A/N: Frowns I don't really like this chapter...so Chapter 2 still stands as my favorite. Eh...what can I do? I tried. I'm pretty sure the next one will be better. I'm getting this one off my hands, before it drives me crazy. Anyway, thanks to brandeee, magicalbrat, valinor's twilight, adela nightmoon, and lady kanna-chan for reviewing the last chapter. please review again! and the rest of you, too!

Chapter 3

Rei was not pleased with this new turn of events. The unidentified being had not ceased its staring yet. It was a little more disdainful now, if anything, which was not really a promising thing.

It was elaborately and elegantly dressed it sparkling white, touched with a honeycomb emblem on the shoulders and sleeves. It was wearing black boots and armor on one shoulder. It stood very still, very straight, very proud, and continued it's visual assault. She wanted to cringe from his eyes and felt slightly violated. She forcibly raised her chin and tried to meet his golden gaze.

Upon closer examination, Rei reached a decision. She was pretty sure that it was a man. And the strange man had a hugely distinctive- pelt was it? –on his right shoulder. Hugely was definitely in the literal sense. It enveloped the right side of his body. And his fashion wasn't the only kinky thing that was going on. Rei found herself hopelessly trying to explain away shimmering silver hair and golden eyes. Maybe he dyed it? Colored contacts? Albino? It wasn't working too well. Especially since she found her brain drifting toward the direction of he does have very pretty hair which was hardly a rational thought at the moment, seeing as he didn't seem like the kind of person who was easily taken by flattery, and simply thinking it made her feel suspiciously like she was not concentrating fully on the situation at hand.

He is glaring daggers at me? What did I ever do to him? she wondered nervously. She thought of just getting up and walking away, but somehow, it seemed like that wouldn't work out too well. And he was apparently not the friendly neighbor type. Rei eyed the two swords strapped at his waist uneasily. Eheh. This isn't just a crazy psychotic farmer freak with a short, blunt dagger. This is a guy who knows what he's doing, and those are probably really dangerous weapons. And he probably doesn't carry around dangerous weapons for no good reason. Nope. They're probably used to chop innocent girls like me into tiny pieces. I feel like I'm stuck in some sort of freak show. I need to get out of here! Rei found herself slightly panicked, and strove to suppress the minor hysteria that was clawing up her throat. The calmer part of her brain interjected that, friend or foe, it would be useful to ask him some basic questions first, and as long as he wasn't a raving lunatic, he would probably answer them before drawing his sword and killing her. Which is better than dying ignorant, I suppose. She told her panic-stricken mind to shut up, for it wasn't improving the current dilemma at all.

She opened her mouth to ask a question, but quickly and rather unpleasantly found her throat suddenly dry and her tongue paralyzed. It had never been so difficult to ask a question before, but his rude glare was half-terrifying her and half-irritating her. Before she could arrange her thoughts into any organized sequence, she blurted out, "Don't you know that it's rude to stare?"

Oh, shit.

She had no idea what made her mind immediately link this man with death, but his expression and the position of his hand on the hilt of a sword, probably had a lot to do with it. She sensed that he was probably very extremely prone to offense and quick to anger. And she, being the brilliant and tactful speaker that she was, had undoubtedly just pushed all of the wrong buttons at once, the first being to speak at all, the second being to have the nerve to correct his manners, and the third probably being brazen enough to be in his way. Vaguely, she wondered if his swordsmanship was good enough to make the death slice a clean and painless one. Perhaps this place induces a slight case of deliriousness. That would certainly explain her stupidity right now. She closed her eyes and began to count the last few seconds of her life slowly and deliberately.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven?

She cracked an eyelid and saw that he was still there and hadn't moved. Good. Maybe he went temporarily deaf. Please let it be so, she prayed.

"What makes you believe that I should care?" the man said smoothly, with a definite air of arrogance.

Damn it. He heard me. Well, looking on the bright side, I'm still alive. Which is all that I could ask for at this moment. Except for maybe a large huggable teddy bear.

Rei wondered whether he wanted an answer or not. She had a hazy instinct that if she answered, her impudence might cause him to reconsider his current state of "non-killing." But it was becoming increasingly awkward for her to simply sit there and gawp at him like an idiot. There's got to be something I can ask him. The problem was, that she couldn't think of anything that would really help her out. She mulled over her options. I could ask him how to get home, but most likely, he has no idea where "home" is and judging from his attitude, wouldn't tell me even if he knew. I could ask him for directions to the nearest city, so at least I can go somewhere decent to sleep. But probably, again, he wouldn't tell me, just to spite me, and I'm not even exactly sure I want to go to a city. The first two people I've met definitely haven't impressed me with their superior hospitality. I could ask him where I am right now. Yes. That might possibly help. But if he tells me I'm in Oz or something…well…I just hope that I'm not. She stood up and brushed the some stray leaves off of her skirt. She inclined her head politely and asked, "Um, what is this place?"

