Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all the pretties are © to Rumiko Takahashi-sama, and I have not murdered and taken her place yet. The same goes for anything else I might borrow for this story…except that one thing, heehee. That belongs not to Takahashi-sama, but someone else entirely.
Heartless-chan's Notes: Written while listening to The Bravery – both in my head (such sticky songs!) and on the stereo. I don't know if that enhances the reading process or anything… but if you're in the need of background music, I recommend it. Can you tell I'm in love with my newest CD? ;D
Warnings: General Jakotsu-ness, random cameos, randomness in general...
Summary: Inuyasha goes to the present time, in his impatience not realizing that he's being watched…or followed...by a certain shard-revived, undead mercenary.
Reviews: Joy and thanks and tons of love to Ravyn Knyght, Mortheza, Shoozy, Iambrokenheart13, and Splat-on-the-Floor! -hugs you all until your ickle heads pop off- And to Splat-on-the-Floor, that's not happening in this fic, but that would be a riot - and a hot one, too! XD
Heartless-chan: ... Now for Chapter 2!
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"That was interesting," Jakotsu commented aloud, rising to stand. "Very…blue." He raised a shaky hand – and accidentally bumped his other arm. The hilt of his blade was still in a death-grip. "Oh! Ha, ha…" The raven-haired man blinked a few times, loosening his grasp…Jakotsu stood there, in the dark, for a moment, laughing on the borderline of hysterical.
It seemed he had escaped death yet again.
His laughter dimmed down to a wide grin, and the revived human stretched a little.
That was good. He wasn't quite done with this life yet. So, if he wasn't killed by that little lightshow, where was he? He craned his neck, but all he could see around and above him was inky blackness. Was it night? Had he really been gone that long?
Steadying himself – his hand brushed his sword's hilt once more – he took a tentative step forward. And another. And more…until he met a dirt wall. He was still in the well, he found through further examination – meaning he stretched out his arms and legs to their fullest and found nothing but more wall.
Jakotsu felt like pouting. The miko-woman had probably set up some sort of spell to keep intruders out, but at the moment it seemed like…like…an Anti-Jakotsu Barrier!
"Oh, Inuyasha, why must you reject me so?" he lamented, leaning heavily on a wall. The revived human's eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness, but he still had to grope around for a ladder or something to pull himself up – only to find nothing. No matter. Two flicks of his snakelike sword and he was lifting himself out of that pit.
…Jakotsu's eyebrows rose. This wasn't where he had entered the dry well. Unless he had been out longer than he thought, and someone had built a well house around it…which didn't seem quite likely. Meaning, he DID get through to their Secret Base or wherever.
"Yes!" He cheered, sheathing his blade and ascending the well house steps with long strides. And immediately cursed.
The zombie had stumbled on something furry and lumpy. He glared down at the perpetrator, an obese, white and orange cat.
"Meow?" Brown eyes stared curiously up at the cross-dressing mercenary.
Pursing his lips, he considered slicing it to bits – he wasn't much of a cat person – when the kitty did something that would ultimately save its life; it rubbed up against Jakotsu's bare leg.
"Tha-that tickles!" He laughed, then bent down to push it away…and ended up petting it. The most he'd ever seen of cats were mangy strays and the prissy ones that some lords the Shichinintai worked for kept around. They all scratched at him, the evil things. This cat, however, just purred good-naturedly, rolling onto its back in front of Jakotsu and leaning its head into the man's touch. He chuckled and obliged. His hand paused in its work as he wondered out loud, "…I wonder if Inuyasha likes being scratched behind the ears..." Smiling dreamily at the thought, the zombie continued for a few more moments, then stood and brushed his cat-hair covered hand off on his shirt.
"I'll just have to ask. Bye, Kitty." He waved and slid the door open to find:
Humans. Lots and lots of humans.
Jakotsu twitched, feeling just a bit suffocated. The last time he had been around such a large group of people, his neck was on the line, quite literally. He did want to locate Inuyasha, but perhaps he could do a little pruning first…
It was then with such murderous thoughts running through his mind, that two strange-looking women – Ugh – stopped to linger around the outside of the well house. Jakotsu couldn't help stopping at the sight, as he had seen a lot of weird face paint in his life – pink was definitely not Ginkotsu's color – but theirs was the worst. Were they color blind? At least they had nice clothes, he guessed, looking enviously at the intricate designs on their silken kimonos. What really caught the man's attention, though, was not their appearance, but their conversation - if that's what the shrill sounds could be called.
"Oh, that sounds, like, you know, like it's going to be, like, soooo totally romantic!" One gushed – she had similar features to Jakotsu, believe it or not, with dark hair and eyes that contrasted greatly with her pale, pale skin. "I, like, hate you, Momo!"
It was the word 'romantic' in particular that stopped him – what could he say? He was a sucker.
"Be quiet, Sae! Our date isn't going to be anything big," scolded the other witch, with fair hair and sun-tanned skin. "Just going out to eat, nothing fancy, and then coming here to hang out for a bit." She gestured to the crowd – a festival of some sort, maybe?
Pasty face rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…" Sae prodded her friend in the ribs. "There's nothing more romantic than spending time with, like, the one you love! Except, like, Christmas."
"Shut up." Was she blushing? Jakotsu couldn't tell. No, really. He couldn't. Maybe she shouldn't get so tan, heh. "He doesn't even know Ilike him like that"
"What's this, like, 'like' stuff? You, like, dumped Toji for him, Momo!" The first girl looked angry – Which made him think of Inuyasha. Angry, cute Inuyasha. He should go… "I thought you, like, loved him!"
