Arrival
Kagome Higurashi was lying on her back on the ground, watching the stars. The night sky over Japan was clear for once, a real rarity. Gathered around her were her family members; her mother, grandfather, and younger brother Sota. They were in the courtyard of their home, lying beside a small shrine. Said shrine was home to the well that Kagome used to travel between the present time and the Feudal Era.
Ever since she had been pulled into the well by a centipede demon on her fifteenth birthday, Kagome had been traveling all over Feudal Era Japan with her companions; the half-demon Inuyasha, the demon slayer Sango, her demon cat Kilala, the perverted monk Miroku, and the young fox demon Shippo. Together, they had been searching for the shards of the sacred Shikon Jewel, which Kagome had accidently shattered while trying to retrieve it shortly after she first arrived in Feudal Japan. They were attempting to gather all of the shards before they could be collected by the evil demon, Naraku. Every once in a while however, Inuyasha "allowed" her to return to her time to see her family. This time, Inuyasha wasn't expecting her back until sometime the next day.
As she lay there, thinking back on the last few months, Kagome's grandfather turned and started talking to her. Even though she wasn't really listening to him, her thinking had been disturbed.
Looking over at her brother, Kagome spoke. "Can you get me a can of soda out of the fridge, please?"
Sota looked like he was going to say something rude to her, but a quick look from their mother silenced him. Grumbling, he raised himself from the ground and started to walk past the shrine on the way to the house. Just as he reached the door of the shrine, an eerie bluish light started shining out from under it. He immediately stopped to get a better look.
Suddenly, the door burst open and Inuyasha leaped out of the shrine. He was holding Tetsusaiga firmly and had a look of horror on his face.
"Run!" he yelled at Sota, but the young boy was still standing still, looking at the glowing well with interest.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha's yell had drawn the attention of Kagome. She quickly made her way towards him. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" she inquired. "I was going to go back tomorrow morning." Kagome was incredibly annoyed that her half-demon friend would return so early to pick her up, but any admonishing words she may have spoke died at the sight of the unfamiliar expression on his face."What's wrong?" she asked urgently, but he didn't answer her. Instead, he scooped up Sota and ran to where she was standing.
"You and your family need to get out of here right now! Run as far away as you can!" he yelled loudly as he turned and leveled his sword at the shrine.
"Why," she asked him, freaked out by his expression and words. Suddenly however, it all became clear because at that moment, she sensed a new power appear inside the shrine. She quickly looked inside and watched as a tall form, with long silver hair and only one arm, rose up out of the well. She gasped in horror and confusion at the sight."Sesshomaru! But how?" She didn't get an answer. All she could do was watch as Sesshomaru stepped out of the shrine and looked directly at her. Then he collapsed.
"What's wrong with him?" a quiet voice asked Kagome. She looked around. It was her mother. Kagome hadn't even heard her or her grandfather approaching them.
Before she could answer the question however, Inuyasha spoke up. "His senses have been overwhelmed by the strong smells and sounds of this era." A look of pity immediately appeared on Kagome's mother's face.
"Poor creature," she whispered. Then she began to make her way over to him. Kagome's and Inuyasha's eyes widened.
"What are you doing, mom? Stay away from him, he'll kill you!" Kagome shouted. Her mother ignored her; she was too soft-hearted a woman to let anything or anybody suffer, regardless of whether or not they were evil.
Reaching towards Sesshomaru with an outstretched hand, her eyes widened in surprise and she let out a gasp as he suddenly sprung to feet and grabbed her roughly with his arm. Kagome and Inuyasha both yelled, "No!" at the same time. Sesshomaru just smirked cruelly in their direction.
"Now that I have your full attention," he paused and looked piercingly at his brother and Kagome, "you will answer my questions." He fell silent, his gaze roving from Inuyasha to Kagome.
"Don't hurt my mother, Sesshomaru. Please," Kagome pleaded with him. She might as well have been talking to herself for all the response she got. His expression never faltered.
"Will you answer my questions, or will I be forced to hurt this woman?" Sesshomaru asked, his eyes fixated directly on Kagome's.
The group was saved from finding out if Sesshomaru was capable of carrying out his threat however, due to the arrival of a sudden distraction. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Kagome sensed another presence emerge the well and all three turned to look at who the newcomer was.
"Put down the human, Sesshomaru," a deep voice spoke. A tall figure suddenly materialized between where Sesshomaru and the others, drawing a gasp of shock from Kagome.
"This guy is huge!" she immediately thought. Considering her usual company, that was truly saying something. Inuyasha stood several inches over six feet and was built pretty solidly. Sesshomaru was even large, towering over Inuyasha by about half a foot. The new guy was taller than Sesshomaru, and not by just a little bit. Seven feet would have been a conservative estimate.
His face was very interesting; he had golden eyes that were very similar to Sesshomaru's. He also shared the elder dog demon's refined, sophisticated look. His markings however, were different. Whereas Sesshomaru had two maroon slashes under each eye and a purple crescent moon on his forehead, the stranger had two red stripes, in an x shape, meeting over each eye.
His hair caught Kagome's eyes next. It was silver, just like Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's, but unlike them, he did not wear his long. It was cut quite short and raised in little spikes all over his head. This being the case, it did little to hide his pointed ears.
Not bad, Kagome couldn't help but think. Then, her eyes traveled south.
His clothing, she realized, was not unlike some of the clothes from her era. The pants he was wear were black and looked to be made of some type of denim-like material. His upper body was covered by a cotton-like covering, similar to a modern t-shirt. Over it all, he had on a black leather coat. If she would have thought about it, Kagome might have asked herself how a demon from the past could have gotten his hands on a leather coat that looked like it might have come off the rack of a designer clothing store. She was slightly distracted however, and the thought never occurred to her.
