Chapter 1: A New Adventure
"Kagome?" whispering, a female demon with the breed of half dog and half wolf had been sitting right next to a priestess inside Kaede's hut by the warmth of the fire.
"What is it Yuri," said the priestess happily. Looking at her with an ear to ear smile.
Scooting closer to her Yuri covers the girl's ear with her hand and puts her mouth close to it, "Can you meet me at the Bone Eaters well when the sun hits the horizon and have a girl to girl type of talk with me, please?,"
With her smile quickly fading into a concerned look Kagome said with a tone of understanding "Sure."
Trying to quickly change the subject Kagome turned her head away from Yuri's as the demon did the same. Before saying anything further due she glances at the fire as it was slowly dimming. Lacking for more wood. Turning her vision from the fire and sliding it around the hut she saw the demon slayer Sango, the monk Miroku, the little eight year old fox demon Shippo, and the fire demon cat Kirara eating their noon meal. Noticing there was no fire wood she looks at her empty bowl which was once filled with stew, put the bowl aside from her lap, and walks to the entrance of the hunt, "I'm going to get more fire wood."
As the sun was slowly sinking its first half under the horizon, it makes its last gaze at the Bone Eaters well where the seventeen year old teens would meet for their future pep -talk.
Yuri was already there waiting for the now late priestess. Balancing on the edge of the well she sat there daydreaming. Listening for any sound in the distance she stares at the grass thinking of someone she had been secretly having a growing care for, Sesshomaru. Thinking of his circled shaped amber eyes, long straight silver hair that shined in the moon light, and last his face in which has twin maroon stripes on each side of his cheeks and a purple crescent moon on his forehead she thought of him as…decent.
Atleastmoreinterestingthantheidiotic,thoughtless,nogood,insensibleInuyasha…BAKA!
Sesshomaru however has always had a straight face, never showing one smile to the naked eye she always thought that she could at least put a smirk on his serious looks. Being the normal teenager that she is her eyes were half covered from her eye lids and held faint smile.
Thanks to her being a demon she then sharply hears a pair of footsteps running towards her and knowing it was Kagome she could smell her scent coming closer. Forcing her head up and erasing what was in her mind immediately she glances at Kagome who was caring her legs as far as she could in a fast pace about twenty yards away.
While stretching her legs father apart to get to her destination quickly Kagome glimpses her friend's teal eyes look up at her from waiting. Seeing that Yuri was still there she happily gave a relieved sigh and yelled her apologizes as she reaches the well. Stopping to catch her breath she bent over, resting her hands on her bony knees, and pants.
Standing up Yuri wore a dirty red fabric that cases around her from the folds of her armpits to her lower abdomen with a small bronze armored plate covering her breasts. A light purple skirt cuts to her mid thighs with the fabric made from a regular kimono, and medal bands also encircled her upper arms with the exact color as her armor with very pale lavender sleeves attached to the medal bands that reached down to her finger tips with an intricate design of cherry blossoms. To keep her warm she had another layer of low thigh leggings that were stained in a midnight purple, and leather flip flips that encircled her heels and ankles. Normally it depended on her mood but today she wore black, finger less gloves that went with her outfit very oddly.
Yuri curves her hand to push the remains of her straight, light brown hair (mixture of white hair from a dog demon and dark brown from the wolf demon) that were in the way of her peach colored face. Her elf ears expose; pointing out two indigo stripes on each of her ear lobes and on her right cheek is a marking in shape of an upside down triangle that has a teal color that resembles her eyes, but darker.
Questioned she said "What took you so long; you're never late getting to places?"
With a little snap at the edge of her tongue Kagome replies, "Well don't blame me, someone back there doesn't know the word of privacy and almost wouldn't let me go alone to this girl talk of yours."
Yuri looked at the furious teenager. Her appearance spoke with a glance of 'mess with me and your dead meat'.
Crap what did I say .Did she not want to come at all but was trying to hide her feelings to be nice and I messed it up with my own dam mouth?
Kagome is the nicest girl alive but not the right type of person to get mad because when she blows up you'll be under her wrath until you beg for mercy.
Freaking out in a frozen stance her teal eyes expand like saucers as she imagines herself begging down to her knees with her hands clapped together.
I'm sorry, duck tape my mouth if you have to I'll do anything! Just don't purify me!
