Ch: 3

Huh!

WritingWoman: I'm writing this story by ear, because I have no definite plan for it, not even as vague a story line as I had for 'A Very Strange World, Indeed'. So, if the story comes out choppy and not all that flow-ing, let me know. I also have a major writer's block, partly because I have finally convinced myself that I can live without sleep...

You know what? Just go away for a little while. I'm going to go take a nap.

Hm. Touchy Author. All right, all right, you can stay. Just as long as you promise me one

thing.

Don't wake me up.

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The crazy old woman cackled and ran off in one direction, leaving Sky unconscious at the foot of the Well, where it had coughed her up. As soon as she was out of sight of the young woman, the old lady shed her disguise, revealing that she was in fact quite young. Nineteen, perhaps. Her name was Rayanne Ikifar, with blonde hair and pale skin. Rayanne snorted in contempt. They were late, as usual. But what could you do? A couple minutes later, loud complaining voices signaled to her that they weren't that late, after all; had probably stopped for lunch somewhere. Wait; no. That's what the male voice was complaining about. That they hadn't had lunch yet. Smiling to herself, she shifted into yet another disguise, and ran out into the road, shrieking.

"Help! Help!" Mindful that Sky could wake at any time, she hurried her explanation to the confused group before her, mainly talking to the young females, both of whom she knew would be sympathetic. "A creature in the woods attacked me! It was headed toward the village! You must stop it!" Being a drama queen, she couldn't help but add a few tears into her explanation, pulling the 'remains' of her tattered clothing closer to her, shreds of a basket clutched tight in her hand. To the group, she looked like a frightened teenage girl. Rayanne started to wail. "My whole family is in the village! They'll be torn to shreds by the vicious creature! My poor little sister! And Bo-bo! You have to help them!"

Gently, one of the younger women grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to calm her. "Shh, shh, it'll be alright. Now, what does this creature look like?" Pulling her face to make it look anguished and terrified, Rayanne continued, her voice somewhat more stable.

"I don't know, miss. I was just out to gather some berries from the woods. I stopped a moment to eat a few – they're so good at this time of the year – and a creature that was almost all blue appeared, with eyes like silver flame!" She added a pathetic moan. Drama queen. "The eyes, the eyes! They looked like they wanted to tear me to bits! I only barely escaped by shoving my basket in those terrible eyes, blinding it long enough to get away." She became distressed again, crying out, "Please, let me pass! I must get to my village and warn them! We have not a fighter among us, we are but farmers! My poor little brother, Bo-bo! He'll be so frightened!" She tried feebly to break free from the other teen's grip, pretending to be as weak as she looked. A man in monk robes stepped up to where she could see him, though he wasn't quite aware yet of why they had stopped. Throwing herself at him, she pressed herself against him and cried out, "Oh, good monk, surely you can help me! My village is in terrible danger! My family! Please tell me that you will help them! I cannot save them alone!" The monk caught her out of reflex, and slowly realized what was going on. Rayanne pretended not to notice the hand sliding toward her butt, as she continued wailing in distress. "Bo-bo! Kita! Please, monk, save my family!" Turning big eyes up to look him in the face, she described once again the 'creature', tears running freely down her cheeks. Pretending to be wise and caring, he hugged her closer and promised to help. With a smile of thanks, she disentangled herself from his embrace and ran down the road, saying as she went, "Thank you ever so much! I will go warn my village, but tell them not to fear because we are to be rescued by a brave monk!" Rayanne hoped, as she ran out of sight, then looped around, that she hadn't laid it on too thick, and they actually harmed Sky, thinking her to be a terrible monster. But then again, who would suspect innocent looking little Sky of anything? Rayanne chuckled, shifting out of the village girl form, and into her original one, the old woman. Her disguise wasn't so much magic as cleverly applied cosmetics, and the right mind frame. People saw what they wanted to see. Or, in this case, what she wanted them to see.

Sky slowly came to, back at the Well. Moaning, she sat up, rubbing the back of her neck in an attempt to get rid of the crick that had started there. A new smell reached her nose. 'What the hell?' It wasn't something she had smelled often, and most certainly not on dried up old Earth... the scent of growing things. Looking up, her hands fell limp, forgetting about the crick.

