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Inuyasha - Chapter One
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To say that she felt out of place would have been the understatement of the century.
Tokimi Lattner (Toki to her friends) stood at the gate, her wide eyes scanning over the bustling airport in a mixture of awe and unadulterated fear. So here she was. Tokyo. Toki’s mother, an immigrant to the United States from Japan, had decided it was time for her daughter to learn a bit about her heritage and promptly put her on a plane to Japan to stay with her aunt for an entire year. Toki wasn’t very pleased about that. As if leaving her friends and family behind in New York wasn’t bad enough, she also didn’t read Japanese as well as she would have liked. Speaking it was much easier, and understanding when others spoke to her wasn’t…well… too hard.
Where are they? she wondered, glancing out over the crowd in which she felt like an outsider. Sure she looked like she belonged. Attractive almond shaped eyes set in pale skin with chin length ebony hair framing the entire picture nicely. Against her mother’s wishes she had streaked her hair with crimson dye, resulting in a somewhat punk look that Toki felt suited her just fine. She was dressed in figure hugging flares, a cute baby tee that sported the monogram ‘Angel’ and a black leather jacket. All the trimmings of a typical eighteen year old. In the states anyways. Toki was a bit dismayed to see that most of the occupants of the airport wore suits or dress clothing. Business people.
“Toki! Toki!”
She turned at the sound of her name and smiled, waving wildly when she saw who had called out to her. “Kagome-chan!” The girls ran to each other and embraced, acting like best friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. In many ways that was true. Toki hadn’t seen her cousin Kagome since they were young. Kagome had been only five and Toki seven at the time. Since then they had exchanged emails almost everyday, staying in close contact even though they were separated by half of a planet. The reason Toki recognized her cousin from a picture sent to her a week before she departed on her journey. “It’s good to see you!” announced Toki, happy to hear that her Japanese was flowing so well.
“You too! Come, follow me. We have so much to talk about.”
“Yeah, like that flight over here,” replied Toki, rubbing her back in a gesture of discomfort. In truth she had slept most of the seventeen hour flight, but had awakened with horrible cramps in her arms and legs. Flying coach for that long was not a pleasant experience…AT ALL. “I thought I would never get here!”
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she offered, grabbing one of Toki’s bags from the luggage retrieval bay. “Something came up.”
Something about the way Kagome said that made Toki think that there was much more to the story than what she revealed. Toki pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she grabbed her other bags and followed Kagome through the throngs of people and out of the airport.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
“Oh wow,” murmured Toki, glancing at her surroundings. After a climb of stairs that Toki couldn’t describe as anything but horrific, she was confronted with the serene setting of the Sunset Shrine, home to the Higurashi family for generations. It seemed some shield that no mortal could see locked out the hustle and bustle of the city right down the stairs. “Kagome, its beautiful!”
“What?” asked Kagome, and Toki mentally kicked herself. She had forgotten that she wasn’t in New York anymore. Kagome probably spoke very little English, and what she had just said had gone completely ignored. “I just said how serene and beautiful your home is,” Toki repeated, this time in Japanese.
“I’m sure your home is just as impressive,” she replied, winking.
Toki thought of the two-bedroom apartment she shared with her parents and had to suppress a laugh. Instead, she shook her head and followed Kagome towards the house. Suddenly though, she stopped, her gaze slowly turning to meet a building. It was too big to be a storage shed, but too small to pass as a residence. It resembled a well house, something Toki had read about somewhere or another. The longer she started at it, the faster something grew within her. She couldn’t explain the strange feeling. It was as if the building hid some secret, some treasure that beckoned for her to come and seek it’s rewards.
“You can feel it as well?”
Toki jumped. In her focused state she hadn’t realized that Kagome had stepped up beside her. Toki turned to her cousin, trying to read her emotions, which looked to be a mixture of confusion and relief. “I think so, yeah. What is it?”
Kagome turned and studied Toki for a few moments, surprise on her face. After a beat, she laughed nervously. “Right now we have to get inside. Dinner is probably ready and mother will be angry if we don’t eat.”
Toki wanted to press her cousin for more details, but she decided against it. Besides she was more hungry than curious anyways. She nodded to Kagome and shouldered her bag, following the girl into her residence.
Hugs and kisses were exchanged between Toki, Mrs. Higurashi, Souta, and Grandfather Higurashi, who was still as energetic as when Toki had last seen him, so many years before. Dinner was fish and rice and delicious to Toki. Then again, anything would have been delicious to Toki, who had gotten sick from the food served during the flight.
“Thank you for a thoroughly satisfying meal,” commented Toki, when she had finished. She nodded respectfully and stood, grabbing her bags. Kagome followed suit, offering Toki a wave. “I’ll show you where your room is.”
“Thanks.”
As it turned out, the guest room was right next to Kagome’s bedroom, much to Toki’s delight. It looked like late night gossip and talk fests would be the norm. Toki laid her bags in the corner of the small bedroom then made her way to Kagome’s room, knocking on the doorframe of the open door before entering. “So, are you going to tell me about that well or what?”
Kagome studied her cousin then nodded, offering Toki a seat on the bed. “Well it all started about a year ago…”
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Toki blinked, unable to believe all that she had just heard. “So let me get this straight. You were pulled into the well by a centipede demon and found yourself in the warring states era of feudal Japan only to discover that you were the bearer of this shikon jewel thingy. Then you accidentally shattered it and spent almost a year collecting all of the jewel shards with a dog half-demon, a monk, a demon exterminator, a small animal that could transform, a fox demon, and a flea. You then on numerous occasions fought a demon that could take any form as well as the brother of the half-demon, who was full demon and wanted the blade that only his younger brother could wield. And somehow in all of this at least three different men fell in love with you, including the leader of a clan of wolf demond, but you had eyes for only one, the one who, after defeating the demon that could take any shape, tricked you into giving him the jewel so he could become a full demon and then sent you back to your own time and without the shikon thingy you’re stuck over here?”
