Chapter Two: Scratching Backs
There is an obsessive ache that escorts betrayal…those constant nagging reminders of an innocence eternally lost. They say that time mends all wounds but they forget to add that all wounds leave scars. Just because the gash wasn't visible it didn't mean that she wasn't bleeding.
She could still see it…when he leaned down his soft lips to touch those of his former lover. His hands curled black ringlets into his fingers even as the woman slipped hers into his kimono to trace his muscular chest.
The crimson drops from her heart blended with the tears her soul wept as the demons of the jewel forced her to watch her former love forget her and become one with the woman that she had been so much a part of…the woman she silently desired she could be before she was shunted cruelly back to her own time.
Just because it had been a different world she'd never lost hope that one day she would end up with Inuyasha after Naraku had been defeated, that all the evils he had committed wouldn't be completely made up for but that at least they would end and she would be able to pursue a life with the boy who had stolen her daydreams for so many years.
Then she had been forced to make a wish on a malicious pink crystal…
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Lezard resisted the urge to just shove the girl away after she fell on him, he had been borrowing her power to regenerate after all and it wouldn't do well if she remembered the gesture. She wasn't overly heavy on his chest, she was small compared to many of the women in the area of Asgard he frequented.
She was pretty in her own right, likely would have been more so if she didn't remind him of the phrase 'drowned rat' given how soaked she was. Her body was shivering slightly even as it seemed to be leeching off the warmth of his. He could hardly leave her, she was going to be a guide until he could learn more of where he was. He doubted in polite society he could have accomplished acceptable speech alone and the girl might also be needed as a translator.
With the newfound strength, stolen from his slumbering new helper, he pushed himself up and settled her in his lap as he looked around the well they were in. It wouldn't do to press his magic too much until his wounds had healed but it wasn't likely he would be able to carry her and climb the rickety ladder built into the stone of the well's side.
The storm at least seemed to be starting to subside, the thunder and lightning had died out and the rain was down to more of a comfortable drizzle. He lifted her in a single arm, his free hand drawing lines and motions in the air as he muttered a short series of syllables. "Flight."
The single word was enough to lift him from the ground, he pulled the light high-school girl along with him and settled them down a short moment later when they reached the lip of the well. Even the short use of magic was disorienting and he had to grasp the railing nearby to keep from toppling over himself.
"Did they really injure me this badly?" He thought with a bit of alarm as he was forced to catch his breath. "Even if they were attempting to sunder my soul I should have gotten out of the way enough that casting a simple cantrip shouldn't do this…"
Only pride kept him from sinking to his knees, he instead sneered and pushed away the dots of light playing across his vision…whatever they'd done he'd figure it out soon enough. She had to have a home of some sort near here…that would offer better protection from the elements than this busted down shack…for both of them.
It was another long moment before he was able to start up the steps and open the rickety door to the outside. A small draft of fresh air hit him and he had a new appreciation for the outdoors as he eyed the simple grounds, not sure what to make of the dead tree and then nodding a little at the home. It wasn't exactly what he would have preferred but definitely not the hovel he had expected. He continued to hold the woman close to him and stepped back out into the drizzle as he moved for the home.
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The soft velvet fabric was comfortable even when wet and Kagome was snuggling her cheek against it in groggy appreciation of it's fur-like softness.
Drops of water hitting her arms and face was drawing her out of the feint though her mind was still cloudy. At least for a short moment she had forgotten her troubles, and the unexpected visitor that was carrying her along. He still had a coppery scent that lingered from the blood and some other sort of scent underlying that she couldn't make out as she continued to nuzzle her face into the fabric on his shoulder.
"Feeling better?" His tone was neutral, he could hardly complain about some woman rubbing on him…other than wishing it was Lennethk, it didn't bother him. He'd laid with women other than his goddess before after all. It was amusing when she made a squeaking noise and pulled suddenly away from her snuggly motion, only managing to get to stay on her feet with a steadying hand.
"I…suppose…" she managed in a strained voice, it was surprising to wake up like that to say the least. She always seemed to be getting carried around by people when unconscious but it just wasn't something you got used to that easily - it was spooky.
"Do you have a key?" He kept to the point. "Why blush about being carried by someone when she wears that? Seems hypocritical."
