Author's Notes: Please be kind when you leave feedback. I want constructive feedback over flames. And good ones are always welcome.
Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
Inuyasha grunted as he pulled a large sack out of
the Bone Eater's well. He looked out of the small hut to find
nobody outside. He dragged the bag into the Higurashi household
with enough noise to signal everybody on the grounds that Inuyasha was
back.
"Inuyasha-oniichan!"
Sota quickly opened the sack began shifting through
the items. His mother walked in and smiled at Inuyasha.
"Welcome back. But would you please be careful not to track dirt into the house?"
Inuyasha looked behind him to see the trail left
from the dirty old sack he hauled. He was still not used to the
cleanliness that was common in modern times. Inuyasha looked
sheepishly but made no reply.
Sota picked up piece after piece of armor and weaponry.
"Sugei!"
The mother walked in with a towel in hand and began
cleaning each piece that Sota discarded. It was a good thing that
they found a new source of income.
The Higurashi household needed more income than she
could make ever since her daughter began traveling into the past.
Buying ramen and other foods for Inuyasha and Kagome used up the family
savings. It became more difficult after Kagome began buying
things for her other traveling companions. She never let her
daughter find out about their financial difficulties but it became
evident as time passed. Her father made little money despite the
outrageous stories he had with the duplicated artifacts. The
shrine made only enough money to keep up its own maintenance.
Bringing authentic items from the past to sell was an ingenious idea by
her father.
Inuyasha looked around with little interest.
"Oi! Where's Kagome?"
She had to hold back a giggle. Despite the
time he spent after he settled in with them, he still had a difficult
if not stubborn time to acknowledge that she had a life separate from
the one in the distant past.
"She'll be back. She's probably with friends."
Inuyasha tightened his lips and huffed. He
says the same thing nearly every school day at this time. He was
easy to read now. From what she heard about him, he lived most of
his life as a loner. Yet still, silence was disturbing in the
company of others to him.
She watched Inuyasha's ears twitch before leaving the house. Kagome was probably back.
"Ja ne!" Kagome waved as Yuki walked away.
Wow. Those finals were brutal. Please just let me get somewhat of a decent grade.
She looked up the stairs to her shrine and home to
find Inuyasha waiting there. Running up the stairs, she pulled
him away from the edge.
"What are you doing!" Kagome looked into Inuyasha's clueless face.
"What now?"
"What if somebody sees you? Those clothes will get people to start wondering. And the ears…"
"Nobody saw me. You're too uptight."
Rolling her eyes, she muttered under her breath, "I wonder why."
Of course, Inuyasha picked it up with his sensitive ears.
"Who knows why you're as messed up as you are?"
Bickering on, it seemed like it was just another day.
Inuyasha smirked as Kagome trailed behind in their
verbal sparring. They were even overall. While he could be
more rude, he also would give in if her eyes began watering up or
pouted her lips. He toned down on his obnoxiousness and she was
less prone to crying. Though in truth, he never wanted to make
her cry. Things were just complicated back then. Anyway,
things were better now. But she still pouted and he was still
susceptible to it. She looked too cute with she did that…
Something shifted in the air. He may live in
the present now but his survival instincts had not dulled yet.
There was a smell of fresh near odorless… wind?
Standing in front of the housing of the well, a girl stood looking at them.
"Youkai…"
She had to be. No human he had ever
encountered had blue hair that would match the sky on its most
beautiful day. There was no natural looking color at the roots or
her eyebrows. And there was no smell of her hair being recently
dyed or whatever Kagome's world did with their hair. Her scent
reminded him of the freshest air in the early morning due but without
any moisture… if that made sense. Even Kagura had Naraku's putrid
smell mixed with fresh wind.
Inuyasha pulled out his Tetsuseiga and let it transform with his will to protect Kagome and himself.
"Wait Inuyasha!" Kagome grabbed his arm.
Inuyasha gripped his sword and never let his eye waver.
"Hello." Kagome smiled, "Is there anything we can help you with?"
She's too damn trusting.
"She means, what the hell are you doing here!"
He could feel Kagome giving him a glare but he ignored it.
"You are Kagome Higurashi?"
Kagome Higurashi? No accent and sounded formal. Not Japanese though she speaks it pretty well.
"That would be me."
The girl looked like she was older than her but not
by much. Oddly, she hoped that Inuyasha was not mistaken that she
was a youkai. How could she explain the situation if she wasn't?
The girl smiled, "The name is Rebecca. I have
been looking for you. A situation has arisen that demands your
attention."