The wording sounded a lot more stupid out loud than it did in her head.

The man stared incredulously at her. "This happens to be a forest," he said carefully.

You're kidding right? You've got to be kidding me. Rei rolled her eyes. "How thick do you think I am? Yeah, I figured out that much, thanks. I meant, does this place have a name?" she said loudly. Wow, this guy is a load of hot gas. And to think, I was scared of him! Mentally, she scoffed. Just mentally though, in case he really was in the mood to slice her head off.

His gaze was steady as he spoke again. "It's called Inuyasha's forest." He fell silent again.

Rei was jolted by surprise. Inuyasha…there's that name again! But, that was just a fairytale, a story. How can this place be his forest? Where am I? Did I somehow get stuck in this story? No! It's not my story; I shouldn't be here! A horrible thought struck her. That legend was set back in the Sengoku Jidai; the Feudal Era! Am I in the Feudal Era? Her mind immediately traveled back to the tales her grandma told her.

…And she landed in the Sengoku Jidai…

No, it's not right. It can't be. Stories are just that: stories. It's not scientifically possible to time travel yet, and Inuyasha isn't even real. It's just some silly tale Grandma told me to before I went to bed. Nobody thinks he's real…except Grandma…and she's crazy. Officially, medically pronounced insane. This has got to be a nightmare, just a bad dream. Wake up, Rei, wake up! She pinched herself hard. Nope. She was still here. She groaned. Does that mean I'm really in the Sengoku Jidai? Is Inuyasha real?

Rei didn't realize that she had voiced the last bit out loud, so she was startled when the man began to talk. His tone was very clearly one of annoyance and distaste. "Inuyasha? He's real enough." And that was it.

"Oh." Rei thought hard. How could she make this information help her any? "Well…" she drew out hesitantly, "Do you know him?" Which was probably a stupid question, since, just because there was a forest named after him, did not mean he was still alive, as most places were named after dead people. This Inuyasha guy must have done something significant, for good or bad. He has a whole forest named after him. That was quite an accomplishment.

"Unfortunately yes."

Unfortunately? Did that mean it was a bad thing? In the long run, it didn't matter too much, because it was the only lead Rei had, and she was going to follow it. "Do you know where he is?" she asked breathlessly. Maybe Inuyasha could help her. Inuyasha's real. I didn't believe it before. Grandma said she knew him. I wouldn't have believed that, either, but since everything else she's said has suddenly turned out to be true, I might as well give her a chance. Grandma almost hero-worshiped him. That means he can't be a bad guy, right?

"I don't keep track of that half-breed's whereabouts," he stated plainly, as if he was saying something as mundane as I have silver hair, or I think you're a silly-faced idiot.

Hm. That would be a problem, wouldn't it? But on the bright side, this man probably wasn't the only guy around here who knew something about Inuyasha. Anyone who lived around the forest would know some information. Then it hit her. Hold up, what? Half-breed? What's that supposed to mean? He's not all of something? He's not…human? Oh dear God. I remember now. Grandma said he was a hanyou. He's half-demon, that's what he is! Rei suddenly remembered the crazy farmer man chasing her with a dagger, screaming "demon, demon!" This was a world of demons. This was definitely the Sengoku Jidai. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh noooo. Demons are around every corner here. This silver-haired man standing in front of me…he's not a man! He must be a demon! I'm pretty sure I haven't ever seen anyone with natural silver hair before. Yeah, I've seen those American platinum blondes, but this is different. This is undeniably silver. Pure, you-can't-say-anything-to-change-that, silver. And I've just been babbling stupidly to an armed, classically sword-trained demon Oh yeah, this is good. Any wrong move (I've must have made at least twenty by now), and he'll kill me for sure.

She wanted very badly to run away as fast as she possibly could, but no doubt, with his superior speed, he would catch her if he wanted to. Rei wasn't stupid. She knew more than most kids did about these demons. Grandma had told her all sorts of tales and such, and she happened to be the most reliable source at the moment. Who'd have thought that Grandma actually knew what she was talking about? Rei wished long and hard that she had paid more attention to her grandmother's rants. Well, at least one thing was solved. She had firmly decided that she was not going to ask this demon any more questions, and asking for help was permanently out of the question. But now what? She could go seeking Inuyasha, for demon as he was, he did have human blood, and supposedly, he had once known her grandma. And as long as she could keep him at bay long enough to hear her out, he might not want to kill her immediately.

