InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ InuYasha: War of the Youkai ❯ Early Awakening ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 - Early Awakening

She raced through the night as fast as the horse could take her. Her chestnut hair blew furiously in the wind as she held onto the reigns for dear life. Did the warning come too late? Could she reach him before the humans did? Her mind panicked over these unanswered questions, but her warrior soul took over as she sped toward the cave. There was only one destination-reach the cave. There was only one goal-protect the warrior hanyou…

--------------------------------------------------------- ----------

Ian McCallister found himself sitting alone in a room poorly lit by several gas lamps and waning fire in the fireplace. The room was an eerie and uncomfortable enclosure, designed to intimidate those who entered. The office passed an essence of power, smelling of cigar smoke and expensive western brandy. Yet at the same time, Ian sensed falseness about the room. Someone had stocked the shelves with journals from the West, which, from what he could tell, remained in unread, mint condition. Ian saw not a single Japanese character on any of the books, nor in the entire room for that matter. The office was an unimpressive façade, pawned off by some man pretending to be something he was not.

"Mr. McCallister, I presume?" A voice announced the entry of several men into the room led by a short and slightly chubby man dressed in the typical attire for a diplomat: a dark suit with long coattails and a top hat.

"I go by that name, yes sir," replied Ian without getting up. The sake he consumed an hour earlier had yet to wear off. Red faced and highly tipsy, he could hear himself slurring his speech. Standing, he feared, would only worsen their impression of him.

The minister sighed, "Your people more than any others pride themselves on their superiority, but lack manners common to the civilized world. Even in Japan, it is customary to stand when a superior enters the room."

"And what people, are you talkin' about?" countered Ian with slurred speech.

The minister walked to the other side of the room and opened a file on his desk. "You are American, are you not Mr. McCallister?"

Ian shook his head vehemently, "I am not an American! I'm a Virginian. Please don't confuse the two just because the United States conquered my homeland."

The minister gave the photographer a puzzled look. "Very well, Mr. McCallister. Even if you will not introduce yourself with the manners of a gentleman I will at least give you the courtesy of introducing myself. My name is Okubo Toshimichi, Home Minister for his majesty Emperor Meiji." Minister Toshimichi then began reading from the file upon his desk. "You are Ian McCallister, born in 1850 and native of… the United States of America, are you not?"

Ian cringed and opened his mouth to protest. Toshimichi's words immediately quieted Ian, who now realized that the Japanese knew more about him than he knew about all of Japan. Toshimichi continued, "You spent a semester at Cambridge under a false name and was expelled after proposing that supernatural superstitions could be proven scientific fact. After that, you roamed Europe, where you are wanted for fraud in Austria-Hungary, France, and England. Is this not true Mr. McCallister?"

Ian swallowed hard.

"Is my English not clear?" asked the minister with an air of indignity.

"Your English is quite clear sir," replied Ian, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Toshimichi nodded, "Then perhaps you would care to enlighten us with an affirmation to the questions I have asked you?"

Ian hiccupped, "Nope, not really."

Captain Naeda approached Ian from behind. He bent over and whispered into Ian's ear with his cold, methodical voice. "We know you seek the youkai, American. There is no such thing as youkai. I will be watching you and if you cause the slightest bit of trouble I will dispose of you like that sailor you saw earlier."

Ian shuddered as the memory of the unconscious sailor being tossed into the bay to drown only an hour before entered his mind. He swallowed hard again.

"Are we clear, Mr. McCallister?" asked Minister Toshimichi.

"What the hell is a youkai? Is that a brand of sake or somethin'?" lied Ian.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted Minister Toshimichi's frustration with the drunken foreigner. A soldier entered and hastily placed a telegraph in Toshimichi's hand. Toshimichi stood up and slammed his fist on the desk after reading the brief, yet obviously infuriating, telegraph. He then shouted orders at Captain Naeda in Japanese, which both incorrectly assumed could not be understood by Ian.

"A youkai has been sighted illegally inside the Tokyo zone!" yelled Toshimichi.

Naeda, puzzled, asked, "Are you sure? The youkai have never broken the treaty before, why would they violate a safe zone? They know we could crush them at any time for such a violation! This report must be false!"

Toshimichi scowled. "Don't question me Naeda! Dispatch a squad immediately to catch this youkai! Go! Now!"

Naeda bowed and exited the room immediately, yelling orders to his subordinates outside. Ian, in the meantime, remained perfectly silent, trying not to divulge that he had understood the entire conversation between the minister and the captain. He looked at Toshimichi, whose face remained reddened by anger over the contents of the telegram.

Ian asked the minister carefully, "Is there anything else you need Minister Toshimichi?"

