InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heartless ❯ Through the Well ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from the anime/manga. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I suppose life would be easier if I made money by writing these stories, but unfortunately, I do not.

 

 

 

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Special thanks to my wonderful betas Ai Kisugi, Hedanicree JMaxwell, and KeiChanz for picking this story to pieces and making it a much more bearable read!

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`Thinking'

“Talking”

Dream or memories

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Through the Well

 

 

 

The young woman opened her eyes to darkness. She had jumped into the well after the children without thinking, but the expected impact with the ground had never come. Instead, she found herself kneeling on solid ground without any pain in her limbs. Why wasn't she now crumpled at the base of the well?

 

Panicking, she started checking her body for any sign of injuries. Nothing. There wasn't even a scratch. Kagome sighed in relief before remembering why she was there in the first place. Her fear resurfaced, and she began frantically searching for the two children she had seen fall into the well right before her.

 

"Children, are you okay? Are you hurt?" She began feeling the small space for their small forms while she called out to them. Her terror doubled when she didn't get a response. There could be only two reasons for the silence — either they were unconscious, or ... or they were dead. Neither of these options was good.

 

She almost laughed with relief and joy when she realized that she was alone in the dark hole. Now, all she had to do was find out how the little menaces got out of there so she could do the same. It would be no use calling out for help, for she was sure the children couldn't help her. The two other people who could help her were asleep in the house.

 

She got up and began searching the walls of the well for some suitable place to climb up. She was surprised when her hands closed on a kind of rope. `No, not a rope … a vine?' "So much for taking good care of the shrine, Grandpa,” she grumbled. “How come you let your precious well get infected with wild plants?” She pulled on the vine to test its strength and was happy that it seemed strong enough to carry her weight. “Ha! But I'm glad you did!"

 

She climbed up and out of the well with great difficulty. It was hard to find some place on the wall large enough to put her foot. The fact that her dress was too long and heavy for climbing didn't help either. When she finally reached the lid of the well, she pushed against the wooden structure and forced her body out. She moaned loudly at the pain in her muscles as she propped herself against the wooden side.

 

Opening her eyes after her breath returned to normal, she gasped at the sight before her. Stars. Thousands, no, millions of stars were blinking at her from the open night sky. `Are there really so many stars in the sky?' It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. But there was something nagging at the back of her mind, telling her that something was wrong with this sight. Then, it dawned on her. `Wait a minute. There should be a roof here.' She sat up to look around her. The dawn was approaching, but it was still dark, and she was no longer in the well house.

 

She could vaguely make out the shapes of trees surrounding the clearing she rested in. `How can this be possible?' The only rational explanation she could think of was that she slid through some kind of tunnel connecting the well she fell into and the one she climbed out of. But, she could swear she hadn't felt such a thing. She hadn't felt her body contact with anything until she realized she was kneeling on the ground.

 

She stood up on shaky legs, still trying to understand how she ended up there. She searched her surroundings for something familiar. Then, she heard the one thing that started this whole mess. The children's laughter rang in her ears, and to her, it was the most beautiful song she had ever heard. Relieved that she wasn't alone in this weird place, she sprinted in the direction the voices were coming from.

 

After a few moments of running, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. A few steps in front of her stood the Goshinboku, the ancient tree she had seen a half an hour ago in her shrine. Despite the darkness shading the lines and colors of the tree, she knew it was the Goshinboku. There could be no other to match its glory in this world.

 

Her eyes shining in wonder, she slowly took a few steps toward the tree. When she was close enough to touch it, she stepped on something soft and unstable beneath her naked foot. She screamed in terror the moment she registered that the thing her foot contacted was also — `Warm?' In her panic to get away from the possibly living creature she stepped on, she lost her balance and fell on her butt with a loud “ooof.”

 

It was still too dark to see, but she could make out that the thing looked suspiciously like a human being. Still scared, but now also worried that she might have hurt someone, she cautiously approached the unmoving figure. It was half-laying on the ground with its back supported by the tree's bark. She cautiously poked its leg with one finger. No response. Feeling more confident now that she knew it was not conscious, and thus not dangerous, she toddled on her knees to take a closer look. She gasped as she realized that it was a man with long, dark hair.

