InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning my way... ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

"So, how good is your sense of smell?" asked Mariko curiously two days later as Keitaro walked her to gym class. Keitaro fixed her with a fish eyed look and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you really want to know?" he asked, "I know it tells me more things than even I want to know usually,"

"Sure, why not?" replied Mariko, "so, tell me."

"Well…" Keitaro looked uneasy, "I can tell that Coach Genji is cheating on his wife," I know the cycles of every female in the school, he continued mentally, I know which students aren't virgins, I could tell you exactly how many of the guys masturbate. I know there are six gay students in our school; I can tell that Principal Yasukawa is pregnant. I know who broke into the sports equipment room last week and I know that people make out in that old closet next to Watanabe-sensei's classroom.

Mariko stared at him slack jawed.

"…And just HOW do you know that?" she demanded loudly enough to cause people to glance at them.

"Easy, I met his wife once and whenever I'm near him, I can smell two women on him, one's his wife and the other's not, but he's definitely been with both of them recently," explained Keitaro matter-of-factly.

"I always knew there was something untrustworthy about him," exclaimed Mariko, scowling.

"No you didn't," replied Keitaro calmly, "you were completely surprised,"

"But…"

"It doesn't lie," said Keitaro, tapping his nose. Mariko glared at him, but he could tell she wasn't really mad. Having a good sense of smell really helped when dealing with girls, he knew when he could argue back and he knew when he had to keep his head down and his mouth shut. Mariko was dangerous when PMS-ing.

As they passed Coach Genji in the hallway outside the gym, Mariko couldn't help but give the man a disgusted glance. Keitaro and Mariko parted ways at the entrance to the girl's change room. (Keitaro could tell that there were already eight girls in there, four had boyfriends, two were having their periods, one wasn't a virgin and one had smoked weed within the last week.)

Keitaro glanced behind him and curled part of his lip, revealing one of his fangs. Yukio, who had been trying to follow him and Mariko for the past ten minutes, turned pale and started talking to a tenth grader, who was equally flustered and flattered that the popular and handsome eleventh grader was talking to her.

Keitaro snorted and rolled his eyes, before making his way to his own class.

~

"Keitaro, do you think you could go back to the Sengoku Jidai?" asked Mariko curiously as they were walking to the Higurashi shrine after school.

Keitaro shrugged.

"I've tried jumping into the well a few times, but nothing happens… I don't even know what let my parents through it… I was able to go through it as a baby, but I was always being held my either of my parents,"

Mariko nodded and her face grew pensive and her eyes darkened in thought.

~

After several minutes, Keitaro felt himself getting antsy. He always felt like this when he had to walk slowly when normally he could run along the rooftops, unseen.

"Hey… Mariko?" he asked.

"What?" she replied, coming out of her thoughts.

"Want to see how I get home?"

Mariko gave him a dubious look.

"Okay…" she said warily. Grinning, Keitaro grabbed her arm and pulled her into a concealed little nook behind a dumpster. Trying not to inhale the stench, he knelt and instructed Mariko to climb on. She did, rather warily.

"Okay, hold on tight… and please don't scream to loud, it hurt's my ears,"

"Scream? Why would I scream?" asked Mariko nervously.

"Just hold on tight, okay?" he replied. Mariko wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. With that, Keitaro bent his legs and sprung up to the roof the nearest building.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! !!!!!!!"

"Oi! I told you not to scream to loudly," said Keitaro, glancing over his shoulder at Mariko as he negotiated a large, multistory car park. She had latched on so tightly to his neck that Keitaro was sure that even if he let go of her, she wouldn't have fallen off.

Mariko stopped screaming, but her blue eyes were plastered open with terror. Heeding to his friend, Keitaro slowed down a bit. Mariko relaxed a smidgen as Keitaro bounded across the rooftops toward the Higurashi shrine.

"So this is what you were doing when you fell twelve stories?" she asked over the wind. Her voice was shaking and it was significantly higher pitched than usual.

"Yah, I didn't do this very often back then though," he replied reassuringly, finally catching the smell of her anxiety and terror, most of it had been lost in the wind behind him and Keitaro had been concentrating on not screwing up a jump, because he rarely did this with extra weight on his back. Glancing ahead, he could see Goshinboku towering above the buildings surrounding the shrine. Crossing the roofs of the last few building, he leaped across the road and landed a bit harder than usual on the ground near the front door to the house.

