The cloudy day in feudal Japan would have seemed like any other. Not a streak of blue in the sky above, yet greenery of forest, hills of rice and fields of grass painted an almost perfect picture. If only it had been sunny, thought a young girl in a small village. About five hundred people lived in the single village, and among them were several 'special' individuals. And this girl was one of them.
Kagome Higurashi, still a high school girl, had a strange life, and even stranger secret. Her family, who lived by an ancient shrine, concealed a secret of a small well- The Bone Eaters Well. She, and only one other to Kagomes' knowledge, could leap into this well, and advance or fall five hundred years into the past or future. She had been swept into a world of kings, demons, Priestess's, and worse.
"What's taking her so long?" She heard an irritated voice float out from the other side of the building she stood behind. A small vein twitched dangerously as her concentration was focused, trying to fix her bike. The bike in question had been broken by none other than the voices owner, Inuyasha.
The man was in fact not a man, but a Half Demon; his blood containing traits of both human and demon traits. He stood tall for someone who looked about sixteen or seventeen, with waist long silvery white hair, with bangs that came down past his shoulders. His powerful black eyebrows added to his dog-like yellow eyes. He was after all, the son of a dog-demon. His clothing consisting of perfect red robe, similar to a monks, yet made of a fire-rat, allowing for amazing protection from flames. Hanging around his neck was a necklace, consisting of many small beads and several fangs- known as the Beads of Subjugation.
At the waist was his weapon. A sword, or more specifically a Katana, by the name of Tessaiga rested with the half demon. The beaten, worn looking sword was possibly the most powerful weapon the group had ever encountered. While resting in its sheath, it stayed in its worn state. When it was removed and used, its true form is revealed- a huge curved, sword resembling an oversized scimitar. White fur stood for the hilt and while the handle remained the same, the blade itself became an oversized monster of a weapon.
Fixing her wheels as best she could, she stood upright and started to walk to the group, pushing her now second class-looking bike with them. As she walked, she paused, spotting her huge backpack filled to the brim with books, and attempted to lift it up with one hand. Rather than it coming up, she came down. The bike fell aside, its wheel popping out of place again.
"Ow…" rubbing her head from the fall, she spotted her bike, and her head fell down. She felt defeated, more so than embarrassed. "I need some more time!" she called out as she brought the wheel back and the bike over to herself.
"Take your time, Kagome," responded Miroku, using his pleasant and soothing voice. Kagome knew all to well that the voice itself was a mask for the lecherous, perverted Monk he really was. Inuyasha's signature 'Huh!' followed the statement. The black haired Monk always had a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes.
Miroku, a Buddhist Monk, was another in the group of five. He was the fourth to join the group, and on unusual circumstances at best. Initially he had tried to steal not only Kagomes soul shards and bike, but had enjoyed a view of her while she bathed. Wearing a blue and violet monks robe, not too dissimilar from Inuyasha's, the monk also wore a piece of cloth wrapped in a pearl beads on his right hand; his cursed hand; the hand that concealed a hole which would suck in anything it wished. The Wind Tunnel was the Monks curse as well as weapon- as one day the tunnel would expand and engulf the monk himself. The groups primary target, the Demon Naraku, was the giver of this curse. Yet aside from this weapon, he used an array of 'holy' weapons, including his staff and spell scrolls.
The third one who had joined the group was the youngest. Shippo, the young fox-demon had also tried to steal the jewel shards from Kagome. Rather than for profit like Miroku, he wished to avenge his father, who had been killed by other demons. Small, and roughly the size of a seven year old, his ability to pick apart Inuyashas pride was uncanny. Even as it usually had him get a whack on the head by the half demon, Shippo was cunning for someone so young. He had light brown hair tied in a bow, blue baggy pants, a teal shirt decorated with small white leaves, and a brown fur jacket, along with light green eyes.
The last to join the group, and the only other female in the five, was Sango, the demon Slayer. Her usual outfit consisted of a pink and purple dress and green skirt. In battle however, a tight black cover with pink armor plates in joint locations such as her knees and shoulders are worn. Her back length dark brown hair accompanied her dark brown eyes. Her weapon of choice- a ridiculously large boomerang called Hiraikotsu. Aside from possibly being close to fifty pounds of force, it had the sheer power to rip bodies apart as it soared.