 

“Hey,” she called out to the man to make sure he wasn't dead. “Hey, are you okay?” When she didn't get an answer to her calls, she touched the man's shoulder — or was it his chest? — and shook him to wake him up. He didn't make a sound, and she started to get a bad feeling from the wetness of his clothes under her hand. She drew her hand back and sniffed her fingers. Her eyes widened in horror at the smell of blood. `He is injured!'

 

“Oh, gods! Help me!” she cried out. She started to shake uncontrollably while tears sprang to her eyes. “What shall I do?” Knowing that she would be of no help to him if she acted like a drama queen, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

 

Kagome reached for his clothes to check his injuries. The darkness was seeping away by the minute, and by the time she managed to get his kimono open and out of her way, she was able to see that he had been impaled through his chest by something large and sharp. Luckily, the thing that caused his injury was no longer in his body. However, he was bleeding heavily and had been for God knew how long. She needed to stop the bleeding in some way.

 

Thinking quickly, she reached the hem of her skirt and ripped away some fabric with a great deal of effort. After she cleaned the wound as much as she could, she ripped more pieces off of her wedding gown to use as bandages. She was done in record time, and she sighed in relief seeing that, while the bleeding continued, her efforts did much to lessen the amount.

 

The sun was about to rise now, and Kagome raised her head to look at the man's face to see what he looked like. The first thing she noticed was that he was no longer unconscious. Instead, he was watching her with a shocked look in his gray eyes. The second thing she noticed was that he was beautiful. No other word was enough to describe him. He was so beautiful that she couldn't take her eyes off of his. She was so mesmerized, she forgot any sense of self-consciousness under his intense gaze or that she was in the middle of a strange forest. She even forgot that he was seriously wounded.

 

To her surprise, his disbelieving expression turned to one of affection, causing him to look even more beautiful. He slowly raised his hand and touched her face with the tips of his fingers. Her breath hitched in her throat. His touch felt so intimate, the young woman idly wondered why she wasn't scared by his bold moves. Without noticing, she leaned her face toward his hand, letting him cup her cheek. He started softly caressing her cheek with his thumb. His gaze followed the lines of her face with that affectionate look never leaving his eyes. She couldn't help it, and she touched his face, too.

 

The moment her fingers contacted his cheek, the first rays of the sun fell over his eyes, and she felt him pulse under her fingers. Before she could wonder about the strange vibrations, the dark haired, gray-eyed man in front of her was gone. In his place sat the most amazing being she had ever seen in her life. He looked heavenly with his long, shiny, silver-white hair and mesmerizing golden eyes — each one rivaling the sun itself — framed by long dark eyelashes and black eyebrows. She believed that even more when she noticed the two triangular dog ears, the same color as his hair, sitting atop his head. `Is he some type of Egyptian God?'

 

Before Kagome could utter a word, he buried his nose in her neck and hugged her waist with his strong arms. She didn't understand what happened to him or what he was doing to her at that moment, but she was in no shape to ask questions. Her heart was beating so fast, she was afraid that she was going to have a heart attack. This man looked as if he had come out of a fairytale, and she found herself unable to resist anything he would choose to do to her.

 

After taking a few deep sniffs from her neck and leaving her shivering from his breath, he raised his head to look at her face. He never let his hold on her waist slacken. She came face to face with him, their noses almost touching, and before she got lost in his eyes, she opened her mouth. “W-who are you?” she stuttered.

 

He looked confused at her question, so she tried another one. “What are you?”

 

Since he still looked confused, she wondered if he could understand her at all. `Maybe he doesn't speak Japanese.'

 

After a few moments, the look of confusion left his face, and he raised both his eyebrows at her as if some realization dawned upon him. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it suddenly as his nose started twitching. She could have laughed if she wasn't so curious about what he was doing. `Is he sniffing the air?'

 

To her amusement, his ears started twitching too. Then, his eyes narrowed to slits and his gaze, as well as his ears, locked in the direction behind her. Before she could ask what he was doing, he jumped to his feet with incredible speed and agility, bringing her with him as well. He pushed her behind him and started growling menacingly. `Growling? He is growling, isn't he?'