Mariko slid off his back and was able to stand for about three seconds before her legs gave out and she collapsed. Keitaro crouched down and pulled Mariko back up into a sitting position.

"That was worse than that ride… the Hellavator," she gasped, shaking and encased in the sensation of fear.

"The Hellavator?" asked Keitaro, puzzled.

"It's a ride… My family would go on day trips up to Canada, and once we went to Playland, which is this amusement park they've got in Vancouver…The Hellavator is one of the worst rides they've got there, after the Revelation and Drop Zone…Akihiro convinced me to go on them and Ohhh…." She shuddered violently.

Keitaro, naturally, hadn't the faintest clue of what she was talking about, but he got the gist; She had been scared shitless. Keitaro felt a wave of concern and the stirrings of a deeper feeling, a welling of protective instincts that began to flow through his veins. Dropping to his knees, he pulled Mariko into a hug.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to scare you so badly," he whispered.

Mariko didn't say anything for a while, but she leaned her head on Keitaro's shoulder and he pulled her closer. She was still shaking but the feelings of the white-knuckle terror that had been eating away at her started fading and she began to relax.

"It's okay…" she managed finally, "I just forgot how scared of heights I am…"

Keitaro waited patiently for Mariko to gather herself back together and pulled his friend to her feet. It took several minutes for Mariko to be steady on her feet and she stumbled twice, only to be caught and steadied by Keitaro.

When they entered the house, they found Mama-baachan in the middle of paying bills. Large stacks of receipts were piled on the table and Mama was working feverishly at a calculator. Keitaro recognized what she was doing almost immediately; She was going over all the expenses and finances for the Shrine for the year. Mama-baachan did not take kindly to being disturbed while doing this, so Keitaro ushered Mariko up to his room and returned to duck into the fridge for some snacks and pop before heading back upstairs.

When he returned to his room, he found Mariko sitting at his desk and staring at the Shikon jewel intently. She was lost in thought and she wound and unwound a strand of her hair around one of her index fingers absently.

Keitaro couldn't help but stop at the door and watch her. The sunlight from his window shone in, illuminating the specks of dust in the air, and giving Mariko's black hair a bluish sheen that was a shade darker than her eyes.

He crossed the room and tapped her gently on the shoulder.

"Mariko?"

She jumped.

"What?" she asked, turning around to face him.

"Want some munchies?" he asked, holding up a bag of seaweed crackers. Mariko smiled and nodded. Keitaro slit the bag open and took a handful, then it to her. The two snacked in silence for several minutes.

"Keitaro?" asked Mariko hesitantly after she had finished about half her crackers.

"Yah?"

"I have a theory about how your parents got through the well,"

Keitaro's ears perked up immediately and Mariko smiled at the look of eager anticipation on his face. His golden eyes looked at her expectantly and his ears twitched.

"Well?"

"I think it was the Shikon jewel that let them through…" proposed Mariko, "I'm just guessing, but since the centipede demon could get through the well, I'm not sure…."

Keitaro thought about it and nodded in agreement.

"All the times that I've tried to go through the well, I wasn't wearing the jewel," he commented, digging through his memories.

"Why weren't you?" asked Mariko.

"It was when Yukio started tormenting me, and once, he and his gang started something while I was wearing the jewel and it turned purple because I was so angry…. Jii-chan had to spend all night praying over the thing to purify it and I haven't worn it since," explained Keitaro, grabbing another handful of crackers.

Mariko grimaced.

"That's not good," she replied, looking out of the corner of her eye at the little pink jewel hanging from the stand. Another reason why you don't judge strength based on size, ne? Or a jewel by its colour…

~

"So we're just supposed to jump in?" asked Mariko, bending over the edge of the bone eaters well. She could barely see the sandy bottom and there was nothing remotely special looking about it. It also looked very solid to her.

"That's what my parent's did… they just went in and came out the other side," replied Keitaro, leaning against the old wood of the well.

"How'd you get through then? You remember stuff from over there, didn't you?"

" I got through because I was getting carried by either Okaa-san or Otou-san, and I only remember a few things, like what people smelled like or how the air there didn't irritate my nose," answered Keitaro thoughtfully, "I remember what Shippou smelled like, and I know it's him, because the smell has youki in it,"

"Shippou?"

