gut told me this was not always the case. The male wore a set of purple robes and had a rosary wrapped around one hand. He held a staff in his other hand and his hair was pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck.
As I watched them I saw the man's free hand slowly slide over to rub the woman's butt.
A resounding 'SLAP' echoed a moment later, the monk now down on the ground with a large, red, handprint across his cheek. The woman had her hand up to where it last made contact with the man's face and she looked more pissed off than ever.
"He never learns . . ." sighed the child's voice. It sounded like the kid was closer than the couple and his voice came from my left. Looking to the side, I nearly lost my balance. It wasn't that he had a strange outfit either, something from the ancient history I really didn't care about, or that his hair was a spectacularly bright orange and was puffy and pulled up into a ponytail. No. He had paws for feet . . . and . . . a fox tail. A true fox tail was twitching behind him as he held his face in his hand from the inappropriate action of the man in the robes.
This was a little too much for me. "You . . . I've never . . . How can . . . What are you?" I asked, my breathing picking up pace as I stared, wide eyed at the kid at my side. Oddly, the beginnings of hyperventilation weren't hurting my sides and I was also surprised to realize that I barely felt any of the pain from that wound anymore.
The kid, or kit, looked at me with a puzzled expression. "I'm a kitsune!" he stated like it was horribly obvious.
Kitsune . . . meaning fox demon . . . tricksters . . . and he was a demon . . . demons did exist? That was impossible . . . It was impossible!
"That's not possible . . . demons . . . demons can't exist . . . they don't . . . they can't!" I was hardly aware of the words spewing out of my mouth. It had to be a dream. A horrible, horrible dream. When I jumped down the well at the Higurashi Shrine, I must have hit my head on a rock that must have been protruding from the wall of the well . . . It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
"Miroku! Sango! Something's wrong with her!" the obvious figment of my imagination shouted to the two dream people.
My vision blurred and blackness began to creep around the edges. The last thing I remember seeing were two fuzzy shapes rushing towards me before the blackness took me.
To Be Continued . . .
A/N: HEY! Two chapters in two days! Not a bad job if I do say so myself. :3 The best part? Both chapters are relatively the same length. Alright, this one doesn't have as many words, and, yeah, Izzy's outfit wasn't exactly described, but I'll get to her outfit in later chapters. Blah. I enjoyed writing it. And if future chapters can continue coming as easily to my fingers as I typed, I will be one happy Mousey. Review please! Any and all feedback is welcome! =3
