Chapter 2: Double Murder

The bus stopped just a block away from Kagome's residence. "Wow! I can't wait!" said Andrea.

"Yeah, I know" I said back. "This is going to be so cool! We finally get to meet our pen pal!" I saw Andrea nod in agreement as we gathered our belongings and exited the bus. We walked the short block to Kagome's. As we walked, I reflected.

It hadn't exactly been easy, getting the perfect photo. But then, as luck would have it, we had found a hot springs complete with a waterfall and a lake of bluish-green water. Perfect couldn't describe it. We had easily come in first place.

I reflected more on the plane trip, on how, the whole time, Andrea and I had bugged the Chaperons to let us go on our own. Only after convincing them that we know Kagome like our own mother did we get away from them. No here we were, and a ball of excitement was churning in my gut.

The two of us stared at the stairs leading to the Shrine house as though they went on forever. We quickly shrugged it off and started to climb the steep staircase. Soon, we got to the top and saw the most beautiful tree to our left and a gorgeous house directly in front of us.
"I'm so glad we don't have to drag along our chaperones! I hate it when they hafta follow us!" I said. "I know what you mean," replied Andrea, "Let's see if Kagome's here!"

I nodded in agreement. The two of us walked up to the front door and I rang the doorbell. After a few minutes of waiting, we decided that no one was home. "That's strange…. Weren't we told Kagome would be here at around 2:00?" asked Andrea. "I know we're a little late 'cause of the bus schedule." Andrea paused and looked at her watch. The time was now 2:20. "Maybe she's late, too and will be back any minute."

I nodded in agreement. "Let's look around, then," I said. Andrea nodded. She liked the idea, too. It sounded like fun. We first admired the tree, which had a peculiar looking mark on it. It looked like a diamond shaped scar with a hole in the middle.

"There must be some sort of story behind this mark" commented Andrea, who had a knack for details and was curious about everything. I nodded. "Yeah, you're right! That is a rather peculiar looking scar on that tree. We should ask Kagome about it when she gets here!"
Our wanderings led us to an old well house. The both of us have always been fascinated by old things, and this well house caught our attention. Without any hesitation, we entered the well house to find some steps. After the steps and in the center of the room stood an old well. The two of us immediately took interest in the ancient well. Andrea decided she would sit on the edge of the well, her hands firmly planted on the edge, pretending she was going to fall backwards into it. I decided to sit on the stairs. I looked at Andrea as though she had gone crazy. "What do you think you're doing, you dork? That doesn't look very safe!"

Andrea looked at me as though I had no sense of humor. "Alright, alright I'll stop!" she said as she leaned back one more time. This time, her hands slipped and she fell, screaming backwards, into the well. A bright blue light shot up from the well. I immediately got up and rushed up to the well. I looked inside, and much to my surprise, the well was empty. "Andrea!" I shouted, "Where are you! I can't see you!" When there was no response, thoughts of panic ran through my mind. "What am I going to do? My friend disappeared. What will I tell Kagome when she gets here? Or, worse, what will I tell the chaperones? It took a lot of convincing for them to let us go here without them!" I shook my head. I wasn't about to let those chaperones know. They were sometimes impossible to get along with. This was all up to me. I had to be the one to find Andrea. I put my hands on the well and sighed. "I guess the only way to find her is to jump in myself! Well, here goes" I said to myself as I jumped into the well.

To my surprise, my descent into the well was slow and pleasant. A beautiful bright blue light shone all around me. I gently touched down at the bottom of the well. Looking up, I saw beautiful blue skies. This was much different than the ceiling of an old well house. There was no sign of my friend. Looking at the walls of the well, I saw some vines leading to the top. Deciding this was my best course of action, I grabbed the vines and climbed up. After reaching the top, I saw Andrea sitting in the grass with her back to the well directly in front of me.

"Don't do that to me, girl! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I scolded her as I gently smacked the back of her head. Andrea let out a shriek as she turned around facing me. "You dork! You just about gave me a heart attack! You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry about that," I climbed out of the well and sat next to her. "Do you have any idea where we are?" I asked as I looked around at the trees. There was a slight breeze blowing our hair about.

"Sorry, no idea. Do you think we should look around?" I thought for a moment. "You know, Kagome's probably back by now and will be wondering where we are. Maybe we should go back."

"Why don't we look around for just a little bit? Come on! It'll be fun!"

