Disclaimer is the same as in the prologue.
Author's note at the end.
"Borrowed Time" - Chapter One: Of Wells and Demons
Inuyasha stared at the dirt walls around him and screamed his frustration at the powers that brought him there. Magic had become such an integral part of his life. He knew its touch instantly.
His day had been calm, quiet, not that he was exactly content with that. He liked having something happen, a taste of action, but being ripped from his midday meal in a sun-filled day to find himself in a dark hole in the ground made him angry beyond description. On top of all that, it was raining.
He heard voices above him and he took in the smells of his new surroundings. A low, guttural growl erupted from him as he isolated one scent. A demon stood outside of the hole.
As Inuyasha leapt from the hole, a flash of lightning silhouetted his image against the suddenly brightened sky. With unbelievable speed and control he landed on his feet within inches of the demon's face.
The only note of surprise Spike registered was a slightly raised eyebrow. He would not let his composure slip before the white-haired, golden-eyed demon boy in Japanese styled robes.
"You," Inuyasha spat at the vampire as his dog-like pointed ears pinned themselves back against his head. "Did you bring me here?!"
From behind him, a familiar voice asserted, "I did."
Inuyasha turned to the monk and paused. Though his eyes seemed older and his hair a little thinner, he could have been a double for his friend. He stepped towards him as the recognition flickered across his face, but as he sniffed the air he found he was mistaken. "You're not Miroku," he said accusingly, stopping in his approach.
"I am his descendent, Tetsuo," the monk replied. He bowed to the demon as a show of great respect. "You honor us with your presence, Lord Inuyasha."
He looked away from the monk to the rest of them. Three humans and a demon.
Xander smiled uncomfortably, "I guess you're not much in the helping mood."
"Don't take it personally, Xander," Willow said comfortingly. "No one I ever summoned was really happy to see me." She tried to adopt his light mood but she couldn't dismiss the hateful look the dog demon gave them. They must have looked pathetic, standing in the rain. They hadn't expected a demon to be summoned and at the moment they weren't quite sure they wanted him to stay.
Buffy looked at him without shame. She said nothing but almost seemed to dare him to say something to her.
Inuyasha saw nothing remarkable about them, except a dispirited quietness he wanted nothing to do with. His eyes focused on the small, defiant woman. She did not seem to care what he wanted. Her mind dwelled on other things, things that his sudden presence would not distract her from. He regarded them all with disdain and turned away towards the hole he had just sprung from. "Feh, I don't have time for this."
Determined to make his stay, Tetsuo called out to him, "These people you see before you have been targeted by an entity which describes itself as the First Evil. 500 years ago it ravaged your homeland in the form of a demon named Naraku." Inuyasha stopped and turned his face back towards Tetsuo. The name had struck a chord, as the monk knew it would. "You know him well," he commented. "Will you not aid them?"
The dog demon did not move from where he stood but he would not concede to stay. "As you said, I've got my own problems," he countered.
"For one week's time you and your companions will remain unchallenged," Tetsuo argued. How he felt he could make an assurance like this he did not reveal but his voice held an authority which made him believable. "All I ask is that you spend your time here, helping us, while they rest in the past. I promise you," he added with the hint of a challenge, "you won't be bored."
Inuyasha began to snarl in annoyance. "You think you know me so well," he snapped. "You should know that I don't like being manipulated."
This evening wasn't what anyone had expected. No longer content as merely an observer, Spike raised his voice in agreement. "The dog has a point," he said drolly. He opened his mouth to say something else but a distant sound and familiar scent robbed him of his speech.
Buffy noticed his change immediately. "What is it?" she asked the alerted vampire though she didn't need to. She already knew the answer. She had seen all of this before in her dreams. Everything almost exactly as it was now down to the rain beating down on their heads.
Almost. In her dream, Inuyasha wasn't there. But that didn't matter. Evidently her dream made room for inconsistencies. Her hope was lost. They were coming anyway and she had no choice but to meet them.
Before Spike could respond, Dawn's voice screamed out from the house. "Buffy! Bringers!!"
