Of This World And Yesterday
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
-Lao Tzu
(570-490 B.C.)
Chapter 8- Forward
The floorboards creaked underfoot, Sango pacing the room slowly, a frown gracing her features as she moved, a hand placed thoughtfully against her chin. A small fire was crackling in the fire pit of Kaede's hut, and the elderly miko was kneeling before it, busy with her herbs. Miroku was sitting not far away, his shakujyou leaning against the wall by the door beside Sango's hiraikotsu, as he attempted to meditate, eyes closed and brow slightly knit, as though thinking as well. Shippou was the only one really making much noise, chomping idly on a lollipop Kagome had given him before she left the last time. The crunching sounds mixed with the popping of the fire, crackling in the empty air. Kirara was entertaining herself by swatting at the wrapper of Shippou's sucker.
It was unusual for Inuyasha to be gone for so long. Kagome, that was usual, but Inuyasha usually did not just disappear. At first they simply assumed he'd gone with her home. But for two days? That was out of the ordinary. They'd started searching a bit that morning, though Miroku sensed no trace of jaki, and not even Kirara picked up indicating scent of youkai. After a few hours, they'd decided to head back. There wasn't even a real threat present, and searching may be nothing more than pointless futility.
"I'm sure they've simply found a way to keep themselves occupied," Miroku commented, opening his eyes at last and watching Sango pause in her pacing. She shot him a look, lifting an eyebrow.
"You would think that," she retorted with a frown. Miroku shrugged, holding up his hands as though for peace.
"I wasn't insinuating anything. You're the one who suggested something untoward."
"You can't blame me, with the way you usually suggest things."
"I was merely saying what would be best for both of them."
"Houshi-dono, Sango," Kaede sighed, interrupting the small dispute, "Inuyasha and Kagome are likely fine. Had there been an accident or some other trouble, we would have heard of it by now. And if they found some difficulty in Kagome's world, they will deal with it as best they can. They have done so before," she finished, moving a bowl of herbs before her. A small mat lay at her knees, a bowl and pestle on it. She reached into one of the separate bowls, drawing out a handful of dried leaves, once green, now curled and black. She began to grind them, releasing a pungent, acrid odor that blended with the smell of woodsmoke from the fire. "It may be best for the rest of you to begin the search again on your own."
That earned a sigh from Sango, and Miroku closed his eyes again, returning to his meditations. There were times Kaede was glad she wasn't young anymore. When a furious Sango stormed back after their last search, she was correct to assume a handprint-marked houshi would be trailing in her wake a few minutes later. She was, of course, correct, Shippou riding on his shoulder and commenting on how Miroku should treat her better.
Sometimes it seemed the only sensible ones of the group were herself, the eldest, and Shippou, the youngest. Kaede sighed and continued to grind her herbs, faintly arthritic knuckles irritating her, crackling along with the crunching leaves.
Shippou stood, munching on the last of the lollipop, and walked over to the firepit, tossing the thin cardboard stick into the flames. "Inuyasha better not be in trouble again, or else it'll be a week before Kagome comes back!"
"If Inuyasha were in trouble, he would be here complaining, Shippou," Miroku told him sagely. "Not still there."
"Kaede is right," Sango sighed after a moment, considering what the older woman had said. Hopefully Miroku would be on good behavior for at least another day or so, after the incident that afternoon. "Tomorrow morning we should head out again, see if we can find something of our own. There's no rule saying that we have to have Inuyasha and Kagome-chan with us."
"I just hope nothing happened to the well," Shippou grumbled gloomily. He didn't like sticking around in one place, not without Kagome to talk to, or Inuyasha to bother. The village was fun, but only for a little while. Staying in the same place all the time was boring. Sometimes he'd wonder what kind of world Kagome lived in, for her to bring back so many strange things in her rucksack. He'd wonder if there were other kitsune there, and sometimes he'd wonder if he'd still be alive in that era. Kitsune could be long lived. It was possible. He glanced at Miroku, then Sango. Thinking that way, they'd both be dead, in Kagome's era.
