Yes I made up a name for the grandfather because he needed one if the story
was to continue normally. From now on Sachio is Souta's Grandfather. Just
to prevent confusion.
~`~`~`~`~
Sachio finished with his last spirit ward and stepped back to admire his handy work. The newly boarded and ward plastered well was nicely sealed off from the rest of the world and he felt confident that Amber would not be taking anymore tumbles down it. Her story was farfetched but he didn't find it hard to believe. She was full of magic, he'd been able to feel it from holding her picture that Kagome had brought home when they'd signed up for the exchange program. Kagome... he'd thought that she'd be the one with the magic blood but she hadn't shown a sign of it from the day she was born. Now the foul mouthed American was traveling through the Bone Eaters well. It was unfortunate, but maybe for the best. Kagome would not have been a very useful thing to send through the well.
"What are you doing Grandfather?" The girlish voice of Sachio's pretty granddaughter carried down the wooden steps and into the cellar.
"Just boarding up the old well." He replied picking up the bag of nails and the hammer. "I'm coming up for dinner now."
"Do you really believe Amber's story grandfather?" Kagome asked skeptically peering down the staircase. "It's a little... crazy, you have to admit."
"Where is Amber anyway?" Asked Sachio evasively. He looked around the dark courtyard and noted the absence of light in the strange girls' window.
"In the bath of course. She's taken two already today." Kagome answered sniffing disapprovingly. "Whatever she was doing this week it's left an impression on her. She has these big gashes on her back. She says they're from something called an Inuyasha."
"Oh." Sachio replied still not wanting to discuss this type of thing with his somewhat slow granddaughter. Trying to explain this to her might make her already small mind implode even farther.
~IY~
Yes this was definitely Amber's trail. Inuyasha stopped and sniffed the ground softly, following the unmistakable scent of the girl he chased. She had come this way not to long ago. The smell of her was still fresh on the grass, sweet and earthy, Inuyasha had noticed the quality of her scent early on and quickly found a smell that matched it exactly. The scent of the air after it rains. Fresh and clean, like Kikyo when she'd been alive and well. Before she had killed him.
Shaking his head to clear it off such thoughts Inuyasha followed Amber's trail to the Bone Eaters well, he could feel the hairs Kaede had spoken of breaking against his legs and torso. "She was here." He said. There was another smell, hidden under that off hair and old bones but he ignored it and bent down, breathing deeply of the unique smell of Amber Lote. "She used the well to go back home! Damn it!"
Inuyasha stood and considered fighting the strange and still unseen adversary alone. But he restrained himself. Kaede could see this hair, Amber could see this hair but he, Inuyasha, could not. If he was going to win he'd need one of them and Kaede was out of the picture. He leapt easily onto the lip of the well and looked down into the darkness. The familiar smell of Amber mixed with that of the bones, almost overpowering the stench of centuries of death. Bracing himself for the fall, Inuyasha took a deep breath of her scent and leapt.
~IY~
Amber finished toweling off her hair and dropped the wet ball of terry cloth by her feet. She pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a clean white tank top, still warm from the dryer. It felt good to be in her time, even if it wasn't really home. The smell of Japanese cooking wafted up the stairs as she pulled her favorite red Seattle Mariners sweat shirt on over her tank top and flopped down on the bed. She pulled out a magazine and leafed through its pages briefly before tossing it aside. It was raining out. She went to the window and looked out across the wet courtyard, her eyes trained on the dark door that led to the cellar.
Amber turned away from the window that leaked cold air into the room and looked in her mirror. She looked normal. She was Asian by appearance, dark haired and bright eyed and moderately pretty though not beautiful as most girls in her school here. She had a wide expressive mouth and a rather long body though her workouts and constant exercise had made her rather thick at the waist and her chest was broad and flat as a board. But she was by definition normal. Then why, oh why had she fallen through the well into another time?
"Amber! Dinner!" The call of Souta's sister Kagome startled the girl out of her musings. Hunger was biting at her stomach like a wild thing and it urged her down the stairs towards the kitchen and the warm smells of food.
"I made egg rolls and ramen!" Kagome informed her brightly as she set the steaming bowl of noodles down on the table. Amber seated herself at the table and smiled weakly. There was also some sort of bread and a spicy smelling sauce. Kagome's mother had died many years ago, when Souta was just a baby. Kagome may have been a brainless ditz but she was a good cook and nice enough so Amber just accepted the food without comment.
She dug into the noodles instantly, silencing the starved monster in her stomach and filling the cold pit inside her. It was good to be back.
~IY~
The smell of food almost hid hers from him as he ran along the hall, his wet clothes leaving puddles of water on the clean floors. He followed it to what he supposed was the kitchen and pulled away the sliding door to reveal Amber Lote, and several other people sitting around a table eating noodles and egg rolls.
She turned to him and her eyes widened as though she didn't know him. They stared at each other for a minute before she swallowed a mouthful of ramen noodles and put her head down on the table. "Oh god, not you." She groaned audibly.
"WHO SAID YOU COULD GO HOME?" Inuyasha yelled stomping over to the startled girl. She sat up and glared at him, the familiar anger rushing back into her eyes like a tidal wave.
"YOU DID!" She yelled standing up. "WHERE DID YOU COME FROM ANYWAY?"
"THE WELL STUPID! WHERE ELSE WOULD I COME FROM?" Inuyasha snarled balling his fists up and glaring at Amber nastily.
"That's a lie." Sachio interrupted suddenly. Two pairs of angry eyes turned to him and he stared back. "I put spirit wards on that well."
"Yeah well I hate to be the one to break it to you, but they don't work." Inuyasha replied, flipping one of the aforementioned spirit wards onto the table. "Now come on." He seized her arm roughly and began dragging her towards the door. "We're leaving."
"LET GO YOU BASTARD!" Amber yelled, digging her heels into the floor. Her sneakers squeaked against the gaudy flowered tile as Inuyasha dragged her steadily across the room towards the door. "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE... GET OUT OF MY TIME!"
"I'm trying to. But if I go you're coming with me." Inuyasha replied as he dragged her into the hallway.
"NO!" She stomped his barefoot and felt his grip loosen. She twisted her wrist but he clung on, hopping on one foot and yanking on her arm with a force so strong that it nearly popped out of her shoulder.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" He yelled furiously rounding on his captive.
"YOU'RE TRYING TO DRAG ME DOWN A FUCKING WELL!" Amber replied. Souta was yelling about crazy people, Sachio was staring at Amber as though she'd sprouted another arm from her chest and Kagome was just staring at them blankly, her ramen-laden chopsticks frozen halfway to her mouth. "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO? LEAP HAPPILY INTO YOUR ARMS AND SING A HAPPY SONG?"
Inuyasha looked at her for a minute as though she'd gone completely insane. Then he turned again and wordlessly dragged her towards the door he'd left open in his hurry. She tried to dig her heels into the floor but she slipped on one of the puddles Inuyasha had left when he was coming in and her arrogant kidnapper dragged her on her ass through the door and across the wet courtyard.
"YOU ARE SUCH AN ASSHOLE!" Amber screamed as Inuyasha dragged her down the stairs into the cellar. He muttered something that sounded like "crazy bitch" and Amber struggled to her feet intent on kicking his face so far into his red coat he'd be able to wipe his ass with his tongue but stopped at the sight that met her.
Hair. It was as if Rapunzel had got her head stuck in a nuclear experimentation plant. A thick river of the stuff was sprouting out of the well Sachio had said nothing would be able to penetrate. Inuyasha was apparently to stupid to realize he was walking towards a wall of living hair.
"What?" The angry dog-eared imbecile turned towards her, his face clueless.
"Can't you see it dumb ass? There's a thousand pounds of hair in front of you!" Amber exclaimed jerking her sore wrist out of Inuyasha's hand. He turned around and faced the hair that made a menacing sound, like a rattlesnake that has just been stepped on.
"What was that?" Amber looked up to see Souta and the rest of his family framed by the light of the glass lamps that lined the courtyard. She dashed up the stairs, dodging the attack of the hair and slammed the door closed, sliding the bolt firmly into place.
"AMBER WHAT..!? Open this door at once!" Sachio yelled pounding on the wood as Inuyasha spun around like an idiot, blindly slashing at the air.
"IN FRONT OF YOU, YOU STUPID EXCUSE FOR A HUSKIES BITCH!" Amber screamed at him. Inuyasha slashed at the thing in front of him and missed quite spectacularly, slamming face first into the boards.
"God damn that idiot." Amber muttered, then through the slit in the door where Kagome's eyes peered in. "Sorry, but Inuyasha's probably going to ruin your cellar."
"Where is it Amber?" Inuyasha bellowed flailing around, slashing anything solid in the room.
