Hope Lies Hidden
Chapter Two- Into a Strange Land
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Akina rolled over in bed, wondering why on Earth her alarm was going off at 8:00am on a Saturday. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and searched her memory for any reason as to why she would be up so early…Kagome.
She sat up, turning off the alarm as she did. This was only her first week in Tokyo, and already she had a nice friend, who wanted her to come see her house…and the Higurashi Shrine no less…she smiled at the thought of Kagome being a miko. She highly doubted the possibility, but living at a shrine, it was there.
Akina pulled out her school uniform at first, but remembering it was not a school day, hung it back out and pulled out her civvies instead. She pulled on a dark green ribbed tank top over a dark brown, skintight long sleeve. She pulled on dark brown combat boots, which were mostly covered by her camouflage cargo pants. She grabbed her pack, which was her alternate to a purse, and began to walk out the door when she remembered her glasses, and walked over to her bedside table, grabbed them up, and headed downstairs.
"Uncle Suma? I'm going out to see my friend…I'll be back later! Bye Aunt Ishina!"
The only response she received was an unintelligible grunt from her uncle as she walked out the door. Akina sighed…she would rather have had to get a job to pay her own way back in Yokohama…
But as she started down the street towards Kagome's house, she felt that it was a good thing, if only apparent in the long run, that she had come to Tokyo after all.
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Kagome packed the last package of Ramen noodles in her bag with a relieved sigh. They all had come to depend on Kagome so much…and not just because she was Kikyo's reincarnate…because she had food. Half the time they were on the road, far from any village, it was her food that would carry them all over until she could restock at the next village they came to.
Kagome smoothed a crease in her uniform before shouldering the now heavy pack. As she began to walk out of the house, she couldn't help but feel as if there was something she was forgetting…
"Bye Mom! Bye Sota! Please don't embarrass me too much Grandpa! I'll see you all later!" She half ran, half walked out the door, just as someone began to knock on the front entrance. She heard her Grandpa answer the door as she headed for the well house. She had to get going…Inuyasha and the others were waiting for her.
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Akina smiled sweetly at the old man who opened the door to Kagome's house. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment before saying anything to her.
"Yes young lady? How may I help you?"
Akina bowed shortly. "Hello. My name's Akina, I'm a friend of Kagome's…"
"Oh, to bad. You just missed her…"
"Missed her?" she asked with a slight frown. "Where did she go?"
She didn't really hear his answer though as she saw Kagome running to one of the shrine buildings out the corner of her eye.
"Hey Kagome!" she called turning towards her with a smile. Kagome kept going though, entering one of the smaller buildings at the shrine. Akina turned back to the man at the door and bowed again. "Thank you very much sir, I appreciate your help."
She turned and ran after Kagome, leaving the old man spluttering behind her. She ran into the room, expecting to see Kagome, but instead was greeted by no one at all. She looked around curiously. " How could she have disappeared so fast?" she wondered aloud.
Her eyes fell upon the well that was down at the end of the short wooden stairway. "Hey look, an old well…that's neat…"
She felt strangely drawn to it…like it was something she had seen in a dream long past…she leaned on the edge of the well, looking down into it. It was deep enough to where she could not see the bottom…she leaned over further, and suddenly, as if an invisible hand had pushed her, she felt herself tip too far forward, and she pitched head first into the well, the only sound escaping her a short, shocked, eep…
Not two seconds later Kagome's grandpa came huffing into the well house after Akina. He looked around curiously for a moment before leaving again, muttering about her as he did.
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Akina braced herself for the impact with the bottom of the well, her eyes screwed tight. If she didn't break something, she would be thoroughly amazed…
But the impact didn't come. She opened here eyes slowly, and then looked up around her, amazed by what she saw. The world around her was a dazzling crystalline blue, like water, but felt like air. But not a moment later the blue began to fade into a murky brown, and Akina stared as her hands and knees came into exceedingly soft contact with the bottom of the well.
"Wow, that was really weird."
She got up and brushed herself off, wiping the dirt from her palms. She looked up the side of the well, until she was looking out the top, at the daylight shining up above. She looked back at the wall in front of her and sighed.
"Now, to get out of you…"
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Kagome jumped out of the well and was immediately greeted by a large floating pink balloon with a strange smiley face imprinted on it.
"Kagome! Your back!" it cried, before suddenly popping and turning into the familiar form of Shippo, her little fox demon friend.
Kagome laughed slightly at him. "Yeah, I'm back Shippo, I couldn't stay away for too long…"
"Did you bring more ramen?"
Now Kagome really did laugh. The little fox was amusing. "Yes, Shippo, I brought more ramen."
"Yay!"
"What are you so excited about furball?" came the familiar voice of Inuyasha next to her.
"Hey, ease up Inuyasha, he's just glad to see me, can't you be nice to him just once?"
"And why should I?"
Kagome gave him a cold look for a moment before saying anything.
"Inuyasha…SIT!"
Inuyasha slammed face first into the ground, sending bits of dirt flying everywhere.
"Ah, welcome back Kagome," said Miroku walking up to stand beside her, Sango and Kerara not too far behind him. "I can see Inuyasha has already come to greet you."
"Hey! What the hell was that for?" he growled, standing up rather stiffly, bits of grass still stuck in his hair.
