And we're back with a second chapter of Miasma!

My plan of action for this fic is to get it running equal to In The Jaws Of The Wolf, my current Koga fic, and alternate posting chapters for each, so they'll stay equal in their posting. That way I don't obsess over one more than the other (well, for now I get to obsess over Miasma because I'm three chapters behind ITJOTW right now). Perfidious, my Bankotsu fic, will continue to be what it is and be updated whenever I get a good chapter out.

Now, let's get reading, shall we? We've got some ground to cover in this chapter!

Miasma

Here the power is ruthless and the truth is deaf. Here the air is filled with the miasma of sin
-Jean Racine

I walked well into the night, and continued on until the morning light broke over the horizon, dragging my feet all the while.

Eventually, I happened upon a building nestled between some trees, and I was so overtired that I almost wept with glee as I sat down on the bench outside the building and rested my feet. I was dressed about as casually as I got in a tshirt, jeans and an old pair of sneakers that had seen better days. I think those particular sneakers were actually Tomo's hand-me-downs from our teenage years. It had probably been fifteen years since I had been given them and they were starting to wear thin. Thin enough that walking miles on end in them wasn't the most comfortable feat.

I groaned as I rotated my ankles. Oh, that felt good.

"Good morning! How can I help you?"

I looked up at the new voice, and straight into the face of the past. Probably a couple centuries past, if I had to guess. The girl that greeted me was young, probably only Ayumi's age. She was dressed in a very simple pale green kimono, with her hair pulled back out of her face. Had I stumbled on a re-enactment or something?

"Could you tell me where I am, please?"

"Just about a mile outside of Tomari village."

"Tomari?! We're in Hokkaido?" When visiting Tomo in the past, I had been invited along to a day trip to Tomari village. It was a cute little place, and the seafood there was incredible, but I couldn't believe I was in Hokkaido.

"Ho-Kai-Do?" she repeated, confused. "Where's that?"

She didn't know Hokkaido? Who in Japan didn't know Hokkaido? That was like being in Tokyo and someone not knowing about Shinjuku. A mounting sense of dread started building. Where was I then, if not Japan?

Where the fuck was I?

"A long way away, thank you. Could you point me to the nearest city?"

That she could do. With a smile, she pointed back the way I came. "About two days walk that way you'll find Edo, but if you go that way," she pointed off to the side now, "You'll find Choshi in about the same amount of time. It's not a city, but..." She shrugged.

Choshi I recognised right away, but Edo? That was a surprise. Edo... as in Tokyo? "Sorry, could you tell me what year it is?"

She looked at me strangely. "Twenty Three."

Well, that wasn't helpful at all. It was Heisei eight where I was from. If my theory was even right, I'd need to know the era name. "Heisei?" I threw out, hoping she would know. Though I highly doubted I was in the future.

Again, I got a strange look. "Tenbun."

"Tenbun," I croaked.

Now, I wouldn't be able to name any and every era Japan had. Some days I could barely remember the one we were currently in, for my mind being occupied, but who didn't know their history about the warring states? Tenbun.

Well, my theory was right, but instead of being somewhere a little nicer, I was thrown right into the most turbulent time in the country's history. What were my chances of finding the smallest, most remote village and living there quietly for the rest of my life? Away from battles, away from the stress of war? Of course, there was no such thing as away from war. Even if I found a village that wasn't touched by the wars, there was still famine to think about. Not a lot of easy trading in small villages when wars were breaking out left, right and centre around you.

I was in the past.

I was in the Warring States.

I was a woman from the future, in the Warring States.

"Are you okay? You look a little- oh!"

I barely heard her voice over the roaring in my ears, and her worried face faded to black from the edges.

Oh, I had a killer headache.

I squinted against the light when I woke, pushing myself to sit. A pretty orange kimono slid from around my shoulders and into my lap. I was still wearing my tshirt, but my leather jacket was folded up beside my hip, alongside my bag.

Rubbing at my temples, I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

I'd... time-travelled. How that was possible, I didn't know, but I had time travelled to the Warring States era.

So what did I do from here?

Well, first thing's first, I needed to apologise to the poor girl I had just fainted on.

Speaking of, the screen door to my left opened, and her sweet face appeared in the doorway. "You're awake! How are you doing?"

"I'm sorry for fainting on you. I'm doing okay now." Now I'd had my little drama, I could figure what to do, where to go from here.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?"