"Left!" Amber yelled as a tendril of hair snaked towards him.
Inuyasha swerved right instead and plunged his claws into the floor, splintering the aged wood.
"YOUR OTHER LEFT IDIOT!" Amber yelled leaping down the stairs and landing spray legged on the cellar floor. She dodged a fierce attack and grabbed hold of the hair. "HERE! I HAVE IT!"
Inuyasha looked up and smiled before attacking again, this time aiming for the thing Amber's arms were wrapped around. He sliced through it easily and Amber dropped the mat of hair with satisfaction written all over her face.
"Yes!" Inuyasha yelled as Amber directed him to another mass of hair. But their gaiety was short lived, for as Amber watched the severed hair rejoined the central mass and the monster was as huge and terrible as before.
"It's not working!" Amber yelled scrambling away from the tendrils of grasping hair.
"Well I could use a bright idea right about now!" Inuyasha replied. He managed to dodge another attack, his white dog-ears able to detect the slither of hair across the floor, but the hair clipped his leg and sent him spiraling off course to land far off in the corner.
Amber desperately surveyed the room, looking for anything of use. Her eyes fell on a single, golden hair that protruded from the mass. The rest of the hair responded to its movements. It was like a game controller and Amber grabbed hold of a frantic, half thought out plan.
She ran forward and stepped into the mass of rough hair, reaching out and snatching the golden hair up. The strength of it was enough to make her lose her footing but she hooked her legs on the rim of the well and screamed to her partner.
"THIS ONE! THIS ONE! CUT THIS ONE!" She screamed clinging desperately to the struggling hair.
Inuyasha leapt over her and sliced it in two with a casual clip of his claws. Amber was almost jerked down the well as the wounded hair ripped itself out of her hands and slipped back into the well, pulling the rest of the hair with it.
"What you can't even fight an overgrown toupee now?" Amber snarled, picking herself off the floor. Her wet jeans clung to her uncomfortably and added to her extreme bad temper that had already reached the boiling point.
"WELL IT WOULD HELP IF I COULD SEE IT!" Inuyasha yelled back in her face. They glared harshly at each other, their eyes burning with a hate that scorched the air around them.
Amber frowned angrily and turned away. She wanted to go back up the stairs and finish dinner but she knew that was impossible. Amber held no veils over her vision of herself, she was pushy, loud, foul mouthed, arrogant and sometimes a little overbearing but she was not as horrible as Inuyasha thought her to be. Sachio, Souta and Kagome had welcomed her, a stranger from another country into their home. If she didn't go back to fight Yura they would be in danger because of it. With a loud, foul swear Amber started up the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Inuyasha snarled.
"Back to the feudal age after I get some dry clothes." Amber replied unbolting the door.
"What just happened?" Kagome asked witlessly as Amber stormed out.
Amber paused and looked at the brainless girl for a minute. "Invisible hair monster." She said matter of factly. "It happens often in the feudal age."
Kagome blinked and looked at the harmless old well and the angry silver haired stranger.
"Don't worry Kagome. I'm sure dog boy will explain it to you if you get him a milkbone." She began walking towards the house wiping a large smear of mud off her jeans and muttering a long string of colorful curses under her breath.
Kagome watched her go and turned to Inuyasha. "Do you want a milkbone?" She asked brightly.
Inuyasha looked at her confused. "What's a milkbone?" He asked, puzzled.
Kagome smiled again. "Come on, I still have some left from taking care of Racer." She began walking back towards the house with the rest of her stunned family and one angry hanyou.
~IY~
Dr. Maegz says: but u were just gone for a week
*Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: ya where are u going in such a hurry?*
Amber sighed as she read the messages from her friends in America.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: to feudal japan
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: ..................
Dr. Maegz says: I think uve spent a bit to much time with that batty old man amber ur talkin crazy hun
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: im eloping with the king of france im running of to austrailia with crocodile dundee all u guyz need to know is I won't be here
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! has invited you to join a webcam conversation. Accept or Decline?
Amber sighed and pulled on a zipper up sweatshirt before clicking the link.
The face of a pretty girl with dark brown hair and golden toned skin appeared in place of the monkey icon at the corner of the conversation box. The girl gave the camera the finger, a finger that was unnaturally long, then laughed and typed in: face the wrath of my unnaturally long finger.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: freak of fingerdom
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: * is laughing maniacally *
Amber switched on her own cam and was returning Chelsea's immature gestures when... "What's that?" Amber jumped and almost fell out of her chair as Inuyasha peered over her shoulder, looking at all the little words on the screen.
"A computer dip shit." Amber pulled a hat over Inuyasha's ears and turned back to read Chelsea's bolded and underlined exclamation of: A BOY!
Dr. Maegz says: Where?
Amber sighed and turned to Inuyasha. He was holding a plastic bag of bone shaped cookies and munching on them calmly.
"Are those what I think they are?" Amber asked staring at his bag.
"Kagome called them milkbones. They're some sort of futuristic cookie." Inuyasha replied. Amber laughed and copied his comment into her computer conversation. Chelsea took a minute to read it before she flat out toppled out of her chair and disappeared laughing. Inuyasha was watching all this fascinated. He was still eating the milkbones.
"What does he think?" Chelsea asked pulling herself back onto her chair.
Amber relayed Chelsea's question and typed in Inuyasha's response.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: He thinks they're crunchy and delicious.
Again Chelsea disappeared beneath her desk and Inuyasha just shook his head and crumpled up the empty bag. "Come on, we have to go."
"You weren't so anxious when you were chomping away on your futuristic cookies." Amber replied hotly but went to log off anyway.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: gtg
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: don't forget the pill
Dr. Maegz says: chels! dont be silly! The patch is way more convient!
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: I loathe u both and my vengeance will be swift and terrible to behold
Amber ignored their last comments and logged off as Inuyasha played with her cell phone. She took it from him and laid it back down on her end table.
"Well let's go then." Amber snarled as she headed out the door.
~IY~
The night was clear and cool on the other end of the well. Amber emerged from the now familiar vortex of stars and light gripping one of her companion's hands to keep him from being lost in the infinity of the portal. When two people entered it seemed they were compelled to fly away from each other and she'd barely managed to capture Inuyasha's hand before they were forced apart. But they came through unscathed and Inuyasha pulled off his fire red coat.
"You'll need protection." He said, sounding irritated. "This should keep you at least a little safe."
Amber considered shoving the coat back into his hands but decided against it. The hair lady seemed the kind of person you took precautions against, and though she loathe to admit it, she wasn't exactly world class self defense.
She climbed up the vines and pulled herself over the lip of the well, not scrapping her legs for once because of her wonderful old blue jeans. She slipped Inuyasha's coat on and rolled the sleeves back to allow her access to her hands. She scanned the glade, the trees and bushes still tangled in Yura's deadly hair net.
The golden hair shone away near her feet and she smiled.
"What?" Asked Inuyasha.
"This hair here. It's the guide hair." Amber looked up and pointed in the direction that led farther away from the village. "If we follow it, it should lead us to Yura and the jewel shard she stole."
Inuyasha glared at her. She'd told him about it before they went through the well and he had not taken it well at all. Her mother would have to pay for what he did to that statue. Oh well. Amber reasoned. It's not as if she can't afford it.
~IY~
Kaede held her breath as the strange woman rearranged herself in the trees. She knew who she was. She was Yura of the Hair, responsible for all the chaos around the village.
"Amber and Inuyasha." She thought to herself, barely daring to blink in fear that the childish demon would hear. "Ye must work together if ye can ever hope to defeat this stranger. I wished a calmer demon upon ye for the first battle ye must fight together but it cannot be helped. I can only hope that ye will learn to accept and trust one another before it is to late."
~IY~
Yura dropped to the ground and looked around. Amber and Inuyasha were proving to be an ever more persistent thorn in her side. She did not fear the hanyou and his human bitch by any stretch of the imagination but she had decided to retreat to her fortress.
If she was to defeat them she might as well do it in the comfort of her home. She sighed and summoned forth the ropes of hair she found to be a most convenient method of travel and began to swing herself towards the wonderful palace of skulls she had made for herself. His beautiful silver hair would be a welcome addition to her collection.
~IY~
"Why are we stopping?" Amber asked as Inuyasha dropped her off his back. He shot a harsh glare in her direction and stepped wordlessly to the side to reveal the carnage of Yura.
They were bandits at one time, that much was apparent from their rough garb and large clumsy weapons. There was also a good chance that they were part of the band that's leader had been possessed by the carrion bird, but there was no way of telling for sure. They had all been decapitated.
Amber felt sick and her legs wobbled as she drew in a sharp breath that smelt of blood. The metallic taint of it fouled the air and the thus far inexperienced Amber was amazed by the violent brutality of the death in the glade.
