InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Braving Mystical Worlds ❯ Chapter 6: Restlessness ( Chapter 6 )

Braving Mystical Worlds: Chapter 6: Restlessness

-Jasmine Fields

*****

Rogue: (calling over Kagura) Pssst! She's not here! (tip-toes into the room)

Kagura: (lazily yawning) It's about time Jazz shut her trap!

Sesshoumaru: Don't be so hard on her, wenches!

Inuyasha: (pulls out Tesseiga and aims it at Sesshou's throat) What are you taking her side for? First, she tries to kill you with chocolate, then she treats you like a...(begins to stutter) like a...a...

Kouga: A collared animal? (non-chalantly polishes his claws)

Inuyasha: Yesss - I mean -

Mystique: Kill the motor, Puppy-dog...It's not that big of a deal!

Sesshoumaru: (eyes narrow as he walks toward Inu) Inuyasha?

Inuyasha: (screaming) What do you want from me now?!?!

Sesshoumaru: I thought Jazz wrote you with out Tesseiga?

Inuyasha: Keh! She did. (crosses arms and tucks them into his haori sleeves)

Mystique: ......And???

Inuyasha: (ignoring the group)

Kouga: (taps foot impatiently) We haven't got all day for you to explain why she let you have it back!

Sesshoumaru: Maybe Jazz wants him to sic you with it after that stunt you pulled the other day...(claws lengthen as his hand curls around Tokijin)

Kouga: (attempting to appear innocent) Why do you suppose that?

Kagura: Wolf-boy...shut up. She doesn't have to explain to us...her personel life is her business. We're just her cast.

Mystique: (musing) About that guys: I'm not part of the cast anymore.

Rogue: Why not?!?! You always play a villainess - or pretend good-guy!

Mystique: Don't know...she wouldn't say.

Sesshoumaru: Well, you do have a foul stench about you -

Kouga: Not to mention you kidnapped a couple of her reviewers last chapter!

Kagura: (flicking her fans in admiration) I must commend you for the audacity you had...wish I thought of it....or mentioned them to Naraku.

Mystique: ....

Rogue: Yep, kaja1234 and libraflyter must be thrilled speechless.

*******

~Japan~Sengoku Jidai~

-POP-

"Geyaah! That was a rough landing, if ever I felt it, eh?!"

Kurt whined as he reached his hand around to rub off the soreness throbbing in his back side then moved to massage the stiffness out of his arms.

Sunset was shortly approaching nightfall and the creatures - even their shadows - of this alien world rattled his limited wary human senses warning him to exercise extreme caution. His brain was still addled from the images of what Shippo had called 'lesser demons' - gluttoness, mindless, barbaric, souless monsters that reveled in the torn flesh of vulnerable people, if you truly wanted to know his first impressions.

Apart from the deaths that they unwittingly fell witness to, the air seemed abnormally fresh, the grass green and wild, the trees lacking most of the twenty-first century's obsession over conventional orchards and perfectly manicured gardens that generally overflowed with what was credited as exotic foliage. The untame lands of this era were thriving with life he never dreamed possible.

"That wasn't too bad - well, all things considered...This is what? The seventh, eighth time that's happened since we left your girlfriend?"

"Rogue's not my girlfriend - she's my sister."

"It's peculiar that you don't look anything like each other."

"Long story short, it doesn't surprise me that any one thinks that....Where are we?"

Alarmed at the oddity of the blue colored human and abrupt change of topic, he made attempts to lighten his sour mood. Shippo looked around sniffing the breeze that gently wafted to his kit-sized, full demon sensing nose and pondered the region they were in.

He climbed atop Kurt's head, silently berating him self for not paying closer attention to his environment sooner. After his inner voice of conviction chastised him for breaking the number one rule of survival, his consciousness condemned him for the crime he committed - no small reprimand, mind you - as he sought his bearings for a direction that he could instinctually identify.

"This way."

Shippo pointed north-easterly with a surity that Kurt did not feel. They were lost - and he had deserted his sister - of all people - to the dangers of the Warring States era.

He hoped sincerely and prayed with the fervency of a devout dozen saints that he would discover Rogue healthy, unspoiled, and in one piece, since he currently entertained the thought that if he ever saw her again and she didn't try to kill him her self, he wouldn't be able to laugh with his other friends in quite the same manner ever again.

While she was a product of extreme circumstance and generally could be depended on, they'd kill him them selves if something treacherous happened to her.

Awe inspired respect for the wonders of the fifteen hundreds coupled with the urge to loosen the repressed places of his carefree heart that bade him to act upon his wreckless impulses - as he was accustomed to - unfurled the hedonistic nature possessing him once more as his thoughts vanquished to some lesser severity of punishment reigning upon him. The humor in this unlikely situation dawned and was fully realized.

On some basic plane - he understood that his own tomfoolery had landed them in this challenging predicament. After all, it was his idea to snoop around the hostess's home and invade their privacy, of sorts, by entering what seemed like an ordinary outdoor storage unit.

But on the flip side, Kitty's ability to phase through the well could not have been accidental, could it? There were always reasons for all things - consequences be damned - and hearts often unspared - from the cruelty of fate's intervention, weren't there? He hoped against hope that fate had purpose for his mutant friends, him self included, and that this new adventure was not a mockery of their condition.

Pulling out of his detached daze, he reinforced his living reality, thoughts scattered in the wind.

