So, because of my choice to make a language barrier, I had to google translate some things. You can look them up yourself but if you're curious what it's supposed to mean, send me a message and I'll let you know. I'm just trying my best :)
(~)
Sesshomaru smoothly strode across the grassy landscape, intent on making it to the village by at least noon tomorrow. He had been gone from Rin for much longer than he liked, and it seemed supreme conquest took less time than he realized. The power of his Bakusaiga alone caused surrender without chaos, conquest without challenge or question.
When had the world become so small?
Had the Great Sesshomaru reached his limit?
His thoughts were wiped clean as he neared A-Un and Jaken. The little demon imp was flittering with some object while his dragon nestled in the grass.
"Oh! Lord Sesshomaru! You've returned! I trust that all went well?" The imp piped up as he clamored on A-Un but Sesshomaru paid him no heed as he continued on.
The sooner he got to see Rin the better.
(~)
Pain. Sharp stinging pain scorched her consciousness as Annika struggled to move. Her eyes felt like weights as she forced them open. Flickering orange color was the first thing she could make out, then a blur brown over her.
"Daijoubu desu ka?" a young female voice came from the blur overhead.
What did she just say?
Annika blinked a few more times before trying to pull herself up. She faintly her a scuffle as she fully sat. As her vision began to clear, she noticed a young girl hesitantly watching her from afar, her eyes wide and curious. She wore a strange brown dress.
Was it a kimono?
Annika shook her throbbing head in an attempt to take away the pain and clear her vision properly. As her vision increased, she saw that she was surrounded by small wooden walls and some rather odd items. It seemed she was in a hut of some sort.
"Where...where am I?" Annika's voice came out a dry crackle. Her throat felt like she had been swallowing sand.
Her attention turned back to the young girl who continued to stare at her as if she were some kind of rare plant or exhibit. Her almond eyes were a dark shade of brown and her hair was long and put up in part a small pony tail. She couldn't have been more than fifteen years old.
"Sorry my voice is a little raspy. Could you tell me where I am?" Annika's voice became stronger. The little girl cocked her head to the side then slowly began making her way towards what looked like the exit.
"Watashi wa sugu ni modotte kimasu." she frowned at Annika as she disappeared out the door.
"What? Wait come back! I don't understand." Annika croaked as she shakily tried to get up. What had happened to her? Her voice was shot, she was naked and she smelled of sweat. She tried to remember.
"I was at the store...and I got fired." Annika held her head in pain. "Leanne and I fought and then...the wave! Leanne! Troy!"
She took another look around the room and found her clothes folded in a neat pile near the oddly placed fire pit. She tried to stand but her attempt failed as her legs gave out beneath her.
As she began readying herself for her second attempt, the little girl returned with two women dressed in white shirts and some very odd looking trousers. The older woman with the eye patch only gave her a passing glance before making her way to the fire pit. The younger, dark haired woman smiled and knelt down beside her.
" Hello, Annika." the woman spoke gently. "How are you feeling?"
"How do you know my name?" Annika frowned. She would have remembered someone who dressed this oddly.
"I suppose you don't remember. We introduced ourselves last night when you regained consciousness briefly. My name is Kagome, remember?"
"Regained consciousness? Ok, what is going on? Is this a kidnapping? Why am I not at the hospital? Where's my sister and Troy?" Annika began to fidget and tried getting up but her body was just too sore. She groaned as she settled back down on her makeshift bed.
Kagome sat quietly for a long time, her face clearly in thought. Annika noticed that the other two had not said a word during the conversation.
"You have no idea what happened to you or where you are, do you?" Kagome's voice was too steady and calm.
"All I remember is my sister and I fighting on the beach and a huge wave rolled up and dragged us out into open ocean."
"Where were you when this happened?" Kagome asked curiously.
"Here in California, where else?" Annika was beginning to get angry. She hated being treated like she was stupid.
"Well, its not a matter as to 'where' you are but 'when' as well. You're not exactly in California anymore." She watched as Kagome desperately tried to find the right words. " You see, you kinda made your way from California to...Japan."
Annika let out a boisterous laugh as she listened to Kagome.
"There is no way I'm in Japan. This is some kind of joke, right? Leanne? Troy? Jokes over." Annika's laughter slowly died as Kagome looked less than amused. She looked downright nervous.
"It's no joke, Annika. You really are here in Japan but..." Kagome's brow furrowed in thought and Annika couldn't stand the intensity of the suspense.
"Okay, so some how that crazy wave got me here to Japan. All I need to do is call a few people and find out where my sister and Troy are. I'm sure they're bound to be around here somewhere and once were together, we can all go home."
She watched Kagome give a worried look to the older woman. The crone nodded her head slowly and turned back to Annika with a weary expression.
"Annika, you can't go home from here. This isn't the Japan you've heard of in our time."
'Our time'? Annika felt her heart give out ever so slightly by her words. The hut, the strange clothes...the language barrier.
"No...oh, no no no no. This is definitely a prank ,right? This can't really be happening. I mean, it's 2016!"
"I'm afraid it's not, Annika. You are currently here in Feudal Japan." Kagome gave her a gentle smile.
Annika was silent for a long time her breathing became less and less even and steady. Her body began to shake and her heart began to beat irregularly.
Could she really be in a different time? If it were true, everything she ever knew was completely out of her reach. A job, a home , her sister and Troy.
No, this had to be a lie.
"I..I...I don't believe you!" Annika snarled as she mustered all her strength to scramble out of the hut, pushing Kagome out of her way. Her legs were less than steady and felt more pain than she could ever comprehend.
As she rushed clumsily outside, her odd blanket dress still securely wrapped around her, she stopped to witness a small village all around her. Those who were outside gave her a strange look but she easily ignored them as reality slowly sank in.
