Chapter Nineteen: Down the Bone-Eater's Well

"Hmm… Yes, that should do it," said the kindhearted doctor Suikotsu. He finished bandaging up her ankle. He had placed hard boards around it and wrapped it up tightly. Neikotsu couldn't bend it whatsoever. It annoyed her a bit, but she understood why it had to be, so instead of complaining, thanked Suikotsu gratefully.

"No problem, Neikotsu. Glad to help you," he said pleasantly as he packed up his bone-mending equipment.

She sat inside a cozy hut by herself for the first time since she could remember. It felt peaceful and having not gotten any sleep the previous night, thought she'd take it easy for a while.

However, she only was able to relax for a minute before Renkotsu came through the door. "That dragon who was with you when we first met- how much does he know about us?"

"Huh?" Neikotsu asked, surprised to see the pyromaniac second-in-command.

"Chouyouma told me that that damn bastard dragon friend of yours was the one who came up with the plan to kill us. How much does he know about us? Enough that he could come up with another plan?" Renkotsu said sharply.

"Well, he didn't spend much time here, so I don't think he knows too much…." She said softly. For some reason, she was still kind of on edge whenever she was around Renkotsu. She figured because he was the only one (besides Jakotsu, who pretty much only disliked her because she was a woman and hung around Bankotsu) who didn't want her around.

With this slight reassurance, Renkotsu calmed down some. "Oh… okay." As if being able to sense her discomfort he sighed slightly and said, "Neikotsu… it's not as if I don't like you. It's just that I don't warm up to people easily. Hell, I've known the Shichinintai for years and Ginkotsu's still about the only one I trust. So… just thought I'd tell you not to take it personally."

Neikotsu shifted uneasily, her broken bone starting to hurt under pressure. "Thank you, Renkotsu no Aniki. I am sorry. I haven't been the most polite to you, either." She managed to smile, despite how weird it felt to talk to Renkotsu like this.

He didn't return her smile, but said as nicely as he could, "Thanks. I hope your ankle feels better. If you'd like, I can have Ginkotsu take you wherever you want to go so you won't have to walk on it."

Neikotsu smiled again, contrary to her usual nature and replied, "Thank you." She felt she should have said more, but Renkotsu didn't even give her a chance as he got up suddenly and began to head for the door.

As he left, Bankotsu walked in. When they stepped past each other, she saw them glance at each other hatefully. But once he saw his beloved Neikotsu, he smiled like usual and sat down by her. "How's it going?" he asked casually.

"Just wonderful," she said resting her hand on her leg that was locked in entropy from the knee down.

Bankotsu wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "Bankotsu… what was up with Renkotsu? Does he really like me, or was he just saying that?"

Bankotsu stiffened some as he said dryly, "…Yeah…"

"Yeah to which of those questions?"

"It doesn't matter…."

"Uh… okay. Is something wrong with you two?"

Bankotsu tightened his grip on her and sighed. "Not at all."

Neikotsu knew there was something wrong, but decided that was between him and Renkotsu and she couldn't pry any deeper. "Haven't seen you since we met back up with everyone," she said merrily, trying to lighten the mood.

His hand fell from her waist and brushed past her butt, sending chills up her spine. "Heh, I know," he smirked. "I've had to deal with Chouyouma and Jakotsu's accusations of what went on while he was away." Bankotsu chuckled softly and Neikotsu blushed knowing why.

"What did you tell them?"

"What do you think I told them?"

Neikotsu was content with his response and didn't question any further.

"Well," Bankotsu said standing up. "I have some work to do. We're going to attack InuYasha pretty soon. I have some preparations to make."

"InuYasha? You mean that dog hanyou? How come?" she asked, recalling her battle with him and his friends quite a while back.

"It's a long story; not too important. I have vengeance to obtain and I want it done quickly. We'll be attacking tomorrow maybe. By any chance, you wouldn't mind sneaking to their village and spying on them tonight, would you? Find out if that damn half-breed has any new attacks. It's not really something I like to do, but I don't want to go into battle with any surprises."

Neikotsu thought it over a moment and replied, "Sure, I'll spy on them. But, it may be a bit difficult. I won't be able to walk quietly like I usually can and with Ginkotsu making so much noise when he walks, InuYasha would be able to hear it."

"If you think you can do it, go ahead. Set out tonight at dusk."

----------------------------------

After secretly kissing Bankotsu goodnight and saying bye to her comrades, Neikotsu headed out to the village where Bankotsu claimed the Inu-Tachi was. After only a while her ankle began to hurt some. Even with the solid boards of Suikotsu's doctoring binding it.

'Damn. I need some place to rest,' she thought as she trudged further along. The woods she walked through weren't as primitive as the ones she had been in before, but it was, once again, dark. She could only barely read the directions to the village Renkotsu had written for her. 'I really hope I'm going in the right direction. That's all I need- to get lost in this place while the enemy could be somewhere around.'

To Neikotsu's relief, she spotted a clearing straight up ahead. She quickly walked up to it where the moon shone brightly enough to read the directions. She took a seat on an old dry well that stood in the clearing to view the piece of paper and figure out where she was.

