A/N: This is the revised version of Chapter 1. Please read and review. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and co.
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SEVEN WEEKS
1. Marks and Prophecies
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Tears streamed down the princess' cheeks as she clutched fiercely at the small round orb that hung around her neck. She clenched her eyes shut once more as she thought of her kingdom, which due to her absence had fallen into almost unspeakable chaos. The large mystic dome that kept her prisoner and prevented her from using her powers of creation now withheld her prayers that kept the land alive. The cursed dome would not allow the power of the holy Shikon, and the one who bears it, to pass through its walls.
She briefly opened her blue/gray eyes to stare at the milky orb in her hand. The mark of a golden star on her chest, which destined her as the princess of her land since her birth, glowed with the orb that held the power that now caused this chaos. She wanted to escape, and she could think of no other way.
Summoning her power, she surged ahead with the most powerful prayer she had ever uttered yet. She needed help, but not just from anyone. She needed the power of the warrior stated in the Holy Prophecy. He who bears the same mark as she, and since not from her world, he would not be affected by the curse cast upon them all by the devil who had abducted her.
The power was building, building. After this, she may temporarily lose her powers, and, without the force being repelled by the dome in her body, she may get out of her prison. The power would be left in the orb, inside the cursed dome, but she was the only one who could use the Shikon. It could not be used against her even if she left it in the hands of her captor.
At least she would be free... and her warrior would help her reclaim her power.
Her dark hair flared as the power left her body to go into the orb in her hand. She opened her mouth in a scream as her prayers reached the legendary knight, a scream that was the name of the warrior as stated in the Holy Prophecy...
"INUYASHA!"
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The silver haired hanyou bolted upright in his bed, the shrill scream still ringing in his ears. The star-shaped birthmark on his chest was burning dreadfully, and his breathing was ragged.
'Yume wa... a dream. It was a dream', He told himself, but deep down he knew that there was something else. He sat up in his bed, thinking about it. The dream was so real.
The dark-haired lady in his dream looked to be in such pain. Her blue/gray eyes were all he could see of her face, but the fact that they were brimming with tears made him want to abandon his gruffness to reach out and brush the tears away. The dream was also strange - he had never had a dream like that before. And her voice...
When she called out his name, he could feel the overwhelming pain in her voice. He wanted to help her in any way, but why he felt like that towards a stupid dream, he couldn't figure out.
'Keh. I must be so over-worked, I'm hallucinating. Shit,' But try as he might, he just couldn't figure out how his brain could have produced such a vivid dream.
'INUYASHA...'
He sat up straight and looked around in his room. Gods, he could have sworn he heard her voice in his head again. Her voice... so pained... She was calling to him, pleading with him.
"Dammit! Snap out of it Inuyasha! It was a fucking dream. A pigment of your under-used imagination," he said aloud to himself, his golden flashing in annoyance. "You just need to lighten up and kick some ass to get your useless mind off things."
"Inuyasha? Is that you dear? Are you up already?" his mother's voice from right outside his door interrupted his musings.
"Yeah mom. I'm up," he answered, getting up and heading for his bedroom's closed door.
"Good. Your friend Takeshi is here to see you."
"Huh?! Takeshi? This early?" he poked his head out his door, surprised.
"Yes. He said the two of you had something planned for today," she replied.
"Oh," he was stumped. What plan? Then he thought of something.
"Oh, THAT plan. I remember," he said. He still didn't know what his friend was talking about, but it was just the distraction he needed to forget the weird dream.
"Get dressed and go downstairs then. I'll tell him that you're coming. And dress properly. Don't forget to summon your human disguise."
"Hai, okaasan. Arigatou," he answered, preparing to hide his hanyou attributes.
Inuyasha conjured up the familiar spell that would make him look like a human. He snorted as his silver white hair started to turn black and his triangular ears shrunk back into his head. His claws and fangs retracted, leaving a very good looking human teenager.
'Stupid humans,' he thought. 'Why can't they just accept youkai anyway?!'
Five minutes later, a tall muscular boy with long midnight dark hair and deep blue eyes was running down the stairs. Facing his friend, he asked, "So, where are we going?"
"To the café, amnesia-boy. Free coffee today, from five to seven a.m.!" Takeshi replied.
"Oh. Well, let's go! Ja ne, okaa!" and they were out the door in a flash, faintly hearing his mother telling him not to get into another fight on such a beautiful, ordinary day.
Ordinary day, huh? How wrong could that be?
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Inuyasha was halfway through his third cup of coffee when Takeshi let out a low whistle of appreciation.
