Kira stared blankly at Kagura. "Ok, cool."
"'Cool'?"
"Oh, sorry, it's a phrase I picked up here in the twenty-first century. It's what you say when something is amazing, satisfactory, or you don't know what else to say."
"I see."
Yudai finally recovered his breath. "What was that? All that devil stuff and hocus pocus! What's going on?"
Kagura fixed him with her red gaze. "I've come back to life after five hundred years in the underworld, that's what's going on."
"Oh."
"Uh, hey, Yudai-kun?" Kira asked. "Do you mind walking back to your house by yourself? I kind of need to get Kagura here back to my grandmother's place."
"Oh, yeah, sure. No problem. See you tomorrow at school, Kira-chan!" Yudai yelled as he ran off, glad to get away from the creepy lady in the old-fashioned get-up.
Kagura was staring after him. "He likes you."
"What? Yudai?"
She turned to Kira. "He has a definite attraction to you, I'll say that. Otherwise, why would he agree to follow you into that mansion?"
"Because I shanghaied him?"
"Ah, that would be another reason."
Kira started walking away, motioning to Kagura to follow her. "Yeah, anyways, you seem better suited to the feudal era, so I think it's best we got you back there as soon as possible."
Kagura nodded as she walked beside her. "I agree. This air is tainted with some sort of less powerful miasma."
"What's miasma?"
Kagura stared off into the distance. "The demonic poison that killed me. I'd rather not speak of it, if you don't mind."
"I understand. Sometimes the past is better left alone."
The wind sorceress smiled wryly. "An odd statement coming from someone from that very place."
Kira smiled in the same way. "Well, life's full of those ironic moments, isn't it?"
ooOoo
"Kira, who's your friend?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, smiling, as Sota just stared at the wind sorceress.
"This is Kagura, and she's just passing through. She needs to use the Bone Eater's well."
"Oh, how nice, she's from the feudal era too."
Sota scratched his head. "I don't remember anyone else coming out of the well. Huh, maybe she came out while I was at work."
Kira kept herself from gulping. "Yeah, probably. I found her wandering around outside the steps, so she didn't stray far. Well, we'll just get out of your way now, come on, Kagura."
Kagura followed her to the shed and looked at the well strangely. "This old thing is going to take me back?"
Kira shrugged. "Yeah. If it doesn't, the worst that can happen is you'll get a sore rear end."
"Good to know. Well, I hope you do well here in the future. Are you ever going to go back to the feudal era?"
Kira nodded vigorously. "Of course. My parents are there, and a lot of people I miss too. My stay in the twenty-first century is just a learning experience, and once it's over, I'll only visit here to see my family."
Kagura smiled. "Well, I hope you do well here. Meanwhile, I've got to get going; there are a few people who will get quite a scare on finding that I'm back from the dead. Thank you, Kira. Maybe I'll see you again someday."
"Maybe. Goodbye, Kagura."
The wind sorceress turned to the well, leapt in, and in a flash of purple light, she was gone.
When Kira returned to the house, Sota was still scratching his head. "It's strange; back when Sis and Inuyasha used the Bone Eater's well, nobody else could use it. I know because I tried hundreds of times to follow them. But it never worked for anyone else, here or in the feudal era, apparently. Why did it work for that Kagura woman?"
Kira attacked a bowl of ramen. "I dunno. Maybe after the well reawakened it wasn't so limiting on who could use it."
"Perhaps," Sota said, stroking his chin.
"Hey, Uncle Sota, can you stop doing that? You look like one of those evil villains on TV and it's freaking me out."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Mrs. Higurashi brought Kira another bowl of ramen. "So, Kira, how was your first day in high school?"
ooOoo
A week had gone by since the first day of school and the incident at the creepy mansion, and Kira was doing well with her studies. She got top marks and did extra credit. When the other students were out shopping or going to the movies, Kira was studying and writing essays. she felt a satisfaction in her work every time she brought an A home to show her family. She practiced her fighting forms everyday in the courtyard in front of the sacred tree, and sometimes even nights.
But her only friend at school was Yudai, since her exceptionally hard studying habits made her a prime target for the other students.