--------------------

"Do you think she'll be okay, Oo-Aniki?" Mukotsu asked, mixing some highly toxic poisons for the next day.

"She did look like she was in pain earlier. What if she is caught by InuYasha or that wolf Koga?" Kyoukotsu asked while ripping apart his dinner: an ogre-like demon that had been lurking around.

"Yeah," Jakotsu scoffed. "What if?"

Bankotsu sighed softly as he said, "Don't worry, she'll be okay. Besides, I don't think they would kill her. They're a bit too… merciful. Not that that's bad considering Neikotsu's life is on the line."

-----------------------

"Yes… this looks about right. Mm-hmm…." Neikotsu said quietly to herself as she figured out where she was. Still trying to pinpoint exactly where she was, she leaned back some in frustration. Farther and farther until: SPLAT.

"Oww…" she moaned after she realized what had happened. "Well that was stupid. To fall in the well like that. Now how am I going to get back out? I suppose I could…." Her sentence was halted when she saw some strange pinkish light coming from below her.

Kneeling down to see what was happening, the light got brighter and the bottom of the well began to disappear. "W-what's happening?" she asked aloud as she began to go through the well.

Neikotsu was now falling through the pink light. The further down she went, the more the pink light faded into a dark blue. It was almost like water, but she could breathe. When she looked above her, she could still see the bottom of the well. However, it was quite a ways up. Thinking maybe this light really was like water, she tried to swim up, only to not doing anything except sinking lower and lower.

In every direction she looked there was nothing but blackish blue in the distance and a light blue all around her. She couldn't even see the bottom of the dry well anymore. 'What is going on? Am I going to die here? Be stuck here forever? What is this place?' she thought. But to her surprise she could see the pink light returning. And sure enough the pink turned to a pale light and dimmed. Now, Neikotsu sat at the bottom of a dark well.

'What the hell was that? It was so weird. Did I hit my head or something on the way down here? Probably. Well, I suppose I should try and get out of here. That creped me out enough.'

Neikotsu stood up and tried to find something to grip to climb out of the old well. To her surprise she found a ladder. 'That's strange. Who'd climb down here? Maybe… I didn't hit my head. Maybe this well does something…'

Climbing out was much easier than she thought it would be which made her happy, but what was unsettling was that she was no longer in the woods. It appeared to be some kind of storage room. Neikotsu walked up the steps and pulled open the door, not knowing what to expect.

'A shrine? That well leads to some shrine? I wonder what's here…' Deciding it would be okay to take a short intermission from her duty of spying, she figured it would be okay to walk around. She came upon a strange looking home. It was much larger than a hut, but much smaller than a castle. 'An inn maybe? It still looks kind of strange. And what would an inn be doing on a shrine? I suppose I'll just stay here for the night. This is too strange not to investigate. I'm sure Bankotsu would understand. Besides… I don't know for sure if the well would take me back home. Yes, I'll stay here.'

Neikotsu was about to open the odd looking doors when I young boy came out. He was carrying a large black bag of some kind. He was a weird looking boy. His hair was short and in a peculiar style, his clothes didn't even look Japanese although he appeared not to be a foreigner.

The boy looked Neikotsu up and down then said, "Hey! Kagome told me you wore a black ninja-like outfit. You must be Sango, then?"

"Sango?" she asked. 'Sango… Where have I heard that name? Oh! She is a friend of InuYasha's. Kagome must be that one weird looking girl who was with him. So, this is where that girl is from. Is this some kind of different world? This boy must be… her brother? And he thinks I'm his sister's friend. I bet I can pull through with the mission after all. I can get all the information I need out of this kid.

"Umm… Yes. I am Sango," she said kindly.

The boy smiled happily. "It's great to meet you! I'm Kagome's little brother Sota. Hang on, I'll show you around as soon as I take this trash out!"

Sota came back a second later and grabbed Neikotsu by the hand, pulling her inside the "inn".

"Welcome," he told her as he shut the door behind her. "Sis said she'd be home tomorrow. How come you didn't just come with her then?"

"I, uhh, just couldn't wait," she lied quickly. She was not paying too much attention to the boy, Sota, for she was busy looking at her surroundings. It was as light as day inside. The light seemed to be coming from some sort of object.

Sota noticed her staring. "That's a lamp. Here, I'll show you some more things we use in 2005."

"In what? 2005?" she asked, not liking the sounds of this.

"Yeah. You know, the Present. Sis told you that's what year she's from, didn't she? I swear, she can be such a scatter brain sometimes…"

"2005," Neikotsu repeated. 'That well took me over 500 years into the future!'

Suddenly, someone came into the room, crying. "Hey, I'm home early. That JERK InuYasha said he could pick up the scent of Kikyou! How could he do something like that? I mean, I was right there and he mentioned her! He has NO regards for my feelings at all! So I made him sit and I just had to come home. …Who are you?"

There stood the girl Neikotsu remembered seeing during the fight with InuYasha. The girl she assumed had to be- Kagome.

Author's Note: Yay! I was home sick today so I had time to finish this chapter now. Not much to say. Thanks a bunch to those who review and please continue. Confrontation between Kagome and Neikotsu & the Shichinintai and the Inu-Tachi next chapter. Stay tuned!