The feudal era...
The small group turned their attention to the Bone-eater's Well as a dull thump informed them of the last two of their party's arrival from the other side.
Inuyasha took the ledge in one leap and immediately stalked off to Kaede's hut without a word.
Miroku and Sango exchanged looks before crossing to the opening where Kagome steadily made her way up after him. The monk and the demon-slayer each reached a hand out to help the girl the rest of the way out of the portal.
"Thanks," she gave them both an awkward smile as she stepped onto the grass and set her bookbag down.
"What's gotten into him," Sango cut her eyes in the direction the half-demon had taken.
Kagome released a long-suffering sigh, "He's been like that since yesterday afternoon." She then begrudgingly added, "I suppose it's partially my fault."
"Your fault," pressed Sango.
"It's a long story," Kagome shook her head, then looked from the other girl to Miroku, "So has anything been going on here recently?"
"Aside from the usual demonic attacks on villages," Miroku pursed his lips thoughtfully, "perhaps..."
The girl from the future regarded him curiously, "What do you mean?"
"We can discuss it together inside," the young man indicated the priestess's hut that Inuyasha now occupied.
"Wait for me; I'm coming too," announced Shippo, leaping onto Miroku's shoulder. He then turned to Kagome as the four of them walked into the dwelling, "Whatever happened, Kagome, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, and that it was one hundred percent Inuyasha's fault - it always is..."
A clawed hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Shippo around the face as he spoke; the diminutive kitsune was immediately hurled through the air, disappearing somewhere beyond the tree line.
"My, my," remarked Miroku, mildly, "that seemed a bit excessive."
"Inuyasha," balked Kagome, "how could you do that - sit, sit , SIT!"
The resulting crater in Kaede's floor was as impressive as it was predictable.
"Speaking of excessive..." muttered Sango.
Some time after the excitement died down and everyone, more or less mollified, sat around the hearth, the group turned their attention back to Sango and Miroku's report.
"Flying over, we could see all four villages were bordering a single forest," noted the demon-slayer. "And as far as we can tell, the attacks all happened at about the same time."
"And all in the same way," inquired Kagome.
"Some sort of miasma poisoning," Sango nodded.
Inuyasha reclined stiffly against the wall, doing his best to pretend his back wasn't killing him. "Sounds like just more of Naraku's evil schemes."
"That's what we initially thought as well," added Miroku, "but we couldn't discern any reason for Naraku to attack these particular villages - there was nothing special about any of them that would be of value to him."
"Who are you to say," shrugged the hanyou, "what if he already took whatever it was he was after - we never seem to know what his plans are until its already too late."
Miroku folded his arms over his staff, frowning thoughtfully, "Well of course you and Kagome should see for yourselves, but I didn't get the impression of Naraku's handiwork; it was almost too crude."
"Heh, yeah, Naraku's a real artist," Inuyasha sniffed.
Kagome shot him a look, "Why do you have to be so contrary?"
"Shaddup, I can have my own opinions!"
"Are you still sore about yesterday?"
"If I am sore, it's because someone stupid sat me through the floor!"
The girl threw up her hands, "Look, I said it once and I'll say it again - I'm sorry for not telling you about Wade and I'm sorry for hurting your feelings - okay?"
"You never said that," he roared, his face turning a similar shade to the fire rat's robe on his back, "and, anyway, you didn't hurt my feelings!"
The eyes of each onlooker in the room shifted wearily from one to the other as the couple increasingly wound each other up. Shippo, now sporting a small bandage on his forehead, suddenly piped, "Who's Wade? Is that a person?"
"He's our friend we met recently," explained the girl.
"He's not my friend," spat Inuyasha.
"The strange foreigner you mentioned before," inquired Sango.
"Right," nodded a beaming Kagome. She leaned toward her friend excitedly, "You remember that singer whose music I let you listen to?"
"Oh, yes!"
"Well, Wade actually brought him to my house yesterday!"
The hardened demon-slayer's eyes grew wide in wonder, "How lucky! I wish I could have been there!"
"I know! It. Was. A - mazing!"
"And who are we talking about, again," asked a slightly concerned but still smiling Miroku.
"Well I'm going to go check out these villages," announced Inuyasha loudly, drowning out the rest of the conversation. He jumped to his feet with a brief wince, "and anyone else who doesn't want to waste any more of their lives sitting in this stinking hut is welcome to come along."