Kira was hurrying down the stairs from the bathroom, headed back to class before the lunch break ended, when something white and fluffy fell at her from above. On instinct, she dodged and it missed her, but it poofed and a bit of it caught the hem of her skirt. She knelt and put her fingers in the white powder, then licked what she came up with.
Flour.
Kira looked upward and saw three heads disappear from over the edge of the landing. She bounded up the stairs, three at a time, and ran after the retreating figures. She caught up with them easily and passed them, then rounded on them, blocking their path. "Hey, what's the big idea, throwing flour on someone?"
One of the girls jutted out her hip and crossed her arms, smirking. "What makes you think we did it?"
Kira rolled her eyes and pointed at each girl in turn. "You have flour on your hands; you, in your hair; and you, there's flour all over your shoulder. Probably from carrying the heavy bag, right?"
The girls quickly tried to brush themselves off. Kira smirked. "Don't worry, you missed me, so I'm not going to tell any of the teachers, though I doubt anyone else would be so nice. All I want to know is why three upperclassmen attempted to cover me in flour."
One of the girls babbled, "Th-There's a guy in our class that w-we all like, and he's s-seen you around, and he thinks y-you're cute and smart, and he wants t-to ask you out. S-so we wanted to g-get you back for stealing him away!"
Kira shrugged. "Never met him. I don't socialize with the snobby senpais too often, so how could I steal him? You three are ridiculous, talking about a guy like he's an object. And I'm sure he wouldn't like silly girls who are petty enough to throw flour on a complete stranger. You're getting off easy, but if you ever try anything like that on anyone ever again, you'll be hearing from my fists. "
She walked past them, back the way she'd came, but when she was almost to the stairs, without turning around, she called back. "Oh, by the way, Miss Attitude? You've still got flour on your shoulder."
ooOoo
Kira slurped her noodles down quickly, as they were very hot. Her grandmother had told her to let it cool a bit before eating, but she was too hungry. "Hey, what does it mean to ask someone out?"
Mrs. Higurashi and Sota stared at her. "Where did you hear anything about that?"
"At school. Why, is it something bad?"
Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "No, it's just, when one person likes another person romantically, they ask that person if they will go out with them."
"Go out where?"
Sota burst out laughing. "Oh, no, not like that. You remember when we told you about dating, right? Well, it's exactly like that, except young people nowadays call it 'going out'. I can't think why, though."
Kira smiled. "It does sound kind of funny."
She finished her noodles, thanked her grandmother for the meal, and headed out to work on her fighting forms.
There was a large moon that night, giving plenty of light to work by. Kira started with Gojūshiho, but it quickly turned into Gojūshiho-with-claws. She worked on and on until she had a good sweat and heart rate going, which took several hours. Her uncle had already left and her grandmother had tried to call her in several times, but she kept on, progressing into several other kata. She had a lot to think over, and fighting had always made it easier to concentrate.
She was concentrating so hard, in fact, that she almost didn't notice the new scent that approached.
Almost, but not quite.
Kira whirled around, still in fighting stance, surprising herself and the newcomer.
"Aykono?"
"Kira?"
"Didn't we do this not too long ago?"
"How does 'several months' translate to 'not too long ago'?"
"Good point." She wiped her brow. "What are you doing here? Forget that; how are you here?"
Aykono blinked. "I came through the well, of course."
Kira mumbled to herself, "I guess I was right about that dumb old thing." To Aykono, she said, "Never mind, it's ok. So, going back to my original question, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, right," He remembered the long bundle in his arms. "Some old guy and his ox told me to come here and give you this. He said it was a weapon or something."
Kira gasped. "It's ready! But, so quickly? Let me see it!" He gave it to her and she un-wrapped it carefully. It was a regular katana, with a red hilt and an intricate guard, but when Kira gripped the handle it flashed crimson and transformed into a much larger, much heavier curved sword. The blade itself was a deep crimson, but the handle was pure white.
Aykono was puzzled. "What is it?"
Kira gasped as it hit her. "I know what it looks like! I remember reading about swords called scimitars from a far off land. They look like this, only slightly different. In fact, this looks more like my father's sword, the Tessaiga."
"Oh, hey, there's a note."