After a few moments of struggling to force the wheel back in, Kagome heard a gentle pop, and the bike was fixed. In fact, as she glanced at it, her bike looked better than it had before it broke for the second time. Brushing a strand of hair from her face, she again stood up, and pushed the bike along as she walked to the others. Wearing the same green school uniform as she did when she came to the Feudal age, she approached the others, all standing just outside of Lady Keades home.
"Ok, I'm ready now," Kagome stated, stopping in front of the others.
"Are you sure that will work?" Sango pondered, just behind Miroku, as she stared at the still banged up bicycle.
"Uh-hu!" Kagome nodded enthusiastically," it got me this far didn't it?"
"Huh," Inuyasha state, turning away already, his eyes shut in a state of superiority complex," like that thing will get us anywhere. Its more like it will just slow us down!" The vein that had twitched before throbbed in Kagome's forehead. Yet Sango, Shippo and Miroku only seemed able to notice it.
"Inuyasha…"
"Where'd ye all be going?"
Lady Keade, the village elder stepped outside of her home. Wearing priestess clothing of white top and red pants, the old woman had graying hair, slightly wrinkled face and a beady single black eye, as her right eye was covered in a black eye patch. Eyeing the wincing Inuyasha, still standing yet terrified of the teenager in front of him, she immediately knew what happened before.
"Lady Keade," Miroku addressed her," we need to get going again. Naraku is still out there, and even with our escape, he still could be getting stronger as we speak."
"This is truth, Miroku," the elder Priestess spoke back," yet do you have an idea on where to begin?"
"Naraku stopped hiding himself today," Inuyasha spoke up," I can smell him. He isn't too far away. I guess that coward has something up once again-"
A shockwave ripped past them all, kicking up dust and causing a brief wind to make trees bend and homes creak. Villagers in the rice field lowered themselves, trying to ground themselves. The wave itself seemed visible, like a ripple of light in air, as all it passed seemed to bend slightly.
"Wha- what the hell!" Inuyasha cried out, whipping his head behind him, to the direction the blast wave came from.
"That was no ordinary wind," Sango started. She then spotted villagers running to the hills next to the village, "Where are they going?"
"They're pointing at something!" Shippo said, getting back to his feet, being as the wind knocked him off of Miroku's shoulders. Kagome saw as well, one a villager got close to another, they pointed ahead, in the same direction the wind came from.
"Something isn't right," the half-demon warned, and before Kagome could cry out his own name, Inuyasha leapt and started running after the villagers, who were converging on one hill in particular.
"Inu-," Kagome, got on her bike, completely forgetting about the massive sack of books behind her," lets go!"
"Right!" Sango agreed, quickly nodding. "Kirara!" a small cat-like mammal jumped out form the bushes. With two tails with black rings around them and roughly the size of a kitten, it meowed once before hissing. Fire erupted around it, and the cat disappeared, replaced with a fierce two tailed cat the size of a small car. Black ears, red eyes, and fangs like a saber tooth, the cat stood still as Miroku, Sango and Shippo all leapt onto it. As Kagome peddled away after Inuyasha, Kirara started running, its paws pushing them into the air and it began to fly upward.
"Hey- ye all are forgetting me!" Keade waved after the others, and began a hobble to the villagers herself.
Kagome never really got used to Inuyasha suddenly running off to see or do or fight something. Yet before he had run, she spotted something in his eyes she rarely saw. Shock. Inuyasha was cocky, strong willed, and had a tough constitution. Even if he was hot headed and quick to judge, he never seemed shocked, even in defeat. He just got back up and continued to fight to the death. And as much as that always scared her or angered her, he being shock came close to terrified her.
She peddled until she reached the back of the crowd, stopping, and letting the bike fall back. Inuyasha was in the front, his white hair standing out in the crowd of black and brown. "Excuse me! Sorry! I need to get-" pushing forcedly through the crowd, she finally found herself next to the half demon in red. And with the front seat, she saw clearly what was distracting the entire village, and Inuyasha.
Far off, a huge black cloud spun like a hurricane forced into a semi-sphere. Trees were being uprooted fifty miles away, and the cloud grew and grew- becoming a mountain of vortexing energy. And as the sky darkened, Kagome felt it- demonic energy. From fifty miles away, she could feel it. She usually felt the soul shards, but now, she could easily feel the evil that was mixed with the wind passing through the country. Inuyasha stared, his eyes open and scared.
