Chapter 2 - Introductions Not Necessary
"What do you mean 'What's my problem'?! Was I the only one there?! She came outta no where and I damn near sliced her in half!!"
"Inuyasha, will you calm down please..."
"Yeah, Inuyasha, you're scaring the locals!"
"I'll show you 'scaring the locals' you little hairball!"
"KA-GO-MEEEEE!!!"
Rayne groaned softly at the sound of raised voices around her, shifting on her blankets as she reached out her hand to shut off her TV just as a voice cried out, "Inuyasha! SIT BOY!!" She jerked into full awareness when she not only heard the loud thud of her favorite hanyou hitting the ground, she felt it as well, looking around her in panic as she realized this wasnt her room in Brent's loft but a very familiar little hut.
No! It cant be! There is no way this is...
"Now look what you've done. All this rucus has awoken our very lovely guest."
Rayne stiffened as she recognized the voice just behind her shoulder and leaped to her feet as a hand rested itself on the swell of her bottom, spinning and swinging her hand before she could think better of it, gasping at not only the sting of the connection but at the sight in front of her. Her right hand was firmly planted against the cheek of a very handsome young man with black hair, doe brown eyes and dressed in the blue and black robes of a buddist monk, his right hand wrapped in a sheath and prayer beads.
Oh this cannot be happening!!
"Miroku, would you give it a rest already?! You are such a pervert!!"
Rayne lifted her eyes at the voice and gasped again as she locked eyes with a young woman with black hair pulled up into a high ponytail, reddish brown eyes accented by the light dab of color above them, and wearing a black battle suit that had red and bone armor in various places. A small tan and black cat with two tails sat at her feet looking up at Rayne curiously.
oh man oh man oh man...
Rayne felt herself start to tremble as she finally lifted her eyes from the cat to take in the rest of the occupants, all of whom were staring at her curiously. A young woman with dark hair, dark blue eyes, and what look like a high school girl's uniform stood next to an old woman with grey hair and an eye patch dressed in a miko's robes. At the girl's feet was what looked like a little boy with bright red hair and green eyes, the only thing to dispell this was the fox feet he was standing on, his pointed ears, and the very bushy tail just behind him that was twitching slightly.
A loud growl brought Rayne's eyes to a red clad figure on the floor just a couple feet from her, the struggling figure held down by nothing but the glowing necklace about his neck. The loud growls ceased as his moon yellow eyes lifted to hers at the feel of her pursual, the dog ears on top of his silken looking white hair twitching a little as his cheeks colored a bit. Rayne blinked a couple times as she looked into his eyes, her lips parting, a thred of sound, caught only by the hanyou and the kitsune, slipping from her lips just as her eyes rolled back into her head and she dropped in a dead faint.
Inuyasha saw what was going to happen from the terrified, then glazed, look in the girl's eyes and forcefully pushed himself off the ground, catching her against his chest as she dropped, her dark hair spilling over his arm in a wave of blood. He wasnt on his feet more then a second when he gasped and twisted in mid air as the spell yanked him off his feet again, crying out as he hit the ground harder then before on his back, the girl craddled on top of his chest.
Kagome stood frozen in place as she realized what had just happened, but it was Miroku who put voice to her thoughts.
"Amazing, Inuyasha, you threw off the subjigation spell long enough to help her... Inuyasha?" Miroku's brow creased in a frown as he stood up slowly and walked over to his hanyou friend only to stop dead in shock. "The spell knocked him out cold..."
Kagome blinked at Miroku in confusion and walked over to his side, "It did what?"
Sango, Kirara, and Shippou joined her as Miroku moved over to Inuyasha's side, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a slight shake, "Inuyasha, wake up... please..." At first there was nothing and then a small moan drew Miroku's attention to the girl in his friend's arms just as Inuyasha growled a little, coming around, grunting as he sat up slowly. Miroku jumped up and backed away as he saw the girl's shoulder's stiffen in alarm. "Inuyasha... I would put her down..."
Inuyasha gave the houshi a confused look before he finally seemed to realize the girl in his arms wasnt Kagome, blinking down at the shaking form in his arms. Utoh... He barely had time to open his mouth to reassure her when the girl let out a ear piercing, literally, shriek of fright and leaped up off his lap, stumbling over the little kitsune who ducked to avoid her, and planted herself against the wall looking at them all in wide-eyed terror.
"W-W-WHERE... W-W-WHO... H-H-HOW... WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?!!?!?"
She blinked and stared at all of them in turn, coming to rest on the baffled hanyou last, owl-eyed for a full ten seconds before her eyes rolled up into her head again and she dropped to the floor, hitting with a resounding thud.
"Wow, Inuyasha..." Miroku said, thoughtfully, "either you are more of a ladies' man then I thought..." The monk turned to look at his dog-eared friend before adding, with a grin, "Or she really hates dogs..."
Everyone else groaned as the now incensed hanyou leapt up and knocked the monk out with one well placed strike to his head, the little kitsune remarking with a sigh, "Idiot..."
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Miles away, as Inuyasha and his friends continued to argue about the strange girl a tall man with long icy white hair, very aristocratic features that offset his deadly demeanor, his gold eyes glaring at the world alround him malevolently as he stalked into the clearing where a small girl in a bright yellow and orange kimono was picking flowers not too far from a large two headed dragon and a short, green, toad like being. Upon his arrival the little girl immediately dropped all the flowers she held in her hands and ran to his side with a cry of "Lord Sesshomaru! Rin missed you!!" wrapping her small arms around his leg and hugging him tightly.
