A/N: Hey, hey, hey mina-san! Four reviews for the first chapter? That ain't bad at all! I'll mention the ones who reviewed at the end of this chapter. Thanks and enjoy reading!
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Chapter Two: The Magical Powers Of The Well
Inuyasha yawned widely as he was, once again, sitting on the counter. Miroku had left about an hour ago to go job hunting, and that meant that Inuyasha had the whole shrine and the grounds to himself.
He was getting ready to go explore the grounds of the shrine, see what all the place had. Not that this place will have anything exciting or anything. Inuyasha thought and jumped off the counter, going out the front door and into the bright, warm sun.
Before Inuyasha and Miroku had moved to the shrine, the had lived smack dab in the middle of down town Tokyo, so moving here for Inuyasha meant some very boring afternoons. He was used to the noise of cars going by, of people always coming and going, moving out here in the 'country' was something like torture.
The first place Inuyasha went was towards the Goshinboku. He sttod at the base of the tree, looking up into its high, thick branches. "Nice place to sit," he said aloud and jumped to the highest brance of the tree.
The brance that he was sitting on was very comfortable, surprisingly, and it had a perfect view of the grounds surrounding the place. Inuyasha nodded his head in approval.
Something on the branche caught his attention. What the heck is that? He leaned his face closer to the branch, looking at what scarred the branch. Scarring the wood of the branch, were five, long marks that looked like scratches. And these scratches weren't made recently either, by how the wood looked they had been there for years.
"Almost looks like cat claws made theses." Inuyashas said aloud, shruuging it off as nothing and jumping out of the branch to explore the rest of the grounds.
He found that there were actually along with the three storage houses there was also a small guest cottage in between the first two.
"Well, the only place left is that old well house." He said as he stepped onto the step of the well house.
The well house looked old and the doors looked like they hadn't been opened in years. Inuyasha pushed on the door and it swung open with a loud squeak. The well house smelled musty, the smell of mold and dust combined was almost too much for Inuyasha's sensitive nose, but he forced himself onward. The only light that was filtering into the room was the light coming through the open door and the only thing inside the small room was a small, wooden well right in the middle.
Inuyasha made his way down the stairs towards the well, the stairs ceaking and moaning with every step the hanyou took.
The floor of the small room wasn't made of wood but was made up of pure dirt. The smell of the ground was actually a relief to Inuyasha's nose. It's better than the mold smell. Inuyasha thought with a grunt, walking up to the old well.
The well was closed up and was covered with ancient sutras and other youkai seals. Feh, these things are so old I doubt they even work anymore. Inuyasha thought and reached out to lift the covering of the well.
But, shockingly, the sutras still had a little juice in them and sent a little shock up Inuyasha's arm. He grunted slightly and tossed the covering of the well to the side.
Inuyasha glanced down the dark well. "Looks pretty deep." He muttered, his voice echoing off the hollow walls of the well. He leaned over a little further, trying to see just how far down the well went, and his keys, which were in his pocket, slipped out and fell down the well, hitting the bottom with a jingle.
"Crap!" Inuyasha cursed, digging his claws into the corner of the well. Those were his keys to the house. And I just had to lock the friggin' door today. He thought with a grunt of irritation.
He leapt up onto the lip of the well. "I better go get 'em so I don't have to tear the doors off the hinges." He smirked here, "Bet that would get Miroku mad," and without another word, he jumped into the well.
As soon as his feet left the lip of the well, he could sense something happening. At first, nothing visible was happening, he could just feel it, a slight change to the air, a small scent of magic. But that all soon changed. The air seemed to get thicker as he fell, but he could still breath just fine, he could feel the magic of the well getting stronger as the space around him began to glow a purple blue color.
"What the heck!" He said in shock as he seemed to fall in slow motion. He seemed to fall forever before he finally hit the ground, landing gently as if he had sat on a pillow.
Inuyasha shook his head, standing up and dusting the dirt off his jeans. "That was weird. Stupid Miroku didn't tell me the stupid well would do this," He said, looking down at the ground. "Great, now where'd my friggin' keys go?" He grumbled, looking all around the ground.
"What the heck is that?" He asked as something burried in the dirt caught his attention. He leaned closer, picking up a small peice of white bone. He glanced at the bone in his hand and then looked back at the ground. Not only was there the bone in his hand, the entire bottom of the well was covered with bones of all sizes.
He shook his head and dropped the bone in his hand back to the ground. "Feh, I'll find the stupid keys later. I'll get into the house by a window or something."
Inuyasha crouched down and leapt out of the well, expecting to come out in the small, moldy smelling well house. He was shocked when he bounded out of the well and into a small clearing with green summers grass and surrounded by trees with their leaves in full bloom.
"What the-" He said as he landed, nearly falling off his feet as he touched back down to earth.
He turned in a circle, expecting to see the house, but all he say was more trees.
"What the heck is goin on here?" He asked aloud, taking a step toward the trees. "When I find Miroku he's gonna get an ear full for not telling me the stupid well would do this." He grumbled.
He continued to grumble as he pushed through the trees and bushes, but he stopped. His ears twitched behind him, where he heard a slight rustling in the bushes off to his left.
He jumped out of the path he was traveling just as a giant centipede youkai charged out from the follige and straight towards him.
What the heck is a centipede youkai doing here? I thought those things died out in the Feudal Era. Inuyasha thought as he counter attacked. He raked his razor sharp claws down the youkai's side, causing it to howl in pain and anger.