Willow and Spike turned and ran for the house. Sounds of broken glass and startled cries of potential slayers marked the fight that had begun. Xander followed, pausing only long enough to pick up a shovel to use as a weapon.
Buffy focused impatient eyes on the insolent dog demon. She had not asked for his help and would not lower herself to beg for it now. "Stay! Go! It doesn't matter to me," she bit off the words coldly. "You have the choice. I don't. I have to fight." With that she turned and took off to join the fray.
Inuyasha watched after her with surprise. She was small and she held no weapon that he could see but yet she ran boldly into battle. He could not shake that she seemed oddly familiar, a young woman with a deceptive look of frailty. He could hear them fighting. The sound was difficult for him to turn away from. The smell of the demons swarming the front of the house hit him like a wall. He swallowed the urge to follow her. This was not his fight. He wanted to go home . . .but the woman piqued his curiosity. "Who is she?" he asked the monk who had remained with him.
"She is the Slayer," Tetsuo replied with calm satisfaction. The arrival of the Bringers and Buffy's outburst did more to convince Inuyasha to stay than any argument he could make.
Inuyasha frowned at the title. It was cold and brutal and told of great power and responsibility hidden beneath the surface. He knew now where he had seen this before but it wasn't what he saw that creased his brow. It was what he smelled. "She looks like a girl," he said with a hint of sadness, "but she smells like death."
Tetsuo remained, watching Inuyasha struggle with his decision. The sounds of fighting had increased. The dog demon shook it away and turned back to the makeshift well. He took one step and stopped.
He had to see. He had to know what they were up against. He muttered something to himself, something dark and angry and then glancing at the monk, he gave him full blame for everything that he was about to do.
Inuyasha leapt into the air following the path the Slayer had taken. While the others had gone through the house, she chose to go around, meeting her enemy from a different point. When he reached the front of the house he saw her in the midst of nearly a dozen, hairless, human looking demons.
In the place of their eyes were archaic symbols that held no meaning to him. His attention focused on the Slayer. She fought with incredible force and fantastic agility. Her movements were nearly too fast for even his keen eyes to follow. Someone with her ability shouldn't need to ask for his help.
Buffy had knocked two Bringers aside when she felt a rush of air as something leapt over her head. A blur of silvery white hair flew past her and began to sweep through the Bringers like they were dolls. She watched in amazement with the unfamiliar touch of hope lurking in her eyes.
In a matter of seconds it was over. The attack had ended and what Bringers still stood left as quickly as they had appeared.
Spike emerged from the house dragging the limp body of another Bringer. He tossed it to the ground with a little more force than was needed. "Did you know they were coming?" he asked her. His eyes were serious, accusing.
"Yes," she admitted. Her tone was defiant, harder than she meant for it to be. She didn't have to hide her foreknowledge any longer. Tonight was just a test. The real battle lay ahead and the First had shown it to her. She would have to prepare them.
Spike looked away from her trying to disguise his feelings of betrayal with anger. "And you felt it necessary to keep this valuable piece of information from the rest of us?"
Buffy pointed back at her house and the dozen potential slayers seeking shelter there. "You remember what they were like the last time we got a heads up on an attack?!" she yelled at him. Immediately she felt a wash of guilt as she realized he couldn't remember. He wasn't there. She continued with a softer tone. "They cried and cowered and ran. Tonight would have been no different. They had to face the unknown and see for themselves what they were capable of. They needed to see what their instincts could do."
"I'm not one of them," he said, letting the quiet sound of hurt back into his voice.
"I know," she answered softly. She had nearly died getting him back and though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, getting him back was all that mattered to her. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."
"You keep acting like you're alone in all of this. That our strength doesn't matter," he said, meeting her eyes and holding them. "We aren't here for protection. We have a stake in this too." He threw a glance behind him to Inuyasha crouching as he looked at the slain Bringers scattered across the yard. "We didn't just blow our evening digging an enormous hole in the ground for nothing. He looks useful. Put him to work."
