AmiSami: Next Chapter :) I'm so excited. OK So, I noticed I've had quite a bit of traffic to my stories, and some people have put me on their favorite lists and author alerts…BUT…no reviews. :( I really would like reviews. They motivate me and make me update faster. Also, they help me improve things you, the readers, want improved. So please review :) And continue reading!
Kagome: She's serious.
AmiSami: GAH! You scared the hell out of me! Where did you come from? And why are you here?!
Kagome: I've been here the entire time, you wanted me here to do the disclaimer…?
AmiSami: Oh…I was so caught up in my lack of reviews I must have forgotten… Oh well, take it away.
Kagome: AmiSami does not own Inuyasha or any of the characters, except her OC(s). And review!
Arrogance and Asphyxiation
Part 1
It was futile. No matter how many times I closed my eyes, then reopened them, nothing changed. I was still in the same place, in the same situation, with the same problem. Where was I? How do I get back home? Yuki was going to be so upset with me. I pulled out my cell phone. There was no signal. Of course not—I was in the middle of the forest. I didn't know whether to walk around, or stay where I was until someone arrived. But who was I waiting for? A nice old lady carrying home groceries? Or a ferocious, blood-thirsty bear ready to rip my face off? I glanced contemptibly at the damned well that had caused all this.
Despite the possibility of being eaten alive be a ravenous animal, it was pretty peaceful. No annoying trucks zooming by and polluting the air. No people around talking loudly on their cell phones. No loud car horns. No irritating buildings blocking the horizon. I could perfectly see the sun setting on the horizon. Speaking of sunsets…it would be dark soon, and I had nowhere to go…
A rustle in the nearby bushes nearly made me jump out of my skin. I scrambled quickly to my feet just as out of the woods popped a man…a really good-looking man. Or, was he a man? He reminded me of Yuki with his shiny black hair—except it was long and pulled into a ponytail with his bangs falling into his face. But, his eyes were red, and he had claws. I saw his abnormally sharp teeth as he attempted a non-threatening smile.
"Out here in the woods…alone?" He asked as he slowly approached me. Where I belonged, this scene would be in a dark alley. With each step he took forward, I took one back. I immediately took back my thought about him being good-looking. He was a creeper. "You really shouldn't be out here alone. Considering what's going on around here." By now, my back was pressed against a tree.
"Yeah, my bad. I'll just go home now." I muttered, looking at the ground as I attempted to move to the side.
"Wait…" he grabbed my wrist roughly and yanked me back. "You're not from here, are you?" he curiously took a lock of my hair—that was a dead giveaway—then his fingers trailed slowly down my face to my lip piercing. Obviously, he had never seen one before. His eyebrows pulled together in the center. "What are you?"
"I don't know what you mean…"
"You seem human, yet—mmmm—" he sniffed my neck deeply as if inhaling my scent. "—you smell like a demon." I didn't know whether or not to be offended; I didn't really understand what he was talking about.
I let out a short, nervous, laugh. "Well, the last time I checked, I was human." I tried to sidestep him again, but he moved uncomfortably closer to me. His chest pressed so hard against mine it was difficult to breath.
Two clawed hands moved slowly to my waist. Chills shot up my spine; Not the good kind either. "Too bad I have to kill you. You're so pretty…but we can have a little fun first, right?"
"Preferably not."
"Too bad you have no choice," he said, then crashed his lips into mine. He was a horrible kisser. I felt like a dog with rabies was kissing me. His kisses trailed down my neck and to collarbone. He began to rip the buttons to my shirt open. It was gross, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I punched him in the stomach as hard as I could manage—which turned out to be pretty damn hard. He doubled over, utterly staggered. As he did so, I smashed my knee into his face, before taking off into the woods. He recovered quickly. After only a few seconds, he was right on my heels. I knew it was futile, but I tried to escape anyway…and failed. I felt him grab my backpack then tug me backwards—hard. I was thrown to the ground so hard I thought I felt my spine crack. I hoped that it was my imagination. Maybe I was just being dramatic. He sat on my stomach, with both knees on either side of me, and looked into my eyes with his evil, red ones. With one hand, he held my hands firmly above my head, his other clawed hand clamped around my throat and squeezed.
"Now that was not very polite," he taunted. He squeezed harder. I clenched my teeth, forcing myself not to make a sound—it didn't work. I gasped and struggled desperately for oxygen. He seemed to get a kick out of this. A huge maniacal smile covered his face. "It's so cute how red your face is turning." He cocked his head to the side, "Well, it looks like you're going to die here." He said then laughed raucously, as if we were having the greatest time ever. Suddenly, His head snapped up and he stopped laughing. The smile faded from his face and his eyes hardened. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded to the unknown visitor.
"I have no interest in you." The male voice was condescending, impassive, and arrogant. The man got off me but put a foot on my chest to keep me down. I craned my neck. When I saw who the arrogant voice belonged to my heart stopped beating all together, then began to pound so fast it should have exploded. That could not be healthy.