I feel like I can trust her for some reason. That smile is disarming…
"So much for happily ever after…"
Inuyasha watched Rebecca as Kagome went inside to
tell everybody that she was going on a trip of the supernatural kind.
Rebecca had explained that a youkai of unmatched
power was ready to be released. Inuyasha remembered all the times
he heard of such things. Humans were weak so they perceived
nearly everything stronger as absolutely overwhelming. He took
down enough youkai to make him feel confident that he could handle
anything. The only thing that bothered him at the moment was
Rebecca herself.
Rebecca was too nice. Her smile remind him of
the warmth and kindness of Kagome and her mother but her eyes showed an
aged wisdom. It was too calming being near her. Maybe it
was some kind of magic. He did not want to trust her. He
forced himself to be cautious around her. Looks have been
deceiving as was proven time and time again.
It took Kagome an hour to pack her unused oversized
yellow backpack. Inuyasha refused to let Rebecca in the house or
any of the other members of the household to interact with her no
matter how much Kagome disagreed.
Kagome had some difficulty going through the door with her backpack.
"Ja ne, mama!"
"You did not need to bring so much." Rebecca said softly.
Kagome gave an embarrassed smile. Watching
Kagome squirm was one thing but when it was because of somebody he
didn't trust, he was not going to stand idly by.
"You never did say how long we were going for. 'We have to go far away' is not much to go on."
Rebecca was unfazed and that unnerved him
somewhat. Nothing seemed to bother her. At least with
Miroku, it was because of his aloofness.
Kagome received a hug and kiss from her mother as they left.
"Where now?" Inuyasha sat down in the middle of the court.
Rebecca took out a piece of chalk and drew a large
circle around Inuyasha. Inuyasha jumped out as soon as he noticed
it was going around him. She had not earned his trust and he was
not going to sit by as she did some unknown spell on him. She
drew a perfect triangle with each corner touching the circle. She
drew them too perfectly.
Rebecca walked in the middle and motioned for them
to enter as well. Kagome entered before he could stop her.
The drawing gave off a light that was noticeable even in the
daylight. Inuyasha folded his arms.
"Come on Inuyasha." Kagome shifted her ridiculously large backpack.
"We don't even know what it does!"
"It will bring us to the grounds where the youkai is sealed."
"Like I'm suppose to believe you! We just met you!"
"Please Inuyasha." Kagome pouted.
Inuyasha never stood a chance. He reluctantly joined the girls.
"Don't blame me if you get killed."
The light intensified until it was as bright as the
sun itself. In a flash, the drawing and the trio disappeared
without a trace.
Kagome looked around in awe.
"It's beautiful."
The sun was high in the near clear sky. It's
light reflected off the open sea like innumerable diamonds. The
waters were clear enough to see through to the bottom. The waves
rolled in with a soothing soft roar. The salt air was refreshing
from the city. The beach had the whitest sand Kagome had ever
seen. It looked like a painted picture.
True to Inuyasha's form, he shrugged.
"It's okay."
Leave it to him to ruin a moment. Doesn't he know a romantic place if it smacked him in the face?
"This way." Rebecca walked away from the beach.
They followed her into the palm trees and wild bushes after the sands.
"Palm trees? Where are we?" Kagome scratched her legs after going through a large bush.
"We are about a two hundred kilometers east of Japan."
"Nani!"
Inuyasha looked at Kagome clueless as if asking for an explanation.
"Inuyasha, two hundred kilometers is further than us walking in a week."
"Nani! That's impossible! We were only in that stupid circle for a couple of seconds!"
"Ummm Inuyasha. I don't think the two hundred
kilometers even includes the distance from home to the east side of
Japan."
Inuyasha was left sputtering once again.
Damn! That girl would have been really
useful in my time. Just think of all the ground we would cover if
we didn't have to spend half of it walking back to Kaede's.
Inuyasha sniffed the air once and again and found nothing but sea air, plantlife, and birds.
How come there's nothing else here? I don't
smell anybody else here. I thought there was suppose to be a
youkai sealed here.
"How do you know about me?" Kagome asked.
Good question.
"And I don't smell anything here. I thought there was suppose to be a youkai."
Rebecca lead them into a cave and raised her hand. The hand glowed in a soft light.
"I have been following your progress. I presume that you are the reincarnation of Kiana."
Kagome shifted uncomfortably.
"Ummm… you mean Kikyo."
It would be some time if ever, they would mention her name without feeling awkward.
