Ch.19

Is There An Echo In Here?

W.W. - Hey, people! Just me here. I'm sorry if I made you mad with all the leaving-off-ness. But then again... Lol jk. I made up the title of this chapter just kind of randomly... we'll see if it has anything to do with the story or not... But I like it, so it stays. The Well is very bored. And when the Well gets bored, the world has to pay... Damn, what else was I going to say? Oh, yeah, just to be sure...

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do not own anyone on that show. I want to, and I am secretly cloning them, but currently, I do not. (Except for the few living in my closet... How the hell do closets get mentioned so much in here? HELP!!! CLOSETS ARE TAKING OVER MY BRAIN!!!) But that reminds me of a funny story... Anyway, I do not own anything but the plot, the characters that I made up, and Sesshomaru's left arm. Remember, I told you that he 'never lost it'... Lol ttyl people.

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Maliha sat up, gently rubbing her tender head. "Ow..." Her eyes went wide. "Aditya... look." She pointed away from them all...

And toward a home that would look familiar to any Inuyasha fan. A girl with long black hair stood on the step, toast halfway to her mouth, bag in the process of being thrown over her shoulder. She stared at the family with big eyes. They were staring, but not at her. No, they were much more fascinated by the rest of the world.

"This looks like the chrannies (That's the textbook version of a cranchite. Of course they're all technically the same thing, but as there's a difference between the words 'Textbook' and 'Book', there's a difference between 'Cranchite' and 'Chrannies'. The 'h' was added after the 'C' because otherwise it would be 'crannies'... and that's a real word, according to my computer... I'm just rambling. .U Sorry) back in school, or the pictures Sky has posted all over her room (And that makes sense too. I mean, we have buildings or at least I do... of ancient civilizations posted on our walls, but those buildings were once as everyday to them as a skyscraper is to us... Weird thought, ain't it?)." A'Dyn said. "Weird. I thought they would be bigger then that. You know... that tall pointy thing... what's it called..." Desan sighed.

"It's amazing you ever even got through school at all, little brother. They're skycutters."

"Wrong. They're skyscrapers," Maliha cut in. A'Dyn started laughing tauntingly at Desan, and that of course started a brawl between the two. For once, their mother didn't step in. Instead, she spoke to the young girl on the step. "Hello. My name is Maliha Pyre. Has my daughter, by any chance, been through here?" Aditya stood behind his tiny wife, laughing. That was his girl, never shaken up, taking everything in stride. It was one of the qualities he loved about her. The black haired girl blinked, and answered slowly.

"My name is... Kagome. Um... who's your daughter?" Then she shook her head rapidly. "Wait, wait a minute. Did you just come from the WELL?" Maliha was about to answer when a young man with white hair and dressed in very bright red came through the door. He wasn't looking where he was going, and therefore didn't see the party in the yard.

"Kagome, when are we going to go? This place reeks of mortal, and we have to kill..." he ran into her. "Watch where you're going!" he yelled, holding his nose, which had slammed into the back of her head. Once he opened his eyes again, he saw the people in the yard. "Who the hell are they?"

"Uh... I'm not entirely sure..." Kagome said. "I think... they came through the Well."

"Don't be stupid, Kagome. That's impossible."

"How dare you be so rude to this nice young lady?" Maliha demanded indignantly. "As a matter of fact, we did come through that hole in the ground right there. Please, Miss Kagome, just answer my question. Have you seen my daughter?"

"You still didn't tell them her name, dear," Aditya put in, but quietly. She shot a look at him and he smartly went away, to stop the brothers from fighting. Maliha turned back to the duo on the steps. She sighed.

"Let's try this again, shall we? Hello. My name is Maliha Pyre. That's my husband, Aditya," she pointed at him, and he waved. "And those are my sons, Desan and A'Dyn." The woman indicated each accordingly. "What are your names?"

"I'm Kagome, and this is Inuyasha. Pleased to meet you. Who's your daughter that you are looking for?" Maliha smiled. It was going much more smoothly now, and her sons had even stopped beating the crap out of each other... for the moment.