When I saw him, the first thing I though of was royalty. He had to be royalty. There was just this regal aura flowing from him. He had long, beautiful, silver hair and the prettiest golden eyes I had ever seen—the only golden eyes I had ever seen. His ears were…pointed? On his forehead was a blue crescent moon, and under each eye were two maroon colored markings. He wore a white kimono with spiked armor on the one shoulder and a fluffy white thing on the other. He was the definition of perfection.
His eyes flitted towards me. Most likely, I attracted attention because an occasional cough would escape me. Looking closely, I could see recognition cross his eyes. Other than that, there were no emotions present.
"Let her go," he said. His tone left no room for arguments.
The demon was indignant. He grabbed my roughly by my backpack and slammed me into his side. "Get your own!" Even I knew the man had made a mistake. The gorgeous man narrowed his amber eyes. He calmly lifted a hand and from his clawed finger came what looked like a green whip. It lashed towards the man, still holding my backpack, and before I knew what was happening, cleanly cut his head off. My eyes widened as his body stiffened, then slumped onto me. I could not hold back the small, girly, squeal that escaped me as I scrambled from under the weight. The body fell with a thud!
When I finally tore my eyes away from the scene—the head lying a few feet away from the body—I looked up to find the silver-headed man studying me with narrowed, analytical eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he finally spoke. My heartbeat sped up when I realized he was addressing me. I had to answer. However, I didn't even know what I was doing here.
"I don't know. I don't even know where I am, or how I got here." I replied.
"You are from that priestess's time." It was a statement rather than a question.
I raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"The human named Kagome." That weird girl with the silver haired boy?
"I know her. Or, I do now anyways. She was with a guy that looked…just like you…" my words slowed as I realized who he looked like.
From what I had heard so far, I wasn't in my "time." I was in a different time, and obviously, Kagome has been here before. Therefore, that jerk with the hat—OK Inuyasha…he must be from here just like this guy.
His eyes narrowed and, gracefully, he turned on his heel and began to walk away.
Seriously? He was going to leave me here in the middle of the woods? Wouldn't that be a waste after the (little) effort he put in to save me?
"Wait!" I called after him. He stopped and threw me a look over his shoulder. "You're—you're just going to leave me here?"
"You are none of my concern." He replied apathetically and continued walking. What an asshole.
"Well, obviously, you know why I'm here, and how I can get back. Could you at least point me in the right direction so I can get home?" I said as I nervously played with the ring on my finger. His eyes narrowed as he slowly lifted his hand and pointed towards the east—or was it the West? North? South?—then continued walking. "Um, thank you!" I called after him, not knowing whether he even heard me or not.
The journey was pretty difficult. Roots jutted from the ground, tripping me up the entire time. Tree branches reached out towards me as if trying to grab hold of me…It was scary.
When I got to where I guessed I was supposed to be, it turned out to be where I started. The cursed well. Now what? I walked over and sat on the ledge, my feet dangled into the dark abyss. Maybe I should jump in. Would that really work? Was it really that simple? I guessed it was worth a try. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to jump. Before I could, however, there was a blinding flash of light. I covered my eyes, nearly falling backwards at the unexpected happening. When I uncovered them, there were two people at the bottom.
"Sayuri Ibaraki?!" they both yelled incredulously as if I were a celebrity that just randomly wandered into a fast food restaurant.
I gave them a sheepish wave. "Hey." Inuyasha effortlessly jumped out of the well—curse him—then helped Kagome out.
She brushed her skirt off then asked, "How did you get here?"
I shrugged and swung my legs around so that I could face her. "I was trying to get away from you two," she blushed when I said this, "When I passed by this shrine. For some reason, I felt drawn to it, so I went inside. There was this well in there, and somehow I fell in. There was a flash of light, then when I came out, I was here." I motioned to the clearing. All of a sudden, she gasped loudly. I jumped, nearly falling backwards again. I was a little paranoid since my encounter with the guy who tried to strangle me.
"What happened to your throat?" she asked, her voice overflowing with concern. Maybe she wasn't weird after all. "It's all bruised and scratched. And your shirt's torn and dirty," As if I didn't know.
"Oh, I got strangled." I said, then realized how casually I had said it. "I was attacked by this guy with red eyes and claws—"
"A demon." Inuyasha interrupted, curtly.
"OK…" I said slowly. "A demon attacked me, but then this man came and saved me."
"A man?" Kagome repeated.
"Er, a demon I suppose. With silver hair—" I pointed to Inuyasha. "Like yours. And golden eyes, like yours. He looked almost exactly like you…only better."
"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted at the same time Kagome said, "Sesshoumaru?"
"I guess, he was really arrogant, and pompous."
Inuyasha nodded, "That's definitely Sesshomaru," he muttered grudgingly.
"Sesshoumaru is Inuyasha's half brother."
"Feh!" Inuyasha said as he crossed his arms. I giggled at his reaction. He was actually funny. He was so stubborn and outspoken. It was hilarious.
"Anyway…" I rolled my eyes. "Sesshomaru is the one who saved me." I concluded. The two blinked at one another. "Most likely it was because we wore the same uniform and he was curious as to why I was here…wherever I am."
Kagome pulled on my arm. "Come on, I'll treat your wounds, then we'll explain everything to you."
