Chapter 10: Deceived
Kimiko enters the house through the back door, hoping that she's scot-free. But boy was she wrong for sure. The first is that she should've gone back to the well house to make sure Inuyasha is trapped there. And boy was that done right dumb. It might've slipped her mind that she was way too cocky to bother going there. The next thing she should've realized that her mind control spell she used recently on her daughter and grandson wore off some time ago. "KIMIKO!" A very angry shouts through the entire house easily startles the family, but more to Kimiko. Instinctively Kimiko bolts out of the house.
Inuyasha was the one who shouted out her name. He sniffs the air leading him straight towards the back of the house. He then hears her running out of the house. "Oh you can run, but you can't hide." He snarls as he chases her around the shrine grounds. He spots her running towards the well house. "Yeah like she'll be able to get through the well." He shakes his head and goes in after. Much to his utter surprise, Kimiko does goes through the well. "How the fuck did she managed to get through it?" Inuyasha growls and jumps in after her.
Back in the Feudal Era, Sango (in her battle suit), Miroku, Kirara and Shippo are waiting patiently by the well. "I wonder what's taking him so long?" Shippo whines as he twitches his leg. Miroku sighs, "Shippo, patience is a virtue, and we have to wait until Inuyasha gives us the signal." Sango agrees with him, as well as Kirara. The whooshing sound of the well gets their attention, "That's our cue." Sango smiles as they get into position to greet Inuyasha to hear what he needs them to do. But it wasn't Inuyasha they were expecting, it was Kimiko. She jumps out of the well with little effort and makes a run into the forest. "After her!" Inuyasha shouts as he gets out of the well.
Without wasting another second the group race after the elderly woman. "I can sense that she's no ordinary old woman." Miroku states out to them as they keep on going. Inuyasha bolts way ahead and catches up to the old hag. "End of the line, you nasty hag." Inuyasha jumps way ahead and tackles her down. "Sango, we need to take her." He shouts to the demon slayer. Sango nods and pulls out a chain and ties the old woman up so she wouldn't escape. "Release me at once." Kimiko demands the group. Inuyasha holds onto his Tetsusaiga to control his demon blood that is trying surface. "You're coming with us. We have questions to ask you and you will answer them." He threatens her as he carries her back to the well. He then turns around, "You guys are coming with us to Kagome's time. Let's go." He said to them as the rest of the group follow him to the bone Eater's well.
When they arrived at the well, Inuyasha digs into his kimono and throws it to Miroku, "You guys should be able to get through the well." He assures them as he jumps back into the well to head back to Kagome's time. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara all looked at each other. "We might as well take his word." Sango speaks first as she gestures Kirara to get onto her shoulder. Shippo does the same onto Miroku's shoulder. Sango jumps into the well reluctantly but the blue light gulfed her and took her to 500 years into the future.
She and Kirara climb up the robe ladder and wait until Miroku and Shippo to get across. Soon enough Miroku and Shippo did make it across and climb up the ladder. "So this is the well house." Miroku observes around. "We don't have time to sight see. We have to meet Inuyasha at the Sacred Tree." Sango speaks impatiently and slides the door and heads outside. Sango and Kirara are intrigued for how 500 years into the future changed. Instead of being in the more of the forest, the entire area is stone with shrine buildings and a house at the one corner. "Looks like you do want time to sight see the shrine." Miroku teased her and heads on ahead, mainly to meet Inuyasha at the Sacred Tree. Sango rolls her eyes and catches up to them.
Inuyasha throws Kimiko to the hard ground. "Ow, have you ever heard of respecting your elders?" She lectures him. Inuyasha glares at here. "For your information, I'm not that kind of person who has been deceived by the likes of you." He crosses his arms. Kaoru and Ai comes out of the house. "What's going on out here?" Ai asks the two. She widens hers seeing her mother chained up. "Inuyasha, what is the meaning of this?" She leers at him. "This Kimiko is not even related to you guys." Miroku speaks to answer the question. Kaoru and Ai are surprised the friends that Kagome mentioned a several times. "What do you not related to us?" She asks him. Miroku shows a expression of wisdom, "It appears that this woman isn't really her." He said to them. Ai and Kaoru look at each other, "That's can't be. How could that be possible?" Ai asks them.