As soon as the cloud had formed, it began receding, the darkening sky receding away with the retreat of the cloud coverage. The evil too seemed to retreat back with the lessening wind. Finally, the mountain of spinning cloud faded away completely. The villagers all turned, and ran for their homes, shouting in fear. Inuyasha, Kagome, and the three on Kirara, who was just above, remained.
"I believe ye would head that way to find Naraku," Keade remarked, walking up the hill slowly until she reached the others. "But I warn ye, that kind of evil I have not felt in ages. I cannot say that would even be Naraku."
"We're going to find out," Inuyasha growled as he bared his teeth, his two large canines displayed.
"I can't imagine what caused that though," Miroku started," that sort of power is unlike-"
"So what!" Inuyasha clenched his hand harder," we're going there, and we'll kill him regardless how powerful he is!"
Zohall now sat next to the darkened individual. The sight of the watery eyes had disappeared, and they simply sat next to each other, her head resting on his shoulder.
"You have changed so much," the woman said again, the light German accent still audible. Zohall sighed lightly, unsure of how to respond to the comment.
"Good or bad?"
"You're more innocent."
"Meh," he shrugged. Comment, not a compliment.
He felt her head leave his shoulder, and he turned, unsure of what she was doing. She had turned to face him, or at least that what he could make out in the outline of white around the form, like a glow or reflection from the white side, still shining tens of feet away.
"What?" he implied, unnerved by her silence.
"I'm just so confused," she started, moving very little," your looks haven't changed much- you look younger, but you act differently… and yet you have no memory of me."
"Right…" he waited. His mind was a tangled mess for this topic. He not only didn't have a clue on how to approach it, he wasn't sure how to fix it. "Well, all I know is that I've lived since 1984, born in RaccoonCityHospital, and now I'm here. Most of my life was 'hate umbrella, look for it, join anti-umbrella, stalk them through Mexico, Asia, and then be happy when they fall apart'. I can't say I was ever in Europe until I came to Britain."
"I can't explain. Its just so frustrating…"
"Yeah really," he breathed in response. And a light bulb flashed in his mind. "Hey," she lifted her head up just so slightly, as she had just been hugging her knees and resting her head on her chin," maybe you met… well, a relative of mine."
"Another man who goes by the name Zohall Mercer?" she asked skeptically.
"It's possible!" he defended himself," I don't know anyone else of my family, or hell anything about my family! And there have been people to name their children after themselves."
"Who carried the same sword you do?" He paused, as this was new information to him.
"If he died, maybe he passed it on to me? Like a family heirloom… thing?" strangely enough, while she cocked her head to once side, still skeptical, he felt more assure of what he was getting to. "It's possible, right?"
"Who looked exactly like you? Down to the last detail of-"
"Ok!" he held up his hands," ok, its really, crazy, insane, super, freaking unlikely," he didn't see it, but felt a smile," but lets just have a 'what if' discussion. What if he was my father? Wouldn't that make more sense? Or maybe my grandfather since you said forty- or sixty years ago?"
"I don't know. Living- well, existing as long as I have, I forgot 'what makes sense' really means."
This shook him slightly away from his excitement. Her words were drenched in sadness, and loneliness. Her meaning however struck him. How long had she been alive? What things could have happened- things she witnessed, seen, that made her forgot what logic really meant.
"What was… 'he' like?"
The question spurred her, as she shot back to stare at him. "What?"
"He. Him. Me. The person who seems so much like me, yet who I say I can't be. What was he like?" Zohall decided to take a new approach; if they couldn't agree on one side, they would compensate.
"He was-"
"I know he was like me, continue," he said quickly nodding briefly to move on.
"He was nice. Sarcastic, but not too often really," she paused, a hand going to an unseen hairline, as it scratched in thought. "He never took advantage of anyone. He was smart and wise. Yet he was young somehow… so lively and energetic. He loved to teach me-"
"Wait, wait, wait- teach!"
"He was my Lehrer."
"Which is…" he continued, waving his hands like an invisible juggle, awaiting a response.
"Teacher. In German."
"Oh."