Toshimichi scowled at Ian. "You may go!" he yelled, crushing the telegram in his fist.

------------------------------------

As Ian dismissed himself from the menacing graces of Minister Toshimichi, the speedy and stealthy horse rider continued towards the cave of Onigumo at breakneck speed, clutching an intercepted copy of the minister's telegram in her hand. She strained her eyes in the poor moonlight, searching for the entrance to the approaching cave. Instead, several small bright orange lights caught her attention on the far horizon.

"Damn," she complained. "They're riding fast to the cave. There's little time! Hurry Santos!" She commanded her trusted steed to gallop even faster. "Kirara!" she cried motioning to the demon fire-cat behind her. "Get to the cave Kirara! Protect Inuyasha at all costs!"

The great demon cat roared in acknowledgement and leaped into the air with a trail of fire flowing behind her. And, beneath the trees, the young woman charged forward on her horse, now with her sword at the ready. The air was tense. She could feel conflict nearing, a sensation that she knew all too well. Her eyes continued gauging the approaching torch lights on the horizon and she estimated she would only have minutes to revive the slumbering Inuyasha and flee back into the mountain woods.

The wind had intensified over the past few hours and now whipped the trees violently, perhaps signaling a dangerous, approaching storm. Indeed, the dark storm clouds had rolled over the sky by the time the young woman protector arrived at the entrance to the cave of Onigumo. She wasted absolutely no time and ran into the cave, seeking out the far wall where centuries earlier the hanyou Inuyasha had been sealed for a reason unknown to her.

And there he was.

There was no mistaking it, the figure pinned to the wall before her was the great Inuyasha, the being so crucial in the defeat of the nefarious Naraku. However, the unimpressive stature of the half-demon shocked her. His red fire rat robe had faded tremendously and dusty cobwebs caked his long, silver hair. He was considerably smaller than she imagined, looking more like an inexperienced boy than a powerful warrior. And, despite the legends that portrayed him as a tortured, unrelenting fighter, he had a peaceful smile upon his face. She wondered why.

Her sensitive ears suddenly heard the sound of horses coming from a distance echoing into the cave. Time was of the essence.

She reached up to the arrow embedded in Inuyasha's chest and began withdrawing it from his body. "Time to wake up hanyou!" she cried, grunting ever-so-slightly due to the effort of removing the sacred arrow.

A warm, pink glow emanated from the point of the arrows impact. The wall of the cave pulsed violently as the hanyou's heart began beating once again. With a gasp, Inuyasha's lungs inhaled air and his eyes snapped open and shifted wildly as they tried to focus. With one last jerk, the woman dispatcher freed the arrow, releasing Inuyasha's body to the ground.

The resurrected hanyou strained his demon enhanced eyes, trying to focus on the person who had reawakened him. He hoped to see Kagome standing over him, but instead twitched as he heard a terribly unfamiliar voice.

"Inuyasha, I have been sent to reawaken you. Your life is in danger! Quickly, we have little time!"

Inuyasha's eyes focused. Before him stood a young kitsune youkai dressed in the traditional battle armor of a demon slayer. She held her sword at the ready, but made sure to point it away from Inuyasha, signaling she had no malicious intent. He could easily smell the concern flowing from her as his sense of smell slowly returned. Bewildered, Inuyasha tried to struggle to his atrophied feet, but faltered.

"Who are you?" asked Inuyasha, coughing slightly as he tried to once again to get to his feet.

"There's no time foolish hanyou! Move it! Now!" she demanded, pointing the sword at his face. "I'm not risking my life for an ancient half-wit!"

"Hey! Who ya calling a half-wit?" he barked. Finally, he managed to rise to his feet and began feeling around for his Tetsusaiga. He found the sheath, but the sword that he left wedged in stone was gone. He panicked. "Where's my Tetsusaiga?"

"Are you deaf dog boy? We have to leave now!"

"I need my sword!" he cried.

The kitsune shook her head in frustration. "There is no sword here!"

Shocked, Inuyasha grabbed the Tetsusaiga's sheath. Where was the Tetsusaiga? He distinctly remembered wedging the sword between the stones so that no one could ever move it. Why would it be gone?

Inuyasha picked up the sent of panic, the exact same sent he smelled hundreds of times before as he watched humans prepare for battle and it was approaching the cave at great haste. The kitsune woman had picked up the sent too. Her ears stood on edge and her foxtail stiffened. She ran to the cave entrance. Inuyasha followed.

Kirara guarded the cave entrance fully transformed and growled at the approaching squad of soldiers who by that point had reached the other end of the field of rice patties. The kitsune mounted Santos, sheathing her sword in preparation for escape. Inuyasha meanwhile stood steadfast, cracking his knuckles in preparation for a fight. There was still plenty of time… they were still far across the patties.