"If this is what she did to fully armed, experienced warriors imagine, oh just imagine, what she can do to you." The nasty voice in her ear sounded amused by her horror but she ignored it and scanned the camp. She spotted the weapon she was looking for and thanked whatever god or goddess that had willed it to be left untouched by any dead bandit.
Inuyasha looked at her and laughed quietly as she scooped up the bow and arrows, though he made no comment. She glared at him but had no voice to mention that she had been the one who thought up the way to destroy the carrion bird. But then she also didn't mention how her idea had also shattered the Shikon Jewel in the process of killing the bird.
Inuyasha looked around the camp a bit more and bent to smell the earth. "There's a scent here." He told her pointing to an ordinary looking patch of dirt. "But I can't get on a fix on it, not in the middle of this." He made a vague motion with his hand that seemed to symbolize the death all around him. "It stinks of blood."
He dusted of his pant legs and stood, gazing around the clearing for a minute before performing one of his amazing jumps and landing beside her. He motioned for her to climb back up on his back and she did so, happy to be away from the death. She rested her head against the pillow made by his thick silver hair and sighed. She was tired and could feel the stiffness seeping into her limbs as she closed her eyes.
"HEY!" Inuyasha yelled jarring her harshly. "Don't fall asleep up there!" He landed in a tree and looked around. "Which way does the hair go now?" Amber scanned the leaves and pointed west, a sudden aching sleepiness overtaking her. Inuyasha jarred her again and she swore at him vigorously and made a point of pulling his hair brutally.
Inuyasha took off and Amber felt the familiar tense of his muscles before he leapt, and the soaring feeling in her stomach as they went from tree to tree. There was something good about this, she decided. Something so close to flying that she almost forgot Inuyasha was a complete ass when they were airborne. The feeling was short lived.
The hair lifted from the trees, twisting and writhing like a tidal wave and Amber barely had a moment to think before it was upon them.
"LEFT!" She screamed. Inuyasha dodged the first hit easily and went spiraling off among the branches. The hair pursued him effortlessly and Amber watched it horrified, as it seemed to expand ominously.
"UP!" Amber took a handful of Inuyasha's hair and pulled up as if to use it as reins for her angry mount. With a cry of pain Inuyasha leapt, the hair brushing along his toes as he jumped.
"RIGHT! STRAIGHT! DOWN! SHARP LEFT!" Amber cried each time pulling the hanyou's hair in a different direction.
"WOULD YOU STOP!" He asked as he pivoted in mid air and climbed the length of the invisible hair. Amber screamed as he leapt off it and flipped easily before dodging so fast it made her stomach lurch.
He landed easily on the hillside and slid down it, his feet spitting dust and pebbles in all directions. Amber held on and looked behind, searching for the hair. Neither of them was prepared for what happened next.
From each side, long ropes of hair snaked out and wrapped around Inuyasha's wrists, yanking him up.
"HEY!" He yelled pulling away as his passenger was thrown from his back and tumbled down the hill roughly. Amber could feel a sharp stone rip into her arm as she rolled helplessly out of control. The rock that waited on the bottom was far worse.
The hard pain of her head wound sent arrows of fire through her skull, as she lay motionless on the ground. She could see nothing but blackness and her head swam when she opened her eyes. There was something hovering in the air beyond her and Amber squinted at it as the darkness threatened to overtake her. A huge fortress made of hair, rising slowly into the sky. Amber shivered and felt the blackness begin to take her.
"Yura!" She exclaimed weakly. And then she was lost.
~IY~
"Oh my, look at the cute little doggy!" Inuyasha struggled angrily as the woman landed before him. She was pretty, short black hair framing a sweet face and black clothing with a yellow sash about her waist. He would have thought her innocent looking if not for the merciless glint of her eye and the cruel note of mocking in her voice. "You must be Inuyasha."
"And you must be Yura of the hair." He replied.
"Charmed." Yura replied. "My but you're the talk of us all Inuyasha! Everyone is whispering about half breed Inuyasha playing fetch with some foul mouthed shrine maiden."
"ME? ME AND THAT HALF WIT HUMAN?" Inuyasha yelled struggling violently. "NOTHING IS GOING ON!"
"You're both half wits to me." Yura said nastily reaching out. Inuyasha pulled back but she merely stroked his hair and smiled. "It's soft! Good, I can use it for my bed!"
Inuyasha looked at her shocked but she merely beckoned to her hair, which came forward and encircled her thin waist, lifting her up to a small hill. "Just look what you've gone and done to the poor jewel!" She exclaimed pulling the string that hung around her neck and letting the attached shard glitter.
"I could have used you to collect the shards for me but since you don't know where they are I'll just wrap all this up and find them for myself. She said tucking the jewel back between her breasts.
"YOU? TAKE CARE OF ME?" Inuyasha threw his head back and laughed. "WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU YOU'LL WISH YOU'D NEVER EVEN HEARD MY NAME!"
Yura frowned at him and Inuyasha unleashed the fierce strength he'd be building up in his arms as they talked. The hair ripped easily as he slashed it and he laughed again as he ran towards her. "You're finished!"
"I don't think so." Yura replied. She summoned forth a wall of hair to protect her, a smug smile painted on her dainty lips. As Inuyasha struck it, unaware that it existed, for he still could not see the hair, it entangled him again, almost choking him as it wound around his throat.
"Oh no." He moaned as Yura smirked at him and unsheathed her red sword.
~IY~
Amber pulled herself from the blackness slowly, as though swimming through glue or wet sand. As the colors reappeared and she sat up the world slipped through sixes, to fives then fours and finally settling on threes. She pulled herself up and looked around.
Amber had never claimed to be a saint. She'd been drunk and high enough to understand how to navigate and her concussion last year had only enhanced her knowledge of the situation. "The middle one." She said reaching for her bow. The feel of it in her hand reassured her and Amber looked to where she'd seen Yura's fortress. It still hovered there and Amber, not having a plan or knowing what to do, began walking towards it. She needed to do something.
~IY~
"Such pretty hair." Yura cooed running Inuyasha's hair between her fingers. "But you haven't taken very good care of it have you? Look at all the split ends!"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled kicking her in the stomach. With a cry of rage Yura flew backwards and was caught by her hair. She ran forwards and cut a long track across Inuyasha's chest.
The pain burned as he watched her look at the blood smeared along the cutting edge of her blade. She drew a finger across the blade lightly and licked the blood off, smiling and sighing with pleasure. "I'm going to cut you up into little pieces." She told him pleasantly.
The arrow that hit her in the shoulder was not strong enough to pierce her muscle or even cause real pain. It hung in by the very tip of the head swinging slightly in the cool breeze; Yura pulled it from her body with a slight wince and turned to where the steep ravine began its edge thick with heavy grass.
Amber stood triumphant, bruised and battered but triumphant, her bow fitted with another arrow and pointed directly at her.
~IY~
"Let him go!" The strength of her own voice surprised her as she demanded Yura to release the bleeding Inuyasha. Yura smiled at her sweetly and did nothing. "YOU HEARD ME!" Amber yelled.
"Aw, look Inuyasha." Yura cooed loud enough for Amber to hear from her place. "She wants you back. What a sweet widdle doggy you must be."
She turned back to Amber and laughed. "Sit down and wait your turn dear. I just need to finish disciplining the little doggy."
She turned back to Inuyasha who merely snarled at her and spat in her eye. "Now that was just uncalled for." Yura said wiping the spit off her face.
"Yeah, well you deserve it you ugly hag." Inuyasha replied as Yura smiled softly.
"Now, now there's no reason to speak like that. It simply isn't proper." She lifted her sword and a second arrow came streaking through the air, missing her narrowly and imbedding itself firmly in the ground. Amber let loose another and almost struck Inuyasha as her target dodged easily and landed behind him, using him as a quite effective shield.
"Watch where you're aiming!" Inuyasha cried as the feathers of the lethal arrow traced his side. She drew the bow again but did not shoot, not trusting her risky aim.
"Well I do say. You both have the most ghastly of manners. I'm beginning to think you aren't as mismatched as I initially thought." She patted Inuyasha like he was a harmless puppy and cooed away in his ear. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you in a moment but first," she looked up to where Amber stood, "that woman has to die."
Amber could see the hair and her vision had settled so she managed to dodge the attack and run along the ravine edge, the thick grass beating against her legs. The hair pursued her but her goal was in sight. The bow was still drawn tight and she lifted it and fired the arrow at the fortress before her.
It struck solidly and Amber dodged again, the hair gliding along her leg, the feeling light as a breeze but close enough to make her stomach flop. Yura's cry of dismay was all that told her plan had worked as she struggled with the attacking hair.