She nodded and dug out her keys, silently glad they didn't fall out somewhere along her several sprints of the evening and opened the door. Immediately appreciative of the heat inside…it wasn't until the warmth of the indoors hit her that she realized just how cold she really was.
"I need to stop running in the rain." She commented as she turned the light on. "Mom, Souta, Grandpa!?"
She called each of them, waiting a little bit. "Guess no one else is here, please, make yourself at home."
He didn't hesitate, he was heading to sit down before she ever offered, glad to rest after the short walk. "You live with your family then?"
"Yes." She smiled lightly. "Give me a few minutes and I'll get you some fresh clothes…you are pretty dirty, want to take a shower?"
"A shower?" He wasn't familiar with the term, and waited for further explanation.
"Um…yeah?" She pondered a moment. "It's like a small waterfall…I could draw up a bath too."
Bath he did understand. "That would be nice. Thank you…what is your name?"
She paused halfway up the stairs. "Kagome." Then continued her mad dash to do whatever she was heading to do.
"Odd name." He commented to himself as she had already left, pondering the simply but nicely decorated living area…he didn't recognize many of the metal boxes (the tv and vcr and other such things). It was a surprisingly clean place, rarely did average homes have a hygienic nature - and with his own tower anything but tidy - the lack of clutter was impressive.
He was still looking over things when Kagome hopped back down the steps, her hair was still wet but her clothing had been replaced by pants and a sweater - much more appropriate than the uniform she'd been sporting before.
"Okay, I put some extra clothes in the bathroom for you. It's the second door on the left upstairs." She motioned lightly. "I'm gonna make some dinner, are you hungry?"
"Yes." He nodded once, this was certainly an acceptable arrangement for the moment. He might be without Lenneth but he could have ended up in much less welcoming circumstances. It would suffice and he could learn more, the girl seemed eager to assist.
He moved away from her and up the steps, pausing in the room she mentioned. It was very tiny for a bath but the water was much more acceptable than many of the inns where he'd stayed so it equaled out the lack of space. He peeled away his dirty clothing and folded it nearly into a pile he placed on the only empty area of the counter. It was a little stinging at parts where the blood had caked so heavily and the clothing had used itself as a kind of bandage so when he pulled it away it started to bleed yet again.
The slight pain now was better than letting it get infected, he wasn't fully aware what sort of healing his newly absorbed powers would allow him and he wasn't willing to risk getting hurt from something so inconsequential as an infection he could have avoided. Besides, even if his home was often dirty, he liked to keep himself immaculate.
He slipped into the warm water and felt a new appreciation for soap, it seemed like he'd been at the bottom of that well for ages, who knows how long he'd lain there between consciousness and unconsciousness before the girl wandered in to find him. A dried up well with a shake around it didn't exactly scream as if it had common visitors, and with the hunger eating at his stomach with the scents drifting upward from downstairs it only reinforced the idea he'd been down there much longer than he would have preferred.
He had to admit that this liquid soap they had was so much more useful than rubbing a bar around, and it smelled far nicer than the usual acidic stuff he was used to. Yes, even if it was tiny, it was quite accommodating.
Lezard would have spent longer on his clean-up but the water was already growing darker from him, lingering would have only kept more dirt on than it removed. That, and the scent of food had his stomach growling at him with vengeful pangs that somehow screamed 'feed me you necromantic bastard'.
He dressed in the commoner clothing she'd left him, for lesser clothing it was fairly comfortable if a bit of a large fit. He just pushed up the sleeves and bounded back down the steps to search for the source of the tantalizing smells teasing his pissed off tummy.
"Hey." Kagome greeted upon his return, she'd had a little time to consider her losses for the evening but the distraction of having someone else around was nice. "The bath okay?"
"It was very lovely, it is a delight to be clean after all of that." He offered, smiling at her lightly. He noted the redness to her eyes, he'd always been apt to details and for all his lack of decorum at times he knew how to read people. "You seem as if something is bothering you?"
"It's nothing." She said too fast for it to be true. "I was cutting some onions for the pizza."
"Why is it women always say nothing is wrong when there is so much wrong?" He sighed inwardly. "Except for my dear Lenneth…she never beat around the true problems she had."