"Her too." Rebecca replied, "But Kikyo is just another incarnation."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha shouted in confusion.
Rebecca touched the wall with her glowing hand. The spot where she touched glowed and spread somewhat.
"I'll explain from the beginning than. My
great grandmother Arael created a gateway through time many years
ago. Her descendents were to watch over this gateway for it had
to play an important role. That is why I know about you."
"Wait… you mean…" Kagome gasped.
"Kagome Higurashi, the Time Pit is known to you as
the Bone Eater's Well. You have been fated to use it."
Fated!
After a minute of silence to let this sink in,
Kagome continued her questioning. Questions keep popping up and
she had to get them out before she felt like exploding.
"W-who is Ki-Kiana?"
"She is the one who created the Shikon No Tama."
"Nani!"
"Fate seems ironic. To let her look after it
in her next life… and the next one after that. And yet… Kikyo
would disrupt your guardianship over the jewel."
Inuyasha erupted, "You think this is fucking funny?"
Rebecca dropped her smile and looked sad.
Softer than usual, she spoke, "Fate can seem cruel."
The remained silent until they reached a boulder
that blocked off the rest of the tunnel. Rebecca lit up part of
the wall and dispelled her glowing hand.
Rebecca spoke, "The youkai has been sealed behind
this boulder but it is stronger than anything you have faced."
Inuyasha began laughing, "Obviously, you have no
idea what kind of foes we dealt with. This should be a piece of
cake."
"In a way, you've fought a lesser version of it, that would be Naraku."
"Nani!" Inuyasha and Kagome shouted in unison.
It seemed they were saying that word quite often today.
"Like the attachments of Naraku, he was like one to
the youkai I am bringing you to. The one I am trying to stop is
called Kuro. Kuro is the original youkai that is made up of other
youkai. Kuro lost against Kiana but escaped with part of its soul
from the Shikon No Tama. "
"How does Naraku fit in?" Inuyasha asked.
"Naraku did not come to creation with the merging of youkai and huma…"
The boulder cracked and parted to reveal a hole that
Rebecca's light did not seem to penetrate. Something black the
size of a housecat came out of it and past the trio.
"Quick, after it."
This was one time Inuyasha wasn't ready to argue
with Rebecca. He chased after the unknown creature back out the
tunnel.
"I forgot to bring my bow."
Rebecca raised her hand to the black hole and it
shrunk until the hole was gone. Turning to Kagome, she brought
out her hands. A bow flashed into existence in her hands.
Rebecca handed Kagome the bow.
The bow is beautiful.
It was a simple bow. It looked like it could
be made of ivory. Kagome experimentally pulled the string.
This bow seemed strong and sturdy despite the delicate build. It
was better than any bow she ever used.
She looked at compound bows but she could never
afford it. Kaede did grace her with a bow as a going away
present. It was a sturdy and well used bow. The new bow was
a welcome change though.
"I'm going to need arrows too." She said sheepishly.
Rebecca created a quiver of arrows in the same
fashion she created the bow. Inuyasha came back. Judging
from his annoyed face, he obviously didn't catch it.
"Fast little bugger. It went out to sea."
"Don't worry about it. We're in the middle of nowhere, right?"
Rebecca looked back, "Gomen but I'm sure that it is going to cause trouble."
"Finish your story. What about Naraku? What are you? Are you a spirit?"
"Kuro is a collection of youkai. It collects
more youkai to become stronger. Naraku is… an attachment of
Kuro. I suppose that's as an appropriate name as another.
Naraku merged with a human."
"Onigumo," Inuyasha imputed.
"It would serve to strengthen its evil spirit.
A more greedy force of modivation can only help it become physically
stronger. I can only guess that after absorbing Onigumo's body,
Naraku forgot or forsaked its original goal of absorbing youkai and
returning to Kuro. Naraku went against his original purpose and
began a selection process of only the strongest youkai rather than any
and all youkai."
Kagome never knew things were so complicated.
Everything seemed more connected than she had expected. And what
blew her mind was that she had another past life, an important past
life. Who would have thought her soul was that connected to the
Shikon No Tama… that she was the creator of the troublesome jewel in a
past life?
"I don't understand. Why do you need our help if you can just reseal the youkai."
"Arael was the one who captured Kuro. But it
was strong even then and has been growing stronger. A normal seal
was not enough. Kuro had to be sealed away from this plane.
It could be called the astral plane. But it has been punching
holes into this realm to absorb more youkai. Kuro had a lot of
time. We, the descendants of Arael have been closing the tears
but it takes time to find the tears. All the time we spend trying
to repair the dimensional barriers, it spends getting stronger."