"My home!" She exclaimed as the hair around the invading arrow dissolved. Her skulls, the product of centuries of collecting, spilt out in a waterfall of bone, the still clinging hair shining like silk. "Now I have become cross." She glared at Amber, who was still fighting the hair.
With a wave of her hand the hair retreated and Amber found herself surrounded by flames. She gazed around wildly, looking for an escape but the red fire was all around her, its scorching heat washing over her.
"Pity." Yura commented thoughtfully as she watched the human struggle. "Such a waste. There'll be nothing left but ash."
"AMBER!" Inuyasha yelled slashing at the hair that bound him.
"Oh don't worry so much puppy dog." Yura exclaimed turning her back on Amber. "I haven't forgotten you. Pets should never be allowed to outlive their owners." She brandished her sword but Inuyasha had one hand free and his return attack was far more damaging then Yura had anticipated.
"Ow!" She cried as her hand disconnected from her wrist. Her black blood dripped from the stump at the end of her right arm. She looked more surprised then anything else.
"THAT SHOULD TEACH YOU!" Inuyasha yelled thrashing wildly as Amber screamed. She was still surrounded by the lethal flames she could not escape.
"Why that was simply horrible of you!" Yura said as her amputated hand, still gripping her sword, dangled in the air before her. "I think I've kept you quite long enough. Time to die."
~IY~
Amber could see the distance between her flesh and the hungry fire shortening by the second. Inuyasha was still restrained by Yura and seemed helpless. She was stuck.
Amber could see a place where the flames were not as high and sighed. She would surely catch fire if she tried to run and then it would all be over. But there was no choice for her.
She hugged Inuyasha's red coat around herself and tensed. The cloth still smelled like him and she paused thinking of him before charging through the flame. Arrogant, stubborn and pompous but not a bad guy. No worse then her she supposed.
Amber tucked her arms to her sides and charged, feeling the fire envelop her body. She waited for the burning pain, the horrible wrath the fire would take upon her flesh and bone. But it did not come. As she broke away from the fire she looked around and saw Inuyasha had broken away from the hair and was now fighting Yura. She drew her bow but Yura was moving too much for her to be of any help. She would not hit her.
She looked at the pile of skulls that her arrow had drawn from Yura's lair. There was one, close to the top of the pile that caught her eye, red as blood and evil looking. Something called her to it and Amber began to climb, ignoring the sickly texture of bone beneath her fingers.
~IY~
Inuyasha dodged Yura's hand that was attacking him and she yelled at him crossly. "Stop fighting Inuyasha." She scolded. "It's much harder to hit you when you're moving like that!"
The half demon was too busy trying to fight off the hair he could not see and Yura's severed hand to reply but he growled inwardly at the woman's arrogance. He fought off the silky grip of hair on his right wrist and risked a wild attack on Yura who blocked it effortlessly and with a slight flick of her hand, stabbed him in the back with her amputated sword hand.
Inuyasha fell to the ground, unrestrained but in great pain. Yura stepped daintily up to him and reattached her hand. "Much better." She said as the flesh rejoined itself. She looked down on Inuyasha and snorted with laughter, amused by his predicament.
"I suppose I should have assumed a dirty blooded little mongrel like yourself would be no match for me, but I did hope you would be a better challenge then this." Inuyasha stood shakily and glared at her as she stroked the jewel shard around her throat. "I guess you planned on using my jewel to become full demon hmm?"
Inuyasha did not reply so Yura lifted her sword. In an instant Inuyasha had plunged his hand through her chest and pulled it out again, the jewel shard clamped tightly in his fist. In an instant he was gone, leaping away with his ears his only defense against the hair.
"How rude." Yura sighed watching him with disinterest.
She turned to her fortress to see if the hair had begun to repair it yet and caught sight of the girl she'd set the flames upon climbing up the pile of discarded skulls, not even singed.
"How in the world..?" Yura wondered as she looked to where her fire had been. The grass was smoldering as the fire burned itself out and Yura glared at it before looking back at the climbing human. "Ah well. This will take care of her."
~IY~
The attack was easy to dodge and slammed into the skulls instead of Amber's soft flesh but it tore away a chunk of her jeans and sent a miniature avalanche of skulls tumbling down to her. Amber could see the red one come towards her and extended her hand, easily snatching it up and tucking it into Inuyasha's coat. She slid down the mountain of skulls, dodging the attacks of the hair. She screamed as it finally seized her and lifted her into the air, shaking her like a rag doll.
Inuyasha was there in an instant, slashing away at the hair. As it came loose she looked down, towards the vicious spiked rocks twenty feet blow her.
"Don'..." She began as Inuyasha completed his work and the hair released her. The fall seemed impossibly slow as the wind rushed past her ears. The realization struck Inuyasha at the same time a wall of living hair did and whisked him away. She was going to die. Oh god she was going to die.
And she met. Sharp pain shot through her but it was not enough. She scarcely dared to look down at her body but she saw no rocks or blood. She would be bruised and sore come morning but at least for now she was alive.
"WHAT ARE YOU?" Yura was angry now. She landed next to Amber with a bleeding and exhausted looking Inuyasha. "You look mortal enough but nothing will kill you!"
Amber remembered the coat but said nothing. The red coat seemed to be a most effective armor.
"Well let's just see how invincible you are." The next attack was something Inuyasha's coat could not defend her against. The hair was thin and strong and wound itself about her throat with a crushing strength. Amber couldn't breathe.
She clawed at the constricting hair, gasping silently for air. She heard Inuyasha yell something at Yura but she could not make out what it was. The pain in her lungs amplified by the minute as Yura strangled her, until it felt as though her chest might burst in pain. She could not die this way.
"Are you alright?" Inuyasha cut the hair from her throat with a flick of his claws and Amber gasped loudly, sucking in the life giving air. She could barely move in Inuyasha's arms, her limbs weak and slow as she struggled to tell him of the red skull still contained in his coat. He was bleeding and his face was swollen but there was no anger, only hopelessness.
"Coat..." she gasped feeling stupid and helpless. "Coat... Skull... Yura... Fortress." Yura laughed as she escaped whatever temporary set back Inuyasha had forced upon her but Inuyasha had all ready pieced together her mumbling. With a swift movement he pulled the red skull from the coat and smashed it against the stony ground.
"My... my darling!" Yura screamed as she saw the shattered red pieces of the skull. Inuyasha grinned wickedly and picked the red comb from the skulls remnants.
"Bye Yura." He said nastily and broke it with a careless flick of his wrists. Amber smiled as the ability to move slowly returned to her limbs. Yura screamed once before seeming to implode her body shrinking and smoking as she died until there was nothing there but a puff of black smoke the wind carried away easily.
"We did it!" Amber cried weakly as she lifted herself up. She could feel the places on her back where huge purple bruises were already beginning to form and wiped the blood off the place where a rock had ripped into her flesh.
"* I * did it, you mean." Inuyasha replied getting up and wiping the blood of his chest. His wounds leaked blood all over him but he tried to ignore them as Amber glared at him.
"Wadda ya mean you did it?" She asked angrily. You would never have found the skull if it wasn't for me." Amber snarled.
"Well you wouldn't have survived to find the skull if it wasn't for me in the first place." Inuyasha argued.
"YOU ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BIGGEST ASS I HAVE EVER KNOWN!" Amber exploded. She raised one hand to slap him but controlled herself with an almost superhuman effort. "Remind me never to help you again." She grumbled punching him on the shoulder.
Inuyasha fell down as though he was a little girl and Amber laughed, full out laughed as though everything was right with the world again. She laughed until tears started pouring down her face and her cheeks glowed red and she gasped for air with her sides nearly splitting open. Finally she forced herself to stop and dabbed at her eyes still sucking in gulps of air and giggling.
"Why didn't tell me you were hurt that badly? I would've been gentler." She taunted him in a baby voice.
"I hate you Amber." He growled from his place on the ground clawing the clinging leaves off his face.
"I noticed." She replied and helped him to his feet.
~IY~
Kaede thought the wood sounded more relaxed then they had as the dawn began, the once silent birds rising up among the branches to sing the morning chorus. She hoped this meant that Amber and Inuyasha had managed to defeat Yura.
"Inuyasha, only by working together will ye triumph." She whispered herself. She spat out a mouthful of leaves and sighed. "And don't ye dare forget where ye have buried me."
~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Wow for some reason I really disliked that chapter. But anyway I have managed to update and I hope this will quell the angry horde that has emailed by hotmail account demanding updates. I updated sooner then I expected actually so I'm all happy like. Hope that I get more reviews for this because those are my inspirations! The more you review the faster the second chapter will come out. (Sesshomaru people! Sesshomaru! * drools* )
Cy@ all soon!