"TREES!" This place had honest trees! Not those little wimpy ones they grew in the labs, but a tree, several trees, huge ones! Scrambling to her feet, she went over as if in a dream, and touched one. It was much rougher then the little ones they so carefully cultivated in the Stations. Of course, the Stations had almost no real sunlight.

'But wait...' Where did all these trees come from? Last thing she knew, she had been in the middle of a barren steppe. How had she gotten here? 'Maybe this is the one of the places they're trying to regrow, with the old seeds salvaged before Leaving Earth.' Still, why would she be there? Sky was an archeologist, and one with very little field practice. She had no place in a regrowth center. As she stood there, trying to puzzle it out in her head, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, a bunch of people burst through the thick growth of trees off to her left. They stared at her, and she stared back in equal measure. What on ... Earth!... were they wearing! Where had they found clothes of such antiquity?

Well, she wore a lot of blue, but... surely she wasn't the cause of that girl's distress! Inuyasha was the first to make a move, leaping up to attack. It wasn't so much that he thought that this girl had done it, but he had had a bad day, and felt the need to take it out on someone. First, Shippo had put spiders in his hair, then Kagome had refused to stop for lunch, and then that pretty teen had thought a mere monk could protect her better then he could! Hell, she hadn't even seen him! Growling, the hanyou dropped from the air, then screamed, "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Then the person in blue did something that was... unexpected. She screamed right back into his face, put up her hands as if to stop him, and fell over. As his target disappeared, Inuyasha found he couldn't stop himself in mid-air, and crashed into the Well, stomach first. Then the woman in blue was on his back, pulling on his ears, screaming some more.

"What the hell do you think you were doing! Scaring a person like that! Who do you think you are, one of the Pirateas? Think you can get away with anything, just because you got ears!" She pulled on them harder, Inuyasha becoming very angry now. Before he could do anything, he felt the weight lifted from his back, though the screaming continued, it was just directed at another person. "Are you with him! You should teach him some manners, then!" The screaming stopped. Thank the gods. "Hey, where'd you get these? These clothes aren't deteriorated in any way! Who made these for you? You could get a lot of money for them up in the Academy! Why haven't you sold them to a museum yet?" Inuyasha turned to see he was talking to Kagome, as the woman in blue pulled away from Miroku, who had lifted her off his back. The strange woman was holding up Kagome's arm and studying it closely, Kagome with a bewildered expression on her face. She obviously had no idea what was going on. Inuyasha began to feel some worry grow in his stomach. If this blue wench had hurt the village teen for no reason, who was to say that she wouldn't do the same to Kagome!

"Kagome, back away!" Both Kagome and Miroku moved away from the woman, who stood there, not knowing what the heck was going on. Turning back to Inuyasha with an annoyed look on her face, Sky started talking again.

"Look, you, I don't know who you are, but you really should apologize for–" Inuyasha cut her off, by pulling out the Tetsusaiga, and saying, "Wind Scar!" The blast hit Sky right across the abdomen, and blew her into a tree.

"Inuyasha! Why'd you do that! Couldn't you tell she was human! She didn't do anything to that other girl!" Kagome yelled at him, rather irrationally. Inuyasha's ears drooped a little as he realized that she had been just a human. But he wouldn't admit it to Kagome, and he couldn't, because as he started to say something back, a moan came from where Sky had crashed.

"Ow, my poor stomach... ow, my poor back... OW! MY HEAD HURTS! DAMN! AHHH! IT HURTS!" She sat up from where she had come to rest at the base of the tree, tenderly cradling her head, while trying to still the screams coming from her mouth, because they only made the pain worse. "Ooowww... What the hell happened? Did I get struck by a giant Rrocke?" As she sat there clutching her head, she realized they were all staring. "What? Did my head explode? Am I dead? If I'm dead, why do I hurt so much?" ... "I could almost wish I were dead! It hhuurrttss...!" The woman who's clothes she had been inspecting earlier came over to her, knelt in front of her, and whispered into her ear,

"Um, you might want to know that your shirt is torn right open. I think you'd better fix it." Sky looked down and her face burned with embarrassment. "Oh my fucking God!" She wailed, clutching the torn remains of her shirt together with one hand, the other opening the bag on her hip. Pulling out a spare shirt, a glowing needle and some nearly invisible thread, she then ran behind the tree she had just crashed into to change. Then, sitting behind the tree, she proceeded to sew together her shirt, cussing the whole time at the 'man with the ears'.

