My first three reviews!! ::sigh:: I love you guys! I'm going to work a little more on the relationships between characters and their personalities, because I think it makes the story more fun to read!! Enjoy, and as always.. review!!
*disclaimer* inuyasha is not mine
Out of the Waves
Chapter Four: Discovering a Different World
Miroku walked beside Hakori, not listening to a word that was being said. He was thinking instead, of Kagome. Kagome intrigued him. Sure, there were pretty girls at the temple, but most had him (mistakenly) labeled as a pervert. He couldn't understand it. He merely appreciated every woman as a thing of beauty.
At any rate, if this Alereal world of Kagome's was real, and had other girls as pretty as Kagome, he definitely wouldn't mind saving it. Miroku grinned. 'Speaking of Kagome,' he wondered, 'how is she doing with Inuyasha?
*
"And what's that?" Kagome asked, pointing to a snack machine. This place had the oddest contraptions in it.
"A snack machine"
"And that?"
"A lamp."
"That?"
"Electrical socket. You already asked that one."
"Mhmm. What's that?"
"That's a device that can shine your shoes while brushing your hair while playing Yankee Doodle on a slide whistle."
"Wow! Really?" Kagome's eyes lit up.
"No. Actually a coffee maker, but we can pretend." Inuyasha said dryly, making his way over to the snack machine and bought two chocolate bars. "Here." He grunted, handing one to Kagome. "Chocolate."
Kagome grinned and walked to Inuyasha. She was having too much fun.
"So. Your ears." Her fingers itched to pet them. "Care to explain?"
"Not especially."
"Please?" Kagome clasped her hands and made puppy eyes. "Pretty please?"
"I'm a hanyou." Inuyasha coughed, looking away.
"A what? Oh! A hanyou! Cool!"
Inuyasha looked at her strangely.
"Cool?" He repeated cautiously.
Kagome took a bite out of her chocolate bar.
"Mhmm. Back in Alereal I have this friend Junta. She's part human, part sea serpent demon. I'm so jealous. But this is good. What'd you say it was again? Chaulkit?"
"Chocolate." Inuyasha corrected absently. He just couldn't figure this girl out. She acted all high and mighty in front of Hakori, but now she was bouncing around like a five year old on a sugar high. And sure people had begun to accept him as a hanyou, but 'cool'? He shook his head and followed Kagome out of the cafeteria.
A group of young Resistance members were walking down the hall towards the cafeteria.
"Hello!" Kagome sang out. "I'm Kagome!"
The group stopped and the leader of the group, a tall girl named Lia, whom Inuyasha recognized as the daughter of a very powerful man in Esliad, looked Kagome up and down. The rest of the group whispered loudly behind her.
"That hair! Who does she think she is?"
"Look at those clothes. Where did she come from? A freak show?"
Kagome's bright smile fell.
"Well," Lia said loudly, "I didn't know Hakori was welcoming circus freaks into the resistance now. Seems he'll let anyone in these days." The group laughed loudly and continued towards the cafeteria.
Inuyasha stopped them. Everyone knew Lia had had a crush on Inuyasha since the day her family had joined the resistance.
"Hey Lia," he called, barely controlling his anger as he watched Kagome turn away, the bounce gone from her step.
"Yes, Inuyasha?" Lia replied, a sugary smile plastered on her face, "what is it?"
"I would have thought you knew Hakori only let a freak in when you joined. He hasn't done so since."
Lia's smile faltered and her eyes narrowed.
"Come on girls," she said loudly, her eyes never leaving Inuyasha, "we all know the opinion of a hanyou doesn't count." She turned and walked haughtily into the cafeteria, but no one missed the furious flush on her face.
Inuyasha hurried over to Kagome, who was furiously blinking tears from her eyes. Inuyasha stood there awkwardly.
"Come on," he said, "I have something I think you'll like."
*
Miroku was far from bored. He knew that picking a new instructor was important to the Resistance, and so he nodded sincerely to all of Hakori's questions and fixed his eyes intently on the people Hakori had brought him to observe.
His mind, however, was elsewhere.
Oooh! That red head at the bench press is cute and, oh my! Look at that blonde doing pull ups. Maybe I can convince Hakori that I need more assistance gathering the shards.
"Well Miroku? What do you think?" Hakori asked, interrupting Miroku's thoughts.
"I agree, most definitely. You're completely right." Miroku nodded, his eyes never leaving a brunette practicing on a sparring mat.
Hakori looked at him strangely, but before he could question Miroku, a young messenger bearing the mark of Arysis burst into the room.
"Guardian Hakori!" he cried, panting heavily, "Arysis has fallen!"
*
Sango looked about her, distraught. She had had no warning of this attack
"Kohaku!" she called. Where was he? She watched in dismay as the beautiful city of Arysis burned, its people running about in panic as youkai attacked at will. Sango was sickened. They were actually enjoying this. She ducked into an alley. She knew the youkai were looking for her. She anxiously touched the soul shard of Arysis, which hung around her neck. It was her duty to escape and keep the shard safe, but she could not leave Kohaku. Where was he?
Sango hurried around the corner, trying to stay in the shadows. She knew she wasn't supposed to stay in Arysis even ten minutes after the temple fell, but she had to find Kohaku.
Suddenly she halted completely. There, across the town center was Kohaku, standing before a woman demon, his face blank.
"Kohaku, NO!" She rushed across the street, her boomerang already whipping through the air, slicing the demon in half. But before she could reach Kohaku, her limbs froze. She stood, paralyzed, in the middle of the street. Sango looked around in panic. There, walking out of the shadows was Naraku.
