InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning my way... ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

I was very depressed. Only one person reviewed my last chapter. Shout out to ShadowStalker2008…. My only reviewer. Ah well… Hopefully I shall have better luck this time around.

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The two friends plummeted. Keitaro got ready to land on the bottom of the well when he saw it. The first pink and blue flashes of the time slip opening up.

"Mariko!" he cried jubilantly as they plunged into the multicoloured netherworld of the slip. Mariko cracked open her eyes and gasped as the sides of the well re-solidified around them. Keitaro set Mariko down, the two of them craned their necks back, and above them, instead of the well house ceiling, they could see clear, blue skies.

"We did it!" squealed Mariko, throwing her arms around a slightly dazed Keitaro and spinning him around. Keitaro shook off his dazed demeanor and grinned.

"Wait here, I'm going to go look around," he replied, bending his legs and springing upwards, catching the edge of the well and swinging himself over it. From the bottom of the well, he heard Mariko shout indignantly "Hey!"

Keitaro inhaled deeply, reveling in the smell of the clean, sweet air. He could smell a village to the east. The sound of birdsong in the trees and the smell of wild flowers was overwhelming and beautiful at the same time. A scrabbling noise behind him alerted him to the fact that Mariko was climbing the sides of the well.

"Keitaro, it isn't polite to leave your friend at the bottom of a well," said Mariko testily as she dragged herself over the edge of the well.

"Fuck!" she swore as the leg of her jeans caught on a sharp stone and ripped, "These are my favourite pair!"

Keitaro glanced over his shoulder with raised eyebrows. Mariko wasn't one for cursing; It was usually him who did the swearing. Mariko tumbled onto the grass and picked herself up, stalked over and smacked him soundly on the side of the head. It didn't hurt the slightest, and Keitaro said so.

"Makes me feel better," grumbled Mariko in reply. There are serious advantages to having a guy-friend that you can hit whenever you want and it won't hurt him, she thought wryly.

Mariko suddenly noticed how quiet and peaceful things were. She couldn't hear the roar of the cars or trucks. A bird sang and the breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees, but that was all.

"It's…so quiet…" she murmured, "Like when we'd go camping in the Rockies,"

Keitaro smiled.

"I can actually smell something other than smog," he remarked happily, inhaling deeply. The intoxicating scents of trees, flowers, fresh air and Mariko threatened to make him dizzy. In the distance, he could smell a village.

Maybe Kaede's? The wise old miko that Mama-baachan heard so much about?

"Let's look around," said Keitaro.

~

"Keiko?"

Sango watched the suddenly alert miko with curiosity. Keiko had been Kaede's apprentice for seven years before the old miko's heart had stopped beating. She was young… only twenty, but powerful and she possessed a kind soul.

She reminds me of Kagome at times…

The young miko's eyes were wide and disbelieving.

"I sense… I sense a great power… It just appeared… I also sense a demon, but the youki is nearly overwhelmed by the other power," whispered Keiko fervently, "I have never felt anything like it!"

Sango peered into Keiko's eyes. The miko seemed genuinely afraid.

"I'll get Miroku," she said quietly and darted out of the hut.

Minutes later, the three of them assembled just outside Keiko's hut. Kirara in her kitten form and thirteen-year-old Sachi, Sango's and Miroku's second son was there also, dressed in Tajiya armor like his mother. He was the only one of their six children that had followed Sango in her family tradition. He held his naginata, a long pole with a wickedly curved blade on the end and looked on silently as his parents and Keiko discussed a plan of action. Kirara was to stay in the village and protect it if anything got by them.

Like a well-trained unit, the two Tajiya, the houshi and the miko made for Inuyasha's forest as a burst of flame enveloped Kirara and she reappeared in her fire-cat form.

"It's coming from the direction of the bone eaters well," remarked Miroku, exchanging glances with Sango. Picking up the pace, Sango ran ahead.

~

"Look Keitaro! It's Goshinboku!" cried Mariko staring at the giant tree. Keitaro smiled and jumped up onto the roots. He examined the bark closely.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the mark… aha, here it is…" he replied, tapping a section of the bark with one of his claws. Mariko hauled herself up the roots and peered at the spot. There was a small hole in the bark, almost a scar.

"It's where Kikyou's arrow sealed my father for fifty years," he explained, still staring at the mark with a strange expression, "And it's where my mother found him."

The wind changed direction and Keitaro jumped. Four scents rode on that wind, and they were close. Two seemed slightly familiar, but Keitaro could not place them. They smelled dangerous and he could feel the spiritual power emanating from the group.

