Mata Ashita
Chapter 1
*Singin' in the cellars* .
.
.
***** .
. Here she was. .
.
No. .
.
Here THEY were.
.
"I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't to be a duck na na na n-ow!"
.
Kagome tenderly caressed the new bruise that was forming on her head where a rock had been thrown at her.
.
"Shut up, wench!" her new companion carped.
.
He wasn't really a companion. In fact, she didn't even know his name! All she knew (and cared) was that he was the one to steal her bread, and he was all to blame for their imprisonment.
.
*Flashback*
.
The wind blew at her feet, creating little sand tornadoes around her. Kagome sighed as the sun beat down on her and the breeze toyed with her hair. Grass of incredible height grew about her, enveloping her in a field of slick, green blades and tickling her exposed arms. They rode up and on the elevated hills to the left of her, and ran down all the way to the little river to her right. It spread way ahead of her, beyond her line of sight, and behind where her journey began. The sky was clear, and the whole atmosphere was just wonderful. There couldn't have been a more perfect day to be out on the road.
.
.
Too bad she was allergic to grass.
.
Throughout her adventure so far, all she did was walk, sneeze, walk, sneeze, walk...and, well, you get the idea.
.
Her arms were getting rashes from her allergic reaction, her eyes were all puffy, and her whole face was red. To tell you the truth, she was not a pretty sight.
.
"Bored, bored, bored, bored..." Kagome chanted on and on. Walking such a great distance by herself was not fun, and kind of disappointing. She wouldn't have anyone to talk to, or anyone to keep her busy on this trip.
.
So to make herself feel better, she began to sing.
.
And sing she did.
.
She sang, and she sang, and she sang her heart out! She sang loud, proud, and so horribly that all living creature within a mile of her ran away.
.
****** .
Somewhere in the distance, two diminutive, orange ears perked up.
"What the heck is that?" a small kitsune thought out loud.
.
****** .
*Grrrrgle*
.
"Ugh....sooooo.....hungry..." Kagome complained as she held her stomach dearly.
.
Exhausted, she sat at the foot of a tree in the middle of murky forest, starving to death. She had gotten so bored (and hungry) that she ate all the rations she had (not that she was smart enough to pack a good amount in the first place).
.
Hey, who wouldn't eat when they're bored?
.
So now she was stuck with an empty sack, accompanied an empty stomach.
.
The dead silence of the wood didn't help either. It was pitch black all around. She couldn't even see anything within a two-foot range of her face! What she wouldn't give to get out of there quickly, but a long day's worth of walking meant a good, long night's worth of sleep. She wouldn't know in which direction to go either.
.
Lazily examining the place, her eyes landed on a pair of golden eyes. She stared into golden eyes, mesmerized.
.
'Those eyes,' she thought, snapping out of her trance.
.
Those eyes were hooting at her!
.
"Can it, bird! It's not like I have anything to eat either!" Kagome shrieked at the night owl who calmly sat there, still 'hooting' away.
.
Feeling her eyelids gain weight, she stretched out on the leaf littered, dirt ground, for she failed to bring anything comfortable to sleep on.
.
She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, comforted by the sweet smell of baked goods.
.
Wait.
.
BAKED goods?
.
Baked goods meant food.
.
Food meant no hunger.
.
No hunger meant no grousing bellies.
.
As if hypnotized, she picked up her bag and followed the alluring scent.
.
Crossing the woods in a dazed state of mind, she stopped when the smell of bread became stronger.
.
Ahead of her lay a small cottage.
.
It stood out like sore thumb, smack dab in the middle of an elliptical clearing, in the center of the forest. Darkness and trees loomed over the petite dwelling, giving out a foreboding feeling.
.
Smoke rose from its chimney, providing evidence that something delicious was indeed cooking inside.
.
Sneaking up to the nearest window, Kagome wiped off the dust and peered inside.
.
It was a bakery.
.
What the heck was a bakery doing in the middle of a deserted forest?
.
Tables and racks upon racks were filled with bread. Every crook and cranny held a loaf of bread.
. The only thing that made it seem to be inhabited was the fireplace. It was lit, stretching and molding shadows into odd, ominous looking forms.