As angry as Sesshomaru was at the interference in his fight with his half-brother, the feel of that warm little body hugging onto his leg as though he were the only person in the world made him smile slightly. Rin, the little girl who tried to care for him when he was injured, the child he saved from death when her village was attacked by wolves, a child who was more like his own pup then some human he had felt bad for, she could always make him smile no matter how vexed he was. Her simple gestures of affection were coming to mean more to him then even his title and all the lands of the West, nevermind his great pride.
Sesshomaru sighed as his hand rested on the child's raven locks, seemingly without even noticing the gesture. "Return to your flowers, Rin." He looked down to see her radiant smile as she nodded her head respectfully before bounding away to play in the pile of flowers his arrival had caused. Deprived once more of her warmth, Sesshormaru's mind returned to the fight and the strange light just before that woman with the blood red hair fell in his brother's line of fire. Just who the hell was she, where did she come from, and why did the whole thing leave a sour taste in his mouth?
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Rayne opened her eyes slowly, letting out a sigh of relief when no anime characters popped out in front of her, or groped her from behind for that matter. It seemed dark where she was laying so she assumed it was still late, shuffling around slightly on her sleeping mat with a little sigh that froze in her lungs at the familiar voice next to her.
"Oh, ye are awake child. How do ye feel now?"
Shivering like she was trapped in an artic cave Rayne turned slightly, bolting upright as her eyes landed on the old woman with a patch over one eye dressed in the red and white kimono of a priestess. "Oh man..."
"Beg ye pardon, child, but I be a woman. And who be ye, if I may ask." Kaede eyed the girl from her one good eye, taking in her slightly rounded eyes the color of leaves, her blood red hair spilling well past her shoulders and even her backside in waves of curls, to her clear porceline skin, and back to her eyes. "I am Kaede, priestess of this village. Who be ye?"
Rayne gulped air down her very dry throat for a moment, blinking at the old woman for a full ten seconds before she finally got her throat to work again. "Ray... ahem... My name is Rayne. Now don't take this wrong but.. where the hell am I?"
Kaede was just about to open her mouth, presumably to answer her, when the cloth flap of her hut was brushed aside, letting in the cool night air along with the chatter of several voices, all of whom stopped as they entered the hut to see the girl wide awake once more. The hanyou ducked his head immediately, to protect his senstive ears mind you, and slunk away from the rest of them to lurk in the corner of the hut, followed by the kitsune who was less discreately trying to hide his little ears under his hands, lest the woman shriek again. The slayer and the monk moved into the hut closer to Kaede, both eyeing the girl with open curiousity.
Rayne's gaze shifted back to the doorway when she noticed one body missing and found Kagome standing there in the door way, her head cocked to one side, just kind of staring at her in a mix of disbelief, curiousity, and flat out awe. Before she could think better of it she opened her trap, "You know I dont bite, Kagome..." Oh stupid... stupid... stupid...
Kagome blinked at that and come further into the room, letting the flap drop closed, "How do you know my name?"
The first thing that ran through Rayne's mind was simply You're an anime character, everyone knows who you are, and this is a dream I would really really like to wake up from now so if you'll excuse me... But somehow it just didn't seem like a good idea. Besides, something about this whole thing just didnt seem very dream-like, like the fact she had three bruises on her from fainting, or the fact that she hadnt woken up back in her room any of the times she had lost it, or how about the fact that shit like this just tended to happen to her. Well, ok. Maybe not this extreme.
Rayne was brought out of her own head at the feel of everyone staring at her. "Oh well... umm... I heard the kid shouting Kagome and then I heard your voice so I figured you were Kagome. Was I wrong?"
"Impressive," Miroku's voice sounded a bit to close for her and turning her head she saw the monk directly beside her and had to check the urge to shoot to her feet and run away from him. "You managed to retain that information despite your agrieved state. Truly remarkable."
"Monk... if you dont wanna loose that hand I suggest you back it up nice and slow and move away and back to your slayer."
Miroku just kind of gaped at her and did indeed move his hand away from her and scoot back towards Sango who was also just kind of staring at Rayne like fish out of water, but was also trying very hard not tro bust up laughing. Inuyasha, for all his fear of setting her off again, had a very shit-eating-grin on his face and the little kitsune at his feet had moved his hands to his mouth to stiffle the giggles. Kagome for her part was half astonished, half laughing at the poor monk who was staring at the girl like a hydra about to devour him.
Rayne glanced away from the couple, fighting the grin on her own face, and moved her eyes around the room to rest on the two demons in the corner. "I already said I dont bite you two. And I promise not to freak again. I think I'm well past the freaking out point." The little kitsune tilted his head at her before bounding over, his curiousity getting the better of him. He backpeddled a bit when she reached down and plucked him the ground like an infant, craddling him in her arms with a big grin. "Man you really are cute," she said with a laugh, holding the little boy in her arms till he gave her a small grin. She actually laughed a bit and then turned her head with a decidedly evil little grin and patted her leg while looking at Inuyasha, "Come on, boy, come here."
It had the desired effect. Inuyasha was up instantly and growling, across the room before anyone could blink, and right in the girl's face. Shippou scurried out of her arms to hide behind her at the sight of the angry hanyou, but Rayne just kinda blinked up at him, resisting the urge to smile, and reached up tweaking his puppy like ears, then dropped her hands with a slow grin, "Good boy." She nearly lost it at the indignant and sputtering look on his face as he pulled back from her, crossed his arms over his chest, and mummbled some nonsense about "human women and his damned ears."