The youkai whipped around, hitting Inuyasha in his chest with one of its many, many legs.
Inuyasha sailed through the air and hit the base of a tree, knocking the air out of him. As he fought to regain his breath he seemed to remember the tree. This is the Goshinboku, he thought, looking around. But where's the shrine? When his breath finally returned, he saw something else.
He saw the small, frail looking body of a girl pinned to the tree. The girl's shoulder was peirced with an arrow and it seemed to be the only thing holding her to the tree. Her body was covered with vines, showing that she had been there for awhile.
He slowly stood up, amazed at the sight that he was seeing. What is she doing here? Wondered, taking a step forward. He nearly fell over when he saw her appearance and a whiff of her scent. "She's a neko hanyou!" He said aloud in shock.
I wonder if she's the neko hanyou that Miroku was telling me- He shook his head at the absoured thought. "That happened over five hundred years,"
He took another glance at the female hanyou. He couldn't tell if she was even alive. He took a step closer. And stopped. It was a small movement, almost unnoticable, but a movement none the less. The neko's pointed, red ear twitched slightly when he had moved. He took another step and her ear gave another twitch, but he still could not tell if she was breathing.
He grunted and walked up to the still girl, reaching his hand out and placing it on her cheek, his thumb underneath her nose, seeing if he could feel any air entering through her nose.
The moment his hand touched her pale cheek, her eyes shot open, forest green eyes meeting amber gold and holding. Inuyasha was transfixed by her gaze. He had never seen eyes the color of hers before with blue mixed in them.
The two hanyou's continued to stare at each other for a moment, and then a single crystal line tear slid down the neko's face. "Why have you wakened me?" She whispered lowly, so lowly that Inuyasha couldn't even hear her. "What'd you say?" He asked.
Another tear slid down her face. "Why have you wakened me!" She said, louder this time.
Inuyasha pinned his ears to his head at the loudness of her voice and let out a low growl of irrittion. He opened his mouth to tell her to keep quiet but before he could even get the words out the centipede crashed into the clearing, charging for the girl on the tree. "At last, the Shikon Jewel's power has been awakend!" The humanoid part of the youkai cried with glee, reaching out four of her hands towards the trapped neko on the tree.
Inuyasha wasn't partial to saving people, but he couldn't just stand by and let this youkai kill a trapped girl hanyou who couldn't even defend herself. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" He attacked, jumping into the air slicing down, sending a wave of energy towards the centipede.
The attack sliced the youkai in two, killing it instantly.
Inuyasha turned back to the girl, walking towards her. The neko had her head down and she was shaking slightly. Must've really shaken her up.
But the neko wasn't scared, she was angery. "I could've taken care of that youkai! I'm the keeper of the Jewel, it's my job to protect it!" She said with a hiss.
Inuyasha face faulted. "Hey, I just saved your life! A thank you would have been nice!" He growled back.
The neko's demanour changed instantly. "You should have let the centipede kill me." She whispered.
"What?" Inuyasha asked, completely confused. Before he could question the other hanyou on her words, an arrow shot past him, embedding itself right next to the neko's neck. "Step away from that neko you half-breed!" A voice called out angerily.
Inuyasha bristled and whirled around, claws bared and ready to tear whoever had called him a half breed to shreads.
Another arrow whizzed past him and Inuyasha moved, almost faster than the human eye could see, and knocked the man weilding the bow down to the ground, holding him still with one hand while the other was poised in the air, ready to make the killing blow. But a voice from behind him stopped him.
"No! Don't kill him!" The neko cried out and Inuyasha turned to see the neko struggling against the arrow that had her pinned to the tree, black energy sparking around it and causing great pain to the neko. The harder she struggled, the worse the pain on her face got.
Inuyasha quickly released the man, not wanting to see the female hanyou in pain. Inuyasha didn't have many weaknesses, but he had two major ones. They wouldn't hender him in a battle, but it would make him feel like dirt. One, was he couldn't stand to see a woman cry and two, he hated to see women in pain, and so far he had caused this neko hanyou both.
He grumbled under his breath and bounded in one leap to where the neko was pinned to the tree. "Feh, stupid cat. Ya went and hurt yourself." He continued to grumble as he inspected the arrow that impaled the girls shoulder. One good yank should make it come out cleanly. He thought, gripping the arrow in one clawed hand, dark energy sparking from between his fingers as he did so.
The neko cried out in pain as Inuyasha gave the arrow a quick yank, the arrow sliding out of her shoulder. Once the arrow had released the girl, it disappeared with a burst of black flame.
She slumped forward, the vines that had been wrapped around her breaking as she fell. Inuyasha caught her in his arms awkwardly.
The neko looked up at Inuyasha with tired eyes, her eyes telling him that she had been through more in life than he could ever imagine. "Why would you help me? Cat's and dog's aren't supposed to get along." She whispered.
Inuyasha gave a smirk. "Feh, 'cause no one should be pinned to a tree." He grunted out.
"Ah, I see that you have finally been awakened, Kagome." A whithered old voice said from behind the two hanyou's.
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Well, here is a extra special thank you to the first four who have reviewed my fic! katie12321: Hey! Thankies! Its nice to know that I do have a dedicated reader! skittles-chan: Love the name! Lady of Sushi and Sugar:Glad you love it! SenceLess: And you got more, more more! Lol!
Anyways, please reviews this chappie also, please! Anyone who reviews I will give a ice cream sunday to!
Ja ne, Nobody's Anger196