Kagome nodded seriously. “Yeah, that’s about it. In a nutshell anyway.”
“Kagome-chan, have you fallen on your head recently? Or do you have a fever?” asked Toki. The only thing she could think of doing in the situation was laughing, and try as she might she couldn’t keep herself from doing so.
Kagome’s face turned bright red, embarrassment and annoyance coloring her cheeks. “Its TRUE!”
“All right, Kagome. Whatever you say,” replied Toki, between laughs. When she finally calmed down a bit she wiped a tear away from her face. “I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.”
“You don’t believe me?” asked Kagome.
Toki started to feel a bit bad for laughing at her cousin. But it just seemed to be such a ridiculously imaginative story. “Well Kagome, you have to admit, it does sound a bit farfetched. And you have no real way to prove it.”
“But you felt it? That strange aura coming from the well-house? And look!” Kagome jumped to her feet and went to the closet, withdrawing a bow and quiver that held only two arrows. She held them up for Toki to examine.
Toki admitted the arrows looked old, made in a fashion that had probably been dead for centuries. Would Kagome go so far to perpetuate a delusion as to get something like that specially made? Toki doubted it. Not the Kagome she knew. Silently, Toki stood and strode back into her room. She grabbed her small carry-on bag, which contained one change of clothing, some bathing supplies, a brush, and a small first aid kit that her mother had forced her to bring. Most importantly it held her digital camcorder. She wanted to get a closer look at the situation. “All right. Come on.” Toki returned and took a hold of Kagome’s hand, leading her out of the bedroom. They made there way quickly down the stairs and towards the door.
“Where you guys going?” asked Souta, looking up from his GameBoy.
“Out to the well house,” replied Toki without breaking stride.
Souta jumped up, running after them without missing an enemy on whatever game he was playing. “Why you going out there? Its not like Kagome can move through it anymore.”
“I want to see it for myself,” replied Toki. A minute later the trio was out in the warm night, the faint sound of traffic now their only background noise. When they reached the well house, Toki threw open the door and stepped inside.
The shed was old and musty, with a distinct mold smell in the air. Around the border of the room was a deck made of wood that was beginning to show its age. Toki took the five steps down from the deck almost reverently, approaching the well that stood in the middle of the dirt floor. She reached a hand out, placing it slowly onto the cool wood. Nothing jumped at her, nor attempted to grab the hand that she had placed so precariously close to the edge of the well. With a deep breath she leaned over, peering into the darkness.
“What do you see?” asked Souta.
For the first time since she had entered the old building, Toki remembered that she had done so with her two cousins in tow. She turned around to see Kagome and Souta at the top of the stairs, staring at her intently. She shook her head and laughed. “Nothing. What was I supposed to see?”
Kagome sighed and bowed her head. “I suppose you don’t believe me?”
Toki cocked her head to the side. “Lets go down and check it out.”
Kagome and Souta both joined her beside the well, but Souta was obviously not happy about it. Toki picked up on it almost immediately and she laughed. “Aww, what’s the matter Souta? Scared?”
Stubbornly he shook his head, but still avoided looking directly into the well. Silently, Toki positioned herself behind the boy and with a laugh gave him a push. Souta stumbled a step then hit the side and flipped over it. He landed with an audible thump about six or seven feet down. “Ow! That wasn’t funny!”
Even Kagome was hiding her smile. “Are you all right Souta?” she asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her question.
He sighed heavily, probably thinking very evil thoughts about both girls. “I’m fine. Dirty. I just took a shower, Toki!”
“Oh it can’t be that bad.” Toki left put her bag down and reached for the edge of the well. “Look out below!” she cried, then vaulted over the side and into the well. She saw Souta’s face when he realized what she was doing. She went to tackle him but instead of hitting the dirt floor of the well there was a bright flash of light and the two cousins seemed to fall through the dirt floor. Weird colors and lights surrounded them, then suddenly all was dark, and they were in a tangle at the bottom of the well.
“What the hell was that?” asked Toki, managing to free herself and stand. “Hey Kagome, did you see that?”
There was no response. Only the soft chirping of crickets could be heard. Toki waited for a minute longer, giving Souta a quick glance. “Kagome, if this is some sort of joke or something, it’s not funny.” Still nothing. Toki glanced around to see if there was something they could use to climb out of their current predicament. She saw some roots above her. “Hey Souta I’ll give you a boost then you have to help me up. Maybe we can find out what Kagome was thinking just leaving us down here.”
Toki put her hands together, intertwining the fingers to make a step for Souta to use. The kid was heavier than he looked. He quickly pulled himself up and over the side, vanishing from Toki’s sight. When he didn’t reappear right away Toki got worried. “Don’t you leave me too!”
“Uhm, Toki? I think we have a very serious problem here.” Souta returned with a length of rope, which Toki used to climb out. When she reached the top of the well she climbed out, brushing herself off and muttering curses the entire time. She was careful to speak them in English, so Souta didn’t pick up on anything. You just don’t swear in front of little kids. With a sigh, Toki stopped what she was doing and glanced up. “So what’s the prob…lem….”
The shrine was gone.
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