"Yeah, coffee's good today," he said, agreeing to what he thought his friend was thinking.
"Forget the coffee, dammit. Look over there," Takeshi replied, motioning to the door.
Inuyasha turned and found himself looking at a tall, shapely girl with long dark hair tied back in a low ponytail. She was, indeed, very pretty, but for some reason, she reminded him of his dream. Her eyes were very different from his dream girl's lovely orbs, but much to his annoyance, she reminded him of the woman.
'Dammit,' he thought. 'It was a dream, Inuyasha, a dream! Forget the stupid thing!'
The girl turned and their eyes met briefly. He winced as he saw something he never thought he'd see in her eyes right then: shock. It disturbed him greatly, so he turned away and back to his companion.
"From the looks of it she's interested in you. Again. Damn, Inuyasha, they're all into you! Leave some for me will you?!" Takeshi teased as he looked back at him.
"What the fuck are you talking about kouzo?"
"Man, did you see how she was staring at you? She looked like she swallowed a bug!"
"Urusai," he shot back, but he turned to look at the girl anyway. As he did, a purple-eyed man with dark hair tied back in a very short ponytail and sporting a kind of rosary around his hand came in. The girl turned and whispered something to him, then, the newcomer turned to look in Inuyasha's direction. The hanyou turned away right before their eyes met.
"No man, I don't think so," he informed Takeshi. He was kinda jumping to conclusions, but the man looked nothing like the girl, so they couldn't be brother and sister...
Inuyasha feigned disinterest as they approached to sit in the booth right next to his table. He looked up and caught them looking at him again.
Inuyasha just raised a brow at them. Then the other guy started.
"Hi. I'm sorry, I know you caught us staring. We hope you're not maddened by it. It's just that, well, you kinda look... familiar..." he said.
Inuyasha just grunted. 'This guy's fibbing,' he thought in annoyance. 'What the hell is their problem?'
"The name's Miroku, by the way," he said affably. "And this lovely young lady with me is Sango. May we be graced to know your names? Sango and I are just visiting and we know nobody," he offered, looking at both Inuyasha and Takeshi.
Takeshi knew his friend well enough to know that he was gonna be real rude and ignore the guy, so he stepped in with, "This is Inuyasha. I'm Takeshi."
"Pleased to meet you Takeshi, and you, Inuyasha," Sango said, making Takeshi turn scarlet.
"So your name is Inuyasha, huh," Miroku asked. 'This is great! He just might be the one we are looking for! We just need to see one thing to confirm it.'
"Yeah, what of it?" Inuyasha asked brusquely, now a bit annoyed, not only was the guy fussing over his fucking name. The woman, Sango or Tango or something, really reminded him of the dream girl he desperately wished to forget.
"Aaah! HENTAI!" The shocked shout and loud snap as hand hit cheek from the other table cut him from his musings. He looked back at the pair to find Minoku, or Miroku, whatever his name was, lying flat on the floor with a large throbbing red handprint on his cheek. The girl was looking enraged, and Takeshi also seemed a tad surprised.
"Did that guy just stroke your butt?" Takeshi asked incredulously.
"Yes, and mind you, he does that all the time. Without permission. Would you believe that he's a priest-in-training? A houshi, indeed," she glared at the fallen man, and Inuyasha started to laugh.
Sango stopped glaring at Miroku to look at Inuyasha. 'If he is the one we seek, I have to make sure before we take him. Now how do we get him to show us his chest,' she thought as she smiled at him, eying the thick red shirt he had on.
"So the guy's a groping pervert?! This is just too weird. His name's Miroku right?" Inuyasha asked, still looking amused. When Sango nodded, he smirked. "Named like the Buddha but blessed with cursed hands!" he added.
'Cursed. You have no idea,' Miroku thought grimly as he started to get up. "Well, I can't help it. Sango-sama has the body of the goddess of grace," he said, making Sango's cheeks redden. In embarrassment or anger? He may never know.
"You can say that again!"
Four pairs of eyes turned to the source of the voice. It was a guy Inuyasha recognized. He couldn't recall his name, but he was definitely one that he had already beaten up during the previous month.
"What do you say to a one on one, sweet cheeks?" the large beefy guy asked Sango.
"They're here for coffee, asshole. Not a one on one with a screwed up loser. Now fuck off." Inuyasha said, looking up at the guy with a smirk.
The man glared at him, then turned away, not wanting another broken rib.
"Thanks Inuyasha," Sango said. She could have handled the guy, but thanks to Inuyasha, she need not worry. She looked up as a waitress came up to her and Miroku with a tray with two coffee cups, then drank her beverage in silence with the other three men.