The rest fo the group watched him march out before belatedly getting up to follow. The last remaining person sat stirring the fire with a sour expression. Kaede glanced through the doorway out at the rest of them. "First ye break my floor, and then ye go and insult my home."
The village...
The clouds of miasma still rolled over the prone bodies strewn throughout the village. By the expressions on their faces - many of them women, children and elderly - they'd died in agony - fleeing in panic from their houses only to collapse in convulsions in the dirt. Inuyasha had seen many similar casualties over his lifetime in the waring states era, but somehow, with the stench of miasma and the decaying corpses of many dozens of senselessly murdered villagers surrounding him, the hanyou still couldn't keep the snarl from escaping his bared fangs.
"So, Inuyasha, what do you think?"
He started at the question, presently remembering Sango's presence beside him. The young woman gazed stonily past the fallen villagers and their humble houses as she spoke. He had an inkling she saw her own home as they stood among the carnage.
"I don't get the sense that this is Naraku's poison," he admitted, "it doesn't smell like him - though it's definitely demonic."
Sango nodded, her face unreadable behind her gas mask, "The other three surrounding villages are the same; it seems more likely we'll get our answers in those woods." She shifted her attention to the forest entrance where Kirara was already investigating. The large cat gave the trees a long stare before loping back over to them.
"I wonder how far the miasma spreads," mused the dog demon, "if whatever it was lives inside, the whole place is probably saturated."
"We'd better let the others know before we head in there," said Sango, reaching a hand toward Kirara, who unceremoniously dropped something from her mouth into it. The girl blinked, holding the small object up for scrutinization.
"What is that," Inuyasha wanted to know, leaning over her shoulder.
"I have no idea - some kind of figure," she turned the carved, amulet-sized piece over in her hand, "an idol maybe?"
The half-demon plucked it up and gave the miniature a sniff. He eyed the piece of wood: it had the shape of a strange bald man with grey skin. Shrugging, he tucked the figurine away inside his sleeve for safe-keeping and the two of them crossed the open fields to where Kagome, Miroku and Shippo awaited their return outside the poison mist surrounding the village.
Meeting Kagome's solicitous eyes upon their return from the slaughter knocked the boy's previous resentment toward her out of him like a solid punch to the gut. A sharp pang of relief to see her healthy, living and breathing face was all that registered with the boy. At that moment, she'd never looked so beautiful.
"How bad was it," she asked, carefully watching his expression.
He merely shook his head, words failing him.
"We haven't learned much yet," sighed Sango, removing the mask from her face, "but there may be more clues found when we inspect the forest."
"You mean we're gonna go in there," Shippo peeked out from around Miroku's head toward the ominous woods, "But it's probably filled with the same miasma that killed all the villagers - it's too dangerous for humans to breathe."
"Well, I think at least my arrow could help with that," supplied Kagome, "though I don't know if I can clear all of it away." She loaded her bow and aimed it above the trees. The arrow arched through the air, cleansing it of poison as it went until it vanished into the hirst.
"Impressive as always," Miroku praised the shrine maiden in training.
"Yeah, now let's go," insisted Inuyasha, taking the lead in a headlong rush into the forest.
"Why," groaned the fox child, clinging tighter to Miroku's shoulder as he was carried along with the rest into the deadly woods.
The forest was silent without even a bird stirring within. Dark and gnarled, the trees' roots writhed like snakes through the rocky soil. An emanating darkness seemed to eat the diffused light trickling down through the branches so that the place remained in perpetual twilight.
Inuyasha got an ominous, almost menacing feeling from their surroundings, even without the haze of miasma blanketing them. He turned his nose to the air while the others searched around warily, inhaling a strongly demonic aura that permeated the place like heavy perfume. Any number of likely tragic and violent occurrences in the area would have fed into the dark energy being processed by his olfactor. Additionally, another more corporal scent also caught his attention. Inuyasha turned back to his friends, pointing ahead of him, "This way."
The tromping of their footsteps was the only sound to be heard as the others followed the hanyou deeper into the woods. At last they came to a halt behind Inuyasha as he stopped in front of what appeared to be a large gray boulder.
"I don't understand," replied Kagome, approaching slowly, "it just looks like a - " she gave a sudden gasp and jumped back as she recognized a face on the front of the rock. "What is that?"
"A toad, dummy," he responded.
