InuYasha Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Three Days In Tokyo ❯ No Home-Like Place ( Chapter 3 )

Standard disclaimers apply:

Inu Yasha and all related characters are property of Takahashi Rumiko and Viz.

Rurouni Kenshin and all related characters are property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and Shounen Jump.

Three Days In Tokyo

By

koinekid

Summary: After exposure to the stomach acid of an ogre carrying a shikon shard, Kagome and Inu Yasha pass through the Bone Eater's Well. Finding themselves in late nineteenth century Tokyo, they must defend Kagome's ancestors and the Sunset Shrine against a vicious attack. Fortunately, they receive help in the form of the legendary Hitokiri Battousai and his companions.

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Kagome and Inu Yasha must work together to free themselves when they find the well entrance sealed shut. A misunderstanding leads to a fight, and an angry Kagome makes a frightening discovery at home.

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Chapter 3

Inu Yasha cursed. He had hoped that it wouldn't be the new moon when he emerged into Kagome's time. No such luck. His hair was still black. He had no claws. His fangs were still retracted. And fiery spasms still shot through his calf and ankle.

"Ouch!"

"Kagome?" Usually shafts of moonlight shone through the cracks in the ancient wood of the well house, so that when Inu Yasha traveled to Kagome's time at night he could easily navigate his way out of the well. No moon light meant he was blind tonight. Worse, it meant he couldn't see Kagome.

"I'm up here," she said, "I hit my head on something."

Inu Yasha heard three quick raps.

"There are wooden planks blocking the well," Kagome said. "Why would jii-chan-?"

"Blocking it off?" Inu Yasha climbed the well ladder quickly despite his handicap. "Keh. That old man tried blocking it off before, remember? Didn't stop me then. Won't stop me now." He slammed his fist full force against the wooden boards. "Gahh!"

"Inu Yasha?"

Inu Yasha laid splayed out on the ground, having slipped off the rung and hit the well floor. "I'm fine!" he growled. "Damn weak human hand! If it weren't the new moon in your stupid time, I coulda broken through easy!"

"It's not my fault!" she called.

"Keh."

Searching for a way out, Kagome worked her fingers around the perimeter of the well covering. Inu Yasha in a not unusual display of masculine exuberance had proven force would not get them out. This would take a lighter touch. She caught her finger on a splinter, and placed it in her mouth to stanch the bleeding. She blinked, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. They weren't. The removal of the splinter had allowed in a tiny pinprick of light. Too faint for moonlight. A lantern, perhaps?

"Inu Yasha, I have an idea."

Moments later Inu Yasha found himself back on the well ladder, arms surrounding Kagome's waist, ensuring that her rocking and swaying did not send her hurtling to the ground. Digging around the splintered wood, first with her fingers and then with the end of tessaiga, she made a hole big enough to slip through the end of the re-sheathed sword. With one quarter of the sword's length through the hole, she gained sufficient leverage to begin prying loose one of the wooden planks. After one particularly hard thrust, the girl's hip slammed into Inu Yasha's face. He was momentarily thankful for the darkness that hid his blush.

Soon, the first plank loosened and clattered to the ground outside the well. Kagome nodded in satisfaction. The light she had seen indeed came from a hanging lantern. Why it hung inside the well house, she had no idea. But she was thankful for it. Soon, enough planks were removed to allow the pair to squeeze through.

Kagome took the lamp from it hanging place and held it up between her and Inu Yasha, casting their faces in a pale blue glow. Inu Yasha stared at the sheathed sword in his hands, his expression indignant. A frown replaced Kagome's smile. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He shoved the sword into the light and grunted.

"Gomen…but I don't get it."

"All your prying scratched up the sheath, ya stupid wench!"

"Oh. Is that all?"

"Is that-? What do you mean, `is that all?' That's a big deal."

Kagome shrugged. "We needed to get out of the well."

"You should still apologize!"

"If you say so," Kagome sighed, and then yawned. "Gomen nasai."

Inu Yasha grumbled, and then smiled wickedly. Trying his best to sound concerned, he pointed at her face and said, "Kagome, shine the light this way. There's something…"

The girl complied. "What's wrong?"

"There's something…"

"Yes?"

"On your face…"

She gulped. "Wh-what is it?"

"It's…"

"Yes?"

"I think it's…"

"Yes?"

"This is bad."

"WHAT IS IT, INU YASHA?"

"Dust."

"What?"

Inu Yasha ran a finger across her forehead, co-mingling the sweat and dust. He presented her with his stained forefinger. "You need to wash your face, Kagome. You're even uglier than usual." He laughed, at least until he saw her expression.

Kagome's face was red, but not from embarrassment. She turned, her hair whipping Inu Yasha's face. Her soft-soled shoes stomped the path to and up the stairs that led out of the well house. Inu Yasha took a step toward her. The girl stopped, turned, and met him with a glare that drove more daggers into his heart than any of the evening's injuries had driven into his ankle.

Inu Yasha didn't need his enhanced eyesight to tell that sweat was no longer the only liquid mingling with the dirt. As Kagome slammed shut the well house door, he did not follow. He slumped down beside the well feeling very, very low.

Kagome blew into her clasped hands to warm them. She couldn't remember a colder night at her family's shrine. She hadn't noticed the cold when she had been in the well house. Maybe, she thought wryly, because my blood was boiling. A sudden stiff wind compelled her to cross her arms and quicken her pace, but did not quell her grumbling.

Sliding the front door closed, Kagome forced herself to smile. She didn't want to seem upset in case someone was awake. Though judging by the lack of any discernable light, that seemed unlikely. For an instant, she felt like announcing her homecoming. But if she made too much noise, her family might fear they had a prowler. She could imagine jii-chan and Souta racing down the stairs-jii-chan with a handful of spell scrolls and Souta with his hand in the shape of a claw, squeaking "Sankontessou!"-ready to defend the ancestral home. In the end she decided to keep quiet. Satisfied she would be left alone, she dropped her smile and started toward the bathroom.

