Waking Up-
Everything was fuzzy and yet sharp and unyielding. The light was too bright and the sounds too loud even though she knew, instinctively, that it could not be much quieter. She could hear someone talking a short distance away. He had a deep, controlled voice that sounded almost cultured. Almost. She wasn't sure how she knew, but his speech seemed demeaning. Perhaps it was the contrast of Japanese with English. The first possessed several manners of speaking which enabled a person to know where they stood in society and with the speaker where English did not. The smooth cruelty of the words coupled with the individual's crass but cultured speech patterns were enough for her to feel a knot forming in her chest.
"Whoever she is matters little in comparison with what her presence means. Surely you grasp that the presence of someone who, by all accounts, is no more than your foolish fantasy means that for months now, nearing a full year, there has been one who knows of our every move, who we are and even our weaknesses. Are you so stupid that you do not see how dangerous she is?"
It was hard to breathe but she managed to calm herself. She was warm and in something entirely encompassing. It took her a moment of reflection without opening her eyes to realize she'd been placed in a sleeping bag and that, in all likelihood, she hadn't been dreaming her rather jarring encounter. The knot in her chest tightened a few degrees more as another voice continued the line of question that made her internally shudder. This voice, however, was smoother and less repressed. There was something in the first voice aside from his thinly veiled contempt for whoever he was speaking to, akin to barely controlled rage that terrified her entirely, not present in the new gentle, warm baritone that reminded her of her grandfather's singing voice.
"You realize that he has a point. You told us she has been visiting you in dreams, both waking and sleeping, for months now without informing us of her presence. Whether or not you thought she was real or of any danger to us aside, you should have told us what was going on at least for our sake. For Kagome's sake."
"She's awake," That voice. That voice terrified her. There was a snarl behind his words and a kind of anger she couldn't place.
Her breathing quickened and, suddenly, the knot in her chest clenched and she began to panic. Without speaking or thinking, she jumped up and ran in the opposite direction of the voices. Branches, thorns and rocks tore at her feet and legs and hair ruthlessly as she charged unknowingly toward a nearby gully. She swallowed a sharp cry as gravity attempted to claim her. She was falling and then she simply wasn't. Warm arms slipped around her waist and then she was airborne and in the treetops. She whimpered and covered her face as she attempted to recapture her breath. An instant later, she was on the ground again and still held tightly by a strong embrace.
"Ivy." His voice was so soft it sounded foreign to him. "Ivy, open your eyes."
It was as if her vocal cords were frozen for an instant and then there were the other male voices again as they caught up calling to the one who held her. Calling to Inuyasha. Her palms were damp, she realized, and her breathing was returning to normal. She pulled back her hands and looked at her tears that had wet her skin and then noted how carefully she was cradled against his chest. She looked up and met very concerned golden eyes framed by the most beautiful snowy mane of silk she could have ever imagined. She reached up and caressed his cheek, leaving a trail of her tears against his jaw. "I'm not going to wake up, am I, Inuyasha? This isn't a dream and I'm not ever going to wake up..."
"What the hell is going on here, Dog Breath?"
He felt her tense and he held her even closer as her hand tangled into his hair. "Shut up, Kouga," he murmured and leaned to touch his brow to hers comfortingly. "She's been through enough."
"Why did she run?" The smooth voice caught her attention. She turned flashing blue-green eyes on Miroku, and he felt his breath catch. He didn't need for Inuyasha to answer him.
"The fear rolls off her even now, though less that she has found a protector," he watched her carefully with molten amber eyes. Her coloring was entirely wrong for their part of the world, as was her height. He had only seen such coloring in the strange foreigners that had visited Japan recently and then only in the males who worked the strange ships. He raised a brow slightly as he noted her blatantly staring at him and meeting his gaze. Her fear was ebbing and it disturbed him. "Have you no control over your gaze, girl?"
"I am controlling my gaze..." She'd said the words without thinking. For a moment she had been caught up in seeing the actual countenance of four entirely handsome men and, while in the arms of one such man, who, for reasons beyond her understanding, made her feel secure while she was caught up in what should have been just a figment of someone's imagination, had forgotten that she should have been afraid for her life from the blatant coldness and hostility she could both hear and sense in the now flesh and blood Sesshomaru and Kouga. She trembled and diverted her eyes by swiftly pressing her face into Inuyasha's shoulder and groaning slightly. "Goddess, I must have a death wish," she murmured and slipped her arms around Inuyasha's neck.
