InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A New Twist ❯ Telling the Truth ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha or any of the Inu-Yasha characters or plots. What I do own is my characters I add in.

 

Chapter two

 

Ether sighed softly as she slowly unpacked her few belongings. Last night had been horrible at first. That strange boy Inu-Yasha had yelled at her and then her new grandfather had started trying to banish him with his useless sutras. Not only that, but Mrs. Higurashi had told Ether to start calling her mom, which to be honest she didn't mind, it just confused her quite a bit. She had met Sota, called the orphanage, and had tried to ignore the yelling issuing from Kagome and Inu-Yasha. By the time her new mother had showed her to her new room, which had been the guest room, she was ready to collapse into the bed and cry. If the orphanage hadn't pushed her to go to her family, she would have been content to stay at the orphanage and or gone with one of the families that had been interested in her. She sat down on her bed, clutching a small, old, patched dragon plushy that her real mother had given her before she had died. “What am I going to do?” she whispered to the dragon. It gazed up at her blankly with its coal black button eyes. She smiled and ran a thumb over an eye to make it shine. There was a knock on the door and she quickly jumped up. She hid her dragon behind her back as the door opened slowly.

 

“Ether? It's time for breakfast,” Kagome stuck her head through the door and smiled. She could see Ether was hiding something but she wouldn't be nosy. Whatever it was, it must have been important to Ether. Mom had told the whole family, including Inu-Yasha that they were to make Ether feel welcome. Kagome pushed the door open all the way and then walked down the hall. She would give Ether some time by herself for a moment before breakfast. Kagome sighed; she could tell that Ether was still upset from last night. She had been just fine with welcoming her new sister into the family, but Inu-Yasha had been a pig headed idiot and had yelled about trusting her.

 

“Stupid Inu-Yasha,” She mumbled, pushing back a strand of hair. She didn't find anything wrong with Ether, though it had been rather surprising that she would show up now of all times. Why hadn't anyone from the orphanage or the government notified them of Ether earlier? Or had sent her to them sooner? Like when she was a little kid? What had caused the orphanage to send Ether to them now?

 

Kagome frowned. Now that Ether was here, they would have to tell Ether about her time traveling. Mom had mentioned about going to the school today to enroll her. Mom had also mentioned getting Ether some testing to find out where she was in academics. She shook her head; Ether would have enough going for her to keep her busy for awhile.

 

Kagome walked into the kitchen and the first thing she saw was Inu-Yasha sulking in his chair. “Oh come on! I don't think Ether is all that bad!” Kagome said exasperated. She couldn't figure out why Inu-Yasha was so upset.

 

Inu-Yasha snorted softly, but refused to look at Kagome. He hadn't told her how Ether's scent made him confused. He could have sworn she was a hanyo like him, except her scent was too faint. In fact he hadn't been able to tell. He had thought she was for a while, but he didn't sense the power of a half-demon around her. “Feh,” he couldn't figure it out. One moment he could clearly sense she was a half-demon, her scent strongly indicating it, and the next he was just confused. He needed to get closer to Ether to figure out what was going on. “Just watch her.” He also didn't trust her for another reason. When she had first seen him she did cringe, but not because of his appearance. It was almost like she was used to people looking like him. Why hadn't she acted like a normal human, from the present or the past, and screamed? The only answer was that she had to be a demon, or knew a bunch of demons, or something. He ground his teeth irritated, all this thinking and theorizing was making his head hurt. All he knew was if there were a bunch of demons in this time then it wasn't as safe for Kagome as he had thought it was.

 

“Inu-Yasha! Stop acting like she is the enemy! We're trying to make her feel welcome here.” Kagome said as she sat heavily.

 

Ether had been on the stairs, listening to the whole thing. It hadn't been hard for her to hear what was being said. She was standing at the top of the stairs when they had started arguing, and arguing loudly. `Does he really think I'm his enemy?' she wondered sadly. It hurt her to know that she wasn't trusted. But then again she wasn't telling them the whole truth. She fingered a small lump under her shirt, her eyes glazed over with distant thoughts.

 

*Flash Back*

 

“Ether, in this world there will be many people who will not accept you for who you are.” Cassandra said softly, holding her small daughter. She traced her finger along a swirl of golden scales on her daughter's cheek. “So I'm going to give you something that will help protect you.” She pulled out a small locket with a dragon inscribed on the front. It was a silver oval shaped locket and the dragon was gold. The dragon was sideways and it had wings and forelegs clawing at the air. The tail was long and curled in on it's self in a Celtic knot.

 

Ether grinned and held the locket in her small palm. “It's pretty mommy.” She said in excitement as she pulled the chain over her head. The chain was a little to long, but that would be fixed when Ether grew. Ether looked at the locket closely, it looked like there were little runes on the outer edges of the locket, but they were too small to really make out without getting a headache from staring so hard.