As Spike left her to return to the house, Buffy approached Inuyasha. He watched her with unreadable eyes. "Does this mean you're staying?" she asked, keeping her tone indifferent.
He would not let her goad him into showing concern for their plight. These mindless demon Bringers were numerous but easily overcome. They were only a symptom of a much larger problem. He had examined them closely, their look, their smell. Nothing connected them to Naraku, but the pattern seemed familiar. Smaller, weaker demons sent en masse to do the work of their untouchable controller. If the pattern persisted, the demons would only get bigger and more powerful. He didn't want to stay and he knew they wouldn't-couldn't make him. He had been pulled into a mystery and he hated mysteries. But if he went back he would always wonder and that form of torture would be worse than leaving his friends for a week.
The Slayer had to let her pride slip to ask for his help. It wasn't easy for her and such a show of weakness was worth something. "One week," he said finally, glaring down at the woman who had drawn his interest. The similarities did not end with the demons and the questions he wanted to ask the Slayer did not form themselves easily. He sensed something with her, smelled something that haunted him. Yet another mystery to solve. He had to know but he would wait. He had time. "I will give you one week and then I go back. Not one minute more."
Buffy nodded faintly. She swallowed the smile that wanted to break across her face. "Sounds fair," she replied, extending her hand in welcome. He took it reluctantly. "Welcome to the Hellmouth."
TBC
Author's note: I'm sorry for the delay. As I indicated in my bio, something was wrong with my computer. Well, it's fixed now. My hard drive had to be reformatted which was painful. There are always things that you discover later you forgot to save. Now they are lost forever. But the important thing is I got chapter one to you.( I was going to write up a couple of little interludes before I went into the full-blown chapter two but there are too many things I need to clear up first. Hopefully I will get chapter two up in less than a week. Try to be patient. You guys deserve my very best but my very best takes time. Feel free to email me with questions or comments.
Chapter Two: "Of Families and Faces" - Inuyasha doesn't integrate well into a crowded house of teenage girls. As he considers leaving an unexpected person unknowingly convinces him to stay. Also, someone sees a familiar face. It's not who you think.
Author's note at the end.
"Borrowed Time" - Chapter One: Of Wells and Demons
Inuyasha stared at the dirt walls around him and screamed his frustration at the powers that brought him there. Magic had become such an integral part of his life. He knew its touch instantly.
His day had been calm, quiet, not that he was exactly content with that. He liked having something happen, a taste of action, but being ripped from his midday meal in a sun-filled day to find himself in a dark hole in the ground made him angry beyond description. On top of all that, it was raining.
He heard voices above him and he took in the smells of his new surroundings. A low, guttural growl erupted from him as he isolated one scent. A demon stood outside of the hole.
As Inuyasha leapt from the hole, a flash of lightning silhouetted his image against the suddenly brightened sky. With unbelievable speed and control he landed on his feet within inches of the demon's face.
The only note of surprise Spike registered was a slightly raised eyebrow. He would not let his composure slip before the white-haired, golden-eyed demon boy in Japanese styled robes.
"You," Inuyasha spat at the vampire as his dog-like pointed ears pinned themselves back against his head. "Did you bring me here?!"
From behind him, a familiar voice asserted, "I did."
Inuyasha turned to the monk and paused. Though his eyes seemed older and his hair a little thinner, he could have been a double for his friend. He stepped towards him as the recognition flickered across his face, but as he sniffed the air he found he was mistaken. "You're not Miroku," he said accusingly, stopping in his approach.
"I am his descendent, Tetsuo," the monk replied. He bowed to the demon as a show of great respect. "You honor us with your presence, Lord Inuyasha."
He looked away from the monk to the rest of them. Three humans and a demon.
Xander smiled uncomfortably, "I guess you're not much in the helping mood."
"Don't take it personally, Xander," Willow said comfortingly. "No one I ever summoned was really happy to see me." She tried to adopt his light mood but she couldn't dismiss the hateful look the dog demon gave them. They must have looked pathetic, standing in the rain. They hadn't expected a demon to be summoned and at the moment they weren't quite sure they wanted him to stay.