"What is it Keitaro?" asked Mariko, noticing the change in his mood. She had put the Shikon jewel necklace around her neck and tucked it into her shirt.

"We've got company… and I don't think they want to welcome us judging from the miko they've got with them…She smells like she's getting ready to do some purifying,"

Mariko paled.

"Should we hide?"

"You should, but it's pointless for me, the miko could sense my youki," replied Keitaro, watching the bushes around the clearing warily. They are really close…

"Don't move youkai!" a clear voice echoed across the clearing as a young woman in the traditional red and white miko's garb stepped out from behind a tree and leveled a bow at the pair of them.

Shit…

From behind two other trees, three more people came out. A man in monk's robes and a woman in Taijiya armor. There was a boy, also in armor, holding a nasty looking naginata with practiced ease. Keitaro could smell that the woman and the monk were husband and wife.

Could it be? Sango? Miroku?

Mariko shrank behind him and Keitaro stared at his parent's friends, too stunned to speak.

"Why are you here demon?" demanded the miko, her eyes narrowed, "Why do you not run or defend yourself?"

Keitaro ignored her and gazed at the Taijiya and houshi that his parents had known and loved. Did they even recognize him? Obviously not, from the looks they were giving him. The boy smelled of fear.

What do I do?

"She asked you a question, demon! Answer it!" snarled Sango, hefting hiraikotsu. Keitaro still could not bring himself to say anything. They had him cold.

"Keitaro…?" whispered Mariko fearfully, starting to peer over his shoulder. Keitaro reached back and held her behind him, shaking his head. There was no way he was going to let her get hurt.

"Who are you?!" demanded the miko once more, pulling the bowstring tighter. Keitaro gulped nervously. He really didn't want to end up like his father did at the hands of an angry miko. Keitaro glanced at the well, just visible through the bushes, judging the distance to be about sixteen metres.

The miko let the arrow fly.

In one smooth motion, Keitaro shoved Mariko out of the way and ducked, screaming as the arrow's purifying energy razed his back. He could feel his shirt burning and the blisters starting to rise on his back as he staggered and fell forward.

"Keitaro!" screamed Mariko, scrambling towards him as he lay curled on the ground, groaning and shaking. "Keitaro…?" she whispered, "Say something…please…"

"Unngh…hurts…" he mumbled, his golden eyes clouded and he continued to shake and shudder. The burning smell from his back made Mariko's stomach turn and she regretted not taking a first aid course.

"What the hell did you do to him?!" she cried, jumping to her feet and rounding on the miko angrily, "He didn't do anything to you and he wasn't going too!"

Silence greeted her.

The look of stunned horror on the Taijiya's face and how the Houshi was suddenly sheet white and using his staff to hold himself upright tipped her off that something was amiss. The miko was the most interesting though, when it came to came to facial expressions. Mariko had never seen a completely green face before. The younger boy stood there looking nervous as his eyes darted from Keitaro's prone form, to her, to the miko, to the monk and back again.

"Well?? Isn't someone going to explain to me WHY YOU DID THAT THING WITH YOUR ARROW AND BURNED MY BEST FRIEND??"

Mariko's outburst triggered something in the Taijiya. "Sachi, run and get several jugs of cold water from the stream and leave them at Keiko's hut," she said quietly. The boy nodded and ran off.

The miko had lowered her bow and held it at her side, her face still slightly green.

"I am sorry…" she said in a horrified whisper. Mariko glanced behind her and noticed that the arrow had imbedded itself in the wood of the tree less than two inches from the scar left by Kikyou's arrow, before turning back to the miko.

"What did you do to him?" She demanded, stepping sideways to shield him from the Taijiya, who had begun to move forward.

"She….tried to purify me…" came a hoarse whisper from behind her. Keitaro was still curled on the ground, shaking and trying to regain his senses. "I always…wondered if purifying would affect me… because of my human blood… but… I guess… my youkai blood was strong enough…" he mumbled between ragged breaths.

He tilted his head slightly, peering through dull eyes at the Taijiya, whose eyes were brimming with tears.

"Sango…" he said softly, before turning his gaze on the monk, "Miroku…"

The miko stepped forward and Mariko glared at her. Keiko knew that if looks could kill, she would have been drawn and quartered.

"I can heal the wounds…that I inflicted," said Keiko quietly. Still giving her a suspicious look, Mariko stepped aside. Kneeling in next to the boy, she pressed two fingers to his forehead.

"Sleep," she murmured, "For you shall heal only then,"

Keitaro sighed as a blanket of warm darkness enveloped him.