I sighed. "Ok, ok, but just for a few minutes. We really need to get back, though. I have a funny feeling about this place. Something seems wrong. You know that when I feel like this, I'm usually right?" Andrea nodded as I said this, but it didn't seem to faze her. I had a feeling she was going to explore with or without me. I had to admit, it did sound like fun, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

After walking for a few minutes, we saw what looked exactly like that beautiful tree we saw at Kagome's house. It had the exact same diamond shaped mark with the hole in the middle. "Hey! There's that same tree from before! We must be close to the shrine! Let's go find it! By the way, you don't think we're in some sort of alternate reality, or something?" asked Andrea.

I shook my head. That didn't seem possible to me. After pondering it for a few moments, we heard a snap of a twig behind us. We both twirled around to come face to face with a little boy with red hair tied back with a blue ribbon. He wore an outfit of blue with a leaf pattern, an orange vest and and had a huge bushy tail and green eyes. He looked at the two of us with confusion.

"I've never seen you before. Who are you guys?" he asked.

"Umm…" I began, "My name is Renee, and this is Andrea"

"I'm Shippo" the boy said.

"You look like a little squirrel. Are you on your way to a costume party" I asked.

The little boy took offense to my question. "I'm a fox! I keep telling everyone that! I'm the bravest fox demon around!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I said to the fuming kid. "What did you say? You're a demon? Where are we anyways?"

"You mean you don't know? What planet are you from? The only way you wouldn't know about us demons is if…" he trailed off and suddenly leaped in the air. "You must be Kagome's friends! She told us about you! I should have guessed that right away just by looking at your strange clothing. It's just like Kagome's! I thought she said she wasn't going to bring you here!"

"How do you know Kagome?" I asked.

"Oh, she's from the future! She comes here via the old well. Didn't you know that? Isn't that how you guys got here?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right! Anyways, I thought all demons were bad, but you're alright! You're a cute little guy!" I said.

Shippo blushed at the compliment. "We only say we're demons to instill fear and to make people respect us. In a way, we can also be called animal spirits."

"I see," I said, "Can you tell us where we are?"

"Sure! That's easy! You're about 500 years in the past!"

"You're kidding!" said Andrea "That can't be possible!"

Shippo giggled at the girls' confusion. "Come on! I'll show you around! Kagome's at school, but I think she's due back really soon. She said she was going to bring you guys here. We shouldn't wander too far, in case she comes here looking for you."

Thinking that was a good idea, we nodded and followed the little fox through the forest. We didn't get very far when we heard a sinister sounding voice. Shippo froze. He turned to us and motioned for us to hide. We did and peeked around the trees we were hiding behind. Shippo hid behind a tree as well. What we saw as shocking.

We saw a young woman dressed in ancient miko clothing holding a bow and pointing its arrow at a strange looking man. The man was dressed in a long dark blue jacket with crude lighter blue stripes. He wore strange, large spiked armor on his back, which looped started at the top and ran down his back, ending at his waist, its height about the same as the top of his head. In addition to this armor, two single spikes shot out of the armor on his shoulders, slightly higher than his head. He had a vertical red eyeball with a yellow iris on his chest, which was surrounded by spiked armor as well. He wore spiked armor on his left shoulder, on his right upper arm, and more on his wrists, which ended at his elbow. He also wore a yellow sash on his waist. He had what the girls thought were red eyeballs on the top of his hands, too. Three green tentacles squirmed about on his back, his long, unkempt black hair moving about in the slight breeze. His red eyes burned with hatred at the miko. The three of us stared at what unfolded before us.

The man spoke first. "You never cease to amaze me, Kikyo. Surviving that seemingly fatal fall at Mount Hakurei into my river of miasma. That should have killed you. I have only seen you once more after that incident, and we did not get the chance to speak with eachother very much." He paused. "I can't tell you how much pleasure it gives me to see you once again before me!"
Kikyo narrowed her eyes at the man, her arrow now pulled tighter in her bow. She grinned. "You'll find that I am full of surprises, Naraku."

Naraku smiled. "I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Likewise" Kikyo responded as she released her arrow at Naraku. The arrow came in contact with a reddish colored barrier. It fought against it for several seconds, a bright white light emanating from the spot the arrow hit. The arrow suddenly disintegrated. Kikyo stared at Naraku in disbelief. Her powers had still not fully recovered yet since their last encounter, shortly after Mount Hakurei's collapse.

"You should have avoided me. You know I no longer hold the heart of Onigumo, the worthless bandit that desired you!" said Naraku as he lifted up his right arm. One of the spikes on it grew in size. "This is where you perish!"

We turned to Shippo to find him frozen in fear. We turned our attention back to Naraku and Kikyo. The two of us silently gasped in horror at the events that unfolded before us. Naraku had suddenly released a strange crooked beam of energy from the spike of armor, which struck her in her stomach. We were shocked to see that no blood came out of her wound, but instead a purplish cloudy substance emanated from it. Kikyo fell to her knees in pain, clutching her wound. She looked at Naraku with anger. Naraku returned the look with a look of contempt, as though he were about to rid himself of a bothersome hangnail. He then held up his right hand and morphed it into a blade.