"My daughter's name is Anata Sky Pyre, though generally we just call her Sky, and–"

"That wench is your daughter?" Inuyasha interrupted. Maliha looked startled and pleased.

"You know her?" Inuyasha growled, looked away, and started kicking at the wood under his feet. Kagome grinned.

"Yes ma'am, we know her. She kicked Inuyasha's butt, more then once."

"Shut up, Kagome!" Inuyasha snarled, and she sent a threatening look at him, mouthing the word 'sit'. His anger grew, but he didn't say anything more. Maliha winced and sighed.

"Yes, that's my daughter. Self-restraint has never been one of her strong points, I'm afraid. So, is she here? Where is she?" Now Kagome, instead of looking smug and annoyed at the hanyou, looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I don't know. You see, this demon, I mean..."

"Oh my god," Maliha breathed. "She's not dead, is she?" The alien's face became extremely pale, and Kagome was horrified, realizing her mistake at just leaving the sentence off like that.

"Oh, no! At least, I don't believe she is. I don't think Sesshomaru would–" Inuyasha snorted.

"Of course he would. He'd kill the human in a heartbeat if he thought she was even the slightest bit annoying." Maliha began to look faint.

"Aditya!" She cried, and he was there immediately. Throwing herself into his arms, she sobbed, "My baby's dead, she's gone, my poor baby girl, why did I let her come here?" Aditya couldn't say anything, just stood there, holding his wife with a stunned look on his face. A'Dyn sat down hard on the ground, looking like he had taken a sucker shot in the balls. Desan, though... His appearance was thoughtful.

"Mom, she can't be dead. Think about it. 1, she's too tough for any of these primitives to kill. 2, she's not that stupid, to get herself killed anyway. And finally, 3, we're part of the Family. If she was dead, we'd be able to contact her. You know it, mom. Go ahead, ask dad to ask them." Maliha's weeping stopped, and slowly she turned to look at her husband. Hiccuping, she said,

"Would you, Aditya? Even if she is, I want to say goodbye." The tiny woman began to regain some of her composure, hope beginning to grow in her eyes (ow...).

"Of course! I should have thought of that before!" He shot a weak grin at his eldest child. "You're a true Pyre, through and through." A thought struck him, and he asked curiously, "But why won't you ask them?" Desan glanced away, and answered reluctantly,

"Uh... the Family is kind of after me... Because my practice has gotten big enough... and they're angry... I've kind of been realizing things that they have kept secret... I just seem to know it... and they don't want their secrets to become public..." He sighed at the stupidly made excuse. "I don't want to be the one to ask. I just don't want to hear it first." Aditya nodded.

"Right." He let go of his wife and carefully constructed a 'portal' by making vague, flowing motions in the air. Soon, to the eyes of the Pyre's (minus Maliha, poor woman) and, surprisingly, to Kagome, a small, mirror-like object hung in the air. A swirling, black/silver mass was seen inside it. Leaning close, Aditya whispered several of the words he had been taught before he had been banished, and the mass began to move violently. A face erupted out of it, an ever changing person who snapped,

"What do you want, Son of Fire?" The things mouth glowed red as it spoke. Kagome gasped and took a step back.

"I want information. By your true name, and by the debt you owe me, I Bind you, Grolvenke'dre, and demand answers." The thing rolled its eye impatiently.

"Yeah yeah, I know what you mean. No need for formality between friends, is there, Charles?"

"Charles?" Kagome asked, bewildered. Inuyasha looked at her like she was retarded.

"What the hell are you talking about? Charles?" Maliha was concerned with their talking.

"I'll explain later. Be quiet right now, okay?" Kagome nodded, and Inuyasha stood there, not saying he would, but not saying he wouldn't. Aditya's conversation had continued.

"Of course there's need for the formality. If I didn't say the words, you wouldn't stay for longer then it would take for you to spit on me, 'friend'. Now, I have a question for you." He took a deep breath. "Do you know where my daughter is? Is she alive? I demand the truth." The spirit sighed.