But she couldn't do that, instead she stood her ground and prepares to face the consequences.
"Oh my gosh your face looks so pale all of the sudden Yuri…,"with a changed attitude the feel-my-wrath girl then realizes why Yuri's expression was in that state and quickly stutters in her following words, "N-n-no I'm not mad at you its In-Inuyasha he wouldn't let me go in the forest this l-late with m-me being alone …" taking deep breaths to slowly calm down she starts her saying again, "I told him why I needed to go and that I had my bow and arrow with me in case of any danger but…but he is just…,"raising her hand and turning it into a fist her anger surfaces, "…just so dam stubborn! I know he said he would protect me with his life and promised not to let any thing hurt me, but I think he's over doing it like I'm some burden to him, like I can't protect myself enough for him to now that, like I'm a helpless child whose a pray to everything out there. I understand how he feels but can he just have a little confidence in me for once?" Kagome began breaking out into tears in being so sensitive to her emotions and sniffs from her nose running.
Yuri smelt the salt from her tears and softly embraces her with a gentle hug. Hoping to comfort her.
"Kagome don't cry, just be lucky that you have someone like him to be with. He treats you like that because of all of the other battles between Naraku, you sometimes get hurt and Inuyasha never forgives himself because he wasn't there in time. He just doesn't want to lose you is all," she held a smirk on her face, "but I will take your reward on saying he is over protective because we defeated Naraku mouths ago and the Shikon Jewel is safely purified and guarded by you. The demons that come to take the jewel on everyday basis to become more powerful are very low-level that you can destroy them with one shot of your arrow. And he is pretty stupid because it's like he's calling me a weakling, like he thinks that I can't also protect you out here if danger turns along."
Kagome chuckles at that last part. And tears were already dried with leaving just salty tear stains on her cheeks. Separating their hug Yuri put her hands on her friend's shoulders and glares at her with a sincere look in her eye as she looks into Kagome's coffee ones, "Okay?" Kagome nodded and her lips shape in a half circle.
"So what did you want to talk about alone," mutters Kagome changing the subject to get her mind off of it.
Yuri's eyes open wide as her pupils got smaller, "I totally forgot about that, you filled my mind on Inuyasha so much that all I can think is his stupidity through out the year that I've kn-"
"What did you want to talk about? I don't want to talk about Inuyasha anymore right now…it brings too many memories in my head and as you already know some aren't that pleasant."
"Sorry, sorry, I don't mean to make you think of those events I'm just trying to make you laugh. Anyway, what I wanted to talk to you about is that maybe we could take our friends on another adventure like we use to." Now Kagome though she was crazy as hell.
"Why would we all go on another adventure? We've basically been all over Japan and there's no reason to without an enemy to kill or any more jewel shards to find, since there all put back together," she points at the sacred jewel or Shikon jewel in a little pocket tied around her neck.
"And besides all of us as a group have been traveling non stop for over a year trying to kill Naraku and we finally finish him off. Don't you think we need some rest and prepare for our future? Miroku and Sango are getting married in a few months and have decided to stay and raise a family here in Kaede's village, Shippo is going back to his home land to learn how to be a fully trained fox demon, and Kirara is going to go with Sango's younger brother, Kohaku, to become a better demon slayer."
Yuri was in shock at the news that Kagome gave, but what surprises her most is that Kagome didn't even mention about herself and Inuyasha's.
Whatabouttheirfuture?
Making up her mind; she asks Kagome plain and simple with a sad and curious expression on her face, "What about you and Inuyasha?"
"What did I just say about Inuyasha a moment-"
"I don't care; I know that you deeply care- no, you love Inuyasha. And I'm not the only one who knows this Kagome. What about you two's future!"
Kagome didn't say anything and stares at the well. Sadness was written all over her face.
"I'm not meaning to hurt your feelings between ya'll but you guys at least have a future for one another." Kagome eventually didn't budge in her position. Like she was tied to it. Yuri gets frustrated. Her teal orbs glare closely in her eyes and then looks at the well, and that she found out the answer. It was what Kagome was looking at, the well.
While setting her eyes on the well she turns her head to Kagome who was still staring at the dried up well and questions her one last time, "It's because of the well isn't? You're afraid of it closing… aren't you?"
