Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or it's characters, though I wish I owned Sesshy, even if for one night...Yeah...I do own Erin and Rice. Pretty names, and a sexy one for a guy, just as sexy as Reese.;p
Night Treasure
Two
"Ungh..." Erin mumbled as she slowly regained conciousness. She sat up gingerly, putting a hand to her aching head, finding a small bump on her temple. She looked around herself and found that she was in a tight place, stone all around her. "Where...?" She looked up and saw a square shaft of light. "Now I remember. I fell in the well." she mumbled, though the memory of falling into the well was hazy. She remembered looking into it, and she could guess that she fell down it, the only reason she could be at the bottom of it now.
She saw the light flicker and figured that someone was up there. "Hey!" she called, craddling her head once more as the headache throbbed. She saw a shadow peer down the well. "Hey! Can you help me? I fell down here and can't get out," she said in english, hoping it was one of her class mates. When the shadow didn't respond she repeated her plea in japanese, thankful she had taken it all her high school career.
The shadow gave a gasp. "Are you ok?" a little girl voice asked.
"I think I hit my head, I might need to go to the doctor to see if I have a concussion, but despite that and the headache, I'm fine. Can you help me out?" Erin replied.
"There's some vines leading down the well, can you see them?" the girl said helpfully.
Erin looked around again and noticed the vines that she had dismissed. She hadn't thought of them as a makeshift ladder. "Uh, stupid me," she muttered as she stood and examined the vines. Finding a safe starting point she started to climb.
In a minute she was out and astonished. Instead of being in the shed she was now in an open area surrounded by a forest. In front of her was a dark haired girl of about eight or nine in a dark pink kimono. "Uh...where am I...I thought I was at the shrine...and why are you dressed like that..." Erin looked around and didn't see anyone that might be taking care of the girl. "And where are your parents?"
The girl tilted her head at the strange woman. "Why, you're in Japan and there's a shrine close by. And this is how I dress," she answered truthfully. "And I don't have any parents. Who are you and why are you dressed like that? Are you a priestess like Kagome?"
"Um, I'm Erin Rose and this is how I dress. And no I'm not a priestess," she answered the little girl. "And if you have no parents who takes care of you? And what's your name?"
"I'm Rin, and Lord Sesshomaru takes care of me," the girl, Rin, answered.
"Rin! Where did you run off to you ungrateful girl," a harsh slightly nassaly voice called from the woods.
"Over here Lord Jaken!" Rin called back.
Out from the woods came a small green being with large yellow frog eyes in a brown robe with a large staff of two heads. Close behind him was a large dragon-like being with two heads. Erin screamed. The beast bucked it's heads in surprise, barking, and Jaken yelped in return.
After all the screaming, barking, and yelping was done, the three looked at each other in shock. Erin was the first to recover. "I must be dreaming," she said simply. She felt a sharp pain on her arm and looked down to see Rin pinching her. "Why'd you do that?"
"See, you're not dreaming," Rin answered innocently.
Jaken stared at the female. When Erin turned back to him he coughed. "Um, yes Rin, we must be going now, we do not want to hinder Lord Sesshomaru, he specifically asked us to stay on the path he laid out for us."
Rin shrugged, "I know, but I heard a loud sound and came to investigate. It came from the sacred well. I thought maybe Lady Kagome had come back. She was nice to me. I figured Lady Erin was from Lady Kagome's time."
"Um, I fear the answer, but what time period are we in?" Erin asked nervously.
"You would know it as the fuedal era of Japan." Jaken said stiffly.
Erin nodded, as if it didn't surprise her. "And I can guess that you're demons," she said, pointing to the beast and Jaken.
Jaken nodded. "Yes we are. So is our great Lord Sesshomaru. He is the great son of the once powerful dog demon!" he said pompously.
Erin burst into laughter. "What's his name? Sheshishiwhata?" she gasped.
Jaken gave an outraged yelp. "Why you disrespectful human! Lord Sesshomaru is not one to be laughed at!"