When Kagome thought that the stranger might be dressed, she went around the tree and sat next to her. "How are you alive, if you're human? That should have killed you."

Sky snorted. "Well, that's nice to know. I'm sorry if me staying alive inconveniences you. I'll try to be more courteous next time, and just fall over and die, rather then bother to live and embarrass myself. Thousand pardons." The glowing needle moved swiftly through the tear in the shirt, sewing it up impeccably with the invisible thread. The only thing was, Sky wasn't moving the needle. It was sewing the shirt up all by itself. As Kagome watched this, Sky continued. "My brother always said I was too stubborn to die, anyway. 'Could be crushed by an Outcraft,' and live just to prove that I could. He can be a real pain sometimes. The guy with the ears your brother? He's annoying enough to be one."

"No, he's not my brother. How is the needle doing that?" Kagome pointed to the needle, still sewing away. (Little image of needle dancing around, singing)

"Huh? Oh, that thing. I don't know. I'm an archeologist, not a technician."

"So, how did you survive the Wind Scar? You are human, right?" Sky thought a moment, and worried Kagome a bit.

"Well, I think I am. My mother, who knows, I've always considered her more bot then human, but so far as I can tell, I'm human. A Mix, to be sure, but human. How did I survive? I'm guessing it was my shirt. That shirt is built to deflect a point-blank encounter with a meteor, and not only deflect, but protect the person inside. I'm more concerned with how he ripped it. That's Orchilum we're talking about, not the ancient's cloth." She gave a little half-laugh as she went over the needle's work. "We gave up wool and cotton when we moved to space." The girl looked at her like she was crazy. "What? It's true. I'm surprised you got enough together to make that outfit. You must be rich or something. We couldn't afford it, anyway, though my mother would never admit that we lacked for anything. Except manners. Always harping on the manners." Sky said, not realizing that in that way she was just like her mother. Abruptly, she turned to Kagome, and said, "All right, then, who are you? And, if you'd be so kind, why was I attacked?" Kagome looked up from the shirt. It had been sewn so well it looked as if it had never been torn.

"Uh, I'm Kagome. You were attacked because... you'll have to ask Inuyasha."

"From that, I guess it's safe to assume that Inuyasha is the man with the ears? Yes? Ok. I was getting really tired of having to say all that. I'm Sky by the way, and I do intend to ask that Inuyasha fella, then I intend to head back to the site. They may be mean there, but at least I wasn't being attacked by people strong enough to rip through Orchilum." Kagome noticed another odd thing about this woman–Sky. Her lips didn't form the same words that Kagome heard. Sky saw Kagome staring at her lips. "What? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?"

"No, it's not that. It's just, what you're saying, it doesn't match what I'm seeing."

"Huh? Oh! I understand. That's because you speak a different language then I do. My translator still works, I guess." Putting a hand behind her ear, she flipped the switch hidden there. "See? Now you don't know what I'm saying, do you?" Flipping the translator back on, she continued. "Wow. How could you not know about the translators? They've only been around, for like, ever. What language do you speak?"

"Japanese." Sky's eyes widened.

"Oh my God! You speak... that must mean you're an archeologist too! Are you one of the Dead Language people, here to decipher what we dig up!" Kagome shook her head, bewildered, but had no chance to answer as yet another woman came around the tree. Looking up thankfully at her friend, Kagome said,

"Please, Sango, you talk to her. My head hurts. I think she might be delusional." Kilala peeked over Sango's shoulder at the possibly crazy woman. Sky screamed in delight,

"She's so cute!" and picked up little Kilala, who was more then a bit startled. She calmed down, however, as Sky started to pet her and whisper to her, laughing under her breath when Kilala's tail tickled her nose. When the neko started to squirm, Sky let her go, and she went back over to Sango. Not really thinking, Sango put Kilala on her shoulder, and stared at the newcomer's hair.