.
There was a staircase to the very left that apparently led to the attic, and the other windows appeared to be quite dusty as well.
.
But the bread...
.
Oh the bread!
.
It looked tremendously mouth watering.
.
It may not have seemed like much, but to a famished girl, it looked like everything in the world.
.
Kagome noticed that to the very right of the house was a window.
.
A window she could easily fit through.
.
Wiping off her drool, she snuck over to the side of the house, and examined it.
.
It was unlocked.
.
Gratefully thanking the gods above, she opened it little by little; making sure very little sound could be heard. Checking left and right, she began to crawl through, completely oblivious to the lurking shadow.
.
****
.
"Urk...ugh...hpph!"
.
Kagome wiggled and pushed herself through the window as hard as she could. She let off a shriek when she fell to the ground with a thump
.
"Argh, since when were windows so little?" she whispered, rubbing her sore end.
.
She immediately forgot her pain when she looked around the place. Drool began to form at the end of her mouth again. Her stomach growled, reminding her of its much-wanted attention.
.
Standing up and patting the dust off her bottom, she grabbed a loaf of bread and bit into it, only to spit it out the next second.
.
"Blegh...blueberry"
.
With a disgusted face, she threw the half bitten bread aside, and searched through the other ones. She snatched up every loaf of bread that looked non-blueberry to her, and bit into it.
.
They were ALL blueberry.
.
"Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat..." Sighing, she looked around some more.
.
.
And there it was.
.
Sitting on right in the middle of the table.
.
All by itself.
It looked......to put it shortly...
. ...perfect.
. Kagome stared longingly at it, as her hand reached out to grasp it, pulling it towards her watery mouth.
.
It didn't budge.
.
Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. She hauled at it again.
.
Still wouldn't move an inch.
.
Frustrated, she tugged and tugged and tugged.
.
It was on the fourth tug did she notice a clawed hand clutched at the other end of her dinner.
.
She was only allowed a short look at her opponent as the front door was thrown open.
.
.
.
*End Flashback*
.
It turns out that someone actually did live in this gosh-forsaken abandoned cottage. A lonely, old widow with no living relatives or friends. She had no husband either for he died eating one of her freshly baked breads.
.
You really couldn't blame her. It WAS her first time.
.
Also, the area surrounding her house wasn't really this deserted either.
.
All the animals had died eating the crumbs she had left for them.
.
But getting back to matters at hand...
.
"So...what's your name?" Kagome asked the longhaired stranger across from her whilst doodling imaginary patterns on the ground.
.
"None of your business!" he growled.
.
"Hey! I should at least know the name of the man who tried to take my food and leave me starving!" she pointed a finger to her still grumbling stomach to prove her point.
.
"That was not yours! I saw it first!"
.
"No you didn't! Plus, I got my hands on it first!" Kagome "hmph"ed, crossing her arms and turning her head away, refusing to talk such an infuriating man.
.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that he was also doing the same, except in the other direction. Taking advantage of the situation, she decided to study her "new found friend."
.
Of course, it would've helped if there were actually light in the room.
.
All she could see was the outline of his form. From her point of view, he looked fat. His body bulged out in different direction, evidence shown by the clothes he wore. Though his head did seem a little small on those plump shoulders. And his foot, that stuck out from under his leg (as result of sitting Indian style) was so tiny compared to that big lump he called a leg.
.
A movement at the top of his head caught her eye.
.
Something was...twitching.
.
"What are you staring at?" the observed man inquired.
.
Kagome brought her attention back to the stranger.
.
"Wha??" she responded dumbly, not expecting that question.
.
How had he known?
.
The twitching still bugged her.
.
What IS that thing??
.
She reached out her hand, but brought it back immediately, thinking better of it.
.
"No-nothing," she finally replied.
.
"Feh, stupid humans." The man complained.
.
This did not go unnoticed by the raven-haired girl.
.
"Excuse me?! What was that suppose to mean!"
.
"It meant exactly what it was implied, wench!"
.
"Why you-!"
.
A warm hand reaching past the barred barrier suddenly interrupted Kagome's retort.