At that moment Erin felt the throbbing headache reassert itself to hog the attention. She moaned and cluched her head. "Ow, I shouldn't do that..." she mumbled.
Rin, alarmed at the lady's behavior, ran over. "What is it Lady Erin?" she asked worriedly. She then noticed a deep cut in Erin's hairline. "Your bleeding!"
Erin saw where the girl was pointing and gingerly felt the area around the bump she had felt earlier. When she brought her fingers back, flecks of dried blood were on them. "I guess I hurt myself more than I thought..." Erin straightened up, asking, "Is there a place where I can get this clea...Woah..." She clutched her head again as she wobbled slightly. "Definately don't move fa..." She finished her wobble with a topple and colapsed on the ground, unconcious.
Rin ran to the older girl, knelt by her and felt her forehead. She looked at Jaken. "She has a fever! We must get her help!"
Jaken looked at her stubbornly, shaking her head. "No Rin! We must get going! Lord Sesshomaru ordered us to." he said.
Rin ignored him as she called over to the two headed dragon, "Come here Ah Un. You need to carry the Lady Erin." Ah Un walked over to the girl and knelt down beside her. Rin turned to Jaken, "Lord Jaken, please help me get her onto Ah Un's back."
Jaken turned his head away, arms folded. But he made the mistake of looking back at the young endearing girl and saw her brown puppy dog eyes and couldn't resist. He gave an exasperated sigh and walked over to help the girl. "Oh all right! Lord Sesshomaru is going to kill me!" he complained as he helped heave the girl onto the beast.
Once they were done Rin took the riding beast's reigns and started to lead it to the town where the famous priestess Kikyo had lived and protected the Shikon jewel before she died. Now her younger sister lived there and was a remarkable healer.
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Erin opened her eyes the next day to find a thatched roof above her. -Thatched roof? Who thatches their roof nowadays?- she thought before memory caught up with her. When it did she gasped and sat up straight. Looking around she saw all the signs of feudal Japan, and when she looked down she found that she was even wearing a light magenta kimono.
"Ah, ye be awake child," a kindly old woman said as she came into the hut. She was squat and bent over, wearing a priestess outfit and eye patch. "I say ye look better than when young Rin brought ye here."
"Who are you?" Erin asked.
"I'm the priestess Kaede. Rin tells me ye are the 'Lady Erin', but I suspect that ye aren't from our time. Your clothes resemble that of the priestess Kagome's time. Tell me did ye fall into the Sacred Well of Kagome's shrine?" Kaede asked.
"Um...I guess so. I was taking a senior class trip to Japan and one of the attractions was a shrine. I and my friend Rice heard a whispering coming from a shed-like building and looked in. There was a well with a lot of paper decorations hanging around it. I looked in then I remember waking up in it. That's when Rin found me," she shrugged. "I don't remember falling in. As for Rin calling me 'Lady', I have no idea why."
"I wonder, do ye have a shard of the Shikon jewel?" Kaede asked.
Erin shook her head. "No, I don't know what that is."
Kaede fell silent, thinking. Finally she shook her head. "Well, I guess we should get ye back to your own time. Your clothing is still drying, we washed it for ye while ye were resting, so ye'll have to where that kimono back to your own time. I'm sure Kagome can help explain your disappearence from your own time," she said as she motioned for the girl to follow her out of the hut.
Erin followed her outside to find the little girl Rin and her demonic companions Jaken and the dragon. Rin squealed and ran up to her. "Lady Erin! It is so good to see you well!" she said bowing then she latched onto her hand, pulling her towards the dragon. "Come! We must hurry to meet up with Lord Sesshomaru!"
Kaede shook her head. "No, child, yon Erin must go back to her time. She does not belong here, ye understand?"
Rin's expression turned down cast, but she nodded. Just then screams errupted from the other side of the village. Kaede turned her head in that direction then back at the girls. "Hurry! Ye must go to the well alone. I must stay here. Rin child, take Erin to the well and make sure she returns home, then ye must return to Lord Sesshomaru," she said hurriedly as she reached for the bow and quiver of arrows resting on the side of the hut. Once again she looked back to the girls. "Hurry!"