~`~`~`~`~
Sachio finished with his last spirit ward and stepped back to admire his handy work. The newly boarded and ward plastered well was nicely sealed off from the rest of the world and he felt confident that Amber would not be taking anymore tumbles down it. Her story was farfetched but he didn't find it hard to believe. She was full of magic, he'd been able to feel it from holding her picture that Kagome had brought home when they'd signed up for the exchange program. Kagome... he'd thought that she'd be the one with the magic blood but she hadn't shown a sign of it from the day she was born. Now the foul mouthed American was traveling through the Bone Eaters well. It was unfortunate, but maybe for the best. Kagome would not have been a very useful thing to send through the well.
"What are you doing Grandfather?" The girlish voice of Sachio's pretty granddaughter carried down the wooden steps and into the cellar.
"Just boarding up the old well." He replied picking up the bag of nails and the hammer. "I'm coming up for dinner now."
"Do you really believe Amber's story grandfather?" Kagome asked skeptically peering down the staircase. "It's a little... crazy, you have to admit."
"Where is Amber anyway?" Asked Sachio evasively. He looked around the dark courtyard and noted the absence of light in the strange girls' window.
"In the bath of course. She's taken two already today." Kagome answered sniffing disapprovingly. "Whatever she was doing this week it's left an impression on her. She has these big gashes on her back. She says they're from something called an Inuyasha."
"Oh." Sachio replied still not wanting to discuss this type of thing with his somewhat slow granddaughter. Trying to explain this to her might make her already small mind implode even farther.
~IY~
Yes this was definitely Amber's trail. Inuyasha stopped and sniffed the ground softly, following the unmistakable scent of the girl he chased. She had come this way not to long ago. The smell of her was still fresh on the grass, sweet and earthy, Inuyasha had noticed the quality of her scent early on and quickly found a smell that matched it exactly. The scent of the air after it rains. Fresh and clean, like Kikyo when she'd been alive and well. Before she had killed him.
Shaking his head to clear it off such thoughts Inuyasha followed Amber's trail to the Bone Eaters well, he could feel the hairs Kaede had spoken of breaking against his legs and torso. "She was here." He said. There was another smell, hidden under that off hair and old bones but he ignored it and bent down, breathing deeply of the unique smell of Amber Lote. "She used the well to go back home! Damn it!"
Inuyasha stood and considered fighting the strange and still unseen adversary alone. But he restrained himself. Kaede could see this hair, Amber could see this hair but he, Inuyasha, could not. If he was going to win he'd need one of them and Kaede was out of the picture. He leapt easily onto the lip of the well and looked down into the darkness. The familiar smell of Amber mixed with that of the bones, almost overpowering the stench of centuries of death. Bracing himself for the fall, Inuyasha took a deep breath of her scent and leapt.
~IY~
Amber finished toweling off her hair and dropped the wet ball of terry cloth by her feet. She pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a clean white tank top, still warm from the dryer. It felt good to be in her time, even if it wasn't really home. The smell of Japanese cooking wafted up the stairs as she pulled her favorite red Seattle Mariners sweat shirt on over her tank top and flopped down on the bed. She pulled out a magazine and leafed through its pages briefly before tossing it aside. It was raining out. She went to the window and looked out across the wet courtyard, her eyes trained on the dark door that led to the cellar.
Amber turned away from the window that leaked cold air into the room and looked in her mirror. She looked normal. She was Asian by appearance, dark haired and bright eyed and moderately pretty though not beautiful as most girls in her school here. She had a wide expressive mouth and a rather long body though her workouts and constant exercise had made her rather thick at the waist and her chest was broad and flat as a board. But she was by definition normal. Then why, oh why had she fallen through the well into another time?
"Amber! Dinner!" The call of Souta's sister Kagome startled the girl out of her musings. Hunger was biting at her stomach like a wild thing and it urged her down the stairs towards the kitchen and the warm smells of food.
"I made egg rolls and ramen!" Kagome informed her brightly as she set the steaming bowl of noodles down on the table. Amber seated herself at the table and smiled weakly. There was also some sort of bread and a spicy smelling sauce. Kagome's mother had died many years ago, when Souta was just a baby. Kagome may have been a brainless ditz but she was a good cook and nice enough so Amber just accepted the food without comment.
She dug into the noodles instantly, silencing the starved monster in her stomach and filling the cold pit inside her. It was good to be back.
~IY~
The smell of food almost hid hers from him as he ran along the hall, his wet clothes leaving puddles of water on the clean floors. He followed it to what he supposed was the kitchen and pulled away the sliding door to reveal Amber Lote, and several other people sitting around a table eating noodles and egg rolls.
She turned to him and her eyes widened as though she didn't know him. They stared at each other for a minute before she swallowed a mouthful of ramen noodles and put her head down on the table. "Oh god, not you." She groaned audibly.
"WHO SAID YOU COULD GO HOME?" Inuyasha yelled stomping over to the startled girl. She sat up and glared at him, the familiar anger rushing back into her eyes like a tidal wave.
"YOU DID!" She yelled standing up. "WHERE DID YOU COME FROM ANYWAY?"
"THE WELL STUPID! WHERE ELSE WOULD I COME FROM?" Inuyasha snarled balling his fists up and glaring at Amber nastily.
"That's a lie." Sachio interrupted suddenly. Two pairs of angry eyes turned to him and he stared back. "I put spirit wards on that well."
"Yeah well I hate to be the one to break it to you, but they don't work." Inuyasha replied, flipping one of the aforementioned spirit wards onto the table. "Now come on." He seized her arm roughly and began dragging her towards the door. "We're leaving."
"LET GO YOU BASTARD!" Amber yelled, digging her heels into the floor. Her sneakers squeaked against the gaudy flowered tile as Inuyasha dragged her steadily across the room towards the door. "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE... GET OUT OF MY TIME!"
"I'm trying to. But if I go you're coming with me." Inuyasha replied as he dragged her into the hallway.
"NO!" She stomped his barefoot and felt his grip loosen. She twisted her wrist but he clung on, hopping on one foot and yanking on her arm with a force so strong that it nearly popped out of her shoulder.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" He yelled furiously rounding on his captive.
"YOU'RE TRYING TO DRAG ME DOWN A FUCKING WELL!" Amber replied. Souta was yelling about crazy people, Sachio was staring at Amber as though she'd sprouted another arm from her chest and Kagome was just staring at them blankly, her ramen-laden chopsticks frozen halfway to her mouth. "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO? LEAP HAPPILY INTO YOUR ARMS AND SING A HAPPY SONG?"
Inuyasha looked at her for a minute as though she'd gone completely insane. Then he turned again and wordlessly dragged her towards the door he'd left open in his hurry. She tried to dig her heels into the floor but she slipped on one of the puddles Inuyasha had left when he was coming in and her arrogant kidnapper dragged her on her ass through the door and across the wet courtyard.
"YOU ARE SUCH AN ASSHOLE!" Amber screamed as Inuyasha dragged her down the stairs into the cellar. He muttered something that sounded like "crazy bitch" and Amber struggled to her feet intent on kicking his face so far into his red coat he'd be able to wipe his ass with his tongue but stopped at the sight that met her.
Hair. It was as if Rapunzel had got her head stuck in a nuclear experimentation plant. A thick river of the stuff was sprouting out of the well Sachio had said nothing would be able to penetrate. Inuyasha was apparently to stupid to realize he was walking towards a wall of living hair.
"What?" The angry dog-eared imbecile turned towards her, his face clueless.
"Can't you see it dumb ass? There's a thousand pounds of hair in front of you!" Amber exclaimed jerking her sore wrist out of Inuyasha's hand. He turned around and faced the hair that made a menacing sound, like a rattlesnake that has just been stepped on.
"What was that?" Amber looked up to see Souta and the rest of his family framed by the light of the glass lamps that lined the courtyard. She dashed up the stairs, dodging the attack of the hair and slammed the door closed, sliding the bolt firmly into place.
"AMBER WHAT..!? Open this door at once!" Sachio yelled pounding on the wood as Inuyasha spun around like an idiot, blindly slashing at the air.
"IN FRONT OF YOU, YOU STUPID EXCUSE FOR A HUSKIES BITCH!" Amber screamed at him. Inuyasha slashed at the thing in front of him and missed quite spectacularly, slamming face first into the boards.
"God damn that idiot." Amber muttered, then through the slit in the door where Kagome's eyes peered in. "Sorry, but Inuyasha's probably going to ruin your cellar."
"Where is it Amber?" Inuyasha bellowed flailing around, slashing anything solid in the room.
"Left!" Amber yelled as a tendril of hair snaked towards him.
