InuYasha Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Inu-Ra-Ken: Affections Touching Across Sense ❯ It Continues ( Chapter 6 )

They were the strangest collection of people either of the girls had ever seen. They had appeared in a loose simi-circle in front of the girls, bunched into groups of varying numbers. They all appeared to be oriental, but that was about the only thing they had in common with each other.

The two closest to the girls were perhaps the most normal looking of the group, although that wasn't saying much. A young, oriental boy with large pants and a yellow shirt was sprawled over a man who looked to be about twenty, also oriental, but with bright red hair. The man was also dressed in over-sized pants, designed about the same as the boy's with a pink shirt that did not exactly match his red hair. While the boy had a strange looking wooden sword, the man had the real thing, shiny and metal, clutched in his hand. As soon as the initial shock wore off, the red haired man struggled quickly to his feet, pulling the boy up with him. He held the sword in front of him in such a way that made it obvious he knew exactly how to use it.

Just behind and to the left of the strange pair was a young girl with blue hair and clothes even stranger than the first two had worn. She wore a large white shirt with yellow detailing around the edge, and black biker shorts. She also wore a scarf of sorts in her hair, with a very large, red ball pinned to the side of her head. Something about her gave off an almost mechanical feel. She was looking around in surprise, her eyes wide and frightened. Her left hand was held up at her side as though she was holding something.

The group beside her, though, was where things got very strange. Four people lay in a stunned pile, looking dusty and startled. The most normal of them was a young girl with dark hair, large eyes, wearing what looked like a school uniform. She was, in fact, quite possibly the most normal out of any of the group that had mysteriously appeared. Her clothes were modern and her hair was a normal color. Right next to her, though, was quite possibly the strangest of the entire group. He appeared to be a teenage boy but had dog ears and long, unnaturally white hair. His clothes were huge and bright red. And he had fangs. Next to him was a boy wearing fur and another boy wearing black and purple robes.

Then, just the left of those four, was…. Was it? Yes. It was a panda. With a young girl tossed over it's shoulder. The girl was struggling silently to get down.

In fact, everyone was silent. No one made a sound, just looked around in fascination, taking in their surroundings and who they were surrounded by. Darkness slowly grew around the group as they studied each other. The people sprawled across the ground untangled themselves and stood, but every movement was slow and calculated. No one wanted to make any sudden moves. The panda put the girl down.

After a long, uncomfortable pause, Rachel reluctantly broke the silence.

"So… what now?"

No one replied, but every eye focused sharply on her as she spoke. She swallowed a little nervously.

"Um, I'm getting a leg cramp," Natalie finally said, shifting uncomfortably. "Will anyone go spastic and jump me if I move?" Neither of the girls had moved a muscle since the appearance of the strange group.

Still no reply.

"I'll take that as a no…" She climbed a little painfully to her feet. The entire group shifted slightly, as if startled by the movement.

"Hey!" Rachel exclaimed, studying the figures carefully. "I don't think they can understand us. They weren't expecting you to move."

"Really?" Natalie considered the statement for a moment, then hesitated before shrugging and calling out, "Hey, can you guys understand us?"

The figures glanced around at each other, as if checking to see if anyone had understood.

"Nani?" the young boy with dark hair finally called over. The red haired man, sword still held carefully in front of him, put an arm protectively around the boy as he spoke.

"Nani?" the brown haired girl said in surprise. "That's Japanese for `what'."

"Japanese? So they're not space aliens? Darn… that would have been cool."

"Eh… it's still pretty cool. They appeared out of nowhere with a flash of light and a boom."

"Good point. That was even better than Star Trek."

"And for you, that's quite an admission-Hey, look!"

The man dressed in black and purple robes walked forward a few steps. He held his hands out in a way that universally meant, "Look, I'm not armed." It would have been comforting if it had not been for the large golden staff he held in one hand that was thick and sturdy enough to clearly say, "Look, I am armed after all." As the man moved forward he stepped into a pool of dim light given off by a street lamp and the girls got a good look at him, purple robes and all.

"Oh, he's defiantly not from around here," Rachel observed.

"Boccu wa Miroku," the man said, bowing in greeting. His voice was deep and resonating.

"`I am Miroku'," the dark haired girl translated quickly.