"How do you get your hair to do that!" Looking sheepish, Sky answered her in a cross voice,

"Look, I know it's out of style right now, but it's not that far gone!" She patted the spirals, and sighed. "All right, I'm going now. See ya!" She got up, and walked around the tree, smack into Miroku, who was coming to see what was going on. Catching her before she fell down, he smiled into the young woman's face, and as she was about to thank him, she felt something creeping towards her rear. Yelling an odd cry, Sky snatched 'Whatever it was' and threw. Miroku went flying across the clearing, and Sky fell anyways. She got up, yelling,

"What the hell do you think you were doing! This ain't a bar, buddy, and I ain't no 'feel em up gal'!" She stormed away, then stopped. "Hey, uh – oh, crap, I forgot your name already – Kagome! That's it! Hey, Kagome, which way back to the Research Center? I really could use a Medicinal Hutch right now." (Medicinal Hutch: Another thing I invented, it heals you in the blink of an eye of all cuts and sicknesses. Rather nice, after you've just crashed into a tree) Turning to Kagome, there was just a blank stare on the Old Worldly dressed girl. "You know, a Med-i-cin-al Hut-ch?" She said it very slowly, fearing that the girl might be slow.

Kagome didn't think the stranger was slow, she thought she was insane. Then, the pieces started to come together in her head. The Well...

"You... what year do you think it is?" When she saw the bafflement on Sky's face, she hurriedly added, "Humor me. It's been a long time since I've had to think about it." A laughing expression replaced the confused one.

"I know what you mean. Sometimes, the time goes by so fast, I'll wake up one day, and find that a week has gone by! It's the year L.E. 3299, Station time. If we were talking about Earth, I'd think it would be..." She did quick math in her head. "...the year 5329, A.D." Kagome's jaw dropped. "What? Surely you aren't so far out of the loop that this comes as a surprise to you?" The others were staring at her as well.

"What the hell does L.E. mean?" Inuyasha asked irritably.

"What do you mean, 'What does it mean?' It means Left Earth, duh! Are you people insane?" A few seconds pass with no one saying anything. "Or, am I dreaming? That is quite possible. I've had weirder dreams then this... but dreams don't hurt! Unless, of course, you've been on that one pill they are advertising all over right now. 'Make all your dreams come to life!'" Sky said in one of those announcer voices. "But I haven't been taking those either... if I did, the world would have been taken over by evil brain eating monkeys, or the penguins that rode the kangaroos, though the kangaroos never wanted anything to do with taking over the world..." She was talking to herself. Kagome slowly approached.

"Sky, I think something has happened here. I want you to listen to me carefully, and answer me truthfully. Do you truly believe that this is the year 5329?" Sky sighed, annoyed at having her conversation interrupted.

"No, I don't." Kagome sighed in relief. Sky continued. "I believe that the year is L.E. 3299. I also believe that I said that already." Kagome shut her eyes in defeat.

"It's not." She opened her eyes, and cut Sky off when the woman would have said something. "This is the Feudal Era of Japan, and I myself am from the year 2005. How did you get here? I see no shard on you."

Sky had been listening to this without expression, then looked angry. "Oh, I get it, this is all a joke, ain't it? Take me here, leave me here, just because I'm the new guy. Well, listen up, it ain't gonna work. I'm not going to buy your bull. Just point out which way to the Research Center, and leave me alone. You can tell your buddies whatever you want about what happened here, I don't give a damn, but don't think that I'm not going to pay you back for this." Walking a few step closer to Kagome, Sky continued talking, in a low, dangerous voice. "And it will be when you expect it the least. Maybe it'll only be a broken shovel, that puts you behind in work for a day. Maybe it will be a collapse of your entire assortment of tools? Who knows? I will take the opportunity when I see it. Just know, I will not let this bull pass without retribution." She was about a foot away from Kagome when Sango butted in, cutting in between them.

"No, you won't. She's not lying. This is the feudal era, and for Kagome, it is the time 2005. You must be the one who is lying." Sky looked offended.

"Of course I'm not lying! This is all just more to get me to buy this, isn't it? I already told you, I'm not going to."

"Follow us, and let us prove it to you, then." Another voice cut in. Sky looked down.

"You... have a tail!" She was talking to Shippo.

"Well, of course I have a tail. I'm a fox demon. But come with us, and you'll see; Kagome is no liar."

"But I thought only the Brocentas from Galaxy 203 were the only ones with tails! And you're not green! Besides, no one but Earth descendants are allowed on Old World Earth!" Kagome looked up, startled.

