I'M SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! I've had state testing this month and it made free time really scarce. Thank you guys so much for bugging me in order to get it done. I've been writing any time I can and I have it all handwritten and I'm thinking of hiring someone to type it up because that is what takes so long. Anyway love you guys and here it is~!
I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes through the branches of the tree and a lingering feeling in the pit of my stomach. At least that's what I thought it was until I heard my stomach complain loudly of its emptiness.
It still felt strange to be in a world that was not my own. It may take some getting used to, but hopefully not long. I hopped down from the Sacred Tree and followed a delicious scent that was coming from inside the large hut that I learned was called a house.
I opened the door how my uncle demonstrated last night. I found my way into a room with white, cold, stone squares everywhere and a table where my uncle was reading some strange parchment and a boy next to him with his back to me munching down pancakes.
Ah pancakes, something finally familiar to me.
"Good morning Oki." Aunt Hitomi greeted from her place next to a tall almost-metallic thing that has a pan on top of in which she was cooking pancakes on.
Uncle and the boy turned around in their seats to look at me at the mention of my name. The boy, and me probably my cousin 12 year-old Mikio, just starred at each other until his face expanded and grew to one of excitement.
"Sweet dad it that her? Is she my cousin?" He asked excitedly while practically bouncing out of his chair.
"Yes that's her. That's Okirimuno." He introduced me with a smile.
Mikio hopped out of his chair and said, "Hold up your hand as high as you can and a little off to the side." I did what he asked and then he took a running start and that kid took flight as he gave me the best high-five a human has ever given me. If I were human myself it would've hurt a lot but because of my demon blood it was nothing. But my hand turned red from impact all the same.
It was a great high-five but his landing wasn't as smooth as his takeoff, and ended up tripping and nearly falling on the cats.
"Mikio be careful! You don't want to kill the cats or hurt Okiri. You're twelve you should have some better manners and some more accurate aim."
"Sorry Oki I just got really excited to meet you! I've been told stories of your parents and your time for as long as I can remember!"
"I'm flattered but I'm just your cousin. But I like your attitude kid. How about you finish your pancakes then afterwards I'll show you some of my moves?" I encouraged holding up my fist and making a pose.
"Oh so you know what pancakes are?" Uncle asked from his seat at the table.
"Yeah, they're mom's favorite."
"Still? Wow, I thought she'd grown out of them." Uncle said in wonder.
"Well Souta you still haven't grown out of them, now have you? Oki I'm sure Mikio would love to hang out with you but he has to go to school. But he'll be back in the afternoon. 'Til then why don't you sit down and enjoy some pancakes yourself?"
"Oh come on mom, are you really going to make me go to school while my long-lost cousin is here?"
"Yes and she'll be here when you get back."
"Fine. But mom don't forget that Satoru is suppose to be coming over today?"
"I almost forgot, bring him with you then, I'm sure he and Oki will get along really nicely."
"'Satoru'? Who's he?" I asked my aunt.
"Satoru Onigori is a very nice boy around your age. His family owns the temple not far from here." She explained to me. "He is interested and knows a lot about the supernatural and spirits."
"He's really cool! He goes to high school! You'll meet him this afternoon. I'll see you later Oki." Mikio finished as he ran out the door with a pack on his back.
"I'm off too. See you this afternoon Oki." Uncle also called as he left.
Aunt Hitomi cleared their plates and set down one piled high with pancakes and a bottle of this sweet smelling brown syrup next to it. "Okiri, how about you sit and eat while I finish the dishes then we can do a few chores before sitting down and relaxing some, okay?" She offered with a smile as she was drying a pan.
"Sure." I started eating my pancakes, and the rest of the day we followed Aunt's plan. After the dishes were clean, we did some cleaning around the house with her instructions, we organized the shrine storehouse, and I got to see a human, modern-time market as we collected things for dinner. We were out in the yard sitting on a blanket sipping my new favorite kind of tea and telling each other stories.
I didn't realize how much of this world my mom did her best to bring to our world. You really don't notice it until you step back and compare the two.
My mind was still wandering until I heard Mikio calling from the distance.