 

“Keep it with you always Ether. Never take it off.” Cassandra warned, pressing Ether's nose with affection. She watched as Ether's scales faded and her claws retracted. “My light, you'll have a long and lonely road before you find happiness.” She whispered, her eyes closing in exhaustion.

 

Ether yawned and curled up on her mothers lap, unaware of her mother's deadly illness.

 

*End flashback*

 

Ether sighed and straightened, forcing herself to dig up her courage to go into the kitchen with a shy smile. “Um…morning,” She said in a soft voice. She still didn't know how her new family would react to her secret.

 

Kagome smiled and patted a seat next to her and away from Inu-Yasha. “Come sit next to me Ether.”

Sota jumped up and grinned, grabbing Ether's hand. “No sit by me! Do you like games? How about sports?” Sota dragged Ether to a seat next to him and then sat down asking random questions about herself. She couldn't help but smile as he continued rattling off more and more questions. She couldn't keep track of what he was asking after a minute.

 

Ether was stunned that both her sister and her brother had wanted her to sit with them. It confused her, but it made her happy. When he took a second to breathe in she quickly answered the questions she could remember. “Thank you. I like games very much; back at the orphanage we had a play station in the game room.” She started, trying to answer his questions before he asked more. “I like some sports, and I guess I am athletic…but I prefer to swim.”

 

Sota nodded and then started eating hurriedly. He wanted to show Ether everything in their home and the shrine! Maybe he could even con her and Kagome into a game of hide and seek. Inu-Yasha would have to sit out since he would cheat and use his youkai sense to find them. Ether was closer in age to him then Kagome was and he thought that maybe he would be able to hang out with her more since Kagome was always gone.

 

Kagome laughed and ate much slower then Sota was. She had some sense not to stuff herself. She glanced at the front door and sighed mentally, they would have to tell her about the time traveling, and Inu-Yasha wasn't going to wait another day for Kagome to get to know Ether.

 

Inu-Yasha was able to watch Ether out of the corner of his eye as he ate the food that Mrs. Higurashi had made. He tried to focus on keeping an eye on Ether, but eventually the delicious food took over his thought process and began gorging himself as fast as Sota was.

 

Mrs. Higurashi smiled. It seemed both Sota and Kagome wanted Ether to be around. Sota was just excited to have some one to play with while Kagome was happy to have a sister. She could imagine the two girls out shopping together, doing make up together, talking about boys, hanging out together. It seemed like a great dream. She smiled and looked at Ether, who looked as if she was in a happy daze. `It must be a big change,' she thought to herself. `She didn't have any family yesterday. Now she has a mother, a sister, a brother, and a grandfather' She thought sadly.

 

Breakfast went be rather fast and then it was time for Kagome to tell Ether about her time traveling. Mrs. Higurashi got everyone together in the living room. Inu-Yasha was watching Ether closely, his suspicious amber eyes never leaving her. He was studying her body language, watching for any suspicious or hostile movements. He knew she was a half-demon. During breakfast he had sensed it now and then. But it was so faint that he was getting confused about it. He glowered and his ear twitched. It irritated him that he couldn't figure her out. Either she was a hanyo or she wasn't. At least she hadn't started rubbing his ears like Kagome, Sota, and Mrs. Higurashi had all done when they had first met him.

 

Ether was nervous, if she was ever going to tell them all about who she really was, now would be the time. Just as Kagome was about to say something after they were all seated, Ether blurted out the truth of who she was. “I'm not human.” She said shivering in fright that they would reject her.

 

Inu-Yasha broke out in a grin, he knew it! “I knew it!” he cried out with a laugh. He wasn't the most creative thinker in the world and was unable to think of something better to say. He stopped when Kagome sent him an icy glare.

 

Kagome frowned and laid a hand on Ether's shoulder. “What do you mean you're not human? You look and feel very much human.” She couldn't sense anything different about her. Kagome frowned and concentrated as much as she could with what little training she had. Even though she couldn't find anything wrong with Ether, she could faintly begin to see a small pulsing light beneath Ether's shirt. “What's that?” She asked, pointing to the small lump under Ether's shirt now that had broken her concentration. The glowing faded slowly from her vision.

 

Ether opened her eyes and looked around nervously. Mrs. Higurashi wasn't in a terrible shock, but she was surprised. Sota on the other hand had broken out grinning. Grandpa was just….shocked and surprised. After all, Ether's father had been his son. He couldn't fathom how his flesh and blood had sired a demon. “Well…” She reached under her shirt and pulled out her locket. “Well actually I'm human as long as I wear this.” She said, reaching around to the back of her neck to unhook the chain. She pulled it off and the swirl of scales scrawled across her cheek, her nails extended into short claws, her canines grew into fangs, her ears pointed, and a gold streak contrasted against her black hair. She closed her eyes, waiting for the dreadful voices from her nightmares to tell her to get out and never return.