.
"Sh!"
.
The intriguing little nubs on his head were twitching again. The moved left and right like two quick little radars on steroids.
.
She moved her hand to touch them again, when the man noticed her movement and pulled back.
.
"The old hag's asleep. Heh, this is our perfect chance."
.
She could practically hear the man smirk.
.
"Perfect time for what?"
.
"Escaping of course you idiot!"
.
"And HOW do u suppose we do this?"
.
"WE are not. I am. YOU stay here and rot to death."
.
"Hey! It was YOUR fault we got here in the first place!"
.
"No it wasn't! You're the one that stole my dinner!"
.
"No I did not!" and with that, Kagome latched onto the arm that still surpassed the barrier between them with her teeth.
.
A high-pitched scream erupted throughout the little cottage.
.
*** .
.
"What'd you do that for?!"
.
"You deserved it!"
.
"I'm a cripple now because of you!" the man held out his arm, showing two distinct (and quite deep) bite marks.
.
"Hey, you never told me you could bend bars! Oh yeah, wait until morning when she's got her cauldron full of broth ready for us to jump into to actually get us out of there!"
.
"Psh! That was only a taste of what the infamous all mighty Inu-yasha can do," he crowed, holding up both arms and flexing.
.
"Inu-yasha? Oooooooooh, so you're name is Inu-yasha huh?" Kagome smiled her feline smile teasingly.
.
Inu-yasha's face faltered for a second, then turned angry, then sad, then angry, then frustrated, as if he couldn't decide what to feel at the moment.
.
.
So he decided on angry.
.
He stalked off out of the edge of the forest where they were currently situated, and into the lush-green plains ahead of them.
.
"Hey! Wait up!" Kagome proclaimed, jogging to catch up to him. Being a girl, her strides weren't as long and quick as his.
.
Hearing her jogging behind him only caused him to walk faster.
.
And HIS fast walking caused HER to run.
.
Now HER running only caused HIM to run too.
.
By now Kagome was sprinting down the path of foot-imprinted grass where the object of her pursues had run across.
.
Irritated, she lunged towards the man, only able to take hold of his legs and causing him to fall face forward.
.
Imaginably applauding herself for the clever action, she crawled over Inu- yasha's legs and dropped heavily upon the boy's back, receiving an 'Oomph' from him.
.
"Oi wench! Get off! You're heavy!"
.
"Not unless you tell me what's the matter with you!"
.
The accused boy only remained silence, refusing to answer.
.
Growling (or at least her best attempt at a growl), Kagome yanked his silver hair, careful of the ears (which she had found out was that incessant twitching). (She had also discovered that he indeed was not fat, but the baggy haori he wore only made him look obese.)
.
"Don't you ignore me Mr.!"
.
They spent several minutes like that, Inu-yasha yelping at his abused scalp as Kagome tried to pry answers out of him.
.
"Aye! Let go wench and I'll tell you!"
.
Satisfied, she let go of his hair, making his head plop to the ground.
.
Silence stretched.
.
"Well? Aren't you gonna tell me?"
.
Kagome's face grew bright red out of frustration when she heard a snicker.
.
He wasn't gonna tell her? Fine.
.
For a second time that day, a scream sounded throughout the area.
.
***
.
"Tell me!"
.
"No!"
.
"Tell me!"
.
"No!"
.
"Tell me!!!!"
.
"No! Gosh, don't you ever shut-up! Grr...I bet your family's even sick of you!"
.
Inu-yasha waited for a smart response, but received none. For a second there he had congratulated himself for finally getting her to shut-up, until he felt a heavy weight lifted from his back.
.
"Huh?"
.
Confused, Inu-yasha retrieved his head from the ground to stare straight ahead, only seeing worn-out boots moving away from his face from his place on the ground.
.
Thinking he had said something wrong, he stood up, and quickly went after the girl.
.
She seemed to be walking faster.
.
So he sped up a bit.
.
She began to jog.
.
He quickened his pace, too.
.
Then she broke out into a full run.
.
And so did he.
.
'*Sigh*' he thought.
.