Kagome couldn't be right...could she?
"Oi, omae! Anata wa ikite iru!" came an odd voice. She turned to see a white haired man waving to her. As he got closer, she noticed he had gold eyes and...were those dog ears?
Without a moments hesitation, Annika dashed through the village. She had no idea what to do or where to go but she had to run. Open fields passed her by and the trees became thick around her. Rocks and tree roots jammed up into her bare feet but she didn't care. She couldn't stop know.
"This has to be a joke." she panted. "There had got to be a town or city around here somewhere".
"Annika! Come back, please!" She could faintly here Kagome's voice behind her, but she would stop for no one. She'd swim back home if that's what it took.
The trees were tall and beautiful as she passed below them. The forest must have been bigger than she realized because there seemed to be no end to them.
Finally she had to catch her breath. Her feet were tender and her lungs were screaming for air. She carefully sat herself down against a mossy tree and shuttered. In the shade of mid day it was quiet cool.
"Soko ni darekadesu ka?"
A silky voice startled Annika as she sat up from the tree. Had she been hearing things?
"Watashi wa totemo onakagasuitemasu..."
"Hello? Look, I don't want any trouble. I'll just leave." Annika felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand sjtraight up. Something felt...wrong.
"Taizai...Taizai."
Annika looked up and down at the tree she had just been laying on, wondering where that voice had come from. It just didn't seem normal.
Pit, pat, pat, pit.
From the tree now behind Annika came a sound of slow malicious fear inspiring crunches. Her fists, clenched at her sides, she slowly turned around and all the air in her lungs formed into a horrified shriek.
An enormous, hideous spider stood before her. At least a partial spider. The black shiny exoskeleton covered only most of the form of the creature in front of her. The other half was a woman who seemed to be salivating at the sight of her. All eight black eyes stared at her, hungry and wild.
"Anata no osore...Oishi.." Large insect incisors came out from the woman's mouth.
"Oh...my...god!" Annika screamed and took off running. The sound of eight large legs trampling behind her made her blood run cold. The trees were a blur and she bolted for what seemed like an eternity.
And then she realized the trampling stopped.
She slowed down to see nothing behind her and her body became weak with relief. That was until she took a step backward and felt something sticky clingy to her. Annika pulled her arm away and turned around in horror.
A forest of trees had started to transition to a forest of webs each with several bundles attached to them. The smell of blood and rot was distinct as she tried to calm her nerves.
This all had to be a dream. She had to wake up at some point, right?
"Wake up, wake up, wake up! This can't be real." Annika pounded her already sore head. She continued this until a familiar trampling sounded in front of her. Annika looked to see the spider monster only a few feet from her.
The escape resumed with terrifying speed.
Annika scrambled from side to side, avoiding every web in the area the best she could while trying to think of a way to lose her tail but fear clouded her mind and all she could think was too run.
The steps behind her grew closer and faster. She had to look back. She had to...
She ran into something solid and heard a ferocious snarl as she felt back into the ground. Her eyes were wide and steady as she observed a tall white haired man standing before her, his molten gold eyes glaring at her menacingly. Odd stripes covered his cheeks and a crescent moon graced his head. She only briefly noticed a two headed beast and a small frog like creature behind him.
"O mitsukemashita..."
Annika did not have to turn around to know where that voice had come from. She recklessly picked herself up off the ground and continued running, leaving the strange man and companions to their own devices. Maybe they would slow that creature down.
(~)
"Oh my, what happened to the forest here?" Jaken gawked at the large webs hanging from the trees.
"There is a Jorogumo here." Sesshomaru stated plainly as he continued his way to the village. Unlike his imp companion, he did not feel like prey. He did not feel fear.
"My Lord, if you don't mind my asking, where are we planned on heading next? Once we visit Rin, I mean."
Sesshomaru had no reason to answer Jaken but it seemed he had no real answer. Perhaps he would travel to the continent and begin conquest there but with Rin so far away...
A scream in the distance caught Sesshomaru's attention and put future plans on hold.
"I wonder who that could be." Jaken mused.
Who ever it was, they were not his problem. Having Rin around may have taught him compassion, but it was only Rin he truly cared about.
That didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy cutting down the Jorogumo.
A nearby rustle came closer and closer as fear reeked in his presence. It was disgusting and repugnant and he internally grimaced.
Then he spotted something red coming closer to him. A woman , it seemed, with hair of sunbeams was running for her life. She neared him, but he began to notice that she was not stopping. The woman ran into him and his flesh began to burn. He snarled viciously only to realize the pain was gone.
It had been so brief yet so potent. What had been done to him?
Sesshomaru glared down at his feet to the woman who was staring at him. Her mossy eyes were frightened and unfocused, fear dripping off her body like droplets of rain.
" I found you."
Sesshomaru looked up to see a Jorogumo lying in wait for its prey. The woman wordlessly clamored around until she was up and running away once more, taking her stink of fear with her. The Jorogumo rubbed it's gruesome fangs together, eying him up like a meal.
"My pretty little fly got away, Daiyoukai but you'll do nicely in her stead." The spider demon lunged for him but did not make it far.
With barely a flick of his wrist, the demon split in two and laid dead at his feet.
" I am no meal." He spoke, toneless.
"My Lord! Are you alright? How dare that mortal lay a hand on you like that! And then leaving you the mess she made! It's an outrage." the small imp demon flitted about like the annoying creature that he was while Sesshomaru moved on ahead with A-un behind him.
Moments later, Sesshomaru smelled a familiar scent on the wind. Half breed...
He watched as Inuyasha sped into the clearing, with his wife on his back.
"Sesshomaru, have you seen a girl come through here?" Kagome asked worriedly.
"She's heading towards the shore." Sesshomaru continued past them. He didn't care what happened to that woman. He just wanted to see Rin.