"Now die!" he said as he stabbed her in the chest. Kikyo let out a muffled scream and crumpled to the ground in pain. Within moments she was motionless. Naraku looked down at her and smiled. That bothersome miko was finally out of his hair for good. No one could survive the amount of miasma he had used against her, a far more concentrated amount than what she was exposed to at Mount Hakurei.

Andrea and I covered our mouths in shock and disbelief at what had just happened. We had just witnessed a murder. We silently hoped that he would not notice us and go away. I silently attempted to shift my feet, as they were growing tired. But to my horror, I stepped on a twig, snapping it. Shippo slapped his head as though he were saying, "Great going, you idiot!"

Naraku turned around at the sound. He smiled evilly and began to walk towards the sound. Shippo stared in utter horror as Naraku advanced towards the three of them. "Run you two! I'll try to distract him!" shouted Shippo as he ran up to Naraku.

We nodded in agreement and began to run. "I sure hope he'll be ok. He's just a kid!" Andrea said.

"Me, too!" I said, but we shouldn't go too far. We don't wanna get lost!"

"Right! Let's hide behind these trees and move the twigs outta the way!" replied Andrea, not wanting a repeat incident. The two of us agreed on this and hid. We peeked around the trees and could barely see what was happening…

"I won't let you hurt my friends, Naraku! Prepare to die!"

Naraku granted Shippo an amused smile. "You can try. I will even disengage my barrier for you, though I don't think it will do you much good!" he taunted, his barrier disappearing.

Shippo grew infuriated. He hated it when people treated him like a child. "Here I come, Naraku!" shouted Shippo as he launched himself at Naraku. Naraku simply smiled and lifted up his right arm, its spiked armor facing Shippo. The spikes on the armor suddenly grew in size, and before Shippo could disengage his attack, Naraku swung his arm at Shippo, striking him. Shippo suddenly cried out in pain. The entire length of his body was embedded in the spikes. He squirmed about, trying to dislodge himself, but was unable to. Naraku smiled at the young fox.

"I am not a man without compassion. So, you wish to free yourself? Then let me help you."

Shippo suddenly froze. He knew what would happen next. He knew he wouldn't stand a chance. He quietly hoped his new friends, Renee and Andrea got away safely. Not a moment after these last thoughts ran through his mind, Naraku violently shook his arm, dislodging him. Shippo went flying through the air, striking a nearby tree. He fell to the ground, motionless and face-down in a pool of his own blood.

Andrea and I stared at what had transpired in shock. We hated Naraku. We had just seen him murder two people. Our new friend had been murdered right before our eyes. We looked at each other and knew what we had to do. We doubted we would be able to escape, so we quickly searched our minds for some kind of plan. Andrea bent down for a moment and came back up with a stick the size of a baseball bat in her hands. She motioned for me to do the same. It only took me a moment to find a similarly sized stick. I took another look around the tree. To my horror, Naraku saw me, his eyes flickered with interest, as he began to advance towards us. I silently cursed to myself. There was no turning back. Andrea could tell by my reaction that we were in trouble. The two of us pressed our backs against our trees and waited.

"On the count of 3." whispered Andrea. I nodded. Andrea motioned with her fingers 1….2……and a quick jab with the number 3. The two of us suddenly ran out of our hiding places and charged at Naraku, letting out our version of a battle cry, waving our sticks wildly. "Die, you bastard!" I heard Andrea shout. Naraku stopped advancing and waited for us to approach him, an amused smile gracing his smug face. The two of us caught up with him in mere moments and began striking him with our sticks. Naraku calmly blocked our attacks with one of his armored arms. After a few strikes, Naraku calmly knocked our sticks from our hands with one sweep. We were now weaponless and helpless. "You fools!", he said, "Do you honestly believe mere sticks will harm me? You are so naïve!" The spikes on his right arm grew in size as he prepared to strike us. We knew what was going to happen next, and we knew we had to think fast. We did the only thing we could think of. We fell to our knees and begged for our lives. Naraku stared at us with mild amusement. He smiled wickedly and laughed.

"Your bravery amuses me. Perhaps I do have good use for you after all" he said as he retracted his spikes and lowered his arm. "Come with me and I shall spare your miserable lives." The two of us stared at each other worriedly. We didn't have a choice.

This chappie was written by Inuyashafangirl. Woohoo, this is gettin good! Review, plz! Peace!