He wasn't used to being the one to smell things first. But with Inuyasha gone, he frowned curiously, turning his head and trying to identify the source of the scent wafting in through the screened doorway of the hut. Kaede's herbs were masking everything, but this was laced with an unidentifiable scent. Nobody paid attention to him as they started in on discussing the best places to look in the morning. He pushed aside the bamboo drapery, peeking out into the grassy slope beyond the hut. A moment later, something brushed against his hand, mewling, and he saw Kirara. "You too?" he asked, and got a red eyed blink in response. Frowning, he petted the small, two tailed firecat, wondering what was going on.
A light slanted into his eyes, and he held up a hand to cover them. Shouts sounded up from the village; he wasn't the only one to see it. "Kaede! Miroku! Sango!" They were already on their feet by the time he shouted, running to the door and grabbing up weaponry as they headed out into the glowing light.
High above the village, a cloud had formed of lambent, cherry colored light, swirling in a spiral in the sky, ribbons of energy waving around the edges of it, spinning slowly. It did not darken out the sunset in the west, but blended into it, a spot of paleness against a radiant background of red and purple.
"I...don't sense anything evil from it...." Miroku was saying, his shakujyou upraised slightly. Kirara was merely tilting her head upward at the swirling display, making small curious sounds, though not alarmed. Fingers of light were glancing downward from the misty spiral, running their way along the paths of the village, scanning, passing over animals and through houses. One of these slipped its way across them, hovering and stopping as they lifted up hands to ward off the brilliance that began to pulse from it.
Kaede grasped the edge of the doorway as calm winds began to whirl around her. She braced herself stoutly, though released her grip when she realized what was happening. The cherry colored light was intensifying, and in it, the forms before her were disappearing.
***
"Ow!"
"Get off of me!"
"But I'm not-"
"Hentai!"
Smack.
A tangle of human, kitsune and felinioid bodies were attempting to sort themselves out in the courtyard of Hikawa Jinja, variously angry, injured and baffled, all trying to detach themselves from one another, where they had landed in an unceremonious heap of arms, hands, feet and legs. The pink swirl of cloud that had deposited them there was now spiraling away into the deepening of another sunset sky, in a very different place....
Sango was the first one to squirm her way out of the pile, determined to get out from under Miroku. Still on the ground, she backed away a bit, grabbing hiraikotsu as she looked wildly around, trying to get her bearings. It took her a moment to realize that someone was running straight at her, bending down and repeating, "Sango-chan? Sango-chan? It's okay. You're okay. I didn't know you were going to land in a heap...sorry, sorry! Miroku-sama, Shippou-chan! Kirara! It's all right!"
Kagome knelt down, quickly checking on everyone to make sure they weren't too disoriented. A few moments ago, she watched as Setsuna summoned her long staff, and the other senshi had winged themselves out from her, giving her space. The Time Guardian had lifted the scrolled end to the air, and the Garnet Orb had pulsed once, twice, and then a warm glow had suffused the air around it. Standing beside her, Inuyasha had watched, trying to feign disinterest in the ritual. On her other side, Chibiusa was murmuring something quietly, a charm, Kagome assumed. "...split open the heavens, Father of the Guardian, Chronos, lead me onward, to the Road of Light...."
Her words seemed to coincide with the formation of a spiral in the sky, a cherry colored circle of mist and cloud, rippling and then pulling aside, sending four figures tumbling down. Of them, only Kirara managed the feat of landing on her paws, and was able to clear the way for the clumsier humans and kitsune that tailed her.
"Kagome-chan," Sango finally managed, looking past her to see the assembly of senshi. Then her eyes fell on the very human looking Inuyasha, who had also stepped forward slightly. The presence of both of them was reassuring, but to see Inuyasha with black hair, and earless, before a crowd of people, Sango was alarmed. "Kagome-chan! Inuyasha! It's not...and they...who are they? What happened? What's wrong? Why is Inuyasha...it's not...."
"It's all right, Sango-chan! Don't worry! Miroku-sama, Shippou-chan!"