Opening the bathroom door, she stopped cold. She expected to find a soaking tub, perhaps still filled from Mama's soak, a stool on which to sit while washing, a toilet, and a stack of towels. Instead she found a folded up futon and beddings on the floor and painted scrolls on the wall. Moreover, the floor itself was different. Hardwood-not linoleum.

The kitchen proved no different as Kagome learned when she went downstairs. No refrigerator. No microwave. Even the table and chairs were missing. A counter top and stove were the only kitchen staples left. And the stove was not an electric range, but an ancient-looking hibachi.

She shook her head. Why would her family suddenly redecorate like this? Did Mama read one of those American decorating magazines that were now being imported and translated? Martha Stewart? Kagome gasped. What if her family had fallen into poverty while she had been gone? Perhaps jii-chan had needed to go to the hospital, and Mama had to sell some of their things to pay the bills. But wouldn't the shrine patrons have offered their support? And besides, that wouldn't explain the redecorated bathroom. An old tub and toilet would hardly begin to finance hospital bills. A worse thought struck her. What if the family had become so poor they had to sell the shrine? Wouldn't they have at least left her a letter at the well? Maybe they had, and the new owners had torn it up!

No! Impossible. Jii-chan would die before he allowed the shrine to be sold. Inu Yasha! She felt an urgent need to be near Inu Yasha. She started toward the door, but stopped. First, she had to find whether or not her fears were founded. She hadn't checked Mama, Souta, or jii-chan's rooms. Maybe she'd open their doors, and they'd still be there.

Kagome moved for the stairs, feet pounding the floor; she no longer cared whether she woke anyone. She would almost welcome a cranky mood from Souta, if only to put her fears to rest. She stopped cold at the bottom of the stairs, and heaved a relieved sigh. Her little brother stood at the top of the stairs. Shadows concealed all but the barest discernable features, but there was no mistaking those features. Thin and short with rumpled brown hair (stayed up too late with his newest PlayStation game, no doubt!). Who else could it be but her brother.

"Souta!" she called, and bounded up the stairs toward him.

"Halt!"

As Kagome neared, the boy shifted into a defensive posture, bringing a heretofore concealed staff to bear. Upon closer inspection, she could see that though the boy had a passing resemblance to Souta, her brother he was not.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my family's shrine?" the boy demanded.

"Grandson, what is that commotion?" asked a voice from down the hall. "An old man needs a peaceful slumber."

Careful not to let her gaze move from the boy and his weapon for too long, she glanced to the origin of the voice. An old man, possibly jii-chan's age, but definitely not jii-chan, hobbled out of a room and into the hall. Kagome clenched her fists. The room from which the old man had emerged was Mama's room.

She pushed past the boy, and lunged for the old man. "Why were you in Mama's room? I don't care how old you are, if you've hurt her-!"

Kagome hit the floor hard at the old man's feet, and let out a moan. She rubbed her shin, feeling the beginning of a welt.

"Grandson, you struck a girl"

"But, ojii-san, she was attacking you!" the boy replied, sniffling.

"I told you never to use my walking stick as a weapon, did I not?"

"Yes, ojii-san."

Didn't feel like a walking stick, Kagome thought. She tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing her attention instead on her mother's room. Her position allowed her a view into the room. Everything from the furniture to the artwork on the walls was different. If the room had ever been her mother's, it was hers no longer.

Slowly and with some difficulty, Kagome refocused her attention on the conversation. The boy, it seemed, was accusing her of being a succubus. Kagome almost laughed at that one, but laughing proved difficult. The old man wasn't buying it. Kagome tried to smile, to show her appreciation.

"I'm sure the girl's completely human, grandson," the old man said. "She's just a geisha."

Kagome's smile faded. Then she felt the hem of her skirt lift slightly.

The old man had reclaimed his walking stick, and now used it to lift the girl's skirt. She hoped his purpose was to examine her clothing. She'd hate to have to kill an old man, especially in front of a child.

"I'd say she's not a particularly successful geisha.," the old man continued, "if she cannot afford a complete kimono."

Kagome's face filled with color, and she scrambled to her feet and ran towards where her room should be.

"The succubus is getting away! Ojii-san, I need to borrow your walking stick again!"

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Note: Three chapters in and still no Kenshin. I apologize, and beg your patience. If all goes as planned, the rurouni may indeed make an appearance in the next chapter. And his friends will soon follow.

I tossed around the idea of having Inu Yasha and Kagome arrive in Tokyo during the Bakumatsu and meet the Hitokiri Battousai in all his gory glory. So far, the story is only hinting that Kagome and Inu Yasha have traveled to an era other than the modern one. It could just as easily be the 1860s as the 1870s. The widespread civil unrest of this earlier time period could provide an appropriate backdrop for the Sunset Shrine to be attacked. There could even be appearances of Sanosuke and the Seikihoutai, Kaoru (even her father), and others.

After much consideration, however, I have concluded that the mood set forth in the RK OVAs is much too dark for this crossover. The comedic elements are essential components of both the Inu Yasha and RK animes. I have tried to retain much of that comedy in this fanfic. Consequently, it seems best to set this fic during the anime. And I do look forward to scripting interactions between Kaoru and Kagome, seeing Ayame and Suzumi trying to rope Inu Yasha into playing with them, and seeing how the older wiser Kenshin and the brash young Sanosuke will play off of the various components of Inu Yasha's personality. I hope you'll enjoy reading these interactions as much as I'll enjoy writing them.

Until next time, excelsior!

--koinekid