"What happened to all that 'be polite to spirits' that I hear you telling your kids? What happened to the good old days, when a simple 'Boo!' was enough to scare the crap out of anybody?" Aditya's eyes hardened, and his voice gained a deadly quality.

"Now, Grolvenke'dre. Where is my daughter? Does she live? I want the straight truth, too; no trying to bullshit me with little riddles or I'll trap your soul in a tiny little box for all eternity." The spirit shuddered.

"Your daughter is just fine. More then fine even. She's great right now. Very happy. And, she's about five hundred years in the past. Put your box away, Charles. I told you what you wanted to know. I'm leaving now." The spirit was as good as his word; he disappeared back into the mist, free to now that he had done what was requested of him, and Aditya slowly closed the portal. There was a silence, and of course it was Inuyasha who broke it. He shook his head.

"Yeah, you're definitely related to that wench. You're all just as crazy as she is, talking into the empty air. Not a brain among you."

"SIT!" Kagome yelled, and the half breed crashed into the ground. She turned back to the people. "Sorry about that. Sometimes the dog just won't stop barking."

"Oh, that's really no trouble. But do you, by chance, know how to go five hundred years in the past?" Maliha asked. It seemed high unplausible that this primitive knew anything about time travel when their own scientists had yet to master it, but she wanted her baby, and she would ask every person on the planet if it meant that she would get there.

Just her luck, this particular primitive did. Kagome nodded, happy to be in the story once more.

"I do! We go through the Well." She pointed at the hole that the family of five minus one had just come through. Maliha shook her head.

"We can't do that, that's the portal to the future, that we just came from. If we go back through, we might as well go home."

"It's the only way into the past. It's always worked before, excusing the two times that your guys came through and both times your daughter did. Or would that make it four?... No wonder I'm failing math. Anyway, that Well is the only way to the past, so you'll just have to trust me, okay? I was just about to go back in any case." A'Dyn finally took notice of Kagome's looks, and began to flex his muscles for her.

"Hey, after we rescue my sister, perhaps I could come back and talk to you sometime..."

"Back off, human! Get away from Kagome!"

"Oh, we're sorry, my son just didn't realize the two of you were a pair." Maliha said, making both Kagome's and Inuyasha's faces go bright red.

"We're not!" Inuyasha barked out. A'Dyn let a grin fly, and Aditya said,

"We'll take your word for it." He bowed like a gentleman. "May we go?" Kagome led the way back to the Well, and in they went, all six of them.

Desan brushed himself off on the other side, and looked around.

"Got enough trees here, don't you?" Kagome shrugged.

"Maybe. I think they're beautiful."

"Kagome! You're back! We need to talk to you..." Sango's voice drifted off, and she blushed at the sight of the older brother. That's right, Sango, demon slayer, blushed when she saw the hot firstborn of Maliha and Aditya. Desan noticed her reaction and grinned, causing her to giggle (yes, giggle) and stammer out, "H-hi. I'm... I'm Sango... I kill demons..." the last bit was unintentional, and as soon as it was out of her mouth she regretted it, yelling at herself, 'Damn it, Sango! You don't know if he's friend or foe, and you just go and trip all over yourself! Get a grip girl!' The demon slayer did get a grip on herself, sobering up and turning back to Kagome. "Kagome, about this new path that we've been taking. I don't think it's the right way to go. I could swear that we've been down it before."

"Be that as it may, Sango, I sense a shard down that way, so we must go," Kagome answered, and though Sango frowned, she gave in. If Kagome said there was a shard, there wasn't much more that the slayer could do then believe her. Maliha began talking.

"I'm sure you're very concerned about your own business, but could we please take care of the matter of where my baby is? NOW?" It wasn't so much of a question as a demand. The miko blinked at the force in the small woman's voice, and as she began to answer, Miroku and Shippo stepped into the area by the Well. Maliha sighed. This was becoming a three ring circus. They would never find her baby with these people dogging her and hindering her steps. She pointed imperiously to Inuyasha. "You! Dog-man! Where did this demon take my baby?" Inuyasha snarled.