"He taught me so much- How to dance…" he caught a glimpse of a glisten from her eyes," how to shoot, how to fight back; how to stand up for myself. He was my teacher… and mein herz."
"And… what?"
"He was wonderful. There are things I never thought possible until I met him. I... I loved him!" she snapped, and he backed his head up slightly. "He taught me more than school did, or my so called friends, or my father did! He was my teacher, one of the greatest Krieger I ever met, and an ever stronger Druide-"
"A what, and a what?"
She stared at him, intently and almost annoyed. "You cant guess what it is I'm saying?"
"Uh… no."
"Kreig is to war, and a Kreiger is-"
"Oh," he got the first one quickly," he was a warrior. Well," and he thought of his own skills," I guess that comes in the family line. So what else did you say he was?"
"A druid."
"… huh?" his mind was lost in ideas of what that was supposed to mean.
"He was a druid."
Zohall Mercer lost all words he had planned for thanks. Rather it came out in a terrible jumble. "Oh- whoa, what?" Of all things to have described for his father, or grandfather. Fighter seemed natural, and if anything, warrior he would have expected, but Druid? All he about druids were that they were in video games and lived with animals and did magic. Of all the unexpected things to have a relative called, Druid was not on the list. He even expected 'genetic experiment' over the name druid.
"A druid. He was my teacher, and he taught me how to be one," she continued as the shock felt in," with my power." The shock was empty however. He had no idea in truth what it meant, just that he had not expected that at all. "He was Arch-druid."
"What… does that mean… exactly?"
"It means he had been around for ages and ages. He healed wounds, he could use nature and it's elements against his enemies, and… he was the best there was," he paused, and a gleam of light shimmered of grinning lips. She was smiling as his astonishment. "And I was his second student he had."
"Well- who was his first?" he pondered, now more than ever interested in this woman.
"I'm not sure," she started, thoughtfulness in her words," I never met him, and he only spoke badly of him. He told me a story of him, and that his pupil was a traitor to everything that he stood for. He didn't like to elaborate on that man."
"He was a druid… the best?" he asked again.
"With out a doubt. He saved me, and I once hoped I could do what he could. If not, better. But… another idea got in my way."
"What was that?" she took her time, and a long stretched out paused settled over them like dust. It was only a few minutes after that she spoke.
"I… don't like to talk about what I did, either. I've changed much since I've died, and I regret many choices I've made."
He stared at her. Again, he was transfixed by this mysterious woman. Someone who he barely knew, yet felt so at lax with her. He could spill his deepest darkest secrets to her, and felt as if they would be locked down with her till death. Or whatever happened to her, seeing as she had said she was dead already.
"So he told you to tell me-"
"No!" she suddenly said, excitedly," he said… he said, 'you want to do something right? A long time from now, we will meet. In an oriental place, if that helps. I want you to tell me 'to look in the shack'. Don't ask why- just tell me that, ok?' and that... was it," she concluded.
Zohall's stable state of mind was shattered with this sentence. But the shack drove him back to the mission. He had been with her for… a while, and the mission and the well where still out there. Had he died and now stuck here with her? Or was he unconscious, and fallen into another dream state? Yet, he already knew this was no ordinary dream- the world didn't respond to his needs. So much confusion, so little answers.
"I need to go," he stood up and headed for the division, knowing to go under the slip of a ribbon, perfectly grey, to get back to the white side," the others may be waiting for me."
"Oh… ok." He head the disappointment in her voice.
"Look," he turned just before going under the string like ribbon," I'll be back. I think we need to get our facts straight, right? He smiled broadly at the mess of information they now had, and he felt a warmth creep up him that told him she was smiling. So he stepped underneath it, pushing it above his head like a construction tape or 'crime scene' tape. "Oh wait!" he stopped, and whipped around to face her. "I wanted to ask what place this is. This-" he pointed to the light and dark areas," is different from before. Why is that?"
"Well," she started, stepping up and walking closer," I always came to you. But… I think you came to me. Or I suppose, to him."
"Who?"
"My master's realm. Everything here," she lifted a arm and waved around the black mass," is all that is his. And I guess all of that is yours."
"Oh… ok." It confused him even more, yet he would have to ask about it later. He needed to get back. "We'll see each other again," walking away, he turned around once more," right?"