It was so much to take in: demons, demon slayers, priestesses, spiritual powers, auras, jewel shards, dormant blood, Naraku, Kikyo, lecherous monks…Yet it was strangely exciting. From what I've learned, I'm in feudal Japan. A long time ago, my demon ancestor Yuki Ibaraki lived and kept peace between humans and demons. Supposedly, I had demon blood running through my veins, and I was the key to defeating this Naraku person who seemed to get a kick out of starting fights and stuff—he sounded like a complete jerk to me. So, I had to go to some woman named Kikyo so she could figure out how to "awaken" the demon within me.
Sounds like fun.
Before today, I had never been more interested in my real family. My real parents had put me up for adoption when I was a baby. I knew nothing about them, except that they were now dead. I wondered if they knew that they had demon blood in their veins, or about Yuki Ibaraki. How did they even die? Why did they leave me? All these thoughts ran through me mind, but I would never know the answers.
It was dark now, so we wouldn't be searching for this Kikyo person until morning. Inuyasha didn't seem happy about the "delay." Kagome didn't either. She sat next to me, looking somewhat melancholy while the "half-demon" sat, arms crossed, pouting, in a corner of the hut we were sitting in. It belonged to a woman named Kaede.
"Inuyasha, lighten up. She is, after all, the key to defeating Naraku. Taking her to Kikyo will be part of our search for him," the lecherous monk said in a pacifying, diplomatic tone. This Miroku was different from the first one I had met. The first one was falling all over me, asking me to "bear his children"—until Sango put him in his place. Now this one is all solemn and smart.
"As if! She's still stopping us from finding him. What's the point of having her here if she's more harm than help?"
I put my bowl of rice down. Suddenly he wasn't so funny anymore. "First of all, I'm right here. Just in case you forgot. Secondly, I just got here, so how the hell could I have harmed or helped anything? Thirdly, you obviously weren't doing a good job finding Naraku before I came here, so how would things change now?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
He stood up threateningly. "Why, you—"
"Sit boy." In those two words, I could hear Kagome's sadness and dread. Inuyasha crashed into the ground. That shut him up.
Sango spoke up. She was sitting across from me with Kirara—an adorable two-tailed cat—in her lap. Next to her, lay Shippou, who had gone to sleep for the night. How he could drown out Inuyasha's harsh voice was beyond me. "Maybe we should all get to sleep." She reasoned. "We have to get up early tomorrow morning."
"Good idea." Miroku agreed…
I couldn't sleep, however. The responsibility that rested on my shoulders had finally hit me full force. I was the one that had to restore order between the demons and humans. I had to defeat this Naraku person. But first, I had to figure out how to awaken this demon blood I carried—thankfully with the help of the priestess Kikyo.
For the first time since I got here, I thought about my life back in the "Modern Era." I already knew I was in big trouble. My parents were probably worried sick about me. They probably had a search party out looking for me. Yuki was most likely livid about the fact that I had missed his party. I was missing school, and I had a big test Friday. What about my clothes? I couldn't wear my school uniform everyday. I had to go back. However, not now. My gut told me to wait. Therefore, I would, until I got the all clear from my intuition.
I slowly got up from the hard floor—I was used to my large bed at home with fluffy pillows—and padded out of the hut. I didn't go far, just to the edge of the village and stood there, breathing in the fresh air and staring at them moon. It was huge, so close I felt as if I could touch it. The stars twinkled brightly. There was no getting them confused with satellites or any other junk the government was launching into the atmosphere—those things weren't invented yet. It was quiet except for the sound of forest animals scurrying, crickets, frogs, and the annoying nocturnal birds. It was so beautiful…
…And it reminded me of one person…
XSesshoumaruX
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the moon. Naraku was up to something…he could almost smell it. He wondered momentarily if it had anything to do with the up rise of demon attacks on humans. Then again, how would Naraku organize such happenings? A new scent suddenly filled the air. The scent of death and dirt…What did she want so suddenly? His eyes remained fixed on the moon as her scent came closer until she was standing a few feet behind him.
"Sesshoumaru," she began. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, getting straight to the point. "I must request a favor of you." Before she finished, he already knew his answer: no, but he would humor her. "There is a human girl; she comes from the Modern Era. Through her courses the blood of the powerful demon Yuki Ibaraki, only it is dormant."
"What does this have to do with me, Priestess?" he asked indifferently.
"If we can awaken it, Naraku will be defeated once in for all." She explained. "However, if Naraku gets to her, he will absorb her, becoming the most powerful demon ever. He will go after you then me, his most formidable adversaries. Then he will destroy Inuyasha and his friends." Sesshoumaru thought about this. "Right now, she is with Inuyasha. I need you to retrieve her from Kaede's village then bring her to me—you must keep her out of Naraku's possession—then I will tell you what to do next." Tell him what to do? A human? Funny. He would never—wait, Modern Era…could it be the girl from the forest?
AmiSami: End of chapter two, part one. I hope you enjoy it...And enjoy it enough to review. I already have part two written, but you can still tell me things you'd like to happen or give me suggestions…through reviews—
Inuyasha: Enough with the review crap already!
AmiSami: OK, OK. Calm down… R&R!