Chapter 8! Yay! Now Kiara's in the past, what? And another original character! Yea, original characters all around. *sigh*
Disclaimer: I don't own the Inu Yasha gang.
Kiara woke up to an empty house, confused and bleary. She walked through the house to make sure Kae and Inu Yasha had left before noticing the plate Kaze had left for her. She sighed unhappily, pulling a letter out of the fake bottom of one of the kitchen drawers. She opened the letter and a picture fluttered out and onto the floor, along with about ten pieces of paper. As she ate the breakfast Kaze had made, she red the letters, trying not to cry as she read all of the things her friends were doing.
In the middle of one of the letters, Kiara had to get up to find a box of tissues, and noticed Kaze's bow sitting in the front hall. "Oh, dear," Kiara muttered, frantically pulling on some clothes and stuffing the letters back into the drawer. She ran full speed through the forest, clutching the bow, until she found the well. At the last moment, her feet found a root and she tripped, flying over one side of the well and dropping into it.
She landed with a loud "fwump," somehow managing to keep the bow intact as she groaned in pain and irritation at the sharp objects digging into her back. "Ooowww…." She muttered, sitting up gingerly. "Kaze-sama, you'd better appreciate this!" She yelled, angry from the pain.
"Kiara?" Kaze asked, looking down from the top of the well. Kiara's mouth fell open in surprise as Inu Yasha, Koga, and Sho looked down at her also. She then decided to see what she'd fallen on and found she was face-to-face with a white skull.
Just as Inu Yasha was about to jump down to get her, Kiara was flying up the side and flinging herself out of the well with a high scream. "How did she-" Koga began as Kiara lay on the ground, trying to catch her breath.
"Questions like that normally just make my head hurt," Kaze interrupted. "So I normally try not to ask them." Kaze waited another moment until Kiara had caught her breath before she asked, "So, what are you doing here?"
"You forgot your bow," Kiara explained, holding said bow up.
"Ah, thanks," Kaze said, frowning and taking the bow. The two looked at each other in silence of a moment "Um, how did you get here?" Kaze asked finally.
"What do you mean?" Kiara asked, not yet having realized that she was in the Feudal Era.
"Um…" Kaze began, waving her arms around helplessly. "Here," she said and Kiara nodded. "In Inu Yasha's time?" Kaze continued, not sure why Kiara wasn't getting it. Kiara nodded again. "How are you here in this time?" Kaze tried again. Kiara's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she looked around and it finally clicked.
"Ah!" Kiara yelled, jumping to her feet in surprise. "How did I get here?"
Kaze sighed. "I don't know!"She said, trying not to laugh at her frantic friend. "That's why I was asking you!"
"I fell in the well," Kiara explained, looking around. "Next thing I know I'm pulling bones out of my back."
"I saw that part," Kaze said.
"There are more of you?" Koga asked, eyeing Kiara warily. "How many of you people can move through this well?"
"At least us two," Kaze replied. "Wanna stay, Kiara?"
"Huh?" Kiara asked, still looking around.
"I feel weird being the only girl travelling with three guys," Kaze said. "Sure they're demons, but it's still awkward."
"Ooh, can I?" Kiara asked, her eyes lighting up. "I left my gun at home."
"You probably shouldn't use it here anyway," Kaze said dismissively, picking up her bag. "Fabric of time and all that."
"Right," Kiara said. "I'm gonna get some clothes, I'll be right back." With that, she jumped back down the well.
"Hey, wait a second!" Koga protested. "We don't need another human!"
Kaze looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" She asked, sitting down on the well.
"You can use a bow at least, but we don't know what this girl can do," Koga said. "She could be useless!"
"You don't know what this girl can do," Inu Yasha corrected Koga. "She's scary, believe me. I'm fine with her coming with us."
"You're surprisingly compliant today, Inu-san," Kaze said.
"Shut up," Inu Yasha growled as another "fwump" sounded from the well.
"I don't know how I can get used to that," Kiara groaned, crawling back up to the top of the well, her bag slung over her shoulder. "So, where are we going?" Kiara asked.
"I'm going to talk to Priestess Rin for a moment and see if she's heard anything," Kaze said, heading towards Rin's village. Inu Yasha jumped into a tree and Sho turned into a kitten and jumped on Kaze's shoulder while Koga followed the girls begrudgingly.
In the village, Kaze and Kiara sought out Priestess Rin and asked her advice. "There's a village north of here," Rin said, showing the girls which she meant on a map. "I'd try there first. You may find something."
"Thank you, Priestess Rin," Kaze said, copying the map as best as she could on a piece of paper. She and Kiara left, followed by Koga and Sho, in search of Inu Yasha.