Miroku was sitting still, eyes wide and hands clutching the shakujyou tightly as he tried to figure out what had just happened. Shippou was half hiding behind him, head swiveling from Kagome to Inuyasha, then to the tall woman with the silver staff, just being lowered from the air. There was a breeze of wind, and he looked up in time to see the last of the preternatural clouds spiral away into nothingness.
"Oy, bouzu," Inuyasha called with a frown, snapping Miroku out of a mild state of shock. "You just going to sit there and stare?"
That was more than enough to snap him out of it, and he pushed himself upright, using the shakujyou as a balance. There was a cluster of young women around him, he noticed, all quite beautiful in their own ways, though one of them was clinging to a black haired young man. Three small cats were sitting in front of them, all curiously watching for his reaction. They had landed in a courtyard, tall shinboku trees rustling in the evening wind, and the distinct sloping shapes of rooftops, well made, and evidence of a shrine or temple. Though in the distance, he could hear a constant drone, unable to quite figure out what it was, occasionally punctuated by various strange, shrill honking sounds.
Miroku found himself to be a bit speechless.
"Kagome-sama...Inuyasha...what...?"
"You are in the world of your friend Kagome," the tallest of the women told him, holding a beautifully carved silver staff. "The other side of the well," she elaborated after a moment, and his eyes widened a bit at that.
"But we can't travel through the well...."
"You didn't travel through the well," a girl informed him, the smallest of the bunch and with fluffy pink hair in pigtails, a wry grin on her face. "Puu brought you here with the Timestaff. Different route, same destination."
"We've got a lot of explaining to do," said Kagome, lending Sango a hand to stand up.
"If this is the other side of the well, then is this your home?" Sango asked, looking around and taking in what surrounded her. Alien, strange, but also with a ring of familiarity. A shrine. That she knew how to handle. A jinja. A shrine. A familiar concept. Kagome's world. But who were all these people?
"No," one of the girls said, stepping around another tall girl with a ponytail. The speaker was wearing the white gi and red pants of a miko, and was smiling, hands open and spread apart in a gesture of welcome. "It's my home. Hikawa Jinja. You must be Sango then...."
"Y...yes...miko-sama?"
The girl blinked, and another one behind her, with blonde hair in pigtails, giggled, wrapping an arm around the tall man beside her. "Miko-sama? Rei-chan, don't make her call you that all the time!"
"Usagi-chan!" Rei steamed, turning to glare at the odangoed girl behind her. Irritated, she turned back to the bewildered Sango, and sighed. "Don't mind Usagi-chan. My name is Hino Rei. No 'miko-sama,' just Rei, okay?"
"Al..right," Sango agreed, looking over the cast of faces. "Kagome-chan...who...who are all these people?"
"The Sailor Senshi," Kagome replied, knowing that meant nothing to Sango.
Miroku heard that and asked, "Soldiers? They don't look like...."
"Oy! If you're going to say something about us being girls-"
"Mako-chan, calm down," another blonde consoled, placing a hand on the arm of the tall, ponytailed brunette. "We're already working with Inuyasha and Kagome. We don't need to get all riled up now. We've been there already, ne?"
Mako-chan glowered at Miroku for a moment, and he made a mental note to never hit on her. A whacking from Sango was bad enough. This girl looked like she wouldn't hesitate to turn him into a big red bloody pulp.
Shippou had edged his way forward during the discussion, and was looking from face to face in the group, trying to see who they were. Some smiled at his curiosity, others nodded in acknowledgment. One girl who gave him a small smile had short, straight hair and dark purple eyes. Behind her, another, older girl of similar appearance stood, though her hair was long and wavy. That one spoke, a shy smile on her face. "Konbanwa, Shippou-kun."
Shippou-kun? Nobody ever called him Shippou-kun.
Though, once, a little ghost girl with lavender eyes had.
Shippou stared. "Ukifune?"
The shy smile broadened, and she bowed her head sheepishly, as though embarrassed. "Konbanwa," she repeated, affirming his guess.
"But you're dead!"
Several heads swiveled around, and a couple of the senshi snickered. "You got around, Kami-san...a lot...when you were dead."