"Hey~! Mom can you boil some tea and hot water for ramen?" He shouted from somewhere down the path.
"Sure." Aunty screamed back. She got up off the blanket and straightened her cloths before heading inside to do the task. I started getting up too before she stopped me. "Oh Oki you can stay here and finish your tea and relax. Would you mind if the boy saw your ears or would you rather me go inside and get you cloths from this time or at least something to cover your ears?"
"No thanks. Maybe he'll just think it's a costume, unless he can sense demons. If that's so then he'll just have to know anyway." I just shrugged my shoulders and got comfortable again as I continued to sip my tea pleasurably.
A bee caught my eye playing with a flower as they both swayed in the warm breeze. As the bee continued to try to go against the wind and reach the flower and the nectar and pollen within it.
"Hey." Mikio said as he walked by me.
"Hey." I said back without letting my eyes wander from the bee and flower.
"What are you looking at?" Asked an unfamiliar voice. It must be Mikio's friend. He smelled really nice, human but with something slightly different about it.
"The bee and the flower. The bee is trying so hard to reach that one flower despite almost being blown away by the wind that's going against him. He could easily leave that flower and go to another. But he still doesn't give up, why?" I felt the boy kneel next to me.
"Well there is part of the reason, he doesn't want to give up. He feels that if he gives up on that flower, he'll regret it. For all we know, that flower could have the sweetest nectar or the best pollen. But if he doesn't reach it, he'll never know. Or maybe he just feels that it's part of his job to get every single flower and he just refuses to leave one untouched. Come on bee, you can do it!" He started cheering for the creature. And it almost looked like that with the cheer; the bee just got a small centimeter closer to the flower.
"Come on bee! Don't let this wind win against you!" I joined in. We continued doing that until we felt the breeze slow down and the bee finally reached its destination. Once it touched the first petal, the boy and me celebrated. I took this moment to look over at him in hopes to introduce myself, but my breath caught in my throat.
He was laughing with a gorgeous smile on his slightly tanned face, his eyes blue were ice against his dark brown almost black hair. He was wearing an outfit that was all black with a high collar. After I absorbed all the features of his face I took note as to how fast my heart was beating.
Why is it doing this? It won't slow down! Calm down heart! Any louder and he'll be able to hear it! Wait, why am I so embarrassed about that? He's looking at me now. His eyes, they're piercing through me! Yet at the same time, I feel warm inside. Like someone lit a candle for me when I was in the dark. It's so warm and it feels so nice. What is this emotion?
I was so wrapped up in my head that I didn't even notice that we were both just staring at each other. Neither of us noticed until a hand waved in between our faces and snapped up out of the daze. It belonged to Mikio who sighed out of annoyance and me and the boy tried to clear our thought and still pay attention to what Mikio was trying to say to us.
"Finally! Geez, you two were almost in a trance of some sort. You were oblivious to everything; I called both of your names three times each. Before you go gawking at each other, wouldn't it be polite to introduce yourselves?" He said as he laid the tray of tea and ramen down on the blanket before seating himself down.
"You're right, my apologies." he bowed his head lightly to me, "My name is Satoru Onigori. I am a good friend of your cousin Mikio's and I hope we can become really good friends." He said finishing with a blinding smile.
I can we can be more than friends. Wait, where did that though come from!?
"Likewise. My name is Okirimuno Higurashi. But you can call me Oki . . . or Okiri . . . or even Okirimuno is it's not too much of a mouthful." I finished quickly, my cheeks growing in color as I stated each of my nicknames.
God, I am making such an utter fool of myself, can this get any worse?
"Hey Oki, would you like any more tea?" Mikio asked breaking the small awkward silence and nodding to my cup.
"Sure." I said holding out my cup without even thinking.
"Um Oki, it's already full." Mikio said noting my teacup filled with my previous tea that I forgot to finish.
"Oh." I said looking into my almost full cup of cold tea. Mikio and Satoru chuckled under their breaths. And I flushed even more out of embarrassment.
Yup, it just got worse!