Inuyasha swerved right instead and plunged his claws into the floor, splintering the aged wood.
"YOUR OTHER LEFT IDIOT!" Amber yelled leaping down the stairs and landing spray legged on the cellar floor. She dodged a fierce attack and grabbed hold of the hair. "HERE! I HAVE IT!"
Inuyasha looked up and smiled before attacking again, this time aiming for the thing Amber's arms were wrapped around. He sliced through it easily and Amber dropped the mat of hair with satisfaction written all over her face.
"Yes!" Inuyasha yelled as Amber directed him to another mass of hair. But their gaiety was short lived, for as Amber watched the severed hair rejoined the central mass and the monster was as huge and terrible as before.
"It's not working!" Amber yelled scrambling away from the tendrils of grasping hair.
"Well I could use a bright idea right about now!" Inuyasha replied. He managed to dodge another attack, his white dog-ears able to detect the slither of hair across the floor, but the hair clipped his leg and sent him spiraling off course to land far off in the corner.
Amber desperately surveyed the room, looking for anything of use. Her eyes fell on a single, golden hair that protruded from the mass. The rest of the hair responded to its movements. It was like a game controller and Amber grabbed hold of a frantic, half thought out plan.
She ran forward and stepped into the mass of rough hair, reaching out and snatching the golden hair up. The strength of it was enough to make her lose her footing but she hooked her legs on the rim of the well and screamed to her partner.
"THIS ONE! THIS ONE! CUT THIS ONE!" She screamed clinging desperately to the struggling hair.
Inuyasha leapt over her and sliced it in two with a casual clip of his claws. Amber was almost jerked down the well as the wounded hair ripped itself out of her hands and slipped back into the well, pulling the rest of the hair with it.
"What you can't even fight an overgrown toupee now?" Amber snarled, picking herself off the floor. Her wet jeans clung to her uncomfortably and added to her extreme bad temper that had already reached the boiling point.
"WELL IT WOULD HELP IF I COULD SEE IT!" Inuyasha yelled back in her face. They glared harshly at each other, their eyes burning with a hate that scorched the air around them.
Amber frowned angrily and turned away. She wanted to go back up the stairs and finish dinner but she knew that was impossible. Amber held no veils over her vision of herself, she was pushy, loud, foul mouthed, arrogant and sometimes a little overbearing but she was not as horrible as Inuyasha thought her to be. Sachio, Souta and Kagome had welcomed her, a stranger from another country into their home. If she didn't go back to fight Yura they would be in danger because of it. With a loud, foul swear Amber started up the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Inuyasha snarled.
"Back to the feudal age after I get some dry clothes." Amber replied unbolting the door.
"What just happened?" Kagome asked witlessly as Amber stormed out.
Amber paused and looked at the brainless girl for a minute. "Invisible hair monster." She said matter of factly. "It happens often in the feudal age."
Kagome blinked and looked at the harmless old well and the angry silver haired stranger.
"Don't worry Kagome. I'm sure dog boy will explain it to you if you get him a milkbone." She began walking towards the house wiping a large smear of mud off her jeans and muttering a long string of colorful curses under her breath.
Kagome watched her go and turned to Inuyasha. "Do you want a milkbone?" She asked brightly.
Inuyasha looked at her confused. "What's a milkbone?" He asked, puzzled.
Kagome smiled again. "Come on, I still have some left from taking care of Racer." She began walking back towards the house with the rest of her stunned family and one angry hanyou.
~IY~
Dr. Maegz says: but u were just gone for a week
*Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: ya where are u going in such a hurry?*
Amber sighed as she read the messages from her friends in America.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: to feudal japan
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: ..................
Dr. Maegz says: I think uve spent a bit to much time with that batty old man amber ur talkin crazy hun
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: im eloping with the king of france im running of to austrailia with crocodile dundee all u guyz need to know is I won't be here
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! has invited you to join a webcam conversation. Accept or Decline?
Amber sighed and pulled on a zipper up sweatshirt before clicking the link.
The face of a pretty girl with dark brown hair and golden toned skin appeared in place of the monkey icon at the corner of the conversation box. The girl gave the camera the finger, a finger that was unnaturally long, then laughed and typed in: face the wrath of my unnaturally long finger.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: freak of fingerdom
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: * is laughing maniacally *
Amber switched on her own cam and was returning Chelsea's immature gestures when... "What's that?" Amber jumped and almost fell out of her chair as Inuyasha peered over her shoulder, looking at all the little words on the screen.
"A computer dip shit." Amber pulled a hat over Inuyasha's ears and turned back to read Chelsea's bolded and underlined exclamation of: A BOY!
Dr. Maegz says: Where?
Amber sighed and turned to Inuyasha. He was holding a plastic bag of bone shaped cookies and munching on them calmly.
"Are those what I think they are?" Amber asked staring at his bag.
"Kagome called them milkbones. They're some sort of futuristic cookie." Inuyasha replied. Amber laughed and copied his comment into her computer conversation. Chelsea took a minute to read it before she flat out toppled out of her chair and disappeared laughing. Inuyasha was watching all this fascinated. He was still eating the milkbones.
"What does he think?" Chelsea asked pulling herself back onto her chair.
Amber relayed Chelsea's question and typed in Inuyasha's response.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: He thinks they're crunchy and delicious.
Again Chelsea disappeared beneath her desk and Inuyasha just shook his head and crumpled up the empty bag. "Come on, we have to go."
"You weren't so anxious when you were chomping away on your futuristic cookies." Amber replied hotly but went to log off anyway.
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: gtg
Chelze Oh BEHAVE! says: don't forget the pill
Dr. Maegz says: chels! dont be silly! The patch is way more convient!
Amber when I snap you'll be the first to go says: I loathe u both and my vengeance will be swift and terrible to behold
Amber ignored their last comments and logged off as Inuyasha played with her cell phone. She took it from him and laid it back down on her end table.
"Well let's go then." Amber snarled as she headed out the door.
~IY~
The night was clear and cool on the other end of the well. Amber emerged from the now familiar vortex of stars and light gripping one of her companion's hands to keep him from being lost in the infinity of the portal. When two people entered it seemed they were compelled to fly away from each other and she'd barely managed to capture Inuyasha's hand before they were forced apart. But they came through unscathed and Inuyasha pulled off his fire red coat.
"You'll need protection." He said, sounding irritated. "This should keep you at least a little safe."
Amber considered shoving the coat back into his hands but decided against it. The hair lady seemed the kind of person you took precautions against, and though she loathe to admit it, she wasn't exactly world class self defense.
She climbed up the vines and pulled herself over the lip of the well, not scrapping her legs for once because of her wonderful old blue jeans. She slipped Inuyasha's coat on and rolled the sleeves back to allow her access to her hands. She scanned the glade, the trees and bushes still tangled in Yura's deadly hair net.
The golden hair shone away near her feet and she smiled.
"What?" Asked Inuyasha.
"This hair here. It's the guide hair." Amber looked up and pointed in the direction that led farther away from the village. "If we follow it, it should lead us to Yura and the jewel shard she stole."
Inuyasha glared at her. She'd told him about it before they went through the well and he had not taken it well at all. Her mother would have to pay for what he did to that statue. Oh well. Amber reasoned. It's not as if she can't afford it.
~IY~
Kaede held her breath as the strange woman rearranged herself in the trees. She knew who she was. She was Yura of the Hair, responsible for all the chaos around the village.
"Amber and Inuyasha." She thought to herself, barely daring to blink in fear that the childish demon would hear. "Ye must work together if ye can ever hope to defeat this stranger. I wished a calmer demon upon ye for the first battle ye must fight together but it cannot be helped. I can only hope that ye will learn to accept and trust one another before it is to late."
~IY~
Yura dropped to the ground and looked around. Amber and Inuyasha were proving to be an ever more persistent thorn in her side. She did not fear the hanyou and his human bitch by any stretch of the imagination but she had decided to retreat to her fortress.
If she was to defeat them she might as well do it in the comfort of her home. She sighed and summoned forth the ropes of hair she found to be a most convenient method of travel and began to swing herself towards the wonderful palace of skulls she had made for herself. His beautiful silver hair would be a welcome addition to her collection.
~IY~
"Why are we stopping?" Amber asked as Inuyasha dropped her off his back. He shot a harsh glare in her direction and stepped wordlessly to the side to reveal the carnage of Yura.
They were bandits at one time, that much was apparent from their rough garb and large clumsy weapons. There was also a good chance that they were part of the band that's leader had been possessed by the carrion bird, but there was no way of telling for sure. They had all been decapitated.
Amber felt sick and her legs wobbled as she drew in a sharp breath that smelt of blood. The metallic taint of it fouled the air and the thus far inexperienced Amber was amazed by the violent brutality of the death in the glade.