"Here we go again."
Chapter 1
*Singin' in the cellars* .
.
.
***** .
. Here she was. .
.
No. .
.
Here THEY were.
.
"I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't to be a duck na na na n-ow!"
.
Kagome tenderly caressed the new bruise that was forming on her head where a rock had been thrown at her.
.
"Shut up, wench!" her new companion carped.
.
He wasn't really a companion. In fact, she didn't even know his name! All she knew (and cared) was that he was the one to steal her bread, and he was all to blame for their imprisonment.
.
*Flashback*
.
The wind blew at her feet, creating little sand tornadoes around her. Kagome sighed as the sun beat down on her and the breeze toyed with her hair. Grass of incredible height grew about her, enveloping her in a field of slick, green blades and tickling her exposed arms. They rode up and on the elevated hills to the left of her, and ran down all the way to the little river to her right. It spread way ahead of her, beyond her line of sight, and behind where her journey began. The sky was clear, and the whole atmosphere was just wonderful. There couldn't have been a more perfect day to be out on the road.
.
.
Too bad she was allergic to grass.
.
Throughout her adventure so far, all she did was walk, sneeze, walk, sneeze, walk...and, well, you get the idea.
.
Her arms were getting rashes from her allergic reaction, her eyes were all puffy, and her whole face was red. To tell you the truth, she was not a pretty sight.
.
"Bored, bored, bored, bored..." Kagome chanted on and on. Walking such a great distance by herself was not fun, and kind of disappointing. She wouldn't have anyone to talk to, or anyone to keep her busy on this trip.
.
So to make herself feel better, she began to sing.
.
And sing she did.
.
She sang, and she sang, and she sang her heart out! She sang loud, proud, and so horribly that all living creature within a mile of her ran away.
.
****** .
Somewhere in the distance, two diminutive, orange ears perked up.
"What the heck is that?" a small kitsune thought out loud.
.
****** .
*Grrrrgle*
.
"Ugh....sooooo.....hungry..." Kagome complained as she held her stomach dearly.
.
Exhausted, she sat at the foot of a tree in the middle of murky forest, starving to death. She had gotten so bored (and hungry) that she ate all the rations she had (not that she was smart enough to pack a good amount in the first place).
.
Hey, who wouldn't eat when they're bored?
.
So now she was stuck with an empty sack, accompanied an empty stomach.
.
The dead silence of the wood didn't help either. It was pitch black all around. She couldn't even see anything within a two-foot range of her face! What she wouldn't give to get out of there quickly, but a long day's worth of walking meant a good, long night's worth of sleep. She wouldn't know in which direction to go either.
.
Lazily examining the place, her eyes landed on a pair of golden eyes. She stared into golden eyes, mesmerized.
.
'Those eyes,' she thought, snapping out of her trance.
.
Those eyes were hooting at her!
.
"Can it, bird! It's not like I have anything to eat either!" Kagome shrieked at the night owl who calmly sat there, still 'hooting' away.
.
Feeling her eyelids gain weight, she stretched out on the leaf littered, dirt ground, for she failed to bring anything comfortable to sleep on.
.
She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, comforted by the sweet smell of baked goods.
.
Wait.
.
BAKED goods?
.
Baked goods meant food.
.
Food meant no hunger.
.
No hunger meant no grousing bellies.
.
As if hypnotized, she picked up her bag and followed the alluring scent.
.
Crossing the woods in a dazed state of mind, she stopped when the smell of bread became stronger.
.
Ahead of her lay a small cottage.
.
It stood out like sore thumb, smack dab in the middle of an elliptical clearing, in the center of the forest. Darkness and trees loomed over the petite dwelling, giving out a foreboding feeling.
.
Smoke rose from its chimney, providing evidence that something delicious was indeed cooking inside.
.
Sneaking up to the nearest window, Kagome wiped off the dust and peered inside.
.
It was a bakery.
.
What the heck was a bakery doing in the middle of a deserted forest?
.
Tables and racks upon racks were filled with bread. Every crook and cranny held a loaf of bread.
. The only thing that made it seem to be inhabited was the fireplace. It was lit, stretching and molding shadows into odd, ominous looking forms.