"I hope so," she was close enough for him to see a very faint smile, and a pair of gleaming blue eyes that were as bright as the top of the sky on a sunny day.
And so he thought, and thought. Thought of a way out, a way back, a way to become awake. And he felt faint. The lights seemed to return- swirling and flying past him as he soared back into the time travel he was supposed to have been in the whole time.
"Well, you see," Integra smiled falsely to the middle aged woman in front of her," we were assigned here recently as our companies first establishment in Tokyo. We decided to start with the older residences first, and make our way to the newer ones as more and more members arrived."
"I see," Mrs. Higurashi said, "You all seem well… prepared."
Integra's confidence on the matter drowned instantly. She had probably spotted one of the three walking around the back of the homes, possibly carrying firearms. If anyone, Alucard would have been first to start causing havoc, his gun destroying more and more without hesitation.
"All these people are yours?" she nodded hesitantly, and caught both Seras's and Walter's glances. "At least you are well prepared for anything then," the mother smiled pleasantly. Integra's confidence in keeping their objectives unnoticed returned, and she was half tempted to let out a long sigh. Yet as the woman smiled, Integra could not help be think this person was much smarter than she was letting on.
"Yes!" Seras suddenly added," and I think," she stood up, her eyes wide enough for Walter and Integra to feel concerned," we need to start this right away, isn't that right Mrs. Hallman?" Seras, now smiling wide enough that it was awkward, lifted both Walter and Integra to their feet, and started shoving them to their door. "Don't mind us, we just need to get a move on, so much to do and so little time, haha!"
"Miss Victoria," Walter said out loud before they were even out of the door, surprise and indignity clouding his voice," what has gotten into-"
"After all," she continued louder," I just remembered that our boss wanted us to inspect all backyards immediately!" she stared at both as she said this, trying to communicate something dire. "So we need to go, NOW!" pushing them both out of the door, she turned and faced the woman and smiled as cheerily as possible, waving goodbye. "Thank you so much! We'll talk to you later! Good bye!"
Finally, she closed the door and turned to face an unpleasant looking boss and butler.
"Alucard said Zohall disappeared!"
The three had run to the shack where Seras pointed out. Alucard was already waiting there, along with Leon, who was loading not one, but two pistols. Alucard had taken off his tinted glasses, and was inspecting them with the sunlight. Just as the three arrived, Leon pulled back and released the slide of his Blacktail Pistol with a satisfying click.
"He was here. And then he was not," Alucard simply put it, as if explaining a simple math problem.
"Where is he now?" Integra glanced around, looking for a trace of a struggle, blood, gashes in the ground, anything that would signal where the man had disappeared to.
"Nowhere," Alucard restated. She turned to face the Vampire, still wiping the lenses of his glasses absentmindedly. "He went nowhere, just sometime."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Seras demanded, her mind trying to furiously work out what he was saying.
"He disappeared. Not to somewhere, but sometime…" he turned to Leon, who didn't need another cue to act. The former agent grabbed one side of the sliding door, and forced it quickly aside, stepping in; both pistols pointing forward and ready. Stepping down the short stairs that led to a stone well, he glanced around for anything else.
"Found the bone eaters well, and I think Zohall was here before we were," he said, bending down to look at several foot prints made deep in the dust and dirt surrounding the well. "He may have fallen in."
"Fallen in- more like plummeted," Alucard stated as he descended each step like a king walking down from a throne. "I expect a man of his strange talents would have the luck to stumble on our target and deliberately leap inside."
"I'm going," Leon said, and he placed both guns in their holsters. "You wanna come?" he asked the others as he got on its edge, stood over, and jumped.
A flash of colors and lights splashed out as Alucard felt Leon disappear from the earth as well.
"This is indeed our target," he said as Integra walked up to him.
"Then we're going. I wont let this vampire cause damage to history- under no circumstances can we let him do what he has come to do. It could change the course of everything we know!"
"Yes- yes sir!" Seras said, before jumping into the Well. Integra followed, and soon Walter followed action, each leap being followed by a flash of light and color that brought every edge of the Shed to life. Soon Alucard was alone, and staring into the Well itself. He was curious of its power, and what was more, what awaited on the other side.
"Perhaps I will have to see myself young again," he smiled as he recalled his 'younger days'. Taking a single step up, he then leapt over the ledge and dived into the well.