Buffy looked at him without shame. She said nothing but almost seemed to dare him to say something to her.
Inuyasha saw nothing remarkable about them, except a dispirited quietness he wanted nothing to do with. His eyes focused on the small, defiant woman. She did not seem to care what he wanted. Her mind dwelled on other things, things that his sudden presence would not distract her from. He regarded them all with disdain and turned away towards the hole he had just sprung from. "Feh, I don't have time for this."
Determined to make his stay, Tetsuo called out to him, "These people you see before you have been targeted by an entity which describes itself as the First Evil. 500 years ago it ravaged your homeland in the form of a demon named Naraku." Inuyasha stopped and turned his face back towards Tetsuo. The name had struck a chord, as the monk knew it would. "You know him well," he commented. "Will you not aid them?"
The dog demon did not move from where he stood but he would not concede to stay. "As you said, I've got my own problems," he countered.
"For one week's time you and your companions will remain unchallenged," Tetsuo argued. How he felt he could make an assurance like this he did not reveal but his voice held an authority which made him believable. "All I ask is that you spend your time here, helping us, while they rest in the past. I promise you," he added with the hint of a challenge, "you won't be bored."
Inuyasha began to snarl in annoyance. "You think you know me so well," he snapped. "You should know that I don't like being manipulated."
This evening wasn't what anyone had expected. No longer content as merely an observer, Spike raised his voice in agreement. "The dog has a point," he said drolly. He opened his mouth to say something else but a distant sound and familiar scent robbed him of his speech.
Buffy noticed his change immediately. "What is it?" she asked the alerted vampire though she didn't need to. She already knew the answer. She had seen all of this before in her dreams. Everything almost exactly as it was now down to the rain beating down on their heads.
Almost. In her dream, Inuyasha wasn't there. But that didn't matter. Evidently her dream made room for inconsistencies. Her hope was lost. They were coming anyway and she had no choice but to meet them.
Before Spike could respond, Dawn's voice screamed out from the house. "Buffy! Bringers!!"
Willow and Spike turned and ran for the house. Sounds of broken glass and startled cries of potential slayers marked the fight that had begun. Xander followed, pausing only long enough to pick up a shovel to use as a weapon.
Buffy focused impatient eyes on the insolent dog demon. She had not asked for his help and would not lower herself to beg for it now. "Stay! Go! It doesn't matter to me," she bit off the words coldly. "You have the choice. I don't. I have to fight." With that she turned and took off to join the fray.
Inuyasha watched after her with surprise. She was small and she held no weapon that he could see but yet she ran boldly into battle. He could not shake that she seemed oddly familiar, a young woman with a deceptive look of frailty. He could hear them fighting. The sound was difficult for him to turn away from. The smell of the demons swarming the front of the house hit him like a wall. He swallowed the urge to follow her. This was not his fight. He wanted to go home . . .but the woman piqued his curiosity. "Who is she?" he asked the monk who had remained with him.
"She is the Slayer," Tetsuo replied with calm satisfaction. The arrival of the Bringers and Buffy's outburst did more to convince Inuyasha to stay than any argument he could make.
Inuyasha frowned at the title. It was cold and brutal and told of great power and responsibility hidden beneath the surface. He knew now where he had seen this before but it wasn't what he saw that creased his brow. It was what he smelled. "She looks like a girl," he said with a hint of sadness, "but she smells like death."
Tetsuo remained, watching Inuyasha struggle with his decision. The sounds of fighting had increased. The dog demon shook it away and turned back to the makeshift well. He took one step and stopped.
He had to see. He had to know what they were up against. He muttered something to himself, something dark and angry and then glancing at the monk, he gave him full blame for everything that he was about to do.
Inuyasha leapt into the air following the path the Slayer had taken. While the others had gone through the house, she chose to go around, meeting her enemy from a different point. When he reached the front of the house he saw her in the midst of nearly a dozen, hairless, human looking demons.
In the place of their eyes were archaic symbols that held no meaning to him. His attention focused on the Slayer. She fought with incredible force and fantastic agility. Her movements were nearly too fast for even his keen eyes to follow. Someone with her ability shouldn't need to ask for his help.