The silvery-white demon abruptly turned on his heel to go. "I've had enough of this. I came to see what all the commotion was about, and all I found was a useless human girl. And I have no business with humans." He disappeared into the darkness of the woods in the blink of an eye, so fast, that Rei almost missed him.

"Wait, you! I'm not done! Come back!" She didn't mean to say that, for she didn't really want a potentially threatening demon to be anywhere near her, but it was getting dark, and she was getting desperate. "Stop, please!" But he was gone.

Rei stood there, staring into the exact place where he had vanished. She sat down and stared blankly at the ground. The bottom-most edge of the sun was now touching the horizon. It would be dark within the hour. And she would be by herself at night, in a different time, in a different place, in a completely different world. She hugged her knees to her chest. She suddenly felt very small and alone. "Mom, Dad, Grandma, anyone. I wish someone was here with me," she said miserably to no one in particular. Even begging to go with that demon now seemed like a good idea.

Rei stood up and her eyes traveled to the direction of the well. I'll go there, she thought quietly. She bent over, picked up the scuffed book, and held it tightly. It was the only familiar thing that she had. Other than the well. Impulsively, she began to run toward it, blocking out everything from her head. She noted the growing darkness in the forest, chasing her, threatening to consume her. She ran faster. Nothing else mattered. The well, the well, the well, she chanted in her head. Somehow, it held the key. The soft turf beneath her feet was silent as she whisked by. The trees rustled, as if imparting some secret message upon her. She ran.

And suddenly, before she knew it, the well was there, silent and implacable as ever. She stopped. It looked incredibly lonely and foreign in the middle of the clearing. The sun was sinking beneath the earth, and it washed everything in its path a brilliant, glowing red. The well looked as if it had been lacquered with red polish. Rei tentatively took a step toward it, and then another step. She had reached it. She realized hazily that the well in the Sengoku Jidai had no cover. The depths of deep blackness stared back unrepentantly at her. The well took me here. It better take me back. I just want to go home. She knelt in the soft grass surrounding the wooden well. She swung her legs over slowly and braced herself. She pushed off gently.

She hit the ground jarringly, and her knees buckled. She toppled to the ground. In the few moments of sitting on the earthy well bottom, Rei flared up in furious anger. "No!" She stood up and climbed up the ladder. Nothing was going to keep her from getting across to the other side. When she reached the top, she jumped again. She landed hard, and the impact almost knocked the air out of her lungs. Again! Rei raced up the ladder, heaving with each breath now, and leapt with ferocious force off the side. She crashed to the ground and crumpled. "Stupid, damn well! Let me through!" She rammed her fingers into the packed dirt of the bottom and started wildly ripping soil from the ground. She burrowed her fingers in deeper. "I don't care! You will let me through! You can't just leave me here!" As she worked steadily, a hot tear dropped heavily on her hand. It jerked her to her senses. She removed her fingers from the dirt and lifted them to eye-level. They were blackened from the earth, and dirt had gotten under her fingernails. Her knees were dirty too, stained with brown soil.

Rei was never one to like crying. In fact, if she were watching something like this from afar, she might possibly have snorted and called the person in question a sissy. She didn't matter anymore. She retreated to a corner of the well and leaned up against it. She didn't care that her eyes were puffy and red from crying and that her face was streaked with mucus and tears. No one was here to see her. This is all wrong. When she had first crawled out of the well, it was all just some pleasant adventure. It was warm and sunny and afternoon. Now it was dark and chilly and evening. It was just a dream, just a story. Just a fairytale. Fairytales aren't supposed to be like this. Even meeting the demon was only an extra little side-plot. None of it had really hit home, had really sunk in, had really been truly comprehended. Now, she felt the full reality of "just a fairytale." Why am I so stupid? Why didn't I think of getting back into the well when I first came out? Maybe the portal closed or something in the hour that I was gone for. It's too late now.

I want to go home.

So she sat there, and sniffled for a bit. It was very obviously dark outside now. When she looked up, Rei could see the stars sparkling in an ink black sky. And that's when the cold hit her.

It was very cold at night. She hadn't thought that it might possibly be a bad idea to try to stay the night outside. Late spring as it was, the nights were still substantially chilly. Chilly enough for her to get sick. And since she was stuck in some bygone era, she highly doubted that there would be medicine for when she did get ill. Rei reluctantly got up, dusted off her skirt, and wiped her face as best as she could. As tired and as defeated as she was, she had to go find someone, somewhere, who might lend her a roof for the night. It hardly depended on whether or not she was tired. Regardless, she had to go on. This was real life, not a fairytale. And in real life, it was frighteningly possible for her to catch pneumonia or get hurt or any number of unpleasant things to happen to her.