The miko moves her head up and down. Answering her question she bites her bottom lip and tears travel down her cheeks again. The remain of silence fills the area as, to what felt like hours, Kagome's voice brakes out from the opening of her mouth mumbling, "I'm afraid that I'll have to pick between the two worlds, and if I pick here, five hundred years in the past, I'll end up missing my family and end up feeling home sick, but if I choose to live in my own time, my birth place, I'll miss all of ya'll dearly. I'll especially miss Inuyasha. And if I live, in a world without him, I'm afraid that I'll never get over him and move on."
"From what you're saying I think it's already clearly said from my perspective. You belong in the past. Sure you'll become home sick at the beginning, but that never lasts forever. And either way…there's always going to be a person that you'll miss dearly, but at least it's not that specific person that you can't live without, or even move on. Ask yourself; what do you want? What does your heart desire the most?"
Kagome knew she was right at the very beginning. Except for Sango and her mother Yuri understood her more deeply than anyone else and she has always had trust in helping her out. Her mind was still in a bubble of possibilities, confusion, and making choices but she still had to give her friend an answer.
"I'm still not specific about what time I should live in but…all I know is that I want my relationship with Inuyasha to still hold strong for the years to come…maybe even stronger."
Yuri knew that her companion wouldn't answer her question straight from the very beginning but still had hope. It's not easy making that type decision in just one night, because when you sometimes make a choice it can be permanent and depending on what you choose you can regret in making that decision for the rest of your life.
"Well whatever you decide is your choice on what you think is right not…on what others think. And if you ever need help you can always come to me or Sango."
"Thank you." Kagome speaks and Yuri said nothing. She didn't need to.
"What about your future though Yuri? Are you going back to the modern time?"
"Hell no, I'm staying here. And I'm staying here because my family thinks I'm dead, you know that. Remember about over a year ago when I accidentally fell into the well, I just attended your school, and came back three days later hearing news reports of that teenaged girl burned in a alley way," Kagome nods, "well that girl was the same age as I and so I guess it gave my parents the conclusion that the girl was me. And at that time I was having trouble in the feudal era because of the battle with that snake demon. So when I came back and found that on the T.V my family was already buried that girl with my name embedded on her tomb stone, and they moved before I could decide how to confront him. I don't know where they are now. So that's one reason why I'm staying here and the other is that I don't have to hide my true self here compared in the future. I was a human for almost seventeen years and ever since I met you and went through that well it's like I had a demon locked inside me all my life and suddenly showed itself and changed my appearance. It's like it sheltered itself because in the future demons don't exist anymore…so it's like it was trying to protect itself and me from any harm of people thinking I was some kind of freak. Here though…demons are everywhere and it's like that demonic part of me wasn't afraid to show itself anymore. It came out and I became a demon, and ever since I knew I was a demon I've never felt so free. My body, mind, and soul have chosen this place for me and I feel happy here."
"Meaning…in a short way…your future is to follow your path and see where it takes you," utters Kagome romantically.
"I guess you could say that," mumbling, Yuri rubs her hand on the back of her head, closing her oval eyes, and did a fake smile.
"So it's settled, no more adventures….got it!"
"That's not the type of adventure I was talking about though."
"Now you're confusing me Yuri."
"When I meant by taking our friends in an adventure I meant by saying is that if we could take them to the future with us and visit there for a while," Yuri squealing with delight.
"What...y-you're telling me that you w-want to take our friends to the future and l-let them visit there like some kind of vacation." Stuttering in her words she became in shock of experience.
"Yeah, they've never crossed the well before, well except dog boy, and since the sacred jewel is whole again I bet that it can take all of us to the future and they can see your family. They'll know what it's like to live in our time, and there's lots of fun stuff for them to do over there, especially since it's the summer time. It'll be like a whole new word for them to explore all over again," after finishing Yuri is now very eager to hear her answer.
"Well since our arch enemy is dead, and the Jewel is complete. Then…then I say that would be…a splendid idea Yuri," cries Kagome and Yuri jumps three feet in the air. Burst out her excitement.
Kagome giggles, "You're kidding, that's all you wanted to talk about this whole time!"
Yuri nods.
"Then why are you making it such a big deal in keeping it a secret?"
"Cause I wanted to know how you felt about it first then just spilling it to the whole world, and I want it to be a surprise." Yuri was always the one to make the surprises come alive.