The two girls waited tensely for the man's next words. He said nothing. In fact, he seemed to be waiting for something. He fixed them with an expectant gaze.

"Oh, right! How rude!" the blonde haired girl exclaimed suddenly. "This isn't television. We're supposed to talk back! Ehh… how do you say, `I am'?"

"Boccu wa-I think."

"Got it. Um, boccu wa Rachel." After a second's hesitation she imitated the man's bow. "And this is my friend Natalie-I mean… How do you say `This is my friend'?"

Natalie shrugged helplessly. "I only know a few phrases. Um… comenisie," she apologized to the man. He smiled reassuringly. There was another pause.

"Ehh… Sprechen Sie Deutch?" Rachel finally asked.

"What, like you do?" Natalie laughed.

"Well, you say something, then!"

"What do you want me to say? I've used up almost half my already-questionable vocabulary already! Unless you want me to start cursing at them, I'm fresh out of Japanese!"

"All right, well what do you suggest we-hey! What's he up to?"

The purple robed man had the side of his hand held up to his face and his head bowed slightly. He was murmuring softly under his breath.

"It looks like he's praying," Natalie observed in a whisper, not wanting to disturb him.

As he spoke, a soft breeze blew up around the group. It brought with it a tingling sensation that made everyone suddenly feel the need to rub their ears. After a moment the man was silent. As he lowered his hand the breeze stopped.

"Whoa," Rachel exclaimed, still rubbing her ears. "What was that?"

"Just a little spell," the man replied.

Both girls jumped. "So you do speak English?" Natalie asked in surprise.

"No. I've never even heard of it."

"Coulda' fooled me!"

"I simply cast a spell to allow us to understand each other."

"Really? Did you cast it on everyone? Can we all understand each other now?" Rachel glanced around and noticed several heads nodding in reply. Other than that, no one moved. Instead they all watched carefully to see what would happen. Well… everyone except the girl with the red ball in her hair. She was playing with a squirrel.

"Yes, we should all be able to understand each other now."

"Well, are we speaking Japanese or English?"

"Both. Neither. We are speaking as we always have. We can simply understand each other now."

"Wow. Neat! Could you leave this spell on me for my German class?" Rachel asked hopefully.

Before the man could reply he was interrupted by an annoyed sounding snarl of a voice.

"Hey, Miroku. That's enough chit-chat! Make the witches tell us why they brought us here, already! Or better yet, make them send us back!"

It was the boy with dog ears that spoke. Both girls stared at him in wonder, a little surprised that he spoke rather than barked.

"Calm down, InuYasha," the man replied calmly, not bothering to turn and look at the strange boy as he spoke. "I was working up to that."

"Well work faster, you stupid monk!"

The monk started to reply, but was interrupted. The shock of hearing the dog eared boy speak had worn off, and what had actually been said sunk in.

"Hey, what does dog boy mean, `Make us send you back'?" Natalie demanded.

"Yeah!" Rachel agreed.

"Dog boy?!!" InuYasha roared angrily. He was ignored.

"Were you not the ones who brought us here?" Miroku asked.

"Uh. No. Definitely not," Natalie replied quickly. "Did you notice how we couldn't even do anything to break the language barrier?"

"I had thought of that," the monk replied. He stood and thought for a minute. "…Well…" he finally said. "…Do you have any idea who did bring us here?"

"That would be a no," Rachel replied. "Sorry."

"Well, never mind. It's obviously not your fault. You both seem like very nice girls. I seriously doubt either of you would do anything like this. In fact, that reminds me… there's a question I'd rather like to ask both of you…"

"Don't do it, Miroku," the dark haired girl in the school uniform called over.

Miroku ignored her. Instead he suddenly reached out and grabbed Rachel by the hand, holding it in both of his own. Both Rachel and Natalie started at the movement, jumping back a step. Miroku firmly kept his grip on Rachel's hand.

"Would either of you consider… bearing my child?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. The girl in the school uniform slapped a hand to her forehead with a groan.

"Um… are you serious?"

"Of course."

"Okay…" Rachel replied slowly. "…Okay… I'm--I'm going to have to go with no….but it's very sweet of you to ask………I think……."