On the way out of the village, Inu Yasha dropped down next to Kiara, scaring her and causing her to fall to the ground. "Maybe you are useless," Inu Yasha mused as Koga helped Kiara stand.
"That wasn't nice, Inu-san," Kaze said, frowning angrily at the dog-demon. He shrugged and they all walked out of the village through the forest to the north. The group continued walking until they were out of the forest and long after the sun set. The two girls made no sign of needing to stop, but as kitten-Sho began to yawn, Kaze bent down and picked him up, only to continue walking.
Once the sun rose and they were in a forest again, Inu Yasha suggested they rest. Kaze and Kiara pulled out a couple of blankets and little pillows and dropped off to sleep.
A boy with black, spiked hair and angry black eyes turned to her. As she watched, a snake-like man put his arm around the boy's shoulders, turning him away from her. She reached a hand out, trying to run to him, and opened her mouth as he disappeared, led by the other man.
"Sasuke!" Kaze shouted, sitting straight up. She looked around, confused, as Inu Yasha landed next to her.
"Are you okay?" Inu Yasha asked in a whisper. Kaze looked around again and saw Koga snoring away under a tree, Kiara curled under her blanket, and Sho purring in his sleep on her blanket.
"I think so," Kaze said as Kiara sat up. "I think I had a nightmare, but I can't remember what it was about."
"Well, since we're awake, let's keep going," Kiara suggested, rolling Sho off her blanket as she began putting it away.
"I don't think Inu-san got any sleep, thought," Kaze said, stretching.
"I'm fine," Inu Yasha said, watching Kiara pack up. "We should keep going. We don't want to get caught in the open."
"But-" Kaze began, but was cut off by Kiara yanking her blanket and pillow away.
"Up, up," Kiara ordered, putting Kaze's things away. "Inu Yasha says he's fine, I say we keep going."
"What's with you today?" Kaze asked grumpily, picking her neatly packed bag up.
"I have a bad feeling, and I don't think we should stay here any longer," Kiara snapped. Kaze frowned at her, but didn't reply. The two girls and three demons continued walking, Inu Yasha slowly falling behind as his tiredness caught up with him.
"I knew we should have borrowed more horses," Kaze finally said, turning around to see Inu Yasha looking half-asleep. "When was the last time you slept properly?"
"Night before last," Inu Yasha replied, referring to him conking out on Kiara and Kaze's couch. He was only a few feet away when he group heard a growing scream.
Confused, Inu Yasha paused as Koga and Sho looked around, Kaze eyed the ground warily, and Kiara looked up at the sky. "Um, what's that?" Kiara asked, pointing. Every one looked up just in time to see a slim figure land heavily on Inu Yasha.
"Ow…" The figure groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. She had chocolate brown hair that fell to her lower back and was wearing a sailor uniform similar to Kiara's: A short-sleeved shirt, a navy, knee-length skirt, and a navy tie. One of her violet eyes was closed in pain and irritation as she rubbed her head. When she stood up, the group saw that she was taller than Kiara, but shorter than Kaze.
"Mel?" Kaze asked, confused.
"Hey, Kaze!" Mel replied, smiling and waving. "What are you doing in my basement?"
"I'm… not?" Kaze replied, looking around as if to make sure she wasn't. "What are you doing here?"
"And can you get OFF my BACK?" Inu Yasha shouted form under Mel's feet.
"Oops, sorry," Mel replied apologetically, steadying the sword on her back as she jumped off Inu Yasha.
"Not another one!" Koga growled. "Who are you, human?"
Mel smiled happily at Koga, unaffected by his disrespect. "Mel Walker is who I am," Mel replied, giving a half-bow, half-curtsey. She straightened, the calm smile still plastered to her face, until she began to look around. "Ah!" Mel screeched. "Where am I? I'm so confused! How did I get here?"
Kiara sighed and Kaze smirked at her. "Reminds me of someone…" Kaze mused sarcastically.
Kiara rolled her eyes at Kaze before addressing Mel, "You're in Feudal Japan, Mel."
"I'm in where?" Mel asked frantically. "I just fell through a rotted floor board in my living room while on my way out to sword lessons, how did I get here?"
"Who knows?" Kaze replied, shrugging. "Where were you?"
"My parents house in America," Mel replied.
"Subject change," Livy spoke up. "Why did you look down, Kaze-sama?"
Kaze frowned, trying to figure out what Livy was talking about, then nodded in realization. "You never know when some creepy pervert is going to shoot out of the ground," Kaze replied, shrugging.
"That happens often?" Koga asked Kiara as Kaze, Inu Yasha, and Sho began walking away.
"More often than you know," Kiara answered, Mel nodding in agreement. She sighed at a memory and followed Kaze with Mel and Koga trailing after her.