It was impossible - though not quite - that he was a breathing specimen of history in the making! He wasn't even sure that the other college students would believe it - except perhaps the mutants, in any case. He'd prove his integrity, though, when acing Japanese history next term. At least, he hoped he would.

Then again, he sighed, he might not even mention the ordeal. Logan would not be impressed and he'd have unwanted demerits for the rest of his life, he reasoned.

He had borrowed what was a shrine relic from the priest as the old man wove his tale. None of the Xavier students noticed his disappearing act as he smiling mischievously to him self and shoved the strangely labeled strips of paper into his pocket from the main residential living area, filing away questions forming at the front of his mind for later times - perhaps when they stopped to rest.

-POP-

"Damnit!"

"What's wrong?"

Frustration mounting, he kicked at a loose stone blocking his path.

Kick. Thud.

Kick...kick...tupple thud.

Kick. Kick. Kick...whapple...skip...skip...thud.

"I don't want to talk about it, really."

He focused on controlling the rage that was warped around his capricious thoughts.

"Well, you are human. I don't know for sure what's going on, but don't worry! You'll see that it'll work out."

He nearly scowled and almost glared at his flinching travel companion. He wanted to talk with the friends he was most familiar with - and would endure what ever ends he could to see them again. That, and he didn't think scaring off his tour guide in medival Japan was incredibly smart.

Hell, he speculated, when dark hints of late night set in, he'd gladly have allowed Lance to pound him senseless - or have him swallowed under an avalanche - or something - created by one of his earthquakes.

He'd gladly take one that registered ten points or so on the Richter just so he wouldn't feel the suffocating panic that occasionally resurfaced when flashes of nightmares ruled dark fears of loneliness early beset in childhood. He never believed he would fully recover from the tragedy of it all as the night ghouls searched out and haunted his memories.

"How long have we walked?"

"Hmm? A few hours, I'd say. I'll let you know if I see anything ahead."

"How much farther left?"

"Soon enough. I smell Sango and Miroku."

"Who're they?"

"Two of my human friends."

Kurt's stomach started to quease. He made the decision to take greeting them in stride.

*****

~Japan~Modern Era~

"But Scot! You have to listen to me for just a few minutes!"

She whirled around to catch his arm as he stormed up and down the streets of Tokyo searching for a transportation schedule.

"I sensed some thing - or rather, some one - at dinnertime! He looked like a mutant - with dog ears, or something! I was only curious with the thoughts that were projecting from his mind. He was searching for someone - like the granddaughter of that priest. Then there were these strange images of Kitty and Lance in a forest of a very surreal world. There was a blue-eyed Japanese man with Spock-like ears and what looked like clawed hands talking with them...At least that's what it looked like to me... A man wearing purple robes clutched a charmed staff of some sort and the woman he stood next to held a rather large boomerang. She owned a pet that looked like an odd double-tailed fire creature - "

He snapped her tirade off with a groan and stare.

"That's enough, Jean. This is no time for make-believe."

Sighing, she murmured, more to her self than any one, "I'm sure of what I saw...they didn't seem in danger....Wish you'd 'fess up with what's really going on, Scot."

"Jean, I'm sorry, I know this isn't a good time to bring this up...but I'm tired...really tired."

Concern and genuine confusion flicking across her face, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Of what?"

When he stubbornly refused to answer turning his back on her once more, they started back toward the subway station, and she asked again.

"Scot, what are you tired of?"

The temptation to peak into his mind flitted momentarily through her mind. She didn't relish sneaking into other peoples' minds and stealing their thoughts, demanding her way to fulfill her avid curiousity.

She wouldn't give in to the dark whispers of her mind and closed off the path her fearful depressing thoughts dragged her. The consequences might devastate their relationship...and there was no way that she would betray his confidence in such a dirty manner.

He looked upset with her, scowl in place, and she wanted to know the cause of his withdrawl. Questions surfaced and she reached out her hand to try to wash away his distress as she calmly touched his shoulder.

Shrugging it off, he boarded the sub-train and regarded her in absolute silence for the duration of the trip.

They manuvered their way with minimal difficulty back toward the shrine and he slowed his stride to a slow-paced stroll stopping at the base of the stairwell. He stared into her eyes, seemingly searching his soul to freely express and make her understand the words he reluctantly willed to speak.

"Us, Jean. I'm tired of us."

Saying those words, he curtly turned and started up the stairs to abandon her to her own thoughts.

He's breaking up with me?

Nearly hyperventilating at such news, she panicked the rest of the trip up the stairs. Her heart felt like lead-bricks had been dropped on it and life ended. They had been the best of friends ever since she could remember and a steady couple since middle school. The news hadn't been expected at all.

Did he find someone else?

Sifting through all their conversations, she was shocked to find that he hid his thoughts well from her. All their time with each other had just been cut off - and she wanted a real reason for the split - a girl whom she could be jealous over - a bad case of acne - anything, really, besides what little explanation he had given her in that brief moment when he lay bare his inner turmoil.

Was her love and friendship not enough? Had she become a vindictive witch or something? She reasoned that while parts of that may have been true, Scot wouldn't do that to her with out a true cause, would he?

Doubting that he would, she convinced her self that perhaps he was merely tired of the trip, already, and lashed out from the jet-lag that was felt by everyone. But then again, he'd never talked to her so harshly before, either.

She thought she knew him.

*****