"Why the hell should I tell you, you stupid, over–" Did you get the impression that Desan and A'Dyn both had a predisposition to fight? Of course you did. So you could guess that they both attacked the mutt at the same time, right? Because that's what they did. The three fought in the dust and the dirt for a few minutes, no one else stepping in, Miroku, Sango and Shippo staying out once Kagome reassured them that the new people were friendly (sort of) and Maliha and Aditya keeping away because they knew it was a quick way to get an answer out of the dog demon. They had every confidence that their sons would win.

And they did. Soon they had Inuyasha pinned to the ground, face smushed into the path.

"Which way did she go, mutt?" Desan growled, half thinking to just kill the silver-haired guy because he had insulted his mother. But that right belonged to Maliha, if she cared to take it, which she did not.

"You'll find them if you follow this path," Inuyasha muttered.

"I'll go with you!" Shippo volunteered out of the blue. "My nose is better then Inuyasha's anyway. And he's a jerk. If Kagome wasn't around to control him–" Inuyasha would have gotten up to start beating Shippo up but he couldn't, trapped by Desan and A'Dyn like he was.

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W.W.- Alright, I'm bored on this subject now, so let me speed you all ahead. Shippo traveled with the family after some very intense questioning from Kagome and not a few more brawls between the three younger males, which Miroku kept out of. Miyoga (Flea dude, in case I spelled that wrong) also wanted to go, because he felt that it would be safer, but Inuyasha wouldn't let him. The family and Shippo made fairly good time, double that of Sesshomaru and Sky, because they had enough of those nifty little scooters for everyone. Back to the dog demon and the alien...

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Over Sky's shoulder Sesshomaru saw something very not nice. I think that's where I left off. Over her shoulder he could see...

A mass of new worshipers, come to idolize their new goddess.

"You," he said in a resigned voice, "certainly do create some interesting situations. It appears that your new cult is on it's way. We'll be going now." Sky scooped up Aatu as Sesshomaru gathered his armor, and they were off, the dog demon practically flying ahead, expecting her to keep up. She tried, but slowly, Sky began to lose ground, and the mob behind her seemed to be getting closer... 'Religious fervor must give you more energy then what I have' she thought, as she began to tire.

Then the alien found herself in a tree, and a now growing familiar hand pressed against her mouth to keep her from yelling. Sky remained calm, though, and identified that it was Sesshomaru by recognizing the hand and his smell. Have you ever identified someone by their smell? It's a weird day when you realize that you can. Or at least it was for me. I need to stop putting in random shit about me in here... do you realize that's the first actual swear word in a long time?

Sky relaxed into the trunk behind her, pressed up against Sesshomaru's side, the one with the tail over it. His armor was back on, somehow. Aatu wiggled his way out of her arms and deep into the fluffy mass of fur. Sky let him go. Her mind was a little overwhelmed at the moment...

What did that kiss mean? A million thoughts were running through her head.

The dog demon, once he was sure that she wasn't going to shout from surprise at suddenly being yanked into a tree, removed his hand, but kept his arm around her shoulder. It felt comfortable there. They watched as the parade of people finally passed them, Sky almost laughing at the smallest of them, children, stumbling after the adults with arms full of flowers, singing of the 'Heavenly, Merciful Goddess of the Funeral Flames'. They were adorable.

'I haven't been a goddess for more then half and hour and already they have songs about me. These people need a life.' In reality, they were just a village of artists, and they knew how to craft songs off the tops of their heads. Soon little statues of her would be passed around...

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes.

"The path is out. Now we must travel through the woods, taking up more precious time. Come." He dropped to the forest floor, and waited while she scurried out of the tree. Sky didn't know if she should feel offended or competent that this time he hadn't helped her out of the tree. But she did know she wouldn't be able to keep herself from asking,

"Wait, Sesshomaru, why is the path out?" He didn't answer her. A particularly loud chanting wail reached her ears right then, and Sky guessed that Sesshomaru didn't want to meet up with her new cult and be hailed as the male demon who gave birth. So she followed the youkai lord through the trees. Unfortunately...