Inuyasha takes his turn to speak, "While Kagome was in the bathroom, I was allowed to look through the photo album in her bedroom. By page after page, not of the photos have a picture of Kimiko. I even looked around the family photos, and neither them has her in them. So I came to this conclusion. Kimiko is nothing but an illusion by the incarnation Byakuya."
Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo nod in agreement. "And it turns out that she has deceived you guys." Sango tells the older adults. Just when Sango spoke about Byakuya, Kimiko turns back into a paper crane, and flew away to Byakuya who was in the Sacred Tree's branches. "Naraku's idea." Byakuya simply speaks to them. Miroku glares, "Hardly, it was your entire idea from the start. You went here before Kagome and Inuyasha came back to recover Kagome's swollen ankle." Ai and Kaoru are in awe to see a guy in feudal era kimono wardrobe. Byakuya has his long black hair in a high ponytail, with a look of ideas way expression on his face.
Without realizing what's going on around him, Sango throws a chain and traps him and brings him down to the ground. "You got some explaining to do." Inuyasha kneels down to his level, "And you won't forget a single thing about this." He threatens him. Byakuya gulps and nods. "Good, first off. How is that you were able to get here? Only Kagome and I are allowed to get through the well." He asks the dream caster.
Byakuya sighs, "Does the Sacred Jewel ring a bell? As far as any of us know, the Sacred Jewel is what allows us to pass through the well." He answers them so far. The group all looked at each other. "Oh really. I had the sacred jewel with me one time and it didn't allow me passage." Shippo speaks what he experienced back when they started their journey. Inuyasha nods, 'He has a point, when he got the jewel he slid down the tree truck that I tried to cover the well so Kagome couldn't return to the Feudal Era. I think it was when Kagome sensed the jewel here and tried to get back.' Byakuya speaks, "That's true, but that's not the only method on how to get here." He said casually. "What other method are you trying to say here?" Sango asks him.
Byakuya rolls his eyes, "Tell me, what else connects this time to the Feudal Era?" He asks them. Inuyasha closes his eyes to think long and hard on that. 'So far I think it's the Bone Eater's Well.' He quickly opens his eyes, "The Sacred Tree." He tells Byakuya. Byakuya smiles, "Quite bright aren't you Inuyasha? You see the Sacred Tree also has a connection to this time period. You see that one branch that was snapped." He points to the branch that was snapped but it somehow grew back. "I have the broken piece because it's also the same way to get here." He explains to them.
Everyone in front of the dream caster groans, "Dammit. Ok next question, how was it that you managed to deceive the Higurashi family?" Inuyasha asks him. Byakuya rolls his eyes, "My crane happens to be your answer. I created it to look somewhat related to each of you." He tells them. Inuyasha grins, "Too bad your creation had no blood within which was a easy way to tell that something wasn't right about her. Next question…" Inuyasha pulls out the bar of soap that Kagome, Ai and Sota used. "What the hell is with this soap? I can smell a strain of Kimiko's fake hair, more like your own." He glares at Byakuya. Miroku and Sango are impressed that somehow Inuyasha is going through the case. "Inuyasha, that soap is meant to control the victims. My strain of hair gives me that ability. But I made sure that Kimiko was in control instead of me. Whoever uses the soap becomes the victim." Byakuya explains to them.
Inuyasha didn't like that answer, despite that what Byakuya told them was truth. "Fine. This is your last question. Explain to me how you came up with this so called Kyushu Academy?" He stomps Byakuya's head. Byakuya knew this was going to happen. "Okay, Okay. First off, it's a place to make their so call student so comfortable, they don't want to leave." That alone was enough to made Inuyasha's eye twitch. "Follow-up question, where the fuck is this place?" He grabs hold Byakuya's top. "And if you decline, I'll kill you." He threatens. "If you kill me, you won't get anything out me. But I believe someone else is trying to get in." He retorts to him. "Who?" The group ask him. "Hojo." Byakuya reveals to them.