Kira picked it up from where it had fluttered to the ground. "Deer Kira, I new yew wood bee needing this, so I werked day and nite to forge it. It's made from the metel of a fallen star, and, it's strengthened with yer blood. It's almost as gud as the sword yer father has. It's desined almost the same too. Its speshal technique is Blood Slash. It's also got a speshal barrier on it, so full deemons can't tuch it. Have fun haking deemons to bits! - Tōtōsai and Mō-mō. Well, how do you like that? The metal was already special in the first place! That old geezer didn't even need to drain me like a leech!"
Aykono looked at in amazement. "Yeah, but I bet it's a lot stronger now."
"What a beautiful sword. Too bad you won't live long enough to use it!"
Kira and Aykono were blasted from behind by a significant demonic source, which slammed them against the sacred tree.
It was the devil worshippers' leader. His once clear face was now scarred by several angry slashes, from ear to nose on his left cheek. He carried large knives which had demonic sutras on them. "I'm so sorry my colleagues couldn't join us, but I'm afraid they were all killed by falling shrines a week ago. I'm also regretful that the last thing you'll se before you die is my hideous face, but you have the young lady to thank for that."
Aykono wiped blood from his mouth where he had bit his lip. "Kira, who is this crazy fool?"
The man smiled. "Ah, so your name is Kira, how nice. I hate not knowing who I'm about to kill."
Kira laughed dryly. "You talk pretty big for a walking corpse. If you'd just stop hiding behind all your silly spells and incantations, maybe we'd be able to finish this."
His grin broadened. "What a wonderful idea. Though, I must warn you that you won't last a minute, even with your big, fancy sword."
Kira felt the barrier keeping them away from him dissipate and she charged at the man, poised for the kill. He dodged, but she'd been expecting that. She moved with him, slicing a deep wound in his arm. He dropped one of his large knives, as he winced in pain. "You're better than I thought. No matter. It won't happen again, and you'll soon be dead."
Kira lunged, and he saw an opening, and took it, swinging with all his might. Unfortunately for him, Kira's attack had been a feint and she defended her so-called opening, and slashed his other arm. He just barely managed to hold on to his weapon with both hands. Seeing he had met his match, he muttered a spell, and instantly, Kira's arms were immobilized. She struggled hard, cursing. He chuckled at her attempts to free herself. "You see, it is hopeless. You will now die!" He raised the knife, and swung, aiming at her neck. Aykono leapt upon him, knocking him to the ground, and his sword out of his hands. He pulled out his hunting knife and pressed it against the man's throat. "You cheating wretch. You fight dishonorably, using your curses and spells."
The devil worshipper just leered at him and muttered a word that might have been a curse or… a curse. It was of the former magical kind, and Aykono suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his head, as if someone was hammering it with a mallet. He doubled over in pain, holding his head, and in the process, misplaced his knife. The man rose and kicked the agonized wolf-demon, laughing. He grabbed his large knife and charged at Kira, who was still trying to regain the use of her arms. Just as he was about to stab her in the heart, she kicked hard, straight up, hitting him squarely on the jaw. It knocked him out cold. "You forgot that I could still use my legs, lame-brain."
His mind no longer conscious, the spells on Aykono and Kira instantly vanished. Kira raced over to Aykono. "Hey, are you ok?"
"Yeah. What about you?"
She smirked. "I'm fine. He never even touched me."
He ran a hand through his hair. "What are we going to do about him?"
Kira glanced at the man. "I don't know. We can't just leave him there." They needn't have worried, because the body was nowhere to be found.
"Aykono! He's gone!"
Aykono: Hey, wait a minute! How come Kira gets to curse, but I don't?
Emily, the Tsarmina of Tokyo: because she does it infrequently and with dignity.
A: What's that supposed to mean?
ETT: all it says is "She struggled hard, cursing", so i don't actually have to use asterisks like i do with you.
A: I still say it's unfair.
ETT: tough. now be good or i'll have my fluffy cat minions attack you.
A: AGH! I don't like cats!
YAY! I finally thought of a contest! It'll start on 1/20/10. You have to read my profile that day to get the questions, ok? And then use P.M. to send me the answers.