Chapter 2 - On the Other Side
Serena hit the ground inside the well with a loud thump. Pain shot through her starting at her tailbone and traveling up her back.
"Owww!" she exclaimed. She stood up and began to rub her butt. She cringed when she hit a tender spot.
"Great!" Serena whispered. "Now I'm gonna get a bruise on my ass." She turned her attention from her butt and looked around at the walls of the wells. She sighed and started to climb out.
That blue light show was FREAKY! She thought. I wonder if Kagome drugged me somehow…Nah, I would have noticed.
Serena reached the top of the well, pulled herself over the side, and flopped down onto the ground. She stood up and began to dust herself off. It was then that she noticed she was no longer inside the well house, but instead she was in the middle of a tiny field, surrounded by a forest. She gasped.
"Kagome was telling the truth!" Serena exclaimed. She looked back at the well. "The well really is magic!" Serena looked around in amazement. I can't believe it! I just can't believe it! She saw a small path leading away from the small meadow and started walking. She very quickly came to another clearing. She stopped when she spotted the huge tree. That looks just like the tree at Kagome's house. She thought. Serena approached the tree tentatively.
"Something tells me I shouldn't be doing this," she whispered to herself. She reached the tree and held out a shaking hand. Serena gently touched the tree and was instantly filled with an overwhelming feeling of death. Suddenly, a cluster of arrows shot through the air and embedded themselves in the trunk of the tree.
"Hey, girl! Get away from that tree!" someone shouted. Serena turned to look at the voice and someone gasped. The group of men murmured and then slowly advanced toward her.
"Oh, shit," Serena said.
Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kaede all peeked out of the hut from the doorframe. Inu-Yasha and Kagome had come back only a few minutes ago. Since the group had heard Kagome and Inu-Yasha arguing before they had even arrived at the village, the group was watching to see who was going to win the bet.
"I can't believe you were late because of something as stupid as a 'cousin', whatever the hell that is," Inu-Yasha yelled.
"For your information, a cousin is the child of someone's aunt and uncle. And it is not a stupid reason! I was helping her to get settled in at the house!" Kagome screamed back at the dog demon.
"Why the hell would you have to do that!"
"Because she's living with my family now, you moron!"
"Oh. Well, that still doesn't give you the right to waste time! We have jewel shards to find, wench!" Inu-Yasha shouted at Kagome.
"Urrr! I can't believe you're still going on about the stupid jewel shards! You know, I have a life back there, too. And once in a while, I'd actually like to spend time with my family, who live in my actual time. And the jewel isn't everything!" Kagome shrieked.
"The shards ARE everything! We have to find them before Naraku gets his slimy hands on them!" Inu-Yasha bellowed.
"I can't believe you! You have no consideration for what anyone else wants, do you? All you care about is your fing jewel shards!" Kagome shrieked at Inu-Yasha again.
"The shards are the most important thing, b," Inu-Yasha yelled.
"Yeah! Well, SI…" Kagome was interrupted by the villagers hunters who had just come back from today's hunt. They were all shouting for Kaede to come out and observe an invader. Kaede heard their shouts and immediately rushed out of the hut. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo followed her, all grumbling about the interrupted argument.
"What is it that you need my help with, young huntsmen?" Kaede asked. The leader of the group stepped forward and bowed his head before speaking.
"Lady Kaede, we found an outsider by the Go-Shinboku tree in the forest. She be oddly dressed and we believe she be a demon." The leader motioned to one of his hunters, who brought forth a girl who was struggling against her captor.
"Serena?" Kagome gasped. Serena kicked the knee of her captor and then ran over to Kagome.
"What the hell is happening? One minute I'm climbing out of the well and the next thing I know, I'm captured by some two-bit hunters," Serena said quickly. The hunter recovered from her blow and grabbed Serena's arm, just as the villagers started to appear, hearing noises.
"You do not speak to the reborn priestess unless told so, wench," he scolded.
"Bite me," was her reply. The villagers and the hunters all gasped. Serena wrenched her arm free from the man and turned to face the large group of hunters.
"I am not a demon. I came through the well, just like Kagome," she said. The hunters grumbled in protest.
"You are telling the truth, my child?" Kaede asked. Serena nodded.
"But she had a mark on her back, just like a demon," one of the hunters protested. Serena turned her back to the villagers and lifted her shirt. They all gasped.
"You mean this?" she asked, pointing to a design on her back. The hunter nodded and Serena laughed. "This is just a tattoo. It's made in my time with a pin and some ink." A collective "oh" went through the masses. The villagers all returned to their homes upon the urging of Kaede. The old priestess then turned her attention back toward Serena.
"You are really from Kagome's time?" she asked. Kagome stepped in.
"Yes, she is. Everyone, this is my cousin, Serena," she explained. Sango and Shippo introduced themselves, and then Miroku leapt in front of Serena.
"Hello. My name is Miroku. I am a servant of Buddha and I wish you good fortune," he said.
"Umm…thanks?" Serena said shakily, not entirely sure how to answer. Miroku clasped her hands and looked into Serena's eyes.
"Now I wish to ask you something. You may not know it, but I have a terrible curse which will eventually cause my death. Would you consider bearing my child?" he asked, giving her his most adorable smile. Serena felt a look of shock pass over her face before she decided how to answer the monk's question. She swung her leg and gave him a swift kick in the groin. Miroku's eyes bulged and then he doubled over in pain. The whole group, except Kaede, laughed at Serena's reaction.
"Bear that, you pervert!" Serena yelled before storming into Kaede's hut.