"Here," All of a sudden my teacup was out of my hand and a clean empty one was replaced. "You take that one and the fresh tea. I prefer cold tea." He happily took a large sip from my cup without hesitation, and right where my mouth touched the cup as well.
Somehow, my cheeks kept turning redder and redder until there was no blood left anywhere accept my cheeks.
Wait a second, isn't that indirect kissing!? What is wrong with this picture? I only just met the guy and I'm already thinking about kissing!
"You okay?" Satoru asked, snapping me out of my mind talk, "Your cheeks are really flushed. Do you feel okay? Do you have a fever?" He ran his hand gently under my bangs to feel my forehead. "You're a bit warm, but nothing too serious. Do you want to go inside and lie down?"
"No no no. I'm fine. It's just great to finally meet you. Mikio couldn't stop talking about you this morning and it got me really excited to meet you. I'm really happy to see that it wasn't just all talk." I said looking down and flipping a loose strand of hair over my shoulder and out of my face.
"Same to you, he wouldn't shut up all the way home because he kept telling me how awesome his part-demon cousin is despite only meeting her this morning. So part-demon huh?" He asked in disbelief as he leaned into his hand. I was waiting for him to say that he found it a turn off or something along the same lines but instead he said.
"That's amazing! I've read about them in my books and the history books where Mikio's aunt, uncle, and . . . daughter?" He paused for a second and it finally clicked into place. "No way, your that Okirimuno? Like daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome?"
"That's me." I said with a cheesy smile as I tilted my teacup to take a sip to realize quickly that Mikio had not yet filled my cup.
"That's incredible. That means you came through the well?"
"Yeah. Do you happen to have one of those books with you by chance?" I asked. Maybe I would be able to look into my future and they wrote about me in books and maybe scrolls too.
"No I don't. But I have to ask, why have you not gone back home yet?" He asked as he sipped his cold tea in my previous teacup.
"It seems as though I won't be able to go back home until I officially turn 15 tonight again at sunset. If I still can't get though after that, then I will start to panic and research other methods of getting through."
"Well for now how about we enjoy your company until come sunset tonight?" He asked as he picked up his bowl of noodles as if for a toast.
"Agreed!" Mikio eagerly agreed as he picked up his bowl as well. I followed suit and as we all said, "cheers" we all took a great big slurp in unison. The boys laughed, but I froze. I had never tasted this amazing in my life!
"What is this amazing noodle dish called?" I asked in excitement. They both looked at me with silly grins on their face as they describes that they are noodles and a pack of spices that are easy to make and were created and favored because of that convenience. They called it, ramen.
We continued the rest of evening by finishing the ramen, followed by me showing them some moves, and then we played a really fun game called football where we had to get the ball to the other side and tackle each other. Pretty soon Sota came home and we all sat down for an early dinner when I noticed the sun dipping lower and lower to the horizon. I thought struck me as the sky started to show tints of pink and dark blue.
"Hey uncle, can we take one of those picture things to take back with me when I go back to mom and dad?" I asked as I brought my dishes to the sink.
"I don't see why not. Let's clean up then we'll all gather and take the picture. I have a printer upstairs so that we can print it out once we take it. While we clean up, why don't you kids go find Minnie and Buyo? We want them in the picture too don't you?"
"Alright." Mikio agreed and we went off to find the cats while the adults cleaned up and got the device ready that was going to take the picture.
We collected Minnie and Buyo and all sat in the living room. Me sitting on the couch with Mikio on one side and Satoru on the other, Mikio was holding Buyo in his arms while Minnie fell asleep on my lap. Aunt Hitomi was standing behind us while Uncle Souta set up the device on a stand.
"When I say go, the red light will start blinking, when it starts blinking faster, that means it's focusing, when it stops blinking there will be a flash and then the picture will be captured. Understand Oki?" Uncle explained to me. I nodded my head and he pressed the button.
As soon as he pressed the button, he rushed over to join Aunt Hitomi behind the couch and made sure his hair looked fine. The flash started blinking rapidly when uncle said, "Everybody smile big!" He said it in a silly voice that made me smile, and Satoru purposefully played along as he put a silly grin on his face that made me laugh harder. And before I knew it the flash went off, but we all continued to laugh anyway.