Rin nodded and tugged Erin to the dragon and gestured for her to mount. Erin did so with little difficulty. Her grandparents owned a ranch and she had been raised to ride horses from a young age. The only difference now was that the mount was quite wider. Rin jumped up in front of her, aided by both Erin and Jaken. She leaned forward. "Hurry, Ah Un! We must go to the well!"
Ah Un immediately took off, leaving Jaken yelling as he leaped after the two-headed beast. After several unsuccessful attempts he managed to jump onto Ah Un.
After ten minutes of hard riding, Ah Un and his passengers were standing before the well. Rin slid down with the impossibly clumsy grace only a child possessed. Jaken just tumbled down. Erin laughed lightly as she dismounted, though her thoughts were distracted by the screams she had heard. "Rin, what did those screams mean?" she asked.
Rin shrugged, not having the answer. However Jaken did. "Lately there have been many attacks by demons on villages. True, demon attacks are normal, but lately they have been more violent. Our Lord Sesshomaru left to investigate. But that is none of your concern," he said, directing the conversation back to their task, "You are to go back to your own time. I don't know how this works, only that Kagome uses the well as a portal between our two times. I suggest you just jump in. If it works, you'll be back in your own time."
"And what if it doesn't work?" Erin asked suspiciously. She wasn't sure if she trusted the little green demon's advice.
"Then you can travel with us and meet Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin said, hoping that the magic of the well wouldn't work. She had become quite attached to this exoctic woman. Her strangely colored hair and her light purple eyes were such a shock. She had thought her lord's hair and eyes were beautiful and thought nothing came close to his beauty, but this lady came very close. Rin was very pleased with herself for picking the kimono. It complimented her hair and eyes nicely.
Erin just shrugged. "Well, if I do come along, I doubt I'll be calling any man that would leave a child by herself a 'lord'," she said, then thought, -More like a bastard.- She walked to the edge of the well and looked down. It wasn't that far of a drop. If she jumped correctly she could land firmly on her feet. -I guess those gymnastic lessons are actually useful in the real world after all.- She took a breath, hiked up the skirt of the kimono, and jumped over the low wall and into the well.
Rin and Jaken held their breaths. In a matter of seconds they heard a muffled 'umph' and a thud. After a few more seconds Erin's voice called from the pits of the well. "It didn't work and I think I twisted my ankle."
Rin and Jaken ran to the well and looked down. Erin stared back up at them. "Could you help?" she asked, slightly sarcastic.
Rin measured the distance to Erin and then looked at Ah Un's reigns. "Well, if you can manage to get a little bit farther up I think Ah Un's reigns will reach you then we can pull you up. Do you think you can?" she asked as she looked back down.
Erin slowly nodded. Rin led Ah Un to the well and undid his two reigns and tied them together. She then tied one end to one of the rings on Ah Un's halter. The other end she threw down the well. It turned out that Erin only had to climb barely a foot before she had enough purchase on the reign to wrap it around her wrist. "Okay!" she shouted up.
Rin nodded and started to slowly lead Ah Un backwards, slowly and gently pulling Erin up. Erin helped steady herself and go upwards faster by using her good foot against the vines. After a minute Erin was out of the well again with a swelling ankle. She sighed and laughed at the same time. "Well, Rin. You've got your wish. I'm going to be staying with you. Though, I particularly don't want to go back to that town or any town since, as Jakan says, attacks on villages are becoming more frequent."
Rin squealed and rushed to her, hugging her tightly. Then she remembered Erin's ankle and brought Ah Un over to carry Erin. "We'll get to a stream where you can rest your ankle in the water," Rin said as she started to put Ah Un's reigns back on. She then started to babble about where they were going as she led Ah Un away from the well. Erin didn't understand what the little girl was saying, but from what the girl said she could guess that she was embarking on an adventure she had never dreamed of.
Erin took one last glance at the well, then shook her head. She had a funny feeling that she was forgetting something, that she had missed something.