Stepping back, the girl could see that it definitely wasn't a boulder, but a huge grey toad that hunched before them, its eyes closed as if in deep slumber.
"I-i-is it dead," inquired Shippo tremulously, maintaining his perch on the monk's shoulder.
"Yeah, actually," confirmed Inuyasha, crossing his arms inside his sleeves, "though I'm not exactly sure why or what killed it."
"This type of toad demon is usually dormant and sleeps underground until it's disturbed," noted Sango; she stepped cautiously around the imposing corpse, scrutinizing it from all angles, "When it is awakened it will release a poisonous fog..."
"Perhaps it attacked the villages after all," concluded Miroku.
Sango seemed unsure, "It's possible, but I wouldn't have expected it to attack all four and then die right afterward - unless there's more we don't know."
"Well, it definitely reeks of the same poison," maintained Inuyasha.
"Very strange," Miroku mused, "there's obviously some piece of the story we're missing here."
Inuyasha said nothing, but absently brushed his fingers against the small figurine still inside his sleeve.
Tokyo...
"Wait a minute, you want me to go where and do what to who, for how many pop tarts?"
"You heard me the first time, Wilson, don't make me repeat myself," drawled his companion.
"Then let me ask you a serious question," Deadpool leaned in, "has that techno-organic virus finally taken over your brain?"
Cable's right eye glinted like lightning flashing off a spear tip, "Don't think I make this request lightly; I wouldn't be sitting here on a park bench in the middle of a suburb in Tokyo, talking to you if I had any other choice."
The hooded man nodded thoughtfully at this, "Maybe, but I'd say we've known each other long enough that you have some idea of what unleashing me upon an unsuspecting epoch might wind up doing to history." He then grinned through his mask at his long time adversary, "Who'da figured I'd ever be the voice of reason between the two of us?"
The time traveler turned his gaze slowly to the city skyline. "You forget that I have precognitive abilities."
"Pfffth! Who wouldn't - I'm surprised you remember - you don't ever use them!"
"...That's not true."
"Yeah it is," insisted Wade, "besides, doesn't your T-O thingy get in the way?"
Cable released an aggravated sigh, "Don't trouble yourself about how it works, just know that occasionally it does - and I'm telling you I've seen you there. I know that you - incredibly enough - are the key to the success of this mission."
"Ooh, we're calling it a mission now; I'm getting pumped!" The mercenary pounded his fist into his palm, causing the pig strapped to his belt to flinch at the sudden impact.
"Are you going to take this seriously," inquired Cable, "I thought you wanted to be a hero."
"Come on," scoffed Deadpool, "this is your obsession, not mine - you're just using me 'cause you don't have the strength to do it yourself."
The old soldier looked back at him, weariness from his constant battles - not the least of which included the virus that was killing him - etched deeply into his face. "That may be at least partially true, but if you decide to ignore me and do nothing and that ancient bastard emerges with more power than ever, is that something you can live comfortably with?"
Wade fiddled absently with the pin in the grenade on his belt as the captive piglet looked on, eyes widening with terror. "Heh, you really think you can 'after school special' me into doing this?"
Cable said nothing. After a long pause he got to his feet, "Alright Wilson, have it your way." Taking several steps forward, he prepared himself to bodyslide when he was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a Cup Noodle. Turning slowly around, he saw Deadpool gazing intently back.
"Where are you going," demanded the merc.
"If you're not going, I am," replied the soldier grimly.
"Oh okay," Deadpool waved him off, "so I guess I won't be seeing you anymore... Since you'll be dead!"
"Goodbye," answered the other. He turned away again. This time, he caught the plastics cup that came hurtling at him.
"So you're essentially heading to the past to die?"
"I thought we'd already established this."
The merc began to snigger softly, then with more gusto, until he was guffawing so uproariously it shook the park bench he sat on. The tiny black pig unfortunate enough to be tied to him flailed its legs wildly in a desperate attempt to break its bonds and flee. Doubling over, Wade gave his knees a final slap as he slowly regained his composure, sagging against the bench with a sigh.
Cable blinked, his scowl deepening. "Are we just about done here?"
The would-be hero held up a finger, "Just one more thing - why me?"
"Why?" the other repeated.
"Why does it have to be me who does this?"
"Aside from the reasons I've already given," stated Cable, "because it seems you already have allies ready to help you."