Kagome's was pulled away from her perusal of the newcomer's clothing, and the impressive musculature it covered, when a normally emotionless voice was suddenly rang out. Never before had Kagome ever heard that voice as tinged with anger and confusion as it currently was.
"How is this possible? How have I not sensed your presence long ago?" Sesshomaru looked far more flustered than either Kagome or Inuyasha had ever seen him before. He actually relaxed his grip on Kagome's mother, allowing the woman to drop from his grasp to the ground.
Sesshomaru's question only seemed to amuse the strange demon, because he grinned.
Seeing Sesshomaru struggling to regain his composure, Inuyasha took the opportunity to ask his own questions."Who the hell are you?" he demanded of the stranger.
"Show some respect for your betters, little brother." Kagome and Inuyasha both gasped in surprise. It had not been Sesshomaru who had spoken the last words. Inuyasha got a confused look in his eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about? I only have one brother and the asshole is standing right there," Inuyasha stated loudly, pointing to Sesshomaru.
The strange demon ignored Inuyasha however, and turned back to face Sesshomaru. This allowed Kagome to continue to peruse the image of the stranger before her. As far as she could tell, he didn't carry a weapon, though with the large coat, it was hard to tell. She was snapped out of her wonderings by the sound of his voice.
"I am surprised at you, Sesshomaru. Did you honestly think that our father would not have sired another before you? He was quite the ladies man, you know. He even bedded a human." At that point, he turned and gazed rather pointedly at Inuyasha.
Inuyasha still had the confused look in his eyes."Are you trying to tell me that you are related to me and Sesshomaru?"
"Well, I thought that was implied from the way that I called you little brother." The demon turned back to talk to Sesshomaru again."A little dense, is he? Doesn't catch on very quick?" Sesshomaru, however, was still a little shaken up and did not answer. "I see my arrival has greatly surprised you .You needn't worry; I'm not here for a fight."
He was cut off by Inuyasha. "Ha! You think you're a match for me. You don't even carry a weapon. I bet even Sesshomaru could beat you, and he's a weakling."
"Is that a fact?" The demon smirked and suddenly disappeared. Inuyasha blinked in surprise and extended his sword, as though he expected some sort of trickery. To his immense surprise, the strange demon suddenly materialized directly in front of him. Reacting on instinct, Inuyasha brought the Tetsusaiga crashing down on the demon.
Kagome closed her eyes to avoid seeing the handsome demon get split in two. To her surprise however, it was Inuyasha's cry of rage and not a scream of pain that entreated her to open her eyes. She looked up and gaped at the sight before her.
The stranger had caught the Tetsusaiga, blade first, and yanked it out of Inuyasha's hands. That wasn't even the most surprising part; the sword had remained fully transformed. Always before, when anybody besides Inuyasha had attempted to wield the blade, they had failed. Even if they actually managed to touch the weapon, they had never been able to call upon the sword's true power and transform it from a rusty relic into the lethal fang it currently was.
As the scene unfolded before him, Sesshomaru quickly realized the extent of power the strange demon standing before him must possess. Even he, the great Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, would not wish to take a full on strike from the Tetsusaiga, but the stranger had taken the hit and caught it bare-handed. He had even succeeded in taking the sword from the pathetic half-breed!
Meanwhile, the stranger had relinquished his grasp on the sword and handed it back to Inuyasha, hilt first. Inuyasha accepted it cautiously and sheathed the blade after a brief inspection. Then he stepped backwards, effectively interposing his body between the demon and Kagome. Unfortunately, this blocked Kagome's view, so she quickly stepped out from behind him.
By this time, Sesshomaru had recovered his composure and he quickly stepped forward. He stumbled over something and looked down to see the mother of Inuyasha's woman still sprawled on the ground where he had dropped her. Reaching down, he hauled her roughly to her feet. "Human, gather your family and leave us," he commanded. She looked horrified, but quickly walked to Sota and Grandpa. All three looked towards Kagome, obviously reluctant to leave her alone with the three demons. She tried to smile reassuringly at them, and she must have been at least semi-convincing, because after a moment, they finally turned and made their way into the house.
"I told you humans to leave us." It took Kagome a minute to realize that Sesshomaru was talking to her. Once she finally clued in, her face flushed and she opened her mouth to tell off the demon for trying to exclude her.
"Just leave her alone, Sesshomaru. It is her era, after all," stated the strange demon before she could say a word.
Sesshomaru looked at him like he was an insect. "I do not believe I was speaking to you," Sesshomaru stated coldly.
Inuyasha had been watching the two silently but he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Just who the hell are you!" Inuyasha screamed at the stranger.
"I told you already. I am your older brother. My name is Ilyomaru. All three of us share the same father." After saying this, Ilyomaru fell silent, his gaze roving from Sesshomaru to Inuyasha to Kagome and back again.
As the silence started to become unbearable, Kagome finally spoke up. "How did you and Sesshomaru get here?"
Ilyomaru gave her a tight-lipped smile at her and pointed at his long-haired brothers. "Why don't you ask one of these two?" he suggested. "It was their fault, not mine."
Kagome looked questioningly at Inuyasha. He shrugged."Me and Sesshomaru were fighting and we accidently destroyed the well." When those words left his mouth, Kagome gave a gasp of horror. Inuyasha continued on like he hadn't noticed."A wave of blue energy came at us and the next thing I knew, I was here." He finally stopped and the look on Kagome's face surprised him."What's wrong with you?"
"You destroyed the well? Don't you realize what that means?" Inuyasha shrugged."It means that we can never return to the Feudal Era."