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Sango and Miroku were walking down a deserted alley, discussing their mission.
"I think it is him, Sango-sama. His name is proof of it. He looks the same as the image in the prophecy as well," Miroku said.
"Indeed, but the image in the books show a silver-haired man. They look quite alike, but the hair is different. And, we have yet to see the mark on his chest," Sango replied.
"But my lady, how do we ask a man to shed his shirt?"
"I'm working on it, you lecherous Houshi!"
"Maybe you could try seducing him into bed! That could make him take off his shirt!" Miroku suggested, not noticing the gradual ticking in his companion's brow. "Of course, I'll be there to 'watch' as you accomplish our solemn mission in bed with him..."
Sango's fist connecting with his jaw did not allow him to finish his statement.
"As I was saying," Sango continued, "I'm working on it. But I really don't know how, short of peeking into his bedroom while he's undressing!"
"Well, we'd better work harder then. The princess has been gone for some time and who knows what could be going on back in Crystallia right now!"
They walked some more until a group of about ten men suddenly blocked their way. Sango quickly recognized one of them. It was the guy who bugged her from the coffee shop.
'The thug gathered reinforcements,' Sango thought nervously.
"Glad to see that you've strayed from Inuyasha. The guy's a pain in the neck, literally. How about that one on one, lady?" the guy asked again.
"No. I am accompanying someone as you can see," Sango and Miroku tried to push past him, only to find that the other men were blocking them again.
"You don't get it do you? That was not an invitation," he said, grabbing Sango as the other guys grabbed Miroku.
Miroku struggled but it was nine against one. The beefy guy had pushed Sango to a wall and was trying to kiss her. "Sango!"
"Houshi-sama!" Sango shouted back as the guys holding him back started to beat him up. The thick man holding her pressed her harder against the wall, feeling her up. She struggled harder and screamed, "HELP!"
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"HELP!"
Inuyasha stiffened as he heard the call. It came from about two blocks away.
"Yo bro, what is it?" Takeshi asked his companion.
'Shit, I know that voice,' Inuyasha mused as he listened again. Then it hit him, "Sango!"
He rushed past Takeshi and followed the distressed call. Takeshi just shrugged and went home. Inuyasha would probably get into another fight. He didn't need Takeshi to act as cheerleader. He'll probably tell him about it anyway.
When Inuyasha reached his destination, he saw a bunch of guys beating up a seemingly unconscious Miroku and the same thug holding Sango down and trying to brush back her shirt.
Looking at the woman and the fear in her eyes made Inuyasha once again see the girl in his dream. The absolute terror and pleading in those blue/gray eyes superimposed themselves over Sango's magenta, making his blood boil in absolute rage.
"Let her go, asshole!" he demanded, lunging for the guy. The man, who seemed ready for him, jumped away from Sango and reached into his pockets.
"Chikuso," Inuyasha muttered as he produced a knife. 'I still have my strength and speed even when dressed as a human, but shit, knives fucking hurt!'
"You ain't gonna get me now, Dog-boy," he rasped, heading toward Inuyasha.
Inuyasha, who fumed at the thought of someone making fun of his name, jumped back as he struck. The guys who had ganged up on Miroku now left the semi-conscious lech to try to hit Inuyasha.
One guy threw a punch at him while another launched a kick at the same time. Inuyasha jumped back and elbowed a guy who had tried to sneak up on him from behind. His strength let him get them spaced out in one or two punches, but still, there were a lot of them.
More punching and kicking and dodging and thrashing ensued until he was left with only three people; one of which was the large guy he had now dubbed as "thug". Thug swung the knife again as he dodged another roundhouse.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a very worried Sango helping a heavily bruised Miroku sit up while watching Inuyasha fight.
Throwing a quick punch and knocking out one of the three guys, Inuyasha turned too late to see as Thug swung the knife again. The knife caught the front of his red shirt and produced a long jagged tear on his clothing, exposing his strange birthmark.
"Aw, fuck," he swore angrily, knowing he would miss his favorite shirt, hardly noticing that in his anger, he had unconsciously dropped a fraction of his human guise. His forelocks turning silver, he swung another mad punch at Thug's remaining comrade, knocking him out as well and leaving Thug alone with his knife.
"Do you have any fucking idea how much this goddamn shirt cost?" he raged, kicking Thug in the groin. The guy howled in pain and fell to the floor, dropping his knife as Inuyasha picked him up off the floor with one hand and growled.