She grew up on a S.S., and even though she had spent as much time as possible planet-side, that didn't mean she had spent a lot of time just around trees, let alone being in a forest. These past few days had been mostly tolerable, considering that they had been following a path, and not trying to stumble through the dank, dark underbelly of the woods. But now...

Now the alien was falling on her face every few steps, tripping over supposedly innocent bushes and tree roots. Getting up for the fifth time, Sky glared at Sesshomaru's back and muttered, "If you hadn't gone and destroyed my bike, we wouldn't have HAD to worry about traveling through the woods, oh no. We could have just FLOWN to where we needed to go, or close enough that we could get to the spot within seconds without breaking any of that bitch's stupid rules..." she continued muttering and walking, paying as close attention as she could to the path in front of her, when suddenly she collided with a muscular demon back.

She obviously didn't know how sharp his hearing was.

Flying. He winced in his head. Now why hadn't he thought of that? He could, after all, fly to where they needed to go, just as the woman had said. Sesshomaru whirled and caught her automatically to keep her from falling (because Sky just falls all the time, especially when she collides with something) as the cloud built up around their feet.

"Hold on," he said shortly, getting a firm grasp around her waist as they shot into the air, above the canopy of the trees, and out into the bright sunlight.

Now, Sky was used to flying, but not like this. She had flown on 'Crafts, on bikes, on little jet-ski-type-things, but never, never on a cloud. It took a second to adjust to the sudden brightness, but once she had, the alien took full advantage to study her situation. In the future, they just didn't have clouds you could fly on. It wasn't wet like clouds were supposed to be, but very dry, and lapped softly around her legs like gentle waves. The ground shot by underneath them, trees marring together into one giant green blur. The demon lord's arm was wrapped around her middle as they flew through the air, so she was certain that she wouldn't – couldn't possibly – fall. The pure air flew past her face and whipped her hair around, though amazingly Sesshomaru's stayed perfectly in place. She would have horrendous knots later... If she twisted her head around far enough, she could see the thin trail of cloud they left in their wake.

'Ouch! Watch the spikes!' Sky had accidentally run into Sesshomaru's armor. She rubbed her forehead ruefully where it had met with the sharp metal. Just because she was flying through the sky on a cloud with a demon in a world that was a few thousand years younger then it should be did not mean she could be careless and stab herself on the guy's armor.

Aatu giggled from somewhere in the fluff.

A tiny speck of silver broke up the green monotony of the ground below, growing larger and larger. Soon it resolved to become a waterfall.

A HUGE waterfall. Not 'large'. HUGE. It was about as wide as a 'Craft, and as tall as one stood on its rim. Even from this long distance she could see the diamond spray cascading from the deep pool below, and the gently green moss surrounding the enormous boulder outcroppings that hemmed in the pool. There were no signs of her human friends, however... as they sank lower and lower through the air, the waterfall began to disappear among the trees, blocked out by the huge limbs and gargantuan leaves.

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W.W. - That one chick on Kill Bill (which I do not own, for those lawyers out there who would be only too happy to sue me...) was right. Gargantuan is a fun word.

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They came to earth with a soft thump, Sky managing not to lose her balance only through the virtue of the demon arm keeping her up. She grinned at Sesshomaru.

"I told you flying was the answer. That cloud thing..." she trailed off, looking thoughtful, then frowned abruptly, stomping her foot. "I want my pouch!" There were so many things she had seen that she could have stowed away! Rawr! The cloud would definitely be hers by the time the day was out, if only she had her pouch!

Sesshomaru was lost as to what she meant, but by this late in the story, he was used to it, so he ignored it. By the looks of things, this human would be one of the growing number of creatures that followed him around, so there would be plenty of time in the future to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

For now, there was the day-long wait. If they left at dawn, they could make it to the fall in perfect time to meet the noon deadline.

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W.W. - ::mildly confused:: I'm not sure anymore when the deadline was, so it's noon tomorrow... because I forgot... because I'm stupid... - Yay!