"For making me late to class again…I told you one more time…"
"That's no excuse for…"
"Hey guys, look." Said Shippo, interrupting the feud. Kagome followed the direction of his gaze to see something that almost made her pass out. Someone else was climbing out of the well.
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Akina pushed herself up past the last stone in the well, and paused, panting from trying to climb the nearly smooth walls. Luckily all that martial arts training her dad had made her go through before disappearing had paid off, allowing her to find handholds when there were none apparent. She finally looked up, expecting to see the inside of well house.
Instead, an empty field and a forest beyond were what greeted her eyes.
"Oh, this is definitely not where I parked my car…"
She continued to pull herself up out of the well until she fell out, hitting the grass beneath her at an odd angle, so her feet, were still propped up on the edge. She sat still for a moment, and then began to sing a little song as she rocked back and forth in a strange little victory dance.
"I'm alive…I made it back up…and now I'm alive…"
"Were you not before?" asked a smooth male voice. Akina froze, and then sat up slowly to see a very handsome looking man standing on the other side of the well, staring at her curiously. Akina gasped, coming into a fighting stance in an instant.
"Who are you?" she asked, eyeing the stranger. He was dressed in strange clothing, the likes of which she had only ever seen in history books. He carried a large staff with a golden hoop attached to the top and several rings hung from that. She saw that one of his hands was wrapped in cloth and prayer beads, as if it was holding something back…
"My name is Miroku, and I couldn't help but stop to try and aid a beautiful young lady such as yourself…after all it is my duty as a monk to help anyone I possibly can."
"Miroku, leave the poor girl alone…"
Akina looked around Miroku's form to see Kagome standing there, a shocked look on her face, but a slightly aggravated one as well.
"Kagome?" she asked quietly, not quite believing her eyes. She took a few steps forward, walking towards her friend in a state of disbelief, when something snapped her out of her daze…
The monk was groping her!
She turned in a flash, lashing out in an elegantly delivered strike that sent Miroku flying.
"Don't you dare touch me you pervert!" she hollered angrily as she stomped on his back while he lay in the grass.
"Hey, I like this girl already." Said a small voice by her side. She stopped mid stomp and looked down to see a little boy, but a boy that appeared to be half fox…
"Oh how cute!" she squealed, picking him up and hugging him. "And who might you be?" she asked with a beautiful smile.
"My name's Shippo," he said as a soft mew came from her other side. "And that's Kirara."
Akina looked down to see a little animal, no bigger than a cat, but twice as adorable standing by her side looking up at her. She set Shippo down and patted the little thing on the head, before standing up to face Kagome.
"Hey Kagome! I found where you went to!" she said, rubbing the back of her head and laughing slightly.
"And just who the Hell are you?" she heard a voice say behind her. She whipped around and started to introduce herself, but stopped dead, a strange look on her face.
The boy in front of her had long silver hair and golden eyes…he wore all red and white…but he had ears as well…
Akina reached up and began to fiddle with them, despite the frozen look that was now on the strange boy's face.
"Wow…they're just like cat ears…" she said, looking them over thoroughly. This statement seemed to snap the boy out of his stupor, making him even growl slightly before he began to yell.
"They are not cat ears, they are dog, ears! Dog! Dog demon dog-ears! Not cat!"
"Sit boy!"
Suddenly the boy was face down in the dirt, as if slammed by some monstrous force from behind.
"Sorry about that, Inuyasha just gets a little worked up over some things." apologized Kagome, smiling at Akina. "I'd like you to meet Sango," she said, showing her the last member of the odd group, a beautiful young woman in a kimono, with a boomerang the at least her size slung over her back. She bowed slightly to the woman before making her introduction.
"It is very nice to meet you Sango, my name is Akina."
Sango bowed as well, and smiled brightly at her. "It is nice to meet you as well…"
She looked past Akina at Miroku and Inuyasha, both of whom were just getting up, moaning in pain. She laughed at the sight, and then turned back to Akina. "Glad to see you've met the boys…"
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"She is not coming with us and that's final!"
"Inuyasha…I can't believe how stubborn you're being! She's my friend!"
It had been almost an hour since Akina had fallen through the well. No one knew how she had managed without a piece of the Shikon jewel, but that debate was set aside for the larger one of whether or not she would be allowed to accompany them.
"I trust her Inuyasha…"
"You trust her do you! Well I don't! There's something strange about that girl, something she's not telling us and I don't like it!"
Kagome was glad that Sango and Miroku had agreed to take Akina back to the village to see Kaede. They had taken Shippo along as well, so Kagome and Inuyasha could yell it out on their own, undisturbed.
"You think I don't know that! She needs help Inuyasha, and if we leave her behind I have a feeling she's not going to get it! Would you just stop being so egotistical and let her come already!"
Inuyasha growled slightly in response, and stood silently for a moment, his arms crossed.
"Fey…fine, she can come…but I'm not be running around after her all the time got it? I've already got my hands full enough with the rest of you…"
Kagome smiled and threw her arms around him, giving him a tight hug.
"Thank you so much!" she said, then ran off in the direction of the village.
Inuyasha stared after her for a moment, then sighed resignedly and followed after Kagome.
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Kudos to anyone who picked up on the Euro Trip reference. So, Yay? Nay? Or some foggy area in between?