.
There was a staircase to the very left that apparently led to the attic, and the other windows appeared to be quite dusty as well.
.
But the bread...
.
Oh the bread!
.
It looked tremendously mouth watering.
.
It may not have seemed like much, but to a famished girl, it looked like everything in the world.
.
Kagome noticed that to the very right of the house was a window.
.
A window she could easily fit through.
.
Wiping off her drool, she snuck over to the side of the house, and examined it.
.
It was unlocked.
.
Gratefully thanking the gods above, she opened it little by little; making sure very little sound could be heard. Checking left and right, she began to crawl through, completely oblivious to the lurking shadow.
.
****
.
"Urk...ugh...hpph!"
.
Kagome wiggled and pushed herself through the window as hard as she could. She let off a shriek when she fell to the ground with a thump
.
"Argh, since when were windows so little?" she whispered, rubbing her sore end.
.
She immediately forgot her pain when she looked around the place. Drool began to form at the end of her mouth again. Her stomach growled, reminding her of its much-wanted attention.
.
Standing up and patting the dust off her bottom, she grabbed a loaf of bread and bit into it, only to spit it out the next second.
.
"Blegh...blueberry"
.
With a disgusted face, she threw the half bitten bread aside, and searched through the other ones. She snatched up every loaf of bread that looked non-blueberry to her, and bit into it.
.
They were ALL blueberry.
.
"Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat..." Sighing, she looked around some more.
.
.
And there it was.
.
Sitting on right in the middle of the table.
.
All by itself.
It looked......to put it shortly...
. ...perfect.
. Kagome stared longingly at it, as her hand reached out to grasp it, pulling it towards her watery mouth.
.
It didn't budge.
.
Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. She hauled at it again.
.
Still wouldn't move an inch.
.
Frustrated, she tugged and tugged and tugged.
.
It was on the fourth tug did she notice a clawed hand clutched at the other end of her dinner.
.
She was only allowed a short look at her opponent as the front door was thrown open.
.
.
.
*End Flashback*
.
It turns out that someone actually did live in this gosh-forsaken abandoned cottage. A lonely, old widow with no living relatives or friends. She had no husband either for he died eating one of her freshly baked breads.
.
You really couldn't blame her. It WAS her first time.
.
Also, the area surrounding her house wasn't really this deserted either.
.
All the animals had died eating the crumbs she had left for them.
.
But getting back to matters at hand...
.
"So...what's your name?" Kagome asked the longhaired stranger across from her whilst doodling imaginary patterns on the ground.
.
"None of your business!" he growled.
.
"Hey! I should at least know the name of the man who tried to take my food and leave me starving!" she pointed a finger to her still grumbling stomach to prove her point.
.
"That was not yours! I saw it first!"
.
"No you didn't! Plus, I got my hands on it first!" Kagome "hmph"ed, crossing her arms and turning her head away, refusing to talk such an infuriating man.
.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that he was also doing the same, except in the other direction. Taking advantage of the situation, she decided to study her "new found friend."
.
Of course, it would've helped if there were actually light in the room.
.
All she could see was the outline of his form. From her point of view, he looked fat. His body bulged out in different direction, evidence shown by the clothes he wore. Though his head did seem a little small on those plump shoulders. And his foot, that stuck out from under his leg (as result of sitting Indian style) was so tiny compared to that big lump he called a leg.
.
A movement at the top of his head caught her eye.
.
Something was...twitching.
.
"What are you staring at?" the observed man inquired.
.
Kagome brought her attention back to the stranger.
.
"Wha??" she responded dumbly, not expecting that question.
.
How had he known?
.
The twitching still bugged her.
.
What IS that thing??
.
She reached out her hand, but brought it back immediately, thinking better of it.
.
"No-nothing," she finally replied.
.
"Feh, stupid humans." The man complained.
.
This did not go unnoticed by the raven-haired girl.
.
"Excuse me?! What was that suppose to mean!"
.
"It meant exactly what it was implied, wench!"
.
"Why you-!"
.
A warm hand reaching past the barred barrier suddenly interrupted Kagome's retort.