About ten minutes later, the group had moved back inside Kaede's hut. Miroku was still in pain and Inu-Yasha was still laughing. Shippo giggled every now and then, probably because Inu-Yasha was still hysterical. Sango and Kagome had helped Miroku into the hut, after slapping him. Kaede was questioning Serena, interested in why she was able to travel through the well.
"Now, child, please tell your story again," Kaede said to Serena for about the third time. It felt like the thirteenth time to Serena. She sighed.
"All right. Kagome jumped through the well and, I don't like being left out, so of course I jumped in after her. There was this freaky blue laser light show and then I landed on my ass at the bottom of the well," Serena said rapidly. Kaede made a hand gesture to say 'continue'.
"I thought I was back where I started, you know, in the mini-shrine, so I climbed the wall of the well to get out. It wasn't until after I had reached the top and climbed out that I realized I'd actually traveled through time." Serena rubbed her temples as she spoke. Inu-Yasha's laughing was starting to give her a headache.
"Why did you go to the tree?" Kaede asked.
"I don't know. It was really weird. It was almost like something was…calling me, you know, from the tree," Serena said dreamily, recalling the strange feeling she'd gotten when she'd touched the tree.
Kaede started to ask another question when Inu-Yasha's loud laughter broke through Serena's thoughts and she couldn't take it anymore.
"Will you kindly knock it off?" she half screeched at the dog-demon. He looked at her, first confused, then angry.
"Don't tell me what to do. I can laugh if I want," Inu-Yasha said crossly.
"Well, stop laughing and I won't tell you what to do," Serena snapped. Inu-Yasha stood up and so did Serena. They faced each other like they were about to duel.
"Guys?" Kagome said tentatively. They didn't even notice her.
"Why the hell should I stop laughing, Rena?" Inu-Yasha said, shortening her name to try and mess with her. Too bad for him, because it worked and Serena got angrier.
"Because you're giving me a headache, Inu-Yoshi," she said grinning. Inu-Yasha's eyes narrowed at her.
"It's Inu-Yasha," he corrected her, his voice barely more than a growl. Good, he's mad. Serena thought. Now to go in for the kill.
"Oh, I didn't realize," she said with mock sincerity. "I'm sorry, Inu-Yappa." She smirked. Inu-Yasha reached his rope's end and lost it.
"Bitch!" he screamed.
"Asshole!" she yelled back.
"Wench!"
"Bastard!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sango broke in.
"Stop it, you two!" Kagome added. Inu-Yasha looked at her.
"But she started it!" he whined, pointing at Serena. Serena giggled at his immaturity.
"God, what are you, three?" Serena asked him. He shot her a pissed-off look. "I'm kidding. Duh!"
"Perhaps we could get back to my question, Serena," Kaede spoke up.
"Oh, sure." Serena sat back down next to Kaede. "What did you ask?"
"I asked what happened before Kagome jumped into the well."
"Oh. Hmmm…let's see…Kagome and I where talking by the well. She was trying to prove her story true. She handed me the bottle of jewel shards, which I thought looked so cool…"
"WHAT!" Inu-Yasha interrupted. He turned to Kagome. "You trusted this wench with the shards!"
"Yes, but I took them back. They're right here in my pocket…uh oh," Kagome paused.
"You LOST them!" Inu-Yasha shrieked. Kagome moved around frantically looking for the bottle.
"Uh…Kagome?" Serena asked.
"I don't have time right now. I have to find the shards," she said. Everyone except Serena and Kaede was searching for the shards.
"Oh, Ka-go-me," Serena said in a sing-song voice. Her cousin's head snapped up from the floor.
"What?" she said angrily. Then she blushed when she saw that Serena was holding the bottle of shards up. Kaede chuckled.
"Where were they?" Kagome asked.
"In my pocket."
"You stole them?" Kagome asked, surprised.
"NO."
"Then why were they in your pocket?"
"You didn't take them back before you went down the well, so I put them in my pocket for safe-keeping," Serena explained.
"Oh." Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all looked relieved while Inu-Yasha just muttered 'stupid wench' under his breath and strode out of the hut.
"Perhaps…"Kaede started to say. Glad for the change of subject, Kagome turned to Kaede.
"Perhaps what?" she asked.
"Perhaps the jewel shards are what made Serena able to travel through the well," Kaede finished. The group all thought about it for a moment, all silently deciding that Kaede was probably right.
"Well," Serena said, jumping up. "There's only one way to find out." And with that she ran out of the hut. Sango, Kagome, and Shippo ran to the door and watched as Serena headed toward the forest, knocking Inu-Yasha off the fencepost as she went.
"Hey, get back here, you wench," the pissed-off demon yelled after her as he repositioned himself on the fence. He looked toward the hut, only to be knocked off the fence again, this time by Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo.
"Sorry, Inu-Yasha!" Kagome yelled to him. Inu-Yasha grumbled and ran after them.
Serena reached the well and skidded to a stop. The others arrived right behind her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Inu-Yasha asked.
"I'm going to find out if the jewel shards made me travel through the well," she said with a hint of 'duh' in her voice.
"But how?" Sango asked. Serena sighed.
"By jumping into the well." The group looked surprised.
"But you could break your neck if you don't travel through time," Kagome said. Serena suddenly remembered her earlier "ass" injury.
"Hell, that could happen even if I go through," Serena retorted. The others looked confused; they did not know she had injured herself.
"Well," she said as she positioned herself. "Here goes nothing."
And with that, she dived headfirst into the well.