Miroku and Sango had different reactions, both raising weaponry. The only experiences they had with the mercurial ghost child were not the entirely pleasant ones Shippou had been given. Their lifting weapons promptly resulted in the movement of the senshi, the smaller girl in front of Ukifune suddenly looking angry, and another girl with short blue hair positioning herself in front of both of them. She began to speak, arms out wide. "Please, Miroku-san, Sango-san, Shippou-chan...Kami-chan has been reborn into this era. She is not the yurei you once knew her as. She is with us, a Sailor Senshi."
"What is this Sailor Senshi thing you are all talking about?" Miroku asked, starting to feel frustrated. He kept himself calm, but suddenly being torn from one era and unceremoniously dumped into another was disconcerting, even to the most stoic of people, and to find someone who was possibly an enemy right before him, with friends, was starting to bother him. "Inuyasha! What is going on?"
"Put your shakujyou away, Miroku. Didn't think you'd get so freaked out over a little time travel."
Miroku glared at the hanyou, just as a flurry of black feathers and cawing erupted from the roof of the house beyond them. Several crows were chasing each other in the air, and Inuyasha suddenly snarled, "Youkai! There! The one the others are chasing away!"
"Kirara!" Sango called on impulse, alarmed, and the cat leapt up into her hands as the bird suddenly seemed to stretch, speeding up far more rapidly than the others and disappearing into the distance. The taiji-ya hesitated before throwing Kirara into the air, and several crows began to spiral their way down, two breaking off from the others.
Rei lifted her hands, and they fluttered closer as she called to them. "Phobos, Deimos!"
The two sleek crows settled around her, one on her hand, the other on her shoulder. There was a gracefulness to the way she summoned them to her, standing there and looking at them as they made harsh cawing sounds, quietly. After a moment, her violet eyes looked up, serious. "Miroku-san, Sango, Shippou...and Kirara," she told them, then glanced at the one she called Usagi a bit earlier. "We've been watched."
Usagi blinked once, her hand gripping the man's arm tightly for a moment.
"We'd better move inside then," he said, turning away. "No one here will hurt you, so long as you don't try to attack us first. We have a rather interesting enemy on our hands," he glanced to the sky meaningfully, then back to them.
"We called you here as friends," Usagi told them, the laughter in her face draining away and revealing someone much more serious suddenly. "We face an enemy that is both a youkai and something familiar to us, called a daimon. Come inside, your friends will vouch for any doubts you might have." The smile returned suddenly, and she winked at them, holding a finger to her lips as though it were a secret. "Welcome to the future."
Terms of note:
shakujyou- Miroku's houshi staff
hiraikotsu- Sango's giant boomerang
jaki- an evil aura
hentai- pervert/perversion
bozu- an insulting term for monk
yurei- a ghost
taiji-ya- youkai exterminator
It's short, it's short, I know, I know...but if I didn't end here, then the next chapter would be endless...it's longer, I promise! But the rest of the Inuyasha-tachi are there now...^_^ That's good, ne?
Also, I mentioned in over the course of the story- Sango and Miroku had somewhat unpleasant meetings with Kami/Ukifune before, which is why when Shippou recognizes her, they start to pull weapons, not knowing what was going on...besides the fact they were just unceremoniously plucked then deposited from one era to another. Disconcerting? Even for the unflappable. ^.~ Seeing a possible 'enemy' on top of it? Weapons anyone? Though I doubt they'd actually get through to her with an angry Sailor Saturn standing before her 'sister.'
As for Kami using the affix '-kun' on Shippou- when they first met, Ukifune was wearing the guise of a little girl. Then it wouldn't seem as odd, since she's actually twenty. If you count her time as 'dead' she's probably around a thousand...but I digress. And guessing ages like that will make my head hurt, even if she is my own character. o.O;
So, til next storytime.
~Queen
Coming up next, in Chapter 9: Bound-
In her desk lay several black silk ribbons. Their ends were cut at an angle, clean and sharp, and the one she selected fluttered as she brought it up to the light, watching the matte darkness absorb the low light. She set herself down at the chair, the wheels squealing in protest as she brought herself closer to the desk, slowly wrapping the ribbon around the waxen doll, wrapping it tighter and tighter around the figure....