 

Those words never came. Instead she heard gasps from her new family and opened her eyes slowly. They were in shock, even the proud and egotistical Inu-Yasha. Perhaps they had expected her to have dog ears like Inu-Yasha? How was she supposed to know? She couldn't read minds. She picked at her shirt carefully. She was waiting for those shrieks that she always imagined would come.

 

 

Kagome laughed suddenly, tears building in her eyes as the laughs raked her body. Now her having to tell Ether that she was a priestess who traveled to the past didn't seem so bad. “Wow, this is…so…so,”

 

“Normal?” Mrs. Higurashi said helpfully. She couldn't help but grin as well. They were all so used to demons and strange things because of Kagome's time traveling that finding out Ether was half-demon didn't seem so bad.

 

Kagome frowned. “Still…I knew there had to be some demons in this time, but I never expected to meet one…or that my half-sister would be one,” Kagome paused considering her own words. “Or that I even had a half-sister for that matter!” She said, thinking mostly to herself.

 

“Well I remember mom telling me once that most demons live in places like Ireland, Scotland, America, and in certain countries in Europe. Major demon families own large pieces of land that are protected by shielding spells to keep short sighted humans away” Ether said, trying to be helpful. “There are a few demons in Japan, I've met them,” of course she didn't mention that the ones she had met were looking into adopting her. “Also a great deal of demons have charms like my locket,” Ether said holding her locket out for them to look at it. “To disguise themselves.”

 

Kagome sighed and thought for a moment, so that would explain why she wasn't running into so many demons in this day and age. “Right then,” She smiled and sat back. “My turn to tell you something, I'm a priestess that travels through time back to Feudal Japan to help hunt shards of the Shikon Jewel.” She said with a very calm smile.

 

Ether froze and looked at her confused and surprised. She knew her grandpa was a priest, but she would never have guessed Kagome was a priestess. “Wait, time travel? How?” Ether asked. Perhaps if she was able to go back in time to before her mother had died, she could save her. The disease that had killed her mother was now curable. Hope flared through her as she thought about what it would be like to see her mother living and breathing again.

 

Kagome saw that look of interest. “It's through the well out back. The only thing is, it can only go back 500 years.” She said. She noticed how Ether looked really sad when she said the well only went back 500 years. “It's always been like that.” Kagome added. She then stood up and nodded to Inu-Yasha. “The reason why I told you today is because I have to go back and help Inu-Yasha again. It's a deal we worked out. I come back home for three days and then I travel with him and my friends again.”

 

Ether nodded understandingly. Now she was interested though, she was upset that she would be unable to go back to save her mother, but maybe she could travel with her sister to help out. “Can I come?” she asked hopefully. It would be a great chance to meet Kagome's friends and spend some time with her.

 

“You can't go! I want you to stay here and play with me!” Sota cried out.

 

Ether smiled sadly, she had forgotten Sota. “That's right; I did say I would play didn't I?”

 

An hour later Ether was thinking about what she had witnessed as Inu-Yasha and Kagome had jumped into the well. There had been a flash of light and then they were gone. She had felt the increase of magic swirl around her, almost tugging her and teasing her to jump into the well as well, but it dissipated when the light faded. She frowned as Sota beat her at the racing game.

 

“You've got to do better then that!” he taunted her. Ether grinned mischievously and began to play with vigor until Sota gave up, proclaiming Ether the champion. Thirty minutes later she and Sota went down to lunch. She was starting to wonder if she could go down the well by herself. Kagome had told her that only she and Inu-Yasha had ever been able to use the well to time travel. They didn't know why, only that they were the only ones who were ever able to use it…but she wondered. `It would be so cool if I could.' She thought to herself.

 

“Hey Sota, I'm going up to my room to take a nap ok?” she said, faking a yawn.

Sota looked sad but then nodded with a big smile. “Ok, that will give me enough time to convince mom to let us go to the park to play some softball!” he hadn't given up on trying to figure out what kind of sports she was good at. He wanted help training for the sports he wanted to join next year in school. He was too small right now for most sports so he needed the training.

 

“Ok,” Ether left for her room. When she got to her room she closed the door and pulled out her backpack. She stuffed it with a change of clothes, her plushy, her brush, and several things her mother had given to her. “Time to go,” She muttered under her breath. She felt a little bad about leaving Sota and mom, but her curiosity had been aroused and she wanted to see if she could get through the well to help Kagome. Also, she felt like there was something telling her to go to the well, an invisible force pushing her to go. Something was tugging her towards it and she had a feeling it was important. She pushed open her door silently and swiftly hurried out of the house as quietly and quickly as she could. Before she realized how fast she had really gone she was at the well house and in front of the well. “Well…here goes nothing.” She said, adrenaline rushing through her as she stepped onto the rim of the well.

 

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A/N: again, just some minor edits that are just meant to flesh out the chapter a little. Nothing really plot changing. If you've already read the story then you don't have to worry too much about reading the edits.