He leaned to breathe in the soft scent of her hair. He couldn't fathom why her closeness was so easy for him to accept. He hated being touched so needlessly and even more, he was usually entirely embarrassed by such shows of affection and yet... He couldn't push her away. "Kagome and Sango are probably back from the village with clothes for her. We should get back."
"She should be questioned now that she is awake, Inuyasha," Miroku said softly as he watched with a slight pang of sympathy for the girl who was now trembling in his friend's embrace.
He stiffened and felt her tighten her grip around his neck, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. Gently he ran a hand along her spine and relaxed as some of the tension left her. "She ain't gonna be interrogated till she's ready and even then she'll be asked nicely."
"She knows you. Knows us from what you said, Mutt," Kouga ground out as his icy eyes flashed feral. "Who says she ain't left over from Naraku?"
"She does not smell of him, Kouga," the tension she had heard earlier, that tight control that had incited her panic, had faded back substantially and added to her already frustrating level of confusion. "All of his minions, even Kohaku for a time, had the stench of Naraku and the tainted Shikon no Tama on them. Her scent is... Not clean, but clean of him."
She was suddenly and painfully aware of the thin layer of film on her created by sweat, blood and earth that had collected on her. She wrinkled her nose and tried to slip out of the hanyou's arms but he would not release her. She looked up and met his frown with a slight furrowing of her brows and the faint reddening of her cheeks. "I really just want a bath..."
"Sango and Kagome went to a town to get you some clothing... Ivy, is it?" Deep violet eyes crashed again into clear green-blue pools. Miroku fought the urge to move to the girl's side and comfort her. Her eyes held a dream-like quality that usually only remained a few moments when the first vestiges of wake were invading one's sleep. Her eyes were far away and terribly lost. When she nodded he smiled slightly and continued. "They'll take you to a spring so you can clean up and Kagome can look at your cuts. It may be hard for you to walk for a few days."
"She isn't going out alone into the woods with my Kagome," he found two sets of similarly shaded yellow eyes bleeding to red falling on him while similar snarls intoned an unspoken, instinctual message to back down. He snarled faintly and stepped back. "We don't know who she is. We can't trust her with Kagome."
"She ain't gonna hurt Kagome," he ground out as an overwhelming rush of possessiveness took him. He knew Ivy. He knew her well enough to know she'd never harm anyone with intent unless they deserved it. The girl fretted over smashing spiders even though she was terrified of them.
"And, as Kagome has not given validity to your claim, wolf, I suggest that you end your fruitless claims on her," he said softly, however the whispered intensity was even more overwhelming than the thinly veiled control she had heard in his voice before and she found herself once again shuddering and clinging to Inuyasha.
Miroku frowned as he watched the scene before him. Kouga had been playing a dangerous game since the evening before when Kagome had made her wish on the Shikon no Tama. Thinking her his heart's desire and path to happiness, he had assumed she would be his. For reasons beyond his understanding, the posturing of the wolf had riled the dread taiyoukai more severely than he had ever witnessed before in Sesshomaru's confrontations with Inuyasha. The ire of Sesshomaru of the West toward Kouga matched evenly with his hatred of Naraku. Inuyasha had made his usual show for Kagome, however, his anger came from Kouga presuming Kagome's feelings and not giving her a choice rather than him outright claiming her. The air was becoming thicker now that Kouga had once again claimed the miko for himself. What had caught Miroku's attention with renewed interest was, because Kouga had insulted Ivy by implying she was not trustworthy, Inuyasha's beast had seethed to the surface in ways it had never done before when the wolf had attempted to claim Kagome.
"Inuyasha..."
"What, Monk?"
"Let me take Ivy back to the camp. It seems you three have things to... Discuss and, in her current state, it might not be advisable to keep her in the middle of the fray."
The hanyou turned bloodied eyes on his friend and nodded slightly before disengaging the trembling girl from his arms with care and tenderness. He smoothed her cheek with a clawed hand and met her panicked gaze. "I won't be far. Gotta put the wolf in his place," when she nodded and curled into Miroku's arms a bit more he met the monk's eyes and snarled just slightly. "Keep your hands to yourself, Letch. She don't need you messin with her too."
Miroku nodded and diverted his gaze to the girl in his arms who still seemed caught in the same dream-like state, "You have my word, Inuyasha. Perhaps later you will enlighten us, with her help, exactly what it is between the two of you."
He looked to his brother who was slowly stalking toward a bristling Kouga. "Just dreams," he murmured.