"So, what are you?" Inuyasha interrupted.
"A spirit is not quite right. I'm am a celestial, an angel."
"So you've got a fancy name for your type of youkai." Inuyasha said rudely.
"Inuyasha! Angels are good. They're not youkai… right?"
"You see, angels are…" Rebecca tried to explain.
"Forget it, we shouldn't waste time, right? Let's get started then." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.
Inuyasha watched as Rebecca reopened the hole at the
end of the tunnel. Like before, no light seemed to penetrate
it. Rebecca handed each of them a stick that was made from the
same material as Kagome's new bow and made them glow with her hand
trick.
"Be careful. None of us have seen Kuro for
hundreds of years. I can't tell you what it looks like or its
capabilities."
"Keh. Running blind is what we do best." Inuyasha leaped through the hole.
It stinks in here.
The smell of youkai assaulted his nose
mercilessly. The smell was too numerous for him to register what
it was exactly and the smell was as strong as it was confusing.
It was putrid. He raised his kimono sleeve to his face to block
out the horrible smells.
He looked behind him to see Kagome come through the
hole. It was odd, he couldn't see through the hole from this end
either.
I think I'm going to puke!
The smell seemed to be getting worse and seemed to fill his kimono as well.
"Ewww. What is that smell?" Kagome wrinkled up her nose.
Inuyasha felt like retorting but he did not want to
bother using his breath more than he had to. Human noses were not
as good as his. She should be happy that she was so fortunate.
The light from their rods gave them a good view of
their surroundings. It was not what he was expecting. It
looked like they were in a dark, moldy, fleshy, wet cave.
Inuyasha began to feel light headed but fought it off.
I am not going to wuss out when we just got here.
"Inuyasha, are you okay?"
Inuyasha tried to steady himself. He was
swaying back and forth as they walked through the only tunnel out of
the room. He looked over at Kagome and saw a look of sympathy and
understanding.
So she knows… the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here.
He didn't know what was more disturbing, the fact
that he might be getting use to the smell or the fact that he could
almost taste it.
Suddenly, sharp pain flared from his ankle.
Looking down, it was a crablike claw coming out of the ground.
The whole tunnel pulsed like a living thing.
"Shit! The whole place is alive!"
Inuyasha bend down and ripped the claw off his
foot. Kagome pulled back an arrow in her bow. How do they
fight something like this? Maybe they should strike at everything
then. He unsheathed his Tetsuseiga.
Here goes nothing.
"Kaze no kizu!"
The area in front of him was torn apart as blood and
gore flew through the air. The smell amplified and attacked his
senses. Dizziness rushed over him, catching him off guard.
Kagome shot her arrow but he could not even see what she was aiming
at. He felt consciousness begin to leave him. He couldn't
see Kagome but felt her wrap his left arm on her shoulders.
"Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha woke up at her frightened voice. He
dropped his light when he was losing consciousness. He only had
time to register a blur of movement in front of them. He flung
them backwards with his back toward the movement. Pain flared as
something slashed his right arm. Over a year of fighting with the
Tetsuseiga had conditioned him to not drop his sword.
Kagome moaned as she tried to get up. He was
not helping as he was laying on top of her. He rolled off as best
he could. He noticed Kagome fumble with her bow and shot over
him. She grabbed him and supported him as he fought against the
fog that was enveloping his mind. He felt her stumble as he
leaned more and more weight on her.
"We're going to make it. We're going to make it." Kagome repeated over and over.
Inuyasha felt himself hit the ground and saw
Kagome's worried face. Before he could reassure her, everything
went black.
Kagome took Inuyasha upper garments as Rebecca closed the hole.
Looks like its been infected already… but
how? Unless… he was poisoned. I only have a first aid
pack! I don't think I can find herbs for this.
The wound was red and festering. Puss was
oozing out of the wound along with the blood. A strange tint of
green seemed to be laced with his blood. Kagome cringed as
Inuyasha groaned unconsciously.
Rebecca gave Kagome a reassuring smile.
"His hanyou body can recover from this. It
seems to be a powerful venom but it was only a little. I can
speed up his recovery."
Kagome blinked away the wetness she felt in her eyes.
I guess I should stop over reacting. Inuyasha's always reminding me about it.
Rebecca walked over and kneeled by Inuyasha.
