Akane joins the crew not long after Miroku starts traveling with Kagome and Inuyasha. Luckily for her, at first Miroku thought she was a boy because of her black boys uniform, and she was spared from his famous playboy act and request to bare his children. Which is a good thing because she would have done more then simply slap his face if he had been foolish enough to touch her ass. By the time he figures out she's a girl, he already had her firmly planted in the friend zone.
She gets along well with both the monk and fox child called Shippo, but she and Inuyasha start off on the wrong foot after she explains how she found them, and that Sesshomaru had been the one to save her life.
He at first calls her a liar, and the two have a heated argument that ends with her getting pissed off at the news that he had been the one to cut off the mans left arm in the recent past, and Inuyasha can't figure out why she would defend the bastard or why he would have helped a human girl for no apparent reason.
Kagome on the other hand, can tell right away that her friend is seriously crushing on the older brother, and trusts Akane's judgement of people given her dragon abilities. If she hadn't sensed any danger or malicious intent, then there clearly had only been good intentions as to why Sesshomaru saved her life. Meaning he couldn't be all bad, so she decides to give him the benefit of the doubt regardless of how she had first met the man a few weeks back. After all, Inuyasha had tried to kill Kagome on their first meeting, and at least Sesshomaru hadn't done that with Akane. Which was something she continued to point out to him whenever he started getting on Akane for trusting his brother.
The two girls stay in the past three days, and Akane explains to Kagome about the voice in her necklace, who had been very quiet up until this point. Both of them pester the poor ghost into telling them just why he was in the pendant, and why he had been silent until Akane turned sixteen. Only Akane could hear him though, and had to repeat stuff he was saying to Kagome, both girls fascinated by the story he gave.
….…
His name was Shen Rairyu, and he was indeed Akane's direct ancestor, and just as the legends said, he was the first Lightning Dragon to break the law and mated with a human woman.
The dragons of the clan were dying out from too much inbreeding, not many females were left, and he chose to continue the line even if it meant it was no longer pure.
Some were inspired by his choice, and decided to break out from under their tyrant of a King and follow their own paths in life rather then hide under a mountain for eternity.
This of course enraged the King, who eventually tracked down and killed Shen's human wife not long after she gave birth. Having no other choice, Shen took his twin children and ran, managing to safely raise them to adulthood in hiding and then allowed them out into the world.
Many years after he had thought himself safe and perhaps forgiven, a few hundred years actually, the vengeful King somehow found him. His ancient ways lost, his clan scattered to the world leaving him only a loyal handful left to lead, the King blamed Shen for all of it and, after a short battle, had his revenge. Shen was sealed inside the pendant, worn around the Kings neck so he would witness the death of his descendants as the King continued to hunt his family line. Shen witnessed many deaths, alive but forever trapped and helpless to stop anything.
However, things didn't go as planned for the King.
One of Shen's great grandsons was a hybrid, his mother was the half human dragon, his father a fire fox, and this gave him abilities that the King was not expecting in the heat of battle. The Kings reign of tyranny came to an end as his did his life, the male hybrid taking the pendant at first as a trophy of his victory, until hearing his great Grandfathers voice from inside.
Shen's pendant was kept in the family after that, passed down from eldest son onward, none able to figure a way to release him in a way that wouldn't end in his death. And in time Shen went quiet, lost to the sadness of his fate as he watched the world go by without him until the day he was placed in a box. Thinking himself to be forgotten until a descendant pulled him back out into the light, asking him to watch over Akane. That person had been her Father, who had known his daughter might some day be hunted because of the prophecy, and asked Shen to try and keep her safe.
Shen had chosen to at last speak with Akane because she apparently would play an important part in the fate of the clan someday, and she was of proper age to begin trying to unlock her inner dragon abilities.
HOW he knew this, that she had hidden abilities, or what part she was supposed to play in the future, he was very tight lipped about, refusing to risk messing up the timeline. Not that either of the girls could figure how warning them would mess with anything...
Shen promised to help Akane work on her hidden abilities, offering to be her tutor in all things dragon so she would at last know more about her lineage. He said that as a direct descendant of the one who had killed the king, she was technically a princess, and had every right to take up leadership of whatever was left of their clan someday if she so chose, and that he would prepare her.
The clan had been leaderless for far too long, scattered around the world and not really acting as a clan should, and he was certain that with the right ruler they would come together again.
All this was of course a bit too much for Akane to handle. She had only just fell into a time portal, killed a Lizard yokai, was saved by some sexy inhuman man, and NOW she apparently had some kind of destiny and was a freaking lightning dragon princess?
Kagome, naturally, had taken this news as a good thing and was all kinds of excited for her best friends future, promising to help in whatever way she could if Akane was willing to keep her company as she helped Inuyasha fix the mess she had made with the Shikon Jewel.
The dark haired girl chose that moment to fully explain just why some people thought she was this woman named Kikyo, how the Shikon Jewel was somehow inside her body her whole life, and that a mistake of hers was why they needed to track down the broken shards.
It seems both girls had a destiny that somehow linked to the past, and while both of them were reluctant about it, would face things head on.
….…
Akane ends up going home with Kagome and coming back to the feudal era whenever she does, this little time traveling secret making them all the more closer friends then before. As they travel and meet new people, seeing things in ancient Japan they had only read in school books, the girls begin to discover things about themselves they otherwise would never have had a chance to learn.
For one thing, not only were they both good at the whole camp style living, but they kinda LIKED it too.
Well, okay, it took a while for them to stop complaining of sleeping on rocks and sticks but hey give them a break.