She climbed out of the well. It was nighttime. The forest was dark. Noises drifted discontentedly out from between the trees.

Rei glanced around hopelessly. There wasn't any lead as to which direction she should go, and she didn't want to trounce blindly through the woods at night. But there wasn't any choice. If she hadn't sat around like an idiot and cried, then it might still be light outside. Well, it was over, and nothing could be done about that. She picked a random direction again and began to walk.

xXx

That had been about two hours ago. And there was still no sign of life. Rei hadn't seen anyone since the demon had appeared to her. The crazy farmer was definitely long gone. Rei wished that she had watched where he went. It was pitch black in the forest, and she could hardly see the path in front of her. A flashlight would have been her best friend at this point. Something small and furry scampered across her path.

Rei sneezed. The cold and her uniform were not working too well together. She felt a throbbing headache begin to build up behind her eyes. Her throat was dry and uncomfortable. She wished fervently for a glass of water, some aspirins, and a big sweater. The book was still tightly clutched between her cold fingers. It was taking quite a beating by the stray branches and twigs. One branch had actually caught one of the pages and ripped it. Rei had stuffed the half-page into the book hastily and moved on. She would pay later for destroying Saitou-sensei's precious item. If she ever saw him again, that was. She tried to ignore that thought, and instead, concentrated on how horrible she was feeling right now. Her legs were sore, and she had accumulated even more scratches, so that now she looked like some cat had decided to sharpen its claws on her skin.

Something caught her eye. A flickering yellow glow. There it was again. What was it? Rei crept closer. Fire? A torch! It had to be a person. Rei felt ten times more awake and stumbled quickly in that direction. She tried to follow it without alerting whoever was carrying the torch of her presence. She didn't want another mad rampant run through the forest, in the dark, and this time she might not be so lucky. She shuddered as she remembered the farmer man.

She struggled to keep up, as the underbrush was readily getting in her way. The glow was growing more and more intense, meaning that she was closer. Rei could make out the fuzzy form of a man. The figure wavered. Rei rubbed her eyes vigorously. They weren't meshing images; she could see double.

She would never be able to remember that trek again, silent and cold, dreamy and surreal. Before she knew it, it was over. She had reached the edge of the forest, and she was in a very large clearing. There were torches all around, surrounding clusters of simply made huts. I'm in a village, she thought with surprise. The man she had been following headed toward a hut in the middle. A little dazedly, Rei trailed him into the heart of the village.

The man entered a tiny hut. Rei was all alone outside. She felt vaguely stupid for standing outside someone's house and just gaping at it. She was the only one. It was quiet in the village, like everyone had gone to sleep already. There was one hut that was still lit. Rei wandered over to it. Someone was cooking inside, and she could smell the scents of food drifting out, whetting her appetite. She was famished. Suddenly, she felt immensely tired, and her eyes refused to focus. Sloppily, she knocked on the door and called out, "Someone, help me. Please!" She felt like she was ready to collapse. She gripped the book tightly in one hand, and supported herself by placing the other steadily on the door.

The door opened, and Rei almost fell forward, right into the bosom of an old, stout-looking woman. She was dressed in the clothes of a shrine maiden. Rei had seen her grandmother don them before, for holidays or special occasions. But she was in the Sengoku Jidai. Was this then, a real miko? She wavered slightly. She assumed so. And mikos were bound to help others, right? Even a strangely dressed young girl who shows up on her doorstep.

"Miko-sama," she began weakly, before stopping. She didn't know what to ask. She seemed to have this problem a lot. One problem at a time, she thought sleepily. "May I stay here for the night? Please?" Rei wobbled again. Her legs had decided not to support her. She felt very hot, then very cold again. Oh good. A fever. Just what I need.

Rei looked pleadingly into the face of the old woman and noticed that the miko had an eyepatch. I wonder what happened to her eye? she thought dimly. She struggled to stay conscious. Just in case the miko decided to leave her out in the cold. Or worse.

Rei heard a definite, "Who are ye, girl?" before the world faded, and she fell into the welcome embrace of soft, velvety darkness. Sleep, she thought. And so she did.

A/N: So what did you think? Horrific? Yes, me too. I can't stress how much I want you to review, though. Yeah, if you're gonna read it, leave me one! To make me happy. It brightens my day, oh so much. Oh yes, I almost forgot. Just out of curiosity, who did YOU think the silver-haired man was in Chapter 2?