"Uh, yeah, same here," Natalie replied. There was a pause. "So…" Natalie continued, sounding uncomfortable. "Do you think you could remove your hand from my ass now?"

Rachel looked down in surprise and then laughed out loud as she realized the monk was, in fact, groping her friend's ass. The look Natalie shot her was a reminder that laughter was probably not the best response to the situation. She struggled to come up with a more appropriate reaction and, as the monk was ignoring Natalie's request to move his hand, could think of only one. She slapped him hard across the face.

Now it was the monk's turn to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Natalie demanded.

The monk removed his hand a little ashamedly from her rear-end and massaged the red mark on his face. "Apparently `English' girls are not so different from Japanese girls…"

"I don't believe that was very polite, degozario," a rather feminine voice said from behind Miroku. All three turned to see who had spoken. It was the man with the sword and the red hair.

"It wasn't?" Miroku asked with an innocent smile.

"No."

Miroku's smile did not waver. "Oh."

"Um…" the girl in the school uniform said, taking a few steps forward. InuYasha followed her protectively. "Are we really in England?" She stared at the two girls hopefully, hands clasped in front of her in excitement.

"Well, no" Natalie replied apologetically.

The girl's face fell.

"We're in America."

The smile immediately reappeared, possibly larger than it had been before. "America? Really? I've always wanted to visit America! Are we in New York? Or Los Angeles?"

"No. Not even close. This is Montevallo. You won't have heard of it."

"Montevallo? Where is that?"

"In Alabama."

"Alabama?"

"Uh, yeah. Alabama. That's the name of the state we're in."

"Oh. Is Alabama close to New York?"

"No. Sorry."

She shrugged. "That's okay. It's still America!" She was still smiling brightly, but it was obvious she was a little disappointed that they weren't in New York.

"Yeah, and hey! The crime rate is lower around here, anyway!" Natalie assured her cheerfully.

"Exactly," Rachel agreed. "Of course, there are also less plays to go to and no big statues in the harbor… heck, there's not even a harbor! But we do have a very nice coffee shop."

"That's nice," the girl said with a laugh. "I'm sure it's wonderful here."

"Uh…yeah, it's okay. Hey, by the way, what's your name?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, right! I'm Kagome," she replied with a little bow. "And this is InuYasha and Koga," she continued, pointing to each respectively. "Miroku you've already met…"

"Yes…"

"I'm afraid I don't know any of these other people…"

She glanced over at the man who had spoken earlier expectantly.

He smiled and, after a quick glance around, sheathed his sword. "I am Kenshin Himura, a wanderer," he said calmly, taking a few steps forward. "And this is Yahiko." Kenshin still had a hand placed protectively on the boy's shoulder, but from the expression on the boy's face, it was clear he felt no need for protection. In fact, he looked ready to jump anyone who moved too suddenly and pound them with his wooden stick.

"Hi," Rachel greeted them cheerfully.

"Hello," Kenshin responded politely.

"Um…" Natalie said slowly, her gaze fixed on the girl with the red ball in her hair. "Do you know that girl? The one nuzzling the squirrel?"

Every eye was immediately fixed on the girl. She seemed oblivious to her surroundings and was happily playing with a group of squirrels. They were climbing all over her.

"Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly," she started to sing, dancing from one foot to the other.

"No, degozario. I don't know her."

Rachel and Natalie glanced at each other and then shrugged helplessly. The girl seemed in no hurry to introduce herself and neither of the girls were feeling brave enough to walk up to her yet.

"So…" Rachel finally said, glancing around the group. "That just leaves the girl with the…panda…"

There was a pause. "Uhhhh… the girl finally said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. She glanced at the panda for guidance. "I'm Ranma Satome…"

"Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly," the other girl continued to sing.

"Hi, Ranma," Rachel said a little lamely. What else was there to say? Wait! There was one obvious question…

"So what's with the panda?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, looking uncertain about what to say. Then a sour expression covered her face. She crossed her arms deftly in front of her. "Mind your own damn business!"

Eyebrows went up around the group. Rachel held her hands up calmingly. "It's okay…you don't have to explain the panda…

"Although I'd certainly prefer it if you would…" Natalie added.