~

Keitaro woke up lying on his stomach. His shirt was gone and the pain on his back had dulled somewhat. He was lying alone in the miko's hut and from the feel of it; a poultice had been applied to his back.

He could smell Mariko not too far away. She was probably just outside the hut, because he could hear her voice. She was talking with another girl, one of Sango and Miroku's children, from the smell of it.

"Hello?" he called out.

Mariko stuck her head in the door and smiled.

"You okay?" she asked. Keitaro shrugged then winced as the motion pulled the skin on his back.

"I've been better," he muttered darkly, "Damn miko."

Another girl poked her head in the door, obviously the owner of the other voice that Keitaro had heard talking. She was about two inches shorter than Mariko and slender, with her long hair pulled back by what looked like this era's version of a bandanna. She was wearing a red yukata and sandals and looked to be a year or two younger than both him and Mariko.

"Hi," she said shyly, smiling, "I'm Miaka,"

"Pleased to meet you, I'd either shake your hand or bow if I was standing up, but I am getting the impression from this barrier spell that I just discovered that I'm not supposed to move," replied Keitaro sardonically, "by the way, I'm Higurashi Keitaro."

Mariko laughed and Miaka smiled nervously. Keitaro scowled at them.

"Apparently Keitaro, your dad didn't like staying in one place when he was injured, so Sango had the miko put that spell on you to keep you still because she wasn't sure if you had turned out like Inuyasha or not," replied Mariko, still giggling.

Keitaro raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I want to move?" he demanded caustically, "This burn hurts like a bitch,"

"At least you admit that you're in pain," answered Mariko, grinning. Miaka nodded in agreement. "I would hear stories that Inuyasha would never admit he was in pain," said the younger girl quietly, "Even when he had a hole in his stomach".

"And admit it Keitaro, you do want to move,"

"Of course I do! It gets extremely boring lying here, but all I'd like to do is sit up…I'm not stupid and I know something that hurts this much has to be kept moderately still in order to heal,"

"Oh? Define `moderately still' Keitaro,"

"Not getting into fights or jumping buildings," he replied seriously.

"You've got a lot more common sense than your father did if that's the case," called a voice. Both girls turned around to see who was coming. Keitaro could tell it was Miroku by smell and the signature that his spiritual power made.

"Chichi-ue," greeted Miaka as Miroku approached the hut. Keitaro could just see the monk out of the corner of his eye as he poked his head into the hut.

"Hello Keitaro, last time I saw you, you were about this big," Miroku was all smiles as he held his hands about a foot and a bit apart. Keitaro laughed.

"I've grown a bit since then," he remarked wryly, the his face took on a pleading expression, "Could you let me sit up? I'm not going to do anything crazy,"

Miroku gave him a thoughtful look and Keitaro gave him his best begging puppy-dog-eyes.

"Oh, alright, it's the least I can do, but if you do anything stupid, I'll seal you so you can't move a muscle,"

The Houshi knelt next to Keitaro and said a whispered spell. Instantly, he fell the barrier of magical energy melt away. Slowly, he pushed himself up and turned around so he was facing forwards.

"Arigato Miroku-san!" said Keitaro happily as he stretched his muscles gingerly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miaka eyeing his torso with an interested expression. He decided not to mention it as Mariko came into the hut and sat beside him, cross-legged.

"'Ello partner," she drawled in English, earning strange looks from Miaka and Miroku. The latter rolled his eyes and smiled as he exited the hut.

Keitaro laughed and shook his head.

"What did you say?" asked Miaka curiously, kneeling on the floor next to Mariko, the differences and similarities between the two girls immediately obvious. Mariko's casual modern grace and Miaka's dainty elegance seemed to contrast yet compliment each other.

"I said `Hello partner,' It's an English term… famous in those old country westerns," explained Mariko. Miaka just looked confused.

"Mariko, this is the 1500's, they don't know about English yet or have country westerns," said Keitaro pointedly.

"Right…" replied Mariko, blushing, "I forgot,"

"English…?" said Miaka, thinking hard, "I remember Okaa-san once said that Lady Kagome could speak an odd language called English, but she wasn't very good at it,"

"Neither am I… Mariko is the only thing between me and failing the damned course," he replied, chuckling. He stopped and gazed out the open door of the hut, and sniffed the air.

"I have this sudden urge to sit outside," he commented, staring out at the blue sky and the small, yet busy village. Slowly, he stood with a bit of help from Mariko and the trio went to sit on the steps outside Keiko's hut.

~