"He's a kitsune… I told you about what little I know of him?" replied Keitaro wryly.

"Right…I remember now…"

"So, are we going to jump in?" asked Mariko nervously, "I mean, if it doesn't work, you'll be fine, but I'll have gone either 'crunch', 'bang' or 'splat'… Maybe you could go first and see if it works?"

"You have the jewel Mariko,"

"Take it then, it'd only be for a few minutes," she replied, holding out the jewel. Keitaro shied away from it and shook his head.

"No thanks, I'd rather not risk it… Besides, I think we should do it together and if you're worried about going crunch, bang or splat as you so colourfully put it, I could always carry you,"

Mariko smiled.

"Sounds like a plan, but I don't think we should do it right now," she answered, staring thoughtfully down at the darkness of the well.

"Why not?" asked Keitaro, giving Mariko a puzzled glance, his golden eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well, if we waited until the weekend, we'd have all day to either explore or sit around and mope about how it didn't work," explained Mariko as she turned to exit the well house.

"Sounds like a plan…" echoed Keitaro, following her out onto the shrine grounds.

~

Keitaro was up long before dawn on Saturday morning. Excitement and nervousness had wreaked havoc with his sleeping patterns. After fixing himself some ramen, he sat in Goshinboku and watched the sunrise.

First, he saw the barest hint of pink on the horizon, beyond the skyscrapers and buildings of Tokyo. Slowly streetlights were flicking off as beams of deep red, fiery orange, lavender and bright pink extended across the sky. Finally, the sun itself rose, sending out brilliant golden rays of sunlight that illuminated the sky as the age-old name of Japan floated into Keitaro's mind.

Land of the rising sun…

~

Mariko reached the Higurashi shrine at 9:28 am. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue American Eagle T-shirt and had a small rucksack slung on her back. A headband held her hair back and she was wearing a pair of running shoes.

After hauling herself up all 103 steps to the Sunset shrine, she paused to look around the seemingly empty grounds.

"Keitaro?" she called, looking around the grounds.

"Up here!" replied his voice.

Mariko craned her neck backwards and she could see a dark haired figure waving to her from the top of Goshinboku.

How the hell did he get up there…? Her brain asked before her mind had caught up with it. I'm sure Goshinboku isn't much of a challenge after leaping buildings.

Without warning, Keitaro launched himself from the tree and Mariko screamed. Landing in a crouch beside her, the inu-hanyou raised an eyebrow and seemed to be suppressing laughter. Mariko scowled at him and he gave her a wicked grin.

"So, up to seeing if we can actually time travel?" asked Keitaro, still inwardly snickering at the look on Mariko's face.

"Yep,"

Mariko ran and got the jewel from Keitaro's bedroom and Keitaro pushed open the well house shoji. Keitaro jumped the steps and landed on the edge of the well in a crouch. Mariko peered over the wooden edge.

"It seems almost deeper and darker today," she remarked quietly, glancing at the jewel in her hands. It seemed to pulse and Mariko almost felt drawn to the well.

"Ready to try it?" asked Keitaro, his excitement evident.

Mariko nodded.

"Yep, I'm ready to jump into a well that takes you 500 years into the past, with my best friend, who happens to be part dog" she replied, an odd little smile on her face.

"Keh," snorted Keitaro, scowling. I'll get her for that.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," replied Mariko, poking Keitaro in the side. Keitaro shot her a look that said quite clearly; couldn't resist, my ass!

"So are we going to jump?" asked Keitaro, jumping down.

Mariko nodded again.

"Alright," he replied and scooped her up, bridal style. Mariko squeaked at her sudden, startling change in position.

"Warn me before you do that," she ground out after her breathing had calmed down. Dark blue eyes under furrowed eyebrows glared at amused golden ones.

"Okay," replied Keitaro cheerfully as he jumped up onto the edge of the well, keeping his balance easily.

"On the count of three…" whispered Mariko.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

Keitaro stepped forward into nothing.

~~~~

I might have mentioned some of you guys last chapter…. I can't remember…Still, better safe than sorry.

Thanks to:

Akai'zhar

Half-demon628

CleopatraK

Shadowstalker2008

The Great Susinko

Eartha

Shisuku