"If this is what she did to fully armed, experienced warriors imagine, oh just imagine, what she can do to you." The nasty voice in her ear sounded amused by her horror but she ignored it and scanned the camp. She spotted the weapon she was looking for and thanked whatever god or goddess that had willed it to be left untouched by any dead bandit.
Inuyasha looked at her and laughed quietly as she scooped up the bow and arrows, though he made no comment. She glared at him but had no voice to mention that she had been the one who thought up the way to destroy the carrion bird. But then she also didn't mention how her idea had also shattered the Shikon Jewel in the process of killing the bird.
Inuyasha looked around the camp a bit more and bent to smell the earth. "There's a scent here." He told her pointing to an ordinary looking patch of dirt. "But I can't get on a fix on it, not in the middle of this." He made a vague motion with his hand that seemed to symbolize the death all around him. "It stinks of blood."
He dusted of his pant legs and stood, gazing around the clearing for a minute before performing one of his amazing jumps and landing beside her. He motioned for her to climb back up on his back and she did so, happy to be away from the death. She rested her head against the pillow made by his thick silver hair and sighed. She was tired and could feel the stiffness seeping into her limbs as she closed her eyes.
"HEY!" Inuyasha yelled jarring her harshly. "Don't fall asleep up there!" He landed in a tree and looked around. "Which way does the hair go now?" Amber scanned the leaves and pointed west, a sudden aching sleepiness overtaking her. Inuyasha jarred her again and she swore at him vigorously and made a point of pulling his hair brutally.
Inuyasha took off and Amber felt the familiar tense of his muscles before he leapt, and the soaring feeling in her stomach as they went from tree to tree. There was something good about this, she decided. Something so close to flying that she almost forgot Inuyasha was a complete ass when they were airborne. The feeling was short lived.
The hair lifted from the trees, twisting and writhing like a tidal wave and Amber barely had a moment to think before it was upon them.
"LEFT!" She screamed. Inuyasha dodged the first hit easily and went spiraling off among the branches. The hair pursued him effortlessly and Amber watched it horrified, as it seemed to expand ominously.
"UP!" Amber took a handful of Inuyasha's hair and pulled up as if to use it as reins for her angry mount. With a cry of pain Inuyasha leapt, the hair brushing along his toes as he jumped.
"RIGHT! STRAIGHT! DOWN! SHARP LEFT!" Amber cried each time pulling the hanyou's hair in a different direction.
"WOULD YOU STOP!" He asked as he pivoted in mid air and climbed the length of the invisible hair. Amber screamed as he leapt off it and flipped easily before dodging so fast it made her stomach lurch.
He landed easily on the hillside and slid down it, his feet spitting dust and pebbles in all directions. Amber held on and looked behind, searching for the hair. Neither of them was prepared for what happened next.
From each side, long ropes of hair snaked out and wrapped around Inuyasha's wrists, yanking him up.
"HEY!" He yelled pulling away as his passenger was thrown from his back and tumbled down the hill roughly. Amber could feel a sharp stone rip into her arm as she rolled helplessly out of control. The rock that waited on the bottom was far worse.
The hard pain of her head wound sent arrows of fire through her skull, as she lay motionless on the ground. She could see nothing but blackness and her head swam when she opened her eyes. There was something hovering in the air beyond her and Amber squinted at it as the darkness threatened to overtake her. A huge fortress made of hair, rising slowly into the sky. Amber shivered and felt the blackness begin to take her.
"Yura!" She exclaimed weakly. And then she was lost.
~IY~
"Oh my, look at the cute little doggy!" Inuyasha struggled angrily as the woman landed before him. She was pretty, short black hair framing a sweet face and black clothing with a yellow sash about her waist. He would have thought her innocent looking if not for the merciless glint of her eye and the cruel note of mocking in her voice. "You must be Inuyasha."
"And you must be Yura of the hair." He replied.
"Charmed." Yura replied. "My but you're the talk of us all Inuyasha! Everyone is whispering about half breed Inuyasha playing fetch with some foul mouthed shrine maiden."
"ME? ME AND THAT HALF WIT HUMAN?" Inuyasha yelled struggling violently. "NOTHING IS GOING ON!"
"You're both half wits to me." Yura said nastily reaching out. Inuyasha pulled back but she merely stroked his hair and smiled. "It's soft! Good, I can use it for my bed!"
Inuyasha looked at her shocked but she merely beckoned to her hair, which came forward and encircled her thin waist, lifting her up to a small hill. "Just look what you've gone and done to the poor jewel!" She exclaimed pulling the string that hung around her neck and letting the attached shard glitter.
"I could have used you to collect the shards for me but since you don't know where they are I'll just wrap all this up and find them for myself. She said tucking the jewel back between her breasts.
"YOU? TAKE CARE OF ME?" Inuyasha threw his head back and laughed. "WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU YOU'LL WISH YOU'D NEVER EVEN HEARD MY NAME!"
Yura frowned at him and Inuyasha unleashed the fierce strength he'd be building up in his arms as they talked. The hair ripped easily as he slashed it and he laughed again as he ran towards her. "You're finished!"
"I don't think so." Yura replied. She summoned forth a wall of hair to protect her, a smug smile painted on her dainty lips. As Inuyasha struck it, unaware that it existed, for he still could not see the hair, it entangled him again, almost choking him as it wound around his throat.
"Oh no." He moaned as Yura smirked at him and unsheathed her red sword.
~IY~
Amber pulled herself from the blackness slowly, as though swimming through glue or wet sand. As the colors reappeared and she sat up the world slipped through sixes, to fives then fours and finally settling on threes. She pulled herself up and looked around.
Amber had never claimed to be a saint. She'd been drunk and high enough to understand how to navigate and her concussion last year had only enhanced her knowledge of the situation. "The middle one." She said reaching for her bow. The feel of it in her hand reassured her and Amber looked to where she'd seen Yura's fortress. It still hovered there and Amber, not having a plan or knowing what to do, began walking towards it. She needed to do something.
~IY~
"Such pretty hair." Yura cooed running Inuyasha's hair between her fingers. "But you haven't taken very good care of it have you? Look at all the split ends!"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled kicking her in the stomach. With a cry of rage Yura flew backwards and was caught by her hair. She ran forwards and cut a long track across Inuyasha's chest.
The pain burned as he watched her look at the blood smeared along the cutting edge of her blade. She drew a finger across the blade lightly and licked the blood off, smiling and sighing with pleasure. "I'm going to cut you up into little pieces." She told him pleasantly.
The arrow that hit her in the shoulder was not strong enough to pierce her muscle or even cause real pain. It hung in by the very tip of the head swinging slightly in the cool breeze; Yura pulled it from her body with a slight wince and turned to where the steep ravine began its edge thick with heavy grass.
Amber stood triumphant, bruised and battered but triumphant, her bow fitted with another arrow and pointed directly at her.
~IY~
"Let him go!" The strength of her own voice surprised her as she demanded Yura to release the bleeding Inuyasha. Yura smiled at her sweetly and did nothing. "YOU HEARD ME!" Amber yelled.
"Aw, look Inuyasha." Yura cooed loud enough for Amber to hear from her place. "She wants you back. What a sweet widdle doggy you must be."
She turned back to Amber and laughed. "Sit down and wait your turn dear. I just need to finish disciplining the little doggy."
She turned back to Inuyasha who merely snarled at her and spat in her eye. "Now that was just uncalled for." Yura said wiping the spit off her face.
"Yeah, well you deserve it you ugly hag." Inuyasha replied as Yura smiled softly.
"Now, now there's no reason to speak like that. It simply isn't proper." She lifted her sword and a second arrow came streaking through the air, missing her narrowly and imbedding itself firmly in the ground. Amber let loose another and almost struck Inuyasha as her target dodged easily and landed behind him, using him as a quite effective shield.
"Watch where you're aiming!" Inuyasha cried as the feathers of the lethal arrow traced his side. She drew the bow again but did not shoot, not trusting her risky aim.
"Well I do say. You both have the most ghastly of manners. I'm beginning to think you aren't as mismatched as I initially thought." She patted Inuyasha like he was a harmless puppy and cooed away in his ear. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you in a moment but first," she looked up to where Amber stood, "that woman has to die."
Amber could see the hair and her vision had settled so she managed to dodge the attack and run along the ravine edge, the thick grass beating against her legs. The hair pursued her but her goal was in sight. The bow was still drawn tight and she lifted it and fired the arrow at the fortress before her.
It struck solidly and Amber dodged again, the hair gliding along her leg, the feeling light as a breeze but close enough to make her stomach flop. Yura's cry of dismay was all that told her plan had worked as she struggled with the attacking hair.