His lips quirked slightly and he nodded before turning back toward camp. She whimpered and covered her face with both hands. "You are alright, Ivy."
"I'm waiting to wake up..."
"You are awake."
She blinked and looked between her fingers so she could meet his gaze. Slowly she let her hands fall and, he noted, with her hands, so fell the lost and dreamy gaze she had held for so long. "Oh..."
When she was out of range, he rushed forward and caught the wolf by the throat before his brother could reach him and pinned him forcibly to a sturdy tree. Kouga yelped and struggled. He tightened his grip aided by his affronted and territorial beast's strength. "I ain't gonna say this but once more. Kagome ain't your woman. She ain't mine. She ain't anybody's but herself. I ain't got no idea why you got my stupid-ass half-brother so riled, but you best get out of here once I say what I gotta say or else he just might melt you and that would upset Kagome, so it ain't gonna happen. Ivy ain't a threat. She's just a girl, a woman who lived in my dreams for a while and now she's real and I'll be damned if I let anybody hurt her. So know this. If you lay a hand, one finger or hair on her to cause her harm or otherwise, Sesshomaru melting you will seem like heaven compared to what I'll make you suffer."
"What's she to you, anyway, Mutt?" He growled, but had managed to calm as his sense of self preservation clicked in.
The hanyou smiled a dark, sinister smile. "Ain't none of your business, but she's my friend. She makes me laugh. Don't know what powers brought her here, but she was and since she's been living in my dreams, that makes her my responsibility. You got me?"
He looked over the hanyou's shoulder at the slowly calming taiyoukai. His life had flashed before his eyes as Sesshomaru had advanced on him. He had thought it was the end. It seemed he might survive after all. He returned his gaze to Inuyasha, and then looked down submissively. "I got you. Let me go and get back to my pack."
He slowly released Kouga and stepped back. "Don't come back unless you get invited. Only friend you got here is Kagome and after you claiming her so goddamn much last night, I doubt she's gonna want to see you for a while if she can help it."
Kouga smirked haughtily. "Don't boss me."
"I'd think you would have a better sense of self preservation," Sesshomaru said icily from behind Inuyasha. He had taken the moment to curtail his rage and was back in control, however, how long he remained in control was entirely dependent on Kouga's next actions and words.
The wolf bristled and snarled before backing away cautiously. "I'll be back to check in on her. Best you both make sure that dream-wench doesn't do anything that causes her harm."
A growl built up in his throat as he watched Kouga run from them toward the Northeast. He turned slowly as he felt the intensity of Sesshomaru's gaze falling on his back. He studied his half brother and then slowly raised a brow. "What?"
The taiyoukai raised a brow in response. "More than dreams rest between the two of you if your beast so rallied to her defense without attempting to overtake your senses, Inuyasha."
"You gotta be feeling something real different than your usual chill toward Kagome for you to get so protective of her and her freedom. We wanna actually ask the questions on our minds or just keep dancing, Sesshomaru?"
His lip snarled just faintly before he turned from his bastard brother back toward camp.
"Didn't think so, you asshole," he grumbled and followed the so very proper taiyoukai back to camp.
Miroku walked into camp to find Kagome and Sango arriving as well carrying several parcels they acquired in town. "Ah, here you both are."
Sango raised a brow in suspicion. "What have you been up to, Monk?"
"Ivy was frightened into consciousness and bolted into the forest. Inuyasha asked me to return her while he and Sesshomaru dealt with Kouga," he said simply as he sat down the still trembling girl onto Kagome's sleeping bag. "Her feet are worse, Kagome. They are bleeding through the bandages you put on before you left."
Kagome nodded and approached the trembling young woman. She laid down the parcels and then pulled out her first aid. "You really hurt yourself, Ivy... You should stay off your feet until the wounds close up a bit more."
"Is there somewhere I could bathe, please?" Her voice wavered only slightly as she spoke. Kagome raised her gaze and met the young woman's eyes. "I'm covered in blood and dirt and sweat and I just want to wash it off me."
Kagome smiled and nodded. "There's a cool spring just about half a mile away. Sango and I could help you reach it and then we could make sure you aren't hurt... Anywhere else."
"They didn't catch me," she said with certainty. "The samurai... They didn't catch me. I think they were planning to toy with me at first and then I fought them and hurt them... And then you came along. The most I'm hurt are a few cuts and bruises and maybe a sprained ankle."
"So you aren't harmed except superficially?" Miroku asked with a raised brow from where he stood with a calming Sango.