The kitsune gave the inu youkai a look of sheer puzzlement. "Are you brain damaged? Get on Kirara you fool!"

Inuyasha brushed his hair aside and cracked his knuckles again. "Heh. If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get!"

Inuyasha heard a sudden, thunderous crack and viewed small flashes of light coming from the direction from the soldiers. He could have sworn he felt something whiz by his head almost immediately. He barely had any time to react to the ear drum piercing noise before he heard more of them in quick succession.

Santos panicked with the sound of the shots. The kitsune grabbed the reins tight, attempting to control the startled horse. She almost fell off, but managed to stay on by bracing her foot in the in the stirrups. Angered and now frightened the kitsune called to Inuyasha. "They're shooting at you idiot! Run! Get atop Kirara and follow me, quickly!"

At that split second, Inuyasha came to his senses, recognizing Kirara's presence for the first time. As the approaching soldiers continued firing at him with a weapon he had never before seen, he quickly gauged his options. He had no idea where he was or more importantly when he was. Kagome had promised she would be there when he awoke, and yet instead this strange kitsune slayer ended his slumber. He insured the safety of the Tetsusaiga, yet it was missing. The kitsune said his life was in danger, yet he could not imagine that a small pack of ragtag humans could ever truly threaten him. And, for some reason, this young kitsune was deeply afraid of the weak, mortal humans, beings that should tremble in fear of the youkai.

He wasted no further time in mounting Kirara. Of all the circumstances that seemed wrong, having the recognizable fire-cat nearby calmed him slightly. The fire-cat raced off, chasing the kitsune and her horse across the field towards the woods at the foothills. The shots continued to ring out from behind Inuyasha, but they continued to miss at their distance. It took little time for the fire-cat and the horse to outrun the squad of soldiers, but Inuyasha still sensed fear in the woman leading the way.

"We're not safe yet Inuyasha! We cannot stop until we reach a safe zone on the other side of the hills."

-----------------------------------------------

When they reached the top of the northern hills, Inuyasha decided he had enough: too much running, too little explanation. In protest, he jumped off Kirara and plopped down on the ground, sitting legs crossed as always. With an annoyed grunt, the kitsune halted her horse and trotted back to the protesting hanyou. "We don't have time for this Inuyasha. Safe youkai territory is still at least an hour's ride away and I wouldn't be surprised if those soldiers were still chasing after us," said the kitsune indignantly.

With a smug look, Inuyasha spoke to his rescuer. "Who the hell are you and what the hell is going on?"

The kitsune sighed, "My name is Michiko, one of the last surviving members of the Kibahogosha.

Inuyasha scratched his head, "The Fang Guard?"

Michiko nodded.

"Where's Kagome?" he asked, slightly worried.

"Who's Kagome?" asked Michiko.

Inuyasha's heart stopped. He felt his stomach drop from the way Michiko had asked the question. "Whe… where am I?" he asked, stuttering his words.

Annoyed once more with what she thought were a barrage of stupid questions, Michiko replied, "How should I know? We're probably fifteen miles north of Tokyo?"

Tokyo? Tokyo? His head spun. Impossible, he thought. He saw no signs of Kagome's Tokyo. He hadn't seen the myriad of electric lights, smelled the noxious odors, or seen the overwhelming abundance of humans that populated Kagome's modern era. Panicked and confused, Inuyasha sought out the nearest safe haven, a tall maple tree nearby. With his demon strengths, he leaped up to the top branch to survey the land around him. Sure enough, far to the south he saw signs of city life. But, it was too small. There weren't enough fumes. There weren't enough lights. There weren't enough people.

He slid down the tree. Michiko, who by now had dismounted approached him with a slight look of sympathy. "When?" he asked.

"It's been about 300 years Inuyasha…"

"When is it? What century?" Inuyasha angrily begged.

Michiko shook her head. "I'm not sure. The western foreigners say it's the nineteenth century. The year 1875, I think."

Over one century too early…

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Name Translations:

-- Michiko: Child of the Righteous

Real People:

-- Okubo Toshimichi: Toshimichi was one of the Satsuna radicals responsible for the "restoration" of the Emperor Meiji and the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868. Toshimichi, in particular, acted as the de facto ruler of Japan, controlling the young Emperor Meiji and furthering his own ambitions. Toshimichi was assassinated in 1878 at the hands of a radical.

Obligatory disclaimers and stuff: InuYasha and its characters are copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi and I thank her for giving me some excellent characters to work with and the inspiration to write this fan-fiction. All original characters are copyrighted by myself. Please do not use these characters without my permission. You can always ask :) And, well there are some characters featured who are real people who actually existed and thus, I can't claim any rights to them :)!