"My home!" She exclaimed as the hair around the invading arrow dissolved. Her skulls, the product of centuries of collecting, spilt out in a waterfall of bone, the still clinging hair shining like silk. "Now I have become cross." She glared at Amber, who was still fighting the hair.
With a wave of her hand the hair retreated and Amber found herself surrounded by flames. She gazed around wildly, looking for an escape but the red fire was all around her, its scorching heat washing over her.
"Pity." Yura commented thoughtfully as she watched the human struggle. "Such a waste. There'll be nothing left but ash."
"AMBER!" Inuyasha yelled slashing at the hair that bound him.
"Oh don't worry so much puppy dog." Yura exclaimed turning her back on Amber. "I haven't forgotten you. Pets should never be allowed to outlive their owners." She brandished her sword but Inuyasha had one hand free and his return attack was far more damaging then Yura had anticipated.
"Ow!" She cried as her hand disconnected from her wrist. Her black blood dripped from the stump at the end of her right arm. She looked more surprised then anything else.
"THAT SHOULD TEACH YOU!" Inuyasha yelled thrashing wildly as Amber screamed. She was still surrounded by the lethal flames she could not escape.
"Why that was simply horrible of you!" Yura said as her amputated hand, still gripping her sword, dangled in the air before her. "I think I've kept you quite long enough. Time to die."
~IY~
Amber could see the distance between her flesh and the hungry fire shortening by the second. Inuyasha was still restrained by Yura and seemed helpless. She was stuck.
Amber could see a place where the flames were not as high and sighed. She would surely catch fire if she tried to run and then it would all be over. But there was no choice for her.
She hugged Inuyasha's red coat around herself and tensed. The cloth still smelled like him and she paused thinking of him before charging through the flame. Arrogant, stubborn and pompous but not a bad guy. No worse then her she supposed.
Amber tucked her arms to her sides and charged, feeling the fire envelop her body. She waited for the burning pain, the horrible wrath the fire would take upon her flesh and bone. But it did not come. As she broke away from the fire she looked around and saw Inuyasha had broken away from the hair and was now fighting Yura. She drew her bow but Yura was moving too much for her to be of any help. She would not hit her.
She looked at the pile of skulls that her arrow had drawn from Yura's lair. There was one, close to the top of the pile that caught her eye, red as blood and evil looking. Something called her to it and Amber began to climb, ignoring the sickly texture of bone beneath her fingers.
~IY~
Inuyasha dodged Yura's hand that was attacking him and she yelled at him crossly. "Stop fighting Inuyasha." She scolded. "It's much harder to hit you when you're moving like that!"
The half demon was too busy trying to fight off the hair he could not see and Yura's severed hand to reply but he growled inwardly at the woman's arrogance. He fought off the silky grip of hair on his right wrist and risked a wild attack on Yura who blocked it effortlessly and with a slight flick of her hand, stabbed him in the back with her amputated sword hand.
Inuyasha fell to the ground, unrestrained but in great pain. Yura stepped daintily up to him and reattached her hand. "Much better." She said as the flesh rejoined itself. She looked down on Inuyasha and snorted with laughter, amused by his predicament.
"I suppose I should have assumed a dirty blooded little mongrel like yourself would be no match for me, but I did hope you would be a better challenge then this." Inuyasha stood shakily and glared at her as she stroked the jewel shard around her throat. "I guess you planned on using my jewel to become full demon hmm?"
Inuyasha did not reply so Yura lifted her sword. In an instant Inuyasha had plunged his hand through her chest and pulled it out again, the jewel shard clamped tightly in his fist. In an instant he was gone, leaping away with his ears his only defense against the hair.
"How rude." Yura sighed watching him with disinterest.
She turned to her fortress to see if the hair had begun to repair it yet and caught sight of the girl she'd set the flames upon climbing up the pile of discarded skulls, not even singed.
"How in the world..?" Yura wondered as she looked to where her fire had been. The grass was smoldering as the fire burned itself out and Yura glared at it before looking back at the climbing human. "Ah well. This will take care of her."
~IY~
The attack was easy to dodge and slammed into the skulls instead of Amber's soft flesh but it tore away a chunk of her jeans and sent a miniature avalanche of skulls tumbling down to her. Amber could see the red one come towards her and extended her hand, easily snatching it up and tucking it into Inuyasha's coat. She slid down the mountain of skulls, dodging the attacks of the hair. She screamed as it finally seized her and lifted her into the air, shaking her like a rag doll.
Inuyasha was there in an instant, slashing away at the hair. As it came loose she looked down, towards the vicious spiked rocks twenty feet blow her.
"Don'..." She began as Inuyasha completed his work and the hair released her. The fall seemed impossibly slow as the wind rushed past her ears. The realization struck Inuyasha at the same time a wall of living hair did and whisked him away. She was going to die. Oh god she was going to die.
And she met. Sharp pain shot through her but it was not enough. She scarcely dared to look down at her body but she saw no rocks or blood. She would be bruised and sore come morning but at least for now she was alive.
"WHAT ARE YOU?" Yura was angry now. She landed next to Amber with a bleeding and exhausted looking Inuyasha. "You look mortal enough but nothing will kill you!"
Amber remembered the coat but said nothing. The red coat seemed to be a most effective armor.
"Well let's just see how invincible you are." The next attack was something Inuyasha's coat could not defend her against. The hair was thin and strong and wound itself about her throat with a crushing strength. Amber couldn't breathe.
She clawed at the constricting hair, gasping silently for air. She heard Inuyasha yell something at Yura but she could not make out what it was. The pain in her lungs amplified by the minute as Yura strangled her, until it felt as though her chest might burst in pain. She could not die this way.
"Are you alright?" Inuyasha cut the hair from her throat with a flick of his claws and Amber gasped loudly, sucking in the life giving air. She could barely move in Inuyasha's arms, her limbs weak and slow as she struggled to tell him of the red skull still contained in his coat. He was bleeding and his face was swollen but there was no anger, only hopelessness.
"Coat..." she gasped feeling stupid and helpless. "Coat... Skull... Yura... Fortress." Yura laughed as she escaped whatever temporary set back Inuyasha had forced upon her but Inuyasha had all ready pieced together her mumbling. With a swift movement he pulled the red skull from the coat and smashed it against the stony ground.
"My... my darling!" Yura screamed as she saw the shattered red pieces of the skull. Inuyasha grinned wickedly and picked the red comb from the skulls remnants.
"Bye Yura." He said nastily and broke it with a careless flick of his wrists. Amber smiled as the ability to move slowly returned to her limbs. Yura screamed once before seeming to implode her body shrinking and smoking as she died until there was nothing there but a puff of black smoke the wind carried away easily.
"We did it!" Amber cried weakly as she lifted herself up. She could feel the places on her back where huge purple bruises were already beginning to form and wiped the blood off the place where a rock had ripped into her flesh.
"* I * did it, you mean." Inuyasha replied getting up and wiping the blood of his chest. His wounds leaked blood all over him but he tried to ignore them as Amber glared at him.
"Wadda ya mean you did it?" She asked angrily. You would never have found the skull if it wasn't for me." Amber snarled.
"Well you wouldn't have survived to find the skull if it wasn't for me in the first place." Inuyasha argued.
"YOU ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BIGGEST ASS I HAVE EVER KNOWN!" Amber exploded. She raised one hand to slap him but controlled herself with an almost superhuman effort. "Remind me never to help you again." She grumbled punching him on the shoulder.
Inuyasha fell down as though he was a little girl and Amber laughed, full out laughed as though everything was right with the world again. She laughed until tears started pouring down her face and her cheeks glowed red and she gasped for air with her sides nearly splitting open. Finally she forced herself to stop and dabbed at her eyes still sucking in gulps of air and giggling.
"Why didn't tell me you were hurt that badly? I would've been gentler." She taunted him in a baby voice.
"I hate you Amber." He growled from his place on the ground clawing the clinging leaves off his face.
"I noticed." She replied and helped him to his feet.
~IY~
Kaede thought the wood sounded more relaxed then they had as the dawn began, the once silent birds rising up among the branches to sing the morning chorus. She hoped this meant that Amber and Inuyasha had managed to defeat Yura.
"Inuyasha, only by working together will ye triumph." She whispered herself. She spat out a mouthful of leaves and sighed. "And don't ye dare forget where ye have buried me."
~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Wow for some reason I really disliked that chapter. But anyway I have managed to update and I hope this will quell the angry horde that has emailed by hotmail account demanding updates. I updated sooner then I expected actually so I'm all happy like. Hope that I get more reviews for this because those are my inspirations! The more you review the faster the second chapter will come out. (Sesshomaru people! Sesshomaru! * drools* )
Cy@ all soon!