They were quick learners too, and didn't let the boys do everything, no, they wanted to learn in case ever on their own. Like learning how to start a fire was the first thing they mastered, and knowing what kind of sticks would burn best. Kagome wasn't half bad with a bow and arrow, and could somehow manage to make the simplest ingredients work with making the food they caught taste far better then it looked, AND she was learning that she was a pretty darn good healer too, working with things Kaede pointed out and a few modern items she would bring with her.
Her large yellow backpack was always overflowing with school work, food, and bandages. It was a wonder it hadn't killed her back yet to carry it all, but thankfully the fire cat Kilala carried it sometimes.
Akane's mixed martial arts skills weren't enough to KILL enemies, but with Shen's aid and guidance she could kick their asses well enough until one of the others could kill them. The dragon spirit could somehow lend her a bit of his power when in dire need, a feeling of heat radiating from the pendant right before she would get a burst of energy that increased what little abilities she had.
However, this drained Shen greatly and he would go quiet until recovering his own energy, which normally took about an hour. Because of this, Akane didn't want to rely on him too much, and worked hard on her own skills.
Being in the past where she didn't have to hold back her strengths in order to not stand out with humans who would be jealous was a blessing she didn't know she needed, having been used to doing things only halfway.
But NOW she could go all out.
Sure, Akane might have been the best in soccer at school, and one of the tops in her martial arts classes back in America, but that was with her still holding back. It was okay to gain attention, but all inhuman creatures knew it was never okay to gain too MUCH attention.
Now though... now she was FREE.
Her speed and agility were getting better, body getting used to letting loose and not instinctively restraining herself anymore. And her strength and reaction time was improving much to her delight, making her just as good at keeping up with Inuyasha as Miroku was during their travels.
That wasn't all Akane did though, she was useful in being able to tell if someone was deceiving them or flat out lying, could sense whenever it was going to rain hours ahead of time so they could prepare, and she was sure to always run by the list of things Kagome intended on bringing back to the past with her so that the two could provide a variety of things between their two backpacks.
And while Kagome focused on food, things that would aid her healing skills, and keeping up with studies, Akane continued to bring her own kind of useful things to the past... Like MATCHES to start fires, and those emergency blankets that fold up so small she could fit three in her black backpack and still had plenty of room for water containers and art supplies. She liked to sketch whatever caught her eye, sharing the art supplies with Shippo.
She was also sure to bring her phone and mp3 music player, something Kagome thought was pointless, but hey the phone made a good flashlight and she could take pictures of things. And she NEEDED music to sleep, plus Shen said that if she could master her electric abilities someday, she would never need to charge things at home again!
So that was something to look forward to at least.
Their time between past and present started to feel almost normal in no time at all.
….…
The next time they run into Sesshomaru, he's using a human arm to try and take Inuyasha's sword, the Tessaiga, for himself, and Akane feels torn between helping her friends and trying to keep them from seriously hurting the man who had saved her life.
She keeps trying to get his attention, but he acts as if he doesn't remember her and completely ignores her attempts at talking to him while he assaults his half brother.
Later Kagome points out that despite him ignoring her, he seemed to be purposely avoiding where she was at during the fight, never once attacking in that direction even if his brother had moved closer, instead he seemed to move the fight to a different spot to avoid her.
Despite this, Akane swears she wants nothing to do with him if he didn't even try to speak with her or listen to her begging for a peaceful solution. And she spends many a day convincing herself she must have been wrong about him, but Shen tries to console her and say that the man wasn't evil, and just needed time to come around.
Fate was determined to test her conviction of forgetting the white haired man, and the next time they meet is when he arrives chasing after Totosai. This time she doesn't say a word, and stands back to simply watch the fight that takes place, secretly hoping no major harm befalls him, and catching the way his golden eyes follow after her specifically when their group makes a retreat with the help of Totosai's fire abilities.
She finds him selfish and obsessively one track minded with his desire for the sword, and the more she listens to Inuyasha talk about him, the more she feels foolish for the attraction she couldn't seem to explain or forget.
However, when Sesshomaru returns with the dragons claw to once again go after the Tessaiga, now seeming to want to BREAK it if he can't have it for himself, she begins to yell at him for his arrogant and childish actions. He seems to pause as if her words affected him in some way, and that's the moment Inuyasha figures out how to use the Wind Scar attack. Akane cries out in heartbreak when it appears that Sesshomaru has been killed, blaming herself for distracting him. The others leave her alone as she tries not to fall apart over someone she barely spoke with, not understanding the ache in her chest that wouldn't go away.
But then later that evening she hears Totosai say that he's not actually dead, and that his own sword might have saved him, causing Akane to jump up and demand to know the direction he might have gone. Saying her deepest apologies to her friends, knowing Kagome wouldn't be angry over her actions, she leaves the group behind in search of the yokai that had somehow captured her heart. Shen helping her figure out which way to go and telling her of ways she could track a yokai's aura when close enough to them.
Looking for Sesshomaru wouldn't be easy, since she didn't know for sure what his yokai aura felt like to track just yet, and she didn't even know how far away he was or if he was on the move or not, but the dragon girl was determined to find him for reasons she didn't understand.
And this is where the second act of her story really begins, because once she finds the stubborn yokai lord, neither of their lives would ever be the same again.
….…
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hi hi!
From this point on the chapters will not be simple long ass prologue like explanations. There is true plot and dialogue and all the good stuff as point of views bounce between Akane, Sesshomaru, and eventually even Naraku.
Thank you all and enjoy the fun times that lead into deeper plot and drama a bit later on.