Buffy had knocked two Bringers aside when she felt a rush of air as something leapt over her head. A blur of silvery white hair flew past her and began to sweep through the Bringers like they were dolls. She watched in amazement with the unfamiliar touch of hope lurking in her eyes.
In a matter of seconds it was over. The attack had ended and what Bringers still stood left as quickly as they had appeared.
Spike emerged from the house dragging the limp body of another Bringer. He tossed it to the ground with a little more force than was needed. "Did you know they were coming?" he asked her. His eyes were serious, accusing.
"Yes," she admitted. Her tone was defiant, harder than she meant for it to be. She didn't have to hide her foreknowledge any longer. Tonight was just a test. The real battle lay ahead and the First had shown it to her. She would have to prepare them.
Spike looked away from her trying to disguise his feelings of betrayal with anger. "And you felt it necessary to keep this valuable piece of information from the rest of us?"
Buffy pointed back at her house and the dozen potential slayers seeking shelter there. "You remember what they were like the last time we got a heads up on an attack?!" she yelled at him. Immediately she felt a wash of guilt as she realized he couldn't remember. He wasn't there. She continued with a softer tone. "They cried and cowered and ran. Tonight would have been no different. They had to face the unknown and see for themselves what they were capable of. They needed to see what their instincts could do."
"I'm not one of them," he said, letting the quiet sound of hurt back into his voice.
"I know," she answered softly. She had nearly died getting him back and though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, getting him back was all that mattered to her. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."
"You keep acting like you're alone in all of this. That our strength doesn't matter," he said, meeting her eyes and holding them. "We aren't here for protection. We have a stake in this too." He threw a glance behind him to Inuyasha crouching as he looked at the slain Bringers scattered across the yard. "We didn't just blow our evening digging an enormous hole in the ground for nothing. He looks useful. Put him to work."
As Spike left her to return to the house, Buffy approached Inuyasha. He watched her with unreadable eyes. "Does this mean you're staying?" she asked, keeping her tone indifferent.
He would not let her goad him into showing concern for their plight. These mindless demon Bringers were numerous but easily overcome. They were only a symptom of a much larger problem. He had examined them closely, their look, their smell. Nothing connected them to Naraku, but the pattern seemed familiar. Smaller, weaker demons sent en masse to do the work of their untouchable controller. If the pattern persisted, the demons would only get bigger and more powerful. He didn't want to stay and he knew they wouldn't-couldn't make him. He had been pulled into a mystery and he hated mysteries. But if he went back he would always wonder and that form of torture would be worse than leaving his friends for a week.
The Slayer had to let her pride slip to ask for his help. It wasn't easy for her and such a show of weakness was worth something. "One week," he said finally, glaring down at the woman who had drawn his interest. The similarities did not end with the demons and the questions he wanted to ask the Slayer did not form themselves easily. He sensed something with her, smelled something that haunted him. Yet another mystery to solve. He had to know but he would wait. He had time. "I will give you one week and then I go back. Not one minute more."
Buffy nodded faintly. She swallowed the smile that wanted to break across her face. "Sounds fair," she replied, extending her hand in welcome. He took it reluctantly. "Welcome to the Hellmouth."
TBC
Author's note: I'm sorry for the delay. As I indicated in my bio, something was wrong with my computer. Well, it's fixed now. My hard drive had to be reformatted which was painful. There are always things that you discover later you forgot to save. Now they are lost forever. But the important thing is I got chapter one to you.( I was going to write up a couple of little interludes before I went into the full-blown chapter two but there are too many things I need to clear up first. Hopefully I will get chapter two up in less than a week. Try to be patient. You guys deserve my very best but my very best takes time. Feel free to email me with questions or comments.
Chapter Two: "Of Families and Faces" - Inuyasha doesn't integrate well into a crowded house of teenage girls. As he considers leaving an unexpected person unknowingly convinces him to stay. Also, someone sees a familiar face. It's not who you think.