Ivy smirked and nodded slightly. "Aside from being in a world I thought was just some anime series, I'm completely fine with the exception of those cuts and bruises I mentioned."
"Wait... Anime?" Kagome's eyes widened slightly at Ivy's comment. When the woman nodded in response, she sat back. "So... Wherever you're from, my life... Everything I've gone through is an anime?"
"And a manga. I've only read or watched the English translations. Normally... Normally the most I can say in Japanese is baka and hai."
"You seem fluent now," Sango said softly. The girl, on first meeting, seemed crass and excitable like a certain hanyou she knew very well. Listening to her once she'd calmed down at least somewhat, her speech was cultured and controlled.
"I wonder..." She murmured and looked to Kagome. "Do you have a pen and paper?"
Kagome nodded and handed her a spiral notebook and pen and watched as Ivy began to write slowly and in an expert script. Some of the tension in her cut and bruised body began to fade. Kagome reached out a hand and stilled the girl in her writing when tears fell from her green eyes. "What's the matter, Ivy?"
"I was afraid... I wouldn't be able to read or write. It's really funny when you're just going through life. You say that you couldn't live or be happy if this or that was taken from you, but you never really know. Not until something happens when you're faced with that kind of situation. If I'd lost the ability to understand script and express myself through words, I think... No, I know that I'd be broken forever. It's funny what really matters to you when you haven't got anything left."
Kagome smiled sadly and leaned her head on Ivy's shoulder. The girls leaned together and held each other's hands gently with closed eyes for a moment before Kagome replied. "I know what you mean. If you know my story, then you must know about how I get home."
"The well." She sighed and squeezed Kagome's hands. "It closed with the wish, didn't it?"
"Yes," her voice was heavy with tears. Several yards away two half brothers froze upon hearing the sorrow in the miko's voice and the camp stilled even more at her words. "It makes you wonder who is really calling the shots and if everything really will turn out for the best."
"It will."
"You just appeared out of nowhere, apparently torn from your own reality and thrown into ours. It must feel like some sort of horrible nightmare for you... I know it did for me when I was thrown into the past."
She laughed a short, musical little laugh and embraced the miko who was weeping softly into her hold. "Nightmares are just dreams waiting to find their happily ever after, Kagome. I'm afraid... I'm terrified and I realize that there's a chance I'll never go home again. But there's one thing I know," she pulled back and brushed the tears from Kagome's cheeks gently as her own fell. "No matter what happens, I'm still myself. All of me is still intact and as long as that remains true, I can make any place I want into a home. I refuse to be forced into a corner by fate and neither should you."
Inuyasha felt himself smile slightly at her words, though Sesshomaru frowned. "How can you be so strong when you've just lost everything?"
"I haven't lost everything, Kagome. Neither have you. And I'm not strong, I'm just too proud to let myself fall," Kagome laughed and sighed sadly.
"We should get you somewhere to clean up. Oh... I forgot to ask. What year and where are you from?"
"California in the year 2007," Kagome helped her stand and Sango walked over to help the girl hobble between her self and the miko to the nearest spring. "Goddess, I hate feeling helpless."
Sango's eyes widened slightly. "So you're from four years in the future from Kagome's current year..."
"Yeah, I guess. So... In this reality you've been here... Almost five years?" Ivy looked to Kagome out of the corner of her eyes.
"Six years, actually. From when I was fifteen. That was 1996, so, yeah, six years back and forth through the well fighting Naraku. I got through high school, barely, and then through college by taking mainly Internet courses. I, actually, just finished an accelerated program for my bachelor's degree in history about six months ago," she sighed but smiled. "I decided that if the well stayed open or closed, I'd at least have an advantage here."
"Well planned. All I can do is sing and write," she said with slight mirth in her voice. "Compared to all of you, aside from Rin, I'm probably the only damsel in distress. Where is Rin, by the way?"
"She and Kohaku took Kirara and went with Shippo and his father for a few days. Jaken and Ah Un were sent to look after them, much to the little toad's duress," Sango replied with mirth in her words. "It was decided that since Kouga couldn't act more dignified, until things could be worked out, the children would stay away."
Ivy trembled slightly. "He was definitely being rather territorial. His tone terrified me."
"That's why you ran?" Kagome asked with a raised brow.
"I woke up to Sesshomaru, Miroku and Kouga talking to Inuyasha about me. When he noticed I was awake, I bolted, I was so terrified. Then, when they caught up to me after Inuyasha caught me before I fell into a gulch, something about his tone... It terrified me and, apparently, pissed Sesshomaru and Inuyasha off beyond words. That's when Miroku took me from Inuyasha and brought me back to camp."