"You ripped my shirt you pathetic ass. And you tried to touch a girl I now know. You ain't gonna get off easy," Inuyasha snarled and punched him square in the jaw, sending Thug to laa-laa land again. Dropping the bleeding jerk, Inuyasha turned to Sango and Miroku, taking in the gash in the guy's cheek, right next to the spot that Sango had slapped earlier.
"Oi, you both ok?" He asked, kneeling down in front of them.
"Yeah, thanks to you. We owe you one," Miroku said. Sango, however, was staring at his broad, now exposed chest.
"What's wrong Sango?" Miroku asked, then turned to see what had caught his companion's attention. His jaw dropped as he stared wide-eyed at the star-shaped mark on Inuyasha's chest.
Knowing they had noticed his birthmark, he said, "Oh, it's a birthmark. Isn't it." as he looked down, surprising even himself as he noted that the mark was glowing. "Weird," he added.
A lock of his hair fell across his vision, causing him to come out of the shock of seeing his birthmark glowing. "Oh fuck," he cussed as he realized that in all the action, he had completely dropped his human disguise. His dog-ears swiveled as he heard Sango gasp.
Now both Sango and Miroku were staring at him. His golden eyes flashed annoyance at the two humans as he said, "Alright, so I'm not entirely human." but Sango cut him off.
"It's you! Oh, by the Gods, we finally found you!"
"Thank the Gods, you are real!" Miroku chimed in. Inuyasha was now totally confused.
"What do you mean, lecher? And someone tell me why you're both gawking at me like I had grown two heads!" Inuyasha demanded.
"Inuyasha-sama," Sango began, surprising Inuyasha. 'Sama?' he thought. "We come from another world searching for you, the one who would free our ruler from her prison and restore our land and free us from a curse," Sango continued.
"We... were sent here by our people to find you, Inuyasha-sama. You are the man in our Holy Prophecy!" Miroku added, his face shining with glee.
"Did you two hit your heads harder than I thought or is this your idea of a joke?" Inuyasha retorted, beginning to inch away from the two.
"No joke, great one. We were sent here with clues as to who the legendary knight is. He is to have silver hair, golden eyes, inhuman strength and the mark of the golden star on his chest. In our world, that is a mark of royalty. It is the same mark our abducted princess has. And it is not just the hair and eyes. Every feature of your face is the same as that of the illustrated image in our books. Please help her. You are the only one who could do so," Miroku said.
"Funny. You couldn't pull my leg, Buddha boy. I'm smarter than I seem," Inuyasha stood and turned to walk away, but Sango's hand on his pant leg, and her next words, stopped him.
"Do you wish to disappoint the lady in your dreams? Have you not heard her calling out to you? She is in pain Inuyasha-sama. Would you not help her?"
"How did you know of my dream?" he hadn't told anybody about it. How did she know? Could this possibly be for real? They said he looked like the image of the guy or something. Was this why Sango had stared at him the way she had in the café?
"The prophecy states that in the time of greatest crisis, the ruler would use her last power to call out to the legendary knight, to you. Then he would come and rid our world of the scum that dared to defile our princess. Please, come with us. Let us take you to our world. To Crystallia. It would not be long. We beg you," Sango implored, her eyes shining with tears.
Inuyasha didn't know whether to believe or not. He turned back to them and surprising even himself, asked, "Your world? Where would that be?"
"It is in a dimension parallel to this one. Please, Inuyasha-sama. Seven weeks is all we ask. Your quest would be done by then, and besides, done or not, you would return to this world in seven weeks anyway since that is the dimensional law. Please, Inuyasha-sama."
"But, my mom, my life here... I go to school you know. I'm only out coz it's a weekend." He said nervously while trying to think of a way out. He still wasn't sure if he could truly believe this, and his stubborn nature refused to budge.
"The reason you can only stay in our world for a certain period of time is because you are a time key. Time stands still in your dimension once you leave here. Your world will be perfectly safe. I know everything seems confusing, but I swear to answer all your questions back in our world, if you agree to come," Miroku said.
Inuyasha briefly thought back to his dream. The sad lady, who he now knew was a princess, and her sad eyes, calling out his name. Should he go? He wouldn't miss anything since time would stop, and needed a good adventure anyway. Then he decided.
"I'll do it."
Sango nearly jumped for joy. She instructed Miroku and Inuyasha to hold on to her as she started chanting incantations. The world started to spin, and Inuyasha looked around for a last look at the world he would be missing for seven weeks.
'Here goes nothing,' he thought.
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A/N: This is the revised version of Chapter 1. Please read and review. Thank you very much for your time.
ScarletRaven1001