"What do you mean, Old World Earth?" At the stubborn look on Sky's face, Kagome knew she wasn't going to find out until she proved that she was telling the truth. "Well, if you're coming with us to meet some people, you might want to change. That yellow shirt you're wearing really looks horrible with those pants." Sky tossed her blue shirt over her shoulder and marched back around the tree. Listening as she changed, she heard sounds of a muted scuffle.

"Ow, Sango, what did you hit me for!"

"Give her some privacy, you stupid monk! She's had a bad day!"

"I know! That's why I was going to see if she needed any help!" Slap. "Ow!" A slight smile was on Sky's face as she came out from behind the tree, dressed once more in the blue shirt that went with the pants. It disappeared soon, though, as she realized that they were going to play the roll to the hilt; they were going to walk to where ever it was that they were going.

As they walked along, a slight doubt started to form in Sky's mind, about whether this was all a game, or the honest truth. Further and further they walked, as she tried to reason with herself. Of course this was a lie. Even after all these years, time travel still escaped the scientists' grasp. So she couldn't be back in time. But what about that kid? There had been no kids at the Research Center, so where had he come from? 'Come on, there must be other places for them to stay!' Yeah, but her Research Center was the only one on the island, the only place livable. Everyone who was participating in this lived there, and they wouldn't bring in a kid from another place just to play a prank... and what about the cat? There were no pets allowed at the Center.

A flash of color crossed her vision. "Was that a... bird!" Sky exclaimed. The others turned to look at her, cutting off the conversation that they'd been having (one she hadn't even realized was taking place).

"Yes, that was a bird." Kagome answered. "What kind of time do you live in that it has no birds?"

"You know what time it is, you live there too. Do we really have to walk to wherever we're going? I may hate shuttles, but walking is worse."

"What's a shuttle?" Miroku asked. They ignored him, and Kagome replied,

"Yes, we have to walk. This time has no 'shuttles'. It's the Feudal Era. They don't even have indoor plumbing." Sky refused to say anything, and Kagome sighed, and turned to continue talking with Inuyasha. "After we prove this to her, I still need to go back to my time. There's several supplies we need from home, including ramen."

"She's holding us up from getting more ramen! Then why are we proving anything to her! Why don't we just ditch her!"

"Because, Inuyasha, I don't know if she'll be able to go back to her time. She lives so far in the future... what if she's stuck here for forever? She has to learn that this is real. Besides, I feel kind of bad because you attacked her."

"Why! She's fine! Nothing even happened to her! She hit a tree, so what! It happens all the time. Come on, let's just ditch her and get some ramen." Kagome was annoyed by Inuyasha's lack of sensitivity.

"Sit, Inuyasha!" He crashed into the ground noisily.

Sky had started ignoring them again, and had disappeared far into her own world while all this was going on. She didn't even hear the crash.

"HHEELLPP!" she screamed as she fell into the Inuyasha-shaped hole, landing right one top of the sitted dog-demon, squashing him a little further into the dirt. "What the hell!" she said, feeling something squirm underneath her as he tried to get up. Not knowing what was going on, she started to beat on him, kicking at his head, and punching his kidneys. With a growl, he leapt out from under her. They squared off right in the pit, biting, kicking and screaming. At first it seemed Inuyasha had the upper hand, (him being half-demon and all) but it was soon apparent that Sky was winning, because she had leapt on his back, where he couldn't reach, and was pulling on his ears, stretching them to where she could shout in them easily (or chew on them, which was what she was currently doing). Then, for the second time that day, someone broke up her fight, reaching in and pulling her off Inuyasha's back.

"Let me at him!" She yelled as she was pulled out of the hole gently by an enlarged Kilala (A/N: Is she called Kirara in her larger form? I never could figure that out). Kilala kept her hold on the scruff of Sky's shirt, not letting go for fear that the crazy human would go back into the crater to finish the battle. Inuyasha got out of the hole himself, looking slightly worse for the wear, his ears all rough looking.

"Aw, did poor icky Inuyasha get beat up by the big bad human?" Shippo taunted, then screamed and ran towards Kagome when Inuyasha started to chase after him, obviously not intending to give the kitsune a lollipop.