"…I do…"
"Then why, like, so, like, shy? Be, like, assertive or whatever!"
"I said yes, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did." Sae sounded smug. "Ah, let's talk about this, like, later – so how'd he, like, you know, ask you, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"What, like, do you mean, like, what do I mean? Like, what'd Kiley say?"
Blondie bit her lip – and there was a lot to bite, the girl had big lips – and hesitantly said, "'Will you go out with me?'"
"Oh. That's kinda… cool."
Momo shifted her brown eyes and then confessed what had been worrying her for so long: "What if…he just thinks I'm a slut, because I'm pretty, blonde, have a tan and sluttish tendencies to run into open arms and beds and act traumatized after sleeping around?" And all in one breath. Impressive. The man from the feudal era resisted piping up that she wasn't exactly 'pretty'. "What if he just tries that sex-buddy thing again?"
"Well, for one, don't agree this time!"
"I…I just want to be with him…" Tan-girl murmured.
Oh, the drama. Despite all common sense and aversion to females, Jakotsu found himself…fascinated…by the strange performance. Unaware of his actions, he leaned in closer…
"Huh? Who are you?" Momo asked, frowning. Crap, they noticed him!
"Uh…" he started to sweat as they seemed to loom over him, eyes glowing and face shadowed in a way that was somehow scarier than him during a bloodbath.
"Were you listening to us?"
"I didn't mean-"
They nodded to each other, then… "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" they screamed in unison at him, turning and running away with tears in their reddening eyes and snot dripping from their unattractively shaped noses.
Jakotsu blinked, then wiped his face of their spit. "That was messed up."
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An Inuyasha without ramen is neither a happy nor good thing. The hanyou muttered violent threats to himself as he stomped his way up the shrine's steps. Normally, by this point he'd forsake all disguises, but today the shrine was crowded. Meaning he had to walk and deal with sticky kids and busy adults bumping into him – all of which acted as though he was at fault when they did so. One brat even burst into tears. The dark glares he was givingeveryone, however, might have been the cause of that particular case…
Someone tugged on his trailing sleeve. He spun angrily, ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind – only to stop when he found it was Kagome's little brother, looking distressed.
"Inuyasha, have you seen Buyo?" Souta asked worriedly.
"No," he replied, internally cringing at how sullen he sounded. "Sorry. I'm heading back – if I see her-"
"-him-" the boy corrected gently.
"-the cat, I'll let you know." Inuyasha promised, tugging free and maneuvering away through the sea of people.
Well, it wasn't that crowded, but add the different human scents to those of sweat, food, and the many different games and activities about and…he was shielding his nose, to say the least.
'Wait a second…' He stopped and sniffed the air – one seemed particularly familiar. Kind of like…flowers? Wildflowers, maybe. But he didn't think the Higurashis were growing anything like that… It must be some of that perr-fume stuff Kagome liked…
"Inuyasha!" a pair of arms looped around him. Suddenly, he was enveloped in the odd scent – flowers, mixed with blood, soil and death.
He looked over his shoulder into the sparkling dark eyes of –
Jakotsu?
JAKOTSU?
"Jakotsu!" he yelped, flailing his arms a little, too surprised to do much else.
And there the mercenary was, smiling innocently – yeah, right - and looking like he'd stepped straight out of the feudal era, as unchanged as the day the hanyou met him.
"What the-? How? I-? EH?" The poor hanyou finally settled on opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
Painted lips of red curved in smile. "I've been looking for you, Inuyasha."
That got Inuyasha moving – he quickly pushed out of the 'loving' embrace.
Unlike with their previous meetings, Inuyasha wasn't particularly angry with Jakotsu's presence; today he felt nothing but cold fear. His primary concern was of all the people here – if Jakotsu and he fought, bloodshed would be inevitable. People in this era weren't even aware of the existence of demons, and had almost no means of defense, even if the attacker wasn't in fact a demon, but an insane murderer bent on inflicting pain to those he deemed attractive.
"How did you get here?" Inuyasha finally gasped, struggling with his words. "No, that's not what I want to say, ah…" His gold eyes widened.
Jakotsu's face was already darkening with lust, insanity shadowing his once almost innocent features. Grinning evilly, the mercenary slid the dangerous blade from its sheath. "It's time, Inuyasha…I can't wait any longer…"
'Not here!' The shorter male panicked. Inuyasha's eyes scanned the crowds, seeing them all dead, sliced to bits by multiple blades as he struggled to simply dodge. "No! I don't want to fight you!"
"Well, that's too bad…" Jakotsu blinked, then turned a little pink. "…I can't say that…" Inuyasha's ears caught him mutter. Despite his fright, he found himself arching an eyebrow at the queer human, who slanted a very, very strange glance at him in return and shouldered his sword. Jakotsu no longer appeared to be overwhelmed bloodlust, at least…
"Well….maybe?" Eyes dark as night shifted to the side, gazing away from the hanyou. "Inuyasha…Will you go out with me?"
"What?"
-End Chapter
Heartless-chan: My, I am feeling evil today. Reviewreview? –sparkles- Reviews are the life-giving air for my inspiration's soul! Wait, what? –blinkblink-
Next time – Inuyasha's answer is influenced by the sudden appearance of another character! Stay tuned, folks!