He let himself get distracted with thoughts of the various times Lenneth had told him directly everything that was bothering her. Even if he didn't usually care that it was with him it was so cute when she got angry.
"Here." He was still considering how her nose scrunched up adorably when Kagome settled a plate in front of him that smelled almost as divine as the woman he was picturing and he pushed his obsession away for the time being. "I hope you like it…pizza with everything."
He blinked at the odd triangular pieces of food in front of him and didn't pick up his until he watched Kagome eat some of hers. He blinked a little and tore through his first piece. "This is great, you are quite the chef."
Kagome laughed aloud at that. "Not for pizza, it's okay but I wouldn't call me chef-worthy. You really must be from the feudal era."
"Feudal era?" He asked curiously at the unfamiliar term, still eating at his second piece of pizza between occasional sips of the water she'd set out for him.
"Yeah um…" She wasn't sure still how much she should tell him. "A different time than the one you are from?"
"Oh…probably." He agreed with a nod. "Do you have a map of Asgard I might search over? It would be a good starting point."
"Asgard?" Kagome had to think for a while. "You mean earth?"
"That is another term for it." He had to also ponder a little with the foreign language. "You'll have to forgive me, my mastery of your language is poor."
"So wait." A light-bulb popped in Kagome's head as she remembered her mythology classes. "You mean you are from feudal era Germany? Like with the gods and the world tree and all that stuff?"
"Is there no longer a world tree?" That was alarming news, he used the world trees to transverse dimensions, he shouldn't have been able to be tossed to one lacking such a gateway.
"I dunno." Kagome answered honestly. "I don't think so…there isn't really magic or mythical creatures left in this time."
"What do you mean?" That made him start…that was definitely a bad sign…he'd visited a few times in the great past and future in his travels where the arts had begun to decline but how much.
"Well." She took a bit of her pizza to chew so she would have time to formulate a response. "It's like, I think there are a few things here and there, but they're all hidden. No one believes in magic or time travel or monsters or anything like that anymore."
"Damn it." He cursed mentally. "That will make it much harder to escape from this place…"
"You seem to know how to deal with magic, I'm sorry if that's bad news." She had seen the frown the moment she'd told him. "You understand you can't just go tossing spells around or everyone will try to kill you or capture you so they can try to study you."
"I appreciate the warning…it seems I was lucky enough to fall into the hands of someone that accepts what I say in a world of skeptics, care to tell me why you are reacting so easily to my presence then?" Lezard questioned, he didn't doubt her, magic even in the world where he was originally born was frowned upon and feared in many areas of the world. If it suddenly appeared amongst masses that thought it wasn't real? It would mean he would never reach an end to being hounded, while he didn't mind killing even he knew he couldn't stand against a whole world and survive.
"I…I traveled back to the feudal era of this area not long ago." She responded, suddenly sad again. "Though that portal was suppose to have been closed a little while before I found you in the well. I used to use it to travel to the past and back here."
"Interesting." He nodded a little, it made sense, he'd found random other portals here and there, though something like a well certainly would be a place he hadn't considered before. "It is quite a strange place for such a device. Do you know what powers it?"
She shook her head. "No…I think I was tied to the past because of something I needed to do there, but I accomplished that and I'm back now."
"You miss it." He observed. "If you will help me find a way back to my world then I will see what I can do about re-opening it for you."
"Really?" She seemed suddenly more hopeful, she already missed her friends greatly and while seeing Inuyasha would be painful the thought of never seeing the rest of her companions held far more agony. "Could you do that?"
"I have a certain affinity with portals." He replied with a smile. "I've studied them for a very long time. It is the least I could do if you would aid me in my own quest."
"Then definitely." Kagome agreed as she picked up her second piece of pizza. "Where should we start?"
End Chapter
That chapter was a doozy, took me days to figure out stuff I wanted to do exactly. Which probably goes to show just how bad I am at this fiction stuff compared to some people that write out thousands of words in a setting. No idea how people do that but lots of appreciation from me for it. The plot ended on a point that I suppose wasn't really suspenseful or anything but I felt was a good place. At least I got a good friend thing going thus far…but hey they say the best relationships are when you are friends first! And reviews? Maybe, please?
-Nera