"Yeah? Well I'd certainly prefer it if you would explain what the hell we're all doing here! That monk might believe you right away when you say you don't know, but I don't!"

"Hey!" Natalie snapped, her patience when the bad tempered young girl wearing thin. "We don't know how you got here! Don't call us liars! We were just sitting here, minding our own business, avoiding studying like good little students, when you all just suddenly appeared in the middle of the quad looking like you're dressed up for Halloween!" Suddenly, Natalie broke off, gasping in sudden realization. "That's it, isn't it? This is some sort of Halloween prank! Did Sally put you all up to this? How did you manage it? It really looked just like you materialized out of thin air!"

She peered around into the deepening darkness, searching for laughing faces behind bushes or possibly even someone videotaping the whole scene.

"This whole thing is pretty elaborate! Did Sally get Candied Camera out here or something?"

No one responded. In fact, they all looked thoroughly confused.

"Um… Natalie? I think this is beyond even the great and powerful Candid Camera." Rachel said gently to her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from running off to look for the camera crew.

Natalie stared at her for a moment, thinking, and then sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"To bad, though. It would have been cool to be on Candid Camera…" Rachel glanced over at all the people watching her talk. "Of course, it also would have solved this problem…"

"Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly, Squirre-ly!!"

"Okay, that's it!" the one named Koga roared suddenly, startling everyone. With insane speed, he darted over to the singing girl and grabbed her by the arm. The squirrels scattered in every direction and the girl abruptly stopped her song. She stared at the boy holding her arm with wide, surprised eyes.

"Stop singing," he growled.

"I already stopped singing," she replied calmly. "Why did you chase the squirrelies away?"

"It was either chase them away or eat them. Which would you rather I have done?"

"Why would you eat the squirrelies? They don't taste good."
"How do you know? Did you eat one?"

"Someone told me."

"Well, I like squirrelies. I like em' a lot."

"Me too!"

"For dinner."

The girl eyes welled with tears. "Don't eat the squirrleies!" she yelled.

"What would you do if I did?"

Her lower lip began to tremble.

"Leave her alone, Koga," InuYasha growled.

"You stickin' up for a machine, dog-breath?"

"I ain't sticking up for no one, tail-sniffer. I'm just sick of hearing your ugly voice."

"Um… machine?" Rachel asked timidly as the two boys squared off. She was ignored.

"You ready for this, mutt-face?"

"Prepare to die, wolf-boy!"

"Hey! No killing on school grounds!" Natalie yelled.

Koga lunged at InuYasha, fist cocked back and ready to hit.

"Sit boy!" Kagome yelled, just before impact.

InuYasha hit the ground with a yell and Koga flew harmlessly over him, tripping and ending up face first in the dirt as well.

Both scrambled quickly to their feet, turning to glare at Kagome.

"You're not allowed to fight on school grounds," she told them calmly.

"Who says these are school grounds?" InuYasha demanded, yanking in annoyance at the necklace that had forced him to sit.

"She did," Kagome replied, pointing at Natalie.

"So what?" Koga roared. "I don't care if these are holy grounds. I'm going to take that worthless half-breed's head off!"

Kagome put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Stop fighting or when we get back I'll have Kyade make a necklace for you!"

That seemed to make the boy stop and think. He glowered a Kagome for a moment, but she didn't back down. Finally, with a humph he turned away from both Kagome and InuYasha, crossing his arms angrily in front of him.

"Sheish," Kagome muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Um, excuse me…" Rachel said quickly before the arguing could begin again. "Why did you call that girl a machine?"

Koga shot her a disdainful glance and stuck his nose up in the air. Rachel raised her eyebrow at the snub.

"Koga…" Kagome threatened.

Koga hesitated, then shrugged. "I called her a machine because she is a machine. Does that help?"

"What makes you say she's a machine?"

"She smells like Kagome's bike."

"Excuse me?"

Koga growled in annoyance. "She's not human," he said slowly and clearly, as if talking to a small child. "She's made out of the same sort of rock as Kagome's bike. Kagome calls her bike a machine. So the girl's a machine. Got that?" His tone made it clear he had no intention of explaining again, whether Rachel got it or not.

"She's made out of rock?" Natalie asked, staring at the girl.