Her hands hover slightly above Inuyasha's chest. The hands began
to give off a soft white glow like the previous times she made the
walls light up. Inuyasha's unconscious expression of pain soothed
away. His face was the unguarded peacefulness that Kagome
familiarized herself with long ago. She had always been
fascinated by the way Inuyasha looked between his waking state and his
sleep. She watched as the poison seemed to be purged from his
body.
Rebecca looked up at her and gave her a warm smile.
"I'm not able to do anymore for now. I've exerted myself for today."
Hrm. I never even thought about it.
She did bring us here and do a lot and that doesn't count the things
she might have done before we met her.
"With his hanyou body, it should be safe to move him. My home is nearby."
Inuyasha woke up and looked around the unfamiliar
surrounding. He was in a bed with a light blanket. There
was a window to his side and a door on the other side of the
room. It was dark out and he did not feel stiff. He was
probably out for only a few hours.
This is a good sign. I guess we made it after all. I wonder where's Kagome.
Inuyasha pulled the blanket off and noticed his
shoulder was bandaged up. He sighed as he looked around. He
was used to seeing Kagome nearby every time he seemed to get
injured. He shook his head hard at the thought.
Baka. Kagome has better things than to waste her time waiting for me to wake up.
Somehow, his internal voice seemed to sound
hollow. He had gotten too comfortable around Kagome. He
cared for her a lot but he almost felt like a pet to her
sometimes. He knew Kagome did not feel that way. She cared
for him as an equal but his personality could be difficult… even to
himself.
Getting up, he bit back a grunt. He forgot
that his foot was injured. Lifting his pant leg, he saw it was
bandaged too.
She didn't need to do that. I would have healed it off in a day. Still a bit sore.
Inuyasha opened the door and nearly ran into Kagome
who was already in her pajamas. Of all the clothes he had seen,
he always thought her pajamas were among the oddest in modern
times. After getting over her surprise, Kagome hugged him.
"I'm so glad you're okay."
Inuyasha nose tickled slightly in her hair. He
could smell shampoo in her freshly washed hair but could still make out
the smell that was distinctly Kagome. He felt his heart thumping
and wondered if she could hear it. Her breath against his bare
chest was sending shivered through his body. He could feel the
soft curves of her body through the cotton fabric against his
own. Inuyasha's face reddened at the close proximity.
Kagome seemed oblivious to what she was doing to him and he was
reluctant to part.
"Y-you didn't need to worry a-about me," Inuyasha's voice cracked.
"You were poisoned," Kagome said softly, "I guess it
was stupid to worry since Rebecca took care of that though."
"I'm tougher than that."
Finally, Inuyasha broke the embrace. It was
getting to be a bit much. Kagome tilted her head and
smiled. Inuyasha's heart melted at the sight.
Kagome is too cute for her own good.
"There's a hot spring nearby."
"Huh, what?" Inuyasha broke out of his train of thought.
"Hot spring, outside. You need it."
Inuyasha looked oddly at her before sniffing his arm.
Oh, that's nasty.
She probably cleaned him off as well as she could
without making him indecent. She could have only done so much.
"What are the chances there would be a hot spring here?" Inuyasha remarked.
"Forget that it's a tropical island… Rebecca said
it's not natural," Kagome saw the look he had, "Don't worry, it's
safe. I already used it. It's kind of like a Jacuzzi."
"What's a Jacuzzi?"
"Never mind."
Kagome helped Inuyasha remove the bandages.
His skin was pink where he was injured. It was tender but that
would go away quickly enough. Kagome said she took his clothes to
be washed. They were drying outside.
Kagome gave Inuyasha a towel as he left. The
hot spring was not hard to find. A small waterfall flowed into a
bubbling pond which flowed to a creek. He stripped and enter the
pool with caution. The water was warm and invigorating.
Moving over to the waterfall, he found it was cold to the touch.
Wading away from it, he went over to the shallow part of the pond and
sat down. The bottom of the pond was not as hot as it should
be. The water was evenly heated which was odd since natural
springs had hot spots and sometimes smelled of rotten eggs. The
tiny but numerous bubbles felt soothing against his skin. Looking
up at the sky, he remembered that the new moon was in two days.
Doesn't matter. I'll heal and take another crack at that thing again.
Inuyasha sighed and felt his muscles relaxed.
After a few minutes, he unintentionally let himself drift into the
comforting realm of sleep.
Author's Notes: I'm planning on making this a three chapter story. Out of all the non-one shot stories I'm working on, this will have the longest chapters. Hope you enjoyed it. Good feedback and constructive criticism are welcome.