"Really, Guardian Sango, I expected more of you." Sango felt herself regain control of her limbs, but she stood there, still motionless, staring at Naraku defiantly. She had sent a messenger to Hakori when it had first become apparent that the city could not hold out against the youkai. She had let him take Kiara, so she was sure help must be on the way.
"What do you want Naraku?" she spat, as if she didn't know what he was after.
"Sango dear, do you really have to ask? However, I'm no longer concerned with getting that shard. As far as I'm concerned," he gestured to the destruction around him, "it's already mine. I'll even let some lowly servant be the one to take it from you, just so they can feel like they are useful. But this young man, what did you say his name was, Kohaku? He interests me much more."
"What do you want from him, Naraku?" she demanded, trying to hide the panic in her voice, her dark brown eyes flashing with the frustration of being helpless.
"Why, I'm merely concerned for his well-being. I want to make sure he is brought up correctly." He turned to Kohaku, whose face remained blank, his eyes unblinking. "Come along, Kohaku." And they were gone.
Sango fell to her knees her faced covered by her hair. She clenched her fist in anger and looked up to where Naraku had disappeared. He would not get away with this, she swore to herself. She jumped up and ran from the city. She wasn't much in the mood to face arrogant youkai right now.
*
Kagome had been counting the stairs, but she had lost track at three hundred, and that had been ten minutes ago. She had no idea that the temple of Esliad was so tall.
She thought wistfully of the Altruit tower and wondered whether her city was safe.
"Inuyasha, where are you taking me?" she asked, just a hint of a whine in her voice.
All in all her day had been exhausting. Only this morning she had woken up in her room at Alereal, not even suspecting that her whole world was about to fall apart.
"Not telling. We're almost there." He really didn't know why he was being nice to this strange girl, but he knew what it was like to not belong.
The stairs ended at a small stone room with a door leading out to an open stone terrace. The sun had just sunk below the horizon and the stars had only just begun to come out. From any point on the tower, Kagome could see the ocean.
"Oh Inuyasha, it's beautiful!" Kagome breathed, "but what is that above us?" she asked, looking upwards.
"What?"
"The darkness with the little lights." Inuyasha chuckled.
"That's the sky Kagome. It's a great expanse of empty space, and those pin points of light are really stars, huge masses of gas, millions of miles away."
"Really." Kagome yawned, glancing upward again. Then she looked out to the ocean. "Look, Inuyasha," she pointed out to the horizon, "do you see that part where it looks like the light on the ocean is coming out of the waves, rather than from a reflection?" Inuyasha nodded. "That's from Alereal, though it's farther away than you may think. Sometimes, I think, the light escapes the barrier." She yawned tiredly and turned to him with a small smile.
"Thank you, Inuyasha."
He nodded and looked away. He very rarely did anything nice for anyone, mainly because the world had been so quick to turn him away. But Kagome was not like the rest of the world, for obvious reasons.
He watched as she tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle another large yawn.
"I guess I should show you your room now."
"Mhmm." Kagome said, rubbing her eyes.
Inuyasha had gotten the code to unlock Kagome's room earlier from the old man down on the first level of the temple. They stopped fist outside of room 117.
"This is my room," Inuyasha explained, "Your room is 120, right down the hall."
They began walking towards it and Inuyasha opened the door to Kagome's room.
"Bathroom, closet, bed." He said, indicating each. "Good night."
Kagome looked down at her dirtied white outfit then back at Inuyasha. Yea right she was sleeping in that.
"Pajamas?" she called out. Inuyasha turned and looked at her.
"Oh right. I guess they haven't supplied you with more clothes yet," he muttered, "Hold on."
He went down the hall to his room and grabbed and over-sized t-shirt and a pair of shorts. When he returned to Kagome's room she was inspecting the light switch.
"Intriguing." She muttered and absently took the clothes out of Inuyasha's hand. "Thanks."
"Alright then," Inuyasha said, "we'll get you up-to-date on the situation with Naraku tomorrow morning." Kagome nodded.
"Good night, Inuyasha."
"Good night." He closed her door behind him and started walking back towards his room, feeling just as tired as Kagome looked.
Before he could open his door, Shippou ran up to him. Inuyasha sighed.
"Inuyasha! Arysis has been attacked, the temple has fallen! Hakori wants to see you, who is this Kagome girl he mentioned? Is she nice? Can I meet her? Hakori needs you, you have to go to Hakori now!" The young kitsune gasped for breath.
"Where's Miroku?" Inuyasha asked, far more alert than before.
"I had him leave immediately after the messenger from Arysis arrived." Inuyasha turned to see Hakori stride down the hall. "Where is Kagome?"
"In her room, I just left her there."
"Very well. Miroku is already on his way to Arysis. Tomorrow morning you and Kagome will follow. It is extremely important that we find the guardian of Arysis before Naraku does." Inuyasha nodded. "I'll have some one wake you early tomorrow morning."
*
Naraku smiled. So things had not gone as perfectly as planned with the attacks on Alereal and Esliad, but the attack on Arysis was going superbly. He had seen it himself.
"Kagura." He called out, and his servant appeared before him.
"Yes master?"
"I'm sure that fool Hakori will send some of his henchmen to try to foil my work in Arysis. See to it that they are taken care of."
"Of course master."
"Oh, and before you go," he nodded towards the emotionless child standing beside him, "see that Kohaku is properly welcomed to the castle and taken care of. He is a guest of the utmost importance." Kagura grinned slyly and nodded, then took Kohaku away.
Naraku grinned. He had once heard that taking over the world was impossible. His grin turned into laughter. This was almost too easy.
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Yay! Another chapter done! Thanks to vegito, angelsong and celestesprings for reviewing… you make me so happy ^-^
Hope you enjoyed, now you know the routine… review!!!
-reina-