"Metal," Kagome explained quickly. "My bike's made out of metal."

Rachel blinked, not really understanding but deciding to go with it anyway. She turned to the supposedly-metal girl, who was looking around mournfully for her lost squirrels. "Are you made of metal?"

"What?"

Her voice was so young and innocent Rachel found herself talking to the girl as if she were a small child.

"Are you made of something besides…well…whatever people are made of?" She felt a bit silly asking the question. How could this girl possibly be made of metal? Of course, there were those joints on her upper arms that looked awfully like pieces of metal coming together…

"What are people made of?"

"Well…skin and bones and muscle…"

"Oh."

"Well….?"

"Well, what?"

Rachel sighed. "Okay, you know what? There's an easier way to do this." She reached out and put a hand on the girl's arm. Then gasped.

"He's right! She's made of metal!" She motioned Natalie over. "Feel her arm and tell me I'm crazy!"

Natalie complied.

"You're crazy."

"Really?! She's not made of metal?!!"

"No, she is. But your sanity is a completely separate matter."

Rachel smacked her on the arm. "This is nothing to joke about!"

"Sure it is. Because if I'm not laughing, I'm going to be crying."

"Okay, valid point."

The metal girl was looking mildly confused. "Are you not a machine?"

"Well…" Natalie replied slowly. "No….I'm not…."

"Me either," Rachel added.

"But you are girls?"

An insulted look crossed both girls' faces. "Yes, we're girls!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Then you're like Lorili?"

There was a pause.

"Lorili?"

"Yes," the metal girl replied. Natalie and Rachel waited, but it was clear no further explanation was forthcoming.

"Uh…" Rachel finally said. "Sure, why not? We're like Lorili."

"Wow!"

"So…what's your name?" Natalie asked the girl.

"Lime!"

"Lime, huh? That's a nice name." Natalie was talking to the girl as if she were a young child, too.

"I hate to interrupt, degozarios, but I think we need to move to a less public place," Kenshin said before Lime could reply.

Rachel looked back at the red haired man and instantly understood what he was talking about. A small group of on-lookers had gathered and they were, from what she could see in the dim light, looking very curious.

"Uh, hi guys," she called over with forced casualness. "We're just rehearsing a Halloween play. What do you think of the costumes?"

There were murmurings of approval from the group.

"Yeah…" she waited a moment, but no one in the crowd moved to leave. "Okay," she finally continued. "Rehearsal's over. Nothing to see here. Move it along." She shoed them quickly away and then hurried back to Natalie's side. "What do we do now?" she demanded in an urgent whisper. The shock of what had happened was starting to wear off and the crowd of cartoonishly strange characters was beginning to get restless.

"Well…" Natalie whispered back, "we could always run…"

Rachel looked around at the unusual group, considering the option carefully. Natalie was right. This wasn't their responsibility. They had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Come to think of it, her mom had told her about being outside after dark on a college campus. She had just never mentioned that this sort of thing might happen…

"We could run…" Rachel agreed slowly, not bothering to whisper quite so softly this time. The others were beginning to converse with each other quite loudly.

"What do you mean you don't think there's any way you can get us home, you worthless monk?! What good are you then?"

"Calm down, InuYasha. We'll get back."

"Hey!! Leave my panda alone!"

"Pan-da, pan-da, pan-da!"

"No, seriously. Get your weird, metal hands off him!"

"Kenshin, WHAT is going on? Do you think Karu's food is causing us to hallucinate again?"

"This is all your fault, you stupid half-breed!"

"What?! How do you figure that, wolf boy?!"

"Hey, look! Panda's aren't built for carrying a person's entire weight on their head, okay? Get down!"

Rachel and Natalie watched the confusion growing around them.

"You know what?" Natalie finally said, carefully sidestepping as InuYasha's inert form was thrown by her.

"What?"

"I don't think these guys are going to last five minutes without us. If we don't help them they're going to end up either in jail, dead or staring in their own hit musical-comedy by the end of the night."

"Yeah. And none of those options sound particularly appealing….besides, it's a good excuse to avoid studying."

"So, we help them?"

Rachel hesitated, taking one more look at the growing chaos around her. Then she grinned. "Yeah, we do. And I think it's definitely going to be an adventure."