 

“Stay back, you assholes!” he shouted.

 

This was the first time she heard his voice, and he was already cussing. `There goes my fairy tale theory. He is no prince charming.' Shaking her head at her thoughts, she redirected her attention to him.

 

In order to see whom he was shouting at, she rose on her tiptoes. Resting her hands on his back, she peeked above his shoulder. Armored men with torches, swords or bows in their hands were coming out of the trees. To her, they looked like the Japanese soldier figures she had seen in some of the ancient scrolls her grandfather hanged on the walls of his room. There were maybe a hundred of them and none looked friendly. She wondered if this was some kind of a movie shoot.

 

“Surrender, demon! You can't escape this time!” shouted one of the soldiers that seemed to be the leader of the group.

 

His dramatic response increased her suspicions. `Yes, this must be some kind of a fantasy movie shoot, and what happened with him before was just a visual effect — a very realistic visual effect.'

 

“You think you can catch me that easily?! Think again, you moron!” The moment the silver-haired dog-god finished his words, he was impaled through his right arm with an arrow.

 

Kagome — who had been thinking that this was the part of the scene where the main character was going to draw his sword and perform some artistic moves with it — was shocked to see the arrow go through his arm and its head appear on the other side of the appendage. That was enough for her to realize that this was real and they were in serious danger. That realization, along with the blood pouring out of his arm, brought a scream out of her, drawing the soldiers' attention.

 

“What do you have there, demon? A human girl?” asked one of the soldiers to their left.

 

Hearing that, their leader shouted again, “Keep your filthy hands away from her! Hand her to us now!” At his signal, the archers drew their bows and took aim at him.

 

Without thinking, she threw herself in front of him, effectively blocking most of his body from their view. “Stop it, you monsters!” she cried out. “You're going to kill him!”

 

“My, such a clever girl,” said the leader sarcastically. “Get away from him! He's dangerous!”

 

`Dangerous? He's the one that's dangerous?!' She knew they would most likely kill him the instant she was out of the way, so she stayed where she was. “No! I won't leave him! You'll kill him!”

 

“Then, you will die with him, you foolish girl!”

 

She heard her silver-haired god growl against her back, but couldn't decide whether he was angry at her for protecting him like a child and throwing herself into danger, or he was angry at them for threatening to kill her. She felt his good arm go around her waist, probably to get her out of harm's way or maybe he was going to use her as a shield, who knew? She couldn't learn his intention because whatever it was he was going to do was stopped by a new voice coming from behind the leader of the group.

 

“No! Stop it, you idiots!” A man dressed like a monk rushed to the scene shouting at the soldiers. The long staff in his right hand was still jingling madly when he stopped in front of the leader and continued shouting. “You shouldn't hurt the girl! She's a priestess!”

 

“How do you know that, monk?” asked the leader bitterly. He looked uncomfortable when he heard the word priestess. He looked at the newcomer as if he had crushed his greatest dreams with one word.

 

The monk was unfazed by the leader's attitude. “I can feel her aura, you idiot!” he snapped. Then, he turned to the odd couple. “Inuyasha! Let the girl go! You can't escape with her!”

 

She knew what the monk said was true. Regardless of how powerful he might be, he was seriously wounded and he barely managed to keep himself up. She didn't know if he wanted to save her from these people, but she knew that he couldn't even if he wanted to, for he had only one arm left to fight with. Besides, it didn't seem like they wanted to kill her anyway. Hoping against hope that he could manage to escape in that state, she whispered to him, “Go, please, just go.”

 

Sighing, he tightened his arm around her waist and buried his face in her neck, sending shivers down her spine. After taking a deep breath, he raised his mouth to her ear and softly whispered, “I'll come back for you.”

 

His breath on her ear made her knees go weak, and she had to lean back against his chest to keep standing. However, when she fell back against the tree's bark instead of his chest, she realized that he was already gone. She looked around expecting to see his running figure and smiled when she found no trace of him anywhere.

 

Turning back to face the crowd, she was met with the angry stares of the soldiers. `Okay, now what?'

 

End of Chapter 2