"I do," Deadpool looked around uncertainly, "where are they?"
"You'll meet them when you get there."
"And here we go again with the mystical vision crap - did I ever mention that I hate all psychics? Well, come to think of it there are actually a few I'd like to bang - including your mom..." he paused at the murderous look he was getting, "But what the hell, go ahead and send me centuries back into Japan's past; I'm sure that royally screwing up the time continuum forever is no big deal - I mean, you do it all the time, right?"
"Just shut up and prepare yourself," rumbled the heavily armored man, ejecting a small cube from his metallic left arm and tossing it to Wade as the other got to his feet. "That will keep us connected - at least to some degree; with it, I should be able to track your movements and know when to summon you back."
Deadpool studied the object dubiously, "Great, I just hope you don't croak before that time."
"And if you get stuck at any point, use the computer," continued Cable without pause, "Bodyslide by one!"
A flash beamed out from the device in the mercenary's hand, until its light completely enveloped him.
"One last thing," called Cable to the dematerializing gun for hire, "don't fuck this up, Wilson!'
"Wait, what? You mean you don't actually know whether or not I'll f-" Wade's words were instantly swallowed into thin air.
In an undisclosed location...
He awoke to the sensation of fire with each debilitating breath he took. He was in a dark place - a large place, but he could determine nothing else. A painful tingling radiated through his extremities, causing him to spasm uncontrollably. More than anything, he longed for oblivion to take him once again and save him from the agony in his body.
Groaning and writhing on a hard, craggy floor, he gradually became aware of other people lying nearby, much more quietly and still. Possibly they were from his village, but he couldn't be sure. The entire evening had been a blur up to his awaking here. A shuffle of feet presently approached and a hazy form stood over him.
Through watering eyes he strained to focus on the face staring down at him from the darkness. "H-help," he croaked.
The figure moved closer, leaning slowly over him. A face came into view - that of a lovely young maiden smiling serenely down. "You're still alive," she beamed.
He did not recognize her, but wondered if she'd also been brought to this place like himself - a survivor of some similar attack as what his village had endured. She did not appear to be under the effect of the poison coursing through his own body. She examined him calmly, "you're the last one; you must be quite strong to have been able to hold out for so long."
He was seized by an excruciating coughing fit when he attempted to reply, resulting in her fingertips being pressed gently to his lips. "You don't have to suffer any longer," she whispered soothingly into his ear, "even though this poison will eventually kill you, no matter how hard you resist, I can give you a couple of alternatives."
He stared helplessly up, panting raggedly as he awaited her proposed options.
The woman's hand slid into her sleeve - in the next moment a tanto appeared in her grip, gliding gracefully along his throat. "This could end your pain quickly if you only wish to be reunited with your lost loved ones." She watched his face carefully as he gaped wide-eyed at the small, deadly blade, "or if you'd rather, I can give you the antidote and you can serve the Eternal One and become very powerful...which will it be?"
"Wh-who are you," he rasped, "why are you doing this?"
"First, your decision," the knife swayed impatiently before him.
The man's head rolled back weakly, distant pale light illuminated the cavernous ceiling, revealing their location to be a cave. He suddenly noticed the face of the person lying beside him - he recognized her - had even loved her once - but she'd married a friend of his - staring lifelessly back at him, blood from her mouth and eyes now pooled around her cheek. He squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced, "I want...the antidote."
He felt a cool hand pressed against his burning face; the woman offered him another of her radiant smiles. Slowly, the tanto moved away from him and toward her own palm. She closed her hand around the blade for a moment before sliding it out and hovering her fist above his mouth.
Thick coppery droplets hit his tongue and slid down his throat. Reflexively, he swallowed and immediately felt a change take place. His spasming limbs stilled as what felt like the stabbing of thousands of needles over his body ceased all at once. Incredibly, all pain vanished.
The strange woman withdrew her bleeding hand, watching him push himself up into a sitting position.
"I'm healed," he marveled, clasping his hands to his chest.
"You are now immune to the poison as well," she informed him, "and it is time that you met Kikan-sama."
He got unsteadily to his feet, stepping around the contorted corpses of the less fortunate in order to follow her. His eye caught a scroll hanging at the entrance of the corridor the mysterious priestess had disappeared into. A demonic man, hulking and armored, glared out and into his soul as a growing trepidation slowly clawed his innards.