"What did he say?" Sango questioned and helped Ivy put more of her weight on the slayer's shoulders as they walked.
"He was claiming Kagome as his and claiming that I was dangerous and had to be dealt with," she winced and trembled while they walked, attempting to bite back her pain. "Both of their eyes were bleeding red, but I knew I was safe... Somehow I knew they wouldn't hurt me."
Kagome frowned and gripped Ivy's waist to steady her. "We're almost there, just a little further... That's what he was going on about last night after I made the wish. He was setting off Inuyasha a bit, which I expected, but I didn't expect Sesshomaru becoming so angry and..."
"Territorial?"
"No... Protective," her frown softened slightly and sighed, contemplating her response to Ivy. Kagome thought a moment before speaking further. "Inuyasha just wants me to be happy. I realized a long time ago that was all he wanted for me and that he'd do anything to make sure that happened... And that I was safe. Once, when I was young, we were close to love. When Kikyo was just a memory and my soul was whole, I think he was falling in love with me just like I was with him, but then she was resurrected and even now... Even years later, he sees her in me. Not that it's too far from the truth. I'm her reincarnation and by ensuring I'm happy, he'll know she's happy too, but... Last night I saw the kind of protectiveness I remember from Inuyasha before Kikyo was resurrected in Sesshomaru and from Inuyasha, the concern and protectiveness of a friend... And it worries me to think what that might mean."
"You think it has to do with the wish, don't you?" Sango asked softly as concern flooded her features. "Kagome, your wish has ensured that Kohaku lived and that Shippo had his father returned to him and Kouga's wolf pack was even brought back from the grave..."
"Who knows what else it did, though, Sango. I wished for the happiness of all whose lives were touched by the Shikon no Tama... And that includes Sesshomaru and Rin. If my wish is somehow affecting Sesshomaru... Enchanting him, somehow, we have to find a way to stop it. Sesshomaru would hate it if he were being controlled by a wish."
"What if... What if the two of you could be truly happy together, Kagome? What if all he needed was a slight shift in perspective?"
"Ivy... Don't be silly, alright? You might know a lot about our world, but you don't know Sesshomaru. Aside from Jaken and Rin, the only other person who knows Sesshomaru remotely is Inuyasha and you have to know how much he hates him," Kagome replied softly as they approached the spring. The slayer and miko helped Ivy sit and then joined her on the ledge of the spring. "We need to make sure that he knows what's happening and find out how you got here, Ivy. The sooner we know, the sooner we can get you home."
She nodded and winced as she began removing her bandages. "Yasha isn't the only one who wants you to be happy, Kagome."
The miko knelt and helped her remove the bandages as Sango set up the soaps for their bath. Kagome swallowed thickly before speaking. "You know him fairly well, don't you, Ivy?"
She blinked and studied Kagome for a moment before speaking. "As well as you can when you think someone's a figment of your imagination taken from a cartoon, Kagome... I don't really know him... Not the way I would need to be able to say that I know him well... What I do know is that I trust him and feel safe with him and that's it."
"He seems to think he knows you fairly well."
"Kagome, look at me," deep blue eyes met clear blue-green orbs with flashing intensity. Ivy smiled faintly and sighed. "I'm just some girl who fell out of the sky this morning... Or last night... Or whenever. You're his best friend. I can't take that place and I don't want to, not ever. No matter what happens, you came first... And, really... I would like to find a way home, if only to save my friends and family the pain of never knowing what happened to me."
Kagome blinked and smiled warmly to Ivy. "I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me."
She smirked and then winked playfully at Kagome. "Probably the same thing that came over Kouga. From what I understand, he's claimed you almost from day one. Sometimes it's hard to admit or even comprehend that what we want with all our hearts isn't what we need with all our being. You love Inuyasha, but... If you get too focused on one person, you chance not seeing other possibilities."
"You sound like you're routing for Sesshomaru," Sango said, fighting the laughter in her voice, though her eyes widened along with Kagome's when Ivy shrugged.
"Maybe I am... Perspective is funny, you know? You get too far or too close from a situation and you can't see it all properly. Maybe I'm at just the right distance from it all."
Kagome shook herself mentally and physically for a second, then smiled playfully at Ivy. "Come on. Let's all get cleaned up and your wounds cleaned so we can get back to camp."