Once we all caught our breath, Uncle went up stairs to print the picture out and we all walked out to stand in front of the well and wait for him. The sun was starting to set slowly when he came running out and handed me the picture with all our names and the date on the back. 2012. I didn't realize until I looked at the year that I realized how far into the future this world actually is.
I gave everyone a hug good-bye; even Satoru gave me one and ruffled my hair in a playful way. I had the picture in my hand and stood on the edge of the well. I waved good-bye once more, and just for dramatic effect, I did a single flip in the air and landed in the well.
As I continued falling as the blue light engulfed me, I looked at the picture in my hands and couldn't stop a smile and a blush from forming on my face when I looked at Satoru and I laughing together like that.
I really like him. Like really really REALLY like him. But not like, more like, like like. I think I'm in love with him.
My feet finally touched the ground and the familiar scent of trees and home filled my senses.
THIRD PERSON POV
IN INUYASHA'S VILLAGE
The setting sun allowed the sky to turn a bright pink as everyone in the hut started getting antsy. It was nearing sunset and everyone was on their toes waiting to see anything from a light, to a scent to let them know of Oki's return.
Haru was sitting and leaning against one of the windows looking towards the direction of the well with pleading eyes. Inuyasha was pacing back and forth in the hut while Kagome was sitting on a mat just playing going in between playing with her hair and sharpening her arrows. The silence was thick and nervous. Everyone tried to keep him or herself entertained but nothing seemed to be working.
"Kagome," Haru said as he broke the heavy silence, "I know you told me to wait until after sunset but I'm going now because I can't wait a moment longer!" Haru was on his feet and prepared to jump out the window instead of taking the door.
"You don't have to." Inuyasha said with a serious face. "Smell that Kagome?" Kagome listed her nose into the air and took a couple sniffs.
"She's back!" She exclaimed as she got to her feet and out the door with Haru behind her and Inuyasha leading the way. When they arrived at the well a blue light was coming from inside the well, when it stopped glowing, the undeniable scent of Oki was coming from within.
When the light stopped glowing, they all ran to the edge to look inside the well. Inside was a grinning Okirimuno staring back at them with something in her hands. "I'm home!" She said as she jumped out.
Everyone took turns hugging her, Haru being the first. As they walked back to the huts, Oki told the story of meeting everyone and how she got there. They stopped by Haru's house and dropped him off and assured him that Oki will be there tomorrow before heading back to their hut on the hill that overlooked the village.
Inuyasha was already inside and Kagome was about to follow when Oki grabbed her sleeve and said, "Mom I need to talk to you." Kagome tilted her head in slight confusion. "Alone." Kagome made a face of understanding before yelling inside and telling Inuyasha that she was going to take a quick walk with Oki.
Kagome started walking and Oki followed, when they were a good fifty yards away from the hut, Kagome turned and sat down so she was facing the sunset. "What did you want to talk about Oki?" Kagome asked as she patted the patch of grass next to her asking Oki to sit next to her.
Oki didn't answer immediately, but took out the picture and handed it to Kagome. She had a big smile on her face as she looked at her little brother all grown up and then she looked at Oki in the picture, and then Satoru next to her, then back at the real Oki, and repeated this until something clicked. Kagome held still for a matter of seconds before tackling Oki to the ground in a hug as she squealed for joy.
"Mom!" Oki complained as she continued to hug her.
"You got the feeling didn't you?" Kagome smirked.
'What feeling?"
"You know, that feeling." Oki's cheeks turned a few shades of red as she nodded her head to confirm.
"Yes mom," Oki sighed as she finally looked up to meet her mother's eyes, "I think I'm in love."
I apologize again for taking so long. Review and tell me what you think. And I actually have a question for you readers, who do you think Oki should end up with?
I'll get started on that next chapter ASAP! Please keep in mind guys that as much as I love you all and fanfiction, I will not always have time on my hands to update as often as I want. For those who are in high school, they will understand.
Enjoy and happy reading!