Right, I hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. That had probably contributed to my blackout. Embarrassingly, I'd blacked out more than once due to lack of nutrition in my time. Med school almost guaranteed it. My Kenjutsu master had then beaten the importance of a good diet to keep me strong into my head. It had been years since I had passed out like that.

"I don't have any money," I admitted. I doubted the notes and coins I had tucked away in my purse would be any good here. I couldn't buy anything.

So the first thing I needed to do was find a good way to make a little coinage. Having some money to my name would never be a bad idea.

"You don't have to worry about that! Please, let me get you something."

Well, I couldn't deny that hospitality. I thanked her profusely as she left.

I sat at a table within the teahouse later that afternoon, with my notebook out, staring down at the blank pages.

I'd gotten it out to maybe attempt to write a battle plan, but I was honestly coming up short.

Right now my plan was to use my medical knowledge to my advantage. The medicine of this time was shaky, at best. If I could find the right people, that were sick enough to worry people, but no one knew what was wrong with them, then I would be able to make at least a bit of money. If I cured a couple wealthy Lord's daughters here and there, maybe I'd scrape enough money to be able to get by.

I definitely needed a change of clothing. Jeans and a tshirt were great for a spring day back home. Not so much here. I needed a kimono. Something hard enough to travel in, but not too heavy that it would make travelling uncomfortable.

I also needed to be able to pay for food. I'd been granted mercy by the teahouse owners this time around, but I wasn't going to make it a habit of leeching off people like that.

Speaking of, I reached for a riceball that had been wrapped in nori for me.

Hoso, the girl that I'd fainted on earlier, bustled past me with dirty cups from some customers outside. "How are you feeling now, Masanori?"

"Much better, Hoso. Thank you."

And I was. I wasn't light-headed or headachy now. Just confused. But I could get over that particular feeling. You learned to adapt to strange situations as a doctor. I couldn't tell you the number of abnormalities I'd seen and all the problem-solving I'd had to do at the table. I rolled with the punches as best as I could.

So this punch would be no different.

"Let me know if you need anything!"

What an offer. I doubted she could give me much of what I needed right now, though. I was better off just muddling through myself right now.

Now, back to my battle plan.

Find sick people. Cure sick people. Make that money.

Simple to the point of crude.

I needed to work that out a little bit more than that.

"Did you hear? He's getting worse. Lord Hitomi's about pulling his hair out with stress."

"That poor lad. I hear he's rarely makes it out of bed nowadays. That's no life to lead. Especially as a Lord's son."

Well, what did we have here?

I turned my attention to the two men that had sat at the table beside me. They were nothing much to look at. Plain robes, topknots, no weapons or armour. Merchants or farmers were my guess. No one of significant note, at least.

"What will become of them when the Lord dies? H's getting on in his years now. The House will never make it in the young Lord's hands."

Well, it may just if I could find out why the boy was sick. And anyone titled Lord had enough cash to share for a travelling doctor that could potentially cure his sickly son.

This opportunity had just fallen into my lap.

Lucky was on my side.

"Excuse me," I called to the two of them, packing away my notebook hastily and approaching their table. "Could you point me in the direction of this Lord?"

Information Time!

Hokkaido - Japan is broken up into islands. So, Tokyo, which is where Nori was in the last episode, is on the island Honshu, which is the main island of Japan. Hokkaido is the big island above Honshu. Nori's confused because she's only been walking for a few hours. There's no way she could get from Tokyo to Hokkaido in just a few hours on foot. The teahouse girl is confused because Hokkaido as a name didn't exist in 1555 (which is the year I'm pretty sure InuYasha is set in). Hokkaido used to be called Ezochi until 1869, when it was renamed to Hokkaido. Bit of Japanese history for you!

Edo and Choshi - Edo is what Toyko used to be, when it was much smaller. Edo was renamed Tokyo in the late 1800's (1868, in fact) much the same as Hokkaido was. Choshi, however, has always been named Chishi, but until 1933, it was only considered a large town. It was elevated to being a city in 1933. This is set a bit before that time, but in the 1600's, Choshi started its soy sauce production, and that's what it's known for now.

Calendar - Japan used to, and actually still does alongside the Western Gregorian calendar that we use, have its own dating system. Currently (as of June 2020) we're in the year Reiwa 2 in Japan. The 'modern' part of this story took place in 1996, so theyd be in Heisei 8. In the past, going off the fact that I think we're right around late March, early April ish time 1555, they'd be in Tenbun 23, almost at the turn of the era, which happened in October 1555.