"This might actually turn out to be the best summer ever."
Yuri checks her surroundings to see if anybody had been nearby, but from her nose nobody was around. Seeing that it was dark with the waning third-quarter moon glowing amongst the night sky Yuri yawns and knew it was time to head back to the village.
Repeating what she said in her mind's work she tells Kagome, seeing only her raven black hair from the female gazing at the moon, "We should go back to the village before your boyfriend gets all crazy and comes to find you because I know that he will not rest until you come back safe and sound."
"Okay," beams Kagome and starts heading towards the direction of the village followed by Yuri.
An upset two hundred year old inuhanyou was leaning against the front entrance wall of Kaede's hut waiting for Kagome to come back since he promised to stay there until she came back. He was the only member of the group with dog like ears on top of his head in which Kagome adored about him. With long silver hair and bangs in which covered his amber eyes he growls in getting inpatient as the minutes past. He, like other demons, can live for a long life style for over a thousand years and - from the phase of his face and body – seemed to be the age of Kagome, seventeen. Even though he is centuries years old his age never mattered to Kagome. At his great age his mind was as of a seventeen year old as well. Which gave him an immature, idiotic mind, as Yuri would call it.
Suddenly his pointed white dog ears swivels to the sound where two young girls were talking. His sensitive nose sniffs the air and smelt rosemary in the air as it was Yuri whom he smelt in the distance. Though, his mind was focused on one scent that smelled of a faint aroma of lavender blossoms that he grew to love so much. Turning his head towards the lovely scent he caught Kagome trotting along with the demon and ran to her in his red kimono. Bear footed his face was full of rage as he yelled, "What's took you so long wench it's pitch dark! Man you humans are so stupid!"
Now Yuri was pissed, "Well for your information buddy, I was with Kagome the whole time, and you can look all over her if you want and not a single scratch will be there. What's wrong with humans anyway your part one yourself. And at least they put their brains back in there heads after washing it!"
"ARE YOU SAYING I'M A BAKA!" shouts Inuyasha, baring his fangs as Yuri did the same, "That's one way to say it!"
Leaning towards each other a demonic aura of anger starts flooding around the area. Inuyasha was preparing himself for a fight as his claws were ready to tear flesh as Yuri prepares for action as well. Suddenly a wave of a blue and white high school uniform blocked between the two's connections.
Kagome ran towards the silver haired teen presenting her arms around his waist as she gives him a warm hug showing all of her emotions to him at the same time. Because of her quick appearance Inuyasha tried not to claw her delicate skin in his position by expanding his arms out. Flinching, he widens his golden pools at her warm embrace.
"K-Kagome," not knowing what to do next he put his arms down helplessly and relaxes his muscles. Visioning her head resting sideways on his chest he hears a voice that was gentle and comforting.
"Please don't fight; I've been through enough already today. Please Inuyasha no more violence," whispering with her eye lids closed Kagome's tone began to ache with all of her emotions spilling from the past evening. Listening to her kind words Inuyasha catches clapping in the background.
Craning her head back and forth Yuri had her eyes shut from being a witness of what just happened, and has her hip bulging out on the side of her body.
"Good job Kagome," now swaying her hip to the right side whilst her eyes open up the clapping stops, "The priestess once again tames the creature."
Inuyasha's anger was building up the scale from her annoying voice. From an arm bending backwards his hand balls into a fist. Kagome could feel the presence of the anger that she knew all to well starting to amplify itself again. Scrunching her shoulders together against her head she only pulls him closer to her by tightening her grip on him.
Feeling her grasp getting tense he wrapped his once battled arm around her waist. Barely touching her with his sharp claws. Raising his other arm up he points his index finger at Yuri, "You're lucky this time; because next time I won't let this go that easily."
Yuri nods in response of his suggestion and strolls around them and heads towards Kaede's hut where the remaining of the group is. Kagome slowly raises her head up to him and releases her lengthy arms around him saying, "Arigato."
"Keh, no big deal," turning his head from her view; Inuyasha tries to avoid her so she couldn't witness the hidden blush on his cheeks.
Making the first move Kagome told him, "Uhhh-um…you know you can let go of me know," seeing that Kagome's arms were not wrapped around him anymore, but he was still holding her close to him, he swiftly put his arm down, loosing his grip on her in lightning speed, "y-yeah…right."
16