.
"Sh!"
.
The intriguing little nubs on his head were twitching again. The moved left and right like two quick little radars on steroids.
.
She moved her hand to touch them again, when the man noticed her movement and pulled back.
.
"The old hag's asleep. Heh, this is our perfect chance."
.
She could practically hear the man smirk.
.
"Perfect time for what?"
.
"Escaping of course you idiot!"
.
"And HOW do u suppose we do this?"
.
"WE are not. I am. YOU stay here and rot to death."
.
"Hey! It was YOUR fault we got here in the first place!"
.
"No it wasn't! You're the one that stole my dinner!"
.
"No I did not!" and with that, Kagome latched onto the arm that still surpassed the barrier between them with her teeth.
.
A high-pitched scream erupted throughout the little cottage.
.
*** .
.
"What'd you do that for?!"
.
"You deserved it!"
.
"I'm a cripple now because of you!" the man held out his arm, showing two distinct (and quite deep) bite marks.
.
"Hey, you never told me you could bend bars! Oh yeah, wait until morning when she's got her cauldron full of broth ready for us to jump into to actually get us out of there!"
.
"Psh! That was only a taste of what the infamous all mighty Inu-yasha can do," he crowed, holding up both arms and flexing.
.
"Inu-yasha? Oooooooooh, so you're name is Inu-yasha huh?" Kagome smiled her feline smile teasingly.
.
Inu-yasha's face faltered for a second, then turned angry, then sad, then angry, then frustrated, as if he couldn't decide what to feel at the moment.
.
.
So he decided on angry.
.
He stalked off out of the edge of the forest where they were currently situated, and into the lush-green plains ahead of them.
.
"Hey! Wait up!" Kagome proclaimed, jogging to catch up to him. Being a girl, her strides weren't as long and quick as his.
.
Hearing her jogging behind him only caused him to walk faster.
.
And HIS fast walking caused HER to run.
.
Now HER running only caused HIM to run too.
.
By now Kagome was sprinting down the path of foot-imprinted grass where the object of her pursues had run across.
.
Irritated, she lunged towards the man, only able to take hold of his legs and causing him to fall face forward.
.
Imaginably applauding herself for the clever action, she crawled over Inu- yasha's legs and dropped heavily upon the boy's back, receiving an 'Oomph' from him.
.
"Oi wench! Get off! You're heavy!"
.
"Not unless you tell me what's the matter with you!"
.
The accused boy only remained silence, refusing to answer.
.
Growling (or at least her best attempt at a growl), Kagome yanked his silver hair, careful of the ears (which she had found out was that incessant twitching). (She had also discovered that he indeed was not fat, but the baggy haori he wore only made him look obese.)
.
"Don't you ignore me Mr.!"
.
They spent several minutes like that, Inu-yasha yelping at his abused scalp as Kagome tried to pry answers out of him.
.
"Aye! Let go wench and I'll tell you!"
.
Satisfied, she let go of his hair, making his head plop to the ground.
.
Silence stretched.
.
"Well? Aren't you gonna tell me?"
.
Kagome's face grew bright red out of frustration when she heard a snicker.
.
He wasn't gonna tell her? Fine.
.
For a second time that day, a scream sounded throughout the area.
.
***
.
"Tell me!"
.
"No!"
.
"Tell me!"
.
"No!"
.
"Tell me!!!!"
.
"No! Gosh, don't you ever shut-up! Grr...I bet your family's even sick of you!"
.
Inu-yasha waited for a smart response, but received none. For a second there he had congratulated himself for finally getting her to shut-up, until he felt a heavy weight lifted from his back.
.
"Huh?"
.
Confused, Inu-yasha retrieved his head from the ground to stare straight ahead, only seeing worn-out boots moving away from his face from his place on the ground.
.
Thinking he had said something wrong, he stood up, and quickly went after the girl.
.
She seemed to be walking faster.
.
So he sped up a bit.
.
She began to jog.
.
He quickened his pace, too.
.
Then she broke out into a full run.
.
And so did he.
.
'*Sigh*' he thought.
.
"Here we go again."